SCARLET'S RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL SHOPPE 2006

Our fuzzy friend Scarlet asked us to come do a show to help promote his new Renaissance Festival Shoppe at the Outlet Mall in Gainesville, TX. Our inner desire for furry things and mermaids forced us to give in and we went up there to spread a little yule-low-tide cheer. We even debuted a brand-new Christmas tune or two.

Click here to see the holiday hijinks

DICKENS ON THE STRAND 2006

The winter winds were howling in protest, trying to blow us off the stage to salvage people's yuletide cheer, but did that stop us? Nooooooo... Sharkbait Simon and Galleon O'Galleon were nowhere to be found, but did that stop us? Noooo.... the Bilge Pumps jingled on! Christmas was in the air and the pirates were everywhere as we performed on 3 different stages through the festival, including some nice shows for our friends crewing the tall ship Elissa. As of now, we might have set a record for the least amount of complaints we've ever received for offending people at Dickens. That just doesn't seem right... I guess we'll have to try harder in the future.

Lots of victorian vicariousness is what you'll find here

THE LOUISIANA RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL 2006

Heading back into Hammond on the first three weekends of the festival again, the Bilge Pumps helped to kick off the festival in style by performing for the fun-loving fans in the Painted Badger Pub. We shared the pub with the Limey Birds and only managed to get in their way about a dozen times a day or so. Funny how that only seems to happen with women acts. Hmmm. Regardless, even with the loss of our beloved Sharkbait for 2 of the 3 weekends as he prepared for the arrival of his baby girl, the Bilge Pumps sailed on into the horizon, leaving a wake of good times and rodgered goats behind us.

Our swampy skullduggery is forever frozen in time here

THE TEXAS RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL 2006

The Bilge Pumps made their first visit as a featured guest performer to the largest Renaissance Festival in the country. It was Pirate's Adventure weekend at the festival and we made sure to convert the royalty to the dark side and brought out everyone's inner buccaneer with a steady dose of Bilge Pumps goofiness and music. The rain hit on Sunday and kept the usually huge crowds down, but our loyal fans, both old and new, would not be deterred from seeing the show.

You want to see how 6 guys fit on a 3 man stage? Click here.

HOUSTON HOT SAUCE FESTIVAL 2006

The Bilge Pumps made a run down I-45 for our first visit to the Houston Hot Sauce Festival where we put on a 2 hour show and promptly lost 40 pounds of water weight sweating to the 17th century oldies during the show in 100% humidity. Then, just for good measure, we lost another 40 pounds of water weight sweating through our eyes after trying some of the extremely hot sauces being sampled at the festival. We all head a great time, except for John Crow who might never be the same after a run in with AKA Stupid Hot, voted the hottest hot sauce in the festival 3 years running. Man, that's hot!

Click here for movie clips and pics that are too hot to handle

TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY PARTY 2006

Chandler's Landing Marina had their second Talk Like a Pirate Day party and they had the lack of self respect to bring us back to put on a show for everyone. We originally were supposed to appear at Joe Pool Lake this year, but a sudden personnel change led to a swap back to Lake Ray Hubbard and it couldn't have turned out nicer. The weather was great, the lakeside breeze was nice, and the food and beer was free! What more does a pirate need in life?

Pics with a lakeside view are posted here

O'MALLEY'S PUB 2006

Our friends Tullamore got themselves into a bit of a pickle as they were booked for the KC Irish festival the same night they were booked to do O'Malley's. We happened to come along looking to perform at O'Malleys that weekend since we were in KC. All of a sudden, we went from pirates begging for a gig to unintentional rescuers as we rolled up to Weston, Missouri to sub in for Tullamore's first set on Saturday night. We had a blast performing at one of the coolest pubs ever and give the regulars a dose of alternative folk music, pirate-style.

You can bury the band underground, but the evidence will always resurface

KANSAS CITY RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL 2006

The Bilge Pumps' 3rd trip to be guest performers at the KC Ren fest brought out great weather and good friends to visit us. We got a chance to perform to some brand new faces and try to win over some die-hard nay-sayers. We enjoyed rolling in and performing at the always fun pub sings at the end of the day as well, including our super extended dance mix of "Old Dun Cow" to chew up some time that apparently didn't need to be chewed up.

Both still pictures and moving pictures are entombed within.

TIPPERARY INN 2006

The Bilge Pumps played their first show at the Tipperary Inn since before it remodeled back in 2000. We did an experimental Thursday night show to see if we could pull in a fun-loving crowd that knows how to soak up the $3 pints flowing from the taps. Judging by the glazed look in Blue's eyes, it appears we were a success. We had a blast performing to all the local gang as well as enjoying seeing some new faces in the audience. Special thanks go to the far-traveling fans from Wichita Falls, Memphis, and Denmark who call all the way to Dallas and wanted to see us perform.

We also returned to the pub in October to perform a Saturday night for the drunken football fans stumbling in after OU/Texas Saturday. We might have been down to 5 members with the absence of John Crow, but fun did not stop us as we performed at 4 hour show full of the craziness you can only get into at an over-21 bar.

The freeze frames and moving pictures are all set up for viewing here

FIRST TEE PUB PIRATE PARTY 2006

The power of them there Disney pirates continued as we headed down to Houston to perform at the "2 Months Before the Houston Hot Sauce Festival Pirate Party" at the First Tee Pub. We cut loose with a four hour long show on the unsuspecting pub dwellers who were all decked out in full pirate regalia. We also got exposed to "Black Mamba", which is rapidly on it's way to becoming the official hot sauce of the band. Let me say, just cut your tongue off before trying it... it will hurt less.

Pictures to burn your eyes are available here

PIRATE MOVIE WATCHING PARTIES 2006

Anticipating the wave of pirate-mania we knew was going to sweep the country with the return of the imfamous Capt. Jack, we rented out a theater at the Movie Tavern in Bedford, TX to hold our first ever Pirate Movie Watching Party! The fun consisted of a 30 minute Bilge Pumps show followed by an exclusive screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. We ended up (through vigorous internet marketing) selling out the complex's largest theater on the Thursday before the showing. Then, on the following Friday morning, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram and the KLUV radio morning show gave us great mentions on their things-to-do list for the weekend. The interest was so great that we did a second party the following weekend. All in all, everyone had fun and we got to perform in front of a bunch of new fans (and some old ones we haven't seen in years).

Pictures and video clips are available here

LAWTON RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL 2006

Our visit to the first-ever Lawton Ren Fest gave us the full gamut of Oklahoma early Summer weather. From 70 mph straight line winds, lightning, and horizontal rain on Saturday to 105 degree heat on Sunday, we got the best the state had to offer. Luckily for us, the people of Oklahoma aren't scared off by such things and still came out to enjoy the festival and (for those that haven't seen our shows a hundred times) get their first exposure to piracy on the plains.

You'll get blown away by these pics

OKLAHOMA RENAISSANCE FAIRE 2006

The Bilge Pumps came back for their 7th tour of duty at Muskogee and it was definitely a year that will be remembered. We met some new friends at the Harbor Stage in Barely Balanced (though they never fell in the water, damnit!) and got a chance to be humbled (repeatedly) by Heather Alexander. hyuk hyuk. With Maroon having a family emergency at the end of the festival, the rest of the group was forced to go without him for the first time and find rhythm themselves for the last 4 days of the festival. Que lastima! All in all, we were glad to get a chance to hook up withour fans, because without you guys, we wouldn't have been there at all.

Be warned! These photos might inspire skullduggery

GREAT PLAINS RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL 2006

The record heat followed us up to Kansas and boiled Sharkbait's brain for all the fans to see. (We'll be auctioning what's left on eBay soon) We got a chance to make some new fans, meet up with some old friends (go Scallywags!), and got a chance to see our familiar fans in a whole new environment. We must apologize after the fact for the stress damage I'm sure we caused to the pirate ship stage from all of our jumping around in the shows. har har.

Wipe the dust out of your eyes and check out these pics

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA MEDIEVAL FAIR 2006

Sunburns, hour-long shows, gorgeous weather, traveling fans and local fans mingling, new baby announcements, new CD's and T-shirts available for the first time, large crowds witnessing things that are best left forgotten, and overall general havok being caused. What more can you ask for on a three day weekend in Norman?

We got pitchas fo' youze!

GRIFF'S ST. PATRICK'S DAY FESTIVAL 2006

Is too much Bilge Pumps a bad thing or a good thing? It was tough to tell through the haze of green beer surrounding Griff's St. Patrick's Day Festival, but we added ou own touch of insanity to the proceedings. At least, enough to make the drunk college students wonder if we were just a hallucination or not when they woke up the next morning.

Down a bottle of green beer before checking out this footage!

MARDI GRAS GALVESTON 2006

After a year's absence to go perform at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, we returned to Galveston just in time for the 1st weekend of Mardi Gras and... cold wind & rain? Yep, our newest Bilge Pump Sharkbait Simon got his initiation to the group by getting his guitar-picking fingers frozen to the strings of his guitar. This year's headliners included Dr. John and Blues Traveler. In spite of the weather, though, a fun-loving crowd was out to watch the show and help spur us on to new heights... and a couple of new lows as well.

Purloining pirate pics posted post-haste

SCARLET'S MID-WINTER RENAISSANCE FAIRE 2006

The best of the indoor renaissance festivals we perform at was resurrected in '06 on.. a perfectly sunny and warm winter day. Who woulda thunk it? We got a chance to return to Scarlet's warm, nestled den and see if his mermaids were to scale. We were happy to see some familiar faces among the performers and fans and got a chance to debut some new songs to the unsuspecting victims. Also, our new guitar player, Sharkbait Simon, came in plain clothes to watch his future band for the first time.

Sometime around the end of the day on Sunday, everyone must have gotten a dose of happy water, because some of the Bilge Pumps got turned into mermen!

So, ya wanna see pics of Bilge Pumps in mermaid tails? Well, here ya go!