“If I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often. Being a songwriter is like being a nun: You’re married to a mystery. It’s not a particularly generous mystery, but other people have that experience with matrimony anyway.”
Leonard Cohen
My name is Thomas Bordeaux.
But that’s not actually my name. My name is JP, but almost no one calls me that. Instead almost everyone I know calls me Thomas. Even I don’t think of myself as “JP,” though that’s the name I chose for myself over 40 years ago.
In 1983 I joined a historical recreation group called the Society for Creative Anachronism, and one of the things that you get to do when you join the SCA is pick a new name, a name for your persona. The persona is a fictional alter ego, the person whose background is meant to inform your individual research about life in the middle ages and renaissance. I didn’t pick “Thomas” because I felt a great affinity for the name, I chose it because it was in the bible, and because of that I knew it was a name that was within the SCA’s period of study. At the time I thought my persona would be a French archer who had returned to his home after the crusade.
The part about being French, or an archer, or returning from the crusades didn’t really stuck. While on paper the SCA is all about persona and historical accuracy, in those days in Caid persona was more of a casual thing. In fact I’ve known many people over the years who, when asked about their persona simply replied “1st century Caidan.”
I wasn’t even that much of a history buff. I’d become aware of the SCA, like so many others, though an interest in D&D. I was part of a small group, seven people, who played every week. One night a friend of a friend dropped in and started telling us about this group, the SCA, that did real sword fighting and all sorts of other cool stuff. He was insistent that we should join that group and do real things. It sounded like fun so we made a couple of phone calls. I suppose everyone can point to an event that changed the course of their lives. That night around a table filled with maps, rulebooks, and dice was one of those for me.
For the first few years I just drifted from one SCA activity to another. I learned to fight in armor and got authorized. I learned about the rules of heraldry and helped people with their devices. I helped start a canton in my hometown. I became first a canton officer, than a baronial officer. It was all fun, I liked the people and I enjoyed the events, but there wasn’t any activity that I really felt a lot of enthusiasm for.
In those days it was common to have a revel, often with a feast and almost always with dancing, after the event was over. After that there were many “after revels” held at various private homes. It was at one of those after revels where I met the one thing that has remained a constant part of my life over all the years that followed.
The house was small, and it was packed with people. We didn’t know many people there, but they were friendly enough. Everywhere you could sit someone was sitting. I ended up sitting in the hallway. No sooner had I sat down when I heard a few chords strummed, and then a man began singing.
It was like a scene in a movie, that moment when the clouds part and all is revealed. I poked my head around the corner and there was a guy, perched on the edge of a coffee table. He was simply amazing.
His name was Brad of Cambria, though we all called him Bradin the Minstrel, and the moment I saw and heard him I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a bard, like Bradin. All these years later, I am.
It is not overly boastful to say that I have made a name for myself as a bard in the SCA. I have received awards and honors, I have played for Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses. I’ve competed in and won more bardic competitions than I’ve lost, and I’ve written songs that are known throughout the Society. My abilities as a singer, a songwriter, and performer have opened doors in a myriad of ways. It has been more rewarding than I could hope to convey.
It’s also been struggle. Like every artist, I struggle with insecurity, disappointment, and despair. While we’re at, it let’s not forget ego and all the things that go with it. Like all loves, music has its relationship issues. Sometimes I have dealt well with them, other times I have not.
This blog is primarily about what it’s like to be a bard in the SCA. Actually, it’s about what it’s like for me to be a bard in the SCA. The successes and the failures.
Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know 