Nor Cal Rabble's Burns Night Speeches and Toasts

**Panache** · 5th February 08, 10:13 PM

Sadly our videos of our 2008 Burns Night Supper have proven to be unusable. If anyone was interested in the content of some of the original speeches and toasts I have provided their text here.

First off here is way2fractious' Immortal Memory

The Immortal Memory of Robbie Burns

Ladies and gentlemen – friends –

I am honored with the task of addressing you with some remarks worthy on this Second Annual Robbie Burns Night put on by the XMarksTheScot Nor-Cal Rabble.
Some of you have Scots blood; some of us have none. Some of you are steeped in Scottish tradition and lore (even superstition!); some of us are not. Some of you possess qualities and talents demonstrated by Mr. Burns; some of us can make no such claim. However, deficient as some of us are, we all partake of Rabbie’s influence today.
Robbie Burns was born in 1759, into a time of subsistence farming – and massive changes. He came at a time when the agrarian societies were about to be displaced by revolutionary developments in industrialization. Great aggregations of land and other resources were commencing to capitalize on new inventions and processes. The Highland Clearances, both the man-made ones driven by greed and the natural ones due to potato blight, forced many of his countrymen to move on. Africa was not the only source of slaves - some number of Scots, also, were sold into slavery in the American colonies. Many places around the world became home to the dispossessed.

Robbie's genius was in capturing with vivid imagery the details of life. He grew up in a tenant farmer family, and was very young when he "first committed the sin of rhyme." He was a man of the people and was able to capture the trials, the failings, and the successes of those who work for a living. His writings decry the hypocrisy of those who abuse power, whether in state or church. He was educated and well aware of world events and had a special affinity for the American Revolution and its leaders. His first published work caught the attention of the socialites in Edinburgh, and they amused themselves with the "ploughman poet" for a couple years. This, however, gave Robbie Burns and his writings the fame necessary to reach a wider audience.
Please indulge me as I trace one path of influence from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Large populations of Scots moved to Ulster, Ireland, to find relief. These enclaves of Scots-Irish remained in direct correspondence with Scotland and its culture, and were well aware of Robbie Burns works when he entered onto the stage of fame in Edinburgh. His music was performed and his verses were recited. Because his view was as a peasant – a genius peasant - and sympathetic to their plights, many viewed his published collections as reminiscent touchstones to former times. His writings spoke truly of the human condition, drawn from the inexhaustible source of earthy, bittersweet topics (the foibles and failings of men) and his visions of virtues (such as, Dignity, Liberty, Peace, Brotherhood of Man, and many more.)

Love? How many couples treated each other with Rabbie’s rhymes of love? Perhaps two?... at least two. Many of those Ulster Scots came to America. The son of one couple and the daughter of another met and married near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They schooled their children to include the arts of European music and literature. The music and verse of Robbie Burns, Scotland’s Poet, were part of the curricula.
One son, in particular, made it his life’s work to write songs, becoming America’s first renowned songwriter. Born on the 4th of July in 1826 (only days short of the 30th anniversary of Robbie’s death), Stephen Foster was still a child when his family experienced loss of wealth and home in the financial collapses of the 1830’s. His career as a bookkeeper in Cincinnati gave him full exposure to the slave-driven trades, the music of the slaves, and the derogatory music of black-faced minstrelsy. Building on Burns’ passions for Dignity, Liberty, and the Brotherhood of Man – and in direct opposition to the culture of his time - Foster’s music and verse dignified the human feelings of the black race and their dreams for a better future. He frequented a friend’s home, across the Ohio River and one hundred forty miles “Down South” in Bardstown, Kentucky, where today stands an outdoor amphitheater for Stephen Foster musicals.
Alas, he pioneered (read: failed attempt) the usage of contracts with publishers regarding copyrights and royalties, but could not turn a profit. (Perhaps he should have mounted a Songwriters’ strike?) His marriage and other relationships were tumultuous and failed. He died alone, at the age of 37, with thirty-eight cents to his name. However, he left a HUGE musical legacy to the generations. When you hear the songs of Stephen Foster, remember the heritage passed on to American culture by him.
(Examples: Oh! Susanna; Camptown Races; Nelly was a Lady; I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair; My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night!; Gentle Annie; Hard Times, Come Again No More; Beautiful Dreamer; and many more.)

In 1855, Stephen Foster wrote an expressive piece worthy of Robbie Burns. Shall I sing it for you?

The first stanza goes like this:
{singing}

Oh! comrades, fill no glass for me
To drown my soul in liquid flame.
For if I drank, the toast should be
To blighted fortune, health, and fame.
Yet, though I long to quell the strife
That passion holds against my life,
Still, boon companions may ye be.
But, comrades, fill no glass for me.

Rabbie had a giftie gi’en him by the Powers; he knew it and used it powerfully. But Fame is fickle, and he still had to earn a living by other means, working at a publisher’s and as an exciseman (tax collector.) His tumultuous relationships are well-documented. His life and fortune were also shortened, asking friends for financial assistance at the end of his thirty-seven years. The gift he passed on to the world was a clear-eyed view of others that we can use as mirrors for ourselves.

I invite you to fill your glasses, with liquid flame or not, and toast the Immortal Memory of Robbie Burns.

Written and Presented by way2fractious, January 2008

**Panache** · 5th February 08, 10:23 PM

Monkey @ Arms and the The F-H.C.A.G. gave this combined version of the Toast to the Lassies and the Lassies response.

The Gentleman's parts are in blue
The lady's parts are in red

Toast to the Lassies and Lassies Response

A Toast to the Lassies I will warmly proffer
A Lassies Reply I will coldly offer
For Man’s woes, woman’s gentle love is both balm and buffer
While man’s love is another little inconvenience that we suffer

Of Woman’s gentle virtues let me sing
Of men’s countless failings I’ll begin
Their softness like a butterfly’s wing…
…While our words are like a scorpion’s sting !

Oh the soft touch of your dainty hands
Oh the consequences for ignoring our commands!
To you we confide, no one else understands
Men are easy to comprehend, it’s just a matter of glands

On this eve of good company, food, and drink…
…Is the perfect time to tell you exactly what we think!
Please take her words of jest with a smile and wink
A jest? You mean like wearing a kilt in pink?

Both laugh

Poetry (and toasts) should have both beauty and truth
Our strengths we’ll defend with nail and tooth
Honesty and respect grow long past the bloom of youth
Though comments on our age are always uncouth!

Ladies, no longer on a pedestal shall you I place
We Lassies do require a bit more space
Your gentleness and ferocity both, man must embrace
For we smile and snarl with the same face

So a Toast to the Lassies let me give
Our virtues and vices do not attempt to sieve
To their strength, fire, grace, and ability to forgive!
And If you are lucky we’ll let you live

Written by Panache January 2008

**Panache** · 5th February 08, 10:28 PM

I had the pleasure of reading this greeting from our own Todd to our gathering

To the lads and lassies of the NorCal Rabble of XmarkstheScot, c/o Panache/Jamie:

As Burns himself said:

Here's a bottle and an honest friend!
What wad ye wish for mair, man?

And tonight, whilst you are preparing celebrate the Bard in California, I will be raising a wee dram to you, my “honest friends” in the Crystal Dining Room of the historic Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Some of you may even be familiar with the Crescent due to its “ghoulies and ghosties” that reportedly walk its halls – Though I would imagine the majority of spirits I see this evening will be on the shelf behind the bar!

I have no doubt, after viewing the pictures and the movie of Jamie’s stirring rendition of the Address to a Haggis that Rabbie would highly approve of your Burns Night – save the pink kilt, of course!

Again, I wish you all the best in your endeavours to honour the ploughman-poet of Scotland this night – or as our Australian friends would say, “good on ya!”

Lang may yer lum reek (chimney smoke) – wi’ other people’s coal!

Yours aye,

Todd

Xmarks Mod Squad & Burnsian
"Have Haggis, will travel -- Wire cajunscot, Springfield"

**Panache** · 5th February 08, 10:31 PM

Here is the response I had earlier sent to Todd on behalf of our group and also read during supper.

To Todd Wilkinson and all good the Ladies and Gentlemen gathered together this evening in the Crystal Dining Room of the Crescent Hotel to celebrate the life and works of Robert Burns, from the Nor Cal Rabble.

Outside our hall fiercely rages the storm
Inside near the fireplace we sit snug and warm
From which we send this missive to inform
You all of our good will

Let Rabbie’s words to both parties bring delight
We’ll give a cheer when dirk trenches “gushing entrails bright”
The poet is long dead but his living words we will recite
To the best of our skill

To The Land of Opportunity from the Golden State
Our hands stretch forth across this land great
In love of Burns and good fellowship we relate
And so our glasses we fill

Here’s a toast to all those gathered in memory of Burns
Here’s to good fellowship , and to Many Happy Returns
From the first dram drunk till the last reveler adjourns
And even after, let good tidings remain with thee still

Yours aye,

Jamie

X Marks Mod Squad and Self proclaimed “Tartan Peacock”

Written by Panache January 2008

**Panache** · 5th February 08, 10:36 PM

I hope that bunchdescendant has saved a copy of his very sincere "Toast to the Cook" and will post it.

With the loss of the video the world will never know how well "Address of the haggis", "Macbeth", and the acting style of the great William Shatner all go together...on second thought, maybe it's a blessing in disguise

Cheers

Jamie

**Panache** · 6th February 08, 08:53 PM

My thanks to Ray for sending me his toast to the Amazing Madalyne!

A Toast To The Cook

as given by Ray (bunchdescendant)

My friends and fellow x-markers, It is but once a year that we all meet to celebrate the life and times of Robert burns, the bard of Scotland. This event centers around our good natured attempts at pomp and circumstance. We present the haggis, we wave sharp objects around, we toast to the lassies and reply to the laddies and we make good on such threats to sample all of the scotch on hand, regardless of the outcome the next morn.

The one thing we should not forget on the night of this auspicious occasion is the person or persons responsible for our meal. We must in any case not forget the cook. For without the cook, our plates and as such our bellies would be empty of sustenance this eve. Our chef has slaved for us over a hot stove just to ensure that we as such are sated on our night of feasting. The cook has lovingly prepared our meal to the utmost perfection so we may consume it thusly and enjoy the delicate flavors of our repast.

So I ask all of you present at our Burns supper to show your respect and appreciation, raise a glass with me and with me and toast our Cook.