Nor Cal Rabble's Burns Night Speeches and Toasts

[Panache]

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