Geeks of the Galaxy, a podcast for the geeky with a focus on positivity, played host to one of LANCE's own, Tanya Wheelock, cosplayer, actress, model, and butt-kicker extraordinaire! The episode features interviews with Tanya and another cosplayer, Eric Cajiuat, as they discuss their involvement with the cosplay community as well as broader theater community. Here's the podcast synopsis from Geeks of the Galaxy:

Pretty awesome, right? We think so, too! Tanya even plugs LANCE when she discusses her experiences with stage combat! So cool!

You can listen to the podcast below, and if you keep scrolling we've got a whole bushel of links for you on where you can find out more about Tanya and Geeks of the Galaxy!

Check out Tanya Wheelock's cosplay over at Most Decent Thing Cosplay on Facebook! She also has a website, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram! And you can find Geeks of the Galaxy on Facebook, Soundcloud, Twitter, iTunes, and Tumblr!

Thank you, Tanya, for mentioning LANCE during the podcast, and thank you to Geeks of the Galaxy for having Tanya on your show!
​
-- Casey, Webmaster

This past Saturday (the 14th), LANCE took a break from rehearsing for the Tournament of Funding event at Cloak & Blaster this Wednesday, November 18th to visit the annual Lady of the Lakes Renaissance Faire in Taveres, Florida. We came out to support The Renegades, The Rogue's Theater, and many more performers and vendors at the faire, which has been an area tradition for over a decade. 

Lady of the Lakes is a hidden gem, a faire set in the woods out in the middle of rural Florida. They've moved locations since the faire began back in 2002, but they remain a staple of the Renaissance Faire circuit and offer a unique place for over 150 performers and artisans to delight and educate patrons in South Central Florida. According to their website, "[a]ll proceeds from the Lady of the Lakes Renaissance Faire benefit the Education Foundation of Lake County, Florida, a 501(3)(c) organization." Now that's a cause that LANCE can truly support!

We had the privilege to see a few famous acts from the Renaissance Faire circuit. At the Emrys Fleet's Rat Catcher show, Marissa was chosen to assist with a high-flying rat trick and was given a rat, Pumpkin, in return. Several LANCE members swayed and sung along to Empty Hats songs they'd heard since childhood. 

​Rowan & the Rose, a geeky minstrel duo from the New England area, had us rolling in the aisles with their Sound of Music parody, "My Faire-vorite Things," and The Bawdy Boys lived up to their name with some of the filthiest, most depraved songs we've ever heard. Giacomo the Jester even kissed me (Casey) square on the lips during his show -- for moral support, of course! ​

LANCE members caught a few of the living chessboards, which featured a battle of wits (?) and blades between the Musketeers and co. and the evil Cardinal Richelieu and his conniving compatriots. There were sword fights and tumbling, red lettuce and pistol shots fired, and it turns out those bearded French "nuns" from earlier were Musketeers in disguise! Who knew?! To be sure, The Rogue's Theater puts on a memorable show!

Well, guys, we did it! We threw a banquet with Cloak & Blaster, and it went pretty darn well! 

Before we talk fights, raffle winners, or thank yous, let me tell you the best news any fundraiser could have: we exceeded our goal of $300 for The Tournament of Funding Banquet! In fact, we raised over $400! That's an incredible achievement for LANCE, and those funds will benefit us as we work toward getting safer equipment and our non-profit status.  The Board is doing somersaults of joy, and we hope you are, too!

How did our night go? Let me paint you a picture.

Lady Penny (played by Connie), the Treasurer of the newly-formed Kingdom of LANCE, was our Master of Ceremonies. She called the fights and ran the raffle, and she made sure the rest of us were on our best behavior -- or at least the best behavior of which we were capable. She explained to our guests that we were all there to raise funds to arm the royal guard of LANCE castle, and the entrants in the tournament fought for the entertainment of our esteemed patrons and the chance at titles, lands, and glory in the new kingdom of LANCE. 

There was Hazel the Hedgewitch (Mallory), who had come to the tournament with the hope of saving her beloved forest which fell right at the center of the kingdom of LANCE, and Eric the Green (Justin), a soothsayer who just wanted to save the bears. Then there was Sir Bruce (Ian) and Lady Honey (Casey), brother and sister from castle Gracin. Sir Bruce wanted to lead LANCE's army, and Lady Honey wanted nothing more than to ruin things her brother. Jack of all Trades (Charles) was there to barter his wares and with hopes of winning the trophy -- he'd heard it was free! Alysanne of Asheford Briar (Marissa) wanted to win to join the royal guard, and Warren the Blacksmith (Michael) was hoping to prove his steel worthy of the king's army. Hilary Harvestborn the Barmaid (Ari) joined the tournament for thrill of a good time, and Rosaline (Bethany), assassin and thief, was just there for the easy pickings (pockets, that is).  Lady Edith (Amy) was a runaway royal eager to prove herself as an individual, and finally, Sir Gavin (AJ), the proud and chivalrous, was there to show all of us what a real knight is made of. 

We were "randomly" paired up, and each duo fought well, but it all came down to Sir Bruce and Sir Gavin. By popular demand, Sir Bruce won the final fight though he gave up his rightful trophy (and presumably all claims to titles or lands) to Markus, co-owner of the Cloak & Blaster, to thank Cloak & Blaster for hosting the tournament. Markus had the trophy for all of five seconds before Andrea, the other co-owner, stole it and ran off into the bowels of the restaurant, never to be heard from again. Just kidding about the last part, but she really did steal the trophy, and it really was hilarious. 

On to the raffle. We had several raffle winners throughout the night. As instructed by Lady Penny, patrons huzzahed as each raffle number was called until one final person was left cheering at their good luck. We raffled off LANCE decals and even a gift card, but the big winner of the night was Diana, the proud new owner of an engraved display broadsword. She seemed stoked, as evidenced by her glowing post on Facebook:

Thanks for the love, Diana! Enjoy the broadsword!

Well, there's not much left to say now that the fights have been fought and the feast reduced to empty plates and glasses, but we do have a few final thank yous to dish out to people without whom the banquet would not have been possible. (Please bear with us while we gush.)

First, we would like to thank Charles, our tireless Treasurer and Fundraising Chair, who toiled over the minutest of details for this banquet to ensure it went off without a hitch. He handled everything from setting up the Eventbrite so that patrons could purchase their seats at the Royal Tables in advance all the way to signing off on every fight to make certain the stage combat lived up to LANCE's high standards. He labored over this event with the singular, purposeful drive of a full-speed freight train, and we thank him from the bottom of our hearts for the stress and long nights he endured so that everyone at the banquet, LANCE members included, could simply relax and have a good time. It was worth it, Charles. We are so grateful.

Charles had help, of course, and we'd also like to take this time to recognize Mallory and AJ, both of whom helped with crafting the props for the show, like the flags and badges, that made audience participation effortlessly fun. AJ, Mallory, and other members of the Fundraising Committee all committed to the success of this event, and their hard work really paid off. 

The second person we have to thank is Connie, who stepped in as our MC at the last minute and pulled it off with her usual charming smile and grace under pressure. She may not have had any idea what was going on, but she ran that show like a well-oiled machine, and you gotta respect that. Thank you, Connie, for taking time out of your busy schedule as a successful photographer to man the mic for our event. We tip our hat to you. Ya make it look easy. 

The third group of people we'd like to thank is the wait staff, bartenders, kitchen staff, and owners of Cloak & Blaster. Thank you. Thank you to Markus and Andrea for taking us seriously when we said we wanted to throw a feast and tournament in the middle of their restaurant. Thank you for hosting us so graciously. You're the best. Thank you to the wait staff and bartenders for playing along, and for tending to patrons despite the slight possibility of sword-related injuries. Thank you to the kitchen staff for crafting such delicious food. All of our guests were raving about the food (especially the cake)! Everything was delicious. Thank you all for taking such pains to contribute to our fundraiser. We can't tell you how lucky we feel to have a partner like Cloak & Blaster. 

The fourth and final group of people LANCE has to thank and without whom this feast would never have occurred is you. Yeah, you. Our patrons. Thank you so much for coming out. Thank you for sharing on Facebook even if you couldn't make it to the event. Thank you for cheering us on. Thank you for listening to us chatter excitedly about sword-fighting. Thank you for every kind word. We don't have fans; we have family. Thank you. Really, it means the world to us.

And on that note, I'm signing off. The banquet was a deeply satisfying success, and we at LANCE hope for more opportunities to entertain in the future that are as fulfilling as this one! 

A health to the company!

-- Casey, Webmaster

I know I've mentioned LANCE's Tournament of Funding at Cloak & Blaster on November 18th once or twice on the blog already, but allow me to formally introduce to you this journey of a tourney, this beast of a feast, The Tournament of Funding, a banquet and tournament hosted by Cloak & Blaster on Wednesday, November 18th! (Tomorrow!) 

Can you tell we're excited? We're excited. 

LANCE has a close relationship to Cloak & Blaster. In the past few months, we've provided entertainment for their Talk Like a Pirate Celebration and their Anniversary Party, and we look forward to many years as partners. 

​This Tournament of Funding event is a little different than what we usually do with Cloak & Blaster, though. LANCE is currently holding a fundraising campaign through IndieGoGo to support our start-up costs to become a non-profit, and Cloak & Blaster offered us their space to show off our skills to an audience of potential donors. (Hi! That's you!)

If you're stoked to eat great food, drink craft beers, and watch people fight with swords for your entertainment, I humbly suggest that you secure your seats at the Royal Tables now on Eventbrite. Tickets are only $10 online ($12 at the door)!

Today -- right now, as a matter of fact -- we're running a discount of 20% on six seats at the Royal Tables. Go to Eventbrite and enter the promo code SWORD at checkout for the discount. Hurry, because this sale only lasts until midnight tonight (the 17th)!

On top of food and entertainment, LANCE is holding a raffle with some pretty sweet prizes. Cloak & Blaster is even tapping three special kegs just for our event! ​I'm not even sure how this could possibly get more epic! 

The event begins at 7:00PM at Cloak & Blaster. Here's the address:

875 Woodbury Rd, Ste 108
Orlando, Florida 32828

So come on out and support LANCE Orlando's Tournament of Funding! We hope to see you there!

-- Casey, Webmaster

LANCE hasn't been around for long, be we have enough of a grip on our cultural identity to know that the average "Happy Birthday to You" song just isn't going to cut it. We think that LANCE members deserve a little something extra from their birthday wishes, and so I present to you The Birthday Dirge:

The lyrics vary widely, but there are a couple of sites that have gathered many of the more popular verses together into one place for your perusal and amusement. PunkWalrus.com and FAQs.org both offer an excellent selection of verses. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Burn the castle and storm the keep
Kill the women, but save the sheep

You've one lesson yet to learn
First you pillage, then you burn

May the cities in your wake
Burn like candles on your cake

I'm sure the creative-minded members of LANCE can come up with some good verses as well. If anyone's got a new verse to add, especially one that's themed to LANCE, leave it for us in a comment below!

Anyway, you get the idea of the song: doom and gloom and happy birthday, you burly old coot. That's exactly the sort of quality ditty LANCE members have come to expect from this troupe, and The Birthday Dirge rises to the occasion beautifully.

Welcome to your new favorite birthday song, and thanks for reading!

--Casey, Webmaster

P.S. Happy birthday, Ian!

Well, it was a pretty great day of LANCE practice out at Mayor Carl Langford park. It was hot as Satan's sweaty palms out there, but that didn't stop us from rehearsing our butts off for our Tournament of Funding event at Cloak & Blaster on November 18th!

Charles, our fight director for the event, arrived early to set up three 12ft. by 12ft. spaces for us. That's the thing, you see: we have to learn to fight in close quarters to allow for the tables that will be nearly boxing in the performance space at Cloak & Blaster. That amps up the difficulty level for us because we're used to having all the grassy field we could want. It also means no sweeping sword movements, no flinging weapons willy-nilly, and absolutely no running away. For those of us fighting Ian (read: me), the "no running away" rule is the hardest one to follow.​

Overall, Sunday was a blast. Sweaty, dirty, and hard work, yes, but well worth a little grit under our fingers. That full body ache we're going to have for the next three days only serves to prove that everyone at rehearsal today did our level best to fake beat the crap out of each other. These are the hallmarks of a great day at LANCE, and we wouldn't have it any other way!

​See you next weekend!

-- Casey, Webmaster

Weebly was the way to go! We have a brand new website with all the bells and whistles. Thank you to Tanya for all of her help with the website, and to Charles for his fine opinions. 

Initially we had gone with Tumblr as a platform because I, Casey, knew how to code in Tumblr pretty well, but Weebly was where LANCE Orlando's web home should have been all along. Charles and I spend a long time tonight getting things just right for the new site. ​

We hope that everyone will poke around the website and suggest improvements for the future. For now, thank you and goodnight!

-- Casey, Webmaster