It’s Friday spotlight time and I’ve had Celtic music on my mind this week. I’ve also had a frustrating morning, so I’m trying to bring something FUN to mind. So, this week I’m featuring The Bedlam Bards.

The Bedlam Bards are a Celtic duo that play renaissance festivals, science fiction conventions, and just about anywhere else people will have them. I’ve actually passed them a lot in my travels. We’ve been at the same place at the same time for years, but moving in different orbits. It wasn’t until this past January at ConJour that I got to spend any time with them, and realized what I’ve missed.

Cedric and Hawke are the primary members of Bedlam Bards…they sometimes have a 3rd, Lilly, but mostly I’ve seen and dealt with Cedric and Hawke. They play all the traditional music and instruments, but also have some “fannish” music. I personal picked up Firefly Drinking Songs = a project they did with Mark Gunn – that combines (for a second time) traditional Celtic music with Joss Whedon’s Firefly/Serenity universe. Yes, fan fiction set to music (known in the SF convention world as “filk”). I need to pull Jimmy’s copy of On the Drift (more Firefly music) onto my iPod.

What I like most about these guys (I’ve never met Lilly) is that they’re FUN. They promise that on their website, and they don’t lie. They are just a hoot and a half–and they appreciate the “Power of the Redheads”. Which is a funny story in and of itself.

A couple of us started a “write in” campaign to maybe try to talk a Renaissance Faire into having their off-season Celtic Festival on a weekend other than FenCon, so more of US could participate in their event and Bedlam Bards could come participate in ours. Well, it didn’t seem to work…until I was told that the Bedlam Bards were “excused” from the Celtic Festival to do FenCon. It’s a hollow victory, because I would’ve loved to have done both, but now I need to carve some time out of all my FenCon duties to see them play. Come check them out with me, won’t you?