SO now our lovely revamped web-hovel has been up and running in it’s incredible new form for nigh over a year, and we love the opportunity to touch base with the friendly folk we bump into during our long wanderings from Pit to Pit over the course of the year. Last year we trumpeted the 25th anniversary of the Mud Show, but please keep in mind the Sturdy Beggars usselves are actually a titch older than even that… we were littering the streets with our insouciant, supine forms for quite a while before the Mud Muse settled on our beetled brows. We’ve been doing various versions of this crazy antic show long enough to be the dang Daddies of many of you, and –shudder—if you’ve been chugging milk chock full of bovine growth hormones your whole life, maybe even – shudder—GranDaddies. Now there’s a thought to make one contemplative unto comatose.

The point is, as our dear departed old pal Jerry useta croon, what a long strange trip it’s been, and we’ve absolutely loved making the multitudes roar with laughter and mock rage at all the Festivals and Faires that saw fit to let us sneak in the back gate over the last two decades and-a-half. Oy. Hey, don’t be shy about sending us an e-note if you can dredge up an amusing anecdote from way back involving Sturdy Beggars and you or your acquainti. Maybe we’ll start putting together a Memory Book featuring the lyrical and loopy legends offered by our long-time fans and friends. BUT HOLD!! Let us not lapse dreamily into utter fusty self-indulgent reflection and reminiscing. Let us continue to look forward as well, to prod you to give our 2004 Performance Schedule a glance, to read up on our latest brilliant blather. There’s more mud to daub, more chortles to elicit, more fun to be had. And have we will! So the trick is to treasure the galloping good times we’ve had bounding about the Mud Pits and amidst the crowing crowds, staggering through the dusty thoroughfares of the Faires, thoroughly… and continue to strive to make merry and whup up big-time jollity for the eager throngs. And that’s where you come in.

Try and make it the Renaissance Festival nearest you and look us up if you can. Utilize our links and such to get pertinent information to facilitate your good times. See the wonders a good Faire can offer, enjoy the living heck outten your day, and then later, when the hazy night has fallen and the seasons shifted, do return here to mudshow.com to check in on our ruminations and latest schemes. We’ve been around far longer than is seemly, and God knows we’ll linger like a comfy rash. Fun is our middle nickname, and we look forward to generating some with your shiny happy selves. See you at the Pit! And remember,

if it’s not the Sturdy Beggars, it’s not a Mud Show®.