Music to "Rattle your Rigging"

Calico Jack, a dynamic new folk duo from Annapolis, hits the deck with maritime music old and new.

Everyone knows what to do with a drunken sailor: shave his belly with a rusty razor. But that's just a start, according to maritime musicians Janie Meneely and Paul DiBlasi, members of a new folk duo called Calico Jack, who further the maritime tradition in story and song.

A veteran chanteyman with the colorful Pyrates Royale, DiBlasi can send his mellow baritone over the deck and back. He brings a vast repertoire of classic work songs to the group. Singer/songwriter Janie Meneely (whose own soprano voice, she says, "carries pretty well") has shared the stage with Them Eastport Oyster Boys and, before that, Crab Alley. Her Bay-inspired ballads and nautical tunes have been recorded by artists throughout the country. Her own solo CD, "Give Me a River," released in 2001, comprises a dozen delightfully original songs and ballads that range from the haunting love song, "Red Sky," to the titillating (and hilarious) "Twiddles," all inspired by a lifetime spent on the Chesapeake Bay.

Together they're sheer delight. Sometimes sober, sometimes saucy, Meneely and DiBlasi slide easily between old and new. Meneely's strong regional roots have led her to develop a hefty list of Bay-inspired songs, but her ditties are just as apt to poke fun at time-honored traditions. DiBlasi's mastery of classic forebitters and chanteys will have an audience singing along in no time.

Storytelling programs:

Chesapeake Songs & Stories

Storyteller and singer "Miss Janie" Meneely weaves together a unique blend of interactive watermen's tales and original songs that bring to life the characters of a traditional waterman's community. Using large full color posters, "Miss Janie" introduces her audience to some of the real people who work the water, especially women and people of color, and the kinds of workboats indigenous to the Chesapeake.

Pirate Jamboree

The pirate duo Calico Jack, comprising Paul DiBlasi of the Pyrates Royale and Chesapeake Bay singer/songwriter Janie Meneely, offers up an entertaining and informative program all about pirates real and fictional. Myth-busting is the name of the game as the swashbuckling duo debunks common misconceptions about these Brethren (and sisters!) of the Coast, including the notion that pirates made their victims walk the plank and that they flew the Jolly Roger.

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