Kansas City Star
Saturday, October 6, 2007

Musical Blades keep sharpening their Renfest act

Local performers do Pirate motif and mix songs and laughs.

By Joe Henderson
Special to The Star

What does a swashbuckling buccaneer do when he gives up sword fighting: How about singing a song.  I reverted back to doing what I do best… singing and writing songs,” said Albert Hall.

Hall, 41, is the leader of The Musical Blades, a singing group with a pirate motif, performing at this year’s Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs, Prior to that he was in a sword fighting act at the festival. He’s been singing and writing songs since he was a student at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School.

A friend, Justin Zimmerman, persuaded Hall in 2000 to partner with him in the sword fights at the festival.

“I went along because I’ve always enjoyed entertaining,” said Hall, a lifelong Shawnee resident.

Two years ago they decided to switch to a musical act, and The Musical Blades were born.

Brett Bendure, a high school friend of Hall’s, was invited to join the group. He brought along his friend, Jason Longberg, who lives in Olathe, and Bendure, who recently moved from Olathe back to Shawnee. Later, Zimmerman decided to pursue an acting career in New York City.

“We brought in a girl singer…

Festival:  Musical Blades sing and joke with Renaissance audiences
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 …one year, but she went back to school so there were three of us in the act,” Hall said.

Bendure, who is head groundskeeper for the Shawnee Mission School District, initially joined Hall and Zimmerman in fight acts at the Renaissance back in 2004.

“I’d never done much singing when Al asked me to join The Musical Blades. But I’m getting plenty of practice now,” Bendure said. “I got acquainted with Jason when he was working as a beer runner at the Renaissance.”

Last year while the group was performing at the Renaissance, David Long, of Independence, asked if they could use a guitar player.

“We said ‘sure, come on over and we’ll try you out.’ One thing led to another and now David’s a Musical Blade. He sings and writes most of the guitar parts,” Hall said

Hall has a studio in his Shawnee home where the group rehearses twice a week and records CDs.

We work on our act, go over new ideas for the jokes we tell, and record songs,” he said

The group does four stage shows a day at the festival. They also sing at The Royal Smoker and the Pub Scene, where Hall’s wife, Sheila, is a “bar wench.” She’s been performing at the Renaissance 16 years. They met there in 2000 and married five years ago.

“Our show is comedy with music. Shows run about 20 minutes or so but we have enough material for an hour,” Hall said. “I was against the pirate idea at first. I didn’t want to dress up and act goofy, but now I like it and so do the audiences.”

Last spring the Blades picked up another new member, David Levin, who lives in Merriam.

“We met last year and became friends. He couldn’t sing with us at the Renaissance this season because he’d already committed to a fight show,” Hall said.

Levin did sing with the group earlier this year when they performed at Renaissance Festivals in Wichita, St. Louis, Council Bluffs and Jefferson City.

“We’re all good friends and things are going well for us, both on stage and recording. We hope to line up more dates during the winter,” he said. “There’s always a demand for pirate acts.”

When the Renaissance Festival ends later this month the group will take a month off. Hall will use the time to write new songs and jokes and hopefully line up future jobs. He calls singing and song writing a hobby. His first songs were mostly rock and roll, but now his songs are “more traditional with a modern flair,” he said.

Hall’s “real job” is with a Lenexa printing company.

“I’ve been in the printing business about 20 years, but I’ve been singing and writing songs nearly all my life. I love it,” he said.

For more information about The Musical Blades go to musicalblades.com  

*Note from the Musical Blades: This article is exactly as is appeared in the newspaper.  A few things were either assumed, misinterpreted, or not used by the writer during the interview. Also notables that were mentioned during the interview did not appear in the article. For instance, JR Shepherd was also in the original swordfight comedy show,  and Ray St Ledger performed with us nearly every show during the KC Renfest 2007 season. There are several other tiny things but most of it would just be nit-picking on our part :)

Thanks to the writer (Joe Henderson), The Kansas City Star, and Carrie (general manager of the KC Renfest)