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The NQG Crew in the Media
We've been interviewed and reported about by many newspapers, magazines and radio shows. Even a picture of us shows up now and then. Here are links to just a few of our appearances in the media, with excerpts of the parts about us.
Wall Street Journal: Real
Pirates Have Taken the 'Ho Ho' Out of 'Yo Ho Ho' for Cap'n Slappy, It's No
Fun Playing Dress Up, When Thugs Are at Large on High Seas, April 27, 2009
EXCERPT: These are confusing times for pirate enthusiasts, grown men
and women who like nothing better than dressing up in swashbuckler regalia and
staging mock mutinies, kidnappings, pistol duels and pillages for street fairs
and birthday parties. They often present -- and glamorize -- such famed rogues
as Capt. Kidd and Blackbeard.
Somali teenagers in speedboats, brandishing AK-47s, don't
have the same mystique. "Most of us don't consider what's going on there
true piracy. They sound more like terrorists. Or thugs," complained
Christine Markel Lampe, who edits No Quarter Given, a pirate re-enactor
newsletter.
NOTE: In the article my quote sounds like I'm
reluctant to say Somali pirates are true pirates because it looks bad for us
pirate-reenactors. But, the reporter left out my main point that the Somali
pirates have strong land-based connections and support from local tribal war
lords. It was this support that I thought disqualified them from being true
pirates. They are more like a mercenary navy of a nation without a government,
making war with the rest of the world.
We were also included in the SLIDESHOW:
Pirate enthusiasts have their own magazines and web forums, and there's a bustling online trade in period costumes and weapons, from tri-corner hats to cutlasses to tankards. Shown here: Christine Markel Lampe and Michael Lampe, both of Riverside, Calif., with their furry crew of
PyRats.
Christine Markel Lampe goes by the piratical name of "Jamaica Rose." She used to work as a cartographer and high-school biology teacher but now spends all her time editing her pirate magazine, "No Quarter Given." Lately, the publication's web page has included many links to stories about modern-day pirates.
The Press Enterprise: Rain
doesn't dampen Dickens delight in downtown Riverside, February 8, 2009
Michael Lampe, of Riverside, brought to the festival
his pet "rodent of distinction" sporting a top hat.
CBC Radio Program -- As It Happens: Halloween
Pirates, October, 30, 2008 (Part 1, starting at minute 21, lasting 6
minutes)
A recent survey commissioned by the National Retail
Federation in the United States predicted that one-point-seven million American
adults will dress up as pirates this Halloween -- a number that surpasses
zombies, cowboys, French maids and Sarah Palins combined. And it would seem that
the Hollywood blockbuster trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean has played no small
part in this craze.
But not everyone is saying "Ahoy Matey!" to these
would-be Jack Sparrows. Some longtime pirate enthusiasts see this trend as an
affront to their more diligent and authentic re-enactments of pirate culture.
Christine Lampe -- or "Jamaica Rose" as she's
referred to in pirate circles -- is the publisher of No Quarter Given, a
magazine about all things pirate that's been in print since 1993. We reached her
in Riverside, California.
The New York Times: Can I Get an
Arrgh?, By MICHAEL
BRICK, October 24, 2008
EXCERPT: No Quarter Given, a journal of all things pirate, has counted nearly 130
re-enactment groups nationwide, compared with 9 in 1993, according to its
publisher, Christine Lampe...
...Traditionalists tend to view this new family-friendly
theme thing with a sort of dismissive acceptance.
At the Ojai Pirate Faire in California last month, a crew of
pirate history zealots disarmed an unwitting Jack Sparrow, put him in a stockade
and demanded a ransom of two harlots (a blonde and a redhead), Ms. Lampe said.
“I know there’s some people who are tired of seeing so
many Jack Sparrows out there,” said Ms. Lampe, a retired schoolteacher who
prefers to be called Jamaica Rose. (She says Lampe is her “civilian name.”)
The Press-Enterprise: Inland
residents turn passion for pirates into a living, By MARK MUCKENFUSS,
June 17, 2007
EXCERPT:
No Quarter Given
Michael and Christine Lampe, head the organization. Christine
recently retired from a teaching position to join Michael, a former computer
technician, as a full-time pirate. They travel the country, according to her,
pillaging and plundering.
Last week, Christine spoke by phone from a pirate festival in
Virginia.
"I'm sitting at our booth right now to sell a bunch of
pirate swag and our magazine," she said.
No Quarter Given magazine provides information on pirate
history, current pirating events, pirate products and listings for 114 pirate
organizations, including an Inland Empire group called Clan Darksail.
The Lampes also produce a book on how to walk, talk, act and
dress like a pirate, and a pirate songbook. In addition, they sell pirate flags,
bandanas, wooden swords and buttons with slogans such as "What would
Blackbeard do?"
Business, Christine said, has taken off since the first
"Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. The subscription rate to the
magazine, she said, jumped from 400 to 800 that year. She now has more than
1,000 subscribers.
Michael thinks the popularity will sustain itself for at
least a few more years, especially with rumors of yet another "Pirates of
the Caribbean" installment. After all, he said, pirates have always been in
style to some degree.
"From Errol Flynn on down, you see the pirate as a
romantic figure," Michael said. "In 'Star Wars,' Han Solo is such a
popular character because he's like the good-hearted rogue. They're all using
that black hero. In 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' Jack Sparrow is a black
hero."
And thanks to Johnny Depp's Captain Jack, things are good for
most pirates these days. San Jacinto's Beckner is counting on good business for
a while.
When the first movie came out, business basically
doubled," Beckner says. "And it's been doing the same thing with each
movie."
Now, he says, he has trouble keeping up with the orders and
fitting in bit acting parts on the side.
"It started off as fun," he says, in a half lament
that many a pirate before him may have shared, "and it's turning into
work."
The Press Enterprise: Hells
Angels got its start in San Bernardino County, by MARK MUCKENFUSS, June 8,
2007
They sport plenty of leather, grinning skulls and seem to
enjoy their reputation as desperadoes.
They're pirates, right?
You can't get away from them these days with Johnny Depp and
his miscreant crew sailing their ships across most of the country's movie
screens. The nation, no, the world, seems to be caught in the midst of pirate
fever.
But actually, I was referring to a more modern version of the
pirate we associate with the Caribbean. Call them the Pirates of San Bernardino
or, as they are more commonly known, the Hells Angels.
Even a local pirate expert, Christine Lampe -- who, with her
husband, Michael, publishes the international pirate magazine No Quarter Given
-- makes the connection.
"Pirates," she says, referring to the golden age of
Caribbean activity from the late 1600s to the late 1700s, "were the Hells
Angels of the day, the rebels."
Spin 1038, a radio station in
Ireland, radio interview June 6, 2007
No known archive. 6 minute interview to explain some myths about
pirates.
Slate: Did Pirates Really
Say "Arrrr"? The origin of Hollywood's high-seas slang. By
Christopher Bonanos, June 5, 2007
Explainer thanks Christine Lampe, editor of the pirate-history journal No
Quarter Given, and Richard Zacks, author of Pirate Hunter: The True Story of
Captain Kidd.
The Baltimore Sun: Awash
in Pirates; Arrr, Matey, Those Salty Sea Scoundrels are Everywhere - From a
Johnyy Depp Movie and Reality TV to Bands and Even a Wedding, by Jonathan Pitts,
May 20, 2007
LA Weekly: Best
Dispatches From Captain's Quarters, by Melissa Lo, October 05, 2006
Since 1993, readers worldwide have received Riverside
resident Christine Markel Lampe’s labor of love, No Quarter Given, a magazine
devoted to pirates and their exploits. Six times a year, editor Lampe (a.k.a.
Jamaica Rose Barton) and her publisher husband Mark (a.k.a. Captain Michael
McLeod) delve into the history of those seafaring rapscallions, assess recent
contributions to pirate culture (books, movies, games) and update a wide
subculture of pirate re-enactors spanning from San Pedro and St. Petersburg,
Florida, to New Zealand and the Netherlands. “I get to tell people I met my
husband on a pirate ship,” Lampe boasts of her first mate.
Authenticity for No Quarter Given’s 600-plus subscribers is
paramount. “Walking the plank was first written about in a play! In the 1800s,
there was actual pirate-plank walking,” Lampe points out. And what about peg
legs? “A lot of peg-leg sailors tended to be cooks.” And hooks? “Not too
many hooks. It would’ve been hard to get around on a ship without two hands.”
But at least there was rum. “The water was oak barreled,” she says, “and
would turn green and slimy, so it had to be watered down with rum and beer.”
There are layers upon layers of history to be uncovered
regarding historical piracy. “They were like the James Deans, the Hell’s
Angels of the period,” Lampe says of 17th- and 18th-century pirates. “But
they formed one of the earliest modern democratic societies in the 1600s. They
had a lot of freedom to disregard the rules and live life how they wanted to —
and they had very dashing-looking clothes.” Some of Lampe’s favorite
articles include accounts of buccaneer William Dampier, who dropped anchor at
the Galapagos in the late 1600s only to make some of the same observations about
the island fauna as Darwin would 150 years later; a two-part article about
pirates who observed and tracked hurricanes; and an exposé on the whale
extract-elixir amber grease.
Some of the most moving features in the magazine are tributes
to fellow pirate re-enactors who have passed. Ample space is given to eulogies,
whether in “Notes From the Helm” (Lampe’s editor’s letter) or in other
columns filled with reminiscing and heavy hearts. In pirate-speak, “to give
quarter” means to show mercy to captives. No Quarter Given gives voice to the
kind of community known only to those who have boarded tall ships and endured
choppy waters.
www.noquartergiven.net
SignOnSanDiego: A
pirate's life for me, Would-be buccaneers take their playing at plundering
seriously, August 27, 2006
Long before corporations climbed onboard, Americans were captivated by tales of
Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, William Kidd, Anne Bonny and their ilk. While this
subculture lacks massive budgets or ad campaigns, it thrives due to a band of
unsung scallywags.
People like Hanon, who formed his own pirate crew.
Or Christine Lampe, a Riverside high school biology teacher
who edits a journal on all things piratical.
Or Al Sorkin, whose alter ego, Captain Swordfish, ransacks
birthday parties and museum exhibits.
These ordinary lives are touched by something extraordinary.
“Pirates are the bad boys, the rebels,” said Lampe, aka
“Jamaica Rose,” editor of No Quarter Given magazine. “You like to hang out
with those who are a little dangerous. You get to dress real fancy and wear all
the bling – or capture all the bling.”...
...How to wear your bodice
In 1988, Christine Markel opened a friend's photo album. What she saw changed
her life: pictures of people in striped breeches, silk scarves, eye patches, the
works.
Annually, a well-heeled friend of Markel's friend had
celebrated his birthday by hiring a tall ship for a party at sea. The next year,
Markel secured an invitation – and much more. “I met a tall, handsome
pirate,” she said.
By marrying Michael Lampe, she acquired a new name (Christine
Lampe) and a new persona (Jamaica Rose). The Lampes founded the Port Royal
Privateers, and this re-enactment group's newsletter became No Quarter Given.
Circulation grew slowly until 2003, when the first “Pirates
of the Caribbean” movie opened. Then it jumped from 400-some to 600-some.
Today, with the second entry in the “Caribbean” franchise packing theaters
and a third movie in the can for next summer, Lampe's magazine is enjoying
another boost.
The journal's subject matter, the editor insists, is
endlessly fascinating. Lampe has written on how to wear your bodice as a “wench”
or a “pirate.” “There is a big difference,” she maintained. She's
examined pirate vessels as seagoing democracies and the costumes and makeup of
pirate-themed movies. She gives high marks to the low standards of hygiene in
Disney's “Caribbean” movies.
“They got the rotten teeth right,” she said.
Bad teeth, bad – by some critics' standards – movies,
good publicity. Early this month, the Port Royal Privateers were invited to
Disneyland to meet with the theme park's Imagineers.
“This certainly doesn't hurt our business,” Lampe said.
The Boston Globe: From
Sea to sea, pirate scene hooks recruits, August 21, 2006
By Michael Flaherty
"We've had a lot more fun being pirates," said
Christine Markel Lampe, who performs as female buccaneer Jamaica Rose. Lampe
said she took to the role a while back after a pirate crew "kidnapped"
her from a Renaissance fair.
The huge success of the summer movie sequel "Pirates of
the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" underscores the subject's broad romantic
appeal. But the subculture emerged long before the original movie in July 2003,
with some experts dating the trend back to the mid- to late-1990s.
Lampe and her husband Michael, whom she met on a pirate ship,
run a pirate magazine out of Riverside, California called No Quarter Given --
meaning "take no prisoners" -- which has about 600 subscribers from
the United States to Australia.
American Public Media, Radio Program -- Weekend America: Pirate
Popularity, July 8, 2006
Interviews with Cascabel, us, and Gail Selinger.
Los Angeles TIMES: A
Pirate's (Real) Life, by Corinne Flocken, January 22, 1998
Most days, she's your average working mom, but on some
weekends, Christine Lampe undergoes a strange metamorphosis.
She'll round up 50 or so of her best mates and start plotting
and pillaging, belting out salty chanteys and generally reveling in the
gloriously gritty life of a 17th century pirate for hire.
Riverside resident Lampe is co-founder of the Port Royal
Privateers, a group of Southern California pirate enthusiasts bound by a common
love of history and a taste for make-believe larceny.
Members, who range from college-age kids (minimum age is 18)
to senior citizens, portray fictitious sea dogs who might have prowled the
Caribbean during the 17th and early 18th centuries, what they call the Golden
Age of Piracy.
The group has appeared at the Tallships Festival in Dana
Point, area Renaissance fairs and, last fall, at Mission San Juan Capistrano in
a re-creation of the 1818 storming of the mission by French privateer Hippolyte
Bouchard.
On Saturday in the Orange County Marine Institute's Maritime
History Center, they'll hold a free informational workshop covering such topics
as costumes in the time of 17th century privateer Henry Morgan (better known
these days as spokespirate for Captain Morgan's rum) and working aloft in a
ship's rigging. The sessions are intended for current and prospective members
but will be open to interested members of the public as well, Lampe said.
If you can't think of pirates without conjuring up images of
blackhearted brigands with hoop earrings and peg legs, you're not alone. Lampe
says most folks are sorely misinformed on the history of pirates, and even more
are foggy about the role of privateers.
"Privateers were sort of like a private navy," she
explained. "If a country . . . didn't have a big enough navy of its own, it
would license privateers to attack the ships of the enemy" and raid its
cargo.
Booty was then divided between the privateers and their
employer, with about 10% going to the hiring government and the balance going to
the captain and his crew, Lampe said.
Contrary to popular belief, the hard-won treasure rarely
wound up buried on an island, she said. Privateers, and their self-authorized
kin, pirates, preferred to, shall we say, reinvest their profits in the local
economy.
"They spent it fast and furiously as soon as they got
back to port," Lampe said with a laugh. "A few of them did save up
enough to maybe buy a plantation . . . but most of them went to a tavern and
spent it on women and drink and gambling and it was gone in three days.
"They were a pretty hedonistic group," she added
with satisfaction.
As a Port Royal Privateer, Lampe portrays Jamaica Rose, a map
maker and part-time privateer/adventurer from Port Royal, Jamaica. She calls the
area "the Sodom and Gomorrah of the modern world" because of the high
level of pirate activity there.
Lampe, who can reel off names, dates and details of privateer
escapades at the drop of a tricorn, said she and other members spend a lot of
time trolling books for accurate information on the era. They do, however, take
certain dramatic liberties with the data. (Research, for example, shows that
seagoing men rarely wore hoop earrings but many of the Privateers sport them for
fun.)
Not all members of the Privateers have their sea legs, but
those who do, like Lampe, like to fine-tune their sailing skills by volunteering
as crew on local tall ships.
Events / Crews / Merchants / News / Books / Subscribe & Swag / Rogues Gallery / Movies / Tall Ships / Ports o' Call /Email/ Buccaneers for Hire/ Contact Us