| Con Report by Cheryl Jacob via me |
[Jan. 31st, 2008|03:18 pm] |
This is a pastiche of posts Cheryl made to the Florida Filk list - with her permission and me editing a few things.
SUBJECT: Conflikt dealer's list 1
Goin' to Seattle, and I'm
Gonna get CDs, yes I'm
Goin's to Seattle, and I'm
Gonna have fu-u-u-un.
Goin's to Seattle and I'm
Gonna hear new songs
Yes, I'm going to Seattle
To filk!
could be sung tto "Chapel of Love" if I remembered anything more than the chorus or whether the title is really that or "Going to the Chapel"
I'm in Seattle, where the time states it's just past 4:30 p.m., but I know it's really 7:30-ish. Staying up for the open filks is gonna be interesting.
One of the two filk dealers is set up already. Don't know if it's Friends of Filk or DAG. Didn't note prices.
First pass for this one:
Songbooks:
Duane Elms, 2 Meg Davis books, Bob Kanefsky's Songworm 2 ($16, I looked at that one), Master Harper of Pern, Mercedes Lackey books (Heralds, Harpers & Heroes; Lovers, Lore & Loss; The Arrows of the Queen; The Last Herald Mage). Also the Child ballad series of books, and other folk songbooks, including Songs of the Civil War.
Casettes:
sale on folk tapes (I saw Clannad, among others), $4 each
Black Book Band, "First Contact"
Dave Clement
Graham Leathers
Nate Bucklin
Tempest
several Firebird Live! series -- Frank Hayes, Diana Gallagher, Juanita Coulson, Meg Davis, Peter Beagle
Challenger Memorial
Steve MacDonald (the GoH this weekend)
CDs: (not comprehensive, so ask if you want something specific)
belly dance CDs (four or five)
Golden Bough
Meg Davis
Misty Lackey
Cecilia Eng
Steve Macdonald (the GoH this weekend)
Robin Huw Bowin, "Hunting the Hedgehog"
Books:
many Misty Lackey, including audio CDs of "Arrows of the Queen"
Etc:
Some screen-printed dragon tapestries
a dragon bag
There are two computers in the Holiday Inn Seattle-Renton's lobby, ad I haven't had to wait long to get on one. I'll check back when I think of it.
At 7 p.m. PST, the concerts start. I left the program book in the room, but I know Seanan McGuire's first, and Katy Dröge-MacDonald is last. Saturday is Skinny White Chick and others. Check out the Web site -- um, conflikt.org, I think -- for the whole list, as I won't remember.
--Cheryl
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SUBJECT: Conflikt Friday concerts
It's about 8:30 a.m. PST as I type this, and I'm not going to check too thoroughly for typos. (This keyboard or my fingers keep skipping keys, too.) Also, as I'm hogging one of the two hotel PCs to type this, it might get interrupted if someone needs to check in for a flight.
SEANAN MCGUIRE CONCERT, welcome to Conflikt I
Just before her hourlong 7 p.m. concert, a sparkly-dressed Seanan McGuire was seen dashing into the room, singing "Into the Woods" as she ran.
Con chair Beth (Runnerwolf) welcomed all to the convention, as they didn't have opening ceremonies. She mentioned the things to sign up for or otherwise participate in: 2x10s, juried one-shots, the theme-writing contest for the Seattle 2011 Worldcon bid, a "band scramble" where participants would randomly get put together Saturday afternoon to rehearse and produce a song for a Sunday concert. She also plugged the Interfilk auction, set up in the back of the room, explaining about the Saturday live auction for anything getting 5 or more bids. (I looked later to see European chocolates brought by Smac and Katy, fuzzy knitted things by Callie Hills and much more.)
Toastmistress Callie Hills introduced McGuire.
While the sound crew had some difficulties at first -- the power cord for his computer got bumped, crashing the system, which then refused to acknowledge the sound system at all. They got it fixed by the fourth song, and after some audience feedback ("More Seanan, less guitar") got the mix better out of the speakers. Someone else was recording for podcast -- don't know his name.
McGuire introduced her band friends: Luis Garcia on drums (mad at Seanan, she said, because he brought a special doohickey for "Evil Laugh" which wasn't in the set list), Michelle "vixy" Dockrey on vocals, Tony Fabris on guitar, Alysa Garcia on keyboard.
I could do the research on her site to properly name the songs, but I'm not going to. I'll list the first line, and whatever words were most repeated as the tentative song title. You can look through her prolific online song book if anything intrigues you.
1. Counting from 1 to 9 in verses; "Counting Crows"
2. Mama rode the rodeo; "Make the Choice to Choose" or perhaps "Lord of the Buffalo"
3. How much salt to bind a man (duet with vixy); "Tell Me, Mama"
4. McGuire called up Macdonald, explaining this next song was intended for her album, but the sound mixer misjudged how loud she could get and thus blew out the levels on the recording. Vestiges of a common language; "(Chldren of the) Continental Divide." Smac whiffed the lyrics midway through, as he hadn't practiced. It was still great fun, and will probably make it a high-doller buy at the Interfilk auction.
5. They say that little girls fall in lov with their father; "Ticket to the Freak Show"
6. When the winter wind comes singing; "Rest Well, My Dear"
7. I know you, I met you a long, long time ago; "Cartographer at Heart"
8. McGuire donned a lab coat. I'd hoped it would de for "Maybe It's Crazy," but this was a new one to me, a teaching song, she explained, that got her noticed by the CDC as "that girl" so now they'll take her calls. It's a plague song about hemorragic fevers, possibly titled "The Black Death." Really fun and fast.
9. "Take Advantage of Me" (one from her albums, so I know this is the title)
10. He was born in ... mansion; "Preston Miller"
BRUNCH CD RECORDING
vixy and Tony stepped up to record an audience singalong of their Pegasus 2007-winning song of home, "Emerald Green," as it's about Seattle. This'll go on the Conflikt I CD gifted to Saturday brunch ticket buyers.
JEFF HITCHIN
About 8:10 p.m., a Pacific Northwest filker for the past 10 years did half an hour of quick, jokey songs. "I do one-verse. gag songs," hitchen said. An actor and self-described bear, he at one point told the story of ow he became a "card-carrying gay" to much applause from the audience. Dutifully continuing the humor, someone asked if he had a day planner, so he could deny he had a homosexual agenda. I didn't get all his snippets, but I'll try to list the longer setups. He didn't plug a CD, so he might not have one.
1. Trolls to the left of me; a song/joke about World of Warcraft and/or Usenet
2. "Kittens with Wings"
3. "Spoil Harry Potter"
4. "No Parking" tto Escape Key's (vixy and Tony) "No Hurry"
5. "No Furries" t the same tune
6. "Windows Vista" tto Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive" theme song from the Portal game.
7. Three one-verse ditties tto a popular Pacific Northwest filk song he didn't name, assuming everyone knew it, but he mentioned it sticks inthe head, especially as you pass the dairy case in the grocery store: "Oxycontin (but no alcohol)," "Guacamole" sung in Spanish, ad "Taco Yaki" sung in Japanese. This last broke a filker, who said she couldn't breathe for laughing so hard.
8. A full song about the male response to the feminist movement, "(We all go running) Naked Through the Trees"
9. A would-be commercial jingle, "A Loan Again, Naturally"
KATY Dröge-MACDONALD
About 8:45, Katy did her half-hour set. Half of the band Yooh and Katy, set said halfway through that she really missed partner Juliana (not spelled correctly, probably), as they took turns and thus saved her hand from cramping as she played guitar. She did her own songs, as well as introducing us to other European filkers' works.
1. "Page in Legend" about how Morgan LeFey was a strong, empowered single mother and Arthur was a male jerk.
2. Inspired by her own (Pegasus-nominated) song "A Thousand Ships," someone wrote "One Small Boat:
3. Smac came up to explain how they and another couple formed the first filk barbershop quartet, termed "Barbership" to honor filk's start. Debuted at Filkcontinental, it was a fun, four-verse song about how (I'm going to misspell these) Gryffindor sucked, Ravensclaw stinks, Hufflepuff's lame and "Slytherin Rules"
4. On their CD, Katy did her song about "The 10th Kingdom" miniseries, from the point of view of the wolf guy. Might've been "Trust Me, My Dear."
5. "Winter is Coming" based on a George Martin book
6. from a British filker, Phil Alcock, "Precious Moments"
Then the room switched to open filking. Wiped out, I reluctantly went to bed. The flight from Detroit to Seattle was long, and I gave up a fifth of my narrow, middle seat to the man in the aisle, who must've been a solid 350. As a friend once described himself, this guy was a big galoot, and he probably had more muscle cramps than I did as he tried to squash himself into the inadequate space they allow for each passenger. His wife wisely sat across the aisle from him.
I'll do a Saturday preview note next
--Cheryl
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SUBJECT: Conflikt Saturday preview, notes
The Holiday Inn Seattle Renton seems a nice hotel. Though I could hear TV and ringing phone through the closed) connecting door of another room, mine was quiet enough. Frost and ice showed on the rooftop outside my window, though if I crane right or left I can see hills and mountains, plus sings for car dealerships and a Wal-Mart across a busy road. As I type this morning, my fingers are chilling, so I'll go back to the room for gloves after this post. The front desk has baskets of apples.
Listed in alphabetical order, the pre-reg attendees's badge numbers look to go up to 118. Friday night, they said they's upped the Saturday brunch allowance to 80, so might've had a few tickets left. The icon for the con is the Pacific Chorus Frog, described in the program book as the smallest, loudest (90 DB) frog in Washington. Cute but uncredited sketches of frogs decorate the book.
Dawn (Jaekel?), formerly from Florida, wore a Necronomicon T-shirt Friday, and said she hopes to return for Necro this year.
The consuite shares my floor, but is in a separate "tower" of the hotel. Two sets of elevators serve the building. There are two floor 2's, two floor 3's, then my tower goes to 6. The consuite mistress (Shaddyr) put out salad and sandwich fixings along with more typical con snacks Friday afternoon while keeping mom-radar on two of her children. I also met, Juliana McCorison -- listed as JEM of Pondside on her badge -- and got her plug for dulcimers as she brought out three of them for everyone to noodle with. She's correct that the four-stringed instrument, when properly tuned, can't sound bad. One of hers was a banjo-dulcimer hybrid, called a banjimmer.
The program book's rules include "Remember to tip the maids" -- always a good reminder for frugal con-goers.
Chairman Rick Weiss' welcome note mentoned Dr. Bob Passovoy's Rule of "1, 2 and 4": In the past 24 hours, have you showered once, eaten a real meal twice and had at least four hours of sleep?
I got about 10 hours last night, and I've still got an hour to kill until the brunch begins.
Listed for Saturday, both the panel rooms:
12:30 p.m. Roleplaying singalong
1:30 p.m. Ten-minute slots (2x10s); also Reverse-engineering songs panel with Tony Fabris
2:30 p.m. Singbook singalong from the Conflikt 1 songbook given out at reg
3 p.m. Performance Strategies with Steve Macdonald
3:30 p.m. Steven Joel Zeve, Interfilk guest concert
4:30 p.m. Interfilk auction; also open filking
5:30-ish dinner break suggested
7 p.m. Skinny White Chick concert (S.J. "Sooj" Tucker)
8 p.m. Callie Hills concert
9 p.m. Steve Macdonald concert
10 p.m. open filk in one room, bawdy filk songs in the other.
--Cheryl
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SUBJECT: Conflikt Saturday brunch, dealer's list 2
Harold: Eric says hello back, said he saw your e-mail but his computer's being balky. He's got at least three of the CDs you asked about right now. The "Hedgehog" CD was indeed produced by Firebird. Didn't see a date on it at the Friends of Filk table, but the code on the side reads FAM-15008-2 if that means anything to you. Also, the man staffing the Friends of Filk table explained that the shop only exists at cons, run by filk fans to promote filk at Pacific NW cons, so he didn't have contact info.
I did pick up a card for the local filk group, Emerals Forest Filk Society, www.emeraldforestfilk.org, mailing list filk@ (same). To subscribe, the card states, send e-mail with subject line of subscribe to filk-request@emeraldforestfilk.org.
Juliana is the dulcimer woman.
Consuite mom's badge reads Shaddyr.
New greeting increasingly heard in place of, "Hi, who are you?" is "Are you on LiveJournal?" Though not offered at this con, some saved their "LJ name:" ribbons from OVFF and stuck them on their badges.
Lynn Gold treated us to "Grandma's Training Bra" as we sat in the consuite, waiting for brunch time.
Down at the tasty and well-stocked brunch (no sugar-free syrup for the french toast, but Tabasco sauce for eggs and potatoes ((or french toast, I guess)) and a creamy spinch-artichoke dip to go on toasted, cheesy rounds of bread) in a too-narrow room, the line snaked around the circular tables.
Many wore capes, and after eating and announcements, cape maker Brooke Lunderville presented themed superhero capes to each of the guests: guitars and dinosaurs/silver metallic lining for Steve Macdonald, swirly blues and purples and greens and blues on the outside and seagull lining for Callie Hills, rocket ships and asteroids/tie die for Interfilker France Andrews and bright yellow-blue flames/swirls of velvety brown, green and more for her husband, Interfilker Steven Joel Zeve. I got photos, but Brooke might post them sooner if I manage to transfer them to her.
Jim Granger's the podcast filmer, working for his first podcast for his YouTube show, Pacific Fen Spotlight. He'll be interviewing folks throughout the con, too. Web site listed as www.jimgranger.com.
Each table had blank sheets of lined paper and two suggested topics for an instafilk challenge. While we had the option of choosing either, Juliana of Pondside at my table chose to combine the two we had (after some trading with Smac's table to swap "Fandom" for "Alarms & Excursions"): "Barbarians" and "A&E."
After all else, some stood to sing their filks, about six of the eight-ish tables did seven filks including ours sung by Juliana about Alarums and Excursions and Barbarians and instafilks.
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DAG dealer's list
Eric of DAG had set up, although he said he left the wrong three boxes at home when shedding weight for the flight. He also said more will arrive later today.
What I saw was much of the stuff I've listed from elsewhere, all CDs: Leslie Fish, Carla Ulbrich, Joe Giacoio, Cynthis McQuillin, Joe Bethancourt, Brobdingnagian Bards, Heather Alexander, SCA Bards.
Some I'd not recalled:
W. Randy Hoffman, "Scratch These Vocals"
James Donal Faulkner, "Tired of This Exile"
Puzzlebox, "Assembly Required"
--Cheryl
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