Conflikt - a Pacific Northwest filk con!

OT: Terry Pratchett article

2008-06-26T16:45:09Z

here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1028222/I-create-gods-time--I-think-exist.html

with extra insights on epiphanies.

Enjoy!

[with thanks to madfilkentist for the link]

Any performances of Tom Smith songs at Conflikt?

2008-06-10T19:19:28Z

As mentioned over here they're putting together a CD of Tom Smith covers as a benefit for Tom.

I'm wondering if there were any covers of Tom done in any of the recorded performances at Conflikt which the performers would like to submit for possible inclusion?

If you performed a Tom Smith song in front of the mics at Conflikt, and would like it submitted, I'd be happy to do the post-production on it and get it sent out for consideration. Just comment here, let me know what concert or session it was, and I'll get it ready and put it up for you to approve and then send it off to Rob.

A semi-odd request

2008-05-09T08:24:10Z

I work with audio drama's. Like old radio plays (only some are very new!)

One I work with is 0012: Lara Bond James' sister.

Our first "movie" is in production, and it's time to think about the second. My partner wrote and sang the first theme.

She says I have to write and sing the second. I can sing, sometimes. But writing songs doesn't seem to be my forte.

Any ideas? Or help?

Also, we often need music for our different shows. We can't pay anyone, but we give credit, and since it's podcast/RSS it goes out to a lot of people, so there's always exposure.

I ask here, since it's my local filk con, and I admire and love so many people involved :)

Thanks!

free Tom Smith downloads

2008-05-05T18:50:06Z

Tom Smith, author of the Bujold filk classic "Falling Free", has put up some songs and a raw concert track for free download until Wednesday. They're here:

http://filkertom.livejournal.com/809778.html

There's also lots of other cool free stuff on his website, http://www.tomsmithonline.com/ *all the time* [much like Miles].

Enjoy!

filkferengi, chortling off to listen again

snow Insta-filk

2008-04-19T16:26:00Z

TTTO "Let it snow! Let It snow! Let it snow!"

Spring Snow?

Oh the weather outside is frightful

But spring was so delightful

I thought it was April 19th

Why the snow? Why the snow? Why the snow?

I look out of my front window

I see the white flakes falling

I thought it was April 19th

But what the hell happened to spring?

When it was last weekend here

Oh, I loved the warm weather

I thought it was April 19th
Why the snow? Why the snow? Why the snow?

Looking for lyrics!

2008-03-25T17:32:13Z

I heard Flame Jockey a lot last weekend at Norwescon and can't find the lyrics anywhere! Does anyone have them or know where I can get them?

Question!

2008-02-19T17:28:32Z

A question for you all:

How did you all get into filk?

Supporting Membership Materials sent out

2008-02-12T19:18:57Z

For those of you that got supporting memberships for ConFlikt I your materials were placed into the ever-caring hands of the US Postal Service today.

(The delay was due largely to my trying to catch up on all the homework that fell by the wayside during the lead up to the convention.)

Tricky Pixie Photos

2008-02-12T08:34:48Z

Mine can be found here.

Paypal Finale (I hope)

2008-02-06T05:57:26Z

For those following along with the home game....

Apparently my email and irate phone call to their resolutions department today got me one step closer.

At this point, all the disputed transactions have resolved, with 12 of the 17 ending up being put through into the conflikt account.

12 out of 17 you ask? Why yes, Virginia. Paypal, in it's <sarcasm>infinite wisdom</sarcasm> decided that 5 of them really needed to be reversed and returned to their submitters.

I have contacted the people who initiated those transactions to let them know that I'm continuing to try and work with Paypal to get this cleared up but that it's very likely that they'll need to resubmit the payment to Conflikt either via paypal, or if they are as fed up as I am, by some other means.

Unfortunately this very likely means we will *not* be able to accept Paypal at the convention again next year for pre-reg. The one solution they offer to allow the sort of thing we were doing costs $30/month *and* has higher per-transactions fees. That's not something Conflikt can really afford at this stage of the game. I'm also going to hope and pray that there springs up some good/strong/trustworthy alternative to Paypal (I know of a couple in the works) but there is no guarantee that they wouldn't have exactly the same problem(s). It works great and dandy when all the transactions are coming from different IP addresses or spaced over a sufficiently long time-frame. It trips all sorts of fraud-o-meters when the all come from the same IP address in a short span of time (which is why this happened).

It's time to vote

2008-02-06T00:32:17Z

For the Pegasus Brainstorm Poll

Now that we have all recovered from the con (mostly), while we can still remember the songs we heard, and who sang them, think to yourself: Were there any really great songs, old favorites, new discoveries? Was there anyone whose songwriting ability or musical talent left you in awe? Are there any performers you wish had been there, any songs you wish had been sung?

Now is your chance to recommend their nomination by putting them into the Brainstorm Poll. Plus, because it is a poll, you really can vote early & often.

What are you waiting for? It's time to exercise your civic duty.

FYI Tricky Pixie Show this Friday, seating and stuff

2008-02-05T23:20:51Z

If you don't have plans to attend, go ahead and ignore this. Just wanted to post in as many places as possible in the hopes that everybody would see it. Kevin asked me to repost this on LJ.

Friends and fans,

If you are coming to the Tricky Pixie show in Redmond at SoulFood Books on Friday, February 8 and you would like to reserve a seat, please email Kwiley (AT) trickypixie.com as soon as possible.

Those of you who attended the January concert at SoulFood may recall that the main seating section was fully occupied VERY early. We'd like to ameliorate that situation as best we can this time.

To reserve a seat, you must email or otherwise contact K' Wiley and provide him with:
1. your name
2. your email address
3. your phone number
4. where you are coming from, and
5. your reason for wanting a reserved seat.

Because we're anticipating more response to this proposal than we can likely accommodate, we'll be giving priority to folks with the best reasons. Not getting a seat at the show in January is a pretty good reason. Medical conditions and long incoming drives are also good reasons. Responding quickly to this request will also help.

Even if you don't have a reserved seat, we'd love to see you at the show, as not all of the seats are going to be reserved. You are also welcome to bring your own chairs, although space will still be limited.

When your seat is reserved, you will receive an e-mail confirmation.
When you arrive at Soul Food Books, the reservations list will be at the Tricky Pixie merchandise table, and the reserved seats will be clearly marked.
We hope to see you on Friday at 8:00 PM at Soul Food Books:

15748 Redmond Way
Redmond, WA 98052

This is our last show for the season in the Pacific North West.

...as I said, if you can't make it, just disregard.
We're not tryin' to be imperious, here, just to hopefully make sure that people who had to stand in the back for the whole show last month (who weren't happy about it) get a chance at a seat this time.

Alec's schedule is posted online here, and the rest of our activity is here and here at my site.
:-D

Thank you all for being fabulous people and fabulous filkers.

More on Paypal

2008-02-05T15:31:53Z

I would greatly appreciate it if any of you who made transactions via paypal at Conflikt 1 to purchase pre-reg please go and check your paypal account and clear the transaction dispute. Apparently, Paypal telling me that 'oh, we investigated and everything was ok' was insufficient to have them actually automatically clear those transactions. Similarly if there are people whom you know who made these paypal transactions, please let them know that they need to complete the dispute resolution since otherwise the money stays in limbo :/

I have contacted Paypal with a bit of a scathing letter asking them why the heck when they cleared the investigation they didn't go and un-hold all these transactions (and presumably unlock the locked accounts!) but haven't yet received an answer.

I apologize again for this snafu.

Smoked Salmon song list

2008-02-02T08:50:14Z

If anyone would like to help me complete and correct this list, I would be grateful. Oh, and links to lyrics would be cool too.

OK THIS LIST IS NOW RE-UPDATED AS OF 2/10/2008, BUT FURTHER CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS ARE STILL WELCOME.... AND THANKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE HELPED!

Song Order 1
Title:
Guessed Title: Exploding Watermelon
Quote From Song:
Performer: Andrew Nisbet III
Artist: Andrew Nisbet III
Note: Story, not a song
TTTO:

Song Order 2
Title: Where Have All The Daisies Gone?
Guessed Title: Where have all the dragons gone
Quote From Song: Picked by Virgins (or maidens) everyone
Performer: Julianna McCorison (JEM of Pondside)
Artist: Juliana E McCorison
Note: 1991 - virgin // maiden if children present for PG rating
TTTO:

Song Order 3
Title: The Lightbulbs in Brandywine
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Kathy Mar
Artist: Bob Kanefsky
Note:
TTTO: The Blacksmith of Brandywine

Song Order 4
Title: The Wreck of the Crash of the Easthill Mining Disaster
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Brooke Lunderville
Artist: Brooke Lunderville
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 5
Title: A Last Battle
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Juliana McCorison (JEM of Pondside), Douglas McCorison (! of Pondside), & JT Traub (kendaer)
Artist: Music Leslie Fish, Words Mercedes Lackey
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 6
Title:
Guessed Title: Oregon Trail
Quote From Song: Here's a health to the Deveneaus, Jones and O'Malley's who rode all the way on a slow moving wheel.
Performer: Douglas McCorison (! of Pondside) Juliana McCorison (JEM of Pondside)
Artist: K.W. Todd
Note: KW Todd used to hang with Victory in Tacoma.
TTTO:

Song Order 7
Title: Till We Scatter to the Winds
Guessed Title: Scatter to the Winds
Quote From Song: The listeners and soundfolk are our brothers / The musicians and writers are our friends
Performer: Dagain Revdatter
Artist: Dagain Revdatter
Note: Brand New
TTTO: Colors of the Wind

Song Order 8
Title: Little Fuzzy Filkers
Guessed Title: Little Fuzzy Filkers
Quote From Song:
Performer: Rich Glover
Artist: Glover / Anne Prather
Note: Conflikt Anthum
TTTO: Little Fuzzy Animals by Frank Hayes

Song Order 9
Title: Conflikt
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Cern McAtee
Artist: Cern McAtee
Note:
TTTO: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Song Order 10
Title: Sing in the Circle
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: sublime
Performer: Joshua Kronengold
Artist:
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 11
Title:
Guessed Title: Chronology
Quote From Song:
Performer: Andrew Nesbitt III
Artist: Les Barker
Note: Poem, not a song
TTTO:

Song Order 12
Title: Renistalling Windows
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: You won't believe the time I spend reinstalling Windows
Performer:
Artist: Les Barker
Note: Poem, not a song
TTTO:

Song Order 13
Title:
Guessed Title: Window Boxes
Quote From Song:
Performer:
Artist:
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 14
Title: Comfortably Dumb
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Tony Fabris
Artist: Tony Fabris
Note:
TTTO: Comfortably Numb

Song Order 15
Title: Ballad of the Boy Cat
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: SJTucker
Artist: Betsy Tinney
Note: horny cat
TTTO:

Song Order 16
Title: Old McDonald's Deformed Farm
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Mark Osier
Artist: Mark Osier
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 17
Title: Come, Love, Come
Guessed Title: Serenity
Quote From Song: we'll make our home serenity
Performer: Cecilia Eng
Artist: Cecilia Eng
Note: included tune to firefly themesong
TTTO:

Song Order 18
Title: Gypsy Rules
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Kevin Wiley
Artist:
Note: Performance
TTTO:

Song Order 19
Title: The Red Queen
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: where the red queen reins
Performer:
Artist: Leann Hussey
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 20
Title: The Black Flag
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: where the roaches rein
Performer:
Artist: Cheryl
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 21
Title: Evil Laugh
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Seanan McGuire
Artist: Seanan McGuire
Note: Ref Firefly/Serenity
TTTO:

Song Order 22
Title:
Guessed Title: The Drowning
Quote From Song:
Performer: S.J. Tucker
Artist:
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 23
Title:
Guessed Title: Johny Cope in the Moring
Quote From Song:
Performer:
Artist:
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 24
Title:
Guessed Title: Away on a Donkey
Quote From Song:
Performer:
Artist:
Note:
TTTO: Away in a Manger

Song Order 25
Title: The Tale of the Kingdom of Mice
Guessed Title: Intro to Mouse Song
Quote From Song:
Performer: Kevin Wiley
Artist:
Note: Performance, a story excerpt from The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin & Spice by Catherynne M. Valente.
TTTO:

Song Order 26
Title: The Kingdom of Mice
Guessed Title: Mouse Song
Quote From Song:
Performer: S.J. Tucker
Artist: SJ Tucker
Note: Performance, the recorded version, with more mousey craziness, can be found on the album Solace & Sorrow.
TTTO:

Song Order 27
Title:
Guessed Title: Vietnam Rats
Quote From Song:
Performer: Andrew Nisbet III
Artist:
Note: Story, not song
TTTO:

Song Order 28
Title: Hallelujah
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: I heard there was a secret chord
Performer: Debbie G (through the coughing) with Vixy, Seanan, Merav and whole room
Artist: Leonard Cohen
Note: can be heard without all the coughing on Wild Mercy's "Furious Fancies"
TTTO: Hallelujah

Song Order 29
Title:
Guessed Title: It isn't always raining in Seattle
Quote From Song:
Performer: Mark Osier
Artist:
Note: Worldcon 20011 bid song contest winner, written at Conflikt I
TTTO:

Song Order 30
Title: When I Was a Boy
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: nintendo
Performer: Steve MacDonald
Artist: Frank Hayes
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 31
Title: When I Was a Lad
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: punched cards
Performer: Steve Savitzky
Artist:
Note:
TTTO: When I was a Boy

Song Order 32
Title: Six String Love
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Michelle Dockrey
Artist: Michelle Dockrey
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 33
Title:
Guessed Title: Oh Please Filk Gods
Quote From Song:
Performer:
Artist:
Note: New
TTTO: Oh Susanah

Song Order 34
Title:
Guessed Title: When Giants Walked
Quote From Song:
Performer: Kathy Mar
Artist:
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 35
Title: Mummy Medusa
Guessed Title: Madusa and Rapunzel
Quote From Song: Mummy Medusa will rock us
Performer: S.J. Tucker
Artist: S.J. Tucker
Note: and the recorded version can be found on the album Haphazard.
TTTO:

Song Order 36
Title: Dawson's Christian
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Michelle Dockrey
Artist: Dwain Elms
Note: Michelle Dockrey's version
TTTO:

Song Order 37
Title: My Fairy Tale
Guessed Title: Take Me In
Quote From Song: no happily ever after
Performer: Kathy Mar
Artist: Gwen Knighton
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 38
Title: Three Note Ballad
Guessed Title: Three Note Ballad
Quote From Song:
Performer: Lynn Gold
Artist:
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 39
Title: Poke in the Eye
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: I'm as good as any who can poke 'em in the eye
Performer: Jeri Lynn Cornish
Artist: Jeri Lynn Cornish
Note:
TTTO: As Good as Any

Song Order 40
Title:
Guessed Title: I'm Going to go Back There Someday
Quote From Song:
Performer: Peter Ellis (Maverick Weirdo)
Artist: Paul Williams
Note: “Gonzo’s Song”
TTTO:

Song Order 41
Title: Boundless
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Tony Fabris
Artist: Blake Hodgetts
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 42
Title:
Guessed Title: Paper Worlds
Quote From Song:
Performer: Katy Dröge-Macdonald
Artist: Talis Kimberley
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 43
Title:
Guessed Title: The Tenant
Quote From Song: hear me all, there are 99 bottles of beer on the wall
Performer: Tony Fabris
Artist: Bob Kanefsky
Note:
TTTO: Boundless

Song Order 44
Title:
Guessed Title: It's a small, small, filk
Quote From Song:
Performer: the concom who were still awake
Artist: Rick Weiss
Note:
TTTO: It’s a small world (after all)

Song Order 45
Title: Still Catch the Tide
Guessed Title: You can still catch the tide
Quote From Song:
Performer: Seanan McGuire
Artist: Talis Kimberley
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 46
Title: The Space Lasers May Already Have Penetrated My Tinfoil Helmet (Despite My Extensive Field Research)
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: yesterday's tomorrow is today
Performer: Brooke Lunderville
Artist: Brooke Lunderville
Note: New, Wroldcon 2011 bid song contest runner up
TTTO:

Song Order 47
Title:
Guessed Title: Release to Detinate
Quote From Song:
Performer:
Artist:
Note: Story, not song
TTTO:

Song Order 48
Title: The Dissapearing Man
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: in the voice that your mother used to use
Performer: Rebecca Newman
Artist: Dave Carter
Note: on Drum Hat Buddha
TTTO:

Song Order 49
Title: Oh, Michelle
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: oh Michelle, what the hell
Performer: Seanan McGuire
Artist: Seanan McGuire
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 50
Title: Dead Skunk (In The Middle Of The Road)
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: CD Woodbury
Artist: Loudon Wainwright III
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 51
Title: Gwideon's Courting
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: a death will be yours if you fight him and fail
Performer: Joshua Kronengold
Artist:
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 52
Title:
Guessed Title: Teacher
Quote From Song: come down my love, come down tonight
Performer: Katy Dröge-Macdonald and Steve MacDonald
Artist: words, Seanan McGuire, music, Steve Macdonald
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 53
Title: Dorothy
Guessed Title: Dorothy
Quote From Song: secret story of Dorothy Gale
Performer: Seanan McGuire
Artist: Seanan McGuire
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 54
Title: Snitch ball wizzard
Guessed Title: Snitch ball wizzard
Quote From Song:
Performer: Steve MacDonald
Artist: Steve MacDonald
Note:
TTTO: Pinball Wizzard

Song Order 55
Title: Jack in the Green
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Kathy Mar
Artist: Talis Kimberly
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 56
Title: Sir Jock of the Sword
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer: Kathy Mar
Artist:
Note:
TTTO: Jack in the Green

Song Order 57
Title: Dancing on the Edge of Dawn
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: the lord of time and the wolf of gold
Performer: Anne Stewart and Jovanie Seghers-Narvaez
Artist: Anne Stewart and Jovanie Seghers-Narvaez
Note: performers AKA: Time Queens of Galibee
TTTO:

Song Order 58
Title: The Worst Kept Secret in Cardiff
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: torchwood oh torchwood to blatent to ignore
Performer: Anne Stewart and Jovanie Seghers-Narvaez
Artist: Anne Stewart and Jovanie Seghers-Narvaez
Note: performers AKA: Time Queens of Galibee
TTTO:

Song Order 59
Title:
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: music with you is more than music
Performer:
Artist:
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 60
Title:
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer:
Artist:
Note: a moment of silence
TTTO:

Song Order 61
Title: May We Be Blessed
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: may grace and contentment find it's way to our hearts
Performer: Heather Munn
Artist:
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 62
Title: A Healing in this Night
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: there are songs that circle in your mind
Performer: Kathy Mar
Artist: Bob Franke
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 63
Title: Many Hearts, One Voice
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song:
Performer:
Artist: Steve MacDonald
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 64
Title: Merry Meet, Merry Part
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: mary meet, mary part, mary meet again
Performer: Steve MacDonald
Artist: Steve MacDonald
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 65
Title: Colonies’ Lament
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: the memory of earth will bring you home
Performer: Peter Ellis (Maverick Weirdo)
Artist: Sue Len
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 66
Title: Mary Ellen Carter
Guessed Title: rise again
Quote From Song: mary ellen carter rise again
Performer: Steve Savitsky
Artist: Stan Rogers
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 67
Title:
Guessed Title: mucocillia
Quote From Song: without you I'd probably have a blocked throat
Performer: Brooke Lunderville
Artist: Brooke Lunderville
Note:
TTTO: Cecilia

Song Order 68
Title: Flame Jockey
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: I wanna be a flame jocky
Performer: Rich Glover
Artist: Rich Glover
Note:
TTTO:

Song Order 69
Title:
Guessed Title:
Quote From Song: partly eaten by molly and ray
Performer:
Artist:
Note:
TTTO:

Cheryl's post continued

2008-01-31T23:21:09Z

SUBJECT: Conflikt Saturday 1

I caught about half of the gaming singalong, got a handout of most of the songs, which were also projected on a screen.

It ended with Cecilia Eng doing the last one after assuring Kathy Mar wasn't in the room, as her filk "Paper Heroes" was a parody of one of Kathy's songs.

I wandered off again during the 2x10s, catching the last two:

Blind Lemming Chiffon did "The Boy Who Once Knew Puff" to Escape Key's "The Girl Who's Never Been" and one he said was about being a singer/songwriter called "This is a Title." His instructions on that were to sing it differently each time, and vary the random tune from verse to verse.

Lynn Gold did what she said was "one of my few serious songs," titled I think "Worn-Out Pair of Shoes" and something that might've been "I Lost My Baby on the Information Highway," a merge of two other of her songs, "He's Not on the Net" and "Roadkill Cafe."

The songbook singalong did maybe a third of the printed songs, mostly those of the songwriters in the room.

Allegra Sloman did her "Tapioca Song," the one Jeff Hitchin parodied thrice Friday night. Everyone but me seemed to know it by heart. It's also on YouTube, she said, if you search for her name.

"Damn Con!" by Stephanie Weidert

"Rich Fantasy Lives" by Rob Balder and Tom Smith (not present)

"Atlantis Shines" by the consuite mistress, who also assembled the filk book, whose real name is Cindy Turner

"Rodney, Oh, Rodney" by Brooke Lunderville

"L. Ron Ron Ron" by Lynn Gold

"No Hurry" sung by vixy, which she called "my post-apocalyptic singalong song"

"Dear Boss" by Andrew Ross about the "Mythbusters" cable show

"Kara's Luck" by Beth Runnerwolf

"Alien Dream" by Rich Glover

"Jar of Tang" by Alexandre Owen Muniz

Interfilk guest Steven Joel Zeve, rather than performing himself, introduced the audience to East Coast filks through recordings and volunteered singers. Wife France did her specialty in the back of the room, cutting and styling hair for what'll be dozens of guests by the end of the con. Zeve ran out of time for all his song list, but this is what he presented:

"Ian the Grim" by liff Flynt, which used to be done with great joy, Zeve said, by the now-deceased Gary Anderson.

"Mary O'Meara" tune by Anne Passovoy, words by Pol Anderson story

"Merchanter's Luck" sung by Joel Shoji from the out-of-print album "Finity's End"

"Dairy Queen" by Barn Higgins, inspired by a Technical Dificulties song, "Jedi Queen"

"Cosmic Carl," an educational filk done by Dr. SETI/H. Paul Shook

"Threes, Rev. 1.1" by Duane Elms via Misty Lackey, sung live by Merav Hoffman

"Ballad of the CSS Hunley" by Clam Chowder

"Sedona" by Gary Erlich

"First Contact, Second Banana" sung by authoress Kathy Mar, about the "Invader Zim" cartoon series. Those who knew the show were laughing. I enjoyed the harmonizing by Steve Macdonald on the "doomy doom"s.

About 4:30 p.m., the Interfilk auction began, with an increasing number of dressed-up wenches: Seanan McGuire, Beth Runnerwolf, vixy/Michelle Dockrey, Merav Hoffman and occasionally Smac and thetwo suctioneers, Jeff Hitchin and Douglas McCorison(best beloved husband of Juliana of Pondside. I have photos of most.

Anything that bid above $100 got all the wenches involved, running between bidders to encourage them to bid more. The last item, an only-edition double CD live recording of "Sereniversary," vixy & Tony's celebration concert of the anniversary of "Serenity" with many more songs on it, went for $310 when the winning bidder borrowed $40 from a friend to get it. I have photos of vixy looking joyfully humbled by the amount, though I suspect it would've gone for double that at OVFF of another con used to Interfilk bidding wars to increase the donations for the cause.

A quick and tasty bowl of vegetarian chili in the consuite, and now I'm late for the start of the Skinny White Chick concert.

--Cheryl, who didn't look for prior-post replies before posting this

-----------------------------

SUBJECT: Conflikt Saturday concerts, con details
I remembered my fingerless gloves this morning. Don't know if it'll hamper or improve my typing.

SKINNY WHITE CHICK

skinnywhitechick.com or trickypixy.com

After the dinner break, Skinny White Chick kicked off the first concert of the night. Aka the Tennessee-based S.J. "Sooj" Tucker, one-third of a somehow local band Tricky Pixy, she was joined by fellow TP bandmate Betsy "Raven" Tinney on cello (Amanda, look -- cello filk!!!) for the hour.

1. I walked in on her first song, so missed most of the rousing drumming for "Firebird's Child"
2. Switching to guitar, Sooj introduced the first of her trio of Wendy-from-Neverland songs, positing what the girl would have done had she taken Hook up on his offer to join his pirate crew. Each segment has a title, but I'm not looking them up. That's why I put the links at the top.
3. Collaborating with author Catherine Valenti, Sooj produced two albums to go with the two books in the "Orphan's Tales" series. "Girl in the Garden" introduced a main character.
4. The second Wendy song showcased her skill as a performer as well as a singer. Her stage presence carried to the back of the packed room, and the grins and scowls and quirks of an eyebrow drew me in to the tale.
5. a tango showcasing Tinney's skills: "Alligator in the House" (with some dancers a the back of the room, but I'm not sure they tangoed)
6. "Taglio," another fron the CV books
7. a third from the books, might've been "Grotesqui's Lullaby"
8. The third Wendy song, to which three or more members of the audience standing in the back took to dancing as Sooj sang about the Lost Girls Pirate Academy.
9. Might've been "The Maidenhead," about a same-named ship crewed by women and female monsters, and the fun they have.

I picked up some of the seven albums she had for sale, and will doubtless inflict songs on the Tranquilo crew once I learn them. I can't quirk an eyebrow, though.

CALLIE HILLS

It was only as she began her first song that I realized she's the other half of Echo's Children (with Cat Faber)! (This was in her bio in the program book, but I somehow skipped over it.) With a rotating bunch of one to three helpers playing instruments and singing, I only managed to note two names: Cindy Turner (freed from the consuite for the evening) and Steve Savitsky.

1. "Acts of Creation" by Echo's Children, immediately followed by the same-tuned
2. "Axe of Destruction"
3. "How Far Back Does Music Go"
4. Hills described this one as Naomi Rifkiss' take on the book's perspective, inspired by the EC tune "Under the Gripping Beast"
5. The EC song "Play It Slow, Joe" is a comment on Joe Bethancourt's style of performance. Ben Newman one-upped them by taking their tune to comment on EC, possibly titled, "How's It Go?"
6. one about the most recenty shuttle tragedy, possibly, "Columbia, Skystrider"
7. A Seuss song tto EC's "Wings," again penned by Ben Newman: "Things" ("Under his hat, he had Things")! Gotta learn this one.
8. a song about "the other notebok" -- the one invariably left at home when she flies to cons: "Beware the Sentient Songbook"
9. a metafilk about filk sings, tto the Indigo Girls' "Closer to Fine": "Closer to Fen"
10. Steve Savitsky was called up for the next three. Savitsky said he posts his set lists on his LiveJournal site, mdlbear. This first was a song that began in Cicero's time, likening it to modern things (like blogs).
11. one about computers, might be "World Inside the Crystal"
12. Two more joined them for a Voyager spacecraft (not Star Trek) song tto another folk song I couldn't quite place. Might've been titled "Still I Fly" or "Man Must Try."
13. a statement of how she feels about filk, possibly titled "Around the Song Circle"

CHAIRMAN INTERLUDE

Rick Weiss took a mike as Steve Macdonald set up, explaining the legal stuff with Smac's WorlDream song project and uring all to go sign the waivier so we could all sing "Many Hearts, One Voice."

Weiss told of how he came to chair Conflikt as folks queued up for that -- he got volunteered by the con committee, put together at Pondfilk 2006, who at least though to tell him this just before making the announcement. He's run other filk cons before.

Weiss and other staff presented flowers to co-chair Bethany Runnerwolf, who blushed a bit.

Conflikt II, he proudly announced, will be Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, 2009, possibly at this same Holiday Inn Seattle-Renton. (Reg figures for this one, as of midafternoon Saturday, stood at 148.) GoH will be Seanan McGuire (who promptly ducked under the table to hide), toastmaster will be Frank Hayes and Interfilk guest will be Lawrence Dean from the U.K. Reg price will be $30 for congoers Sunday, then up to $35 for the rest of the world as of Monday.

The voice auction and haircuts had brought in over $1,000 for Interfilk, Weiss said, with the rest of the silent auction, and more haircuts, to be tallied at con's close.

STEVE MACDONALD

1. About 9:20 p.m., Smac started off with an instafilk about waiting for John (Seghers?) the sound guy to set up and determine "What My Levels Are." It was clever enough that I'm counting that as a song.
2. "Looking for Jack" by Talis Kimberley
3. "Dragon for Sale" (might be by Ben Newman? might be Smac's)
4. With Callie Hills on flute, he did one from his "Reap the Wind" album, possibly titled "Searching for the Frontier" although he has a habit of naming his songs something other than the most-repeated words.

"Hi, my name is Steve. I'm in a 12-string program."

5. From his upcoming album "Wanderer" (a rough cut of which went to the voice auction, perhaps just to prove he really is working on it) and also one one of his two ren fair CDs (as Gallamor the Bard, one album titled "Drive-by Barding," the other I missed) he did one that might be "Hands Connected to Hands" or "Divinity Reflected."
6. Hills switched to a bass flute? he did one written at a house sing. Hills explained it was an Acrostik, where the first letter of each line spells out the subject of the tune about "a man in a recently comleted series of books." "So I guess you can call it a Riddle song," Smac said, to groans from the audience. More folks than just me kept track of the letters. The tune began, "You know who I am" but he didn't state the title.
7. One about a family banshee flitting between space colonies as a means of FTL communication, perhaps titled "Colin O'Shaughnesy" though I know I'm misspelling that last name.

The next four songs are also to be on "Wanderer":
8. started out "Calm down all your anger," might be "(Warm and Safe) In My Arms"
9. Smac asked up wife Katy Dröge-Macdonald for the next two, explaining how his WorldDream project came to be at the milennium. He wanted the song to be a "We Are the World" for filk. This candidate was penned by Smac and Steve Simmons, but not used: "Hands of a Friend."
10. "my token Tolkien song," titled "Dark Wanderer"
11. a song that won a Pegasus award (Smac took this opportunity to plug ovff.org/pegasus for all to join the brainstorming poll for the 2008 nominations): "Wendigo"

Now, some singalongs to warm up the audience for the WorldDream recording:
12. "Close Your Eyes" by Daniel Glasser
13. His anti-singalong anthem, "I Will Not Sing Along." Gotta sing this at Tranquilo, as the catchy chorus goes:
I will not sing along
Keep your stupid song
We're the audience,
It's you we came to see.
You're not supposed to train us;
You're supposed to entertain us.
So get to work,
And leave me be!
14. Lyrics for "Many Hearts, One Voice" were handed out, then sung and recorded twice, with Smac keeping mostly quiet the second time. This will be spliced in with the 10 other recordings from filk conventions (mostly done in 2001). Details can be found at worldream.filk.org.uk

15. Smac finished with one that might've been "Merry Meet, Merry Part"

--Cheryl
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SUBJECT: Conflikt Saturday open filking
Although there was a secondary room, most of the attendees stayed with the main group. I missed a few songs when I returned to my room to brush teeth, stow CDs and shed a layer for the overly warm room. With fewer folks there, the A/C had a chance to catch up and keep the climate tolerable during the open filk.

Prior punchline explainer: I don't think I properly set up that Jeff Hitchin was card-carrying because he showed us his domestic partner card, something relatively new for Washington. Don't think Florida offers this yet, so I was impressed.

There's a photo pool for the con on Flikr: search for "Conflikt Filk Convention." I might even figure out how to post my own there.

As usual for me, rather than pester the performers to title and credit (accredit? attribute?) their works, I'm going by the first line or most-repeated words in place of titles. Also didn't get many of the names. One prolific local filker with a badge of "Harlock" wandered past me this morning at the business center and said, "I felt like such a filk hog!" I assured him I liked hearing his stuff. I also plan to steal his habit of holding up the page he wanted to sing to indicate his ready status during the chaos filk.

Again, I'm wearing gloves, and I'll use this to excuse my typos.

=Chairs half-full and arranged in roughly concentric circles rather than a vast, distancing around-the-edges single ring at 11:35 p.m. PST, I walked in on Tony Fabris doing a Davinci's Notebook song about how "I Don't Want to Be" various animals. Seen around the circle were many guitars, a bodhran and other drum, eventually flute and odd-looking four-stringed banjo/lute? thingie, plus a shaker egg and other rhythm sticks.

=(Heard coming from the hallway, something tto Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive," though I couldn't tell if it was the actual or a filk of it.)

=Harlock did a gaming song that needed five or six voices to do the roles, so he recruited knowledgeable local volunteers, including wife.

="Black Davie's Ride" by Cynthia McQuillin

="Time for a Strike" comment on current events in Hollywood, tto "Man They Call Jayne" song from "Firefly"

=another strike song by the same woman, tto the "Firefly" theme: "Give Residuals to Me"

=a banquet-inspired instafilk, "Little Fuzzy Filkers," tto Frank Hayes' "Little Fuzzy Animals"

(Seanan McGuire remained in the room, head bent over a comic strip panel at a table at the back of the room.)

=Cecilia Eng did "Sing in the Circle"

=Harlock did another metafilk about Moscon, and August relaxacon in Moscow, Idaho: "You Stop the Filkers" tto Leslie Fish's "You Bash the Balrog"

==Fabris polled the room to learn that, for a scant half, this was their first filk con. Another guitarist then pulled two newbie women up to serenade them with "Have Some Madiera, M'Dear," explaining this was an East Coast tradition. This was also a set up so Tony and vixy (Michelle Dockrey) could relate how Bob Kanefsky did this to vixy to present his filk of Escape Key's "The Girl Who's Never Been" tune for the same words, titled "The Girl Wo Had Never Been ..."

(Merav Hoffman, con chair for another filk con in Parsippany, N.J. in summer, came to announce the chocolate-sampling con party was set up in the consuite. I resisted, proving my theory correct when the leftovers were still in the consuite Sunday morning for breakfast.)

=Thomas (someone) did "The Cauldron Boils"

=Blind Lemming Chiffon played banjo to sing "Bagel Man"

=One man stood to say, "So far, we've heard exclusively from people who actually have talent. I'm going to fix that." He then sang a competent song about authors, "The Lonliest Pro at the Con."

=Dawn Jaekel returned to the emerging food theme with "50 Ways to Cook Your Liver"

=a young woman did an S.J. Tucker song from her book-themed albums, about the Kingdom of the Mice

=Kathy Mar did "Eat All Your Liver" tto "Drink Up the River"

=Cecilia Eng's husband Andrew was requested to do another food song, to which he introduced, "This is not my fault." He then credited Colin Fine (Feinnes?) with "Feed Me 'Til I Want No More." Very nice harmonies from the listeners by the end of the lengthy piece.

(about 12:40 a.m. now, hard to find a free seat)

=Peter (someone, not Maverick Weirdo) did a food instafilk, "All Things Sweet and Comforting" or maybe "...Savory"

=One that began "My name is Dan Jackson" by someone whose name I didn't get.

(A mundane wandered in, possibly inebriated to judge by the slight swaying, with the clip end of a long, blue leash training from under his jacket. Badgeless, he meandered out again before anyone could/would comment.)

=Stormy, a filker in the single-digit age range, patiently waited to be noticed to do Jonathan Coulton's "Re: Your Brains" rather quietly, but we all joined in on the chorus.

=Harlock, tto "The Irish Washerwoman," did a fast-paced ditty about alcohol or other chemicals.

=Brooke Lunderville was requested to do her victim's response to the prior JoCo zombie song, "Putrefaction."

(The mundane wandered back in, this time holding a program book and other papers pick up off the table outside, until being escorted out by hotel staff.)

="Undead Happy Trees" by Tom Smith

=Blind Lemming Chiffon did his zombie king tune tto Kathy Mar's "Flowers for Algernon" song, which might be "Powder on My Grave." Mar stood afterward to chide chiffon: "You know, when you filk someone's stuff, you're supposed to give them a copy!"

=Eng summed up Buffy's "Hush" episode tto Michael Longcor's "The Gentlemen" (which might be traditional, but I've heard it on a Longcor album).

=another short food song

=request for Lunderville to do "Mad Science Cafe" on her odd banjo-thingie

=young Stormy did another JoCo, "Code Monkey"

=a short follower, linking "Code Monkey" to JoCo's "Skullcrusher Mountain" by, um, Bob someone?

=Harlock did "I've Got a Horrible Feeling" tto "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning"

=req. of "Live Journal Shanty" for Lunderville, who said her mum wanted all to know she's used Google for years. Many sang along, probably all the LJ users. (Someone offered blank LJ ribbons.)

=Rich (someone) did one he wrote in the car Saturday evening while driving, explaining, "It's two songs rolled into one" -- "Another Filking Song" with perhaps two different tunes I didn't recognize.

=req. for vixy and Tony to do Nick (someone)'s "Red Right Hand"

=Peter/Maverick Weirdo did "Catch a Tail by the Tiger"

... (had to leave for a while...)

=a rare serious filk from Harlock, possibly "Echoes of the Past"

=history follower, Arrogant Worms' "History Was Made By Stupid People"

="The Spiral Dance"

=getting everyone clapping, someone did another Davinci's Notebook song, about how "the system has gone down-o"

=Rich, with loud guitar and soft voice, did one about "I Want to be a Flame Jockey"

=Stormy asked Tony Fabris to do JoCo's "Mandelbrot Set" (and sang along to the unexpurgated version); many sang along with the verses, more did the chorus, equation and all.

=Kathy Mar and a young friend (the older half of ASH Productions), did an Edward Scissorhands song, "Edward, I am dancing in the snow"

=something inspired by a gag by Steve Macdonald from Friday night, "She Went Out Through the Bathroom Window"

=Smac followed with a short "Stairway Up the Tower" tto "Stairway to Heaven"

=Harlock did his "Uplift"

=follower of Bob Kanefsky's song of galactic evolution, "the sameness of a Federation crew" tto "The Spiral Dance" (done by the woman who'd sung the original earlier)

=Eng did "Passion Flower"

=Steven Joel eve did a "sort-of longish spoken piece" penned 15 years ago by Mike Ruben (Reubin?), "The Programmer and the Elves"

=Harlock did "A Red Shirt's Lot is Not a Happy One" tto the operetta tune

=req. of Smac for "Journey's Done"

(now about 2:30 a.m.)

="Hope Eyrie" by Leslie Fish

(T-shirt: "Protons have mass? I didn't even know they were Catholic")

=to play her flute, Callie Hills req. the other "Uplift" of Smac. She said the author's name (A.R.), it's the Pegasus nominee.

=req. of vixy and Tony: "Apprentice" about Inara. "This is my _other_ 'Firefly' song," vixy said. (She's also known for "Mal's Song.")

=a follower on the "Firefly" theme

=Harlock did one that might be "Gee Joe," a space song

=Kathy Mar did Dierdre Kent's song abut bridesmaid fashions, You'll Use That Dress Again."

=a verse tto Echo's Children's "Wings" about Paul McCartney that broke Tony Fabris

=to the same tune, v&T then did Bob Kanefsky's "Crossed Over" about Nearly Headless Nick and Anne Boelyn

=Lunderville did Talis Kimberley's "Archetype Cafe"

=req. of one tto "General Taylor," possibly "Carry 'im to Brooklyn"

=Alan Sherman's "Glory, Glory Harry Louis"

=Joshua (someone) did a sea chanty follower, "Monster in the Lab-o"

=Smac and a sleepy Katy did the fairy song ("Yes they're real/No, they can't be")

=the elder ASH girl did one about nearby friends, possible "There's a Wall"

=req. of Lunderville: "Starlight and Dinosaurs," a touching, post-"Serenity" song tto Tom Smith's "Starlight and Saxophone"

(3:35 a.m.)

=Smac on guitar and Hills on flute did an instrumental, possibly from the "Done the Impossible" soundtrack

=Eng did "The Stars Call"

="Gotterdammerrung" tto Stan Roger's "Barrett's Privateers" -- Smac then requested a copy of the lyrics to take back to Germany for his Barbership quartet

=Heather (someone) played complicated guiter and sang for Peter Mulvey's "Wings of the Ragman" -- Maverick Weirdo acted as music stand.

=John Caspell did "Lulu, Let's Go Dancing"

=Kathy Mar did something written at Consonance 2007, half an hour to go until brunch opened, with Abba playing on Muzak, "Two Dates and a Road Trip," about Fandango (and other -ango and -engo words) tto "Fernando."

=Lunderville & John Caspell followed with "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" with audience gesticulation

(about 15 people remained at 4 a.m., and I just beat out young Stormy for staying up late before I, too, packed it in)

=another phoneme song, with gabardine, Aberdeen and wolverine

--Cheryl, who went to be just after 4 and could not get back to sleep after 8 a.m. PST

As I doubt y'all're sitting, glued to your monitors, reflexively clicking the refresh button to see my lastest blather, I'll dispense with a Sunday preview. I skipped the juried one-shots, and am missing the "sharps and flats" feedback panel. Gotta run!
--------------------------------------------
SUBJECT: Confliky Sunday 1
I've about half an hour until I leave for the airport, so I might not finish my posts until Tuesday, when recovering at home.

As soon as anyone learned about the tragic death of Greg McMullen and what happened to his home and family, it was written on the board at registration and flew from mouth to mouth. During concerts, those with laptops were checking for updates, and the shock caught up to the group at the Smoked Salmon filk circle (hereinafter abbreviated as SS) at the end of the day. I suspect his friends might have kept out of sight as they dealt with the news, so they rest of us who didn't know the McMullens continued with the con.

The Sharps & Flats con-com feedback session was well attended by both the members AND the con com staff. I arrived late, but my thoughts about the need fr a larger font size for bedge names was echoed more than once by others. I added my comments about following up after the hotel staff to space out the narrow chairs for we (us?) non-narrow fen, and trying to mark or establish clear aisles in the concentric rings of chairs for the open filks. They said they were in contact with Dave Weingart of GAFilk about providing sound from the main program room to the distant consuite. GAFilk benefits from having everything in proximity, not banished to a far suite of rooms with a tiny kitchenette they way most cons must handle their hospitality suites. The con com mentioned they'd made sure to attend a Construction, the SF Bay-area con-com con, for advice on planning, and it doubtless helped to have experienced staff such as chair Rick Weiss. Michelle Dockrey took notes as folks discussed a retroactive T-shirt (sensible, as you only order what you know is needed, in all the correct sizes, and can include any clever quips or mottos that emerged from the con itself) and other stuff, so I didn't take notes.

Several songwriters presented their candidates for the 2011 Worldcon bid. Mark Ossier(speling unknown) won, and you'll likely hear the tune at least once in the 1.5-ish years until the 2009 vote. Check the site, seattlein2011.org/ (no www on the front). He won bragging rights and a Friend of the Bid membership for his troubles, and later (at the SS) commented that he failed to think about how he'd now have to sing it ad nauseum when writing it Sunday morning.

Insert my usual disclaimer about not knowing the true song titles here.

ASH PRODUCTIONS

An acronym for their shared initials, sisters Angelica and Athrylis (a new favorite name for me) Sather Hodgetts called on the strumming talents of Tony Fabris for some of their half-hour concert.

1. "Don't Fall in Love With Inanimate Objects"
2. a weather-and-love song by the Diddybops
3. a song about someone from "Lord of the Rings" -- but they left it to us to guess who. "I'm the Christ-figure son of God"
4. "Albie, the Racist Dragon" from Flight of the Conchords, to much applause
5. something based on the "Fathers ad Sons" book of, um, Usagi Yujimbo, impressed me as a Whedonesque duet
6. a clever ditty about love predicaments when you're drawn to gay and/or Scottish men
7. a short one using actors' names
8. "They Killed Off Mulder"
9. announced as, "This is a song by our Dad," the title might've been "Where the Lost Things Go"

Note to myself: next time, bring a folding hand fan and perhaps a swimsuit, even if flying to a con in Seattle in winter.

Gotta soon hit the road, so I'll finish this in 24 hours or so.

--Cheryl
------------------------
SUBJECT: Cheryl home from Conflikt

The short of it:

I (Cheryl Jacob) have returned safe home from Conflikt I (www.conflikt.org), the filk convention I attended in Seattle, Wash., this past weekend, along with about 150 other filkers.

That's the gist. Here's why I can't yet get to sleep. I'm sending this out to my Central Florida filk mailing list and assorted other friends and relatives, so some might think I'm overexplaining, others might remain clueless.

(That mailing list, btw, is the Yahoo! group filk-cfla -- hint, hint, for those of you who are not reading this there already, or who are not my mother.)

And thus beginneth the gloating:

The Bards bought me breakfast!

No, wait -- that was at the previous convention. Lemme try again.

Steve Macdonald bought me dinner!

(Oh, dear. As I type this near 2:30 a.m. EST, an instafilk interrups:

Steve Macdonald bought me food/Along with Katy, too.
And all this food he got "to go"/Along with Katy, too.
With a burger here, car-rot cake there; here a food, there a food; everywhere a food-food.
Steve Macdonald bought me food/Along with Katy, too.
And with this food we walked to gate/Along with Katy, too.
With a walk-walk here, walk-walk there, here a walk, there a walk, everywhere a footfall; burger here, car-rot cake there, here a food... ((etc.))
Along with Katy, too.
And as we walked, we'd also talk/Along with Katy, too.
With a chit-chat here, chit-chat there, here a chit, there a chat, everywhere a chit-chat; walk-walk here...
Along with Katy, too.
And when he left I got a hug/Along with Katy, too. With a hug-hug here, hug-hug there, here a pat, there a peck, everywhere a hug-hug; chit-chat here...
Along with Katy, too.
And so Steve left for Germany/Along with Katy, too. With a gui-tar here, a packed bag there, here a Kat, there a Smac, and another gui-tar; hug-hug here...
Aloooong wiiith Kaaaaaatyyyyy, tooooooooooooo!

Ghods, I need to crash soon.) Anyhow, on with our regularly scheduled gloat.

Conflikt I guests of honor Steve "Smac" Macdonald and wife Katy Dröge-Macdonald had given me a hug (yay, me!) Monday morning when they departed for the Seattle Airport about an hour before I did. I'd looked around the terminal as I went through security and walked to my departure gate, hoping to see a newly familiar face from other convention attendees.

Although I saw a fen-sized, bearded man carrying a banjo case near the inter-terminal shuttle, he didn't look familiar. I was masquerading as a mundane, too, so I figured it would be difficult to spot other filkers without the proper con badges or odd T-shirts.

Thus, I was most pleasantly surprised some few minutes after I sat to see Katy's somewhat frazzled personage as she carried her guitar case to the back row of the plane. I'd booked myself in the next-to-back-row window seat, 40-A, months before, in hopes it would be an empty flight and I could get a seat of space between me and anyone else. No luck: my row of three was full.

So I looked farther up the line to see Steve, and I wondered where he was to sit, as Katy indicated she had the middle seat between two other passengers. Quickly grasping their plight, I offered to switch seats with Smac so he could be near his lady love. I think another gentleman swapped seats after I left, so they actually got to sit side by side.

Steve's seat turned out to be 22-E, a middle seat that gave me no troubles, but might have been agony for him, wedged between strangers.

I slept through most of the four-plus-hour flight (lacking reading material or sufficient sleep the previous night, sign of a good con!), then waited for most all the other passengers to clear before skipping back to grab my bag, left in the overhead compartment for row 40 because all the rest were full by then, Steve had said. Smac and Katy brought it up to me, once I correctly pointed out which it was -- "oops, no; the other green bag, thanks!"

As we walked up the ramp to the Detroit terminal, the pair kindly offered to buy me dinner. The flight staff hadn't announced what gate we'd arrive at, so we all looked at boarding passes to see departure gates and -times.

They had about half an hour to get to gate A34 before boarding began, and we were at gate A10 -- not too bad. I had about 10 minutes more than they to make my flight, which was slated to leave from -- get this -- gate A10. Sweet!

So I walked with them down the long terminal as we talked about the success of the con and perused the food options. We ordered meals to go from an eatery within sight of their gate. As I'd eaten a meal bar on the flight, I chose the carrot cake.

(Yeah, yeah, yeah -- I know, that would not count as buying me dinner at any other time, but it had recognizable slivers of a vegetable, nuts for protein, and it was warmed. So it counts as a hot meal. And most of you are not my mother, so shaddup!)

While waiting for the food, Smac said he was happy to extend the con that much longer by sharing flight and meal with another attendee. He even made it official by singing his own instafilk about waiting for the food, tto Big Bird's favorite "Sing a Song." I suggested using the lolcat phrase of yumminess, "om nom nom," in place of the "la la la"s. (This is a joke only those who attended/read about Conflikt's Sunday night filk circle would get, and I've yet to post that to the mailing list, so this is a preview of past references.)

I think this gives me bragging rights as the most Conflikt-ed atendee!

We hugged goodbye again (yay, me!) as their flight to Germany began boarding, and I rode the nifty red tram that overlooks to whole length of the terminal from its nearby midpoint to the southern stop near my gate.

I sat down, ate the yummy, still-warm cake, and had enough time to walk back up to the book store we'd passed and nab the last/only copy of the new Jim Butcher novel I'd meant to find before leaving Florida, "Captain's Fury." And to pee.

Again slated for 40-A at the back of the 757 (same plane, different crew and flight number?), the flight attendants said they had fewer than 40 people for a plane with 82 rows. So I took row 37, exclaiming to the two nearby flyers about the rarity of an Orlando-bound flight staying so empty.

I'm now on Chapter 5 of the book, btw.

Anyhow, I quickly picked up my checked bags and my vehicle, then drove the 1.5 hours home to greet the cat. I kept thinking of things to add to this part of my convention report, and I knew I'd not sleep until it was downloaded from my brain.

For those of you who are not my mother and not on the list, you can read the rest of my report and see the many fine filks our crew has penned through the past seven years -- if you subscribe to the group. Hint hint.

(Oh, and the "peck" from the instafilk is creative license -- I didn't kiss either of them.)

Still...

Iamsuchaluckyluckywoman!

Here endeth the gloating.

This message was induced by a combination of sugary caffeine, jet lag, attention-deprived cat and post-filk-con euphoria.

(Would that be "rapture of the bleat"? No, that calls to mind "rapture of the sheep" -- ewe. Uh, make that eew. What other word for sound/music would fit? "Rapture of the eep"? No, ticklish subject. "Rapture of the meet" -- there, that fits, as it _was_ a convention, after all.)

For those of you who ARE my mother, please don't phone me until at least 10 hours past the send time on this note. And thanks for watering the cat and petting the plants while I was absent.

--Cheryl, who, when tired, thinks she sings reeeealy well along with the filk tunes on her iPod (and who frequently refers to herself in the third person, and forgets to proof for tyops)
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SUBJECT: Conflikt Sunday 2
Ahhh. Sleep is a lovely thing -- sleep in one's own bed, with one's own cat on one's head is even lovelier.

MERAV HOFFMAN CONCERT

Hoffman dedicated her set to Greg and Maya Hoffman, then went on to show that her vocal skills and songwriting talent matched the luxury of her beautiful, calf-length hair.

1. "(Running with the) Queen of Hearts"
2. "The Child Garden," based on the book by Jeff M.-someone
3. "The Raven Stone" (maybe); Hoffman intro'd it as, "This is the song I would sing if I had minions."
4. based on a short story in the 2003 best fantays & horros anthology: "Anatomy of a Mermaid"
5. "Sigil" -- based on Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series
6. Written for friend Seanan McGuire, I missed the title. Might've been "Georgia" something.Though Hoffman said it makes her friend cry, McGuire remained dry-eyed this time, with perhaps a sad smile.
7. Hoffman said she doesn't normally write "blue songs," but this was one: "Cinderella Under Hell"
8. abaout the book "The Little Prince"
9. "Apple Trouble," for which Hoffman challenged, "See if you can spot the character references." The song mentioned three apple-related legends, none of which involved Steve Jobs.
10. "(Calling From the Foot of the) Beanstalk"
11. Hoffman called up friends to form a jug band: she on guitar; Brooke Lunderville on banjo; and three men on slide guitar; little, brown jug (possibly named John); and necktie-shaped, metal washboard and thimbles. "It's Not Easy"

About 4 p.m., she led the audience in applause for soung man John Seghers.

It was also announced that the total raised for Interfilk was $1,900.

BAND SCRAMBLE

Having about a day to practice, the four groups of randomly assigned volunteers each performed a song. This was not a contest, but a showcase.

Band 1: no band name -- -- "Rebel Queen" (which I may have misidentified previously as "Jedi Queen" when writing about the parody "Dairy Queen" done a capella, with nice harmonies.

Band 2: Clueless in Seattle -- -- "Assimilate You" tto "Drink Up the River" done on hammer dulcimer, banjo and guitar.

Band 3: The Banjo Pileup -- -- "You're a Hack" done with bass guitar in addition to the brace of banjos.

Band 4: Living Life as Whedonists -- -- "Ballad of Joss" by the Bedlam Bards, with Smac on guitar.

Now at the end of programming, Beth Runnerwolf thanks all for coming. We broke for sound setup and chair arrangement before the musician's jam.

JAM SESSION

A filk con tradition, the musicians get the chance to play together on mundane tunes we all know. I got photos.

1. Steve Macdonald led with "My Baby Wrote Me a Letter"

vixy/Michelle Dockrey explained for the newbies: suggest a song, lead same or sing/play along.

2. "Country Roads" by John Denver
3. Smac intro'd the chords for the others to pick up, then did "Black Davie's Ride," asking "Who wants to lead?" of the guitarists when it came to the instrumental.
4. Smac, after offering fr any of the others to lead, intro'd chords for "Ban Dihydrogenmonoxide." Afterward, vixy said, "We're happy to let you do all the work, Steve."
5. "5 O'clock World" (I recognized it, but am unsure of title -- lots of "la-da-da dee-dee"s)
6. "Dark Comes Rising"
7. "Ghost Dachshunds in the Sky"
8. Mark Ossier (winner of the 2011 Worldcon bid song contest) led Michael Logncor's "Silver Bullet Blues." When he forgot the words mid-song, vixy said to make it up, "Vamp! Vamp! ... No, werewolf! Werewolf!"
9. vixy & Tony pulled out a notebook with chords printed large on a page for Hendrix's "Little Wing"
10. lots of guitars for abother one I should know the title of, yet don't -- "So You Think You Can Change" or "Wish You Were Here" perhaps?

Con chair Rick Weiss quietly set up mikes during that song, as John Seghers had packed his gear.

11. Saying, "This one's country" as he gave the chords, Smac did what others called the train song, "City of New Orleans."
12."Now, it's time for a Madonna piece," Smac said at the end of the session, leading "American Pie."

Smac concluded, "What a way to jam a con ... Hey! What a name: Jamacon. People will wear their nightclothes..."

Dinner break, where I was treated to a tasty portobello burger in the attached Yankee Grill restaurant by new friend Mark Powell, a longtime local filk enthusiast.
-----------------------------------------
SUBJECT: Conflikt Sunday Smoked Salmon
First, an aaugh! I'd jotted the names for the band scramble when they were posted Saturday, and left a space in that post to fill them in. The I distracted myself and forgot to add them.

Band 1: The Time Queens of Gallifree (two college students with a fetish for Doctor Who and the talent to back it up), Joshua Kronengold, Lynn Gold

Band 2: Paul Campbell (hammer dulcimer), Katy Dröge-Macdonald (and guitar) (there's gotta be fodder for a teaching song there, for ignorant United Statesians such as myself who don't know pronunciations of accent marks, tildes, the French dangler under the C, and other marks), Blind Lemming Chiffon (banjo)

Band 3: Brooke Lunderville, Douglas McCorison (bass guitar), Creede Lambard

Band 4: Heather Munn, Steve Macdonald, Shawna Jacques

Now, on to the topic of this post:

This being the Pacific Northwest (though it makes me wonder if Iceland or somewhere calls itself the Atlantic Northwest, or whether my home in the armpit of Florida could change from the Nature Coast to the Gulf of Mexico Northwest), the dead dog event for Conflikt was dubbed the Smoked Salmon.

I missed a couple of songs during dinner, returning to the room abut 7:30 p.m. PST for a song about Florida, possibly called "Rippy the Gator." I'd told dining companion Mark Powell abut the recent vote for a new sate anthem for Florida, and how the filk group had agreed Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville" should have been eligible. He'd asked if any of the candidates mentioned the alligators eating children, so it was serendipitous to walk in on a song that did just that. Didn't catch the name of the white-bearded, banjo-playing local who performed it, but he did some other good ones throughout the con. Might have a photo of him in the scores of images I shot. (Hey! He was the other banjo in Band 2, so he must be Creede Lambard!)

As more folks arrived, Kathy Mar brought out poker chips and explained their use -- something familiar to Southern filkers. With dandelion stickers on one side (the icon of filkdom) of the wooden chips and sailing ships carved on the other, Mar said it was a play on words: dandelion ships. I didn't get it.

Note the time: 7:30. The first round of chips ended about 12:30 a.m. With the exception of some followers when things devolved at the end, all these songs represent one person's turn, so you can count the remaining attendees for fun, kids!

Folks wandered in and out, but those who'd had their turn were good about not taking another chip when they returned. Douglas McCorison of Pondside, dulcimer Juliana's best beloved husband, delightedly exclaimed, "I'm a poker-chip virgin!"

Note: "req." indicates a request made of another performer. As usual, I'm guessing on most titles. This also has the callbacks to the note I posted last night, as this happened before that.

+req. a story of Andrew -- husband of Cecilia Eng who might have a surname of his own, but I don't know it -- so he told the mostly true tale of "How the Watermelon Got to Bavaria," with an educational pause in the middle for a quick physics refresher when he got to the part where the local maid was told to "prepare this," figured it was a giant squash, and boiled it.

+Juliana of Pondside did one of her songs, "Where Have All the Daisies Gone"

+Kathy Mar did a Bob Kanefsky parody, "Lightbulbs in Brandywine" tto the song I know by Michael Longcor, "Blacksmith of Brandywine" (Note: as he's so talented and prolific, he's been verbed: You don't feel like a true filk star until you've been Kaneffed.)

+req. of Brooke Lunderville to do "Train Wreck"

+Request by JT Traub for Juliana to play guitar and sing "A Last Battle" (Above the Hollow Hill) a Lackey/Fish elf tune, with him.

+"Oregon Trail" done by Douglas McCorison

+an insta-meta-filk penned during the con tto "Colors of the Wind," "Scattered to the Winds." This was another in a series of songs about the con guests, begun by "Little Fuzzy Filkers" from the Saturday brunch challenge.

+"Little Fuzzy Filkers," a slightly different (refined?) version from the banquet one, and sung by Rich someone rather the the talented woman guitarist.

+a "Conflikt" filk in progress from a newbie

+Joshua Kronengold did "Sing in the Circle," perhaps the Kanefsky version?

+Andrew Nesbitt III (Cecilia Eng's husband) read a Les Barker poem about rebelling against chronological order

+req. for poem "Reinstalling Windows"

+chipped-in follwer, "Windows Boxes" tto "Little Boxes"

+req. of Tony Fabris (who just entered and not yet opened guitar case) to do "Comfortably Dumb" -- one I must now learn

+S.J. "Sooj" Tucker (aka Skinny White Chick) did a new song from Tricky Pixie partner Betsy Tinney (not there that night), first asking if the topic of cat sex was OK with everyone. Might've been "The Big Moment," about Tinney's Maine coon tom, Callan; a highly participatory song with the line, "stuffed animals cringe when he enters the room."

+req. of Mark Ossier for "Deformed Farm," tto "Old MacDonald's Farm" and cowritten by a group of Dorsai Irregulars, to which he'd added a new final verse that had many laughing

+req. of Cecilia Eng to do her "Firefly" song, possibly titled Come, Love, Come" (I first heard this at the July 4-weekend con I attended in 2003 in Seattle with Tim "Multipass" Thielen and my kin. This reinforces my hypothesis ((theory?)) that more songs have been written about this half-aired, tragically canceled show that about some long-running series, such as "Babylon 5." Everyone seemed to have a really good "Firefly" song or three.)

+req. of Kevin someone to do "Gypsy Rules" with the aid of pal Sooj Tucker. Her soft guitar accompaniment for the spoken piece quickly trained us to call out "Hey!" at regular intervals, cued by a louder, descending trio of notes. Search YouTube for it, as he was trying to get a good copy to post. I was distantly, directly behind Kevin from the point of view of his camera, so I might be on YouTube!

+song attributed to Leann Hussey, deceased SF Bay-area filker, "The Red Queen"

+I wasted my chip by tactlessly asking if anyone new the Kanef of this, "The Black Flag." The electronic crowd raced to his site for lyrics, then I had to mosty sing it while the nice man who'd played the original tried to match the chords from that. Sigh. Fun song, if anyone'd known it. Next time, I'll know to immediately reclaim my chip to wait for a better request.

+req. of newly seated Seanan McGuire for one of her "Firefly" songs, "Evil Laugh." Lynn Gold incited a spit take from McGuire when she later suggested McGuire substitute the lolcat phrase of "om nom nom" for "munch munch." McGuire grumbled this made her waste a good gulp of Dr. Pepper.

+young pixie Stormy req. "The Drowning" of Sooj Tucker

(+Mark Powell chipped in to reqest Jeff and Maya Bonhoff's "Bimbo on the Cover of My Book," but no one knew it well enough to perform.)

+req. of any martial tune got something about a British/Scottish battle

+Dawn Jaekel did a song about her writing group

+req. of Kevin to perform the introductory story for Tucker's mouse song, then Tucker did the song

+ raconteur Andrew Nesbitt related the tale of rats in his hooch during his time in Vietnam, possibly, "The Spacialist Johnson Patented Anti-Rat Round" -- wow, he's good!

+a new song penned the prior night, late enough to scare a mundane passing in the hall as they practiced, something tto Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"

+Steve Macdonald chipped in a req. for Mark Ossier "to play whatever he wants," so he did his 2011 bid song.

(now it was about 10 p.m. PST)

+req. of Smac for Frank Hayes' "When I was a Boy," with Fabris and Jerrie/Filk Ferengi feeding him lines at appropriate moments

+Steve Savitsky followed with his "When I was a Lad," a more accurate summary of the progress of technology

+req. of recently arrived Michelle "vixy" Dockrey for "Six String," as she was appropriately surrounded by guitarists -- she modified the final chorus to include four- five- and 12-string lines

+first-time filk abut the singer, tto "Oh, Susana," possibly "Oh, Please, Filk Gods" to much applause

+Interfilk guest Steven Joel Zeve chipped for Duan Elm's "Don't Push That Button," prompting a lengthy 'net search for complete lyrics and music. (This pointed out a possible cultural flaw of filk cons, where so many talented musicians dwell that no one can conceive of just belting out something a capella if it's supposed to have a guitar with it. I like our Tranquilo crew's habit of beltage.) So, Zeve switched to req. of Kathy Mar for "When Giants Walked," something she explained Zeve's elder daughter has popularized up and down the East Coast to the point where, when Mar visited, everyone kept asking her why she kept beating the girl to the punch by singing it (Mar's own song, mind you) herself.

+req. of Tucker for "Mummy Medusa," she explained it was about when Medusa and Rapunzel fell for the same guy

+req. of vixy & Tony for Duane Elm's "Dawson's Christian," the up-tempo Jordan Kare version (this is now on YouTube)

+Kathy Mar did "(Take Me In, Yes,) I'll be Your Victim"

(Chipless, Beth Runnerwolf plugged the local mailing list I mentioned in an earlier post. The group had thinned to fill maybe half the chairs by then as goodbyes were said, but they'd drift back in.)

+Lynn Gold chipped in with her "Three-Note Ballad," written with Gary Anderson in mind.

+something tto Echo's Children's "As Good As Any," described as a "Kill Dr. Lucky song"

+Peter/Maverick Weirdo chipped for "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday" with me enthusiastically singing along

+req. of Fabris and Callie Hills (on flute) to do "Boundless" with the audience chiming in on the chorus

+vixy req. Katy Dröge-Macdonald to do something of her choice, so Katy did the unrecorded Talis Kimberley song, "Paper Wolrds" -- vixy then cadged a copy of the lyrics

+req. of the Kanef of "Boundless" about 99 bottles of beer, the longest setup for a punchline I've heard since Tom Smith's spoiler song

!+Con chair Rick Weiss made the others on the con com get up to perform "It's a Small Filk After All" -- I filmed it.

+Callie Hills req. of vixy & Tony, Seanan McGuire and Merav Hoffman to do Talis Kimberley's "Still Catch the Tide." McGuire said she asked (in the form of one of her comic-strip panels) Talis why a selkie would need a suitcase, and that the author explained: As the former-selkie woman was packing for a trip to visit her human man's mother with him, she couldn't find something and so went searching. She came across the hidden selkie shawl, realized what he'd done so long ago, and had tearfully chosen to put it back and pretend she'd never found it -- just as he walks in, sees the tableau, and says, "Well, I guess you're leaving." This makes the song even more sad, because the man's such an idiot.

(about 11:35 p.m., now)

+Brooke Lunderville did her 2011 Worldcon bid song -- also fun, with a really long title. Something to do with a tinfoil hat and tomorrow.

+Mark Powell FINALLY got his delayed chip-in, relating a story about his work

+a harpist performed a song

+Fabris' "Mousy" hand puppet req. vixy and McGuire to do one Fabirs plays guitar for, about mucus, written by McGuire about an ill vixy: "Oh, Michelle, What the Hell" -- most all knew it. They said it also scans to v&T's "Girl That's Never Been."

+one man did the only country song he'd ever learned, of great social importance, he said: "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road"

+req. for Hills to do something. Joshua Kronengold suggested and then sang the never-recorded "Gwideon's Courting" while Hills played her bass flute ); inspired by a C.J. Cherryh story in an anthology

!+req. for a follower to the selkie song from Katy and Smac -- I filmed it, including Smac's pause in the middle to look up the chords

+req. for "Dorothy" from McGuire and v&T

!+Katy's chip was a req. of husband Smac: "Snitch Ball Wizard" -- I filmed it, as I was seated directly in front of them

+McGuire's chip was a req. of Kathy Mar to do "Jack in the Green" (chords written by Talis Kimberley) -- this I'd titled "Looking for Jack" when Smac did it a prior day -- Mar then did a snippet from a parody of British filk, "Jacques of the Sword"

+The Time Queens of Gallibee did a song they'd written Friday, "about a time traveler and the girl he fell in love with"

+their other chip went for their other song, also written Friday, they said, a funny "Torchwood" song mentioning all the characters

+Jerrie/Filk Ferengi recited a poem

+the penultimate chip of the night was Merav Hoffman's, requesting a moment of silence to honor lost friend Greg McMullen (aaugh! I think I erroneously named him Gary in the prior post -- sorry!). Heather Munn then sang "May We Be Blessed," which cheered up the tearful Hoffman

--Kathy Mar, chipless, followed with one that sent Hoffman quietly sobbing again, "There Are Songs." Others also succumbed to their grief and were comforted.

+req. of Smac to lead "Many Hearts, One Voice." He gathered the remaining group of about 30 into the center of the circle for a soft-to-strong rendition as friends led Hoffman from the room.

--Smac followed with "Merry Meet" then, holding hands, he spoke of the cohesion of the filk community, leading us to brighter thoughts again. Tactfully done.

--Maverick Weirdo introduced a song written by SO Sue/Suzapalooza, possibly "Memory of Earth," and how he'd done a picture to go with it that had been bought by the McMullens' daughter. Many in the room were distracted, chatting in small groups as he sang. They missed out.

(now about 12:55 a.m., and firmly back to chaos mode)

--Steve Savitsky did "Rise Again" about the Mary Ellen Carter

--recovering from her own silent tears, Lunderville did her "Mucocilia" tto Simon & Garfunkel's "Cecilia"

--Rick Weiss, also shaking off a shocked bout of sobbing, unsuccessfully asked if anyone could do Kipling's "Hymn to Breaking Strain," saying, "I know it, but I can never get through it."

--Rich someone did his "I Want to be a Flame Jockey"

(Since Mav's song, many had moved about, packing up gear. At 1:07 a.m., silence save for chatting from the small groups.)

--At 1:11 a.m., more returned to the room. tto "General Taylor," a zombie song caused Seanan McGuire's second spit-take of the night (with water, this time). Many joined in the song.

I bid goodnight to Mark, who'd given me a skilled backrub while we listened to the filking, thoughtfully pausing when I took my notes.

--Cheryl, who's had the chorus of Allegra Sloman's "Tapioca Song" going in her head since voting today in Florida's Presidential Preference Primary; now I know why everyone there knew the tune so well -- it has a latency period as it infects you
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SUBJECT: Conflikt extranea
Con over, I have some odd notes left, and you're gonna get 'em.

While chatting with songstress Seanan McGuire in the lobby Monday morning, I learned she's a reptile/amphibian expert (does herpetologist include frogs?) who once spet a joyful three weeks at Disney World Resort and kept bringing specimens (lizards, an alligator grunt) back to show her less-than-thrilled roommates.

McGuire also told me about Construction, the annual con-runner's convention in the San Francisco Bay area. I've a feeling our old friend and smof Peter Popovich is enjoying himself in California.

The Seattle Airport looks to have a nice policy of putting art anywhere there's room: Columns, windows, the thin space of well above the tram entrances. This includes the the baggage claim area, where a series of pulleys engage as the bags rattle down the chute. Starting with a matched set of green hardshells, the line includes a draftsman's blueprint tube, a duffel and assorted other examples -- until you get to the other end: a hardshell guitar case, similarly skewered on the rotating shaft. The display adds visual interest, but it almost seems a threat: "Warning, unattended luggage will be sculptured."

If you tip the maids at the Holiday Inn Renton, they might decide to treat you to pristine, sealed bars of minty soap every day, removing the prior day's barely used piece. Every day. And they might even leave you a thank-you note if you do the same on the hotel notepad.

In the "saw it coming" department:
Landing in Detroit, a mostly verbal lad of 4 or 5 so impressed himself by pressing the button to turn off the reading light that he then moved on to the larger red one -- the flight attendant call signal. It glowed briefly before mom clicked it off again, as the chorus to "Don't Push That Button" began in my head.

Steve Macdonald said Baby Ruth candy bars are not available in Germany as he happily stowed one away for the long flight to come. Must remember to send a care package with anyone I learn is going to the filk con over there.

The count of 82 rows from my gloat-post was for each side of the plane: numbered to 41, there were 82 if you assume the aisle splits the count. So, techincally, I took row 37-A-to-C. I did not try to stretch my legs across the aisle as a limbo challenge for the attendants so I could claim the whole row.

The precocious Time Queens of Gallibee reportedly had a great song at Friday's open filk, the one I slept through: tto "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," its subject matter was Mrs. Lovett's meat pies from "Sweeney Todd." Have to see if it's posted anywhere.

Need to poke about the Kanefsky site to see if my notion of a "Nightmare Before Christmas" Pumpkin King filk has been done of either "The Red Queen" or "Rebel Queen."

Another song notion: many in that area of filkdom describe our favorite key as the key of R, motioning same with the ASL letter -- middle finger crossed above index. Should anyone wish to research more word pairs, I can offer this one: R turns fiend to friend.

I spotted a pair of frog buttons in the craft section of my local Wal-Mart. Might buy and send them to the con com as a thank-you. Michelle Dockrey is the uncredited source of the cute Pacific Chorus Frog sketched on the program book. The buttons looked similar, sans guitar.

Con Report by Cheryl Jacob via me

2008-01-31T23:20:27Z

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
---------------------------------
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.

--------------------

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
---------------------------------------

Dawson's Christian

2008-01-31T20:08:32Z

So on Sunday eve (or early monday morning really) at the Smoked Salmon filk circle (kinda like a dead dog or Sasqwatch) vixyish and tfabris performed Dawson's Christian, which is a venerable filk song written by Duane Elms. http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/songs/dawsons-christian.html

I have never heard it played or sung l like this. It was fantastic. Tony's guitar playing added whole realms to the the song. cflute added a lovely haunting flute to it also.

Smoked Salmon Song List

2008-01-31T10:53:04Z

Before I say anything else, I'd like to send a big thank you to everyone who made Conflikt possible. I know I can't thank you all by name, but you know who you are. I would also like to thank everyone who helped, is helping, and will help to make sure that it is not simply known as Conflikt, but Conflikt I. It's good to know it was successful enough that it won't be the only one!

The Smoked Salmon on Sunday was the highlight of the con for me, if not entirely the cheeriest. I came to hear some music, but left with so much more. It was 3 days ago, but there are parts I recall as if they're still unfolding before me.

Not all of it though...

I started a list of songs played at the Smoked Salmon, which is essentially complete except for a few technical difficulties. It was suggested that I post the entire song list here, however I don't have the titles to all the songs, poems, and stories. Nor do I have the authors and performers figured out for everything. I do, however have at least a guessed title, or a quote from each performance, and am working to unravel the who and what of everything. There were close to 60 performances, so if anyone would like to give me a hand, I'd be glad to have the help, as not everything will be googlable. I'll post the list as soon as I have most of it.

Again, thanks to all for a great con!

Puzzlebox

2008-01-30T16:02:21Z

After hearing at Conflikt several of the songs I listened to long ago on a Puzzlebox CD, "Assembly Required," I went searching out their old website, which hasn't been updated in several years. They do still advertise selling the CD, but it only has a snail mail address, and I didn't want to send money out into space without a guarantee that it was still correct, so I emailed the address provided; it bounced back.

So my question is, is there anywhere I can obtain this CD or the music from it? Is it still in print? Or should I resort to the MP3 dealers I saw had it - I didn't recognize the websites, so I didn't want to just give them my information without checking them out first.

Thanks!

Edit: Thanks for the link to it_aint_easy, I looked back a little ways and found a link to their CD on CD Baby. Just in case anyone else would like the music. :3

ConFilkt songbook

2008-01-30T14:34:21Z

As one of the supporting members of the con, could someone post a list of the songs that are in the songbook?

I am just wondering what was in it (and can't wait for my copy to arrive in the mail.)

Harold S.