d'Zenove Convention (UK Filkcon 19)
Feb. 5th, 2007 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
demoneyes_philFriday, we'd arranged to make our separate ways to the Con. Jenny had Amy for the day so she headed off with her early afternoon; Lissa went by train straight from work; whilst I took the afternoon off so I could pack the car, pick Alex up from school and (hopefully) dodge the worst of the traffic on the way. Which pretty much worked, with just a couple of minor holdups and a cross-country detour around the local roadworks!
I enjoyed the opening ceremony and SteveMac's set, then ventured off in search of FOOD. Was pretty unimpressed with the hotel's offerings, none of the snacks being to my tastes and £11 for a glorified burger seeming a tad excessive, so I headed out following Lissa's directions in seach of the local shopping Mall where she claimed a Burger King existed. Okay, so the bit where her route would have taken me up a "buses and taxis only" road didn't work so well, but I eventually found an "interesting" winding back route which got me to a car park in sight of the mall and in due course a sub-£11 burger! And I espied a Chinese restaurant right next to the car park which I noted for future eventualities...
Back at the con, I think I socialised for a bit then went to the "viking" circle in memory of Gytha North. Where it must be said we had a rousing and riotous nostalgic romp through the early days of British filk with the likes of Hitch, Mike, Rhodri, Miki and Melusine as we trawled through the Yellow Hymnal, Melusine's filkfile and occasionally reliable memories in search of songs including Grey Camel Line, Breathalised, Vikings Hail, Voyaging to Vinland, Jonah Barrington, Robin Hed, Battle Hymn of the Viking Societies, Song of the Shield Wall, Woad, Oak and Ash and Thorn, and of course, Music Has A Strong Magic. All interspersed with memories and tales from those early days when one guitar was the exception, and the filk circle that started before Gytha arrived was an unprecedented event! 'Twas a good filk, good memories and a fine tribute to a lady without whom it's almost certainly not an exaggeration to say that this convention and its predecessors could easily or even likely would never have happened.
Taking a break after that, I hunted up Mich. I'd asked her at Letton a couple of weeks ago whether she'd be amenable to accompanying me here on my filk of - well - one of her songs, and being the lovely, gracious, and above-all forgiving lady that she is, she'd agreed. So we headed off and I gave her a debut performance of the song whilst we found out if we could make it work together, not a foregone conclusion given it's a kind of "chatty" song, with inherently variable scansion through the verses. Much to my relief, however, it did, and it all clicked together pretty much first time. One advantage, probably, of being such a purist in parodying every element of the original! And we grinned evilly at each other (I swear she's as bad as I am - well, almost) and looked forward to the concert on the morrow.
Back to the circle and filked until 1am or so, I think. More filk than I probably usually see on a Friday night, but from what I recall it was quite a fun circle.
Saturday morning was kind of, well, fragmentary - as indeed to be honest was much of the convention, as Amy's of an age where she pretty much a) has to be supervised all the time, and b) often prefers to wander randomly rather than sit and play in one spot! Whilst Alex can often play unsupervised for a while, but usually only for a while before Something Happens and intervention is needed. (The con/hotel had provided a kid's room, which helped a lot, but it probably has to be said that of non-hotel toys, it felt at times like most of those being shared there for play were Alex's, which probably caused a lot of his problems, poor kid.) So it certainly felt like I (and I expect Lissa too) spent a lot of Saturday and Sunday wandering around the lobby, missing large chunks of the programme and kind of circling but never actually getting much chance to enter any of the conversations there! Very frustrating, but I guess comes with the territory - and we do get good help from Jenny and our friends, which makes things a lot more bearable. But if this report is fragmentary or (e.g.) I only report on the first third of the NMC set, that's why. Kids...!
Then came the Main Concert, and it was Showtime. I don't know if it has quite the same importance to newer comers, but to longtimers like myself, the Main Concert will always be the heart of a UK filkcon, and it's somewhere I very much try and find or save something special or new to perform there. And 'save' was definitely the operative word in this case, as I'd had the idea for this particular song during Mich's set at 1812Tone, developed the ideas whilst listening to her CD in the car on the way home from it, written it over the next couple of days, and then kept it unperformed for the entire rest of the year, all temptations notwithstanding! Not easy when it really is the only new song you've written that year!
But it was so worth the wait. It all went wonderfully, from what I'm sure was a mix of laughs and awed gasps as the audience realised from the piano intro that I hadn't been joking and I really had filked the much-adored Just Beyond; right through to the hysterical laughter at the end following the perfect closure of Mich's last sweetly-answered "Maybe..." . What can I say but thank Mich for being such a great sport, and hope she got half the blast from performing it that I did.
Then (and this is precisely the sort of thing I meant above) it was run out of the concert to spell Lissa with the kids, so she could come enjoy the latter part. And alas this time the kid's room was too far from the function space for the video link to work (though it's appreciated that they tried).
Very much enjoyed the 3WS set, as it was obvious did the participants, getting a chance to reunite and play some old songs again. Then it was off to dinner, and on the grounds that we at least knew where it was and how to get there, we dragged Rob, Janet, Teddy, Tom and Talis and kids off with us to that Chinese restaurant I'd spotted the previous night. And lo, there was copious and tasty crispy duck consumed and cordial conversation had with good friends. And doubly appreciated when we got back to find that the hotel's meal arrangements had all been dislocated by their unhelpfully (and AFAIK illegally if uncaringly) booking another function into the restaurant/lounge area, resulting in much general aggravation all round. And making going out look a doubly good call.
Only saw a little of Mike Richard's set as I'd been roped in to help with the Chimes set, two of their members being missing, In my case, I'd been asked to sing the counterpoint part to Marilisa's main part in their filk of Grief in Little Pieces, Thief to little Pieces. Well, I don't know, the cheek of it, asking someone to perform on a filk of one of their own songs! *grin* Though in this case it might reasonably be said that the crime certainly carried its own punishment as having started by tidying up the scansion on a couple of my smartass/backtalk lines, I then had ideas for a few alternative ones and seeing as how the original had simply repeated its first chorus, there was ample space into which to insert them... So I ended up writing 2 entire new choruses, plus changing a couple of the lines in the verses. Which wouldn't have been so bad except that whilst she knew I'd been doing something to it, Marilisa didn't get to find out exactly what I'd done to it until we were actually on stage and performing, and she was on the receiving end... With gratifyingly hysterical results, not least for her - I lost count of how many times she corpsed completely (e.g "When I get my hands on that damn halfling" / "She only wants me for my body" / "*splutter*") but I'm sure it was at least three times, maybe more!
She even let me live afterwards - though as I had to point out, she did ask me to sing with her. She did... (Urban Tapestry may remember a similar mistake on "He's A Guy"... *grin*)
Lady Mondegreen - if being perfectly frank I'd say marvellous vocals, gorgeous harmonies, great performance, but possibly not totally convinced by the material, though that may well just be a matter of personal taste divergence. Certainly where I liked the songs - Mordred's Lullaby springing to mind at this point - the results were awesome, but overall it left me a little disappointed perhaps. But I suspect I'm probably well in the minority there, and as performers they were just superb to see. And it was a blast playing drums for them, if also an adventure given the only rehearsal was "lap drumming" and I didn't get to play the actual e-kit for the first time until actually on stage! Went pretty well, though - it rocked!
Saturday night circle was just a bit big, and if not actually aggressive chaos in what I think of as the "US style" it was rather suffering from "follower-itis". So I ended up setting up smaller circle with Mich and Talis and others in the other filk room, and after a few accretions we had a rather lovely little session through to 0130 or so. Was good, felt good and something we probably ought to do more of, both here and in Germany (which also suffers quite heavily from overlarge circle issues).
Sunday, after the LM kid's concert (I've not previously considered "bodycount" as an essential parameter when planning children's concerts, but knowing children, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that it works for them...*grin*) seemed to consist of much child-watching, Lissa of course having to be involved with the filkfund and auction. Not complaining, I'm sure parts of her weekend felt just the same for the same sort of reason, but combined with lack of sleep (I didn't get on with the beds/pillows for some reason) it didn't help my mood. Doubly so when Alex terminally melted down midway through the NMC set, resulting in my missing half of that and (eventually) his being despatched home a bit early with Jenny. So at about this point, the day really wasn't feeling too good so far. And then came the Sams awards...
Now two years ago, at Dixseption, I won the Best Silly category with Beacon Men of Gondor. Last year at 1812Tone, I won the Best Silly category with Daddy' s Little ... Oh Amy! So whilst I seriously try not to treat them as anything more than a bit of fun and a token of audience appreciation, you'll understand if maybe I wasn't managing to be totally disinterested in the results of this year's ballots!
Melusine announced the first award - Best Serious - One Small Boat by Marilisa. Huge roar of audience approval and applause for an obviously very popular winner. And a well-deserved one. Then it was Best Silly, and ... OMG! "Well Beyond by..." Huge roar of - well, I'd guess approving laughter would probably be the best description, as I got up and walked up to collect it. And one huge mixed feeling of joy and achievement.
I sat down again with the award (to joking comments of "Have you got room on the mantelpiece for that?"!) and Melusine went on to announce the At Con award. "And the winner is... Thief to Little Pieces, by Marilisa and Phil". My jaw dropped, Marilisa's too I expect, and I think the whole room fell apart laughing as she and I hugged and went up once more, desperately trying to stop laughing ourselves. And oh the irony. 11 months I'd spent practising and polishing the song which won one award - and the other comes for something totally unrehearsed, scribbled out in haste in the lobby 10 minutes before the start of the set! LoL!
And the Gold Award went, to probably no one's surprise to Music Has A Strong Magic. And sentimentality aside, that's such a well-deserved award, as 20 years or more after it was written it's a rare filk event that goes by without that song being sung at least once. Which is probably as good a definition of a worthy winner of Filk Gold as I can think of.
And then came the SAM's concert, a lovely mix of laughter and I think a few tears, especially as Rhodri sang through Gytha's song with the audience singing or harmonising along. Just beautiful, and very moving.
Closing ceremony, and then off for dinner. And Lissa and I rapidly agreed that knowing where a restaurant was, how to get there, where to park and that it did really good food more than outweighed the hardship of her having to eat crispy duck for a second evening in a row. So we put together a small group which, in the way of such things, rapidly accreted to a large one, large enough in fact that we ended up on two tables. However this was redressed to some extent as later in the meal, Steve Mac went over to the other table and starting inviting groups of two over "for a guest conversation spot at the small table convention". Katy blushed the first time and said "Isn't he embarrassing?" to which I of course replied "Not at all - but then he's not my husband..." *grin*. And the food was again good, and the company was again good, and a good time was had by all. (Lovely to see Tom Jeffers and Sue again - and glad to see they were both having a wonderful time!)
Dead dog filk had its moments, but I think I was flagging by now. Plus again, the circle was just a little large and if not actually competitive or cut-throat, again it didn't really feel one in which I felt totally comfortable. Though again that may just have been tiredness and emotional rollercoastering taking it toll.
Alas Sunday night was ... fraught. Amy was coughing. Coughing a lot. Like every 20-30 seconds, making it quite impossible for me to get to sleep, until after about 40 minutes or so I snapped and woke everyone. So Lissa fed Amy some medicine and it helped enough for me to get at least some sleep that night. I think. But definitely not enough by far, and I've slept for a couple of hours this afternoon, (which probably would have been more had some swine of a neighbour not started using either a strimmer or a power-sander somewhere nearby, which effectively put paid to that idea. And in the middle of the afternoon too! Don't they know some filkers are trying to sleep around here?)
Oh, and the answer to the mantelpiece question? Well, please forgive any seeming immodesty (yes, I know it's horribly un-English and all, but I hope I'm allowed to at least a little chuffedness, just this once and just for now!) but this is the family collection after this con.
Left to right, Didgeridouze (Thank You Kindly), ConThirteena (Crying All the Way to the Bank), Decadence (Anna), Lissa's Filk Hall of Fame, Dixseption (Beacon Men), 1812Tones (Daddy's Little - Oh Amy), D'zenove (Well Beyond), and a Filkcontinental Evergreen (Grief in Little Pieces).
Oh and doesn't Omega do some great work with the Sams? (We really ought to have a set of pictures of each one up on the filk.uk site, so they can be appreciated by more than the lucky recipients!
Thanks to the committee, tech, guests and everyone else for a great convention!
I enjoyed the opening ceremony and SteveMac's set, then ventured off in search of FOOD. Was pretty unimpressed with the hotel's offerings, none of the snacks being to my tastes and £11 for a glorified burger seeming a tad excessive, so I headed out following Lissa's directions in seach of the local shopping Mall where she claimed a Burger King existed. Okay, so the bit where her route would have taken me up a "buses and taxis only" road didn't work so well, but I eventually found an "interesting" winding back route which got me to a car park in sight of the mall and in due course a sub-£11 burger! And I espied a Chinese restaurant right next to the car park which I noted for future eventualities...
Back at the con, I think I socialised for a bit then went to the "viking" circle in memory of Gytha North. Where it must be said we had a rousing and riotous nostalgic romp through the early days of British filk with the likes of Hitch, Mike, Rhodri, Miki and Melusine as we trawled through the Yellow Hymnal, Melusine's filkfile and occasionally reliable memories in search of songs including Grey Camel Line, Breathalised, Vikings Hail, Voyaging to Vinland, Jonah Barrington, Robin Hed, Battle Hymn of the Viking Societies, Song of the Shield Wall, Woad, Oak and Ash and Thorn, and of course, Music Has A Strong Magic. All interspersed with memories and tales from those early days when one guitar was the exception, and the filk circle that started before Gytha arrived was an unprecedented event! 'Twas a good filk, good memories and a fine tribute to a lady without whom it's almost certainly not an exaggeration to say that this convention and its predecessors could easily or even likely would never have happened.
Taking a break after that, I hunted up Mich. I'd asked her at Letton a couple of weeks ago whether she'd be amenable to accompanying me here on my filk of - well - one of her songs, and being the lovely, gracious, and above-all forgiving lady that she is, she'd agreed. So we headed off and I gave her a debut performance of the song whilst we found out if we could make it work together, not a foregone conclusion given it's a kind of "chatty" song, with inherently variable scansion through the verses. Much to my relief, however, it did, and it all clicked together pretty much first time. One advantage, probably, of being such a purist in parodying every element of the original! And we grinned evilly at each other (I swear she's as bad as I am - well, almost) and looked forward to the concert on the morrow.
Back to the circle and filked until 1am or so, I think. More filk than I probably usually see on a Friday night, but from what I recall it was quite a fun circle.
Saturday morning was kind of, well, fragmentary - as indeed to be honest was much of the convention, as Amy's of an age where she pretty much a) has to be supervised all the time, and b) often prefers to wander randomly rather than sit and play in one spot! Whilst Alex can often play unsupervised for a while, but usually only for a while before Something Happens and intervention is needed. (The con/hotel had provided a kid's room, which helped a lot, but it probably has to be said that of non-hotel toys, it felt at times like most of those being shared there for play were Alex's, which probably caused a lot of his problems, poor kid.) So it certainly felt like I (and I expect Lissa too) spent a lot of Saturday and Sunday wandering around the lobby, missing large chunks of the programme and kind of circling but never actually getting much chance to enter any of the conversations there! Very frustrating, but I guess comes with the territory - and we do get good help from Jenny and our friends, which makes things a lot more bearable. But if this report is fragmentary or (e.g.) I only report on the first third of the NMC set, that's why. Kids...!
Then came the Main Concert, and it was Showtime. I don't know if it has quite the same importance to newer comers, but to longtimers like myself, the Main Concert will always be the heart of a UK filkcon, and it's somewhere I very much try and find or save something special or new to perform there. And 'save' was definitely the operative word in this case, as I'd had the idea for this particular song during Mich's set at 1812Tone, developed the ideas whilst listening to her CD in the car on the way home from it, written it over the next couple of days, and then kept it unperformed for the entire rest of the year, all temptations notwithstanding! Not easy when it really is the only new song you've written that year!
But it was so worth the wait. It all went wonderfully, from what I'm sure was a mix of laughs and awed gasps as the audience realised from the piano intro that I hadn't been joking and I really had filked the much-adored Just Beyond; right through to the hysterical laughter at the end following the perfect closure of Mich's last sweetly-answered "Maybe..." . What can I say but thank Mich for being such a great sport, and hope she got half the blast from performing it that I did.
Then (and this is precisely the sort of thing I meant above) it was run out of the concert to spell Lissa with the kids, so she could come enjoy the latter part. And alas this time the kid's room was too far from the function space for the video link to work (though it's appreciated that they tried).
Very much enjoyed the 3WS set, as it was obvious did the participants, getting a chance to reunite and play some old songs again. Then it was off to dinner, and on the grounds that we at least knew where it was and how to get there, we dragged Rob, Janet, Teddy, Tom and Talis and kids off with us to that Chinese restaurant I'd spotted the previous night. And lo, there was copious and tasty crispy duck consumed and cordial conversation had with good friends. And doubly appreciated when we got back to find that the hotel's meal arrangements had all been dislocated by their unhelpfully (and AFAIK illegally if uncaringly) booking another function into the restaurant/lounge area, resulting in much general aggravation all round. And making going out look a doubly good call.
Only saw a little of Mike Richard's set as I'd been roped in to help with the Chimes set, two of their members being missing, In my case, I'd been asked to sing the counterpoint part to Marilisa's main part in their filk of Grief in Little Pieces, Thief to little Pieces. Well, I don't know, the cheek of it, asking someone to perform on a filk of one of their own songs! *grin* Though in this case it might reasonably be said that the crime certainly carried its own punishment as having started by tidying up the scansion on a couple of my smartass/backtalk lines, I then had ideas for a few alternative ones and seeing as how the original had simply repeated its first chorus, there was ample space into which to insert them... So I ended up writing 2 entire new choruses, plus changing a couple of the lines in the verses. Which wouldn't have been so bad except that whilst she knew I'd been doing something to it, Marilisa didn't get to find out exactly what I'd done to it until we were actually on stage and performing, and she was on the receiving end... With gratifyingly hysterical results, not least for her - I lost count of how many times she corpsed completely (e.g "When I get my hands on that damn halfling" / "She only wants me for my body" / "*splutter*") but I'm sure it was at least three times, maybe more!
She even let me live afterwards - though as I had to point out, she did ask me to sing with her. She did... (Urban Tapestry may remember a similar mistake on "He's A Guy"... *grin*)
Lady Mondegreen - if being perfectly frank I'd say marvellous vocals, gorgeous harmonies, great performance, but possibly not totally convinced by the material, though that may well just be a matter of personal taste divergence. Certainly where I liked the songs - Mordred's Lullaby springing to mind at this point - the results were awesome, but overall it left me a little disappointed perhaps. But I suspect I'm probably well in the minority there, and as performers they were just superb to see. And it was a blast playing drums for them, if also an adventure given the only rehearsal was "lap drumming" and I didn't get to play the actual e-kit for the first time until actually on stage! Went pretty well, though - it rocked!
Saturday night circle was just a bit big, and if not actually aggressive chaos in what I think of as the "US style" it was rather suffering from "follower-itis". So I ended up setting up smaller circle with Mich and Talis and others in the other filk room, and after a few accretions we had a rather lovely little session through to 0130 or so. Was good, felt good and something we probably ought to do more of, both here and in Germany (which also suffers quite heavily from overlarge circle issues).
Sunday, after the LM kid's concert (I've not previously considered "bodycount" as an essential parameter when planning children's concerts, but knowing children, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that it works for them...*grin*) seemed to consist of much child-watching, Lissa of course having to be involved with the filkfund and auction. Not complaining, I'm sure parts of her weekend felt just the same for the same sort of reason, but combined with lack of sleep (I didn't get on with the beds/pillows for some reason) it didn't help my mood. Doubly so when Alex terminally melted down midway through the NMC set, resulting in my missing half of that and (eventually) his being despatched home a bit early with Jenny. So at about this point, the day really wasn't feeling too good so far. And then came the Sams awards...
Now two years ago, at Dixseption, I won the Best Silly category with Beacon Men of Gondor. Last year at 1812Tone, I won the Best Silly category with Daddy' s Little ... Oh Amy! So whilst I seriously try not to treat them as anything more than a bit of fun and a token of audience appreciation, you'll understand if maybe I wasn't managing to be totally disinterested in the results of this year's ballots!
Melusine announced the first award - Best Serious - One Small Boat by Marilisa. Huge roar of audience approval and applause for an obviously very popular winner. And a well-deserved one. Then it was Best Silly, and ... OMG! "Well Beyond by..." Huge roar of - well, I'd guess approving laughter would probably be the best description, as I got up and walked up to collect it. And one huge mixed feeling of joy and achievement.
I sat down again with the award (to joking comments of "Have you got room on the mantelpiece for that?"!) and Melusine went on to announce the At Con award. "And the winner is... Thief to Little Pieces, by Marilisa and Phil". My jaw dropped, Marilisa's too I expect, and I think the whole room fell apart laughing as she and I hugged and went up once more, desperately trying to stop laughing ourselves. And oh the irony. 11 months I'd spent practising and polishing the song which won one award - and the other comes for something totally unrehearsed, scribbled out in haste in the lobby 10 minutes before the start of the set! LoL!
And the Gold Award went, to probably no one's surprise to Music Has A Strong Magic. And sentimentality aside, that's such a well-deserved award, as 20 years or more after it was written it's a rare filk event that goes by without that song being sung at least once. Which is probably as good a definition of a worthy winner of Filk Gold as I can think of.And then came the SAM's concert, a lovely mix of laughter and I think a few tears, especially as Rhodri sang through Gytha's song with the audience singing or harmonising along. Just beautiful, and very moving.
Closing ceremony, and then off for dinner. And Lissa and I rapidly agreed that knowing where a restaurant was, how to get there, where to park and that it did really good food more than outweighed the hardship of her having to eat crispy duck for a second evening in a row. So we put together a small group which, in the way of such things, rapidly accreted to a large one, large enough in fact that we ended up on two tables. However this was redressed to some extent as later in the meal, Steve Mac went over to the other table and starting inviting groups of two over "for a guest conversation spot at the small table convention". Katy blushed the first time and said "Isn't he embarrassing?" to which I of course replied "Not at all - but then he's not my husband..." *grin*. And the food was again good, and the company was again good, and a good time was had by all. (Lovely to see Tom Jeffers and Sue again - and glad to see they were both having a wonderful time!)
Dead dog filk had its moments, but I think I was flagging by now. Plus again, the circle was just a little large and if not actually competitive or cut-throat, again it didn't really feel one in which I felt totally comfortable. Though again that may just have been tiredness and emotional rollercoastering taking it toll.
Alas Sunday night was ... fraught. Amy was coughing. Coughing a lot. Like every 20-30 seconds, making it quite impossible for me to get to sleep, until after about 40 minutes or so I snapped and woke everyone. So Lissa fed Amy some medicine and it helped enough for me to get at least some sleep that night. I think. But definitely not enough by far, and I've slept for a couple of hours this afternoon, (which probably would have been more had some swine of a neighbour not started using either a strimmer or a power-sander somewhere nearby, which effectively put paid to that idea. And in the middle of the afternoon too! Don't they know some filkers are trying to sleep around here?)
Oh, and the answer to the mantelpiece question? Well, please forgive any seeming immodesty (yes, I know it's horribly un-English and all, but I hope I'm allowed to at least a little chuffedness, just this once and just for now!) but this is the family collection after this con.Left to right, Didgeridouze (Thank You Kindly), ConThirteena (Crying All the Way to the Bank), Decadence (Anna), Lissa's Filk Hall of Fame, Dixseption (Beacon Men), 1812Tones (Daddy's Little - Oh Amy), D'zenove (Well Beyond), and a Filkcontinental Evergreen (Grief in Little Pieces).
Oh and doesn't Omega do some great work with the Sams? (We really ought to have a set of pictures of each one up on the filk.uk site, so they can be appreciated by more than the lucky recipients!
Thanks to the committee, tech, guests and everyone else for a great convention!
