WindyCon

[filkertom]

I go to a lot of great conventions. But I have a very special relationship with two excellent cons, MillenniCon and Dragon*Con. (Dragon and I had a few bumps here and there, but I think we're past all that.) They pull out all the stops for me, knowing that I will be a good guest for them. I pull out all the stops for them, trying to make them look as being brilliant for having me. The overall effect has been great for both of our reputations.

And then there's WindyCon.

Oh.

My.

God.

That was possibly the most fun I've had at a con in years.

I didn't get to all the music, but I did hear about all of it, and the reports were glowing. Alex and s00j and Betsy were amazing. Heather Dale was amazing. Dr. Mary was amazing. All the damn music was amazing. The con staff, especially Xap and Rachel and Lizzie of course, were amazing. All of my friends were and are amazing, and a lot of you are reading this now, so you know who you are (and extra hugs for Phil and Helen, who I didn't have the chance to spend as much time with.)

Toyboat and Amy and Debbie were amazingly amazing. (The TomBoat concert had a few minor stumbles, mostly from me, but I do believe we pulled it off.)

My set at the Masquerade was tremendous. I wasn't recording, because I had no charged batteries; if by chance anyone has audio or video of it, please contact me.

I made a little money, had a gazillion hugs, and was part of a thousand-person Oh Yeah on Sunday when we realized we weren't particularly tired or conned-out at all.

Carol and Mike Resnick both came up to me, asking when my concerts were. Jim Hines and I had a chance to catch up, and I met his lovely family. Animal X told me that her teenaged daughter didn't listen to filk, "even though we have a lot of your stuff" (glow glow), but after the Masquerade set, "now she's in love". Said daughter and her friend came up later and introduced themselves, and they were great. Lots of other people did the same, including Dave Perry, who I heard briefly at the open filk on Friday and who sounded incredible.

Several members of the con-com, including this year's chair Vlad and next year's chair Richard, personally thanked me, and I personally thanked them, and do so again publicly right here, because everybody went above and beyond the call.

I go to a lot of great conventions. But I have a very special relationship with two excellent cons, MillenniCon and Dragon*Con.

To which we now add a third.

WindyCon.

Comments

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

You won my wife when you were improving your song about the sound guy and getting the mics set up properly. Or maybe she just likes you because you're knee scar twins ;-)

It was great getting to see you. We had to sneak out halfway through the masquerade concert because the 5-year-old has no attention span, but what we heard was great. Firefly's been stuck in my head ever since.

[xap]

heee - i had a friend that hasn't been to a con in years, and hadn't heard much either. The opening improv bit? Won her too :) The rest of the show just sealed the deal :)

[salexa.livejournal.com]

About that Tomboat concert, I think your statement about the con rather fits. Oh. My. God.

Yes, you and Toyboat pulled it off. :)

[raven-ap-morgan.livejournal.com]

More than happy to participate. I had a great con, and being part of TomBoat was part of it.

Raven

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Ladies and gents, Toyboat's keyboardist, the Mad Man of the Mellotron, Raven! Yay!

[thistlethorn.livejournal.com]

I haven't been able to afford cons since about 2003, but except for a few art auctioneers who were real jerks (95 percent of the art show staff was unbelievably nice and helpful!), I have nothing but warm, excellent memories of Windy Con. I really miss it. I'm so glad you had a great time.

ETA: there were always amazing things in the Dealer's Room, too. I still remember the lovely ladies who made awesome stuffed wyverns that were absolutely gorgeous. And a slew of other unique items.

Happy memories!

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Glad you had a great time and that I could see you. Being between jobs was a bit of a downer and I'm not really a night person so I didn't stay too late. The Tomboat concert was great except that the left speaker was much louder than the right speaker which gave me a headache (like what happens when you wear headphones and one side is malfunctioning). Except for the open filks I attended every concert! This meant I had to skip the Masquerade. Sorry Tom. I love your stuff and your concerts but I had to choose between what was familiar and fun and taking a chance on something new. I picked something new.

Alex Adams was very nice and a great performer. He signed two of my CDs. I usually only do one CD per performer per convention but I don't think I'll see Trixie Pixie perform again for a long time. They did several of my favorite songs including March of Cambredth and Familiar's Promise. "Insh'Allah, The World of Lion's Blood" was very good. It was a reading mixed with a concert. The story was very interesting and if I could find a copy of the book, I'd probably buy it at some point.

David Perry was fun too. He did his "Shaving Cream" song which he needs to record and put on the Fump. The story goes he got the idea for this song while in the shower and saw the warning label on the can of shaving cream and realized he needed one too.

Contents under pressure
Don't puncture or incinerate
Do not immerse in water
Though a shower every few days would be great

[sweetmusic-27.livejournal.com]

*grins* I really like that one. "Don't keep me in the darkness, don't expose me to the light." XD

[fredhuggins.livejournal.com]

Totally unrelated, Tom, but have you seen this yet?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Indeed -- I was gonna post it today. :)

[caraig.livejournal.com]

I heard that you and ToyBoat did a real hard rock version of Rocket Ride. Since Rocket Ride is probably my favorite song of yours bar none (believe it or not, "I want to cruise the galaxy at FTL // Pursuing Heaven and defying Hell" does in fact bring a tear to my eye every time) I suppose I'm going to be disappointed to find out that there's no way to hear that version somehow? =)

[xap]

That version of Rocket Ride? Blew the roof off.

(another one keeping fingers crossed that the recordings turn out to be usable)

[sweetmusic-27.livejournal.com]

There were enough people recording one way or another that there will be SOMETHING, darnit.

[kyril.livejournal.com]

And if there is not something, we make them do it again until the recordings come out right.

And then we lie, say the recordings did not come out right this time either, they'll have to try again later. :)

[sweetmusic-27.livejournal.com]

*evilgiggle*

[hms42]

So... This means we might see you at Contata next summer?

[sweetmusic-27.livejournal.com]

Sadly, no. But there are other, closer filk cons where we might hear TomBoat again, or farther-away ones from which I might get a recording.

[xap]

*huggs* SO glad you had so much fun! Especially since you make things so awesome for us :) Nice when you get some back too :)

And dear? you did not "pull off" TomBoat - you guys knocked it out of the park!

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Thanks, love -- and, as mentioned, you were awesome beyond the call. So many hugs, so many thanks.

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

I will have to say that this was my best Con experience since I went to Coastcon in 2009.

I only got to see the first twenty minutes of Tomboat, but it was as good as advertised.

I got to sit with Steven Barnes Friday night for two hours and talk about race, gender, writing, true love, politics, his adolescence, enlightenment, and why people hate.

I convinced myself that the editor I most want to write for is Steven H. Silver.

I realized after four hours that I hadn't moved from my spot in the GT Suite, yet I had gotten ideas for three hard-SF stories, talked about radio-rangefinding in the 1632 world, and learned, in detail, about the present unfortunate state of SETI. Thanks Doug, thanks Bill.

Add to this seeing Phil and Helen Parker, you, Tom, and Amy and Gundo and Tess and Xap and Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett and meeting Jim Hines.

Wow, just effin' wow.

Thanks, everyone.

I'll see you at kittencon and Duck.

Tom Trumpinski

[dysprog.livejournal.com]

Tomboat Rocked! Several people have already pointed out Rocket Ride, so I will mention My personal favorite, Dervish. That was fricken' Awesome.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Thanks for having that "special relationship" with Dragon*Con, Tom. Like all relationships, there have been rough spots, and even times when you have to pack your bag and stay with Mother for a while, but it's good that the relationship is still there and slowly improving.

(Same thing happened to me. Maybe I'll get guest status, or at least something, for working the con in 2011.)

[tollermom]

The TomBoat concert was great fun... thanks for letting me jump in on Dervish! :-)

Also... I was really glad that we were able to do the quiet dinner thing w/ Mark on Saturday night. I needed some slightly-less-people downtime, and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out w/ you two!

[sinspired.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Dragon*Con - are you coming out with the Sunday night concert? I seem to recall rolling in the aisles at that one...