The Rest Of ConTata

[filkertom]

Things got a bit weird on Sunday morning. Having not got to sleep till almost 4:00, and having woken up around 7:30, I was more than a lot punchy when I went downstairs. This was somewhat alleviated by Cync coming up and hanging out for almost an hour. We just never get time anymore, and it was a joy.

So. Con. We had the Joe Bethancourt benefit concert, the one-shots, the songwriting contest, and Mark really wanted me on the BNF panel, but there was a wedding coming in that evening and we had to vacate part of the space. Sigh. We finally got the concert going, segued pretty quickly into the contest, and had the one-shots while Judi, Deb, PDuck, and I were judging. (Winners, by the way, were: 3rd Place -- Kara Yost; 2nd Place -- Gary McGath; 1st Place -- Kat Faber and Peter Alway. Congrats to all, and thanks to all the contestants!)

Somewhere in there, Alex Wittenburg showed up. A very good thing.

By the time all that was done, Ben Newman's song cycle was up... and I simply was not up to staying for it. So I went back to the room and crashed for a few hours.

With a little prompting from cell phones, I got myself together to meet Will, Janny, and Mark down at the Ruth's Chris in the lobby. Oh my. That was a very nice meal. The Caeser Salad was perfect. As was the filet with the three grilled shrimp on top of it. As were the sauteed mushrooms. As was the chocolate pecan truffle and the few lovely bites of strawberry shortcake.

Then, it was back to the function space for the Rotten Apple sing. Unfortunately, Mike Stein had acquired Ye Crudde and sounded just awful -- get well soon, m'friend.

Anyway. The Rotten Apple. Lots and lots of fun, one of the best I've been to in awhile. A whole lot of singing along and rich harmonies and silly and dark and yes. Our new friend Aya sang something and sounded real good. Mark was doing "Kentucky Monster Mash" when I came in the room, so I ended up doing "307 Ale" for the newbies. I also did a slightly slower but very well accompanied version of "Rocket Ride". Man, what a set of lungs in that room. I'll see if Harold has the audio, after he's gone through all the other stuff.

When I finally was just about ready to fall over, I said good night and headed back to the room. Ben caught me, and asked if he could sing me one of the songs from the cycle. I said sure, and he spent a few minutes explaining the set-up and then singing the song (a parody of "Operation: Desert Storm"). It all sounds very good, and I'll get a copy of that soon as well.

Next morning, I meandered out. No need to rush -- if I didn't make it all the way home, there were numerous Super 8s along the Ohio Turnpike. But I didn't need 'em. It took a little longer than I thought, mostly my own fault for a couple of longer breaks, but a pleasant day of driving brought me back to my door at about 10:00 p.m., and that was my ConTata.

Many thanks, again, to Joshua Kronengold, Merav Hoffman, Jon, Judi, Will, Janny, Harold, Mark, and just ever-damn-body. This was a splendid con, and we'll see about getting back for 2014. Or, for that matter, 2012. ;)

Comments

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

Thank you for using filker names, instead of LJ accounts for this account of the filk con.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

? Is that really that much of a problem? Or is it just nice to have the real names invoked once in a while so everyone knows we have them? ;)

[suecochran.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've thought of it as a big problem, but it is very nice to see the filkers' names for me as well. I don't necessarily have everyone in filkdom as LJ friends, not because I'm deliberately excluding them, but just because there are (happily!) so very many of them, I haven't yet met them, and I don't want to have to go back and forth looking for which LJ name goes to which filker. For what it's worth, I would be happy to see someone use both filkers' names and their LJ handles while posting, although I don't figure that many folks would want to bother to take the time to do that. Also, perhaps there are filkers out there who aren't on LJ.

[mneme]

The problem is, there are filkers whose real names aren't out. So you can do lj names, or real names, but you can't combine them without more work to make sure you aren't outing anyone.

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

It is nice to have the real names invoked.
>Is that really that much of a problem?
Yes, some userids are hard to keep track of, others are obvisous. When I have used Real Name in a post I might put a (on LJ) behind it, if I know about their presence here.

[hms42]

Rocket Ride, I can look for and pull for you. Never a problem on requests like that.

As for the song Ben sang, he mentioned it was a new one written this past weekend and while not part of the song cycle, its the same universe. He did sing it in the circle after you had gone to bed.

[suecochran.livejournal.com]

I loved your concert, Tom, as always. Although I've heard it before at OVFF, your "athiest filk" brought me to tears, as it's a feeling I've had for a long time myself, from the time I was an agnostic through to this day, when I am a believer in something greater than myself (which for the purposes of short-hand and not having to get involved in long conversations with folks I usually refer to as "God", although my current understanding or musings on the nature of deity/ies is quite different from that of Judaism, Christianity, or any other religious tradition I've so far encountered).

It was wonderful to witness several people's reactions to your songs, people who said that this was their first time seeing you. Lucky them! Lucky all of us! I don't know if you and I have really had a conversation more than a few sentences over the years, but I feel you to be a kindred spirit and I own many of your recordings, I pray for your well-being, and I hope to enjoy seeing you at conventions for many more years to come.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, m'dear. [hugs] I heard (what seems a long time ago), and I believe, that every religion truly has only one member, because no one else can know every detail of your mind and heart. But it is possible for people to know quite a lot of the details of each other, and I believe that what we know about each other brings us together much more than it keeps us at odds.

What you believe, what I believe, what anyone believes doesn't matter so much as how we live. Live well, take care of each other as best we can, try not to screw up too much while we're here, and leave things a little better, and we all win.

[jonbaker.livejournal.com]

I should have asked you at the con, but it slipped my mind.

I was wondering - I have a cousin who's a folkie in Ann Arbor - have you ever run across her? Betsy Beckerman, plays banjo, dulcimer and some other stuff.