Ooh Ee Ooh Ee Ooh Ee Ooh Ee Ooh....

[filkertom]

See how much I haven't been paying attention to? The Official Ookla The Mok site has been up since February.

Comments

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

And thus Shoebox discovers he's not invited to this year's "April Foolery" show. :)

-=ShoEboX=-

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Sheesh! Yet another mainstay in alternative musical enjoyment I never knew about. Every time something like this pops up, I wonder how many others there are out there that I don't know about. Wish there was a registry or something I could check on a weekly basis.

Thanks for the link, I'll be checking them out more this week.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

... You don't know their stuff!?

Man, are you in for some fun.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

See!?!? This is exactly what I mean. I discovered Tom's music by accident (but not his name, not for another year or so) and while I've gone to cons and know people from all walks of fandom, I always thought "filk" was pseudo-celtic ballads stuffed so full of angst and irony that fun and humor had no place. Every time I walked past the filk room someone was strumming a harp and singing about someone dying or being betrayed or turned into a bird or something. Now I have every song Tom has had up for sale (though not all of them on my iPod) and have found a few others, but since I spend most of my day looking for work, and the rest of the day being depressed because I can't find a job, I don't have a lot of time to do massive google searches.

So where's a guy like me going to find more fun filking?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

For a more modern edge, Ookla. Michael Longcor. Julia Ecklar. Urban Tapestry. Dr. James (or Jane) Robinson. Seanan McGuire. Michelle Dockery. Joe Giacoio. Et cetera.

For a folkier edge, Kathy Mar. The late Cynthia McQuillin. Frank Hayes. Dave Clement. Meg Davis. Etc.

(For folk sources, Tommy Makem and the Clancy Bros. Stan Rogers. The Chad Mitchell Trio. Steve Goodman. Etc.)

For more demented stuff, Carla Ulbrich. Luke Ski. Worm Quartet. Throwing Toasters. Sudden Death. Etc.

There's a lot of superb music out there. You've just got to listen for what you like. And never assume that what's going on in a filk room at any given moment is The Way It Is.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the list, I'll be checking them out over the next couple of weeks. A few of these you already suggested to me in an email a while ago, and I enjoyed most of them so look forward to the rest.

As for assuming filk and such, when I said "Every time I walked past the filk room" I _mean_ "every time." It's like my brother and the SCTV television series. When it was one, and while it was rerun at random times, he'd hear it had a lot of good bits in it, but every time he managed to catch an episode, and I do mean every single time, it was the same episode, and it wasn't one of their better ones. I honestly didn't think there was much going on in filk for the longest time so I never looked into it much. While I have nothing against celtic music, it's not the type I generally choose to listen to. I think I only have three on my iPod, out of 4000 or so.

Anyways, I wonder if anybody ever thought of putting out a sampler CD for cons and such.

Oooo, I'm rambling again, should get something to eat.

[ldwheeler.livejournal.com]

Many sampler CDs already exist; they're compilations of performances at conventions and so forth for the most part. For my money, the best I've encountered thus far is the 2-disc Balticon Tapes, which contains a wide variety of performers, songwriters, tones, stylings, etc., from the poignant to the silly. And a bunch of Tom's instafilks.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

And where would I find these compilations? I'm sure I could spare a few music purchases if only to keep my spirits up while filling out dozens of applications.

[ldwheeler.livejournal.com]

Most of mine were purchased in dealers' rooms at conventions, but many are also available online from the major filk dealers: Random Factors (www.random-factors.com); DAG Productions (www.filk.com); Southern Fried Filk (www.geocities.com/sffilk/sffilk.htm). There are others, but those are the main ones I know of with an online presence. I'm sure someone out there can help out with a few more suggestions ...

Hope that helped a bit.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Yes it does! I'll be checking them out in the next few days and see if I can afford a couple CDs. Thanks for the links!

[mrteapot.livejournal.com]

I was also unaware of their new site: would it be hard for them to mention it somewhere on otmfan.com, which hasn't been updated in multiple albums?