california trip, part 2

Had breakfast at TK Noodle with Rand. Came back and went to the Arranging Workshop hosted by Jeff & Maya Bonhoff, Barry Childs-Helton, Debbie Baudoin, Rand and Adam...very interesting stuff. After that were the one-shots, and I was a "Dangerette" while Paul Kwinn did Danger Man (other Dangerettes included Diana Huey, Beckett, Taunya, and Debbie, and Alisa...normally Allison and Jodi would be there as well). Unfortunately had to miss Carol Flynt's concert to rehearse with Puzzlebox (I played flute on one of their songs), but did catch concerts by Brandywine Bay, Howard Kaplan, Echo's Children, and Puzzlebox. All were excellent! And special congrats to Puzzlebox for a very successful First Concert. :-) Puzzlebox is working on their first CD, and it should be a treat.

Next was the Interfilk Auction, segments interspersed with concert material from Interfilk Guest Diana Huey (deftly accompanied by Shelby Bartellis), then Rand and Adam. Enjoyed both very much. In her concert, Diana sang a piece she wrote for Allison's and Jodi's birthday conspiracy late last year...really pretty song. Rand and Adam's concert was also great...I did miss Luis a lot, though :-(.
Rand played "drums" with a pair of straw drumsticks on a chair with such enthusiasm that bits of straw kept flying off the sticks, making first row seating hazardous.
My favourite of R&A's new songs is called "Tommy", and am happy to hear it will be going on their next album (due to premiere at Marcon).

At the auction, I bought an Ohio gift basket donated by Diana. I couldn't resist the lure of the box of chocolate-peanut butter buckeyes. :-) Jeff and I had the Ohio Valley soup last night...very yummy! To Diana: thanks also for my Milky Way gift...I had some for breakfast yesterday.

After the concerts, wandered about a bit. Got a chance to chat briefly with some folks I hadn't seen in a long while, like Nick Smith, Eli Goldberg, John O'Halloran, Carol Flynt, Mitchell Burnside-Clapp, Ingrid de Buda. Got to see Bob Kanefsky do his Amazing Bubble Trick for Taunya Shiffer's kids. :-)
Had dinner at TK Noodle with Taunya and some of her offspring, Alisa, Rand and Adam (unfortunately Paul got left behind at the hotel througha misunderstanding :-( ). Afterwards,
I did try to get into Heather Alexander's concert but arrived too late to get a seat. :-( Did catch part of Barry and Sally Childs-Helton concert, though.

Had a chance to play a flute duet with Seanna, Taunya Shiffer's second-oldest (very talented girl, and is also an artist!). Also got a chance to go through some flute stuff with Callie Hills (from Echo's Children), something I've wanted to do for a long time. Plus I got to meet and hear the Duras Sisters! I kept missing them through the con and finally went off to look for them. Debbie Baudoin had introduced herself to me earlier, very friendly sort. I hope their group and our group can eventually get together sometime! Anyway, I heard their new Harmony Heifers song and loved it. :-)

I was impressed by other local filkers as well (I'm assuming these are all local), such as Jeff Hitchin, Jeff and Maya Bonhoff (Syntax). Unfortunately I missed their concerts, which were earlier on the Friday night.

Crashed at around 2:30 a.m. I would normally stay up much later than this, but I knew that Jeff and Andrew were picking me up the next day and I didn't want to be in zombie mode. The last thing I remember before I fell asleep was Paul Kwinn quoting a vampire haiku (he, Rand, and Adam were trying to remember the name of some vampire movie which starred David Bowie and Susan Sarandon...I woke up briefly when someone (Rand?) blurted out the answer: The Hunger). I had a dream about vampires that night.

To be continued...