rand and adam

(Photo above by Jim Leonard. See photo credits at bottom of page for more info)

Had fun yesterday at Allison's place. Jodi, Allison and I hung out all afternoon, did our Christmas gift exchange, watched Lilo and Stitch. I'd never seen the movie before and LOVED it, was surprised to find Disney characters so entertaining. Maybe I'll go see Treasure Planet after all.

In late afternoon, Adam English and Rand Bellavia came to visit. It's been a very long time since all five of us have been able to hang out, so I'm very glad we were able to get together. Allison, Jodi and I met Rand and Adam back at a Astronomicon in '94 (Allison? is that right?), and were blown away by their music, chatted with them, became friends. Rand and I still get together for Sunday brunch at any conventions we're both attending, no matter how late we've stayed up in open filking the night before. Sadly, we haven't been attending many of the same conventions recently. :(

Rand and Adam played on our Myths and Urban Legends Album (with Luis Garcia, who had joined them by then), we played on their Less Than Art album. If you haven't ever heard Ookla The Mok's music, you should definitely listen to some of the sound clips on their Web site (click on any of the album name links on the left). And check out the theme music of the new Disney cartoon, Fillmore.

Lots of music and chatting. Adam told us "the funniest joke in the universe". Here's a photo of him a few seconds after he poured an entire envelope of pop rocks into his mouth:





One of things I enjoyed the most about their visit was seeing the interaction between them. Rand and Adam have known each other for so long that they've developed a sort of conversation shorthand between them without consciously realizing it. As Jodi pointed out last night, it's sometimes like watching a highly entertaining sitcom which has half the lines missing. Even if you don't always understand all the references, it's wonderfully fun to witness the rapport between them. :-)

I also greatly enjoyed the Lord of the Rings conversation between Adam and Allison. We all participated, but it was clear that Adam and Allison were the biggest Tolkien geeks (and I say that with affection and awe) as they passionately discussed the etymological differences between "Elven", "Elvish" and "Quenyan".

The five of us may not get together all that often anymore, but I still found myself marvelling last night at how easily we picked up the conversation again. Which was good and bad. Good, because there was no awkwardness, no realization of "well, we've had fun in the past but we've all changed and don't really have that much in common anymore". Bad, because of the "it's a shame we can't do this more often" factor.

It's likely we won't see Rand and Adam again until February at Ad Astra, where both our groups have concerts at the convention. Looking forward to that.

I got home near midnight, and found that Jeff's Lord of the Rings party was still going, so I got to chat briefly with Reid, Michael, John, Walter, Vartan, Julie, as well as see the MTV Council of Elrond spoof Easter egg on the LOTR Extended DVD that Rand had told us about. Those of you who didn't know about the two Easter eggs can find out more information here.





Links/News:

See Allison's Livejournal post about last night.

Four years ago, I shopped in crowds.

Five years ago, Luisa had embarrassing photos of me from university (sorry, none posted haha).

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Adam, a few seconds after pouring an entire envelope of pop rocks into his mouth.
	Rand and Adam in open filk at OVFF. Photo by Jim Leonard. Jim takes such great people shots.
	Christmas gathering at Allison's last night. Unfortunately Allison's leaning against the wall behind Jodi, so you can't see her.