relay follow-up

I never gave details about our Relay For Life performance, hence this entry.

As I mentioned on Saturday, the event was much more emotionally moving than I expected, though I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Allison, Jodi and I all got teary-eyed during Survivors' Lap part of the opening ceremony, and I had to fight pretty hard not to lose it completely. It was wonderful to see all those cancer survivors proudly making their way around the track, some on canes, some accompanied by their children, with friends and family cheering them on from the sidelines as the emcee read out everyone's names. Definitely a moment of joy, but also a moment of sadness for those who didn't make it.

As for our performance, it was a much different experience than what I'm used to. Our audience was basically the people running and walking around the track, some of them who would be doing this for twelve hours (spelling off with others on their team, most likely). Urban Tapestry entertained them for about 35 minutes of that time period.

The entertainment stage was set up near the track, but it meant that most of our audience would only hear us in snatches, whenever they walked near enough to the stage to catch our singing.





One of the reasons I was so grateful for Luisa, Reid, Michael and Ronnie being there was because they (and some of the other organizers and volunteers who were nearby) were right in front of us. I hadn't realized how much we tend to feed off audience energy when we perform, or at least I do. It helped whenever I could see the relay participants clapping or smiling at us as they passed the stage; it meant that we were succeeding in connecting with them.

Still, we'll probably modify our playlist heavily the next time we play in this kind of venue, making sure to include more easily-recognizable cover songs than lyric-heavy original material. The song that got the biggest response in our set was "I'm A Believer", obviously because people recognized the tune either from The Monkees or the movie Shrek. Very cool to see people dancing and even singing along; I'd love to see more of that. :-)





I'd be highly interested in hearing from those who regularly perform in non-filk settings. Do you adjust your playlist on the fly, depending on the audience? Do you lean towards cover tunes rather than original material? I think I'd find it pretty difficult to play in a typical bar setting, where people don't tend to pay attention most of the time. If you do it for a living, though, I guess you'd have to steel yourself to not rely so much on audience energy in performing.

In any case, Allison, Jodi and I all enjoyed participating in the Relay For Life Event. Many thanks to Aaron Lishman for inviting us! We'd love to help out with the event again in the future.

For other Relay for Life photos, see Saturday's entry.





Heartfelt condolences to the family of Dr. Robert McCown, who died on Sunday. Lori Coulson says that the memorial service will be held Saturday, June 15th from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Urban Tapestry performing at the Relay For Life a week ago. Photo by Reid Ellis.
	Salome Bey, who was the featured performer at Relay For Life.
	Aaron Lishman and his fiance. Aaron was the Entertainment coordinator for Relay for Life, and invited us to participate after hearing our sample MP3s online.
	14 Carrots Sold, another group that performed.
	Some of the Relay For Life volunteers. These three were especially supportive of us during our set. :-)

filk photos

(Preamble: There is lots of filk talk in this particular entry. If you want to know what filk is, feel free to check out The Dandelion Report)

So I've been missing some of my filk friends a lot lately. I only get to see them at a few conventions throughout the year. This used to be enough, but over the years I've grown closer to some of them. Geography really sucks sometimes. So do airfares, else I'd be spending a lot more time in Michigan and California and New York and the UK and Winnipeg and Ohio and Atlanta. :-)

I'm also finding that conventions themselves, while lots of fun, tend to be too hectic to spend any real time with friends. I always feel as if I'm getting snatches of conversation with many different people, with everyone being pulled in a hundred different directions at once.





Maybe it's an age thing. :-) When I first began attending sf and filk conventions, I enjoyed all the activity, hanging out with as many different friends as I could, wanting to absorb as much as possible within the limited time I had.

Unless I have Guest duties, I now far prefer a lower-key con experience. I realize it's unrealistic to try attending ALL programming and every concert, even if it means having to risk offending the person running the panel or performing in the concert. I also have realized that if I try to see everything and spend time with -everyone- I want to at a convention, I'll only end up frustrated and feeling as if I didn't get enough time with any one person.

So I have to make choices. At OVFF last year, someone I didn't know came up to me in the hallway and started reaming me out, saying that I was a hard person to get to know because I was always busy at conventions, that I never seemed to be free for conversations, that I should be making time to talk to people other than my friends.

At the time, I was too shocked to say much except a toned-down version of what I've already said in my Blatherings. Later on, though, I was angry.





I'm sure that's where some of the "filk elitism" stuff comes from in filk politics, to tell you the truth, when certain types get upset about some people hang out with certain friends rather than everyone all at once.

I once read a posting in rec.music.filk from someone who felt that once a filker released a CD or performed in public, that they had an obligation to make sure they were always accessible by the filk community at a convention, that they should always attend the open filk, avoid private room gatherings, and should focus on keeping the filk community happy.

This majorly ticked me off, I have to say.

If I've been invited to be a guest of the convention, then that's a different story. I consider Conchord in August, for example, to be a working con. I know Allison and Jodi do, too. We'll have fun, of course, but our primary obligation IS to the convention committee and those who are attending the convention. The people at Conchord are being kind enough to fly us out to California as well as paying our memberships, banquet and hotel fees.

It's fair and proper for them to expect to get their money's worth in return. Allison, Jodi and I work very hard to earn our keep when we're invited to conventions. At the risk of blowing our own horn, I think we do a darned good job, too.

If I'm paying my own way, however, I feel that I can spend my time at the convention however I'd like.

But I digress.





So I'm missing my filk friends and selfishly wishing that everyone would just give in and move to Toronto. No, really, I mean it. Toronto's a very cool city with lots of interesting things to do and see and eat. And we have FilKONtario!

I recently came across a great group picture taken by Beckett Gladney at FKO 2000.






Click on the above photo to get the bigger version. I'd love to be able to identify all the people in this picture (Update 3:24 pm: Yay, all the question mark names have all been filled in or corrected. Many thanks to Bill Sutton, Allison, Heather Borean, Rand Bellavia, Steve Brinich, Beckett Gladney, Sherman Dorn and Katy Droege for their help :-)). The bigger photo has numbers written on everyone's chests, and I've listed the names I know below. I would greatly appreciate any corrections or additions being sent my way!.

1. Amanda Snyder
2. Randy Hoffman
3. Dave Wheeler
4. Steve Brinich
5. John Caspell
6. Daniel Glasser
7. Gary Ehrlich
8. Paul Kwinn
9. Jodi Krangle
10. Phil Allcock
11. Me
12. Larry Warner
13. Lloyd Landa
14. Freddy Brown
15. Karen Linsley
16. Phil Parker
17. Susan Urban
18. Rennie Browne
19. Sheryl Gere
20. Shelby Bartellis
21. Melissa Glasser
22. Kathleen Sloan
23. Dave Clement
24. Crystal Paul
25. Gary McGath
26. Judith Hayman
27. Allison Durno
28. Nancy Freeman
29. Liam Browne
30. Mike Browne
31. Zander (Alexander) Amis
32. Maya Amis
33. Joe Kesselman
34. Wayne Borean
35. Persis Love
36. Talis Love
37. Diana Huey
38. Steve Macdonald
39. Heather Borean
40. Cecil Grubb
41. Scott Snyder
42. Lissa Allcock
43. Tim Walker
44. Dave Hayman
45. Trace Hageman (sp?)

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Me, Amanda Snyder, Allison & Lissa Allcock. Allison says this photo was taken at FKO 2000, where Scott Snyder was Interfilk guest. Photo by Beckett.
	Top row: Me, Allison, Paul Kwinn, Jodi. Bottom row: Rand Bellavia, Luis Garcia, Scott Snyder, Adam English. FKO 2000. Photo by Beckett.
	Rand shows Andrea the digital movie he just took of her as Mary braids Andrea's hair.
	I think this was taken at an OVFF. From left to right: Tanya Bellavia, Taunya Gren, Mark Osier, Beckett Gladney, Kathy Cogswell, Paul Kwinn.
	Click here for the bigger version. Photo by Beckett Gladney at FKO 2000.

leaving columbus

Sorry, no photo today (Note at 4 pm: Home now, so posted some photos :-)). Found out yesterday that my brief long distance call yesterday cost about US$7!! I'll be posting Marcon photos in Blatherings over the next week or so, off and on. Jodi was kind enough to let me use her computer and local online access again today. We're meeting Rand for breakfast, then he's dropping us off at the airport before he goes to visit relatives.

It was strange being at the hotel after the convention ended and most people had left; I'm so used to having to be one of the first people to leave on Sunday. Rand, Jodi and I had some downtime in the late afternoon while Jodi did online stuff and read a book, I napped, and Rand watched the Harry Potter DVD on my laptop (he had never seen the movie before! Thanks again for the DVD, Scott).

Some more brief highlights from the convention (more in future Blatherings):

While checking out the massive dealer's room, I came across a table run by a glass-blower named Steve Scherer. His display case held many beautiful little glass miniatures, and he occasionally did glass-blowing demonstrations. I watched him for a while, then started asking a lot of questions about the process. Ever since seeing some gorgeous glass-blowing projects done by my friend Andrew, I've been highly intrigued by the whole concept of glassblowing.



After the zillionth question, Steve asked me if I wanted to try glassblowing myself. I said yes, of course! I sat beside him and he went through the basics; safety around the flame, how the glass reacted in the flame and as it's cooling, how to rotate the glass rods as they heated up, and the steps in creating a very simple mouse creature.

By the time we finally switched chairs so I could give it a go, I was hyped. Once I actually started, however, I felt incredibly clumsy, even with Steve sitting right beside me telling me what to do. His movements had been graceful, quick, easy. I felt like an elephant trying to tiptoe through a crowded glass shop.

Steve was super-patient, however, and I ended up with my own hand-blown glass mouse. The little guy is sort of lopsided and he looks a bit as if he's been beaten up by the other mice, but I MADE HIM!! I'll post a picture of him in a future Blathering.

If glass-blowing wasn't such an expensive hobby, I'd be sorely tempted to give it a try in Toronto. There's something magical about the whole process, turning a rather dull-looking piece of glass into a fairy tale creature. My friend Andrew also used different colours of glass to create gorgeous pieces.

Anyway, I'm grateful to Steve for his patience during the lesson, and for giving me the opportunity. He says he'll have a booth at Torcon (the World Science Fiction Convention in Toronto next year), yay!



Ended yesterday with what was another Marcon highlight for me; Jodi and Rand and I hung out with Erica Neely, Zander Nyrond, and Melissa and Daniel Glasser in Erica's room. There was a little bit of music (Daniel played Solar Flare, one of my favourite Sam Baardman songs, and I noodled on flute) but we mostly just hung out and talked until Erica kicked us out so she could go to bed. It was a wonderfully relaxing way to end the convention. :-)

jamming with Richard Hatch

Because I'm dialing via long-distance to upload my photos, so I'm going to hold off posting photos until later this week. Also short on time, so will post more Marcon highlights in the near future as well. Some quickies:

- Zander's concert. So great to see him and Janet again. :-) Jodi and Erica did a wonderful job helping him during his performance. He got a standing ovation and did a couple of encores, including Sam's Song.

- Jamming with David (sorry, don't know his last name) and Richard Hatch (played Captain Apollo in Battlestar Galactica) on the staircase near the coffeeshop. David played recorders, Richard played drums, I played flute. I had SO much fun; it's been ages since I've been able to just do improvisational stuff with other musicians purely for pleasure. I only found out the second guy was Richard Hatch when David mentioned his name when I was putting away the flute. I felt like such the fangirl; it took every once of willpower not to gush, "Oh WOW, like my brother and sister and I used to watch your show ALL THE TIME and Ruth and Jim had a lot of the movie dialogue memorized..."

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Today's Blatherpics:

Last night, these Harry Potter theme costumers made an appearance in the open filk room. Gary Ehrlich sang Dave Weingart's "A Boy Named Harry" at them, of course. :-) They deservedly won Best in Show at the convention Masquerade.

Marcon

I'm typing this on Jodi's laptop, and will add some Marcon photos later today (or perhaps when I get back). Andrea's still asleep, so I don't want to make a lot of noise getting out my laptop and booting it up.

Jodi and I got to Columbus, OH via Air Canada with little problem. Many thanks again to Scott Murray for getting me the Harry Potter DVD! I watched the Special Features section during the flight, loved the interviews with the various crew members, especially the bits about the next Harry Potter movie.

Just as I got off the plane, however, my guitar was being unloaded from the cargo bay. In a matter speaking, that is. Translation: I looked in the direction of the cargo bay just in time to see my guitar in mid-flight, landing with a loud BANG on the asphalt beside the luggage cart. I have no idea if it was thrown out or accidentally fell out; I was in too much shock. Jodi got me away before I could strangle the Air Canada employees unloading the baggage.

I fretted and fumed all the way to the baggage claim area until I was able to retrieve my poor guitar and check that it was okay. Grrr.

Anyway, our Marcon's been pleasantly low-key so far. We've run into a ton of filkers (many of whom have asked where Allison is; I've added a note to the bottom of my name badge to let people know that no, Allison's not here, sadly). Checked out the fun children's concert given by Shelby, Diana, Judith and Zander. Little Gustavo is even more adorable than last time I saw him. :-)

Andrea, Jodi and I had dinner at Max & Erma's (using the discount coupons provided in our hotel package) and were highly entertained by our enthusiastic server, Jose. We hooked up with Rand afterwards (he has a Palm now! and a digital camera!), chatted with Scott Edersheim and Ed Wright, have also run into Erica, Andy, Jinny & Pat, Daniel & Melissa, Mary Bertke, Judith & Dave, Diana, Shelby, Gary, Trace, and others. We never did get to open filk last night, but spent most of the time just catching up with friends.

Getting hungry and Andrea's woken up, so we're off to breakfast. Andrea was at open filk and says she had a lot of fun.