Post-GAfilk

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Tom Jeffers today!

The photo above was taken by my friend Walter at GAfilk. Top row: Crystal, Linda, T.J., Eva, Jodi and Allison. Bottom row: Jessie and me. To see more of Walter's photos from the convention, check out his GAfilk Flickr set.

It was a thrill to hear two-thirds of Technical Difficulties, and also hear T.J.'s talented daughter Jessie perform with them. To those not familiar with filk history: Technical Difficulties was a well-known filk trio of women composed of Sheila Willis, Linda Melnick and T.J. Burnside (now T.J. Burnside Clapp) who had a great influence on many filkers. They were the first filk group to be honoured with the Best Performer Pegasus Award (in 1989).

I also enjoyed meeting Jan and Steve Stirling (Steve was GAfilk's "Super Secret Guest"); many thanks to Steve for recommending that we visit the Georgia Aquarium after the convention!



Summer and Fall were wonderful Interfilk guests, and the presence of Eva's husband Rafael enhanced the convention in so many ways. And not just because of his acrobatic talent:



I continue to be grateful to Interfilk for enabling people like Eva and Crystal to share their music and experiences with those who may not have the chance to meet them otherwise. In addition to enjoying their concert, con attendees also learned more about German filk traditions and German filkers; Summer and Fall were excellent "filk ambassadors" for their country.







Speaking of Interfilk...

Peter Alway says that in lieu of flowers, donations to Interfilk would be much appreciated. Thanks to the Interfilk Occasional Web Team (led by Brenda Sutton), you can now donate via Paypal, and you can specify that you are donating in memory of someone. I also found out from Bill Sutton's LJ that there is now an obituary about Dave Alway and an electronic guestbook online.

Below: Allison and Jodi help Myra and Michael put together name badges before the convention begins:



My music partner Allison has done such a wonderfully thorough and detailed GAfilk convention report that I'm just going to point people to her Livejournal than repeat everything here. Here are the parts of her report:

• Thursday


• Friday


• Saturday (Part 1)


• Saturday (Part 2)


• Sunday

I will post some of my personal highlights soon as well as a post-con report. Many thanks to Bill and Brenda Sutton for letting Jodi and me stay with them for a few days after the convention!

As I mentioned in my LJ, I thoroughly enjoyed the convention. GAfilk has always been one of my favourite cons. And I've already told Bill & Brenda that I'm coming back next year, especially since JEFF AND MAYA BOHNHOFF are Guests of Honour, woohoo!!



I must confess that the biggest highlight of the weekend for me was when my husband Jeff showed up to surprise me, and Walter also attended despite giving me the impression he wouldn't be able to come. Unbeknownst to me, Jeff and Walter had been making plans for months, and joined us for a Friday night dinner unannounced (unannounced except to Rand and Erin and certain members of the concom! :-).



Jeff had never heard Urban Tapestry perform for a filk audience until FilKONtario last year, and it meant a great deal to me that he would take time off work and buy a plane ticket to come to a convention where we were guests. Thanks to Walter, who was apparently the instigator!

I've heard that one alternate plan had been to surprise me in the opening ceremonies at the convention. I'm glad it worked out the way it did, however; I'd have been WAY distracted on Friday evening otherwise. :-)

I have posted my photos online, for those interested:

GAfilk photos

Post-GAfilk photos



More highlights in a future Blathering, after I've had a chance to catch up with e-mail, snailmail, and life in general.



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