FilKONtario (part 2): Filk Hall Of Fame

Allison has some FilKONtario highlights up on her Livejournal, with photos, and many of her highlights overlap mine:

FKO Memories (Part 1): Concert by Tom Jeffers (with a surprise appearance from Sam Baardman), Phil Mills concert (his first concert was a resounding success), Margaret Middleton's gorgeous n'MC quilt (Peggi Warner-Lalonde won it), North American filk theme circle hosted by Judith and Peggi, Friday night's filk circle highlights.


A birthday gift from Walter:
Harry Potter Durmstrang bag (School of the Dark Arts).

FKO Memories (Part 2): Jodi with her kahlua, Sholem practice, Playing Rapunzel concert, hearing Gwen Knighton on her harp again (*happy sigh*), my surprise birthday mini-party with Jodi, Allison and Walter, Judi's signing.

I also attended the Filk Hall Of Fame banquet on Saturday night. Walter kindly agreed to be my date, and I'm very grateful to Trish for lending me her husband!




The Filk Hall of Fame Banquet was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. And not just because I finally got to hang out with the adorable new addition to the Roper family:



Both Valerie and Trish gave wonderful speeches from n'MC's point of view and n'MC's experience at FKO. Valerie was inducted into the FHOF years ago but was unable to attend at the time.

This year, the inductees consisted of Bruce Pelz, Chris "Keris" Croughton, and Kathleen Sloan. Bruce Pelz was a Los Angeles fan who died in 2002. He chaired many science fiction conventions, including one World Science Fiction Convention, and was fan guest of honor at many others. He generously donated his fanzine collection to the UCR Campus Libraries and Collections.



Above: Allison and Keris.

When Keris's name was announced, the room filled with a resounding cheer, especially from the n'MC side of the room. Keris has been involved in many recording projects in the filk community as well as helping with the sound at UK conventions. Urban Tapestry is grateful to Keris for some of the engineering work he did for our most recent CD.



When Kathleen Sloan's name was announced as an inductee, my first thought was: "But I thought she was in the Filk Hall of Fame already!" And then my next thought: "Shame on me for not knowing that." Good thing I had tissues handy; I was bawling after Judith's INTRO to Kathleen's speech. :-)

Kathleen has made so many contributions to the filk community over the years that I can't possibly list them all here. In fact, please do check the Filk Hall Of Fame site after it's been updated to read the full citations of the inductees, current and past. I know I've missed listing other info about Keris and Bruce, for instance.

Urban Tapestry has been grateful for Kathleen's support and friendship over the years. We've also enjoyed an entertaining exchange of blackmail material over time as well :-D ... I wrote a song about Kathleen; I've included the lyrics at the end of this post, for those interested.


Jodi, Marsha and Allison.

Kathleen fought tears throughout her speech (as did many of us in the audience!), and I was deeply moved by her words; she summarized so much of how I feel about the filk community.

And this brings me back to my shame about not realizing Kathleen wasn't in the Filk Hall of Fame in the first place. As Dave Hayman said at the end of the ceremony, only those who are nominated are considered for the FHOF...and it's up to members of the filk community to make those nominations. I hadn't realized that even a short paragraph or two will do for a nomination; Dave collects and archives all of these, and compiles them into full nominations.

Something else I hadn't realized: nominations are cumulative. You may think, "Well, I'm not going to nominate so-and-so because I'm SURE someone's already nominated them." Every nomination counts. Sometimes a new nomination (even if it's just a paragraph!) will be enough to push an already-nominated candidate into an official induction; apparently this happened with one of this year's inductees.

Dave even said that you could always update a nomination you've sent him in the past; just e-mail him -- he'll send you what you wrote so you can update the text and send it back. I was floored when I heard this because of the amount of work it must involve for Dave.


Gary and Sheryl.

So I've resolved that from now on, I am going to send in something for the Filk Hall of Fame nominations EVERY YEAR, even if it's just a paragraph (though hopefully longer). There are so many people in the filk community whose longterm contributions have enriched the community and its music, especially behind-the-scenes rather than flashy performing....the least I can do is send in a nomination every year to acknowledge their efforts.

You can find out more info about the Filk Hall of Fame on the FHOF Nominating Info page, where you can also find details about who is eligible, how to nominate, and even examples of good/bad nominations.

And if you'd like to join me in my resolution to send in a nomination (even if it's only a paragraph!) -every- year from now on, please do post in my comments section. We can remind each other when that time comes around. :-)

And many thanks to Dave Hayman and others involved in the Filk Hall Of Fame selection committee for their time and effort!

ODE TO KATHLEEN

Words and music (c) 2001 Debbie Ridpath Ohi

She sits in the corner of the
filk room, she is listening, she is nodding, she is fine
She weaves a design into her
hand loom, what is she making, she is biding her time, oh
look at her smiling! Her gui-
tar is by her side, when will she play? Oh
she's so beguiling! Oh Miss
Sloan, we feel compelled to say...


CHORUS:
Kathleen, will you sing for us
Will you help us find the right way home
You're our Catalog Queen, Angel of Interfilk
O Kathleen Sloan.

She's got a taste for Musk Life
Savers (tm), she sings of catalogs, of filk, and of meat
It takes a lot to ever
faze her, she is calm, she is composed, she is discreet, she
excels at blackmail! She claims
it's for Interfilk then laughs with glee, does she
ever read her e-mail? If she
did, she'd hear our heartfelt plea...

CHORUS:
Kathleen, will you sing for us
Will you help us find the right way home
You're our Catalog Queen, Angel of Interfilk
O Kathleen Sloan.

Her guitar may not be really
full size, but its music (like her voice) is sweet and strong
Crossing Kathleen Sloan is likely unwise, so hey
why are we then singing this song? Be-
cause we're suicidal! And we
owe it to Kathleen, she knows what for...re-
venge is so vital, as we
raise our voices to implore...

CHORUS (twice):
Kathleen, will you sing for us
Will you help us find the right way home
You're our Catalog Queen, Angel of Interfilk
O Kathleen Sloan.




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