Housefilk and engagements

Tom and Sue at Stonehenge, where Tom proposed!

Thanks to Jane and Phil for hosting a fun housefilk yesterday.



For those not familiar with the concept of a housefilk: it's basically a music party. Some housefilks are more about hanging out and chatting, with some casual music thrown in here and there. The housefilk at Jane's and Phil's was more structured: for most of the afternoon, the circle was strict "Song Sequitur," a system recently popular in some West Coast music circles.

You go around the circle, and each person can only sing a song if it connects with the previous song somehow, but you can't use the same type of connection as the previous person. I'm not a huge fan of bardic though I can see some of the advantages (see my explanation of the difference between "bardic" and "chaos" circles).



One advantage of bardic circles, for example, is that everyone gets a turn; it's easier for filkers who are more shy or less confident to break in. My only quibble with the Song Sequitur system is that the "must have a connection" aspect means you can't really pick a song until AFTER you've heard the person before you perform their song. Which usually means that (1) you're mighty distracted while that person is performing because you're trying to figure out what to play next OR (2) there's a long gap after the song while you try to figure out what to play next.



Happily, Jane was very easygoing about the connection rule, so some of us were picking the songs we WANTED to play and then finding SOME connection, no matter how tenuous ("oh! that song used a C chord! so does the song I'm going to play!"). :-)

Anyway, it was a fun experiment. Though I'm still more of a fan of casual / unstructured housefilks, I'm glad I went this time to see what the whole Song Sequitur thing was about. Especially since I found out that TOM JEFFERS AND SUE POSTERARO are engaged to be married!!!! He proposed to her at Stonehenge during their UK trip; we toasted the happy couple with champagne. For those that don't know, Tom recently moved to Toronto from Winnipeg to be with Sue, whom he met at filk conventions.



Another highlight of the day for me: seeing Karen Linsley sing "Road To Roswell" and "I Am Stardust" (with Judith accompanying). Both are gorgeous songs; you can hear a soundclip from "Road To Roswell" on Karen's CDBaby page (if you listen to the "Nobody Knows (That I'm Really An Alien)" soundclip on that page, by the way, you'll hear my flute. :-)

"I Am Stardust" has always been one of my favourite filk songs ever. Unfortunately I couldn't find a soundclip online of Karen & Lloyd performing the song, but you can hear a sample of my music group performing it in concert here (track 11). It was written by our friend Lloyd Landa, who died in 2000, and the music and lyrics are heartbreakingly beautiful:

I'm every mote of dust
in a ray of summer sun,
Every shining point of light
in the winter night above
I'm inside the very heart of you
Yet galaxies away
I am stardust, stardust
Looking for a home.



You can see more of the photos I took at the housefilk in my Flickr set. And thanks again, Jane and Phil!

Session sketches

I went to an Irish music session at the Tranzac last night. It was the first I've attended since before last summer. When the session started again last fall, Urban Tapestry prep for our Atlanta concert took up too much of my time to keep up whistle practice as well, plus I was wary of aggravating my tendinitis.

Last night I opted to just listen, to see what tunes the group was playing these days, but mostly because I missed hearing the live music. It seems like ages since I ventured into my first session, not knowing anyone. I'm still far from competent; learning new tunes and keeping them memorized takes time, and I already have so much going on in my life. But I love the music; you may not know it to look at me, but there must be a bit of Irish in my blood somewhere.

:-)



As I listened, I also did a few quick sketches. It's a challenge, since people are always moving. It's good practice, especially when I'm drawing someone from a perspective that's somewhat unusual (especially the fiddlers!). I decided to use pen instead of pencil so I wouldn't be wussy in my drawing (y'know...draw a bit, erase a bit, draw a bit, erase a bit, etc.), not to be afraid to make mistakes.

Most of my sketches turned out horribly, but I've posted a few here that I didn't mind so much. I might take one or two and work them up in Corel Painter in the next while.


Anyway, it was good to be back. I'm going to try to attend these regularly from now on, even if I don't always play. Last night, there were mostly fiddles at first, with a couple of Irish flutes, a guitar, an accordion, and a concertina. Some occasionally pulled out a whistle and played that instead.

The slow session (which is meant for beginners or those who want practice playing tunes slower than normal) went from 7 pm through to 8:30 pm, at which point the intermediate and advanced playing began and the music picked up, toes started tapping.

If you'd like to find out more about the Tranzac sessions, please do check the Web site, maintained by yours truly.

Eva and Crystal have posted their report from GAfilk!

Below: Part of a story that my sister wrote and illustrated for the Jan/Feb issue of Chirp magazine.





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Drawing on walls

Happy birthday to my friend Ray (on right in above photo).



Will Write For Chocolate has been updated, and I've added a doodle to my office tree:



I remember how hard it was when I first started painting that tree. I mean geez, it's just wrong to draw on the walls in one's house, isn't it? Once I started, though, I found it quite liberating. As Jeff pointed out, we can always paint over my tree when/if we ever decide to sell this house...until then, I'm going to have some fun with it.

Here's what my corner currently looks like:



Note the addition of the GAfilk surprise Legolas poster. :-)

I have a bunch of ornaments I'd like to add to my tree, but am trying to figure out an easier way than ceiling hooks. One idea: string wires or fish line across the corner so I can just hang things whenever I'd like (idea stolen from the Dave Clement's Bhigg House).

Any other suggestions welcome!

Speaking of ornaments: To those who participated in the Christmas craft ornament exchange this past year, please see this follow-up post, thanks.



Bill and Brenda, at opening ceremonies.
Photo by Walter.

The past week has been devoted to GAfilkstuff, but I wanted to add a final word. THANK YOU so much to those involved in planning and running GAfilk; it may be a laid-back convention for attendees, but it certain requires a ton of work behind-the-scenes. Thanks also to the concom for taking the guests out for dinner on Sunday evening!

If you've never been to GAfilk, I heartily encourage you to come next year, especially since Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff are the Guests of Honour. I'm going for sure. :-)

In case you missed them, you can find Allison's detailed convention report in her LJ: Thursday | Friday | Saturday (Part 1) | Saturday (Part 2) | Sunday I supplemented this report with a few notes of my own: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Our concert playlist, for those interested:

Sing With Me: new song by me, with thanks to Dave Clement. Thanks to Amy McNally for playing fiddle!


Friendship Song: one of the songs on our Sushi and High Tea CD. Written and arranged by me.


The Lady: one of the songs on our Sushi and High Tea CD. By Jodi, won Best Pegasus Song a couple of years ago.


Another Story: one of the songs on our Sushi and High Tea CD. By Allison and me.


Come Down To GAfilk: new song by me, with help from many filkers on Livejournal. Thanks to Brenda Sutton for playing bodhran!


Star Sisters: by Technical Difficulties. One of the songs on our Sushi and High Tea CD, with Joey Shoji.


Paper Boats: by Eva Van Daele-Hunt. Eva gave us permission to premiere the song in our concert!


Hey J.K.!: new song. Lyrics by Urban Tapestry, music by me.


Wo Ist Der Bahnhof? (a.k.a. "Our German Song"): song I wrote for our performance at Filkcontinental. Thanks to Franklin for his wonderful props!


Still Beautiful: song by German filker Aryana. Thanks to Amy McNally for playing fiddle!


The Chocolate Song: song by me, specifically for Urban Tapestry to perform with the Interfilk guests in our concert. Many thanks to Eva, Crystal and Rafael!


Hockey Monkey Song: by James Kochalka. Since hearing Ookla The Mok first perform this in open filk years ago, this song has pretty much become our signature closing song in our concerts. :-) Many thanks to Franklin for singing the German portion, and thanks to Gary McGath (and the Germans who helped him) for the German translation!

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GAfilk (part 6): making friends, Georgia Aquarium, hanging out with the Suttons

*WARNING: Lots of photos in this Blathering!*

Above: Leafy Sea Dragon, at the Georgia Aquarium.

One of my favourite GAfilk highlights was at the hotel restaurant. There were nearly a dozen of us, laughing and chatting, when a man in a suit came up to our table. At first I thought he was going to complain about the noise but instead, he asked who we were and where we came from.



"Y'all seem to be so enthusiastic and having so much fun," he told us with a grin. "It's obvious you're here voluntarily."

So we told him about filk conventions and why we all got together. He was highly intrigued, asked lots of questions. We invited him to come have a listen, but he laughed and said he had to go, wished us well for the rest of the weekend.



Similar thing happened on the shuttle from the hotel to the airport, where we were going to catch the MARTA to the Georgia Aquarium. Two older women sitting near us on the shuttle were astounded that some of us were from Singapore (Terence), Germany (Eva, Rafael & Crystal) and Canada (Jodi and me), all here just to hang out for fun and make music. One of the women even had a short conversation with Eva in German. :-)



Another highlight was hanging out at the Suttons' place after the convention with Jodi, Eva, Crystal, Rafael and Terence (Allison had to fly back on Sunday afternoon because she needed to teach the next day). It was a chance to decompress as well as have conversations longer than a few minutes at a time. I actually came home feeling better rested than I had before the weekend!



I got to meet Lucy and Jack:



Sat in on a gaming session:



Went for walks around the neighbourhood, napped, had lots of tea and comfort food, many interesting conversations including learning about German wedding traditions, watched an old episode of Forever Knight with Terence (it was filmed in Toronto, eh?), and played some music.



On the recommendation of Steve Stirling, we decided to visit the Georgia Aquarium, which is the largest aquarium in the world; it has more than 100,000 animals from 500 species! We had a ton of fun, and were amazed by the huge aquariums all around us:



While the rest of us oohed and aahed over the gorgeous colours and sealife, Terence commented on the edibility of each. :-D

RAFAEL: "Wow, look at that fish!"

EVA: "Gorgeous!"

CRYSTAL: "What colours!"

JODI: "Beautiful!"

TERENCE: "I've had it before. Too chewy."

The place was divided up into different galleries. The Georgia Coast Gallery has "touch tanks" full of horseshoe crabs, sea stars, stingrays and shrimp that visitors could touch (gently, with two fingers) during certain time periods:



In another gallery, you could crawl up through a tunnel and look at penguins close-up through a plastic bubble:



And there were so many places where you could look UP through the water at all the creatures swimming above:



These garden eels were also pretty cool:



And the jellyfish tank was mesmerizing...



I could spent hours in each single room, just watching the wildlife. I envy you Atlanta area types!



Many thanks to Bill and Brenda Sutton for hosting us! You can see my other post-GAfilk photos in this Flickr set.

To finish off, here are the lyrics to "Hey J.K.!", one of the new songs we premiered in our concert. I asked Allison and Jodi for help brainstorming re: ideas and phrases for the song, then I put the lyrics together and added music. You can find the sheet music in the GAfilk songbook (courtesy Mary Crowell), but here are the lyrics:

HEY, J.K.!
Lyrics by Urban Tapestry
Music by Debbie Ridpath Ohi
Dec/2006



CHORUS:
Gm F
Hey, J.K.!
Bb
Who ya gonna kill
F
Who ya gonna kill, who ya gonna
Gm F
Hey, J.K.!
Bb F
Won't you let us have a look
Gm F
Hey, J.K.!
Bb
Who ya gonna kill
F
Who ya gonna kill, who ya gonna
Gm F
Hey, J.K.!
Bb F Gm
Who ya gonna kill in your next book?

Gm F
I think Snape's a goner <-- Jodi
Eb F
Always with a scowl and a frown
Gm F
I think Snape's a goner
Eb F G
with nowhere for him to go but down

Gm F
No, no, Snape can't die <-- Allison
Eb
He's a bad apple <-- Jodi & Debbie
D
That's not a fact!<-- Allison
Gm F
No, no, Snape won't die
Eb D
Allison, he wears only black! <-- Jodi & Debbie

CHORUS

Gm F Eb
Ok, it has to be a Weasley <-- Jodi
Gm
No, you're wrong <-- Allison
F Eb
There are so many of them, one of them has to go <-- Jodi & Debbie
Gm Eb
Ok, it has to be a Weasley <-- Allison
Gm
Then it's Ron! <-- Jodi & Debbie

Gm F
No, no, Ron can't die <-- Allison
Eb
But he's a sidekick <-- Jodi & Debbie
D
That can't be his end <-- Allison
Gm F
No, no, Ron won't die
Eb D
Allison, but he's Harry's friend! <-- Jodi & Debbie


CHORUS

Gm F
I think Hagrid's a goner <-- Jodi
Eb F
Always into trouble, breaking rules
Gm F
I think Hagrid's a goner
Bb F (G)
He'll be dead or maybe kicked out of school

Gm F
No, no, Hagrid can't die <-- Allison
Eb
He'll die for Harry <-- Jodi & Debbie
D
He'll never fall <-- Allison
Gm F
No, no, Hagrid won't die
Eb D
Allison, he's just way too tall! <-- Jodi & Debbie


BRIDGE:

Gm F Eb
Oh, J.K. Rowling, are the rumors true <-- Jodi
Dm
Who will we have to bury
Eb F
Weasley, Hagrid, Snape, or Peter Pettigrew?
Gm F
Oh J.K. Rowling, please just
Eb F
DON'T KILL HARRY <-- all three
G F Eb F
We promise not to come unglued. (Yet...)

CHORUS

Photo below: one of my favourite moments in the convention. I was walking down the hallway when I came across Teresa Powell and Dave Rood, both with guitars and singing one of Dave's songs (I think the title is "Only"?), with Teresa harmonizing. It was truly gorgeous, and I felt incredibly lucky to have been there at the right time; moments like this one are never listed in programming, and they tend to happen a lot at a convention like GAfilk.





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GAfilk (part 5), slow cookers, Interfilk, Scrivener

After I heard the sad news of Dave Alway's passing, I went through some old Blathercomments and found a poem that Dave had written for me, inspired by the photo above.

A Poem for a Wordgoddess Piper sitting on the lake,    sitting on the ice, pushing through the snow. Piper sitting on the lake,    sitting on the chair, sounding high and low. Piper sitting on the lake,    sitting in wan sun, sniffing chill wind blow. Piper sitting on the lake,    sitting by the glass, tasting joy's warmth flow. Piper sitting on the lake,    sitting under sky, watching stars 'round go. — Dave Alway, 21 March 2005, Being the 2nd Day of Spring

He had a way with words, that man.

While perusing GAfilk photos taken by other people, I found a room photo taken by Mary Bertke that included Peter and Dave. With Mary's permission, I've cropped the photo to post here (Peter is standing, Dave is seated with the laptop):



Before I get back to GAfilk highlights, I wanted to mention that my Uncle John's triple bypass operation turned into a quadruple bypass (!), but that the procedure went well and he was moved out of intensive care yesterday and is in general care. Thanks for all the healing wishes, everyone.


Rafael, just before we rehearsed "The Chocolate Song."

I still *love* the slow cooker that my Dad gave me for Christmas; I can't believe I haven't tried a slow cooker before this! Yesterday, I made Moroccan Chicken With Chickpeas and Cumin from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. I highly recommend this cookbook; so far every recipe has turned out wonderfully. Jeff isn't a huge chickpea fan, yet he gave the dish rave reviews and even went back for seconds. The recipes in the cookbook are geared towards medium and large slow cookers; I have a 3.5 quart slow cooker, which the cookbook authors classify as "medium." For those with smaller slow cookers, you may want to check out Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two: For the Small Slow Cooker.



Many thanks to Jan di Masi for buying the CD we donated to Interfilk (US$605!), and to Mary Crowell's husband, Wesley, for buying the Kathleen Sloan cookbook.

When I was getting filkers to sign the cookbook at OVFF last October, Wesley told me, "That cookbook? Just want you to know: it will be mine!" When the cookbook was being auctioned at GAfilk, however, Wesley played it cool...slouched down in a chair near the back of the room, pretending to read. One of my con highlights was seeing Mary Crowell "wench" her own husband. Just before Steve Savitzsky's bid of $150 was accepted, Wesley suddenly raised his head and yelled, "$250!" then went back to his paperback. Wesley got the cookbook.

:-D

Thank you SO MUCH, Jan and Wesley, for your contributions to Interfilk! Proceeds from the CD will used to help fly n'Early Music Consort to FilKONtario this year.


Erin, Rand, Allison and Jodi on Friday morning.

Thanks to Jeff for telling me about Scrivener, a new outlining tool for writers. I'm using the Beta version and so far I love it! More geared toward writers than Mori, more streamlined than SuperNoteCard. I'll post a more detailed review in Inkygirl when I've had a chance to thoroughly test it.


Judith, Dave and me.




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