GAfilk (part 4): conspiracies, revenge and The Chocolate Song

Today's Blathering is about some of the Conspiracies afoot at GAfilk. One, as I mentioned before, was the surprise appearance of Jeff and Walter. Both had registered under pseudonyms in case Allison, Jodi or I checked the membership list. Their names? John Carter and Jack Clayton:





(Above created by Walter!)

Walter also arranged for other unexpected visitors to surprise us during the weekend. When we opened our hotel room door on Saturday morning, for example, we were greeted by a full-size cardboard replica of Jean-Luc Picard:




Walter and Jeff wouldn't admit they were the culprits at first, though Walter did start to crumble beneath the "Resistance Is Futile" inquisition by Becca Leathers the next day. Yay for Becca! (See Walter's Becca The Inquisitor 1 and Becca The Inquisitor 2 entertaining photo sequence)



Around 2 a.m. on Sunday morning when we were going to back to our room after open filk, I went to put a note under Jeff's and Walter's door to let them know what our breakfast plans were going to be. To my surprise, the door was just closing. I knocked gently, and Walter opened it a crack. Behind him, I saw Jeff leaping out of view.

Jeff never leaps.

I immediately grew suspicious. "Can I come in?" I asked.

"Um," said Walter. "Not right now, sorry. Your husband isn't decent."

I stared at him. "He's WHAT? What are you guys doing?!?"

"Nothing."

"WALTER!!"

"Nothing!" After a brief look behind him, Walter opened the door. Jeff was lying casually on top of his bedcovers, pretending to read. I was too braindead to probe further, so gave up my inquisition for the moment, went to bed.

The next morning as Allison and I were getting ready to meet Jodi for breakfast, I told her what had happened. "Have you opened the door yet?" she asked.

We stared at each other for a moment, then opened the door. A rolled up poster immediately unfurled, making Allison scream (which Jodi heard next door, prompting her to come over) as we both jumped back in surprise. Here's what was on the poster:



The speech bubble reads: "Good morning, ladies! Like to see me wield my bow?!?" The text refers to a line in our song, The Question (which I wrote based on one of my Waiting For Frodo comics), which we happened to perform in open filk on Friday night.

Anyway, here's a photo of the set-up, which Walter installed the night before while we were sleeping:




He had rolled up the poster (which was weighted at the bottom so that it would unfurl properly) so that if we had peered suspiciously out the peephole first, we would just see an empty hallway. Ingenious, really. In an evil overlord sort of way, that is.

And now we come to Paul Kwinn's revenge song.

As I mentioned in this Blathering, Urban Tapestry sang a song called Paul Stanley Kwinn at OVFF in honour of Paul's Toastmasterhood. Apparently after hearing about the song, some of Paul's relatives presented him with boxer shorts with baby bunnies on them. Heh.



Anyway, turns out Paul did get his revenge after all. :-) Not only did he write our bio for the GAfilk songbook, but also wrote a song in response. You can read the lyrics in this LJ post by Paul and hear a version he uploaded to the FilkArchive. The title? "Deborah Marion Kazumi Yow-Hoo You-Betcha-Baby Ridpath Ohi."

By the end of the song, everyone in the room was singing along on the chorus, punctuating it with a very Canadian "EH?" :-D

Here's a photo that Erin took while Paul was performing it:



Hm...Allison and Jodi look like they're enjoying this a little TOO much, don't you think?

Speaking of UT-related songs by other people...

I also got a kick out of Matt Leger's Starsoul parody about Galaxy Quest as well as Randy Hoffman's Sex and Chocolate parody called Specs and Broccoli. And Ian Hanley recited my obituary...I had forgotten that I won this in an Interfilk auction at Second Concerto years ago! There was also another song I wanted to mention here, but my atrophying brain has forgotten it, argh.



When I mentioned The Chocolate Song in an earlier Blathering, I forgot to post the lyrics.

Chocolate Altoids from Maya!

I never did get around to putting down a final version since quite often people are singing at the same time with various bits were repeated, with counterpoint scattered throughout, and we've also switched some parts around since the early version below, but this gives you VERY rough idea of the words:

THE CHOCOLATE SONG
By Debbie Ridpath Ohi
Oct/2006

J=Jodi, A=Allison, D=Debbie, C=Crystal, E=Eva
In the concert, Crystal played a chalemeau (a kind of clarinet),
Eva was on glockenspiel, Rafael played classical guitar,
and Allison played her 12-string.

--------- PART # 1 BEGINS----------
J: I think about chocolate all the time
A: Even when you're sleeping?
J: Always when I'm sleeping! Dream sublime
J: I think about chocolate all the time
except (this is true) when I think about you

--------- PART #2 BEGINS-------------
E: What kind of chocolate are you talking about?
It's important, you know! C: I know! E&C: We know!
E: What kind of chocolate is she talking about?
E & C: It's important, we know! We know! We know...

(sing PART #1 and PART #2 at the same time
but add Debbie singing "I just want some chocolate NOW" twice)

------ BRIDGE #1 BEGINS ------
C: Can't believe you took my Chocolate Fountain (C&D) when you left me
A & E: Can't believe you think white chocolate is the best
J: Hey but it IS!
C & J: Can't believe you think that each dark chocolate's like the rest...
All: Babe, it's clear that we weren't meant to be!

Gary and Sheryl

J: I think about chocolate all the time
A: Even when you're singing?
E: All the time
J: Always when I'm singing! Song sublime
J: I think about chocolate all the time
E&C: All the time
except (this is true) when I think about you

C: When I think about you

------- PART #3 BEGINS ------
C: I dream (D: I dream of darkness)
C: I dream I wish (C&E: for chocolate.)
C&E: Dark is the best!

(go into next part without pause)
PARTs #1 and #2 and #3 at the same time....

J: I think about chocolate all the time
A: Even when you're sleeping?
J: Always when I'm sleeping! Dream sublime
J: I think about chocolate all the time
except (this is true) when I think about you
yooooooooooooooou (all singing various counterpoint bits)


With Bill Rintz.

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GAfilk (part 3): Come Down To GAfilk

Above: Urban Tapestry and Mary Crowell (photo by Walter). Many thanks to Mary for preparing the GAfilk songbook every year! I'm amazed at the amount of work that must go into this, and the fact that it's included in the membership fee. Thanks also to Karen Murphy, who did the layout. This year, the songbook includes the sheet music, lyrics and chords to three of our new songs: Hey J.K.!, Come Down To GAfilk and Sing With Me.



Above: Char during the Interfilk auction. I enjoyed getting to know this classy, good-humoured lady better during the weekend and was also delighted to hear more of her singing. Char kindly donated an hour-long belly dancing lesson to the auction, and you can see her giving a quickie demo above. I've attended one of her belly dancing workshops before; not only was it way fun, but a great abdominal workout!



Above: Dancing with Jeff at the banquet on Saturday night (photo by Walter). The Saturday night banquet is always one of my GAfilk highlights. I can't really dance (I tread on poor Franklin's toes several times, but he was a gentleman and didn't wince even once) but have SO much fun doing it at GAfilk. At so many other venues, dancing often becomes a peer pressure thing ("You're not having fun unless you're on the dance floor, come ON!") or a preening display where the more experienced make catty remarks about the supposedly inferior style and coordination of others.



At GAfilk, however, the Saturday night banquet/dance is conducted with the same easygoing spirit that pervades the rest of the weekend. There's no pressure to dance if you don't want to. Singles don't need to feel left out, either...just grab a few friends (or willing strangers) and get out on the dance floor. I also love the fact that at GAfilk, slow dances aren't the sole domain of male-female couples. I danced the last dance with the lovely Amy McNally, and got to ask her some Irish session questions I hadn't had the chance to before.

And oh my, it was fun to see people dress up in their finery.



One of the songs we premiered in our concert was "Come Down To GAfilk," a song I wrote with the help of several in the filk community. Many thanks to Brenda Sutton for playing bodhran for us in our concert!

I posted in Livejournal a while back, asking people to suggest words or phrases that they associated with Atlanta or more specifically, GAfilk. You can find the sheet music in this year's GAfilk songbook, thanks to Mary Crowell, but here are the lyrics:


COME DOWN TO GAFILK
Nov/2006
By Debbie Ridpath Ohi
With help from Matt Leger, David Weingart, Bill Roper,
Scott Snyder, April Leake, Larissa March, Melissa Glasser,
Margaret Middleton, Annie Walker, Bill Sutton, Rob Wynne,
Gary McGath, Ellen McMicking D.I., Gary Ehrlich, Alan Thiesen,
Emily Raftery, Phil Parker, Andrea Dale, Erica Neely,
Marilisa Valtazanou, Mary Bertke, Sherman Dorn,
Michelle Dockrey, Mary Crowell, Allison Durno and Jodi Krangle

VERSE:
A young man was walking 'long the road
when he came upon a Fairy maiden
He smiled and he tipped his hat, he said
"Miss, what are you doin' out here?"
(She said) Here is my answer true, I'm
Waiting here just for you.

CHORUS:
Why don't you come down to GAfilk
just for a day or two?
You will never find a place like
this where e'er you roam, don't worry
soon you will see
just like me
in a little while you'll feel right at home.

The young man said, "I don't understand"
The Fairy rolled her eyes
("This is gonna be harder than I thought")
"I'm lookin' for a place of joy, I'm lookin'
for a place with waffles" he said.
"Mister, as the sky is blue, I
have the perfect answer for you!"

(CHORUS)

The young man said, "You tempt me, I admit
but what about the music?" And the Fairy laughed
(and laughed and laughed and laughed)
"Three Weird Sisters entertain and Bill
Rintz is now one of us too"
"Strangers No More, quilt delight...the
House Band has us dancing all night!"

BRIDGE:
"There's chocolate fondue in the con suite,
Sutton has beer, would you like a dance, sir?
Happy New Year, dress up in your finery
MyFilk MyFilk, do you know the answer?"
("MyFilk MyFilk, I know the answer!")

(CHORUS)

The young man, he disappeared that day, as
did the Fairy maiden, though on
moonless nights if you close your eyes, you can
sometimes see him dancing in the glade.
You wait the evening through 'til he
whispers this to you...

(CHORUS)





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GAfilk (part 2): Music collab

Above: Shar's and Becca's footware last weekend.

As I mentioned in yesterday's Blathering, Allison has already written a thorough convention report from Urban Tapestry's prospective, so I'm just going to touch on a few extra points.

For me, one of the most appealing aspects of filk conventions is making music with and appreciating music of others. I get as much pleasure while listening during an open filk circle as I do performing, sometimes more.



(Above: newlyweds Graham and Becca Leathers, who gave a WONDERFUL Concom's Choice concert last weekend)

Because different people attend different conventions, the flavor and personality of the filk circles varies as well, even within the same convention. Some con attendees opt to stay in one room all evening while others may choose to wander from one circle to another.



And if you get tired of the filk circles, you can always chat with people in the hallways, catching up with old friends as well as making new ones. I love this ebb and flow of conversation and music.



But back to the musical aspect...

As I've posted in Blatherings a while back, one of my goals for GAfilk was to write a song which Urban Tapestry and Summer and Fall could perform together. I almost gave up halfway through writing The Chocolate Song, but Allison and Jodi convinced me to finish it.

And I'm so glad they did! When we finally had the chance to finally rehearse the piece at the hotel, I could tell it was going to work just fine; Eva, Crystal and Rafael sounded wonderful, and it was SO GREAT to hear it all come together:



Eva and Crystal wrote out their parts on manuscript paper, including the instrumentals they had come up with:



In the end, we had five vocal parts and four instruments! Thanks to Dave Weingart for letting me re-post the photo he took when we performed the song in concert:



This will likely be the ONLY TIME the song is performed live; I'm not sure when the next time we'll all be together since Eva, Crystal and Rafael all live in Germany.

Allison, Jodi and I each had other opportunities to make music with others at the convention throughout the weekend as well, in performance but mostly just for fun. Allison, for example, with Linda Melnick and T.J. Burnside Clapp in the Ops Room before the convention started:



And Jodi performed with the fabulous Play It With Moxie, a band that also features Mary Crowell (Musical Director/Piano/Vocal), Dave Rood (Trumpet/Vocal), Andrew Powell (Sax/Vocal), Teresa Powell (Vocal/Bass), George Powell (Bass/Sax/Vocal), Brian Richardson (Drums and Emcee for the band at the banquet), and Carly Gibson (Guitar):



Joyeuse13 has some fantastic pics of the band on this page.

One thing I'm always aware of at filk conventions is that we all come from different musical backgrounds and widely varying levels of experience...this makes it far more interesting. One of my favourite things about open filk circles, for example, is the opportunity to hear different types of music and vocal styles, and the exchange of musical/creative ideas; I almost always find it inspirational in some way, whether in songwriting or performance aspects.

A few more photos...

Franklin was kind enough to help us out on a couple of songs. Here, he holds up a prop during "Wo Ist Der Bahnhof?" (photo by Dave Weingart):



Practising with Amy McNally in our hotel room early Friday afternoon:



Amy performed with us on "Still Beautiful" (written by German filker Aryana) and "Sing With Me" (a song I wrote with some help from Dave Clement). I've heard a rumour, by the way, that Amy's moving to Toronto! Or rather, we're trying to START the rumour... :-)

Tanya Huff and me:



Paul Kwinn performing "Carrot Juice Is Murder":



Teresa and Shar:



Jodi, Allison and me (photo by Dave Weingart):





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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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Dave Alway: gentle bard

(Update: 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.)

Photo above: Dave Alway. I took this photo of Dave this past Sunday at GAfilk, two days before he passed away :-(.

I got home from Atlanta this evening. It was a wonderful weekend with a sad postscript...the filk community was shocked and deeply grieved to hear that longtime filker, Dave Alway, died from a cardiac arrest yesterday morning. Please see his brother Peter's Livejournal entry. Both Dave and Peter have posted in Blatherchat and my LJ comments section in the past; Dave would also sometimes post a poem he had written about one of my Blatherings.



I posted some photos of Dave from previous GAfilks in this LJ entry. As I said in that post, I will miss Dave's gentle nature, the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, his welcoming smile, his wonderful hugs, his songs and poetry. I still have several buttons that he custom-made for me, including one he gave to me this past weekend.






When people offered him money for his buttons, he donated all the funds to Interfilk. He was always encouraging and supportive of Urban Tapestry.



In response to my post, Peter wrote the following, which moved me greatly:

"Dave loved telling and retelling the story of seeing this cute Asian woman he had never seen before at Michigan convention sitting in a circle, pulling out a flute, threatening to play it, then shyly putting it away, then tentatively getting it out, almost playing it, putting it away, driving him crazy with suspense. Finally, someone asked 'is that a flute I see? Could we hear it?' And then the room was filled with this amazing music that left everyone agape. That was probably tied for first as his favorite Debbie story."

The other story was how I got the WETA tote bag I take to conventions to carry my Stuff: his brother and I were both bidding for the bag (donated by Gary Ehrlich) in an Interfilk auction. Dave won the bag...and then gave it to me. This is only one example of Dave's generosity.

Rob Wynne has collected online tributes about Dave in his Livejournal. Among the posts are poems, songs, photos and recollections...including re-posting of poems written by Dave. I haven't yet read through all of them, but especially loved the one Brenda Sutton posted in her Livejournal: Madison's Morning. Mark Bernstein, Cat Faber, and Callie have written poems, and Tom Smith has written a song. There are and will be other tributes, I'm sure.



I'm so glad that according to his brother, Dave had a good time this past weekend, with much friendship and music. I'll be posting general photos and a con report after I've finished unpacking and catching up with work, but for now I'd like to raise a virtual glass and toast Dave Alway, a great and gentle man.

Dave, you will be deeply missed.

Below: photo taken at the Saturday night banquet at GAfilk this past weekend. Dave is on the right, beside Amy McNally. His brother, Peter, is seated to Amy's left.





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