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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GAfilk, Kiva and Kenyan dairy farmers

Above: Steve Savitsky, at GAfilk a couple of years ago.

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm leaving tomorrow for Atlanta to attend GAfilk, where Allison, Jodi and I are delighted to be Guests of Honor this year. Linda Melnick is the Toastmistress, Summer & Fall are the Interfilk Guests, and S.M. Stirling is the Super Secret Guest. I'm VERY much looking forward to all the music as well as seeing old friends and making new ones. After the convention, I'll be visiting for a few days with Bill and Brenda Sutton.

A quick link before I go...

One of my favourite Christmas presents was from my cousin's partner, Lisa: a $20 certificate for an organization called Kiva, where you can lend money to small businesses in the developing world.

From the site: "By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can 'sponsor a business' and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back."

Here's the individual to whom I chose to give my loan: a farmer in Nakuru, Kenya, who is hoping to start a small dairy farm business. My $20 is going to help him buy two cows...how cool is that? So far he's collected $850, needs $675 more. If the $20 is ever repaid, I plan to re-invest it in another business on Kiva.

If you're curious, please do check out the site, or you can also read what the press says about Kiva.

Back to packing...



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Happy New Year!

Above: I drew this for Illustration Friday; this week's assigned topic: "Phoenix." To leave a comment about the drawing in Flickr, please click on the image above.

Happy New Year, everyone! Jeff and I went to a New Year's gathering hosted by our friends Reid and Luisa last night. Much food and good conversation, plus I got to meet Peter's and Leslie's son for the first time.



He was a bit shy at first, but warmed up to me once I started talking his language. It's amazing what one will do in order to get a small child to smile or laugh; I found myself crawling along the floor, making weird faces and goofy noises, singing silly songs...anything to get that incredibly infectious grin.



Part of the reason that grown-ups do this, I think, is because we appreciate the honesty of babies. When they smile or laugh, they aren't just doing it to be polite...they really DO think you're the funniest and most fascinating thing in the world, at least until something more interesting comes along, like a ceiling fan or an interesting bit of fluff under the coffee table.



Many thanks to Reid and Luisa for hosting a wonderful party! It was a great way to kick off the new year.



A short while ago, I mentioned that I had recorded a flute track for friend's new album. As of midnight last night, Seanan McGuire is now accepting pre-orders for Stars Fall Home. You can find more information (and hear soundclips from a previous CD) here. I play flute on her "Dorothy" track. Here's an example of one of Seanan's live concert performances (on her "Pretty Little Dead Girl" album): Sycamore Tree, with Tony Fabris and Michelle Dockrey. My favourite song on the album is Fly Little Bird, a gorgeous a capella piece.


Only a few days until I leave for GAfilk!






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