Ohio Valley Filk Festival, notes from the field

[drcpunk]

So far:

The flight to the convention had a couple of brief scares.

1. I misplaced my boarding pass somewhere between security checkpoint and the actual screening, you know, with the x-ray machine and the walk through booth. I freaked, dashed back to check if I'd dropped it on the floor, couldn't find it, tried not to hyperventilate and panic while the security folks stayed calm and listed several options for dealing with this, and mnemex went ahead to check on our flight. Due to a combination of leaving his work place later than planned and not realizing our flight was in a different terminal than the rest of the Continental stuff, we didn't have comfortable padding. But, our plane hadn't yet arrived, so mnemex came back. I figured he could watch my stuff or bring it to the gate while I got a new boarding pass, which the security folk assured me could be done with just my ID, which I had not misplaced. mnemex decided to see if he could get an electronic version of the boarding pass, which they'd indicated would be acceptable. So, he sat down on the corner of a table while I started putting my shoes on and said, "Ah, here's your boarding pass."

"No, can't be. I looked everywhere."

"No, really -- see -- here's your name and everything."

I figure he conjured it out of the fourth dimension with his phone, the G1. After all, Google can find anything.

So, we went to the gate and joked about it being the first time we were glad the plane was running late. We soon boarded, and then got the next scare.

2. The harp. mnemex has a harp that usually goes in a compartment up front. But, this was a tiny plane. Two inches more and I'd be bumping my head on the ceiling. This meant that the folks in the front row used the compartment the harp would go into if they had had an overhead compartment of their own.

"It'll have to be gate checked," said a flight attendant.

"No, it is a harp. I will hold you responsible for any damage," said mnemex.

"Put it up front with us," said the captain.

The attendant tried, but it wouldn't fit. "It'll have to be gate checked," he said.

"..." said mnemex.

We stuck my bag in the overhead, and I said, "Wait a minute -- the harp should fit under the seats. It's a single space, not two tiny spaces."

mnemex told the attendant this.

"No, that's not acceptable. I'll put it in this overhead compartment."

"An empty overhead compartment? And it fits in there? Okay, that's fine." And we breathed a sigh of relief.

After that, the 45 minute wait for take off just didn't bother us.

The hotel restaurant has really good food. It does not have really cheap food, which I gather used to be the case.

I listened to the songs up for the Pegasus awards, except for one when I ran to the bathroom. I gather it was a great performance, very funny, with signs and things. The Silly Hat party was fun.

Friday night, we did the hallway filk. I did "Kingdom of the Mice" which, I explained, is, along with Susan di Guardiola, responsible for The Orphan's Tales winning the Mythopoeic Award. Ben did a song based on an original story he wrote or is writing (not sure if it's a novel or novella or what). The Funny Things did "Run Little Bird", which I'd never heard before.

We slept late on Saturday, so I didn't make most of the concerts. I did manage to hear and take pictures of mnemex singing "The Walker" with Amy backing him up on fiddle. And I heard the song after it, a Firefly song from Book's point of view, which I liked. (I had no problem with what Wheedon did to Wash in the movie, but I really detested how Book was used.) I did make the tail end of the a capella filk, hearing Renee doing a monologue and song from her show about being an unvertical woman, and how dating opportunities for disabled women are tough to come by.

I made some of Tim and Annie Walker's concert, which was really good. They were backed up by Wild Mercy, half of Dandelion Wine, two thirds of Wyrd Sisters, and Bill Sutton.

The banquet had really good food and sufficient quantities of really good desserts. Then, the Pegasus Awards were announced. Just over 400 ballots were cast. For anyone interested who doesn't already know, the winners are:

Best Comedy Song: "Close Your Eyes" by Daniel Glasser. I'd have preferred "Apology", but I don't mind. "Close Your Eyes" is sort of a template. Each performance is, must be, a different improvisation. In the concert, Juanita Coulson put her mark on it, and Judy signed along.

Best Tragedy Song: "Black Davey's Ride" by Cynthia McQuillan. I think this was the right call. mnemex and I polka'd to it, as Wild Mercy and Amy played it in the concert. Two of the songs, in my arrogant opinion, should not have been in that category. The other two -- well, I'm not sure I'd use the word "tragedy", though I can see why they got there. As pocketnaomi noted, "Sealskin Coat" is about an accident, not a tragedy, and given the fairy tale set up, I find this unaesthetic.

Best Writer / Composer: Seanan McGuire. I can't really mind, but my pick was Ben Newman.

Best Performer: Vixy & Tony. As above, but my pick for this one was Amy.

Best Classic Filksong: "Archetype Cafe" by Talis Kimberly. My pick was "Nessie Come Up" by Dr. Jane Robinson. I really like "Archetype Cafe", but I think it wasn't as good a fit for this category. Again, though, can't really mind it winning.

Best Filksong: "Uplift" by Andy Eigel, who insisted that this award went to all of us who sang it at filks in his absence. About. Bloody. Time. My answer to anyone asking, "When can folks stop nominating it already?" was "When it wins." The one bit of rank Erica Neely says she pulled was to be able to give this award away. As soon as the winner was announced, we had a raucous standing ovation. This was a really bad time to be standing next to me, as I opened my throat and yelled at the top of my lungs, full high pitched scream of joy. Several times. A lot of people were doing that, though not all at the same pitch. There are songs that are, to much of sf fandom, akin to religious hymns. This is one of them, as is "Hope Eyrie", which won its award some years ago, I think.

After that, there was the Interfilk Auction, or at least, the voice part of it. This raised $2,684 for Interfilk, the fund used to bring guests to the various filking conventions.

Sheryl got the huggable DNA for $50. Fortunately for me, the pattern is online..

A copy of the CD I got with my Contata membership went for $325. As sdelmonte noted, this was recorded live in his and batyatoon's living room.

sdelmonte: I recorded the first season of Heroes in my living room, too.

The CD of the concert of Barrayar songs recorded at Denvention went for $370. The auction wenches (of both genders) were exhausted and the auctioneer was really good. Professional auctioneers have this odd rhythmical patter.

Then I made the mistake of having ice cream, which I discovered I really was too full for. But, it sure tasted good, as did the pumpkin cobbler.

I actually listed the songs done at the Harmonies circle:

Happy Birthday
The Viking Happy Birthday
Mary O'Meara
Outward Bound
Cool Green Hills of Earth (one version of same, sans the Esperanto)
Poor Wayfaring Stranger
Glory of the Sun
This Island Earth
Creation of Ea (my pick, didn't quite click, as I hadn't realized it's actually tricky to pick up on the fly)
Waters of Babylon
A Sailor's Prayer

After that was "Just Plain Folk", which I listened to much of, then went walking with batyatoon. We heard Ben's description of the story behind the song he'd just sung, the one he'd sung last, and another song set in that world, which was also really good. Then, I went into the main filk room with batyatoon and sdelmonte, catching most of Seanan singing about wicked girls choosing to save themselves, which was also really good.

After that, I drifted into the Pajama Party, aka songs for kids. This has just switched over into open filk.