Ordinary Day

Oh, pish. They also filk who just sit and listen, or sing along to the choruses. One of the features of a good filk, too, is a portable copy machine, which can be used to copy off lead sheets and the like... often the cry is raised after a new song is introduced, "COPY!"

OK. Filk. The folk music of the science fiction convention. Much of it is parody, f'rinstance, "Railway to Hogwarts" to the tune of (oft-abbreviated "ttto") "Stairway to Heaven"; "Sympathy for Mr. Morden"; and "Filk in the Lobby" ttto one of the best known guitar riffs of all time, "Smoke on the Water". But there's a lot of original stuff, too, about everything from Alice in Wonderland to generation ships to cats to knitting. Much of it is guitar, but we have instruments ranging from dulcimers (both kinds) to bass flutes (in-house here at the Treehouse!) to keyboards to really crazy stringed instruments like the banjo ukelele, the banjola, the banjimmer, and I think there's even a bouzouki floating about the community, though I can't think who has it at the moment.

There is a semi-formal organization here, the Emerald Forest Filk Society (http://emeraldforestfilk.org/index.php); there's a mailing list signup on that page. The calendar off that page also reveals that there is a concert in Greenwood next Saturday night with tfabris and vixyish, if you want to just get a flavor of what we do, and then there's a housefilk up on Whidbey Island the following Saturday (and we're probably going). There would likely be room in the car if you wanted to tag along...

I really recommend Tony and Vixy as a first experience. Tony doesn't have the greatest voice, but it works well for funny stuff, which is what he does, and he's a damn fine guitarist; Vixy... that woman has the finest set of pipes I've heard in these parts for a mezzo soprano. They encourage singing along (not like they could prevent it on "Mal's Song", which is what came of Vixy using the "Firefly" theme for a chorus and writing verses around it)... the coffee is good, the company will be excellent, and it's not a half-bad venue for a girl and a guy with a six-string. The coffeehouse is just south of 87th on Greenwood; bus it to Northgate and catch the 5 Downtown. Bus stop is basically across the street if I recall correctly. We can probably arrange to get you home from there; the route back is a bastard.

I think the most unusual thing about filk is that the community (and I use that word deliberately) has a habit of encouraging folks to participate, even if they aren't the best (yet). So, c'mon along! it'll be fun.

(This is my music icon. :)