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solarbird and I did make it down to Conflikt in Renton today. We didn't make it down there until 3pm or so, unfortunately, because I got conked with a nap in the early afternoon and there was unexpected traffic on 405 on the way down... but we got there. And we plunked down thirty bucks each for day passes, even though we'd missed half the programming already. I figure hey, it's supporting the con. And I wanted into the dealer's room anyway.
CDs purchased in the dealer's room:cadhla's Pretty Little Dead Girl, the Bedlam Bards' On the Drift finally (because I have been a sad little Browncoat that I hadn't owned a copy of that before now), and Shadowbeast by Escape Key. Not long after I also picked up s00j's Sirens, since I noticed several of her CDs were out on a table just before her concert!
Activities done: sat in on a workshop headed by Steve MacDonald that was described as "Performance Strategies" in the program book. Mostly what got talked about while Dara and I were there was how to memorize songs, and the technique Steve described sounded helpful, though also a lot of work.
Afterwards there was in theory going to be Open Filk, at which Dara hoped to play since chances were high that I'd be too wiped to hang around for the post-concerts Open Filk. Sadly, the earlier Open Filk did not materialize, since most of the con attendees were at the Interfilk auction, and then the vast majority of them went to dinner. Undaunted, Dara rehearsed some of her flute pieces for a while, which had the satisfying result of bringing a few people into the room to listen, and even one fellow I saw tapping out impromptu drum rhythms to accompany her.
Later, Dara whipped out the mandolin and we futzed a little with "Goin' Up" and "Lukey". I had not bothered to bring any of my instruments, since I figured and quite correctly that I would not have energy to play. But I had just enough energy to sing, at which point I learned to my satisfaction that I am definitely more comfortable singing both of these songs in the key of A; so, for that matter, is Dara. However, I also learned that at least in my current condition, I apparently can't remember half the damn lyrics. But Dara saw my missed lyrics and raised me flinging the pick right into the mandolin, coming out of the bridge of "Goin' Up". ;)
Persons met for the first time and/or otherwise spoken to:pocketnaomi, stealthcello, s00j, mdlbear, and one nice lady with a five-year-old, neither of whose names I have managed to remember because my brain is the approximate consistency of cheese at the moment. And of course we spoke with cflute and technoshaman, as well as tibicina who actually sat in on our last Jam (about which I still need to write). ETA 1/20/98 1:12pm: Forgot to mention that I also bumped briefly into kendaer!
Concerts attended: Skinny White Chick, at which point I got a load ofstealthcello's cello for the first time. Holy crap. Ladies and gentlemen, that there is one sexy cello. I covet it and I'm not even a cello player. I knew some of the set list already after listening to the recently released live Tricky Pixie CD, but did not know the songs from the Orphan's Tales books by Catherynne M. Valente, which were very cool. I shall have to seek those books out.
Then, immediately thereafter,cflute with assorted backup provided by tibicina, pocketnaomi, mdlbear, a guitarist I didn't know named Cindy, and a vocalist whose name I managed to miss. (See previous commentary re: brain, cheese.) Having recently listened to a lot of Echo's Children for the first time, it was pleasing during this concert to actually recognize several of the songs. I have decided that the overall style of Echo's Children works a lot better for me when applied to parody lyrics; I loved the gaming filk lyrics for "Acts of Creation", as well as the Dr. Seuss parody later in the lineup.
By the tail end of that concert, though, I was fading fast and shivering in what was actually a very warm room; I was sitting there in my coat by the end of it. So I told Dara regretfully that I needed to come home and fall over. We said our goodbyes to folks and came on home... but I am hopeful at the word that registration counts for this con well exceeded expectations (147 where they had expected only around 80), which bodes very well for a Conflikt 2 next year.
Here's hoping I'll be up for the whole thing next time around.
solarbird and I did make it down to Conflikt in Renton today. We didn't make it down there until 3pm or so, unfortunately, because I got conked with a nap in the early afternoon and there was unexpected traffic on 405 on the way down... but we got there. And we plunked down thirty bucks each for day passes, even though we'd missed half the programming already. I figure hey, it's supporting the con. And I wanted into the dealer's room anyway.CDs purchased in the dealer's room:
cadhla's Pretty Little Dead Girl, the Bedlam Bards' On the Drift finally (because I have been a sad little Browncoat that I hadn't owned a copy of that before now), and Shadowbeast by Escape Key. Not long after I also picked up s00j's Sirens, since I noticed several of her CDs were out on a table just before her concert!Activities done: sat in on a workshop headed by Steve MacDonald that was described as "Performance Strategies" in the program book. Mostly what got talked about while Dara and I were there was how to memorize songs, and the technique Steve described sounded helpful, though also a lot of work.
Afterwards there was in theory going to be Open Filk, at which Dara hoped to play since chances were high that I'd be too wiped to hang around for the post-concerts Open Filk. Sadly, the earlier Open Filk did not materialize, since most of the con attendees were at the Interfilk auction, and then the vast majority of them went to dinner. Undaunted, Dara rehearsed some of her flute pieces for a while, which had the satisfying result of bringing a few people into the room to listen, and even one fellow I saw tapping out impromptu drum rhythms to accompany her.
Later, Dara whipped out the mandolin and we futzed a little with "Goin' Up" and "Lukey". I had not bothered to bring any of my instruments, since I figured and quite correctly that I would not have energy to play. But I had just enough energy to sing, at which point I learned to my satisfaction that I am definitely more comfortable singing both of these songs in the key of A; so, for that matter, is Dara. However, I also learned that at least in my current condition, I apparently can't remember half the damn lyrics. But Dara saw my missed lyrics and raised me flinging the pick right into the mandolin, coming out of the bridge of "Goin' Up". ;)
Persons met for the first time and/or otherwise spoken to:
pocketnaomi, stealthcello, s00j, mdlbear, and one nice lady with a five-year-old, neither of whose names I have managed to remember because my brain is the approximate consistency of cheese at the moment. And of course we spoke with cflute and technoshaman, as well as tibicina who actually sat in on our last Jam (about which I still need to write). ETA 1/20/98 1:12pm: Forgot to mention that I also bumped briefly into kendaer!Concerts attended: Skinny White Chick, at which point I got a load of
stealthcello's cello for the first time. Holy crap. Ladies and gentlemen, that there is one sexy cello. I covet it and I'm not even a cello player. I knew some of the set list already after listening to the recently released live Tricky Pixie CD, but did not know the songs from the Orphan's Tales books by Catherynne M. Valente, which were very cool. I shall have to seek those books out.Then, immediately thereafter,
cflute with assorted backup provided by tibicina, pocketnaomi, mdlbear, a guitarist I didn't know named Cindy, and a vocalist whose name I managed to miss. (See previous commentary re: brain, cheese.) Having recently listened to a lot of Echo's Children for the first time, it was pleasing during this concert to actually recognize several of the songs. I have decided that the overall style of Echo's Children works a lot better for me when applied to parody lyrics; I loved the gaming filk lyrics for "Acts of Creation", as well as the Dr. Seuss parody later in the lineup.By the tail end of that concert, though, I was fading fast and shivering in what was actually a very warm room; I was sitting there in my coat by the end of it. So I told Dara regretfully that I needed to come home and fall over. We said our goodbyes to folks and came on home... but I am hopeful at the word that registration counts for this con well exceeded expectations (147 where they had expected only around 80), which bodes very well for a Conflikt 2 next year.
Here's hoping I'll be up for the whole thing next time around.