Contata 2011
Jul. 6th, 2011 02:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hms42Now that the Fanac CD info has been posted, I can give some comments on the con. :)
I had a good time at the convention. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun.
While I mostly saw the main room filking, I did make it into the other rooms at points. (Usually to change the recorders.)
On Friday, the convention opened with a parade of the Guests of the convention being led in by a parade of kazoos, a drum and a Uke.
Peter Alway opened the convention with a concert on his Banjomer. (Sorry if I got the spelling wrong.) He is someone that does not get to the east coast often and while I have seen him before (OVFF), I don't recall seeing him in concert before, only in circle. (I am not sure if he has made it to an NEFilk convention before.)
Deb's concert I was a little busy downloading one of the recordings that was planned for later in her concert and did not get a chance to listen as much as I want to. (I have to listen to the recording when I get a few minutes. I had to miss more of it due to finding out mid concert that I needed to get a 2nd recording from the internet (which was played later in her concert.)
Open filk was fun and went to about 3:30-4am.
On Saturday, there was a number of concerts including Ian Hanley and Blind Lemming Chiffon (both of whom were was fun to listen to.) GOH Judi Miller's concert was a mixture of her singing followed by her signing some classic songs from the North East. (The only song I am recalling at this point is At The Worldcon.) She ended her concert with Tom singing "Operation Desert Storm". Normally, I only get to see Judi on stage @ OVFF during the Pegasus nominees concert and I am more concerned with who is on next vs watching her sign the songs. I was able to sit down for a few minutes and it was a lot of fun watching her sign the songs. I hope to get to see someone's video at some point of her signing the songs from her concert.
Tom was great as always during his concert and as far as I am concerned, it was too short. He performed a couple of songs that he has not played in a concert that I have heard in a while. (Cheap Ass Cyborg and Trans Poly U. Fight Song)
Pavlov's Duck was a great interfilk guest. I have not had a chance to hear them in person before (as Lord Landless/Lord Bandless). (I have listened to their 2008 Confluence concert to find the songs for the Fanac CD. Thank you Filkferengi for the 2008 recording!) They were great and I hope to someday get over to Germany to see them perform again.
On Sunday, the Joe Bethancourt tribute concert concert introduced us to a number of Joe's songs. About 2 months ago, Joe's house had a fire and they got out safely (along with the pets and the Banjo's) and we held a fund raiser which raised money for him. (I think the number was $675 by the end of the convention.)
Roger and M'Liss (from Florida) whom I had last seen at GaFilk did a 1/2 hour concert at the con. They were great and did a nice set. One song of theirs that I liked was "I'm A Snake" by M'liss TTO "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (At least I think that is the source tune.)
That covers the concerts.
Besides the concerts, there was a number of theme circles (which I missed most of, but I saw a positive comment on the 'Short Attention Span Circle'); the interfilk auction, some one shots, a song writing contest (won by Peter Alway, using a tune from Cat Faber), and 2 hat bands. Also an interesting concert was the "Song cycles Concert". Ben Newman played a couple of songs from the "Dragon from Sale" universe, Sassafrass sang a couple of songs and Abby performed a couple of her songs from her Flying Stones universe. (Sorry, I can't remember the name of it at 1:30am and I know she will provide the right title.)
The other highlights of the convention (besides the GOH concerts) were the two musicals performed.
There was the NEFilk debut of Ben Newman's "Walk In the Day", finally complete with an ending (and a couple of new songs.). This was the 3rd performance of Walk In the Day (Conflikt 4 and Boskone 48) and it was great to see again, with a mixture of both previous casts performing this time (plus a couple of new people.)
The other musical was the "Rocky Horror Muppet Show" written by Tom Smith. Its only the second time its ever been performed. (The last time RHMS was performed was in 1987 and the Special Friend package included as one of the CDs in there, a copy of the 1987 RHMS performance.) We had a few of the original performers back to reprise their rolls. (Tom, Mark Bernstein, Mike Stein.) Some of the jokes were updated for 2011, and Judi Miller played herself as the special guest this time. We even had a couple of people in Rocky Horror Costumes in the audience. (I did get some pictures of the con and the RHMS.) Yes, we recorded the show (Zoom recorder, board feed to my laptop and multitrack on a HD recorder) and I saw at least 3 video cameras in the room.
Open filk (when I finally got a chance to listen at 0:dark 30, which means after 4am or so) was good and fun to listen to. The Rotten Apple broke up about 3am or so.
One fun thing I did get to see was Ben Newman sharing a new song with Tom Smith (using Operation Desert Storm as the music) when Tom was heading off after the Rotten Apple. (No, that was not recorded with Tom playing, but Ben did perform the song in the circle later.) It was a myth from his Walk in the Day universe and it was interesting to get a little more of the culture of the creatures the store is about.
Also, on a slightly different note (and will have its own post in the next day or two), I managed to pull off 3 CDs for release at the convention. The 3rd CD (which has not been mentioned before) is Roberta Rogow's new CD "Dark Deeds and Desperate Men (and Women)" which is a collection of songs about highway men, privateers & others of questionable morals. (It includes a cover of "Been There, Dun That" by Juanita Coulson.) Most songs on the CD were recorded live at east coast conventions.
It was great seeing everyone at the con and thank you to the rest of the concom who did a great job putting on a fun event.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladymontegreenladymontegreen posted a link earlier wih links to many convention reports. http://ladymondegreen.livejournal.com/94860.html
I look forward to seeing many of you again next year in Boston at Concertino. http://www.concertino.net
I had a good time at the convention. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun.
While I mostly saw the main room filking, I did make it into the other rooms at points. (Usually to change the recorders.)
On Friday, the convention opened with a parade of the Guests of the convention being led in by a parade of kazoos, a drum and a Uke.
Peter Alway opened the convention with a concert on his Banjomer. (Sorry if I got the spelling wrong.) He is someone that does not get to the east coast often and while I have seen him before (OVFF), I don't recall seeing him in concert before, only in circle. (I am not sure if he has made it to an NEFilk convention before.)
Deb's concert I was a little busy downloading one of the recordings that was planned for later in her concert and did not get a chance to listen as much as I want to. (I have to listen to the recording when I get a few minutes. I had to miss more of it due to finding out mid concert that I needed to get a 2nd recording from the internet (which was played later in her concert.)
Open filk was fun and went to about 3:30-4am.
On Saturday, there was a number of concerts including Ian Hanley and Blind Lemming Chiffon (both of whom were was fun to listen to.) GOH Judi Miller's concert was a mixture of her singing followed by her signing some classic songs from the North East. (The only song I am recalling at this point is At The Worldcon.) She ended her concert with Tom singing "Operation Desert Storm". Normally, I only get to see Judi on stage @ OVFF during the Pegasus nominees concert and I am more concerned with who is on next vs watching her sign the songs. I was able to sit down for a few minutes and it was a lot of fun watching her sign the songs. I hope to get to see someone's video at some point of her signing the songs from her concert.
Tom was great as always during his concert and as far as I am concerned, it was too short. He performed a couple of songs that he has not played in a concert that I have heard in a while. (Cheap Ass Cyborg and Trans Poly U. Fight Song)
Pavlov's Duck was a great interfilk guest. I have not had a chance to hear them in person before (as Lord Landless/Lord Bandless). (I have listened to their 2008 Confluence concert to find the songs for the Fanac CD. Thank you Filkferengi for the 2008 recording!) They were great and I hope to someday get over to Germany to see them perform again.
On Sunday, the Joe Bethancourt tribute concert concert introduced us to a number of Joe's songs. About 2 months ago, Joe's house had a fire and they got out safely (along with the pets and the Banjo's) and we held a fund raiser which raised money for him. (I think the number was $675 by the end of the convention.)
Roger and M'Liss (from Florida) whom I had last seen at GaFilk did a 1/2 hour concert at the con. They were great and did a nice set. One song of theirs that I liked was "I'm A Snake" by M'liss TTO "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (At least I think that is the source tune.)
That covers the concerts.
Besides the concerts, there was a number of theme circles (which I missed most of, but I saw a positive comment on the 'Short Attention Span Circle'); the interfilk auction, some one shots, a song writing contest (won by Peter Alway, using a tune from Cat Faber), and 2 hat bands. Also an interesting concert was the "Song cycles Concert". Ben Newman played a couple of songs from the "Dragon from Sale" universe, Sassafrass sang a couple of songs and Abby performed a couple of her songs from her Flying Stones universe. (Sorry, I can't remember the name of it at 1:30am and I know she will provide the right title.)
The other highlights of the convention (besides the GOH concerts) were the two musicals performed.
There was the NEFilk debut of Ben Newman's "Walk In the Day", finally complete with an ending (and a couple of new songs.). This was the 3rd performance of Walk In the Day (Conflikt 4 and Boskone 48) and it was great to see again, with a mixture of both previous casts performing this time (plus a couple of new people.)
The other musical was the "Rocky Horror Muppet Show" written by Tom Smith. Its only the second time its ever been performed. (The last time RHMS was performed was in 1987 and the Special Friend package included as one of the CDs in there, a copy of the 1987 RHMS performance.) We had a few of the original performers back to reprise their rolls. (Tom, Mark Bernstein, Mike Stein.) Some of the jokes were updated for 2011, and Judi Miller played herself as the special guest this time. We even had a couple of people in Rocky Horror Costumes in the audience. (I did get some pictures of the con and the RHMS.) Yes, we recorded the show (Zoom recorder, board feed to my laptop and multitrack on a HD recorder) and I saw at least 3 video cameras in the room.
Open filk (when I finally got a chance to listen at 0:dark 30, which means after 4am or so) was good and fun to listen to. The Rotten Apple broke up about 3am or so.
One fun thing I did get to see was Ben Newman sharing a new song with Tom Smith (using Operation Desert Storm as the music) when Tom was heading off after the Rotten Apple. (No, that was not recorded with Tom playing, but Ben did perform the song in the circle later.) It was a myth from his Walk in the Day universe and it was interesting to get a little more of the culture of the creatures the store is about.
Also, on a slightly different note (and will have its own post in the next day or two), I managed to pull off 3 CDs for release at the convention. The 3rd CD (which has not been mentioned before) is Roberta Rogow's new CD "Dark Deeds and Desperate Men (and Women)" which is a collection of songs about highway men, privateers & others of questionable morals. (It includes a cover of "Been There, Dun That" by Juanita Coulson.) Most songs on the CD were recorded live at east coast conventions.
It was great seeing everyone at the con and thank you to the rest of the concom who did a great job putting on a fun event.
ladymontegreenladymontegreen posted a link earlier wih links to many convention reports. http://ladymondegreen.livejournal.com/94860.html I look forward to seeing many of you again next year in Boston at Concertino. http://www.concertino.net
