a rambling OVFF retrospective...

[tollermom]

I thought I'd jot some thoughts down before OVFF finishes running together in a blur (I'm already losing track of what happened which day...).

Rooming with chirosinger and musicmutt was lots of fun... and it's a good thing I got to hear them sing in the room, 'cause I hardly ever landed in the same filkspace as them all weekend!

OVFF was full of good things... lots of good music... the chance to get to know people who I'd only met once or twice before... Judi Miller's face when she won the Best Performer Pegasus, and subsequent encounters with her in the halls while she was still walking on air (I honestly think there would have been a revolt if anybody else had won that one, and the other nominees probably would have led the charge! A Most Excellent Choice, imo. :-) )... meeting people whose names and music I'd heard but who I'd never been able to hear in person, especially Kathy Mar and Bob Kanefsky, with whom I had lovely chats.

Except for missing the Mad Hatter's Tea Party (next year I'll plan for that in both my schedule and my packing!), I managed the Entire OVFF Experience this year... the nominees concert, workshops, the banquet, the auction, the Mongolian BBQ run on Sunday, and the Dead Dog. And even with all that time, there were still people who I wish I could have spent more time with. I guess I'll just have to expand my circle of filk cons, eh?

I think the only really disappointing part of the whole weekend, for me, was my inability to clone myself. All weekend, I told myself that it was okay that I couldn't make it to all the various filk circles, because I'd get to hear the folks I'd been missing in the Dead Dog on Sunday. Then the Dead Dog broke up into two rooms after I'd already settled all my stuff in the main room and I still didn't get to hear a lot of other folks. I had great fun in Metro, especially after the crowd thinned out a bit and we settled into the back corner where France was still cutting hair, but I really wish I could have figured out how to be in two places at once!

Highlights of the weekend, in no particular order... getting flagged down by Kathy Mar in the hall and asked "Who are you?" (I'd been guilty of forgetting my nametag) and then finding that she was trying to place why she recognized my voice but didn't recognize me. Turns out she's been playing "Furious Fancies" in her six-disc changer ever since she received it last year. Squeeeee! ... getting to sit at Kanefsky's feet while he talked about how he knows when a song is going to work, and how he goes through the writing process ... getting brownies from catalana in the wee hours of Monday morning; yay for late-night energy! ... singing in the hall on Sunday with almeda and anach ... long chats with various people over eggs and bacon (yummmm... bacon) ... watching cadhla debut a brand-new song that made vixyish turn all purple (in a good way) ... almost falling off my chair laughing at Kanefsky's "99 bottles of beer on the wall" parody about renters ("Some tenants must be obeyed!") after having thoroughly enjoyed the source song (what was that song? the one about "174 more years to go"? It was lovely, and the guy-whose-name-I-don't-know sang it beautifully, and I plead "I'm still new to all this" as my excuse for not remember either of their (song or guy) names).) ... having ladyat request "Holy Now" on Saturday night (since I don't write, it's nice to know that I'm picking filk-compatible things to cover) ... hearing Three Weird Sisters do a beautiful rendition of "A Thousand Ships" on Friday night ... chatting with singlemaltsilk at the banquet on Saturday night and planning and plotting for next summer with gorgeousgary and the_sheryl ... watching tnatj and quadrivium and the rest of the room fall apart when peteralway performed Saint Saens' "The Swan" on kazoo and banjo ukulele after having Mary (who had requested the performance) sign a "Waiver of Liability and Good Taste".

There are a million more, but those are the ones currently coming to mind. I'm not even going to try to list all the people who I heard or spent time with, 'cause I'd miss somebody and then I'd feel bad. Suffice it to say that it was a great weekend full of good music and good conversations and I just wish it could have been longer!

I can't finish this without thanking min0taur and Sally for introducing me to this whole "filk thing"... who knew, when we started our little Celtic band, that Jen and I would end up getting introduced to a whole new world! I love that we're all friends first and bandmates second, and I'm amazed (and a little awed) at the number of truly wonderful friends I've made in the last two years that I'd've never met if it hadn't been for Barry and Sally.

Comments

[almeda.livejournal.com]

"Hear me oh, hear me oh, there's a hundred and seventy-four years to go" is the chorus of mrlogic's song Boundless. it was in ny filkbook, so you have it, I think. otherwise it's on hsi website.

For the record, that was the very best food I've EVER had at a con banquet; don't get used to that as your standard of 'normal' or you'll be disappointed. :->

[tollermom]

LOL! I've been searching all over the 'net for that song and it was already on my hard drive. Indexed, no less... if I'd just thought to search locally! Coolness.

And yeah, I'm not getting my hopes up for that standard of food at banquets on any kind of regular basis... that was amazing! I normally avoid paying for banquet tickets 'cause I hate to spend money on rubber chicken and wilted veggies. I went this year to support the nominees and because I really really wanted to see Judi win for Best Performer, and I was extremely pleasantly surprised to actually get good food!

[fuzzyvanman.livejournal.com]

It was nice to hang out and talk with you some at the con. I'm glad you had such a great time.

[tollermom]

It was great to get to talk to you too! I really enjoy the occasional "no responsibility" con so that I can stop and chat whenever I want without having to worry about what I'm scheduled to do next. :-)

And thanks again for the loan of the rechargeables for the Xoom... it was much happier with those. Now I just have to find the time to sort through all the audio files and carve them up into manageable chunks! (And I haven't dumped pictures into the laptop yet, either, and those are easier... just one giant card to unload into iPhoto...)

Speaking of sound files... I never did remember to bring you my firewire drive. Oops. Shoot me your snailmail address (to tollers at livejournal dot com or to my regular email address if you still have it) and I'll drop it in a box.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

peteralway performed Saint Saens' "The Swan" on kazoo and ukulele

I don't mean to be pedantic, but that was no mere ukulele. It was a banjo ukulele.

[tollermom]

Whoops! Of course it was... and I even heard banjo ukulele in my head while my fingers were managing to leave out the banjo part.

Fixed!

[min0taur.livejournal.com]

Shucks, girl, you and Jen were, and are, absolute naturals for Planet Filk. We'd have been remiss not to make the mutual access a little easier.