BayCon 2001
Paul's report

Where: Doubletree Hotel, San Jose, CA
When: May 27, 2001
Duration: 45 minutes
Set List:
$1.50 Movies
Joyride
Skin
In & Out
Urban Legends
Born Out of Time
The Merry Minuet
'Tain't Neither
Maple Tree
Caledonia
Ramblin' Time

Yep, in spite of being spread across three non-contiguous states, Puzzlebox still managed to get an invitation to, and perform, a concert at our local (well, still local to Paul, anyway) regional convention: BayCon. We have now performed concerts at no less than 4 BayCons, more than at any other convention. Thanks to the programming staff (especially Seanan McGuire and Meg Heydt) for their continued confidence in us.

Of course, more than just our geography has changed since last BayCon. Besides the Kwinn Twins (Riley and Casey, who are now 3 and a half months old) being present, this was also the public debut of Hailey Grace Garcia (and the first time that Taunya, Beckett, and I had seen her). All the infants took up a lot of our time, though. We squeezed in three rehearsals (which we really needed , since we hadn't been together as a group since _last_ BayCon), but the Garcias and Kwinn/Gladneys didn't end up seeing a whole lot else of the con. Taunya and her kids were more mobile, so they got to a little more of the con programming. I did manage to have dinner on Saturday with Jeff & Maya Bohnhoff and Tony Fabris, which was great, since I'd never had a chance to talk with them for more than a few minutes at a time before. Alisa and Beckett had brunch together (with Seanan and Beckett’s mom June) on Saturday, and Luis and I got to play a few hands of Magic. Other than that, a lot of time was taken up with baby care. A _huge_ amount of thanks to Angie Ladd, Seanan McGuire and June Gladney for assisting with baby care.

Puzzlebox (less Luis) did manage to get to a couple of hours worth of open filking on Saturday night. The circle featured such luminaries as Jeff & Maya, Tony, Kathy Mar, Jane Mailander, and Steve Savitzky. The highlight of that evening's music, for us, was when Jeff & Maya asked us to sing/play along with them on "Persian Rose" (which we'd borrowed from them a few BayCons back). That was fun, and sounded great.

Our concert was on Sunday night. We managed to pull ourselves into good shape, I thought; better than I'd expected after so long apart. :{)} We had Kristoph (who was also our album engineer) providing expert handling the PA system for us. The audience was fair-sized, of mixed Puzzlebox-experience, and enthusiastic. We got them singing along, laughing, and oooo-ing. It was a success. And wow, did it feel great to be playing with the group again!

We got two mentions in “The Bayconolith” (BayCon’s twice-daily-or-so newsletter): Issue 6 (Sunday evening) said “At 9:00 PM, come watch Taunya vs. the cold medication as the laughing lunacy of Puzzlebox unfolds.” (Still wondering who had that inside information. It must be admitted that the affects upon Taunya of her cold and her medication had us wondering just how she’d sound until the last minute.) And Issue 7 (Monday morning) actually had a review:

Puzzlebox Solved

"If music is the language of the soul, then Puzzlebox would be a multilingual translator. This talented group fused several different types of music into their program, creating a very diverse and interesting experience. Once the group worked out a few bugs with the sound board, the audience was moving on an emotional level to the harmony. There was laughter through some of the songs as the group poked fun at a few everyday things in their song ‘A Dollar Fifty.’ In sharp contrast, another song caused deep feelings for a homeland long lost in the melody about old Scotland, ‘Caledonia.’

As musical groups go, you would have really missed something special if you did not se this group perform. Audiophiles and lovers of musical talent will get their fill as this group thrills the audience in future productions.”

Hey, not bad. :{)}

On Moday morning, we all met in the hotel restaurant for breakfast before we went to our respective homes. It was great to see everyone again, even if only for a harried weekend.