GA Filk 2000

Posted by Paul on January 12, 2000 at 19:24:35:

Well, Faithful Pfuzzlebox Fans, we have returned, triumphant, from Dixie; more specifically, from Atlanta, Jawjuh,
home to GaFilk (pronounced "guh FILK"). The experience was a marvelous one. I am now even more convinced
that Interfilk is a wonderful organization. :{)}

Our last practice was on Thursday evening, and thankfully we were able to move it up to 7:00, because we had to
get up very, very early on Friday to make our 6:25 AM flight to Georgia. Taunya showed up at my place at 4:30,
and Beck gave us a ride to the airport. Alisa and Luis drove separately, and we met Luis at the curbside baggage
check for Northwest Airlines as Alisa was parking the car. The flight out was pretty uneventful, just the usual
"Where did the day go?" of flying from the west coast to the east coast. We were in our hotel rooms at 5:30, and
after a bit of freshening up (including a beard trim for yours truly [thanks to a handy little trimmer that my sister
gave me for Christmas]), I called Bill Sutton (con chair) to find out where and when they wanted us. The answer
was that the first event of the con, the "New Year's Eve Party", was coming up at 6:30, and would be our first
chance to meet everybody. So we all went down to the con reg desk, got our reg materials, and toasted to good
things in 2000 with some champagne. We met GOH Margaret Middleton (who had chatted a little with us by
e-mail before the con), Bill and Brenda, and other concom members (Bill and some others were in tuxedos). It
should be noted that GaFilk is a very small con (75 members this year), with a very relaxed schedule.

Next up was a gameshow, modeled after the British "My Word" , named "My Filk", featuring two teams in
basically a filk trivia contest. This was fun, and we were asked to be "judges". The quote marks are to indicate
that our actual duties were even more ceremonial than the Queen of England's (which was fine with us). There was
a round of "Given the members, name the group". (We saw the question/answer cards afterwards, and I think I
would've cleaned up in that one.) Then "Given the name of the parody, name its author and the original song" and
one other segment which I forget. Also, there were a pile of random topics in a cup and (get ready, here comes
half of our participation as "judges":) we picked two topics at random for each team, which they had to write a filk
song about. Team 1 got "Cold Fusion" and "Detours", Team B (sic) got the more interesting "Power Tools" and
"Lemmings". Our final "judge" duty was to determine which song the audience had applauded more loudly for.
Team 1 pulled it out, with a song based on "It's a Small World After All". Bill was saying that the gameshow,
which was a new event this year, would definitely become a regular item. (This was only the second GaFilk.)

After the gameshow, we ran into Kathleen Sloan checking in in the lobby. Kathleen had told us shortly before the
con (in a Christmas card) that our presence at the con had convinced her to come check it out, and we were
_very_ glad to hear that, since we expected to know almost nobody there (and of course, it was very flattering to
be the reason she decided to go).

Next up, open filk. We were all short on sleep, of course, so we didn't stay too late. Alisa especially, since she
had a case of the flu that was getting worse as the weekend went along. We did get a request for "Stop Singing
Ose or I'll Kill You" from Kathleen (stay at any filk long enough, and that song will become appropriate), and I
was reminded that we were indeed in new territory, as that 3-year-old song had people (who'd never heard it
before) laughing like crazy. Gee, maybe that's why Interfilk does this sort of thing... :{)} Anyway, there were a
number of good musicians there: Margaret, Bill & Brenda, of course, Kathleen, Daniel Glasser, Kip McMurray,
Sherman Dorn, and Bill Rintz (who played a couple of tunes on Saturday night), as well as people new to us:
Robert Cooke (who will be their toastmaster next year), a harpist named Gwen (whose repertoire ran toward
Celtic murder ballads), and Terry Wachowiak. Well, Terry wasn't _quite_ brand new to us: she looked familiar to
me, and she had apparently greeted Taunya when we first arrived; it turned out that Taunya and I had met her at
Consonance in 1996(?), when we were having our first concert together and Terry's former group Timelines was
the Interfilk guest. Ah, circles...

Saturday morning Taunya, Alisa, and Luis went for breakfast at the Waffle House (just across the parking lot). I
had planned to go, but I stayed in bed an extra hour, having been up late with a nasty headache (which, very
fortunately, was completely gone in the morning). We did a little shopping in the rooms near the con suite where
the 3 or 4 dealers were showing their wares after that, then we went to Alisa's room to rehearse our set. Bill had
kindly lent Alisa a keyboard. It was becoming evident, though, that Alisa was singing on borrowed time. She was
determined to get through our one panel and concert, though.

We went downstairs at about 2:00 to catch the first concert: a 6-person group going by the cumbersome name of
Year and a Day / Three Wyrd Sisters. It consisted of Bill and Brenda, aforementioned harpist/singer Gwen
Knighton, Theresa Gibson (voice, bass, and guitar), John Gibson(voice, mandolin, guitar, doumbek ), and George
Powell (voice, bass, guitar). Apparently the men are Year and a Day and the women are Three Wyrd Sisters, and
they often play together. They were great! Quite a variety of music, from Appalacian to pagan to murder ballads
to more "traditional" filk. I think Taunya and Alisa both want to pick up some of their songs. Then YAAD/3WS
and Puzzlebox had a sort of abbreviated version of a panel that was on the schedule: "Listen to the Band: Playing
in a Group". We all said what it was we liked/were looking for in playing with a group, and discussed some
questions from the audience. Bill was very proud to say "Hey! We had a panel! We're a real con!" :{)}
Apparently, the two scheduled earlier fell through.

Next up was Puzzlebox. We did a good job, I think. We had an hour, opening up with "It Ain't Easy" (that got
their attention) and closing with "'Tain't Neither", and "The Merry Minuet" as an encore. Bill introduced us (their
toastmaster got sick and couldn't attend), saying that he hadn't actually heard us before, and was looking forward
to it, then plopped himself down and listened attentively to the whole concert. "Fly Freedom" was especially
appreciated, with Bill, Brenda, Terry and a few other people practically refusing to stop applauding for that song.
(Bill was telling me later how great a song he thought that was, and said that the Trail of Tears starts in Georgia,
something like 50 miles north of where we were.) Kathleen came up at the end of our concert (as Bill was telling
people about Interfilk) and told the assemblage that we were the reason she came. :{)} We were fairly well
mobbed by people asking for CDs after the concert. Between the people we figured already had the CD before
and those who bought them there, Taunya was guessing that every household represented at the con had our CD.
And folks had many kind and enthusiastic words for us. In short, just the sort of thing that performers love. :{)}

Next was the one-shots. Kathleen performed "Road to Roswell". Terry had fun (although she rambled a bit) as
"Terry Trout", an imitation (and self-admitted pale shadow) of Leslie Fish. We heard only a few of them before
sneaking out for some dinner. Alisa, having given her all for the concert, went to her room for a nap, and asked us
to call her when the Interfilk auction started.

GOH Margaret Middleton's concert was next. She performed solo with a guitar, playing mostly "classic" filk
pieces. A personal favorite was a twist on "Threw it Out the Window" (of Trout Fishing in America fame), using
lines from filk songs, instead of nursery rhymes. :{D} "IBM, DEC & Honeywell, HP, DG, and Wang / Amdahl,
NEC and NCR, we threw 'em out the window!"

The Interfilk auction was fun, as usual. (That's the brilliant thing about Interfilk, eh? They wouldn't make nearly the
money they do if they didn't make the auctions a fun spectator sport.) Kathleen, Taunya, and Terry were among
the item runners, sitting in male bidders' laps to encourage them to raise their bids. When Taunya became a runner,
Bill Sutton handed the next auction item to Rob Wynne (head of programming and co-auctioneer), sat down in the
front row and called out "Runner!". :{D} I don't believe he even made a bid. I'm told that I turned beet-red when
Terry sat on my lap (after being assured that Taunya was not my wife), when I was bidding for a t-shirt. Margaret
Middleton also had a small quilt that Interfilk was raffling off. She not only worked on it herself, but had other
people making squares for it at the convention with materials she'd brought. (Taunya made one, in fact) We of
Puzzlebox had forgotten to get organized ahead of time to bring an item for the auction, so we were going to take
a cue from Dandelion Wine and donate a private half-hour concert. Unfortunately, Alisa was too sick by now to
be able to do it. So, after Bill suggested perhaps a tape of outtakes from our recording sessions (unfortunately, we
didn't keep our outtakes), Taunya said we could offer to make someone a tape of some songs that weren't on our
album. So that's what we did: Puzzlebox singing any 5 songs you like on a tape. That went for $40 to Daniel
Glasser and his fiance Melissa Mays (who turned out, during the course of the con, to be quite the Puzzlebox
fans). (For those interested, they chose "Persian Rose", "Merlin", "Stop Singing Ose", "It Ain't Easy", and
"Ramblin' Time") The quilt raffle and the auction together raised a little over $1000 dollars. Then Margaret
donated the contents of a recently-closed bank account for something called the Filk Foundation(?), which came
to nearly $1600. So Interfilk came out $2600 ahead this weekend!

Alisa went to bed before the Saturday night filk started. Taunya and I were down there until around 5:30 AM,
though. Jan Dimasi asked us for $1.50 Movies, and much to our surprise, Melissa Mays volunteered to provide a
third voice for it. I've seen her sitting in several filk circles with Daniel, but never heard her sing before. But she
was good! The harmonies worked great.

There was a dealer who had all sorts of fringed pieces of fabric, with various pretty prints and patterns on them.
You could buy the cloth for use as a scarf/shawl, or for $5 more, she'd sew it into a kaftan-type shirt for you. A
lot of the female membership of the con were walking around wearing them by the end of the weekend, including
Taunya, who'd gotten one shirt and one shawl on Saturday night. It occurred to me that Beck would just love that
sort of thing, and Taunya said they only took about 15 minutes to make, so I went and got one of each for Beck
on Sunday morning. Taunya also bought a piece of fabric for Alisa to make herself a shirt. Then, after a trip to the
con suite for a snack, Taunya and I dropped in on Alisa. Kathleen joined us also for general chatting, while Alisa
prepared herself for one more appearance at the final jam and closing ceremonies. We sang a couple of songs,
then Alisa, Luis, Taunya and I went to the Waffle House for brunch, before Alisa retired to pack, rest, and await
our evening flight. Her participation wasn't _quite_ at an end, though, thanks to her evil partners and other
conspirators. During the jam, somebody spoke of a person being "Madiera'd", and Alisa didn't get it. It had
slipped my mind that, while Taunya had been de-flowered at FKO this year, Alisa had not, nor even seen the
process. _So_, consulting the nearest Madieraist (Bill), we got a little crowd together to go up to her room later in
the afternoon, including Daniel Glasser, playing the role of the dirty old man. It was a lot of fun. :{)} As far as I
know, the first home-invasion Madiera-ing.

Things pretty much wound down after that. Taunya and I sang "$1.50 Movies" again with Melissa (Daniel had
missed recording it the night before, and wanted to get it). Most of the con membership headed off to catch a 6:00
showing of "Galaxy Quest" together. (Talk about the perfect audience: a pile of fen, freshly exhausted from a con.)
We sat in Alisa and Luis' room for a little while, me doing last minute packing (couldn't pack away CDs, recording
equipment, and music books until after the jam), Luis playing "Heroes of Might & Magic III" on their laptop, and
Taunya and Alisa lounging. Then we headed toward the airport in the rain. Taunya and Luis were arguing with
Alisa that she should skip work the next day, lest she get even worse (felt odd that there was so much mothering
of her going on already that I just stayed out of it ;{)} ), and apparently it worked: she called in sick Monday and
Luis took her to the doctor, who diagnosed a bad case of bronchitis. I understand she's staying home at least for
Tuesday, too.

Paul (Kwinn)

P.S. For anyone who's interested, here's our bio from the con program(me):

-------

13 True Facts About Interfilk Guests
Puzzlebox
By Urban Tapestry (Allison Durno, Jodi Krangle, Debbie Ridpath Ohi)

Lured into the world of filking by lifemate Beckett Gladney, Paul Kwinn began going to filks in 1990(*)...and his
life was never the same again. Masquerading as a programmer for the computer game company, Accolade(*),
Paul was actually working as an undercover federal agent for the U.S. government. Rumours had circulated that
"filking" was the front of a secret cult which initiated hapless innocent victims into a life-time of bad puns and
all-night brainashing sessions...Paul had been assigned to investigate. However, he underestimated the strength of
his case subject...without fully realizing, Mr. Kwinn was gradually being BRAINWASHED BY THE CULT
HIMSELF.

Alarmed by this turn of events, the FBI assigned Taunya Shiffer to the case in early '95. As a talented artist,
actress, and songwriter(*), Taunya seemed to be the Bureau's best hope for extracting Paul from the maelstrom of
Mind_Sucking Addiction which was filk. A few weeks after going undercover, however, the FBI lost contact;
rumours surfaced of Ms. Shiffer performing with Paul Kwinn(*), running around barefoot on stage(*) and
crooning songs about jalapenos(*) at night while working as a lead computer games artist at 3DO(*) and running
her own film and tv produciton company by day(*).

Alarmed and desperate, the FBI sent in their secret weapon...Alisa Shaefbauer. [pk: one advantage of getting
married is that her name has become a _whole_ lot less likely to be mis-spelled] Alisa had retired from the FBI
several years before to be a Sales Operations Manager for Nortel Networks/Shasta IP Services (*), but was
convinced to come back for one last assignment. And it was indeed her last assignment, because she never ended
up leaving it. (Insert dastardly theme music here...)

Once the three realized they had become inextricably entwined in their Addiction, they had to decide on a group
name. Rejecting promising possibilities such as "Morty's Sushi Combo" and "The Trembling Plankton Army"(*),
they finally decided on the name PUZZLEBOX, which is actually a secret code acronym for the phrase:
Practically Undulating Zesty Zealots Languishing Endlessly and Bored of the X-Files." [pk: we are _not_ bored of
the X-Files!]

Now one of the cult's most nefarious recruiting weapons, Puzzlebox has released a CD of filk propaganda called
"Assembly Required"(*) which lures in the unexpected [pk: ? lures in the unexpected? "Um, Bill, there's a moose
at the door, and he says he'd like to join the circle..."] with harmony-rich ballads and hilarious songs about magic,
aliens, red-necks and various other contemplative sorts of things that the FBI would much rather people didn't
think about.

Today, Puzzlebox has immersed itself so completely in the world of filk that even the FBI has trouble tracking
them, though rumours of Pegasus nominations(*) and songwriting awards(*) surface from time to time. If you see
any of these individuals, approach with caution...they are armed with musical instruments and considered
extremely dangerous!

*A True Fact. For more True Facts about Puzzlebox, do check out their website at http://www.puzzlebox.net/