Consonance 2000

March 3 - 5, Santa Clara, CA (San Jose)
Posted by Paul on March 07, 2000 at 14:20:27:

The annual Northern California filk convention occurred this past weekend in Santa Clara (adjacent to San
Jose).

I arrived Friday night around 6:00 PM. I got registered and checked out the dealers' room and chatted
with people while waiting for my wife Beckett and my partner Taunya to show up. (Alisa was, alas, in
Australia on a business trip, and couldn't make it this year, so Puzzlebox was operating at 2/3 strength.) I
ran into Daniel Glasser and Melissa Mays, the couple who had won the bidding for a custom 5-song
Puzzlebox tape at the Interfilk auction at GaFilk in January (where Puzzlebox was the Interfilk guest). We
had worked the last few weeks on recording it for them, and I made up a custom cover the night before,
so I presented them with their prize right there in the hallway. I chatted with them at some length and said
hello to various other folks as they passed by: Joey Shoji, Dr. Jane, Alan Thiesen, Kathleen Sloan, &
Andrea Dale (whom I'd actually been part of the reception committee for, at the San Jose airport the night
before). I also ran into the very sizable German contingent, some of whom I knew (Katy & Ju), and the
rest I met (Anke, Kirstin, and Volker). They were very excited to be there, it seemed, and we all
exchanged hugs. It seems that Puzzlebox's fame had preceded us: Katy had been sharing her Puzzlebox
CD around, and I was getting excited hellos and album congratulations from people I'd never met before.

About the only event on Friday night was a long-running hosted circle with the theme of "Playing filk for
non-filk audiences", with a different pair of performers taking hosting duties every half-hour. Taunya and I
played "Takin' a Walk" and "My Jalapeno Man" as two songs that we'd had a lot of success with in
non-filk venues. Later we ended up in a filk room with Folk Guests of Honor Margaret Davis and
Kristoph Klover. They were, as usual, brilliant. (For anyone not familiar, Margaret and Kristoph are local
professional Celtic/Celtic Rock musicians. Kristoph was also the engineer for our album.) Taunya left
around 2:00, and I stayed about an hour more.

One of the thrills for me, personally, on Friday was having Anke (who, keep in mind, had never met me or
any other Puzzleboxer before) request "God Bless the Artists" and "The Dark Man", based on hearing our
CD in Germany. :{)} Taunya had already gone home by that point, but we did play them for her on
Saturday night.

It was an exceptionally talented crowd at this convention, between Steve Macdonald (Filk GOH),
Margaret & Kristoph (Folk GOH), Heather Borean (Interfilk Guest), Jeff Hitchin (Toastmaster), Juliane
Honisch & Kerstin Droge (Katy & Ju: our "other" guests), Andrea Dale, Echo's Children (Cat Faber and
Callie Hills), H. Paul Schuch (aka "Dr. Seti"), Anke, Kirstin, & Volker, and Leslie Fish, as well as local
regulars Scott Snyder, Kathy Mar, Jeff & Maya Bohnhoff, Dr. Jane, Alan Thiesen, Lynn Gold, and Steve
Savitzky, and some very skilled new filkers, and the musical "bar" was very high indeed.

Beckett and I showed up at the hotel around 11:30 Saturday morning, and pulled our stuff into our room
(we decided just to stay one night). Then I went to see Margaret & Kristoph's performance workshop,
while Beckett worked on some homework in the hotel room for a while. (She's taking a children's book
illustration class.) I took some of our CDs to Mary & John Creasey at the Random Factors table in the
dealers' room, then rehearsed a couple of songs with Kristoph and Alan (and Taunya) for performance
later. The afternoon concert sets included: Joey Shoji, Kirstin Scholz, Andrea Dale, Lloyd Landa & Karen
Lindsley, Scott Snyder, and Katy & Ju. It was quite a packed schedule, but I certainly enjoyed everyone
that I listened to. The one-shots were in the middle of the afternoon's concerts. Taunya and I sang her
OVFF song-writing contest winner "Skin" (its local debut), and we also reprised our supporting vocal
roles on Alan Thiesen's "FTL Pizza".

Then most of the convention drove over to a salad/pasta buffet restaurant named Sweet Tomatoes for
dinner. Scott, Beckett, and I got to talk with Kirstin and Volker while we were standing in line, and talked
about FilkContinental (the German filk con, held in one of a number of castles most years!) and the
amazing superiority of foreign language education in Germany, as compared with the US (nine years of
English is standard there?!?!).

Then back to the hotel for the evening concerts, in a much larger room than the afternoon's programming.
Dr. H. Paul Schuch led things off, with his parody songs about space and technology. Then Toastmast Jeff
Hitchin, with his usual flair for both music and between-song shtick. He sang a song about an operatic
soprano trying to teach filkers the "right" way to sing, and actually sang some soprano, hitting some
amazingly high notes, while playing the character in the song. Then at the end of the song, he pulled a capo
out of his pants. :{D} I'm afraid I missed Interfilk guest Heather Borean, as Taunya and I had promised to
play some music for the folks in the con suite. But we did see GOH Steve Macdonald (starting at about
midnight; full schedule!). He performed an excellent set (but then, we expect nothing less from Steve...),
including pulling over a dozen people on-stage with him to sing backup for his new lullaby.

After Steve's concert came a few songs worth of impromptu recording by Echo's Children (for an ailing
friend, I believe?). My thanks to Callie for her confidence in me: she pulled me up on-stage with just a few
minutes notice to play guitar for them. :{)} Hope I did OK for you.

The evening's filking was fun, although it got started pretty late. Got to hear a couple of new people (Lili
[quiet, but an up-and-comer] and Tony [quite talented, and hope to see more of him]).

Sunday's events started with the Folk GOHs' concert: Margaret & Kristoph. They were wonderful (as
always) and said that they appreciated being "Folk" guests, so that they didn't feel guilty about not having
much filk in their rep. We don't mind, Stoph and Margaret! Wonderful traditional music: Celtic, French,
and other. Kristoph also decided to pull something out of his musical past, and he had asked me to help
him out on it: John Denver's "The Eagle and the Hawk". He played 12-string and sang it while I played a
second 12-string that I'd borrowed (thanks, Daniel!). Other than Kristoph breaking a string in the intro, it
went fairly well. :{)} Those 23 strings really sang!

Programming then segued into a set of mini-concerts, which people had signed up for earlier at the con.
They added extra mini-concerts to accomodate the demand, in fact. I may not have them all, but they
included Anke, Daniel & Melissa, Jeff & Maya, Cacie Sears, Steve Savitzky, Tony (don't know last
name, but talented performer and parodist), Leslie Fish.

Especially amazing person of the weekend for me was Cacie Sears. Hee-yipe! I had seen her at OVFF,
but hadn't gotten to hear her sing much there. Here I did, and I foresee a pro career for this 16-year-old
(and she told me that that's just what she has in mind). Good grief! I remember hearing Cacie years ago as
a pre-teen singing prodigy, and she's only gotten better since, adding some excellent guitar work to her
vocals, as well as good songwriting. Just wonderful to listen to. Go Cacie!

Sunday was also supposed to include a Celtic Jam and a Rock Jam. The mini-concerts ran over, though,
so the Celtic jam started in the hotel's atrium. The rock jam wasn't quite as rockin' as last year, since Jeff
and Maya had to leave before it started and Kristoph was still in the Celtic jam, so that left Scott (who
_had_ brought his new, marvelously gaudy, red and gold electric) and Steve to carry the on the rock and
roll. We had plenty of fun, though (including Cacie and Taunya's rendition of "Behind Blue Eyes"), as the
evening hours closed in. As ordered-in food was arriving (around 7:30), Beckett and I stole Kathleen
Sloan away to dinner at Applebee's so we could chat a little. (Poor Kathleen: she was having to leave
earlier than planned the next day [6:20 flight!] to help out at her medical office, due to a nurses' strike that
started the day she left Colorado.)

It was a wonderful weekend, and not quite over yet for a lot of people: There was a Monday night
gathering at Kathy Mar's house which Steve, all the German folk, Scott, Andrea, Kristoph, Karen &
Lloyd, Jane Mailander, I, and a pile of other people attended. It was a marvelous little con extension, and
a chance to say goodbyes to people in a slightly more relaxed environment. There should be another brief
flare-up in local filk activity next weekend, too: Karen & Lloyd are playing at local coffeehouse Cafe Latte
Da on Saturday evening. I know I'll be there.

Oh, another piece of information from Monday night: The Guests of Honor for next year's Consonance will
be the mighty Urban Tapestry!! Huzzah!! Just in case I was thinking of not making the 10-mile trek from
Fremont, that pretty much seals it for me. ;{)} And the toastmaster will be Mike Stein.

Overall, a wonderful, joyous whirlwind of activity. Enjoyed the music and company so much. Thanks to
all, especially the concom for making it happen.

To various German filkers who might be reading this but couldn't make it: Kirstin and Volker got a bunch
of Puzzlebox CDs to take home to people. We hope you enjoy them. :{)}

Paul (Kwinn)

P.S. Puzzlebox had the honor of writing the Consonance programe bio for Filk GOH Steve Macdonald.
For those who couldn't come to the con, perhaps you'd be interested in seeing it:

Chair: This confirmation hearing will now come to order!

Michigan: Mr. Chairman!

Chair: The Chair recognizes the senator from Michigan.

Michigan: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have here the results of our research into the background of the
candidate, Mr. Steve Macdonald. He seems to have had an average upbringing, in my own state of
Michigan. He was born to two high-school teachers, and took up singing impromptu compositions at an
early age. He was involved with school choirs as early as 3rd grade. When he was in the 6th grade, he
received a free meal by singing a song in a restaurant.

Iowa: Steve Macdonald had a fan, e-i-e-i-o.

Chair: The senator from Iowa will keep his snide remarks to himself until he is recognized.

Iowa: Apologies, Mr. Chairman.

Michigan: As Mr. Macdonald matured, he continued to develop his talent in music, embracing such
performers as The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Cat Stevens, the Indigo Girls...

Alabama: Mr. Chairman!

Chair: The senator from Alabama has a comment?

Alabama: Mr. Chairman, it is an outrage that this august body be forced to listen to this litany of known
left-wing radicals!

Chair: Senator, Mr. Macdonald is a candidate for a Guest of Honor post at a filk convention; his political
affiliations or leanings are not relevant to these procedings.

Alabama: But Mr. Chairman! What about moral turpitude?!

Chair: I'd say we're some distance yet from making that sort of determination, Senator, but your concern is
noted. Continuing the background...

Michigan: Mr. Macdonald has specifically asked that it be entered into the record that the Sex Pistols were
NOT among his musical influences.

Chair: Um, all right. So entered.

Michigan: Also, he has likened himself to ravioli, in that he's reasonably predictable, but sometimes has a
suprise hidden inside.

Alabama: Mr. Chairman! This is outrageous!

Chair: Gentlemen, let's just try to get through the background, for now. Is there anything else from the
senator from Michigan?

Michigan: Yes sir. Mr. Macdonald has had a long-time interest in science fiction, which led him to a career
in the musical genre known as filk.

Thing: !!

Chair: The chair recognizes the Thing with Three Heads from a Distant Star.

Thing: Bazu! Sneck bjork snock!

Chair: It appears Mr. Thing's translator is broken again. While the technical staff makes repairs, we'll
continue.

Thing: Screep!

Michigan: Mr. Macdonald's career in music has included numerous "gigs" in various coffeehouses over the
years, singing folk and rock material from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. In filk, he has been a guest at over
half a dozen conventions. This included an Interfilk guestship, during which he appeared on-stage nearly
naked and painted blue.

[The senator from Alabama sputters, begins to rise from his chair, and collapses to the floor.]

Chair: The Sergeant-at-arms will procure assistance for the gentleman from Alabama.

Michigan: To conclude, Mr. Macdonald has thoroughly distinguished himself in filk: he has won numerous
song contests and no fewer than 4 Pegasus awards. He has also recorded 3 albums: "Songspinner",
"Journey's Done", and just last year, "Reap the Wind". In addition, a live album is thought to be on the
way.

Chair: Thank you.

Man: Mr. Chairman, I object!

Chair: Who are you, Sir?

Man: I'm another filker who was considered for the post! It's not fair! Steve's too good! I never had a
chance! [pulls out a guitar and begins to sing his sad story, notably out-of-key]

Chair: The Sergeant-at-arms will dispatch the intruding filker!

[Bang!]

Chair: Thank you. Anything else?

Michigan: Mr. Macdonald claims to be attracted to neither Monica Lewinsky nor Hillary Clinton.

Chair: A positive attribute, in these scandal-ridden times.

Michigan: He's an extremely talented and beloved filker, Mr. Chairman, and I respectfully recommend his
rapid confirmation.

Chair: Very well. We'll take up the issue of moral turpitude after lunch. Adjourned!