Consonance2001
Paul's report

Well, a very different Consonance for Puzzlebox this year. Beckett and I, in a last-minute fit of bravery (for parents of 3-week-old twins), decided to attend the con and stay Saturday night in the hotel. I even gave a concert. Alisa and Luis were there on Saturday afternoon, and helped me out with my concert. Taunya was completely absent, unfortunately (couldn't afford the trip from Utah).

Our relatively short stay at the con, and our significant responsibilities while we were there, are going to make this report very far from a complete run-down of the convention. To fill in the gaps, I recommend the other reports that we've included links to at the bottom of this report.

Our very good friends Urban Tapestry were the Guests of Honor. Now I've known them since 1994, but in that time they've only been to California as a group once (as Interfilk guests at ConChord in 1994), and only Debbie has been to our house. So when we found out that they were going to be here when the twins were just a couple of weeks old, it was an opportunity I didn't dare miss. (who knows how long it'll be until they return?) So, I contacted Lynn Gold a month or two ahead of time, and asked if I could borrow their GOHs for Friday breakfast at my house. She said sure. I picked them up at the hotel at 9:00 AM Friday (they were having coffee in the lobby with Interfilk guest Dave Weingart and his wife Ellen), and took them back to our place to meet the twins over a meal of bacon, eggs, and cinnamon rolls. Everyone enjoyed themselves, holding babies and cooing for the camcorder. Alisa, Luis, and Tommy also joined us, so UT got their chance to see the Garcias' pre-baby, as well as our fully-formed models.

After breakfast, I returned UT to their hotel. Our involvement with the con then takes a break until noonish Saturday, when we packed up a whole lot of baby-support gear into our minivan and hit the road for the Santa Clara Biltmore, where the con was being held (about 25 minutes' drive from our house). We'd arranged for early check-in (1:00), so that we could get the twins slightly settled and run through the concert with Alisa, Luis, and Kathleen, before my 2:30 concert. (UT was also involved in the concert, but they were performing parts they were very familiar with, and it's tough to squeeze time out of a GOH's schedule during a con, so they weren't at the rehearsal). Well, the first thing we discovered was that Luis had forgotten to pack the power cord for Alisa's keyboard. OK, not a huge problem; we'd played these songs before without keyboard, so we'd manage (and setup would be easier). Next problem was more serious: amongst the huge pile of stuff we'd brought, I'd managed to miss my music bag, including the lyrics for a new song I'd planned to play in concert ("Joyride", my entry in last year's OVFF song-writing contest). There wasn't time to go back home for the lyrics, and I didn't know them well enough to sing them without the sheet, so we quickly substituted in "Urban Legends". (I'd thought about putting it in earlier, so maybe it was fate; I dedicated that song to the twins.) Next problem showed up during rehearsal: Alisa (the lead singer for "Urban Legends") was having a lot of trouble getting enough air (due to pregnancy), and so had trouble singing lead. This one was solved when Kathleen Sloan stepped in and volunteered to sing the lead. OK, that just about handled our emergencies, and we had a set more-or-less ready to go. When we got down to the concert room (right as we were supposed to go on), I found out that there had been a mic check that I hadn't heard about, and they weren't ready to put us all on the PA system (they had the mics for that, but they were in somebody's car, and it was only a 30-minute concert), so we decided to go without amplification.

Given all that, the concert went pretty well. :{)} Not as polished as some concerts I've been associated with, but the audience seemed to enjoy themselves. And we up on the stage enjoyed ourselves, as well. The set list follows (musicians: A: Alisa, L: Luis, K: Kathleen, UT: Urban Tapestry)

Your Spouse Don't Filk (A,L)
In & Out (A,L)
Urban Legends (everybody)
The Dark Man (A,L,UT)
Love in a Bottle
Cuz She's a Gal (K)

The last is a parody of UT's (Debbie's) "Cuz He's a Guy" which I wrote to perform for them the last time they were in California (1994), and Kathleen had helped out that time, too. Thanks very much to A, L, K, and UT for all the help.

Unfortunately, the only concerts I saw were the Toastmaster (Mike Stein), Interfilk guest (Dave Weingart), and GOH's (all of which I enjoyed). After my own set, we moved the kids back up to our room, then I made a run home to pick up some breast pump parts we'd forgotten. (Oops; oh well, that's why we decided to do this as our first trial kids-away-from-home run: it was fairly close to home.) So I missed (sincerely) such acts as Merav Hoffman, Echo's Children & Bob Esty (caught part of their concerts on videotape), and The Divas of Chaotica (Nancy Louise Freeman, Dr. Jane, Debbie Baudoin, and Maya & Jeff Bohnhoff). Also an act that I'd never heard of before, but whom I've heard great things about since: Carla Ulbrich. Apparently Carla made her filk debut in January at GaFilk, and it seems she wowed everyone there and here with her funny and touching material and great guitar work. I managed to get her CD, and it made me wish I'd seen more of her (I only heard one song of hers in open filk Saturday night). Ah well. Stick with filk, Carla, and I'll catch you later.

We weren't there on Friday or Sunday either, so I missed Cindy McQuillan and Dr. Jane, Steve Macdonald's WorlDream recording (guess I'll have to wait until FilkContinental to get in on that one), and the Sunday mini-concerts. Next year, folks.

I did get a chance to play a role in a very interesting Interfilk auction on Saturday. It seems Kathleen Sloan had a copy (almost accidentally obtained) of a very early UT performance. So early, in fact, that they weren't Urban Tapestry yet: they were performing with another member (Kevin Davies) under the name Northern Retreat. The group only had one concert, at FKO in 1993(?), wherein there was a very embarrassing performance of a song named "The Birthday Suit Polka". Not poor performing, but a, perhaps, ill-advised arrangement, including Debbie in a bowler blowing repeated raspberries, Jodi in a Viking helmet belting out operatic "La"s, and Allison in a sombrero, dosey-doing with Jodi. Well, Kathleen decided this videotape might well be of historic interest to filkers, so two hats were passed among the audience: one (passed by yours truly) to show the tape to the Consonance assemblage, the other (passed by Debbie) to keep it buried and "save UT's honor". Guess which won. :{)}

One other new trick for me at this con was that I was toting a camcorder. Bought it because of (wait for it.....) the kids (for those of you who hadn't heard, a recent Amendment to the U.S. Constitution actually requires parents to own a camcorder), and decided to try it out on filk, too. So I recorded my concert, then Echo's Children, who were on after me, and UT's concert at the end of Saturday night. Recording UT's concert was particularly fortuitous, since they dedicated the lullaby "All the Pretty Little Ponies" to Casey and Riley, and thanks to the camera, I was able to show it to Beckett (who was too tired to stay up for their late concert) and the twins (when they're old enough to appreciate it). Thanks, Oot!

That's it. Loved going, look forward to being there for more of the con next year. For many more details, check out these other folks' con reports:

Dave Weingard
Seanan McGuire
Debbie Ohi:
Part 1 Part 2
Merav
Allison
Carla