Unforgettable Filk Moments
Michael Kube-McDowell
short order--con fandom and filking. Despite finding myself thinking somewhat
dolefully about Change, it's been a interesting experience in the time
machine.
As near as I can reconstruct, my introduction to filking came at Conclave IX*
(Plymouth MI) in November, 1984, where I heard Frank Hayes, Kathy Mar, and
Juanita Coulson (among others) for the first time. I'm amused to see now how
many of the songs were filks of filksongs I didn't know--such as Frank's
"Cheap Lawyer" to the tune of "Bold Marauder," two filks of "Give My Children
Wings," Frank's filk of "Mary O'Meara" (the one I think of as "Dead Mary"),
and Juanita's "When I Was A Young Girl" filk which catalogs various types of
filkers according to their merits as lovers. The only "primary source"
filksongs were Jordin Kare's "Pushing the Speed of Light" (performed by
Juanita), "Hope Eyrie" (performed by Kathy**), and "Devlins"*** (performed by
Juanita).
A few months later at Confusion X (also Plymouth MI), the "headliners" were
Julia Ecklar, Michael Longcor, and Kathy Mar. That was the debut of Julia's
"Leavin' For Confusion Blues," and Moonwolf gave me my introduction to Stan
Rogers with "Northwest Passage" and "Giant."
My recordings at those two cons were made with a mono microcassette dictation
recorder--distinctly low-fi--which I'd had along for taping panels I was on. I
liked what I was hearing in the filkroom enough, though, that by Marcon XX
(Columbus OH) in May 1985, I'd dropped two C-notes on a Sony portable stereo
recorder. Good thing, too, as Bill "Many-Instruments" Maraschiello**** had a
concert slot which included "March of the Clan Graeme," "Bedlam Boys," "Bless
Them All," and various Star Wars, Dorsai, and Tolkien tunes. I seem to have
skipped the evening filksings, but my (first) wife came back from Saturday
night's session with a tape which includes Juanita, Frank, Duane Elms, several
voices I still can't identify, and--late in the evening--the filk debut of
Barry Childs-Helton (on "Lady Snowstar, Supernova").
While that was Barry's debut, his real coming-out party was at InConJunction V
(Indianapolis IN) a month or so later. I was delighted to rediscover that I
have a tape of that event, which is still my Most Unforgettable Filk Moment as
a listener.
It was Saturday night, and the filk was about to begin in a largish function
room set up auditorium-style. Lined up across the front of the room were
several heavyweight BNFs--most notably Bill Sutton, Michael Longcor, and
Murray Porath, none of whom had been at Marcon, all of whom had been 'featured
performers' for Friday night's filk. Sitting at the far left of the line*****
was a very tall man whose long limbs and giant hands made the 12-string guitar
he was holding look like an outsized ukelele. The BNF's graciously allowed the
'new guy' to go first. Barry finished tuning his 12 and played a couple of
chords and quick chromatic runs to check it, which prompted Michael****** to
quip, "Time for us to leave," after which Murray added, "The man has talent,
throw him out." But their body language was still very much
sitting-back-in-the-chair "Okay, young gunslinger, show me your move"--every
guitarist has a showoff thing he plays when trying out instruments in guitar
shops, after all.
But by the time Barry got to the middle 8 and took a little instrumental
break, the BNFs were on the front edge of their chairs, peering at Barry's
hands with a how-does-he-DO-that look on their faces. This transformation was
so obvious to the audience that it occasioned a couple of ripples of laughter.
And after Barry finished, there was a big laugh in the middle of the very
enthusiastic applause, as all the other filkers got up as one, making as if to
pack up their guitars and retire from the field. Happily, they didn't,*******
and we were treated to the second fine night of filking that weekend,
including Bill Sutton's "Bask Ye Samplers" and "Stray Dog Man," Moonwolf doing
songs I wrote down as "Grugan of Calvary" and "Indeed, I Have" (but which
probably have other titles), Murray on "Tale of A Hunter," and Barry's "Hitch
Up The Wagon to A Star."
My most unforgettable moment as a _performer_ was probably when The Black Book
Band closed out our 1991 Worldcon concert with our signature rendition of
"Hope Eyrie" in front of a packed house. It wasn't the best we ever played, or
the best we ever sounded, but the energy in that room that night was without
par. I was still flying on it hours later.
What are your Most Unforgettable Filk Moments, as listener or performer?
Best,
Michael
*(Conclave was my seventh convention, and three of the first six were
Worldcons. It's possible that I got a taste of filking at either Marcon XIX or
InConJunction IV, earlier in 1984, but I have no clear recollections to
support that.)
**(To underline How Long Ago this all was, Kathy introduced "Hope Eyrie" by
saying she'd just learned it.)
***(I never have learned what that song is about--whether there's some
historical or fictional source material. Anyone?)
****(Bill died in November, 1986 at the age of 32, and you are much the poorer
if you never got to hear him.)
*****(The lineup may also have included any of Bill Roper, Juanita, and/or
B.J. Willinger, all of whom were at the con, but they can't be heard on that
part of the tape.)
******(I think it was Michael--it was _sotto voce_, and only the first couple
of rows heard him.)
*******(Even as a jest, though, it was a gracious tip-of-the-cap to Barry--it
clearly said, "Okay, you belong.")
--
Michael Kube-McDowell, author and packrat
SF and other bad habits: http://K-Mac.home.att.net
Naomi Gayle Rivkis
<K-...@sff.net> wrote:
>What are your Most Unforgettable Filk Moments, as listener or performer?
I was a teenager at about my fourth con, and I didn't really know
anything about filk or pay much attention to it, and I was bored and
didn't have anything to do, so I wandered the halls. Wandering the
halls with me, on the ground floor, was a tall, thin, utterly striking
blonde lady who looked like she was casing the joint. When she found
what she was looking for -- a section of lobby with someplace to sit
and nobody sitting there -- she occupied it, along with a couple of
other young women, and they pulled out instruments then and there. I
hung around, curious. A few other pepole did too, not many. When
they'd gotten the guitars in tune, the trio began to sing... and by
the time they were done with the first song, there were more than a
hundred people gathered in that lobby awestruck. The blonde wa T.J.
Burnside, the group was Technical Difficulties, which few people at
the time had heard of, and the song was the brand-new "Lullaby For A
Weary World," which had been performed before that all of about twice,
and virtually nobody who was in that hallway had ever heard it. They
went on to do some other stuff, mostly as an advertisement for their
concert the following day -- which worked; the place was *packed*. The
song, of course, won the Pegasus later that year. At the time, I
didn't have the foggiest idea what I'd walked in on, but it was my
introduction to the concept that the music of the SF community was not
entirely composed of parodies based on books or TV shows I hadn't
read, and it was what made me a filk fanatic in the course of three
minutes in the hotel lobby.
-Naomi
"Cease, then, to fashion state-made sin
Nor give your children cause to doubt
That virtue springs from iron within,
Not lead without." Rudyard Kipling
Sandy Tyra
titles)>
"Indeed I have" is really "The Jolly Tinker." "Grugan" is actually
"The Quest." "The Quest" is on his "Lovers, Heroes, and Rogues" tape.
I can't "Jolly Tinker" on any of the ones I have, but he used to sing it
a lot at SCA meetings (he was my first seneschal and my first Baron.)
My favorite filk memories start at my first con - MidAmerCon - in 1976.
Anne Passovoy singing "Mary O'Meara" and Anne and Doc doing "Have Some
Madiera, M'dear."
Sandy
Dave Weingart
>What are your Most Unforgettable Filk Moments, as listener or performer?
Oh, my...
Unforgettable Filk Moments?
I think the first time I heard Technical Difficulties tuning up before
their concert in Boskone and I said, "I don't care about going for
dinner, I *must* hear these people perform was one (some time in the
1980s...Boskone may have still been in the Park Plaza; it was certainly
long before the Boskone From Hell).
The Saturday night open filk circle at Conthirteena.
Erica Neely singing "The River" with me at MilPhil.
Coming into a filk room at Lunacon in New York and every time I pulled
out one of my songs to do, Avram Grumer said, "Nah, we did that one
already."
Holding my own in the chaos circle at ConFrancisco.
--
Dave Weingart Ceci n'est pas un .signature
phyd...@altrion.org
http://www.liii.com/~phydeaux/
Mary Creasey
Michael Kube-McDowell <K-...@sff.net> wrote in message
news:Sfns7.11378$W8.9...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> I've been listening to some tapes from the mid-1980s, when I
discovered--in
> short order--con fandom and filking. Despite finding myself thinking
somewhat
> dolefully about Change, it's been a interesting experience in the time
> machine.
>
> As near as I can reconstruct, my introduction to filking came at Conclave
IX*
> (Plymouth MI) in November, 1984, where I heard Frank Hayes, Kathy Mar, and
> Juanita Coulson (among others) for the first time. I'm amused to see now
how
> many of the songs were filks of filksongs I didn't know--such as Frank's
> "Cheap Lawyer" to the tune of "Bold Marauder," two filks of "Give My
Children
> Wings," Frank's filk of "Mary O'Meara" (the one I think of as "Dead
Mary"),
> and Juanita's "When I Was A Young Girl" filk which catalogs various types
of
> filkers according to their merits as lovers. The only "primary source"
Hmm...I suspect that's the one written by Suzette Haden Elgin. (It's in
_Kantele 14_.)
Mary
Aaron Davies
> ***(I never have learned what that song is about--whether there's some
> historical or fictional source material. Anyone?)
Never heard of it. Can you summarize it? I couldn't find anything
online.
--
__ __
/ ) / )
/--/ __. __ ______ / / __. , __o _ _
/ (_(_/|_/ (_(_) / <_ /__/_(_/|_\/ <__</_/_)_
Michael Kube-McDowell
Davies) carefully left the following thoughtprints where they could be seen:
>Michael Kube-McDowell <K-...@sff.net> wrote:
>
>> ***(I never have learned what that song is about--whether there's some
>> historical or fictional source material. Anyone?)
>
>Never heard of it. Can you summarize it? I couldn't find anything
>online.
I may not have the right title--sometimes I have to resort to picking a
repeated phrase from the refrain. A mondegreen is always possible with these
recordings, too.
"Oh, Devlins was waiting by the loneome river ford
He spied a Mackie captain with a pistol and a sword--
"Devlins--
"Oh, Devlins--"
"He's six foot three of Satan
"Two hundred pounds of hell..."
"Oh Devlins was ready, he feared not beast nor man
"He shot the sword and pistol from the Mackie captain's hands..."
And so on, with further pushing and shoving.
Best,
K-Mac
Margaret Middleton
>"Cheap Lawyer" to the tune of "Bold Marauder,"
That's Bill Roper's "The Destroyer", actually.
MSMinLR(at)aol.com (Margaret Middleton)
Shameless Plug for our local con: http://www.rockon.org
Help make a Quilted Artifact to sell for Interfilk:
http://members.aol.com/msminlr/ifquilt.htm
Margaret Middleton
>songs I wrote down as "Grugan of Calvary" and "Indeed, I Have" (but which
>probably have other titles),
"Grugan" is by Martha Keller (lyric); I'm not sure if Juanita did the tune or
Longcor.
The other one tickles the memory;
a fragment of chorus is trying to go
"Well indeed I have,
Don't you know I have"
and its R-A-U-N-C-H-Y
but that is as much as floats to the top just now.
Margaret Middleton
>of
>> filkers according to their merits as lovers. The only "primary source"
>
>Hmm...I suspect that's the one written by Suzette Haden Elgin. (It's in
>_Kantele 14_.)
>
Spot-on, Mary
Lee Gold
>
> Michael Kube-McDowell <K-...@sff.net> wrote:
>
> > ***(I never have learned what that song is about--whether there's some
> > historical or fictional source material. Anyone?)
>
> Never heard of it. Can you summarize it? I couldn't find anything
> online.
Backtracing, he's referring to Devlins, Devil Anse Hatfield,
family patriarch during the famous feud. The McCoys show up
in the song as a "Mackey captain." See Manly Wade WEllman's
short story "Old Devlins Was A-Waiting."
--Lee Gold
Michael Kube-McDowell
carefully left the following thoughtprints where they could be seen:
>>Frank's
>>"Cheap Lawyer" to the tune of "Bold Marauder,"
>
>That's Bill Roper's "The Destroyer", actually.
Thanks, Margaret.
By the time I got to the filksings, they always seemed to be out of
programs...
Aaron Davies
> On Wed, 26 Sep 2001 18:45:06 -0400, aa...@avalon.pascal-central.com (Aaron
> Davies) carefully left the following thoughtprints where they could be seen:
>
> >Michael Kube-McDowell <K-...@sff.net> wrote:
> >
> >> ***(I never have learned what that song is about--whether there's some
> >> historical or fictional source material. Anyone?)
> >
> >Never heard of it. Can you summarize it? I couldn't find anything
> >online.
>
> I may not have the right title--sometimes I have to resort to picking a
> repeated phrase from the refrain. A mondegreen is always possible with these
> recordings, too.
>
> "Oh, Devlins was waiting by the loneome river ford
> He spied a Mackie captain with a pistol and a sword--
> "Devlins--
> "Oh, Devlins--"
>
> "He's six foot three of Satan
> "Two hundred pounds of hell..."
>
> "Oh Devlins was ready, he feared not beast nor man
> "He shot the sword and pistol from the Mackie captain's hands..."
>
> And so on, with further pushing and shoving.
Oh, in that case I haven't the faintest idea. The only kind of devlins I
know about are a monster from a mod for a game I play.
Dave Wegener
sings/uses this ballad. It actually deals with "Devil Anse" Hatfield
ambushing a McCoy (the Mackie captain). It also uses the palindrome 'Sator
arepo tenet opera rotas.'
I have it in a collection titled "John the Balladeer;" the story is titled
"Old Devlins Was A-Waiting."
--Dave.
Aaron Davies <aa...@avalon.pascal-central.com> wrote in message
news:1f0cwdq.1vve123mw5o7vN%aa...@avalon.pascal-central.com...
Chris Malme
<Sfns7.11378$W8.9...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>:
>What are your Most Unforgettable Filk Moments, as listener or performer?
Singing in my first ever circle (Follycon 1998), a song supposedly
addressed to unspecified but famous sf author, only to have Gordie
Dickson pick up a chair and sit down two feet in front of me, smiling,
for the duration of the song.
Suffering from Frank Hayes disease, in a circle (UFP 1991?), only to have
a complete stranger (Christine Krebs) hand me the lyrics, which she had
transcribed after hearing someone else sing it in a circle in the US, and
realising my songs had travelled further than I had. Then watching her
face, when she discovered it was my own composition she had just handed
to me.
Razin' Arizona's performed parody of Phoenix's Dancing Flame album (we
christened our spot "Chancing Blame")(Fourplay 1992). Mike Whitaker asked
me "So how many have you done?" I just smiled. "Not all of them?" he
said. I just smiled. Give Pheonix their due - they clapped, laughed and
cheered with the rest of the audience.
Singing with Talis Kimberly on my GoH spot at Obliter-8 (1996). I had
asked her if I could perform (with Patchwork) her song "Sweet Delirium",
then closer to the convention, I invited her to sing it with me. She
meanwhile had written a honey of a counter-melody, which we had one
opportunity to rehearse together (at the con itself). Talis persuaded me
to use a hand-mike, and sing to her, rather than the audience. On the
night, it went magically, and I'll never forget the buzz as we sang face-
to-face - Meatloaf & Cher, eat your heart out!
--
Chris
Minstrel's Hall of Filk - http://www.filklore.com
Filklore Music Store - http://www.filklore.co.uk
Harold Groot
Middleton) wrote:
>>Moonwolf doing <snip> "Indeed, I Have" (but which
>>probably have other titles),
>The other one tickles the memory;
>a fragment of chorus is trying to go
>"Well indeed I have,
>Don't you know I have"
>and its R-A-U-N-C-H-Y
>but that is as much as floats to the top just now.
Instead of Moonwulf, conjure up your memories of Marty Burke singing
it at Chiam Sweeney's Pub on a Sunday night after a ConFusion was
over. That scene, though not strictly filk, certainly ranks among my
own Unforgettable Moments. (Marty was just getting dragged into
fandom/filking at that point. After the con, about 20 of us would
drive down to where he had his regular gig.)
Some others:
NorthAmericon 1979 NASFIC: Riverboat Sing on the Belle of Louisville,
first con for Diana Gallagher, also my first exposure to Murray
Porath, Bob Asprin, Juanita Coulson, Margaret Middleton, the
Passavoys, Clif Flynt, Bill Roper, Moonwulf, Jordin Kare and many
more. All my previous filk experiences had been in small room-filks
or stairway filks at some cons on the East Coast doing a capella
stuff. After this total immersion I resolved to learn to play guitar
and do a lot more of this.
ConFusion (can't recall the exact year): We got snowed in. No one
could leave the hotel, highways were closed and so on. The convention
became a relaxacon for an extra day and the filking on that extra day
was wonderful. People were in high spirits, there were almost no
worries/deadlines/competing events, lots of topical instafilks. It
was also a real change of pace - the filking was held in (GASP) the
day! Back in that time/place filking started at midnight and headed
'till dawn. Daytime filking was practically unknown.
Rivercon (early 80s, can't recall the exact year): Hearing this
newcomer named Julia Ecklar singing DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL (and others).
W Richards
1) OVFF at the Delaware hotel. I was still very new to filk and was told it
had moved to the 2nd floor hall. The elevator door opened and I was face to
face with 80 people in the middle of Bold Marauder
2) watching a performance of Stray Dog Man and having inflated dinosaurs fly
into the room at key moments.
3) Heather and March of Cambreth (sp?) at OVFF
Rob Wynne
year.
As a performer, being down in the basement at the Suttons new years
party with Bill and Brenda Sutton, Mike and Anne Whitaker, Tim and Annie
Walker, and Gwen Knighton, and wondering to myself why I even brought an
instrument. Wow.
As a listener, it's hard to beat the Dead Stray Dog filk at Gafilk this
year. At one point, Kim asked if I wanted her to go fetch my guitar. I
said "Nah, don't bother. I've already played all my best stuff at least
twice this weekend, and I wouldn't play anything less than that in THIS
room."
Of course, the best memories are the ones yet to be made.... :)
Rob
--
Rob Wynne / The Autographed Cat / d...@america.net
The best original science-fiction and fantasy on the web:
Aphelion Webzine: http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/
Gafilk 2002: Jan 11-13, 2002, Atlanta, GA -- http://www.gafilk.org/
J. Spencer Love
> I think the first time I heard Technical Difficulties tuning up before
> their concert in Boskone and I said, "I don't care about going for
> dinner, I *must* hear these people perform was one (some time in the
> 1980s...Boskone may have still been in the Park Plaza; it was certainly
> long before the Boskone From Hell).
That was the 1986 Boskone. Julia Ecklar was there also. There was a
mispatched sound system and someone was in another ballroom thumping on
a microphone. Julia looked up from her concert, having, I think, just
finished Hand of God; I wish I could recall exactly what she said, but
it's late.
The Boskone from Hell was in 1987, one year later.
-- Spencer
Mike Whitaker
Good question!
As a listener, it'd have to be the Saturday night impromptu community
chaos jam at Conthirteena. Ok, so, I had a guitar in my hands and I played
it, but this wasn't about solo performances. This was Tim, Annie, Talis,
Simon, Chris O'Shea, Talis, Bill S, Brenda S, Barry and Sally, Yooh, Katy,
Rika, me, Christo, Rachel the fiddler and heaven knows who else, playing
song after song after song TOGETHER. It was just awesome.
As performer, they both come with Phoenix, and, bizarrely, both in Milton
Keynes.
One is Obliter-8, with Julia Ecklar, doing Temper Of Revenge with a brass
section (Simon Fairbourn on French horn, Tim Walker and Kenneth Bell on
trumpet and Anne cheating on synth! - one of the rare Phoenix arrangements
on which I played bass guitar). Tim Walker, Phil Allcock, Anne and I spent
the best part of two weekends transcribing the parts off Divine
Intervention (there are NO charts preserved from the session, Julia told
us later - we did cop out of doing the extended intro, mind!). My abiding
memories are watching Kirstin Droge's face in the audience as the main
riff started, which went through, in the space of about 3 seconds, a range
of emotions from "I know this. What the heck is it?" through "I KNOW
this!" through "They *can't*!!" to "My God. They have!" to "WOW!", and
secondly the two seconds of stunned silence after the final chord before
the place erupted.
The other is Digeri-12. Ahhh, yes. The hotel swore blind we had the place
to ourselves. Then booked a moto-cross awards ceremony in the main lounge
area, with a disco and an amazingly annoying habit of playing 'Simply The
Best' as people came up to collect their awards. Opposite first UT, then
us. Annie Walker was, as hotel liaison, getting progressively more and
more angry at the hotel as UT got periodically swamped by Tina Turner - at
one point I gather the manager refused to come in and apologise because he
was afraid of filkdom assembled. Anyway: UT finished, we soundchecked.
(Aside: the canonical definition of temptation is discovering my radio
transmitter on my guitar is on the same frequency as the DJ's mic. The
canonical definition of self-restraint is not taking advantage of the
fact! (we sent a techie out to inform him he was going back to a mic with
a cable before 10pm, please...)). Anne hit the keys intro to 'Don't Break
The Rules' and Annie, ditching her hotel liaison gig in favour of being
Pissed Off Rock Chick, fairly stalked up to the mic, hair flying, and
*snarled* "Good evening, Milton Keynes. Do you want to make some NOISE?!"
The answering roar of "YES!!!!!!!" from nearly a hundred people was almost
certainly audible over the disco in the main hall. Unquestionably the best
live set Phoenix have done to date: the room was packed, we even had a few
hangers on from the disco at the back (apparently muttering 'this is
better than ours'), and, to quote Paul Simon, "we blew that room away".
High spot was definitely Jodi squealing in delight as I started the guitar
solo to "The Lady".
--
Mike Whitaker: mi...@altrion.org http://www.altrion.org/
Phoenix: phoeni...@filknet.org http://www.altrion.org/phoenix/
NePALM Music: nep...@altrion.org http://www.altrion.org/nepalm/
FilkNet: ad...@filknet.org http://www.filknet.org/
Sherman Dorn
> What are your Most Unforgettable Filk Moments, as listener or performer?
Single performance: PhilCon '91, when someone I have never seen since
sang a tribute to Gene Roddenberry (who had died a month earlier), with
a rousing country-music chorus that began, "Goodbye, Gene, goodbye,
..."
Filk circle: the last Musicon's Snow Dog Party. Laid-back (heck, what
else were we going to do?) but still with considerable energy. Let's
see, that would be "adagio con frio," right?
Performer's astonishment: The time (I think at Rivercon several years
ago, or maybe OVFF '99) when after I finished "(Your God's Name Here),"
Murray Porath responded with "Ecumenical Hora." I had never heard it
before, and I just about fell off my chair.
Sherman Dorn
j...@mich.com
On 2001-09-26 K-...@sff.net said:
>As near as I can reconstruct, my introduction to filking came at
>Conclave IX* (Plymouth MI) in November, 1984, where I heard Frank
-Snip-
>A few months later at Confusion X (also Plymouth MI), the
>"headliners" were Julia Ecklar, Michael Longcor, and Kathy Mar.
>That was the debut of Julia's "Leavin' For Confusion Blues," and
>Moonwolf gave me my introduction to Stan Rogers with "Northwest
>Passage" and "Giant."
I'm not sure just what year I started going to Confusions myself but it was
still at the Plymouth Hilton (now a Senior Residence facility, I think it's
called "American House")
But I do remember who/what was playing when I first entered the room.....
Julia doing "Enterprise"
People were forgetting to breath, I'll never forget that, the stunned silence
(I've only seen that happen one other time... My daughter played her flute in
church... I'm trying to bribe her to play at a confusion, but alas, no joy)
John F Davis, WA8YXM, In Delightful Detroit, aa...@detroit.freenet.org
"Nothing adds excitement like something that is none of your business"
If you knew what you were doing, you'd be bored.
Net-Tamer V 1.12.0 - Registered
David G. Bell
mins...@filklore.com "Chris Malme" wrote:
> K-...@sff.net (Michael Kube-McDowell) wrote in
> <Sfns7.11378$W8.9...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>:
>
> >What are your Most Unforgettable Filk Moments, as listener or performer?
>
> Singing with Talis Kimberly on my GoH spot at Obliter-8 (1996). I had
> asked her if I could perform (with Patchwork) her song "Sweet Delirium",
> then closer to the convention, I invited her to sing it with me. She
> meanwhile had written a honey of a counter-melody, which we had one
> opportunity to rehearse together (at the con itself). Talis persuaded me
> to use a hand-mike, and sing to her, rather than the audience. On the
> night, it went magically, and I'll never forget the buzz as we sang face-
> to-face - Meatloaf & Cher, eat your heart out!
And remember, folks, Talis is better-looking than Cher while Chris...
Or is it that Talis is better-looking than Meatloaf?
Obliterate had quite a few memorable moments, like the performance of
"Temper of Revenge".
--
David G. Bell -- Farmer, SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
The singer who is no longer, and no shorter, than he was last week. He's
about the same length in his stocking moolies.
Dave Wegener
--Dave.
Lee Gold <lee...@mediaone.net> wrote in message
news:3BB2667A...@mediaone.net...
Wesley Struebing
Rivkis) wrote:
>On Wed, 26 Sep 2001 16:21:06 GMT, Michael Kube-McDowell
><K-...@sff.net> wrote:
>
>>What are your Most Unforgettable Filk Moments, as listener or performer?
>
One of the Chambanacons, in the early 80's, I believe. Juanita had
just done "Herbs and Simples", and I followed her. (Gack; what an act
to follow!<G>)
I chose to do (for the first time in public), my version of Phil Ochs
version of "The Highwayman". I am still floored by the response I got
when I finished it - or it finished me...
Only one that comes really close is meeting and singing with Julia
Ecklar for the first time...
--
Some work of noble note, may yet be done - Tennyson's "Ulysses"
Wes Struebing
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
str...@americanisp.com
ph: 303-343-9006
home page: http://silicon.americanisp.net/~struebing/
Wesley Struebing
Middleton) wrote:
>>Moonwolf doing
>>songs I wrote down as "Grugan of Calvary" and "Indeed, I Have" (but which
>>probably have other titles),
>
>"Grugan" is by Martha Keller (lyric); I'm not sure if Juanita did the tune or
>Longcor.
>
Hmm. Don't think I've ever heard Jaunita do it, but I have heard
Moonwulf(snicker) do it. fwiw, guess I always figured he did the
tune...
Wesley Struebing
wrote:
<snip>
>
>Rivercon (early 80s, can't recall the exact year): Hearing this
>newcomer named Julia Ecklar singing DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL (and others).
'81, '82? I first heard Julia do it at Inconjunction that year, then
at Rivercon, as well...
Margaret Middleton
>programs...
programs?
we don't need no filkin' programs...
Margaret Middleton
>it at Chiam Sweeney's Pub on a Sunday night after a ConFusion was
>over.
Ah, yes; them was the good old days!
And I tend to concur about the Riverboat Filksing being a candidate for "Most
Unforgettable" It were certainly Very Filk Out that night!
Margaret Middleton
>Moonwulf(snicker) do it. fwiw, guess I always figured he did the
>tune...
I think you're right.
Ann Passovoy sometimes also used to sing it.
Michael Liebmann
> What are your Most Unforgettable Filk Moments, as listener or performer?
>
> Best,
>
> Michael
>
>
Hearing Joey Shoji singing "Mommy Can I Have a Spaceship?" the first
time.
Misty Lackey singing "Thieves of the Kif" and having CJ Cherryh come
in while she was singing it. The timing was PERFECT!!!
Realizing that the CMQ I knew from the CasualCons (Anaheim Inn at the
Park Hotel, now Hilton at the Park) of the late 1970's was actually
Cynthia McQuillin, filker extraordinaire.
There are probably more, but I can't think of them now.
Chris Malme
<20010927.11...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk>:
>And remember, folks, Talis is better-looking than Cher while Chris...
Any jokes about me out-weighing Meatloaf, and there'll be trouble. <g>
Glenn Simser
> This is a reference from a Manley Wade Wellman story, where Silver John
> sings/uses this ballad. It actually deals with "Devil Anse" Hatfield
> ambushing a McCoy (the Mackie captain). It also uses the palindrome 'Sator
> arepo tenet opera rotas.'
>
> I have it in a collection titled "John the Balladeer;" the story is titled
> "Old Devlins Was A-Waiting."
>
> --Dave.
>
>
Michael:
If I was able to lay my hands on my copy I could give you chapter
and verse. This Story originally apeared in a Horror Pulp back in I'd
say the 30's? Dave, your book has all the liner notes in it.
The story was also published in a collection of Mr. Wellman's
short "John the Balladeer " stories called "Who Fears the Devil" (
After the children's nursery rhyme )
Many of the Silver John stories ( and Novels ) were based around a
piece of old tyme Mountain music. Sometimes Mr. Wellman would splice
two together or change the tunes. When I asked him where to find the
Music, he told me to seek out the Folk festivals and the folk there
in.
Many of the other musicians mentioned in the stories actually
exist.
Regrettably, both collections are out of print.
As to the history of the Song, I have no idea if it was based
around fact. In the Story it was used as part of a Summoning, which
brought Anse Hatfield and a couple of kin, forward in time to help
deal with his great x5 grandson Mooneye Hatfield's courting problems
with a rival.
To make a long story short, it's aluded that the Hatfield / McCoy
feude began over Anse not allowing one of his sons to marry a McCoy
girl, and here he admits he was wrong and gives Mooneye his blessing
to marry another McCoy girl.
---- Glenn
Joe Kesselman (yclept Keshlam)
> Regrettably, both collections are out of print.
SFBC had several books of Wellman's material in print last
time I had a membership -- that was a decade ago, but given
how SFBC editions circulate you might be able to find one at
a used book store with a decent SF collection. And who
knows, they might still have some in stock...
--
------------------------------------------------------
Joe Kesselman, http://www.lovesong.com/people/keshlam/
Opinions expressed are solely those of the author
Mark A. Mandel
: This is a reference from a Manley Wade Wellman story, where Silver John
: sings/uses this ballad. It actually deals with "Devil Anse" Hatfield
: ambushing a McCoy (the Mackie captain). It also uses the palindrome 'Sator
: arepo tenet opera rotas.'
: I have it in a collection titled "John the Balladeer;" the story is titled
: "Old Devlins Was A-Waiting."
And Joe Bethancourt has recorded it on his album of Silver John (and
related) songs, _Who Fears the Devil?_.
-- Mark A. Mandel, The Filker With No Nickname
http://world.std.com/~mam/filk.html
--
To reply by email, remove the obvious spam-blocker from my edress.
Mark A. Mandel
>>>
What are your Most Unforgettable Filk Moments, as listener or performer?
<<<
This one needs a little scene-setting. At ConCertino '99, where I was
program chair, I saw Dave Weingart perched on a table, scribbling. I said
something to him but he waved me off; no prob, I know the "filker at work
look".
Later, maybe the same evening, we had the theme contest concert. GoH was
Bill Sutton and the theme was "Do It Yourself". For nearly a year, since
we had chosen and announced the theme, I'd been working on "Con From
Argo", which was about putting on this con. When I performed it, the
reception was gratifying.
Then -- either after or before -- Dave performed "Masturbation Tango",
ttto Tom Lehrer's "Masochism Tango", and blew us all away. That was voted
a clear winner, and deservedly so. That was the song he had *just written
that day!* Wow. (CFA got 2nd place, which also made me happy.)
Just recently at WorldCon: Hearing Leslie live for the first time (and
second, third, fourth, fifth...) Singing "Leslie Fish's Ghost Is Haunting
Argo Port" with Leslie in the room, and having her ask me for a copy.
Singing "Secondhand Smoke" in furi-ose response to her song comparing
smokers to political prisoners (or something to that effect). (She didn't
mind. Leslie loves a good fight, doesn't she?) Singing "Me and Brennan Out
On the Warpath" with Larry Niven in the room. Hearing Ben Newman sing his
"Rivendell Pie". Singing Terence Chua's "And the Fans Sang 'Bouncing
Potatoes'" with Gary McGath, and having (laryngitis-stricken) Terence pop
in through the door behind us to stand beside me.
At Conterpoint a few years ago, seeing Clam Chowder perform, and dancing
in the aisles. Seeing and hearing Erica Neely for the first time.
Way back around '92: The whole experience of being roped into filking by
Lois Mangan; see http://world.std.com/~mam/filks/BalladLois.html , if my
ISP will let you through.
Rob Wynne
>Glenn Simser wrote:
>> Regrettably, both collections are out of print.
>SFBC had several books of Wellman's material in print last
>time I had a membership -- that was a decade ago, but given
>how SFBC editions circulate you might be able to find one at
>a used book store with a decent SF collection. And who
>knows, they might still have some in stock...
The collected bookstores that make up ABE Books (Hi, Jerrie) have quite
a bit of Wellman (I drooled over the Arkham House 1st ed. Hardback of
"Who Fears the Devil", autographed, for a mere $265.00), and some of it
is affordable stuff if you search.
Gary Ehrlich
> Single performance: PhilCon '91, when someone I have never seen since
> sang a tribute to Gene Roddenberry (who had died a month earlier), with
> a rousing country-music chorus that began, "Goodbye, Gene, goodbye,
> ..."
Hmm...you've got me wondering who that could be now. I was at Philcon
'91, tho' I don't remember the song. Then again, in my early filk days
I didn't come down from party-hopping until midnight...so if it was in
the first hour or two of filking I'd have missed it. I'll have to ask
Crystal Paul if she recognizes it.
> Filk circle: the last Musicon's Snow Dog Party. Laid-back (heck, what
> else were we going to do?) but still with considerable energy. Let's
> see, that would be "adagio con frio," right?
Ahh yes, the con that established my blizzard-summoning reputation! And
that was the filk where I first heard Frank Hayes' "Lola" and "Spring
Break". I also remember sitting on one of the beds next to the Poraths
joining them on a bunch of Hebrew songs.
-- Gary
--
"Gorgeous" Gary Ehrlich, P.E.
Visit Electro's Hideaway
http://www.erols.com/hyperion/electro.html
Stephen Nelson
Books; I still occasionally see it at B. Dalton / Barnes and
Noble.
Maureen O'Brien
by Night Shade Books. They're up to Volume Two: The Devil Is Not
Mocked and Other Warnings. Volume One was The Third Cry of Legba and
Other Invocations. (Both are non-John, but do include a lot of series
heroes that haven't been reprinted as well as stand-alones.) About
$30 a beautifully bound hardback, and very well worth it!
The publishers' webpage is http://www.nightshadebooks.com/
Their surface address is Night Shade Books, 560 Scott #304,
San Francisco, CA 94117.
Maureen, who finished each book the first time and wanted to read
'em again.
Gary Ehrlich
Jordin Kare's premiere of "Heart of the Apple Lisa" during his Interfilk
GOH concert at ConCertino '95. The wave of hysterical laughter that
swept across the audience when Jordin hit the chorus was a sight (and a
sound!) to behold. People were literally falling out of their chairs
laughing (I know...I think I did, or nearly did...). People were
running into the concert room from the hallway to find out what was
going on. Definitely the hardest I've ever laughed in a filk room. And
the topper was finding out later Jordin had been worried that nobody
would understand the song...apparently nobody told him just how many
programmers there are in NE Filkdom. Not to mention the con was taking
place a few miles from Rt. 128 and all the computer companies along
it...
Kathy Mar performing Bob Kanefsky's "Without Paws" parody of Velvet,
OVFF '94 or 95. The song is about a woman torturing her husband by
playing "Velveteen" repeatedly. Bill Rintz was backing her on fiddle.
After every chorus, Bill would toss in the first few notes of
"Velveteen" before Kathy picked up the next verse.
The line of folks waiting to buy UNDER THE GRIPPING BEAST that formed
immediately after Echo's Children's Interfilk concert at OVFF '97. It
started to the right of the stage, went down the side of the ballroom,
across the back, and partway down the opposite wall. Luckily, I was in
one of the front rows...
And the performer moments...
Roasting Spencer Love with "He Lost Our Money" during the Conterpoint
'93 One-Shots. Then fleeing in mock (and perhaps a bit of real) terror
as he stalked towards the stage with a length of microphone cord pulled
taut between his hands...
Singing Tom Paxton's "Honor Of Your Company" to close my Interfilk GOH
set at Consonance '99, with Cecelia Eng and Clam Chowder (TM and GOHs
respectively) invited on stage to sing harmonies.
Speaker-phoning in a performance of "Ghost Pirates in DC" from Lynn
Gold's condo in Mountain View to the housewarming party for DC Filk
Central (the house I briefly shared with Keith Glass and Geoff Avalon).