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So as many of you know, I was the Interfilk guest at Conchord which happened about ten days ago, thanks to the sponsorship of Juliana McCorison and Kathleen Sloane and the other board members at Interfilk. Pre-con planning was a bit chaotic but we finally got all the ducks in a row, I got my ticket and off we went.
The trip out was relatively uneventful, except that due to traffic we got to the airport, bags checked, through security and into the boarding area just in time to board the plane. This would not have been so bad except that we hadn't had any breakfast yet, and I was worried my blood sugar would drop. (Not without cause, as we shall see later.) I had counted on getting breakfast at the airport but there wasn't really time to do so, so I ended up having to pay $7 for a cheese and fruit "plate" to share with my wife. It and a Zone bar did the job well enough until we landed in San Diego, where we were met by Kate Evans, Conchord's guest liaison.
Kate helped us schlep bags out of the terminal and into her SUV. One of the guide rods on the smaller suitcase got bent, making it hard to roll the suitcase. It made me glad they didn't give me any grief about taking the banjo on the plane. It fit very nicely into the overhead compartment.
Fifteen minutes later we were at the Town & Country Resort. It's a very nice hotel and the staff was quite friendly, but one of the first things we learned was that it's a captive hotel. They have about half a dozen restaurants on the premises, but the prices are about what you would expect for a hotel restaurant in Southern California. After checking in and resting up a bit we decided to make the trek to a mall across the light rail tracks, where we were told there was a food court. No need not to, it was a nice sunny pleasant San Diego afternoon and we had lots of time to stop and rest along the way. Good thing too, because looking at the map it looks like we walked the better part of a mile to get to the mall's food court. We had fish tacos and a shrimp burrito at a place called Rio's (I think), after which I had a phone screen with a potential employer. They decided not to move ahead, but I couldn't complain much about having a job interview while sitting outside in San Diego, sipping a soda and watching the passers-by pass by.
The con is a bit of a blur. We got to meet Laura Reynolds, the artist GoH, who does primarily soft sculptures. Hers are much more elaborate than my wife's. We ordered pizza because it was easier and cheaper than anything at the hotel. We ran into some old friends, including Bill Laubenheimer, the guy I shared the COnflikt 5 songwriting prize with, and his wife. Blind Lemming Chiffon was there, as was Heather Dale (of course, since she was the music guest). And I got to hear some fine Southern California filk in the Friday Night showcase. One guy in particular who I'd like to arrange for a couple of performances is Tim Griffin. He does songs about science and math, mostly geared toward children, and performs them in schools. Most of his performances are around the Los Angeles area, since that's where he's from, but if I can persuade enough schools to have him in to make it worth his time, he said he'd be happy to come up. (Did I mention he does this for free? He's organizing a non-profit to coordinate his activities, and hopefully pay him a living wage.) Afterward we retired to the open filk room to run through all of the songs nominated for the Kazoo Awards (25 of them, if I remember right). By the time we got to the last one - which was Tom Smith's Seven Drunken Nights In Space, and which was Conchord's first chance to hear me sing - it was pretty late and I ambled off to bed. I don't know if anyone else stayed up for open filking.
Saturday was the big show! I got to open for Heather!!! (Oh. And Ben.) It was a good crowd and since for the most part they hadn't heard my stuff before, I'm glad they laughed in the right places and figured out to clap along with "You're A Hack." The set list went something like:
You're A Hack
Colour
Batman's Really Cool
The Loneliest Pro At The Con
Ghosts
Dark Lullaby
Roll Down The Water
Half The Battle
Crossroads
Afterward Heather and Ben were their usual awesome selves, followed by Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff, who were their usual awesome selves. It was a good show and I was happy to be a part of it.
Sunday I sat in on a songwriting workshop Jeff gave. I always learn when I go to these things, even when I'm on the panel (I wasn't this time), and Jeff broke down how he writes his parodies. It was hugely useful, and I hope to put it to good use. Ben did a guitar technique workshop; a guitar is a guitar and a banjo is a banjo, but some things cross over, and it was cool just to hear Ben talk about how he approaches their music. After the official end of the con a bunch of us got together at the hotel's steak house (the only restaurant open on the premises) and chatted and had a good time over dinner, after which we headed back to the hotel for a dead dog filk. The dog finally stopped kicking about 10:30, plenty of time for us to get up to the room, pack our bags and be ready for the red-eye out of SAN.
This has already gotten pretty long, so I think I'll continue the Ballad Of The Amazingly Annoying Return Flight Home in another post.
The trip out was relatively uneventful, except that due to traffic we got to the airport, bags checked, through security and into the boarding area just in time to board the plane. This would not have been so bad except that we hadn't had any breakfast yet, and I was worried my blood sugar would drop. (Not without cause, as we shall see later.) I had counted on getting breakfast at the airport but there wasn't really time to do so, so I ended up having to pay $7 for a cheese and fruit "plate" to share with my wife. It and a Zone bar did the job well enough until we landed in San Diego, where we were met by Kate Evans, Conchord's guest liaison.
Kate helped us schlep bags out of the terminal and into her SUV. One of the guide rods on the smaller suitcase got bent, making it hard to roll the suitcase. It made me glad they didn't give me any grief about taking the banjo on the plane. It fit very nicely into the overhead compartment.
Fifteen minutes later we were at the Town & Country Resort. It's a very nice hotel and the staff was quite friendly, but one of the first things we learned was that it's a captive hotel. They have about half a dozen restaurants on the premises, but the prices are about what you would expect for a hotel restaurant in Southern California. After checking in and resting up a bit we decided to make the trek to a mall across the light rail tracks, where we were told there was a food court. No need not to, it was a nice sunny pleasant San Diego afternoon and we had lots of time to stop and rest along the way. Good thing too, because looking at the map it looks like we walked the better part of a mile to get to the mall's food court. We had fish tacos and a shrimp burrito at a place called Rio's (I think), after which I had a phone screen with a potential employer. They decided not to move ahead, but I couldn't complain much about having a job interview while sitting outside in San Diego, sipping a soda and watching the passers-by pass by.
The con is a bit of a blur. We got to meet Laura Reynolds, the artist GoH, who does primarily soft sculptures. Hers are much more elaborate than my wife's. We ordered pizza because it was easier and cheaper than anything at the hotel. We ran into some old friends, including Bill Laubenheimer, the guy I shared the COnflikt 5 songwriting prize with, and his wife. Blind Lemming Chiffon was there, as was Heather Dale (of course, since she was the music guest). And I got to hear some fine Southern California filk in the Friday Night showcase. One guy in particular who I'd like to arrange for a couple of performances is Tim Griffin. He does songs about science and math, mostly geared toward children, and performs them in schools. Most of his performances are around the Los Angeles area, since that's where he's from, but if I can persuade enough schools to have him in to make it worth his time, he said he'd be happy to come up. (Did I mention he does this for free? He's organizing a non-profit to coordinate his activities, and hopefully pay him a living wage.) Afterward we retired to the open filk room to run through all of the songs nominated for the Kazoo Awards (25 of them, if I remember right). By the time we got to the last one - which was Tom Smith's Seven Drunken Nights In Space, and which was Conchord's first chance to hear me sing - it was pretty late and I ambled off to bed. I don't know if anyone else stayed up for open filking.
Saturday was the big show! I got to open for Heather!!! (Oh. And Ben.) It was a good crowd and since for the most part they hadn't heard my stuff before, I'm glad they laughed in the right places and figured out to clap along with "You're A Hack." The set list went something like:
You're A Hack
Colour
Batman's Really Cool
The Loneliest Pro At The Con
Ghosts
Dark Lullaby
Roll Down The Water
Half The Battle
Crossroads
Afterward Heather and Ben were their usual awesome selves, followed by Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff, who were their usual awesome selves. It was a good show and I was happy to be a part of it.
Sunday I sat in on a songwriting workshop Jeff gave. I always learn when I go to these things, even when I'm on the panel (I wasn't this time), and Jeff broke down how he writes his parodies. It was hugely useful, and I hope to put it to good use. Ben did a guitar technique workshop; a guitar is a guitar and a banjo is a banjo, but some things cross over, and it was cool just to hear Ben talk about how he approaches their music. After the official end of the con a bunch of us got together at the hotel's steak house (the only restaurant open on the premises) and chatted and had a good time over dinner, after which we headed back to the hotel for a dead dog filk. The dog finally stopped kicking about 10:30, plenty of time for us to get up to the room, pack our bags and be ready for the red-eye out of SAN.
This has already gotten pretty long, so I think I'll continue the Ballad Of The Amazingly Annoying Return Flight Home in another post.
