Conflikt (or, Holy Six-String, It's A Con Report!)

[batyatoon]

So I never do these -- I always say "more later" and then never do -- and I think I should really start. To make it a bit easier, I will do my con report in the form of a series of bulleted lists.


First, to get it out of the way, the Less Than Ideal:

• As always, not getting to spend enough time with people I love or with people I'd just met.
  
• Similarly, not having enough time to see more of Seattle.
  
• Jet lag. Seriously, jet lag is never ideal.
  
• Scheduling difficulties that meant there was no Closing Jam, which I'd been looking forward to. :(
  
• An unexpected emergency landing in Great Falls, Montana on the way home due to a sick passenger. (I don't know what was wrong with the guy or what became of him and probably never will, but last we saw of him, he was being wheeled into an ambulance by competent-looking EMT types. I can't help feeling bad for him; falling seriously ill when traveling is terrible, and it looked to us like he was traveling alone.) Fortunately for the rest of us it was not a very long delay.

And now, The Awesome!:

• Getting to see the mountain. Mt. Rainier is the reason I can't take New York mountains seriously. Vast and gorgeous and horizon-dominating, and he was visible on Friday when we went to get groceries and on Monday when we drove to the airport -- and when we took off. I've missed him.
  
• As always, getting to see cadhla and vixyish and pocketnaomi and sweetmusic_27 and mrgoodwraith and markbernstein and various other filker friends I don't get to see nearly often enough.
  
• Making new friends! Everybody we met was delightful and friendly, and we had some great con suite and random-hallway conversations. (Those of you who friended me after this con: firstly, hello! Secondly, would you terribly mind replying here and reminding me which one you are? I can barely remember anyone's real name after a single weekend, let alone LJ handles.) (Also, see the final list below.)
  
• Watching cadhla react to being gifted with a POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS scarf and a velociraptor-headed hobbyhorse. There was galloping involved.
  
• Being made to fall out of my chair with laughter on two separate occasions in open filking -- by two_star's "Maid of Féil" and by Bob Kanefsky's showstopper parody of "The Great Selkie". (Bob's a bad, bad man. Many of you probably already knew this.)
  
• Breaking cadhla, along with co-conspirator ladymondegreen and last-minute accomplices vixyish and tfabris, with a parody of s00j's "Ravens in the Library" about a certain story that cadhla tells. If you know it, you may be able to guess the punchline. (cadhla, meanwhile, has sworn revenge. I live in fear, and/or gleeful anticipation.)
  
• Getting Kathy Mar to back me up on guitar when I sang "Thirty Million On Miranda," my Serenity filk to the tune of Kathy's own "Forty Thousand In Gehenna." Also fun: getting to say "I hear tell this is Browncoat country" when introducing it.
  
• Speaking of Browncoats: hearing Marian Call in concert. Folks, if you haven't heard of this lady, check her out. Srs.
  
• Debuting ladymondegreen's and my other latest collaboration: a parody of filkertom's "307 Ale" about Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. We used this to kick off an invitation to a BPAL party in our room the following morning, which was also fun; I discovered that the Eggnog Latte perfume smells like freshly baked coffee pastry on me (and then had to fend off people trying to nom my arms).
  
• Cracking up both Frank Hayes and Bob Kanefsky (again, along with ladymondegreen) with our "Child (Ballad) Abuse".
  
• Hearing Great Big Sea sung in a filkroom! It's been ages and ages, and it meant that I was able to join in on "The Old Black Rum" and "Lukey's Boat", and sing my own GBS filk "Subway Riding".
  
• Backing up Paul Kwinn on "Carrot Juice Is Murder", and capping his improv schtick in the second verse.
  
• Getting taken out to dinner Sunday evening by milliways_bar folks twintailmadb and steahl!
  
• Hearing s00j perform one of the best renditions of "Tam Lin" I've ever heard.
  
• Being bombarded with requests of copies of my lyrics, both solo and co-written, and being told I have a lovely voice by several people -- and hearing ladymondegreen told the same, which she doesn't get told nearly as often as she deserves.
  
• Hearing pocketnaomi give a concert. :D!!
  
• In the Silver Lining category: unexpectedly getting to see what Montana looks like from the ground, however briefly, and discovering that they call it Big Sky Country for a reason. Gorgeous, gorgeous land.
  
• At sdelmonte's suggestion, selecting Movie Soundtracks from the available music on the airplane and tuning in to the Superman theme as we were taking off from Great Falls. I gotta say that's an experience.

And finally, I would now like to get in touch with some folks I met but can't recall their names or handles. Please sing out if you are (or know) any of the following:

• You played a mandolin, and at one point in the alternate filkroom you and I went back and forth on Songs To Be Sung With Nasty Intent.
  
• You were with the mandolin player and we talked about Great Big Sea between two of the concerts.
  
• You were delighted by "Gabriel Gray's Song" and wondered aloud why there hasn't been more Heroes filk, and we talked about that in the hallway later. (I think you're kendaer but I'm not sure.)
  
• You sang "LOL Together" in the alternate filkroom early on in the weekend, and later you were standing around near the reg desk wearing a sign about the Brunch CDs.
  
• You were Theremin Guy!
  
• You were running the con suite, and you saved me a tomato. :)

...I feel sure I'm forgetting somebody. Feel free to identify yourself by some other means if you met me at the con! (A couple of you already have.) -- Also, if I promised you lyrics, please drop me a reminder here?



Does anybody have any questions? Any answers? Would anyone care for a mint?

Comments

[blueraccoon.livejournal.com]

*waves hi* we met Saturday...I was the strange non-filker who'd come down to see markbernstein perform and ended up having dinner with y'all (thanks once again!)

It really was lovely to meet you and everyone else at the con. Maybe next time you're out this way I'll be able to stay longer.

[batyatoon]

Hi! I remember you. :)

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

It was great to see you. We've got a near-perfect view of Grandfather Mountain from the park just up the street from our house, when it's not overwhelmingly cloudy -- if you like, I'll say hello to him from you periodically when I go up there.

[batyatoon]

Please do! *snugs*

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Someday...someday I'll get you, Red Baro--I mean, someday I'll go to Conflikt.

[batyatoon]

I don't know if/when we'll ever make it out there again. *sad*

[hms42]

Snoopy was on the interfilk table, too. (He was after Obama on the CDs.)

[kendaer.livejournal.com]

You in fact did peg correctly who was the one delighted by Gabriel Gray's Song. T'was me. You also missed me doing Process Man (more GBS, which I got introduced to thanks to the first two people on your 'please contact me list' whom I jam with regularly). If they haven't sung-out I'll see them on Sunday and make sure they know you'd like to get in touch -- both are on LJ, but might not read your journal (yet).

Similarly, I can point you at the person who did 'LOL together' if need be, same with the Theramin guy, and the con-suite person.

I still definitely want the MP3s you mentioned of Gabriel Gray's Song because it just was made of awesome.

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Is that the one she has that goes "You could have stopped me why didn't you stop me?!"? Because...yeah, that's pretty awesome. Creepy as hell, too.

[batyatoon]

Oh man, "The Processman" was the first Great Big Sea song I ever heard and it's why I fell in love with them.

[weirdquark]

I still definitely want the MP3s you mentioned of Gabriel Gray's Song because it just was made of awesome.

I agree with both parts of this statement.

[erisiansaint]

Hi! I'm Jessica, one of the people trying to nom your arms at the BPAL party. (The one in the Hogwarts shirt.)

[batyatoon]

Hi! :D

(*protects arms*)

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

Yes. I friended you. I am the guy with the banjo. (highlander)There can be only one.(/highlander) (Well, Brooke plays the banjo -- in fact twice over the weekend she played my banjo. But she is most definitely not a guy.)

To help you out with identifications, the geek with the Theremin (this is a compliment, just to clarify) is bobmage a/k/a Bob Crichton. Very nice guy who I don't see enough of. And the fellow who sang "LOL Together" is named Peter, but unfortunately I don't know his last name or whether he's on LJ. And the mistress of the con suite is shaddyr a/k/a Cindy Turner.

I don't know Great Big Sea at all so I was at a bit of a loss as to the words, but I liked jamming along to the accompaniment, and I had a great time joining in on "Run Come See Jerusalem." It's one of those songs that just sounds a whole lot better with a group of people doing the "Run come sees" in the background.

[batyatoon]

I never forget a banjo! (Or impressive facial hair.)

And thanks for the idents.

[sophistry]

Jet lag. Seriously, jet lag is never ideal.

Take it from a trans-Atlantic'er who knows: for a differently-timezoned con you go to once a year or less, it's very, VERY worth it to make arrangements to take an extra day off and fly out the day BEFORE the con, thus giving you time to adjust your body clock. Those few additional waking hours you get to spend in the company of the FABULOUS are more than worth whatever overtime you may have to work in compensation.

[batyatoon]

*sad* We did fly out the day before the con. Got in Thursday night.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Getting to see The Mountain

*nods* Grandfather Tahoma, as the natives call him, is a big part of what it means to be in Seattle.

I was the guy you gave air hugs to after a long and good conversation just outside reg; I was also involved in the Trading Songs of Nasty Intent (the mandolin player was solarbird, and her partner with the student-sized classical guitar was annathepiper; they are very good friends of mine and also jamming partners.) The guy with the Brunch CD's sign is dornbeast. Theremin Guy is LJ-less (to my knowledge) Bob Crichton. IIRC, shaddyr was running Consuite.

Kanef has a Great Selkie parody? WANT! (I wanna break ouisel's brain; she introduced me to it. No, alas, she wasn't there. ) Also want "Ravens in the M---", "Subway Riding", and the BPAL spoof of 307 Ale...

kendaer is one of the concom, looks like me only darker, rounder, and has more hair on top. He also has a mild Pittsburgh accent to my mild Tennessee Valley. (He pronounces dihydrogen monoxide "wudder". :)

And, yes, Montana is gorgeous. No place to live during either summer or winter; even a New Yorker would fry/freeze, nevermind a mild-mannered Seattleite... but to visit? Wow.. and I really mean it.

(Does anybody want a peanut? :) :) :)

ed: swapped icon to one that looks kinda like me :)

[batyatoon]

Lovely! Thanks. I shall see what I can do about getting you those lyrics.

(Someone linked above to Bob Crichton's LJ - bobmage, evidently.)

(And funny you should quote that; The Princess Bride was on one of our in-flight TV choices.)

[gorgeousgary]

Hmmm...either I need to get up to NYC more, you need to get down to DC more, or some combination of both. I think I'm up to double-digits on GBS covers (or traditional songs swiped from GBS) by now! 8-)

[batyatoon]

I cannot argue with your conclusion. *solemn*

Gefilte Fish!

[closer2myself.livejournal.com]

I introduced myself on Sat evening before you went upstairs for havdalah as the gal who was consulted on kashrut before you went visiting someone, likewise I swooned over the above when I arrived in your room for the BPAL party. Hello hello!

Re: Gefilte Fish!

[batyatoon]

Yes! That I remember. :D

[solarbird]

technoshaman sent me mail saying you were looking for us. ^_^

• You played a mandolin, and at one point in the alternate filkroom you and I went back and forth on Songs To Be Sung With Nasty Intent.

That would be me. Hiya!

• You were with the mandolin player and we talked about Great Big Sea between two of the concerts.>

That would be annathepiper.

[batyatoon]

Hi! *waves and beams*

I was wondering about soliciting the words to "When You Go" from you.

[jenk]

Hi - I was mostly playing sound tech, but also enjoyed your jaw-dropping reaction to March of Cambreadth Sunday night.

(Oh and my hair is shorter now. :)

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

wait, wait, there's gotta be a story here...

Foiled again!

[bobmage.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was I! In the parlor! With a Theremin!

[batyatoon]

*gasp!*

[tereshkova2001.livejournal.com]

I was at your BPAL party with Vixy, and I was delighted by all of the songs I heard you sing. The Miranda one was especially awesome. And as the friend in "Ravens in the Library", I am very sad to have missed that.

[batyatoon]

I remember you! Thanks for that. :)

[dimloep-suum.livejournal.com]

*steals mints*

[batyatoon]

*beams at icon*

[orawnzva.livejournal.com]

So when are we gonna see the lyrics to all of these fabulous parodies you mention?

[batyatoon]

Soon!

[(Anonymous)]

hey, I have video of you doing your raven song to seanan- may I post it on youtube when I convert it to youtubable format? I'll post links to it on the Conflikt livejournal when it's up there.

I'm sure lots of people would love to see it. Can I? pretty please?
:)

earthgirl

[batyatoon]

We'd have to get the permission of the other people involved -- primarily ladymondegreen, though probably also Vixy and Tony and Seanan herself -- but I'm okay with it personally.

[kassieajo.livejournal.com]

Прикольно. Ждем новых сообщений на эту же тему :) (http://zimnyayaobuv.ru/) (http://zimnyaya-obuv.ru/)