Music, Mountains, and other Musings
Today was FSGW's Midwinter Festival (formerly the FSGW Mini-Fest) over at Takoma Park Middle School. An interesting mix of stuff this year. We started the day at the Pub Sing, where we stumbled our way through "Old Black Rum" and "Old Dun Cow", respectively. (Neither of us had actually planned to sing anything, but it was a fairly small circle.) After lunch (Subway, serving out of the school's cafeteria line) and some CD- and merchant-browsing (but no buying), we wound up in a doumbek workshop. Thanks to House of Musical Traditions for their shrewd marketing ploy of letting the workshop borrow their stash of doumbeks.
Next up were The Chromatics, who we had not seen in a long time. They have a new album, "Committed", which we acquired. I was amused that their youngest member, whose day job is architecture (rather than astrophysics), wrote a song called "Suburban Dream", a wry look at the ups and downs of suburban living, long commutes, McMansions, and other modern diversions. An excellent set, as always, with favorites like "Doppler Shift", "Buns and Muffins" and "Dance of the Planets" among the songs. Their mid-song antics are getting increasingly creative and amusing. Especially their set-closing cover of "Safety Dance", in which they throw in little tidbits of many other dances including the Hokey-Pokey, Macarena, and Chicken Dance. For those locals not Boskone-bound, they are performing at Farpoint.
After the Chromies set, we hung around the same room where Flawn Williams led an hour of doo-wop songs. This is a workshop that's been smashingly popular at the last couple of FSGW Getaways. Lots of predictable offerings including "Blue Moon", "Under the Boardwalk", and "Poison Ivy". Lots of lively audience participation.
For dinner we went to Sushi Damo, a recent addition to the dining options in Rockville Town Center. It being a cool night, we started with tea and miso soup. Us being hungry, we then proceeded to demolish three rolls: a standard Rainbow roll, a Sakura roll (shrimp tempura and cucumber in the roll; spicy tuna, tobiko and sauce on top), and a Haru roll (Plum, cucumber, and squid in the roll; ooba leaves on top--eat Cthulu before he eats you!).
While dining, we could (partially) see the TV in the bar area showing ESPN SportsCenter, with captions. The anchors, of course, are in Phoenix for the Super Bowl. One of them was expounding on the beauty of the area, particularly a certain well-known topographic feature in the city. The closed-captioner identified this feature as "Campbellback Mountain". *facepalm* *headdesk*
So, a QUESTION for my readers: How many songs can you think of that would qualify as Filk Doo-Wop?
Next up were The Chromatics, who we had not seen in a long time. They have a new album, "Committed", which we acquired. I was amused that their youngest member, whose day job is architecture (rather than astrophysics), wrote a song called "Suburban Dream", a wry look at the ups and downs of suburban living, long commutes, McMansions, and other modern diversions. An excellent set, as always, with favorites like "Doppler Shift", "Buns and Muffins" and "Dance of the Planets" among the songs. Their mid-song antics are getting increasingly creative and amusing. Especially their set-closing cover of "Safety Dance", in which they throw in little tidbits of many other dances including the Hokey-Pokey, Macarena, and Chicken Dance. For those locals not Boskone-bound, they are performing at Farpoint.
After the Chromies set, we hung around the same room where Flawn Williams led an hour of doo-wop songs. This is a workshop that's been smashingly popular at the last couple of FSGW Getaways. Lots of predictable offerings including "Blue Moon", "Under the Boardwalk", and "Poison Ivy". Lots of lively audience participation.
For dinner we went to Sushi Damo, a recent addition to the dining options in Rockville Town Center. It being a cool night, we started with tea and miso soup. Us being hungry, we then proceeded to demolish three rolls: a standard Rainbow roll, a Sakura roll (shrimp tempura and cucumber in the roll; spicy tuna, tobiko and sauce on top), and a Haru roll (Plum, cucumber, and squid in the roll; ooba leaves on top--eat Cthulu before he eats you!).
While dining, we could (partially) see the TV in the bar area showing ESPN SportsCenter, with captions. The anchors, of course, are in Phoenix for the Super Bowl. One of them was expounding on the beauty of the area, particularly a certain well-known topographic feature in the city. The closed-captioner identified this feature as "Campbellback Mountain". *facepalm* *headdesk*
So, a QUESTION for my readers: How many songs can you think of that would qualify as Filk Doo-Wop?
