The 50th Balticon is in the books. We survived. Mostly.

As you know if you were there, and may have heard rumored if not, there were significant anomalies in the way the program was put together this year. Key people failed to delegate when needed, made decisions without consulting the affected program track head(s), or otherwise failed to communicate. (In a few cases the communication failures were mine. I certainly apologize for those.) At least six different rooms were used for filk or music-related events over the course of the weekend. Open filk was scheduled for a different room each night, though we ended up using the same room Saturday and Sunday to fix a Sunday program conflict. (So we could test the acoustics and decide which room we liked best, I was told.)

Also, not surprisingly, there were some growing pains in the first year at a new hotel, not to mention the basic challenges inherent in accommodating 2800 attendees, even given the larger area of function space available in the Renaissance. (It is noted the space has capacity for 3200 people.) I suspect next year's team will be taking a look at how we used the space and perhaps reduce the extent to which people are attempting to travel vertically up and down within the hotel. Better identification of which stairs can get you where would also be useful.

( Now on to the things that worked!Collapse )

Another Balticon has gone into the history books, and with it ends a 10 year-run at the Hunt Valley Inn. This would be the third extended run; Balticon previously had multi-year runs in the late 70's/early 80's and in the early 90's. (There was a period in the mid/late 80's where Balticon appears to have alternated between the Inner Harbor and Hunt Valley.

This was one of the more interesting years of my tenure as Coordinator of Filk and Other Musical Mayhem. There was some uncertainty along the way over whether or how we were going to be able to use some of the space due to hotel renovations. As it turned out we finally did get most (if not all) of it, but in the meantime we'd downsized some of the program. Oh well. In the meantime, some processes that had worked smoothly the previous nine years suddenly...didn't. Hopefully some of those were just bumps. Next year there's both a Balticon and a Conterpoint on my plate, so things are going to be kinda crazy in these parts. (And that's just for starters!) At least I'm not chairing or doing hotel for Conterpoint next year; I'm hoping to mainly focus on publications and website content.

The music program went pretty well. Open filk did fizzle out early side all three nights; the circle was dead before 12:30 on Friday and Saturday and looked like it was starting to lose steam when I went to bed a little after 1:00 on Sunday. That was probably due to a combination of folks being tired from Friday travel, recovering from various ailments, and getting to bed before 10am panels. Plus we're all getting older and can't stay up as far past our normal bedtimes. But we had a most excellent series of concerts, topped by Erica's GOH set and continuing through Decadent Dave, Maugorn, Sassafrass, Glyn Collinson & Andrew Marcus, Steve & Deja, and Cheshire Moon. Plus Dave, Emily, and I had loads of fun entertaining the kids (and each other) for a Sunday morning children's concert. And two people requested songs from me, which is quite unusual.

As is usual for Balticon, I didn't make it to much outside the Music track. I did get to Jo Walton's GOH talk, during which she brought out Sassafrass to sing "Somebody Will". We also got to the "Am I More Sentient Than My Cat?" panel, which featured Erica for a philosophical perspective on the question. Of course, it should be noted the panelists quickly retitled the question "Am I More Sapient Than My Cat?" (I quipped to Sheryl "are we talking before or after I've had coffee?") Meanwhile, I got to experience a panel from the other side of the table as a member of the "Engineers Can't Write" panel, where I offered myself as a living counter-example. (Both professionally and as an amateur songwriter.)

Next year Balticon celebrates its 50th year and returns to the Inner Harbor, moving into the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace. George R.R. Martin heads the guest lineup, and we have the Ropers for Music GOHs.

Home from Balticon, busy doing laundry and catching up on a few things off the TiVO.

It was a good convention. While perhaps an unorthodox choice of Music GOH, Ken Anders did well. He sang us a mix of traditional ballads (including several bawdy ballads), Broadway tunes, and Renaissance Festival-inspired parodies. He made good contributions to panels, was a Masquerade judge, and did hang out with us in open filk.

Concerts included Sarah Pinsker, Darren Zieger (great to hear from again, it's been a while), Devo Spice, batyatoon (who I played stunt guitarist for on a pair of songs) and a reduced version of the Boogie Knights (Dave, John and Lynn couldn't make the con). Decent open filking, with a couple of promising new voices.

Several nice memorials for Marty Gear, including a couple of video tributes to open the newly-dubbed Marty Gear Memorial Masquerade. I performed "Costumer" twice, once during the main memorial on Sunday afternoon and again during the memorial filk circle I hosted this afternoon.

Best moment of the con: During the Saturday night filk, seishonagon and a friend premiered a new Barrayar song, about Kareen. I grabbed the next turn and asked, "Banquet or Council of Counts?" The latter won. So I sang "In the Council". I broke Irina. Completely. Even worse than I did with "Valancy's Gift" a few years back. I think her jaw left a dent in the Garden Room floor.

Second best moment of the con: Late Sunday night/Monday morning, someone came into the filk wearing a Gizmonics Institute jumpsuit and carrying a Tom Servo. We were doing Bardic. He was going to pass, but I asked if I could take his turn for him. He agreed. I played "The Love Theme from Mystery Science Theater 3000" (i.e. the theme song we all know and love), which someone had posted to RATMM years ago. Hey, when duty calls, I respond (*grin*).

Meanwhile, no rest for the weary. Off to Chicago on business for a couple of days, then the Washington Folk Festival next weekend. (Yay! Free music!) Then a bit of quiet until Contata.

Overall, 2013 was a good year for us.

The significant downer, of course, was Marty Gear's passing in mid-July. A huge loss for the local fan community as well as costuming fandom at large.

This was the year the stars aligned and we finally made it out for Conflikt, which emphatically staked its claim to a spot on my list of BEST! CONS! EVER! Thank yous go out to the many folks responsible for making it such a wonderful weekend, including mysticfig and kaath9 for general awesomeness, cflute for backup on "Sedona", Mr. Wiley and his Fork-estra for the shtick-up on "Beware the Sinister Salad", Team Esty for a nice turn as Interfilk guests, and the concom for throwing a great party.

And then there was Balticon. OMG SASSAFRASS!! The spectacular, ballroom-filling, multiple-ovation-earning premiere of Sundown: Whispers of Ragnarok has certainly earned a place in history as one of the Top Fannish Events of 2013. Need I point out it's eligible for the Best Dramatic Presentation-Long Form Hugo? I'm just sayin'. 8-)

If that wasn't enough to whet everyone's musical whistles in these parts, we threw a Conterpoint a few weeks later. I'm still convinced the rehearsal for admnaismith's Toastmaster concert was even more fun than the actual concert. Not that the concert didn't rock itself. Overall attendance was lighter than I'd hoped, but I think guests and members both had fun.

(Making a note here: agreeing to sing emotional songs in major concerts on Sunday afternoons of cons is a REALLY BAD IDEA AND WILL END IN TEARS.)

We were originally a bit skeptical how the family trip to England and France in August to celebrate Sheryl's parents' 50th anniversary would turn out. Things largely worked out and everyone had a good time. I especially enjoyed the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and the Musee de la Musique in Paris. And the side trip to the Who Store (*grin*).

Said goodbye to Darkover and Clam Chowder in our last convention of the year. Like the Doctor, Darkover has regenerated into Chessiecon. Looking forward to seeing filkertom as Chessiecon's first Music GOH.

Professionally had a good year too, earning a promotion (though I still insist I'm too young to be "Senior" anything) and a bonus.

We'll be heading off to First Night Alexandria shortly. So, have a Happy New Year everyone, and best wishes to all for a great 2014!

It is with deep regret that I must pass along the sad news that Marty Gear, costumer extraordinaire, long-time Baltimore Science Fiction Society member and famed host of the Balticon Masquerade, passed away in his sleep last night. I received the news from Steven Joel a few minutes ago. Apparently his son found him when he got home from work. No other details as of yet, but I will pass them along as soon as I know more.

There will be a vampire-shaped hole in Baltimore-Washington fandom for a good long time.

Back home from Balticon. The premiere of "Sundown: Whispers of Ragnarok" went well and garnered a standing O. We appear to have managed not to kill anyone. Well, except for Baldur. But we kinda expected that.

Feeling more melancholy than usual for having just left a con. Even with a four-day con, not enough time to chat with and play songs for everyone I wanted to. Plus, I suspect there's a come-down after working so closely with so many folks to pull off this particular Balticon and the Sundown premiere.

Of course, with Conterpoint looming, I only have a very limited time for post-Balticon blues. So give me a day or two, and I'll be charging back into the fray of another convention...

Soooo much I should have been posting about the last month or two. Lazy hoomin is lazy. But now that May has finally arrived (and more importantly, warm weather), I can at least boost the signal on some fast-upcoming musicality.

This time next week more than a few folks on my friends list will be at Balticon. The musical fun includes concerts from Sarah Pinsker, Ariel Cinii, Maugorn, Danny Birt, Ditched by Kate, Partners in K'Rhyme, and Merav Hoffman. And on Sunday afternoon, the Big Event, as Sassafrass takes to the stage for "Sundown: Whispers of Ragnarok." It will be fun! It will be epic!

Speaking of Sassafrass, they just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Sundown CD and a DVD of the Balticon show. Go forth and pledge!

For those who like their music (and storytelling) free, June 1st and 2nd brings the 33rd Annual Washington Folk Festival to Glen Echo Park. Many of the usual suspects from around the area (Judy Cook, Bill Mayhew, Flory Jagoda, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer) will be on stage.

And last, but certainly not least, June 21st-23rd brings NEFilk 23/Conterpoint 2013 to Gaithersburg, just up the street from us. Our fine crew of guests - Stone Dragons, Andrew Ross, Lissa Allcock and Jon and Debbie Baker - are looking forward a great weekend of music, as are the rest of our concert performers. And if that isn't enough, on Sunday of Conterpoint we will be featuring the very special "From the Earth to the Moon" space concert assembled originally for Anticipation and staged just a handful of time since. Another event not to be missed!

Hope to see you at one or all of these!

I've been remiss in not blogging more about this year's Balticon. Especially given that the always-strong filk and music track is headlined this year by Ada Palmer and Sassafrass with the first performance of their Norse song cycle "Sundown" in its entirety. It's sure to be a spectacular event! It may also break Balticon's tech crew, but at least we'll be able to say it took Ragnarok to destroy them! 8-)

Also joining us for concerts will be Partners in K'Rhyme, Dr. SETI and Sarah Pinsker. I'm in the process of contacting a few other folks who've expressed interest, so there should be more to announce in the next couple of weeks.

Rounding out the guest lineup is Joe Haldeman, Rick Sternbach, Nnedi Okorafor, T.C. McCarthy, and S. James Gates, Jr.

I do still have at least one slot, possibly two still open for a filk concert. So, if you're planning on attending and would be interested, leave a comment or message, or drop me an e-mail.

I still owe y'all the rest of the FKO report, but first a quick plug for two upcoming events here in Maryland.

First up is next weekend's Balticon, which is sure to be a blast. Jody Lynn Nye is the Author GOH. We have a stellar music program planned, headed by our Music GOH's Heather Dale and Ben Deschamps. s00j and stealthcello (and daughter Katie) join us also, and 2010 Music GOH quadrivium makes a return visit. Filling out the rest of the program are the Biernassers (fresh from FKO22), Kim the Comic Book Goddess, devospice, maugorn, Jonah Knight, Danny Birt, and George Hrab. There will be a performer's circle for Ghost of Honor Bob Asprin and a Greg Baker memorial circle. And to close the program on Monday, me! With a few friends to help.

The first weekend of June brings us the annual (and FREE) Washington Folk Festival at Glen Echo Park. This year's performers include Tom Paxton, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, Glyn Collinson and Andrew Marcus, Klezcentricity and Magpie. Plus dances, ethnic performance, crafts, and usually a couple of bluegrass or old-time jams breaking out around the picnic tables.

Hope to see some of you at one or the other - or both!

With special added bonus Washington Folk Festival!!

Balticon 46 pictures

2011 Washington Folk Festival

Enjoy!

Popping up to wave tiredly after Balticon. We pulled out of Hunt Valley around 3:30pm, got home about an hour later, went food shopping, made dinner, and now are relaxing until we decide we're ready to crawl into bed and get as much sleep as Nova will permit.

Aside from Opening Ceremonies and the Masquerade, the only programming I attended were items on the Music track (under which I include items I organize like the Medieval Dance and Children's Concert). This was largely due to the higher number of concerts this year than last. That meant some things we usually do like dinner with thelongshot and katrinb didn't happen this time around. And numerous folks I didn't get to talk to enough.

The track appears to have been a success. All the concerts I got to at least part of (i.e. weren't during the Masquerade) looked well attended. bedlamhouse and ladyat were in fine form for their main concert on Saturday and Celtic concert today. devospice and Rob Balder were fun as usual. Glyn Collinson gave a foot-stomping concert last night and told me he really enjoyed all the folks singing along. And of course Sassafrass Ragnarok-ed the house. Good open filking all three nights. Friday was on the lighter side people-wise, but we made up for quantity with quality, especially when Kim the Comic Book Goddess showed up with her keyboard and regaled us with a few songs.

There was an amusing exchange between me and Sassafrass at the end of their concert, the gist of which was something like:

Sassafrass: Unfortunately, we don't have time to sing "Somebody Will".
Me: Yes you do!
Sassafrass: But it's ten o'clock!
Me: And I'm the Music Director!

At which point they wisely concluded that if the head of the Music track tells you to sing, you sing...

I try to only use my Balticon powers for good. Hopefully the couple of folks who cried out their tear glands will forgive me.

And for those who didn't catch my well-timed gesture from the back, I gave seishonagon and occultatio a gleeful double thumbs-up when they got to the "and host the convention that summons the family..." line. 8-)

Noted for next year: If I book a band that needs longer set-up time, I need to make sure I specifically block that time in the on-line scheduling tool with a description reading DO NOT REMOVE THIS ITEM. VIOLATORS WILL BE PARODIED OR KABONGED. So we don't wind up with, oh, say, a book launch dropped into that block of time. Also, I clearly need to acquire minions to stage manage/stage ninja the Saturday night concerts.

If folks have any other thoughts about what worked or didn't, please let me know.

Just a quick post since I left many of you hanging like snot from my nose. (Now there's an image...) Got back around lunchtime today from my week-long trip to Dallas for another round of national building code hearings. I was originally supposed to get back tonight (in fact, would have been in the air over southern VA as of posting time), but things wrapped a day early. So I switched to the first DCA-bound American flight of the morning even though I had to get up at stupid o'clock to do it. If you're surprised I'm still awake, I napped on the plane and for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Still expect to sleep well tonight though.

My friends from The Land of Emerald Green will be amused I had dinner last night with a large group that included three folks from the City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development.

Finally shook most of the cold bug around Thursday, a week or so after it started. Still have been a bit congested, but that's as much a combination of dry hotel air and my normal low-level allergies as anything else. But seemed in decent singing shape tonight, so we should be all set for Balticon this weekend.

Speaking of Balticon, we have another music-packed program to offer this year. In addition to a pair of concerts from Team Sutton, taking the stage will be the FuMP (specifically Rob Balder, Devo Spice, Worm Quartet and Insane Ian) and Sassafrass, as well as Dr. SETI, Roberta Rogow, and Glyn Collinson. On the New Media side of things, we have concerts from Phil Rossi and Chooch Schubert, John Anealio, Jonah Knight, and Norm Sherman. Plus the Medieval Dance, a Steampunk Dance, and Hula-Hooping. The program features an intensive two-day lyric writing workshop with Bill & Brenda. Attendance is limited to 8 people; sign up at the Information Desk. There will also be a percussion workshop. And of course, the rest of the programming Balticon is noted for, including its literary, science, and New Media tracks. Hope to see some of you there!

I've now visited 30 of the states that make up our fine country, courtesy of a three-day trip to Santa Fe, NM for a lumber industry meeting. The meeting itself was on Friday; I flew out to Albuquerque on Thursday morning and home yesterday, renting a car for the drive up to Santa Fe. It was a fairly pleasant trip, other than the usual don't-sleep-well-in-hotels. On the drive up to Santa Fe I stopped at the Charma River Brewery to have dinner with a couple of folk fans I know from The Mudcat Cafe. Then, what I expected to be a full-day, somewhat contentious meeting wound up being largely fireworks-free and wrapped up just before lunchtime. This meant I got to enjoy an afternoon of sightseeing on $EMPLOYER's dime. So I walked over to the Loretto Chapel to see its famous Miraculous Staircase, which was featured in the book A Splintered History of Wood which I read last year. Then I spent a couple of hours in the Palace of the Governors and the New Mexico History Museum, before returning to the meeting hotel for drinks and dinner.

Flew home yesterday, with a side trip to BSFS, since it was Balticon meeting night and my flights were out of and into BWI anyway. Yes, I'm completely insane. But then, I hadn't attended a meeting since June and probably won't make another one until March. Plans and schemes are beginning to fall into place. (Aside to bedlamhouse: I've been told we'll be able to use the bar for Indy-500 watching *grin*.)

I discovered while reshelving CD's tonight (I'd taken "Dreams of a Far Light", "Road Rage" and "Stars Fall Home" as road-music) that my copy of "Thirteen" had somehow ended up between two Wilderwood CD's. This would explain why I couldn't find it when I was picking road music on Wednesday night. How it got there I'm not sure; it should have been about half-a-dozen places over between Urban Tapestry and Larry Warner (with the "Live at Duckon 13" CD). I'd chalk it up to my CD's getting wanderlust, but if that was so I'd expect to find "Thirteen" partying amongst seanan_mcguire's, or hanging out with S.J. Tucker's, or maybe visiting the Echo's Children collection. (The latter would make sense. That's where "Shadowbeast" is.) But no, there it was parked between Tim and Annie. I dunno, maybe tfabris wanted to swap guitar tips with micktim, or vixyish and stevieannie wanted to trade harmonies.

Or maybe I just had a shelving fail and the fact I'm ascribing ulterior motives to a misplaced CD means I need a lot more sleep.

Oh, and I got out of NM without finding an excuse to say, "I shoulda taken that left turn..." Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing I leave as an exercise to my readers.

Just a brief Balticon note before I go collapse. The con was a blast. andpuff was delightful as Author GOH. Early returns on the filk/music programming seems to indicate it seriously rocked, despite the lack of a music GOH. Bought far too many books from Larry Smith.

Since it's now public, here's next year's Balticon 45 lineup:

Author GOH: Ben Bova
Artist GOH: Vincent Di Fate
Music GOH: Bill and Brenda Sutton
Special Guest: Steve Geppi
Compton Crook Winner: Paolo Bacigalupi
Ghost of Honor: Mark Owings

Apparently tonight is the night for DC-area filk event updates *grin*. But hey, there are a couple of things I want to get out there regarding the other late-spring/early-summer con I'm responsible for. (Yes, I'm insane. But y'all knew that.)

We're still in the process of filling in the concert schedule. In an unexpected development, the Hrab Stage has made a brief reappearance, for Friday night only. So far, between the Filk Track and Hrab Track, we have scheduled performances by Roberta Rogow, maugorn, Kim the Comic Book Goddess, Phil Rossi, and sassafrass. We're still looking to add a few concerts.

In a joint event with the Science Track, I will be hosting a "Songs of Natural History, including DINOSAURS!" theme circle on Saturday night, following the Masquerade. The theme circle is in honor of Balticon's Science GOH (and fellow HOPSFAn), Dr. Tom Holtz.

Also in planning for Sunday evening is a Story into Song session. We are looking for a performer or two to contribute songs. Comment here or e-mail me if you are interested.

ETA: Specifically, we're looking to do the pre-arranged "Story into Song" variant where a filksong is paired with a short reading from the SF/F/H work that inspired it. Like the ones at Torcon III and Interaction. My apologies, I should have been clear about that to begin with.

The Hrab Stage mess notwithstanding, it was really a fine weekend.

( Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln...Collapse )

Before I proceed with my main Balticon report, I feel I owe the entire Balticon community a profuse apology for my complete, total, and utter mishandling of the Hrab Stage this year. Among the myriad of my mistakes were poor communication, scheduling errors, failure to delegate, and at least a half dozen other errors. I screwed things up that I damn well know how to do right. Basically, I did a half-assed job. I am truly sorry for any trouble I caused for any performers, staff, or attendees.

We're coming up on the one-month-to-Balticon mark, also known as the "OMG! TIME FOR THE CON-COM TO PANIC!" point.

I'm told hotel room bookings are, not surprisingly given the current economic state, running short of filling the block. The experienced con-runners out there will realize the import of this. The block expires on April 20th. If anyone out there is planning on coming to Balticon and hasn't booked a room yet, you are highly encouraged to do so.

In the meantime, we're trying to put the finishing touches on the filk/music program. In addition to our lovely and talented Music GOH, quadrivium, we have concerts by sodyera and mrpsyclops, panels and three nights of open filk. I'm hoping to have two other concerts ready to announce shortly; I'm just waiting for folks to get back to me. For the folk-dance-minded, we have two dances: a Steampunk Regency Ball Friday night and the traditional Medieval Dance hosted by patches023 (with music by maugorn and me) on Saturday afternoon.

We also have the expanded music program on the Hrab Stage, a coffee-house style stage located off the hotel lobby near the bar & restaurant. There will be music and other performances all weekend, including Phil Rossi & George Hrab, partiallyclips and devospice, Igor's Egg, asaro, maugorn, wcg and me. There are still openings available for anyone interested in signing up for a set. Comment here or e-mail me.

Stay tuned here and check the balticon LJ and Balticon website for more details and updates.

Well, as some of y'all have already seen, we have in fact invited the lovely and talented quadrivium to be our Music GOH for Balticon 43. Mary joins Author GOH Charles Stross and last year's Compton Crook Award winner Mark Van Name on the main bill, with a few players still yet to be named (like the Artist GOH). At the moment the Balticon web site still has last year's information, but keep checking back.

In the meantime, program planning is underway. If any folks out there are interested in concerts, let me know. There is a new twist in the works this year--we expect the Hrab Stage will be back again, and I will be coordinating the schedule for that along with the New Media folks. So, I will be able to schedule folks who don't mind a pub-type environment for sets up there, on a first-come first-serve basis, in addition to the normal track of concerts and panels I schedule. (Note however that only the main filk program track participants will be comped.)

Before the weekend totally recedes over the horizon, I should wrap up my Balticon report...

( Schedule? What schedule?Collapse )

As the con-rep goes rolling along...

( Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!Collapse )

See, I promised I'd continue! Even though I seem to be coming down with con crud. Ah well, I'll take getting sick after the convention over being sick before the convention (see FKO '08), not to mention during (see Conterpoint '07).

( On to SaturdayCollapse )

Recovering today from a fabulous Balticon. Got home around 6pm last night after dropping UT at the airport. Ordered pizza and took care of a few things that needed doing before bed. (Which is why we didn't go to the Dead Dog Dinner.)

( FridayCollapse )

To be continued...(I promise this time!)

Tomorrow we dive into what promises to be an amazing Balticon! Just having either the always-entertaining Connie Willis as Author GOH or the fabulous Urban Tapestry as Music GOH would be enough for a great con. And we've got both! Plus the spirit of Ghost of Honor Douglas Adams will be looking in on the proceedings. Make sure y'all know where your towels are!

Of course, no program survives contact with the fans (or, apparently, with the Pocket Program editor). Here's a quick rundown of the main filk program, with corrections from the pocket program noted in bold:

FRIDAY
7:00pm Everything You Wanted To Know About Filk (Salon E)
8:30pm Concert: Maugorn (45 mins)(Salon E) (not 9pm)
9:15pm Concert: Gary McGath (45 mins)(Salon E)
10:00pm Open Filk (Salon E & F)

SATURDAY
2:00pm Musical GOH Concert: Urban Tapestry (1 hour)(Valley) (correct in the grid, though missing from the Special Events list)
4:00pm Medieval Dancing (2 hours)(Garden)
10:00pm Open Filk (Salon A)
10:00pm Storytelling Circle (Chase) (not Salon A as listed in the Pocket Program)

SUNDAY
11:00am Kids Concert: Urban Tapestry and Friends (1 hour)(Chase)
7:30pm Concert: Stone Dragons (Tom & Sue)(45 mins)(Salon E & F)
8:15pm Concert: “Decadent” Dave Clement (45 mins)(Salon E & F)
9:00pm Theme Filk: Literary Songs (Salon E & F)
10:00pm Open Filk (Salon E & F)

MONDAY
1:00pm Enhancing Your Musical Performance (Salon E)
2:00pm Arthur C. Clarke Memorial Filk Circle (Salon E)
(both programs shifted an hour)

Also performing Friday night in the Main Tent (Valley Room) are George Hrab, Peter Beagle, and Rob Balder/Sudden Death, at 9:00pm, 10:30pm, and midnight respectively.

Hope to see a bunch of you there!

After about two years of trying, Paul Fischer finally got me down to his VA studio last weekend to record a filk-related episode for his Balticon Podcast. The episode, titled "Filk-o-rama with Rob Balder and Gary Ehrlich", features partiallyclips and I expounding for an hour about the filk program for this year's fast-approaching Balticon. In addition to a couple of live offerings, the podcast also features cuts from Balticon Music GOHs Urban Tapestry and other featured performers.

(Note: There were a few errors in the credits. I've e-mailed Paul about them already.)