Following the readers of the Capital Weather Gang, my go-to source for local weather info, who voted to go with "Snowzilla" as the name for this storm.

According to measurements in my front yard, we got about 24" here in my corner of Rockville. I have successfully excavated a path to and around my car. I have not cleaned the bulk of the snow off my car yet, but at least we can get out if the need should arise. It took me a little under four hours of work over three rounds of shoveling (one late morning yesterday, one late morning today, and one after lunch) to achieve that.

Shoveling is always a challenge when you live in a townhouse development. Our unit is in the middle of a row, so we have fewer places to put snow than those in end units do. On the bright side, the only thing across the street from us is a row of parallel-to-curb guest spaces, only one of which was occupied. So I was able to dump a lot of snow there. We just won't be able to host any guests until at least April.

The folks further up towards the main drag where there are houses and resident parking spaces on both sides were more limited as to where they could put snow, so they were piling it in the middle of the previously-plowed street. This upset one of my neighbors who is a private security guard and was actually trying to get to work. I can sympathize to a point; he's probably paid hourly at low- or minimum-wage and may have little or no paid vacation, so even after a blizzard he needs to get to work. I've been there, especially during my years of temping back in the early 90's, and even later on when I only had two weeks of vacation even after being at my company for more than 5 years. He eventually got out via the other entrance to our group of townhouses, which I presume was not as blocked as he first claimed.

Of course it did not occur to him to ask nicely if the folks digging out their cars and throwing snow into the middle of the street could leave him a path.

My employer has already announced it will be closed tomorrow; they made that call just after 2pm yesterday while the snow was still falling. I will not be surprised if we are closed Tuesday as well. We're waiting to hear if the Feds will be closed too, which will make the_sheryl happy.

Between the news about yesterday's mess of an evening commute and the impending blizzard, I think I have come up with the perfect name to describe winter in this area:

DCSnowpia

Pronounced "dis-snow-pia", it neatly fits "DC" and "snow" into "dystopia", which pretty much describes what the DC area turns into during a snowstorm.

Yes, it's time once again for my traditional birthday housefilk, which we'll host at our townhouse in Rockville on Sunday, December 13th, from 2pm til 8pm. (Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!)

We'll have plenty of noms on hand, but feel free to bring munchies or beverages. And instruments, of course! Kids OK, we have TVs for keeping them occupied if needed. There are two felines in residence, although they will probably both hide under our bed. There is also now a baby in residence, who will presumably make an appearance for his adoring fans (*grin*). Presents are not necessary, but feel free to check out my Amazon wish list if you insist *wink*.

Comment, message or e-mail me if you need directions.

(I know a couple of folks can't make the 13th. Between Chessiecon, a rare Saturday FSGW Open Sing, and a presumed Balticon meeting, it ended up being the best day for us.)

Following a fairly lazy Labor Day weekend mostly spent catching up on DVR'd shows, we filled this past weekend with back-to-back festivals.

Saturday we made our annual trip to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Somehow, we managed not to melt (or get heatstroke) in the heat and humidity. In fact, in all the visits I've made to Crownsville over the last quarter-century or so, Saturday was one of the few days the wind-channeling qualities of Kenwood and Mary's Dale Lanes was actually a desirable feature!

Naturally, our day was mostly a series of musical sets from the Rambling Sailors (who some readers may recall from GAFilk), Scales and Crosstones, Pyrates Royale and (in their 2014 debut) Wolgemut. Plus the usual spin around our favorite vendors like Allen Ye Printmaker, The Bee Folks, Page After Page, and checking in with Steven Joel and Eowyn. Also ran into Sir John of Denver, of Boogie Knights fame.

Sunday we popped over to Takoma Park for the annual Takoma Park Folk Festival. We took advantage of the somewhat cooler temperatures by spending a fair portion of the day at two of the three indoor stages. (As opposed to any of the four outdoor stages.) We caught sets from the All-New Genetically Altered Jug Band, Kathy Westra and George Stephens, Ayreheart, and Susan Gaeta and Howard Bass from Trio Sefardi.

Meanwhile, I'm frantically working on dusting off old favorites and trying to cram new songs into my head for the upcoming FSGW Getaway. Unlike last year, there are no business trips interfering. (Yay!) And I'm looking forward to seeing a couple of folks who've missed the past year or two.

I'm overdue (no surprise) for posting a reminder that we have a pair of Baltimore-area housefilks on the next two Saturdays. On July 5th Craig Stanfill hosts in Severna Park; on July 12th Michael O'Connor hosts in Cockeysville. Message or e-mail me for more information.

Also a good time to remind the locals (and interested out-of-town folks) that we have a Google Group for DC-Baltimore housefilk announcements at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/dc-balt-housefilk-list. You can go to the link to join, or e-mail me and I can add you.

In addition to the two offers of hosting, I have had a number of other discussions regarding DC-Baltimore area housefilks since Balticon. It's been quite some time since we last tried regularly-scheduled events. The previous attempt petered out due to low attendance and lack of hosts. However, we are at a point where a significant number of potential attendees have either moved into the area or gotten involved in filk; probably more than we ever averaged in attendance last time. The number of potential hosts has also increased. Also, BSFS has expressed interest in having a filk circle as a regularly-scheduled clubhouse event.

So all that leads to three questions:
(1) Do folks want to establish a regular schedule of DC-Baltimore housefilks?
(2) What is an ideal frequency? Monthly? Bi-monthly? Quarterly?
(3) And, depending on the frequency, how often should we ask BSFS to host?

Your thoughts?

My friends, for the first time in a long time, we have a housefilk that's not at Stately Ehrlich Manor! Craig Stanfill, who some of you know from MASSFILC and/or the MSU Tolkien Society, has joined the burgeoning ranks of filkers in the Balto/Wash corridor and will be hosting a housefilk on July 5th at his new place in Severna Park, from 7pm until exhaustion sets in.

The usual things apply - feel free to bring munchies or beverages, listeners are welcome. AFAIK there are no canine or feline residents.

For details, directions, or Craig's contact info, message me or send me an e-mail. (Address is this LJ's name at verizon.net.)

Been rather behind on posting this, but then, as I keep saying, I've been busy.

Anyway, Heather Dale and Ben Deschamps will be setting down in Burtonsville, MD for a house concert on Friday, May 16th. Information can be found at this Facebook page or at this Google+ page. (Note I believe you have to add/follow the G+ page first.) Or e-mail/message me and I can pass your info along to the hosts.

I know some of my local readers will already be en route to Central Massachusetts, but anyone who's around, stop on by for some great music!

There are benefits to living in a metropolitan area that is more capable of dealing with an extraterrestrial invasion force than a fair-to-middling amount of snow. Which is how I unexpectedly wound up with a snow day for my birthday. Whoever sent the weather, thanks! 8-)

So it has been a pleasantly relaxing day which included watching a few things on the DVR (Orphan Black, Tomorrow People, and Once Upon a Time) and dinner at the American Tap Room location in Rockville Town Center. And opening a couple of prezzies, of course. (Boooooks!)

The Nields/Kennedys concert on Friday and the Keelaghan concert on Saturday both were good. The Nields included "This Town Is Wrong" in their set, which was the one song I was really hoping they'd do. Most of the Kennedys set was newer material I didn't recognize (it having been a while since we saw them), but was still good. The two duos teamed up at the end for the Nields' "Easy People" and the Kennedys' "Stand".

Keelaghan is in the middle of celebrating 25 years of making music. His newest CD is a retrospective that comes with a DVD of stories about/behind the 18 songs selected. His fingers seems to have recovered from the nerve issues he was having a few years ago and he's back to his usual intricate runs and transitions. Songs played included "Hillcrest Mine", "Cold Missouri Water", "Mirabeau Bridge", and "Number 37".

Despite the crappy weather, we actually got a decent turnout for the housefilk on Sunday, including mrgoodwraith, aurelia_star, and katrinb and thelongshot. Team Zeve-Andrews (who also ventured into the wilds of Mount Vernon for the Keelaghan show) turned up as most folks were leaving to beat the freezing rain (and just after we'd demolished a pair of pizzas), but hung around for a good chat. I believe a fun time was had for all.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and wasn't too inconvenienced by the snow!

Up until November, we'd somehow only managed to attend a handful of folk concerts over the course of the year. Suddenly, our calendar is full of them.

It started in mid-months with the Berrymans, about which I've already posted. We followed that up a few days later with the Austin Lounge Lizards at the Barns of Wolf Trap. This was the Lizards' first appearance in the DC area since long-time banjo/pedal steel player Tom Pittman retired to Asheville, NC in 2011.

The concert was good, and there were clearly a number of virgins victims new Lizard listeners in the audience. Though, I will confess I didn't enjoy some of the new songs as much as classics and favorites like "Old Blevins", "Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers on Drugs", "Stupid Texas Song" and "The Drugs I Need". But I still picked up their new CD "Home and Deranged" anyway. I was glad to see they tweaked and handed off "Jesus Loves Me (But He Can't Stand You)", long a Pittman standard (and another favorite of mine), to Hank Card.

Meanwhile, the concerts keep on coming. Monday night we'll be playing hooky from 3LF and dropping in on the IMT Concert Series to see Jim Malcolm. Just so I can say "It's all meltatum's fault we're here" and watch his reaction (*evil grin*).

Moving down the calendar from there, we have the Kennedys/Nields double bill and the James Keelaghan shows on the Friday and Saturday of my birthday weekend (which is why the housefilk is Sunday). Followed one Sunday later by the Christine Lavin and Uncle Bonsai 'Just One Angel' show at the Birchmere. They came through last December but we were out of town; this time we'll be here.

With that, it's time to head out for "Catching Fire". Which is not a concert...

Yes, it's time once again for my traditional birthday housefilk, which we'll host at our townhouse in Rockville on Sunday, December 8th, from 2pm til 8pm. (Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!)

We opted for a rare Sunday housefilk because there are concerts on both the 6th (Kennedys/Nields double bill at Jammin' Java) and 7th (James Keelaghan at Focus Music/Alexandria). And other things going on the following weekend. So, the 8th it is!

We'll have plenty of noms on hand, but feel free to bring munchies or beverages. And instruments, of course! Kids OK, we have TVs for keeping them occupied if needed. There are two felines in residence, although they will probably both hide under our bed. Presents are not necessary, but feel free to check out my Amazon wish list if you insist *wink*.

Comment, message or e-mail me if you need directions.

I will wryly note this is a record birthday for me...

We spent an enjoyable evening with Peter and Lou Berryman last night at the Folk Club of Reston/Herndon. We don't regularly get out to the Folk Club, but every so often they have Peter & Lou or Garnet Rogers or another act we really like, so we head over to Virginia.

This was our first time at the Folk Club since it moved from the (now closed) Tortilla Factory to Amphora Diner Deluxe. The diner's back room can accommodate at least twice the audience of the Tortilla Factory's back room.

We were also joined by mrgoodwraith, who had heard us mention the concert at OVFF.

The concert was fun, especially since there were several folks in the crowd who clearly had never heard Berryman classics like "The Speculator" and "Double Yodel". We picked up a copy of their most recent CD Rocky Frontier for our later listening pleasure.

I've gotten all my photos from our family trip to London and Paris uploaded, as those of you following my Flickr photostream may have noticed. For everyone else, here's a link to the collection. Worldcon is still pending (along with the last day or two of the London/Paris trip report and Worldcon report).

We went to a party/song circle at Mark Silverdragon's house last night. Lots of food and drink (including Saranac Pumpkin Ale, yum), good crowd, mix of filkers, BSFS and WSFA members. Stayed for two rounds of the song circle before we called it quits for the night.

Today we hit the Maryland Renaissance Festival, which is why we called it a fairly early night last night. Saw Beecher, Irina and Emily from Sassafrass (who were also at Mark's party), and ran into into Rachel and Jonathan from 3LF. Caught sets from Wolgemut, Pyrates Royale, North Sea Gas and The Wallace Band. The latter, one of the special guests for Scottish Weekend, are a trio of youngsters from Russia playing Celtic music, and very well. Also saw the new Shakespeare's Skum show Antony & Cleopatra (As The Nile Flows). Parts of the grounds were a little squishy due to last night's rain, but not too bad.

Meanwhile, I'm busy trying to cram songs into my brain (and dust off old favorites) for the fast-approaching FSGW Getaway. They've made the mistake of letting me co-host a workshop on Humorous Songs. Insert maniacal laugh here.

A message from the National Air and Space Museum came flying across my e-transom with the delightful news that Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex on the Flight of Birds will be winging its way across the pond for a very special visit to the U.S. The Codex will be on display at the NASM's Independence Avenue building from September 13, 2013 through October 22, 2013.

Methinks somewhere between Jewish holidays, MD RenFest, and other fall activities that a trip down to the Mall is in order!

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.

It's been a quiet, fairly lazy summer weekend here at Chez Ehrlich. But given how busy we usually are, quiet is good. Quiet means catching up on email (reducing one of my inboxes from over 250 to under 140 messages), newspapers, and Hugo reading. And ordering a long-overdue new pair of walking shoes.

Last weekend, we headed up to Baltimore for the 3rd North American Discworld Convention. Despite several epic fails of programming and conrunning, we had a good time.

( And properly outfitted our libraryCollapse )

Happy Independence Day everyone! (And belated Happy Canada Day wishes to my friends up north!)

It's been a fairly lazy July 4th so far here at stately Ehrlich Manor. Usually, we head down to the Mall for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, then work our way east, eventually joining the teeming (and sweating) masses squeezing onto the U.S. Capitol grounds for the annual Capitol Fourth concert and fireworks over the Mall. We opted for a more low-key day at home this year, largely so I could spend some time working on my DVR and e-mail backlogs and excavating my computer desk from the piles of mail and papers that have accumulated over the past couple of months while I was absorbed in Balticon and Conterpoint.

Think of it as my declaring my independence from conrunning for a while. (At least until September when I have to start thinking in earnest about Balticon 48.) Though certainly not from cons; we have the 3rd North American Discworld Con taking up most of the weekend - another excuse for a lazy day today. But at least I'm not running anything at NADWCon!

Shortly we will head out for dinner and from there to the nearby Montgomery College campus for Rockville's July 4th celebration and fireworks.

Winding down a busy weekend here in Rockville and trying to console ourselves over the 'Skins loss.

We ended the week largely as we began it, with a movie and a musical event. Friday night we caught an acapella double bill of The Chromatics and the Tone Rangers at Jammin' Java. Friends and readers of my LJ know we are long-time fans of the Chromies, so of course we enjoyed their set. The Tone Rangers, a male octet, were new to us, but also good. They specialize in 50's/60's/70's pop and classic rock covers, with witty introductions and a few spoken-word humor pieces sprinkled throughout their set. They did pleasantly surprise us with a fine cover of "Consequence Free". Apparently most of the band are Great Big Sea fans, and in fact will be attending their April1 17th concert (as will we) at the Warner Theatre.

Saturday afternoon we went down to the National Museum of Women in the Arts to catch their Women Who Rock exhibit, which ended this weekend. It was an excellent exhibit, featuring outfits, guitars, notebooks and other paraphenalia from notable female musicians spanning from blues musicians of the '30s like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith through classic rockers like Joan Jett, Pat Benetar, Stevie Nicks through current stars like Carrie Underwood and Lady Gaga. The displays were supplemented with biographic and performance videos.

Saturday evening we caught Les Miserables. The movie was well done, though of course it does tug on ye olde heartstrings. As I observed to Sheryl, "only the Thenardiers get out reasonably unscathed."

Speaking of movies, I should mention that we also saw The Hobbit the Saturday before New Years'. Also enjoyed that one and am looking forward to the remaining movies. I've read the book, but as with LOTR it's not a book I loved so much that tinkering with the story bothers me. I should note that I rather admired the joinery in Bilbo's hobbit hole (*grin*).

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!

I posted a couple of weeks ago that Sheryl and I are hosting a housefilk next Saturday, April 28th, at our townhouse. Details at the link.

That's a week from tonight, so I figured a reminder was in order. Leave a comment or e-mail me if you need more details.

Some of you have no doubt figured out by now that celebrating the_sheryl's birthday is not the only excuse for sneaking a housefilk onto the schedule. Obviously, we will also be celebrating my induction into the Filk Hall of Fame (*grin*). About which I will post more later.

It's been a while since we've had a housefilk in these parts. But, between celebrating the_sheryl's birthday, raising a glass of Tully for Greg Baker, and doing a little stumping for NEFilk 23/Conterpoint 2013, we have a few excuses. (Not to mention revving up for Balticon!)

So, we decided we shall host a housefilk at our townhouse in Rockville on Saturday, April 28th, from 7pm til whenever. We'll have plenty of noms on hand, but feel free to bring munchies or beverages. And instruments, of course! Kids OK, we have TVs for keeping them occupied if needed. There are two felines in residence, although they will probably both hide under our bed.

Drop me an e-mail (this LJ name at verizon dot net), message or comment if you need directions.

Meant to post this earlier, better late than never. the_sheryl and I are hosting the Folklore Society of Greater Washington's monthly Open Sing this coming Friday, March 2nd. For those not familiar with the Open Sing, it's essentially a bardic circle with a loose theme to guide picking of songs. Our theme, in honor of March, is "Feet Don't Fail Me Now..." - songs that mention feet, parts of feet (ankles, heels), things you do with feet (walking, running, dancing). And if all else fails, there are always measurements (feet and inches). So if you feel like a bit of singing (or just a bit of listening), stop on by! E-mail me or leave a message if you need directions.

Got my Philcon schedule today. Should be a fun weekend; in addition to Sooj as Music Guest we get Heather and Ben and a bunch of the usual Northeast suspects like thnidu, drcpunk, mneme and sodyera. Also at least one performer I've heard of (Nicole "Blue" Dieker) and am interested in seeing. Looks like I'll be busy Saturday morning/early afternoon. My schedule is as follows:

Fri 11:00 PM - Bawdy Songs Theme Circle
Co-hosting with Kathy Sands & Dr. SETI

Sat 10:00 AM - Filk 101
With fellow panelists Lisa Padol, Nicole Dieker, Patricia Wake, Melissa James, and Ariel Cinii

Sat 12:00 PM - Travel songs Theme Circle
One of the two 2012 Pegasus Award Floating Categories
Co-hosting with Roberta Rogow, Heather Dale, and Kathy Sands

Sat 2:00 PM - Filk Concert
A half-hour set of my own. Ariel Cinii has the other half of the hour

Sat 4:00 PM - Gaming Songs Theme Circle
The other 2012 Pegasus Awards Floating Category
Co-hosting with Lisa Padol, Joshua Kronengold, Crystal Paul, Steve Brinich

( And then there's DarkoverCollapse )

Before we get to OVFF, I should jump back one major event and summarize this year's FSGW Getaway.

This was the third year of my on-going effort to expand the repertoire of traditional (and "in the tradition") songs I can pull on at FSGW events. I got a late start on a few of the targeted songs so didn't quite manage to memorize them. But the new adds (notably "San Francisco Bay Blues" and "Fishin' for Chickens") were decently received.

I co-hosted a workshop (theme circle) on "Mythical Creatures" with a fellow RenFestie from Western NY (near Geneva). We had the best crowd I've had for a workshop in several years; just barely made it around the circle in an hour. I kicked off the session with "Green-Eyed Dragon with the 13 Tails".

( Song Sources and SongbooksCollapse )

I definitely needed more sleep than I got this weekend. And I didn't even stay up that late.

(Of course, it doesn't help when Her Royal Pudginess comes meowing at the door at 6:30am complaining she is starrrrrrving...)

Saturday we spent most of the day at Intervention, which was held just down the road from us. shaenon was one of the guests, which was cool since we haven't seen her since we met up just before ConJose. Got to see and chat with a bunch of other folks including jannyblue, punkwalrus, starmalachite and stevemb and devospice. Caught devospice's concert and part of Insane Ian's, went to a fun Doctor Who panel, and hit the Erfworld party.

Sunday we made our annual pilgrimage to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Perfect day for it; not blazing hot, not frigid cold, no rain, and not overcrowded. We caught sets by Wolgemut, Wine & Alchemy, the Village Idiots, and London Broil, and the "Shakespeare in Jeopardy" courtesy of Shakespeare's Skum. Ran into kmusser, Kelly Pierce, and John Scheeler and stopped by the jousting arena to chat with blueeowyn.

And that's about it from here. Still frantically trying to cram songs into my brain for the FSGW Getaway. I'm co-leading a workshop (read "theme circle") on Mythical Creatures. Noooo...don't throw me into that briar pit...

Or would Dr. Narbon's favorite expression be more appropriate? Heh. Heh. Heh.

I may be insane, but I'm not crazy and not a fan of playing in the mud. So, I think we will delay our annual RenFest excursion to next Sunday, rather than 3 days from now.

On the bright side, that means we can go to the Takoma Park Folk Festival. Most of which is indoors, or on concrete and asphalt. Especially the acts we most want to see, like Elizabeth LaPrelle, Glyn Collinson, and Klezcentricity.