FKO
So many other people who are so much better at writing have posted about FKO, that I'm not going to try to not repeat too much. LOL
Thursday morning Patti and I loaded guitar and suitcases in the guitar at 8am for our 2 hour trek to Houston Intercontinental airport. traffic wasn't terrible (since we have our tollroad pass) and we got to the airport and through security in a reasonably short time....just in time to discover that the plane was delayed an hour due to mechanical difficulties. so we waited that extra hour with Sundara and William and then boarded. then discovered that Air Canada's Jazz division planes have the smallest overhead bins...my guitar stuck out about an inch too wide. :( but they put it in the closet up in first class, so it didn't get thrown into the guitar destroying pit.
we arrived in canada, breezed thru customs and immigration (I've seen too many movies ...was expecting a BIG delay with them searching all the bags before we could go through). then exchanged us dollars for canadian and went out to catch the shuttle to the hotel...which was right there loading a couple of other filkers (blind Lemon Chiffon and Kathleen Sloan). at the hotel shortly...checked in and ready to party. had a great time at the reception and actually got to bed early.
Friday was the day we should have gone siteseeing because it was nice and we hand nothing to do until after 3pm...so we just bummed around the hotel, rested and visited with anyone who happened to be there. Friday night was great. listening to the concerts by Mary Crowell and the one by the Stone Dragons, meeting new filkers, seeing other's we've met before. I was happy to see Juliana from Germany...she sings so wonderfully and someday I hope to hear her and Katy LIVE. :) and then there is always Juanita....every time she is at a con i'm at, I know the filking will be good. so many others I can't begin to name them all. Karen Linsley's ose free filk was fun (I prefer the light and funny songs myself), then there was the DVD and CD release party in the consuite. filking was light Friday night (only one room) but very enjoyable.
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Saturday was busy....music from Karen Linsley, one shots, Talis Kimberley, OUR concert , then Wild Mercy. (I still can't believe we were on that bill too) good banquet, wonderful surprises on the Hall of Fame Inductees.
now, Mel has already gone into detail about the songwriting competition. and I agree that we didn't enter so much to compete, as to show what we came up with in attempting to write something to their theme. I feel that it is one of my better compostions, which I WILL continue to play often :)
ok...now we come to Saturday Night Filk.....there are no words for something of that nature. It is something that comes along so seldom...but it was so wonderful my last words going out the door saturday night (sunday morning) were, "let's do it again...Tomorrow." Patti calls it "the UberFilk" . I love jamming with other musicians...and that was the Jam Session of Jam sessions for me. everyone playing together and enhancing everyonen else. harmonies intertwining with the instruments. Leonard Cohen's "Halleluja" mass choir and orchestra was beyond inspiring...it was an experience to remember for the rest of my life. (for those not there, during this session there were guitars and dulcimer and flute and clarinet and cello and violin and harp and drums and guitar and.....voices!!!)
sunday, our workshop went well...we had a much larger group than i would have thought (given that it was 11am ....and we are filkers who don't go to bed early on Saturday night) Mel gave out lyrics to several of the songs we'd written (but hadn't performed for any circle yet) to give people an opportunity to see what kind of melody they could come up with for the songs. I was impressed with each one that was done. I played for them what I had done, so they could see the direction we went. we also had a melody only recording that I had sent to Mel for her to put lyrics to...and there were some interesting results for that too. all in all I think that it was a good workshop....only wish the time slot had been longer, because they were rushed for time in their composing attempts. I think that we linked up a few possible collaborators in there!
the Filk Hall of Fame concerts were great...LOVED hearing Urban Tapestry again !!!
Filking Sunday night had two high points for me. I've been singing a filk song by Joel Polowin now for about a year, and had told him i've been doing it. HE actually spoke up in filk circle and requested that I do it!!! so we performed "Flies" ttto Stan Rogers' "Lies". later Tanya Huff came up to me and asked if I would do "I Have Come to Take My Boy Home" (a song by Jym Mooney in Wisconsin) so I said sure, and turned and saw Amy McNally, ran over to her and asked if she would like to play it with us. She agreed, and the 4 of us played a very good rendition of that beautiful song. ....Now I hadn't even mentioned Amy, but I am now...I think that she played with every possible concert that she could...and did an incredible job playing all the different types of music. (Thank you Amy )
Monday we spent the early part of saying goodbye to those we saw in the lobby...then caught the shuttle over to the airport at 2, even though our plane was scheduled to leave at 7. going back to the states was MUCH worse than going to Canada....customs had a line bigger than Disneyland's most popular ride. (and we were dragging suitcases) after two hours or so we finally go through security and dropped off the luggage and got something to drink, then went to sit and wait for the plane. I remembered at that point that i hadn't yet loosened my guitar strings, so i pulled the double-neck out of the case and loosened the strings on the 12, but decided that, before I detuned it, I would play a little on the 6-string .....sundara pulled up lyrics to songs on her ipod and we sang for about an hour....gave a quiet concert in the airport, which the people around us appeared to enjoy. :) then i detuned and packed up....at which time they told us our plane had had a mechanical failure and they would be replacing it with another...delaying our flight an hour.
we moved down to the new gate and waited ...we finally boarded 90 minutes later than the original time. we had no delay at the Houston end of the journey, thank goodness, and were in the car on the freeway shortly after midnight.. we arrived home about 1:45 and figured that it wasn't really any later than any other night this weekend!
all in all it was a great weekend and I will still say to all of the concom of FilKONtario, and the interfilk organization....THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR BRINGING US TO FILKONTARIO.
