Texas Filkers and Filk Fans

If you've ever wondered who filkers are & what we're about, madfilkentist's pithy history of filk is up, for free! here:

http://www.mcgath.com/tst/

The pdf is up now, with other formats to come later.

Squee!

On Jan. 16, 2010, Patti and I are hosting a Robert Burns Day Housefilk (a week early) at our home in Columbus, Texas (west of Houston). Anyone who would like to filk and party with us is welcome (please RSVP at denefoye at yahoo dot com) we'll have some munchies and soft drinks (bring your favorite beverage). We'll also suppy the Haggis. :)

Go to http://www.fencon.org/programming.html to see all the activities at FenCon!

Carla Ulbrich, Tom Smith, and the great Luke Ski have concerts on Friday.

Other performers include Bill and Brenda Sutton, Bill Roper, Margaret Middleton, Joe Giacoio, Randy Farran, Ghost of a Rose, Bland Lemon Denton and David Lee Anderson, and October Country.

Be sure to forward the link to anyone you know who would be interested in attending FenCon!

Thanks!

The voting is over, and DeepSouthCon 49 will be at FenCon VIII in 2011!

This will be the first time that DeepSouthCon will be held in Texas.

I'm going to be in the Austin area at the end of April/beginning of May for a work conference. I'll be up in the Arboretum area. If anyone is interested in getting together, drop a comment somewhere in my LJ or send me an LJ message. Thanks!

Marc Gunn CD Release and Benefit at the Cactus Cafe

Weds, July 30, 2008 @ 8:30 PM
23rd & Guadalupe, University of Texas at Austin
Texas Union
Austin, TX 78705
(512) 475-6515
Benefiting Thundering Paws, a Central Texas animal shelter, www.thunderingpaws.org. Admission is free but a $5.00 donation to Thundering Paws is suggested.

Join lovers of cats and Irish music as we celebrate the release of Marc Gunn's newest musical romp through traditional Irish music with a kitty-cat twist. Marc will perform songs from the CD, and $5 per CD sold will be donated to the Thundering Paws. Find out more about Marc Gunn at www.catdrinkingsongs.com.

Also joining Marc Gunn is Cedric of the Bedlam Bards ( http://www.bedlambards.com/ ) and Michelle Hedden.

We still have a couple of 1/2-hour concert slots open. If you're interested in taking one, please let me know by Wednesday afternoon -- we're in the final stages of nailing down the schedule and sending it to print.

My name is Michael Nelson, and I am part of the Executive Committee for FenCon (with an N), a Dallas-based, non-profit, literary science fiction convention.

Our organization - the Dallas Future Society, which holds FenCon (www.fencon.org) - is in no way, shape or form associated with FeDConUSA.

We first heard about that organization last year, and were somewhat taken aback that they had chosen a name so close to ours, seeing as we had been in existence for over four years at that time.

We are working on a press release which we plan to send to as many SF related information sources as possible to explain that this similarity in names should not reflect on our organization or convention.

FenCon prides itself on being a successful, non-profit, fan-run convention, which is operated in a professional manner. We always strive to show the highest respect to both our guests and members.

If you feel the need and have opportunity to spread this information to other SF professionals or fans, we would greatly appreciate the effort. As you know, a convention such as ours relies heavily on word of mouth, and any negative implications can be unintentionally damaging.

Thank you for your attention.

Michael Nelson

Relayed from this post by filkertom.

Dammit.

FenCon is pleased to announce that Howard Waldrop will be Toastmaster at FenCon V in Dallas on October 3 - 5, 2008.

Howard is a Nebula award winning, World Fantasy award winning, and Hugo nominated writer.

Howard is also a Texas writer which fits in nicely with FenCon's theme of "Celebrating 50 years of SF conventions in Texas".

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Howard_Waldrop

http://www.sff.net/people/waldrop/intro.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Waldrop

"Waldrop's stories combine elements such as alternate history, American popular culture, the American South, old movies (and character actors), classical mythology, and rock 'n' roll music. His style is sometimes obscure or elliptical. The stories are often considered entertaining: Night of the Cooters is The War of the Worlds told from the perspective of a Texas sheriff (a homage to Slim Pickens); Heirs of the Perisphere involves robotic Disney characters waking up in the far future; Fin de Cyclé describes the Dreyfus affair from the perspective of bicycle enthusiasts."