ConCertino- Part 2
We hit the ground running on Saturday of ConCertino and we were very busy up until about 6:00 and then we were FREE for the rest of the con. But the not free parts were lots of fun, too.
(Photo: Friday night I met Lemmie the Hedgehog! And I got to hold him! So cute! Photo by Debbie.)
Went down for hotel brunch where we ran into Mich and Marilisa, got better acquainted with David and Socrates, and met Mich's husband of two weeks, Steve, for the first time. Great fun and Socrates blindsided us several times with that slow flirty smile of his that has now claimed hearts on two continents. Deb also had him as an audience for her upcoming picture book, I'm Bored, and that was amusing to watch.
After brunch we headed back to Marilisa and David's room to practice the two "Urban Rapunzel" songs we were going to join them on in their concert later that afternoon. It's always a thrill to get to sing with Playing Rapunzel as Mich writes these gorgeous complex arrangements that are a challenge to prepare but always make you so proud that Mich has asked you to sing them.
We then went off to do some practising of UT material, which was a little trickier this con as Jodi was rooming with James across the hotel from Deb and me. The biggest new factor in UT music at ConCertino is that this was the first con where all three of us had an iPad and it was interesting to experiment with the music and recording apps. I had added about 25 songs to the OnSong songbook app before leaving home and Deb and I practically swooned when we discovered how easy it was for me to e-mail those songs over to her iPad (and Jodi's later in the con). Awesome. We haven't figured out how to "beam" songs to each other yet, though, but we will :). Also when I recognized the opening chords of Playing Rapunzel's "Lorien" in their concert (it's one of my favorite songs of theirs) I pulled out my iPad on the fly and used a free recording app to record it and it turned out really well!
(My iPad pouch, which I picked up for $4.99 at a Canada Day sale. Photo by Debbie.)
Probably the iPad moment of the con for me was when Deb and I were in the open filk circle Saturday night and Joey walked in. I knew Joey liked Cynthia McQuillin's "Rowan Tree", so I had brought the chords in OnSong to sing, though I hadn't told Deb or Jodi as Joey's presence at the con was supposed to be a surprise. When I told Deb she could just share chords over my shoulder she suggested, hey, I should just e-mail it to her. So I did and, boom, it showed up on her iPad and three minutes later we were performing it. Just. so. cool.
Enough iPad talk, I promise. I'm still in my honeymoon stage... Have never been a Mac girl, but I do love my new iPad. Hooray for Scholastic Book bonus teacher coupons and cheap-to-buy electronics.
We headed down to the main programming area and started with a pass through the Dealer's Room, where I bought a lovely shawl from Kathy Sands, assorted nuts, fudge and ginger from Jane Sibley and Irish music CDs from Roberta Rogow. We were happy to be able to support our hotel room guardian angels at their Dealer's Room tables.
The first concert of the afternoon was from Toastmasters Partners in K'Rhyme, also known as Randy Hoffman and Kira Heston. Very entertaining set with some lovely harmony work and some groan-worthy humour songs. They had several guest stars up to join them and UT enjoyed joining them and Rand Bellavia on stage to sing They Might Be Giants "For Science".
We had a quick lunch with Rand and Erin, but we ended up having to take our sandwiches and salads to go to prepare for the next round robin set.
(Canadian Invasion! Tom with his double-necked guitar.)
The stars had alligned to make this an American convention with A LOT of Canadians in attendance. Part of the reasoning for this was Canadian Interfilk guest Peggi Warner-Lalonde. Part of the reason for UT is that Deb couldn't go to FKO this year (sniff), and it was a con where we were all free to attend together. Anyway, the Canadians were there in full force on the Canada Day weekend and we were ready to make noise :).
(More Canadian Invasion! Sally, Ken, Peggi, Jodi, Debbie... oh, and a token American guitarist- hi, Joey!)
The next set up was the Canadian Invasion round robin where a bunch of us Canucks got on stage to sing mostly songs with Canadian content or by Canadian filkers and songwriters or both. Singing with us were Sally and Judith and Carolyn and Inga and Joel and Dave Clement and Tom and Sue. So much fun and we had a blast right up to the rousing finale of "Canada's Really Big".
(The return of the Canadian Invasion! Jane in her FilKONtario t-shirt and honourary Canadian Gundo- he is Tom Jeffer's "son", after all :).)
After a brief rest, plus a chance to finally eat that sandwich and salad I'd bought at lunch, we headed back down for fun Short Sets by Roberta Rogow and Larry Kirby. I also took the time to stroll by the Interfilk table where I placed a bid on a beaded bookmark made by Judith and drooled over a harp and a hand-made guitar strap by Peggi which I knew would go over my financial range later at the auction...
(Judith's bookmark, which I did eventually win in the Interfilk auction, now in its place of honour in my Kindle case.)
Last concert of the afternoon was Playing Rapunzel and they were as glorious and emotional and funny as ever. Their voices, oh, Lord, their voices- I've been enchanted since I first heard them sing in Germany back at FilkContinental in 2005.
Please. Someone give these two a Best-Performer Pegasus Award. Please.
They sang a hilarious OMG WTF BBQ song and Marilisa's gorgeous Greek translation of Katy and Ju's "A Thousand Ships" and a version of Jodi's "The Lady" that was stunning. And we were lucky enough to join them on a four-vocal and flute arrangement of "Sholem" (aside: one of the moments that made me cry at the con was hearing everyone sing along to that song) and also "The Road Goes On", a song from the Lord of The Rings musical.
(Josh and Lisa hold up signs during the Playing Rapunzel concert.)
Thanks, Mich and Marilisa. Come back to North America soon.
Getting late. Will stop here. More tomorrow.
(Photo: Friday night I met Lemmie the Hedgehog! And I got to hold him! So cute! Photo by Debbie.)
Went down for hotel brunch where we ran into Mich and Marilisa, got better acquainted with David and Socrates, and met Mich's husband of two weeks, Steve, for the first time. Great fun and Socrates blindsided us several times with that slow flirty smile of his that has now claimed hearts on two continents. Deb also had him as an audience for her upcoming picture book, I'm Bored, and that was amusing to watch.
After brunch we headed back to Marilisa and David's room to practice the two "Urban Rapunzel" songs we were going to join them on in their concert later that afternoon. It's always a thrill to get to sing with Playing Rapunzel as Mich writes these gorgeous complex arrangements that are a challenge to prepare but always make you so proud that Mich has asked you to sing them.
We then went off to do some practising of UT material, which was a little trickier this con as Jodi was rooming with James across the hotel from Deb and me. The biggest new factor in UT music at ConCertino is that this was the first con where all three of us had an iPad and it was interesting to experiment with the music and recording apps. I had added about 25 songs to the OnSong songbook app before leaving home and Deb and I practically swooned when we discovered how easy it was for me to e-mail those songs over to her iPad (and Jodi's later in the con). Awesome. We haven't figured out how to "beam" songs to each other yet, though, but we will :). Also when I recognized the opening chords of Playing Rapunzel's "Lorien" in their concert (it's one of my favorite songs of theirs) I pulled out my iPad on the fly and used a free recording app to record it and it turned out really well!
(My iPad pouch, which I picked up for $4.99 at a Canada Day sale. Photo by Debbie.)
Probably the iPad moment of the con for me was when Deb and I were in the open filk circle Saturday night and Joey walked in. I knew Joey liked Cynthia McQuillin's "Rowan Tree", so I had brought the chords in OnSong to sing, though I hadn't told Deb or Jodi as Joey's presence at the con was supposed to be a surprise. When I told Deb she could just share chords over my shoulder she suggested, hey, I should just e-mail it to her. So I did and, boom, it showed up on her iPad and three minutes later we were performing it. Just. so. cool.
Enough iPad talk, I promise. I'm still in my honeymoon stage... Have never been a Mac girl, but I do love my new iPad. Hooray for Scholastic Book bonus teacher coupons and cheap-to-buy electronics.
We headed down to the main programming area and started with a pass through the Dealer's Room, where I bought a lovely shawl from Kathy Sands, assorted nuts, fudge and ginger from Jane Sibley and Irish music CDs from Roberta Rogow. We were happy to be able to support our hotel room guardian angels at their Dealer's Room tables.
The first concert of the afternoon was from Toastmasters Partners in K'Rhyme, also known as Randy Hoffman and Kira Heston. Very entertaining set with some lovely harmony work and some groan-worthy humour songs. They had several guest stars up to join them and UT enjoyed joining them and Rand Bellavia on stage to sing They Might Be Giants "For Science".
We had a quick lunch with Rand and Erin, but we ended up having to take our sandwiches and salads to go to prepare for the next round robin set.
(Canadian Invasion! Tom with his double-necked guitar.)
The stars had alligned to make this an American convention with A LOT of Canadians in attendance. Part of the reasoning for this was Canadian Interfilk guest Peggi Warner-Lalonde. Part of the reason for UT is that Deb couldn't go to FKO this year (sniff), and it was a con where we were all free to attend together. Anyway, the Canadians were there in full force on the Canada Day weekend and we were ready to make noise :).
(More Canadian Invasion! Sally, Ken, Peggi, Jodi, Debbie... oh, and a token American guitarist- hi, Joey!)
The next set up was the Canadian Invasion round robin where a bunch of us Canucks got on stage to sing mostly songs with Canadian content or by Canadian filkers and songwriters or both. Singing with us were Sally and Judith and Carolyn and Inga and Joel and Dave Clement and Tom and Sue. So much fun and we had a blast right up to the rousing finale of "Canada's Really Big".
(The return of the Canadian Invasion! Jane in her FilKONtario t-shirt and honourary Canadian Gundo- he is Tom Jeffer's "son", after all :).)
After a brief rest, plus a chance to finally eat that sandwich and salad I'd bought at lunch, we headed back down for fun Short Sets by Roberta Rogow and Larry Kirby. I also took the time to stroll by the Interfilk table where I placed a bid on a beaded bookmark made by Judith and drooled over a harp and a hand-made guitar strap by Peggi which I knew would go over my financial range later at the auction...
(Judith's bookmark, which I did eventually win in the Interfilk auction, now in its place of honour in my Kindle case.)
Last concert of the afternoon was Playing Rapunzel and they were as glorious and emotional and funny as ever. Their voices, oh, Lord, their voices- I've been enchanted since I first heard them sing in Germany back at FilkContinental in 2005.
Please. Someone give these two a Best-Performer Pegasus Award. Please.
They sang a hilarious OMG WTF BBQ song and Marilisa's gorgeous Greek translation of Katy and Ju's "A Thousand Ships" and a version of Jodi's "The Lady" that was stunning. And we were lucky enough to join them on a four-vocal and flute arrangement of "Sholem" (aside: one of the moments that made me cry at the con was hearing everyone sing along to that song) and also "The Road Goes On", a song from the Lord of The Rings musical.
(Josh and Lisa hold up signs during the Playing Rapunzel concert.)
Thanks, Mich and Marilisa. Come back to North America soon.
Getting late. Will stop here. More tomorrow.