Highlights of FilKONtario 24
This list got long!
Friday
- Having Debbie there for one night!!!! Thanks to Walter for being able to transport her to and from the con. And a tremendous thank you to Walter for driving me to and from the con, too! He saved me a great deal of convoluted bus intrigue.
-Friday dinner with Morva and Alan. Lovely and never often enough.
- Gary E.’s animated Filk Waif antics. Too much fun and I really loved the little songs you did as concert intros, Gary!
- Learning that Kari Maaren is the Filk Waif next year!!! Yay, and that means I get to hear a whole concert of Kari's wonderful songwriting next FKO, which is cool.
- Hearing conchairs Peggi and Judithkick off the show. They are silly when they are together, yes they are :).
- Shaya and Pug’slovely concert! Shaya’s gorgeous hand-made harp! And their delightfully talented sons, Rafe and Simon, playing harp and keyboard! And watching Rafe and Simon play with Kapo and Tipper, the official con dogs.
- Awesome concert by Cheshire Moon. I had never heard Lizzie sing before. She’s a force of nature. Such an expressive performer!
- Heather Dale and Ben. Need one say more? Joyous, lilting, moving. She sang the song about the princesses coming to Quebec and the sailor falling in love and I cried. I bought her “Celtic Heart” CD in the dealer’s room.
- The lovely CD Crystal gave me! Thank you, Crystal!
- Gary’s fun Media Filk Circle! UT managed to squeeze in -one- song before Debbie had to leave :). Jodi and I did a few more songs, too, and I accompanied Karen singing “I Am Stardust”, which I always love doing.
Saturday
- a relaxing breakfast with Gary and Sheryl, though it was probably more relaxing for me than the Filk Waif! :)
- Jewelry buying in the Dealer’s Room. Just like it was so much fun buying Theresa’s jewelry at FKO when I discovered it a year or two back, this year I binged on Leslie Hudson’s new line of jewelry. So pretty!
-Lunch with Errol and Debs. They wanted tips on how to be a good Interfilk guest at OVFF this year (aside: Go to OVFF! Marvel at the exotic Canadian invasion, eh?). Jodi and I were willing to give advice, but then we roped Dave Clement and Elizabeth into the lunch with us because no one knows more about being a good con guest than Dave. Plus Dave is GoHing at the same con where Errol and Debs are Interfilking!
- hanging out at the craft tables cross-stitching, rainbow looming and talking teacher talk.
- Gary’s lively Waif concert and his talented crew of back-up musicians!
- The awesome and wonderfully friendly Copy Red Leader (also part of the Canadian invasion at OVFF!). I’m Spaceman Spiff and I rule the sky... Devin and his super cool layering guitar tracks! And Leslie and Devin speaking dialect in Star Wars-ese must be heard.
- Interfilk guest Piers Cawley, who was just mesmerizing with his collection of British ballads and humourous songs.
- Soooooj. Heather, Ben, Lizzie, the wonderful baritone guy and their drummer (forgive my memory on names!), all being mad and being more than OK.
- Filk Hall of Fame banquet! Banqueting with Walter, Errol, Debs, Kari, Karen, Anne and Gary McGath. Hearing moving speeches from FHoF inductees Kathy Hamilton and Michael Longcor. Cheering for inductee Talis Kimberley, knowing she is FKO’s GoH for next year! And lots of silly inside jokes about placecards where Howard managed to put us all in our place. Literally :).
- Backing up Errol and Debs and playing African percussion with Kari while they sang their parody “Circle of Wenches” at the beginning of the Interfilk auction. Watching Kathleen, Walter and a host of others act out the song below the stage. There’s a video over on the FilKONtario Facebook page. It’s cute. Go find it.
- Singing into the night with Joey, Gary E., Gary M., Kathleen, Morva and Dave, Crystal and Steve among others.
- hearing Joey sing more than I’ve heard him sing in quite some time. Hearing Joey always takes me back to my earliest and most magical founding days of filk. Makes me sentimental.
- Gary McGath’s Death Star polka. Yeah :).
- doing fun duetty things with Jodi like “Bring Me A Star” and Dr. Horrible’s “My Eyes”.
Sunday
- a lengthy breakfast with Joey, Walter and Jodi
- Jill’s “Biology” song in the Penguin Insta-song contest. Adorable. Loved it. She won first place.
- An amazing, powerful, emotional, magical Filk Hall of Fame concert. Too many fantastic performances to mention them all, but I will mention Judith’s performance of Talis’ “Good Night, Sarah Jane”, Michael Longcor’s “Imagination” and Bill Roper’s“I Am The Destroyer”.
- Leading everyone in “Home To FilKONtario” to end the con, always a tremendous honour.
- A great, fun, energetic jam led by Gundo and Tomto end my hours at FKO 24.
- finding Kari's "Being Watson" in the FKO 24 Songbook, because I really love that song. Speaking of which Kathleen's rendition of Jane Maillander'sparody of Heather Dale's "Joan" based on "Elementary" was cool enough to make me want to check out that show.
To the concom: It was an amazing weekend and thank you for making it happen. Wow, next year is FKO 25. A quarter century and I’ve been to every one. I don’t see that changing, FKO will always be home, and I’m pre-regged for next year! Everyone come next year and join FKO for their four day Silver Anniversary!
Friday
- Having Debbie there for one night!!!! Thanks to Walter for being able to transport her to and from the con. And a tremendous thank you to Walter for driving me to and from the con, too! He saved me a great deal of convoluted bus intrigue.
-Friday dinner with Morva and Alan. Lovely and never often enough.
- Gary E.’s animated Filk Waif antics. Too much fun and I really loved the little songs you did as concert intros, Gary!
- Learning that Kari Maaren is the Filk Waif next year!!! Yay, and that means I get to hear a whole concert of Kari's wonderful songwriting next FKO, which is cool.
- Hearing conchairs Peggi and Judithkick off the show. They are silly when they are together, yes they are :).
- Shaya and Pug’slovely concert! Shaya’s gorgeous hand-made harp! And their delightfully talented sons, Rafe and Simon, playing harp and keyboard! And watching Rafe and Simon play with Kapo and Tipper, the official con dogs.
- Awesome concert by Cheshire Moon. I had never heard Lizzie sing before. She’s a force of nature. Such an expressive performer!
- Heather Dale and Ben. Need one say more? Joyous, lilting, moving. She sang the song about the princesses coming to Quebec and the sailor falling in love and I cried. I bought her “Celtic Heart” CD in the dealer’s room.
- The lovely CD Crystal gave me! Thank you, Crystal!
- Gary’s fun Media Filk Circle! UT managed to squeeze in -one- song before Debbie had to leave :). Jodi and I did a few more songs, too, and I accompanied Karen singing “I Am Stardust”, which I always love doing.
Saturday
- a relaxing breakfast with Gary and Sheryl, though it was probably more relaxing for me than the Filk Waif! :)
- Jewelry buying in the Dealer’s Room. Just like it was so much fun buying Theresa’s jewelry at FKO when I discovered it a year or two back, this year I binged on Leslie Hudson’s new line of jewelry. So pretty!
-Lunch with Errol and Debs. They wanted tips on how to be a good Interfilk guest at OVFF this year (aside: Go to OVFF! Marvel at the exotic Canadian invasion, eh?). Jodi and I were willing to give advice, but then we roped Dave Clement and Elizabeth into the lunch with us because no one knows more about being a good con guest than Dave. Plus Dave is GoHing at the same con where Errol and Debs are Interfilking!
- hanging out at the craft tables cross-stitching, rainbow looming and talking teacher talk.
- Gary’s lively Waif concert and his talented crew of back-up musicians!
- The awesome and wonderfully friendly Copy Red Leader (also part of the Canadian invasion at OVFF!). I’m Spaceman Spiff and I rule the sky... Devin and his super cool layering guitar tracks! And Leslie and Devin speaking dialect in Star Wars-ese must be heard.
- Interfilk guest Piers Cawley, who was just mesmerizing with his collection of British ballads and humourous songs.
- Soooooj. Heather, Ben, Lizzie, the wonderful baritone guy and their drummer (forgive my memory on names!), all being mad and being more than OK.
- Filk Hall of Fame banquet! Banqueting with Walter, Errol, Debs, Kari, Karen, Anne and Gary McGath. Hearing moving speeches from FHoF inductees Kathy Hamilton and Michael Longcor. Cheering for inductee Talis Kimberley, knowing she is FKO’s GoH for next year! And lots of silly inside jokes about placecards where Howard managed to put us all in our place. Literally :).
- Backing up Errol and Debs and playing African percussion with Kari while they sang their parody “Circle of Wenches” at the beginning of the Interfilk auction. Watching Kathleen, Walter and a host of others act out the song below the stage. There’s a video over on the FilKONtario Facebook page. It’s cute. Go find it.
- Singing into the night with Joey, Gary E., Gary M., Kathleen, Morva and Dave, Crystal and Steve among others.
- hearing Joey sing more than I’ve heard him sing in quite some time. Hearing Joey always takes me back to my earliest and most magical founding days of filk. Makes me sentimental.
- Gary McGath’s Death Star polka. Yeah :).
- doing fun duetty things with Jodi like “Bring Me A Star” and Dr. Horrible’s “My Eyes”.
Sunday
- a lengthy breakfast with Joey, Walter and Jodi
- Jill’s “Biology” song in the Penguin Insta-song contest. Adorable. Loved it. She won first place.
- An amazing, powerful, emotional, magical Filk Hall of Fame concert. Too many fantastic performances to mention them all, but I will mention Judith’s performance of Talis’ “Good Night, Sarah Jane”, Michael Longcor’s “Imagination” and Bill Roper’s“I Am The Destroyer”.
- Leading everyone in “Home To FilKONtario” to end the con, always a tremendous honour.
- A great, fun, energetic jam led by Gundo and Tomto end my hours at FKO 24.
- finding Kari's "Being Watson" in the FKO 24 Songbook, because I really love that song. Speaking of which Kathleen's rendition of Jane Maillander'sparody of Heather Dale's "Joan" based on "Elementary" was cool enough to make me want to check out that show.
To the concom: It was an amazing weekend and thank you for making it happen. Wow, next year is FKO 25. A quarter century and I’ve been to every one. I don’t see that changing, FKO will always be home, and I’m pre-regged for next year! Everyone come next year and join FKO for their four day Silver Anniversary!