Progress Report

Miscellaneous Business

Reserve Your Room Now!

Our hotel deadline has been extended through to Wednesday, February 25th. Make your reservations now, and be sure to mention "Consonance" to get the $79/night room rate.

Songbook

Once again, Consonance will have a songbook. We'd like to thank Lee Gold for having done such a terrific job on it the past couple of years.

This year, since life has gotten in the way of Lee doing the songbook, Lynn ("I Am Not Related To Lee") Gold is doing it this year. Songs for the Consonance 2004 songbook can be in any format readable in Finale 2004 (Notepad, Allegro, etc.), text files, MS Word files, and FrameMaker files. She can also handle a combination of a text file and a MIDI file if they're easy enough to match up.

Submissions are due by midnight PST February 25th. If you have any questions, please let her know.

Since the revival of the filk operetta "HMS Trek-a-Star" was so successful last year, we've decided to make this an annual event.

This year's musical presentation is the world premiere of Doctor Who and the Torians, a short two-act filk musical by Sara Bruce, with music from the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.

We are looking for performers to appear in the show. We think it will be great fun. If you are interested, please let Alan Thiesen (thiesen@netwizards.net) know by e-mail.

You will be expected to prepare but not memorize your part beforehand. We can send you MIDI files for any tunes you don't know. We will only have time for one rehearsal at Consonance. You can read from a script in the actual performance. Performers will include Blake Hodgetts with his keyboard and the author, Sara Bruce.

The complete script is available at http://www.renegadechickens.com/wacky/Torians/Torians.pdf.

We'd also like to thank everybody who performed in last year's musical, "HMS Trek-a-Star". Special thanks to co-author Dorothy Heydt for filling in for an ill performer at the last minute, and to Lee Gold for bringing "HMS Trek-a-Star" to our attention.

We're doing something different this year. First, we'd like to thank Lindy Laurent for having done Children's Programming for so many years. Unfortunately, life has gotten in the way of her doing it again this year.

Instead, there will be a children's play space in the Board Room on the main function floor. Parents are asked to either stay with their children or appoint a "responsible person" to watch them there, and we'll have a Roadie Runner present in the room in case a parent needs to go to the "Little Filkers' Room."

Consonance is a child-friendly con. We encourage children of all ages to sing and listen to music. We realize that a very young child in the audience may make a bit more noise than an adult. This is okay. If a young child becomes genuinely disruptive, we expect the child's parent to use good judgment and remove the child if appropriate.

If you are having problems with a particularly noisy or obnoxious child or adult, notify a member of the concom (designated by special badges). We will evaluate the situation and deal with the offending party if necessary. If a member of the concom is not available, a performer in concert (on stage) or a circle leader is authorized to eject a disruptive individual.

Programming

We've got all sorts of exciting things already planned for Consonance, just as we do every year [grin]. Here's a tentative list of what we'll have:

• More filking. We will have all the function space in the hotel from 10am Friday through 11 pm Sunday, plus we will have the Dead Mosquito filk room until 6am Monday, so we will have more time to filk, filk, and filk.
• A Megillah Reading. This year Purim and Consonance collide (as they often do), so we'll be holding a Megillah reading in one of the function rooms Saturday in the tail end of the dinner hour. Bring your noisemakers!
• Some out-of-area performers we either haven't had in a while or have never heard, including Escape Key from the Seattle area, Ju and Katy, and Steve Macdonald, who'll be hosting a Beatles and Beyond circle Friday night.
• We'll also be having terrific Californians performing. Four Shillings Short will be making their Consonance debut Saturday, and Scott Snyder, Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff, Tony Fabris, Windbourne, and Barry Gold are scheduled to perform.
• On Saturday morning, Dave and Tom (aka our GOHs) will be hosting "stretching for comfort," and our Interfilk guest, Franklin Gunkelmann, will be hosting a medieval dancing workshop.
• Dave and Tom will be hosting a Stan Rogers theme circle, and Steve Macdonald will be hosting a Rock Jam after the last concert Sunday.
• Sign-up-and-sing concerts. You'll find a limited number of slots in the event you'd like to give a concert. Signups will be at the registration area. For a shorter slot, sign up for two-fers.
• Due to popular demand (or was that screams of pain in the hallway?), we'll once again have "Radio 8-Ball." We're not sure yet who the Oracles (singers) will be; we know we've got our token radio professional (Lynn Gold) as one of the "interpreters." Come prepared with questions to be "answered."

Open filking begins at 10 am Friday. Other programming, such as workshops, circles, and concerts, begins at 6:30pm Friday and ends at 6pm Sunday.

After programming ends on Sunday, there will be a dinner run followed by the Dead Mosquito filk.

Please remember: Programming depends on you. If you want to do a concert or give a workshop, or you have some other neat programming idea, please let Seanan McGuire (delirium@xocolatl.com) know.

Consonance is Looking For Filk Hosts

Many folks come to a filk convention to filk. It's funny how that works. Despite this, if individual folks see an empty room, they're not likely to want to populate it, nor will the dozen or so other folks who might want to filk at that time.

The solution? Filk hosts. As a filk host, you volunteer to be in an open filking room during a particular time slot. This guarantees that everyone will have someone (you) to filk with.

Filk hosts do their stuff in the morning, when most people are sleeping, and in the afternoon and evening, opposite scheduled programming. Filk hosts are not needed at night because everyone is filking anyway.

Advantages of being a filk host:

• You get to pick a theme for the filksing, such as "Monsters" or "Computers" or "Bawdy Songs."
• You get to pick a style, such as "Chaos" or "Bardic" or "Poker Chip Bardic."
• You get to pick your time slot so that the programming or sleep you miss is something you can live without.

You do not get to pick performers. This is open filking, not a concert.

If you want to be a filk host, please let us know in advance by sending e-mail to Seanan McGuire (seanan@xocolatl.com) and Lynn Gold (figmo@rahul.net) and let us know your theme. If we can get the word out in time, folks will have a chance to prepare songs on your theme.

Here are some hosted filksings that are already planned.

• The Beatles and Beyond
  Host: Steve Macdonald
  


• Kermit's Filk Circle
  "As long as I keep you, you'll live." -- Kermit the Frog, as told to Tom Smith
  Host: Alan Thiesen
  Songs by or about filkers and fans who are no longer with us.


• Alien Filk Music
  With Dave Clement, Tom Jeffers, and Franklin Gunkelmann
  Come sing songs that are either written by or written about foreigners or extraterrestrial beings. Songs in languages other than English are welcome.

Consonance Workshops

Here are a few of the workshops we are planning. Some of them are non-musical.

• Stretching for Comfort
  With Dave and Tom
• Medieval Dancing
  With Franklin Gunkelmann
• Support for songwriters
  With Dave and Tom

Concert performances will include:

Our guests:

• Dandelion Wine
  These guys are amazing. They're lively, fun, and give good concert.
• Franklin Gunkelmann
  Franklin is known in the European filk scene for being the MC at FilkContinental (the German filk con) and for translating songs between English and German. He's got a reputation as a very entertaining performer as well.
• Steve Savitzky
  Steve is our TM. He writes incredible songs about computers, life, computers, fantasy, computers, and did I say computers?

• Escape Key
  We've been trying to get this duo to come down from Seattle for a long time. They're worth the wait (although we'd prefer not to have to wait again... ;-) )
• Four Shillings Short
  If you didn't hear them at ConChord, you don't know what you won't be missing when you hear them at Consonance. They're a kick-ass duo who perform Celtic and other interesting stuff.
• Barry Gold
  Barry is one of the mainstays of filking both in California and in the US. We are delighted that he will entertain us at Consonance.
• Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff
  After recovering from having a child just before last year's con, they're back to performing and as amazing as ever.
• Scott Snyder
  Perhaps one of southern California's best-kept secrets, watch his fingers fly when he does "Feygrass" (you are doing it, aren't you Scott? ;-) ).

Consonance Special Events

Here are some of the special events, other than concerts and workshops, that we are planning.

Twofers

As we did last year, this year we will have Twofers (also known as 2x10s) instead of one-shots. You get up to 10 minutes, including setup and tear-down, to sing up to two songs.

Drum Circle

A Consonance tradition. All percussion instruments welcome!

Interfilk Auction

Enjoy the luscious Interfilk wenches and he-wenches! Help support Interfilk! Bid early and often!

Rock Jam

Sing and play along on rock classics such as Johnny B. Goode and Stairway to Heaven.

Live Radio 8-Ball

This one requires some explanation. In the words of Bob Kanefsky:

During his second Baycon concert set, Andras Jones described a recurring radio show he'd done in his DJ days at a small radio station. Listeners would call in with questions about their lives that they wanted an oracle on, and the DJs would randomly select a CD from a pile of them, put it in the player, and press Shuffle to play a random song. After the song, the DJs would give an oracular interpretation of how the song answered the question.

Here's how we can adapt the idea at Consonance, using live performers.

Pick several performers who are willing to do this -- as many as can comfortably fit on stage. Each submits in advance a list of songs in their repertoire they can play at the drop of a hat. They have to be able to claim a long list to be good candidates.

Someone from the audience asks a question through the moderator. The moderator randomly selects a song from the combined list, maybe by pulling it out of a hat, or maybe by rolling dice. The appropriate performer sings whatever song came up.

Then a panel of interpreters (possibly including the moderator, but not the performers, who remain aloof and mysterious channels of the radio 8-ball oracle) discuss how the song answers the question. From the performers' point of view, this at worst reduces to a concert set where their songs are chosen randomly, and at best they'll get into the spirit of it and it will be a lot of fun.

Dead Mosquito Filk

For those who do not depart after the closing ceremonies, there will be a Dead Mosquito Filk lasting until sunrise Monday.

Related Information

Here are some other things you can expect to find.

Sound Techs

Morgan "Mud" Andrews is once again in charge of technical and sound assistance. She is looking for help in operating sound equipment. If you're willing to pull a shift running the sound board, or if you have special needs in this area, contact her through sam@deepforest.org.

We'd also like to thank Kristoph Klover for donating the use of his sound equipment last year and this year. Yaay Stoph!

Open Filking

What would a filk convention be without the free exchange of music and stories? We'll have at least one open filk room at all times where you can swap songs and jam with other folks, or you can just plain listen to whatever's going on at the time.

Con Suite and other Edibles

Our con suite is being run by the experienced Colleen Savitzky, ably assisted by Devon Black and crew. If you have any special dietary needs or want to arrange for something special, contact them by clicking here.

We also need to warn you: The hotel restaurant will not be open for dinner Saturday and Sunday night. Therefore, as part of Consonance's newest annual tradition, we'll also be organizing dinner runs Saturday and Sunday. Here's how it works:

1. Someone decides they want to organize a dinner run to a particular restaurant serving a particular kind of cuisine.
2. This person posts a sign-up sheet for that restaurant at the registration desk with "n" number of signups where "n" is the number of spare car spaces available (if applicable; many fine restaurants are within walking distance).
3. People without cars (or who don't want to drive) just sign up in a numbered slot. People with cars add numbers to the signup sheet for themselves and each additional car space available in their vehicle, and draw a star next to their name to indicate they're a driver. (This helps when we're gathered in the lobby and trying to figure out which people on the list are the drivers.)
4. If possible, we'll take the list and make a reservation at the restaurant listed around 5pm.
5. When it's time to go to dinner, people gather in the hotel lobby, meeting up with the rest of the folks signed up for their restaurant. Note that even if there's no driver needed, the restaurants within walking distance are very popular, thus a reservation is recommended.
What you get is an organized (eep!) restaurant run in which we get there, are seated quickly, and can enjoy a relaxed meal yet get back more quickly to do yet more filking!

If you can't wait, the hotel will also provide shuttle service to the many nearby places to eat.

Internet Lounge

Last year's first-ever Internet Lounge was a massive success, so we're doing it again. Again, it's being maintained by the members of the local Federation Starship, U.S.S. Augusta Ada. We'll have the bookmarks tuned up for a few places of filker interest on the wild, wild web. Any travelling silicon lifeforms will find a comfy haven with power and ethernet connectors. Anyone who loses their guitar on the Information Highway will be encouraged to visit http://www.lostandfound.com. Anyone who loses their con chair on the Information Highway is invited to pick up after her.

Heather Stern, who ran the Internet Lounge for ConJose, will be running our Internet Lounge. If there's something you'd like to see in it, if you'd like to help, or if you have any questions about it, contact her at star@starshine.org.

Roadie Runners

Once again, Consonance will have its Volunteers department, aka the "Roadie Runners," headed by Chaos Savitzky. If you're a student in need of hours of service to a non-profit organization to graduate, we're a non-profit (501(c)(3) and all that), so you can volunteer at the con.

In case that isn't good enough, we have one better: A Free FilK CD! DAG Productions and Random Factors have sponsored Gift Certificates for $16 apiece to hand to "Roadie Runners" who work 16 hours during the con!