Current mood:	mellow
Current music:	"Three Headed Girl" -- Christo @ Confluence

Report: ConFluence 2004
This is a short report, because I became a bit ill on the return trip, and I'm still recovering.



John Filpus and I arrived at the ConFluence hotel at about 5pm on Friday. We'd travelled in beautiful weather, and the good conditions held up all weekend, until late Sunday night. As the trip (each way via Lansing) is about 450 miles, we planned to stay at the hotel until Monday morning.

Also, the hotel (which has had ConFluence for the last several years) was absolutely full. And, the function space was straining at the seams. But it was wonderful. I took a number of pictures; but not as many as I often do.

Among the non-filkers, I saw Nancy Janda, Lara VanWinkle, Amy Finkbeiner, kosaginolegion and Susan Dexter. Also Greg Armstrong (running the consuite with vegetarian patience and aplomb), Bonnie Funk, Kira Heston, Alpha "housemother" Diane Turnshek, and convention "godmother" Ann Cecil.

The "travesty" show was a screenwriter-parody of the first episode of the Star Trek - The Next Generation series. It was done to that certain ineffable standard, as have been all the ConFluence parodies. They even made fun of its not being a musical this year.

I've been going to ConFluence for mumble years (since the mid 1990s at least), and it is, at base, a literary convention. Having all the filkers at the same convention was a real treat; but also gave me the classic multi-track stress attacks. Chris Conway, Urban Tapestry, 3/4's of Boogie Knights, Dave Rood, Mark Bernstein, Dan Hart and Peter Grubbs (with his brand-so-new-you-can-smell-the-volatiles-from-the-finish Dobro guitar). I got CD's from Christo and Dan (and I'll review them when I feel up to it).

Time flies when you are having fun. Too many fun people, too little time. Perhaps I worrited too much about others. UT did their wonderful set on Friday night. "The Hockey Monkey Song" and "Sex & Chocolate" were the most memorable. ohiblather doing bits on flute. The next morning at breakfast I scolded her a bit about it. ("I saw you massaging your hand, child. Now don't overdo it.")

Saturday went by in a blur. I went to a couple more concerts, including three of the Boogie Knights (their second male member was also under the weather with a severe migraine). They carried on with aplomb, and I was very much impressed. I was also pleased by their accessibility during open filk on both Friday and Saturday nights.

I heard Mark Bernstein's combination of old and new material, spoken and sung (all of it a capella) at his concert. Mark is a person I truly envy in his storytelling style and stage presence. I've known him for 20 years now, and his talents have matured like fine wine.

I just made it to Christo's concert (thank heavens for Fannish Standard Time!), and enjoyed watching his performance all the way through. (I only caught bits of it at GAFilk.) He worked in Urban Tapestry in several spots. (They were at least partly enticed down by the presence of Christo, and I somehow think they were not disappointed.) He also brought up three other talented lady filkers for his "Three Headed Girl."

I heard zencuppa's new piece that responded to Jane Irwin's graphic novel Vögelein, and I (finally) did Robert Shmertz' "Locktender's Lament" in the general region where it allegedly took place. (Well, the song does rhyme Monongehela two ways — both of them wrong!) I actually got compliments about my singing voice!

Sunday I sold my surplus VCR to the beautiful and multi-talented braider, the only hitch being that I didn't pack the remote with it. I had it at home, was going to pack it, had a brain-fart, and now, after returning, it has made itself scarce. My apologies to Mary. Oh, well. It will show up ... Just too much stress right now, I'm afraid ...

John and I stayed over at the hotel on Sunday night. We went to an Italian-style restaurant, new to me. The next morning we left first thing, in a drizzling rain. Whether it was the stress of too many good things going on at the Con, the long ride home, or a bit of food poisoning, I've been under the weather since Monday afternoon.



With luck, I'll feel fine in a day or two.