Capricon

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My drive to Chicagoland Friday evening included a brief stop at the Mars' Cheese Castle to buy some smoked string cheese for peteralway. Indeed, pretty much the first thing I did at the con was give Peter the gift of cheese, which he appreciated more than I would have imagined.

I saw catsittingstill's concert, in which peteralway performed on mountain dulcimer on two songs. I don't think I've ever seen Cat do a concert before, and it was fun. I did see Peter S. Beagle last year, and it was nice to see him again. He is a delightful storyteller.

Friday's filk was fun. Cat heard my reworking of Play It Slow into A.J.'s Song for the first time. I boldly attempted the Iron Composer song peteralway wrote for me. Was it Friday when Jen did Mal's Song on harp? It was really a weekend of Stuff You Don't Usually Hear Played On Harp, which was very nice.

I ended up with a room on the 12th floor, where the parties were. I had assumed that as a filker I'd keep such late hours that it wouldn't be an issue, but it turns out the partiers stay up even later than filkers. It was OK, but probably better avoided if possible.

I managed to be awake in time to see Michael Longcor's concert. We then had what apparently was Jen Midkiff's first solo center-of-attention singing and playing concert, which went really well. Again some wonderful not-usually-performed-on-harp music, including one of my favorite 10,000 Maniacs songs, Trouble Me. That was followed by Barry and Sally. To skip ahead, all of Wild Mercy did a concert later that night. The other theme of the weekend would be Wild Mercy Permutations. They are fantastic in all the permutations. Now, to get tollers to do a concert....

It was after Barry and Sally when there was something of a break in the action, and Peter and I found time to practice some dulcimer and flute music together, plus another run through the Iron Composer piece. And talking about musical stuff. Also, the performance for catsittingstill of Camile Saint-Saens's "The Swan" by Professor Pete's Adjunct Assistant Chamber Ensemble. Thanks, Cat, for the dried figs. I need to get some of those.

More nice filk Saturday night. The pirates next door couldn't drown us out. We have, after all, pirate songs. Peter and I did manage some music together without anything exploding.

Peter's last-minute dulcimer seminar on Sunday went very well. Intelligible handouts, musical demonstrations, and a reasonable number of people dropped by for at least part of it. The Lego dulcimer attracted lots of attention afterward. It may not be the greatest instrument, but the movable frets to change to interesting scales makes for fascinating demonstrations.

Overall, a great weekend filled with friends, music, and, of course, hugs.