Capricon report
Feb. 16th, 2005 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beige_alertI had a fabulous time at Capricon, probably the best overall time I’ve had a con in some time. It worked out for me to be about the perfect balance between organized activities happening and just hanging out with friends.
I have photos on flickr and a cut-tagged con report below.
I took Friday afternoon off from work and thus arrived in the early afternoon. It is nice to arrive before the hotel turns into a mob scene. I spent some time with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
barbarakitten_t, had a very nice long chat with Angel, saw exapno, and heard ericcoleman in concert in the Internet cafe. I think the little concerts in the cafe worked out well. I also think the chocolate-intensive coffee drinks there were great. The plastic spoons dipped in chocolate were great, too, and I’m sort of amazed that that isn’t, as far as I know, a commercial product. It just seems like the kind of think Starbucks would give a vaguely-Italian name to and sell for $1.99. I do hope that the fancy coffee idea spreads. tesselene, gabrielg, gundo, and _stag were there, too.
The Death Is Easy, Comedy Is Hard panel on writing serious vs. funny songs with Tom Smith, Erica Neely, and Bill Roper was very interesting. That, plus the effects from just being around Tom Smith all weekend have left me with a song idea I’ll have to work on.
The filking was great. It was great to have Erica Neely present. Even though she’s been hanging around the Midwest, on and off, for some time, I hardly ever see her and even more rarely hear her.
There are, it turns out, a lot of followers for anything Dr. Seuss related (“They’ll hoot their elven hooty-toots!”). I think Eloise has a follower for anything I can sing. (Love Song of the Electric Field? Hot Point, Warm Heart.)
On the way out of the filk room in the early morning Erica had some very nice words for me about my music, which feels really good to hear from someone as well-known as her.
Bill Higgins talked about Cassini-Huygens and Titan on Saturday, though unfortunately the projector was unwilling to project any photons. The talk was interesting anyway. On Sunday they got a working projector and he ran through the slides.
I had lunch on Saturday withbarbarakitten_t. It turns out that the hotel is quite near the Chicago Thermo-Electron-Finnigan-Whatever It Is This Month office, which I’ve been to a few times recently to evaluate mass spectrometers. As much of a pain as sales reps can be, when you are part of a group trying to figure out how to spend a few hundred thousand dollars, they are good for lunch. Thus I knew a good restaurant in the area. I had to drive around it a few times before I recognized it (I was confusing it with the place the sales rep took us on the second visit), but we ended up with a nice lunch at the “Ram.”
I saw part of Tom Smith’s and all of Bill Roper’s sets in the cafe Saturday afternoon. I spent a good bit of time hanging out in the filk room withalmeda, where she showed me photos on her laptop and played some music on it. Eventually some other people wandered in, we photographed a spider, and eventually some singing got started. I retrieved my instruments from my room and unpacked my flute to see if my fingers were working. I said something about sometimes playing Bach and someone who I don’t know asked me to play some, so I did a fairly decent run through the Fugue in G minor, or, really, part thereof, since I can only play one note at a time.
Tom Smith’s concert was unbelievably funny and wonderful. Even those of us who’ve seen Tom before and own all the CDs get surprised time and again. He always has something old we haven’t heard, something new we haven’t heard, or something made up on the spot that even he hasn’t heard.
After not-quite two hours of Tom the open filk began. There was some more great music from Erica, from Bill and Gretchen, and just a bit more from Tom. I think Eloise has a follower for anything I can sing. (Battle With The Elements? The Flavors of the Quark.)
I’ve received a number of comments on my growing ability to play music and sing largely in the same key that I’m playing in. I’m certainly far more comfortable in front of an audience. Indeed, I was so comfortable that I didn’t even notice that I wasn’t nervous.
I spent some time on Sunday with Art, Deirdre, Angel,tigertoy, barbarakitten_t and the rest of the Kitten household, and actually saw the closing ceremony.
I’m already pre-registered for next year and have my purple bag.
I have photos on flickr and a cut-tagged con report below.
I took Friday afternoon off from work and thus arrived in the early afternoon. It is nice to arrive before the hotel turns into a mob scene. I spent some time with
barbarakitten_t, had a very nice long chat with Angel, saw exapno, and heard ericcoleman in concert in the Internet cafe. I think the little concerts in the cafe worked out well. I also think the chocolate-intensive coffee drinks there were great. The plastic spoons dipped in chocolate were great, too, and I’m sort of amazed that that isn’t, as far as I know, a commercial product. It just seems like the kind of think Starbucks would give a vaguely-Italian name to and sell for $1.99. I do hope that the fancy coffee idea spreads. tesselene, gabrielg, gundo, and _stag were there, too.The Death Is Easy, Comedy Is Hard panel on writing serious vs. funny songs with Tom Smith, Erica Neely, and Bill Roper was very interesting. That, plus the effects from just being around Tom Smith all weekend have left me with a song idea I’ll have to work on.
The filking was great. It was great to have Erica Neely present. Even though she’s been hanging around the Midwest, on and off, for some time, I hardly ever see her and even more rarely hear her.
There are, it turns out, a lot of followers for anything Dr. Seuss related (“They’ll hoot their elven hooty-toots!”). I think Eloise has a follower for anything I can sing. (Love Song of the Electric Field? Hot Point, Warm Heart.)
On the way out of the filk room in the early morning Erica had some very nice words for me about my music, which feels really good to hear from someone as well-known as her.
Bill Higgins talked about Cassini-Huygens and Titan on Saturday, though unfortunately the projector was unwilling to project any photons. The talk was interesting anyway. On Sunday they got a working projector and he ran through the slides.
I had lunch on Saturday with
barbarakitten_t. It turns out that the hotel is quite near the Chicago Thermo-Electron-Finnigan-Whatever It Is This Month office, which I’ve been to a few times recently to evaluate mass spectrometers. As much of a pain as sales reps can be, when you are part of a group trying to figure out how to spend a few hundred thousand dollars, they are good for lunch. Thus I knew a good restaurant in the area. I had to drive around it a few times before I recognized it (I was confusing it with the place the sales rep took us on the second visit), but we ended up with a nice lunch at the “Ram.”I saw part of Tom Smith’s and all of Bill Roper’s sets in the cafe Saturday afternoon. I spent a good bit of time hanging out in the filk room with
almeda, where she showed me photos on her laptop and played some music on it. Eventually some other people wandered in, we photographed a spider, and eventually some singing got started. I retrieved my instruments from my room and unpacked my flute to see if my fingers were working. I said something about sometimes playing Bach and someone who I don’t know asked me to play some, so I did a fairly decent run through the Fugue in G minor, or, really, part thereof, since I can only play one note at a time. Tom Smith’s concert was unbelievably funny and wonderful. Even those of us who’ve seen Tom before and own all the CDs get surprised time and again. He always has something old we haven’t heard, something new we haven’t heard, or something made up on the spot that even he hasn’t heard.
After not-quite two hours of Tom the open filk began. There was some more great music from Erica, from Bill and Gretchen, and just a bit more from Tom. I think Eloise has a follower for anything I can sing. (Battle With The Elements? The Flavors of the Quark.)
I’ve received a number of comments on my growing ability to play music and sing largely in the same key that I’m playing in. I’m certainly far more comfortable in front of an audience. Indeed, I was so comfortable that I didn’t even notice that I wasn’t nervous.
I spent some time on Sunday with Art, Deirdre, Angel,
tigertoy, barbarakitten_t and the rest of the Kitten household, and actually saw the closing ceremony.I’m already pre-registered for next year and have my purple bag.
