I’ll write more about Gafilk a bit later, but I wanted to share this with you. Every year, I write a short introduction for the front of the program book. This is what I wrote for this year.

Sixteen years ago, Gafilk was born.

Stop and ponder that for just a moment. Sixteen years ago was the last century. Sixteen years ago was the last millennium.

Children born the same weekend as Gafilk I are now in high school and able to get drivers licenses.

The first Gafilk banquet wouldn’t be for another 3 years. Nor would the first Super Secret Guest. The My Filk game show wouldn’t début until the following year. A number of people we could not today imagine Gafilk without we hadn’t even met yet. Some of the people we could not then imagine doing Gafilk without are no longer with us.

The best things about Gafilk as we know it today, the traditions we honour every year, didn’t come about because of careful planning and deliberation. They were happy accidents. “That was fun,” we’d say. “Let’s do it again next year!” And next year, and next year, and on and on until today. As our first Super Secret Guest, Lois McMaster Bujold once remarked, “It only looks inevitable in hindsight.”

But there’s one thing we had at that first Gafilk, sixteen years ago, that we still have today. It’s the same thing they had at the first filk con, and at filks dating back to before most of us can remember:

Put the chairs in a circle. Gather your musical family to sit in the chairs.

Make magic.

Mirrored from Home of the Autographed Cat.

The last week really has been a blur. Between getting ready for Gafilk, actually putting on Gafilk, and then immediately packing the car to start driving west for our move to Seattle, I haven't had a lot of time for posting. But there's a few thing I wanted to get down from the weekend.

An incomplete list of GaFilk highlights:

Visiting Atlanta's new International Terminal
When I went to pick up Susan from the airport (Sam's flight having been delayed by bureaucracy), I left the hotel in what would normally be plenty of time...except that I forgot that all international flights were now landing at the new terminal. I also realised that I didn't actually know where that was. Fortunately, there were signs, but it's such a long way that I kept thinking I must have missed a turn until I'd see another sign directing me to continue. By the time I got there, I wasn't entirely sure that the terminal wasn't actually *in* Canada. Still, I got there just in time to meet Susan (and Morva and Alan) at the baggage claim.
Bill Sutton's "sound workshop".
Since a lot of the people who normally help us out with sound didn't make it to the con this year, we decided to make a virtue out of the need for volunteers and announced that anyone who wanted to learn a bit about running sound was welcome to come and learn it from Bill. Several people volunteered, so the sound went off without a hitch.
Tim Griffin
I'd actually heard (though not really met) Tim Griffin at a previous convention on the west coast, but I'd only heard him do a couple of songs. He was our choice to do the Friday night concert, and he was amazing. He does educational music that is both informational and funny (or, sometimes, poignant), and has a great audience rapport. He also is just a really fun guy to hang out with and talk to, and he was always pitching in here and there where an extra pair of hands was needed. Great guy, and I was so pleased to meet him.
George and Teresa as toastmasters
Two great people who are such a big part of Gafilk since the early days; they did a fantastic job both MCing and on their concert. Since most of the time you see them as part of larger bands, it was really nice to see them do some stuff with just the two of them.
Fiana
I didn't get to hear as much of them as I would have liked, but everything I heard was delightful. Thanks to Interfilk again for another wonderful guest. I did get to hang with Thom and Christina a bit during the weekend, and they were a lot of fun to talk to.
Sam Baardman and Susan Israel
I already knew they were awesome musicians (that is, after all, why we invited them), but they are also just extraordinarily nice people. Their concert on Saturday was a delight. I'm often in and out of concerts at Gafilk because I'm always keeping an eye on what's going on elsewhere, but I usually have one that I just allow myself to sit and take in without interruption, and I'm glad I did for this one, because I wouldn't have wanted to miss a moment of it.
Play It With Moxie's banquet performance
If you've been to a Gafilk banquet before, you know what this was like. Moxie just gets better and better every year, and I danced and danced and danced. Thanks to everyone who endured my inexpert steps; I have far more enthusiasm than skill, but I never don't have a good time.
Larry Niven
Larry's hour was spent between a reading and telling entertaining fandom stories, and it was a great time. He seemed to have a good time listening to all the music, and I'm so glad he could make it out as our SSG this year.
Stray Dog jam
A hallway filk broke out during (and after) the stray dog party, which started when the two fiddlers in residence wanted to trade some licks and ended up with a huge crowd. (I had a conversation with one person over the weekend about "sing-y" vs. "jam-y" circles, and this was definitely the latter.) I was only around for a part of it, but everything I heard was amazing.

As usual at Gafilk, I really didn't get a chance to play, because by the time open filk starts I'm usually ready to fall over. I never even took my guitar down from my room this year. But I did get to play one song, and it's my personal best moment of the weekend:

Getting to play my Talis Kimberley cover for Talis Kimberley
Just having Talis there was a treat for me, because she really is one of my favourite people in the world and I don't get to spend nearly enough time with her. But one thing I wanted to do if I had the chance is play for her the one song of hers that I cover. So when i spotted her in a little circle near the registration table shortly after closing ceremonies, I stopped to listen for a bit, and then asked to borrow a guitar so i could play it for her. Amy was on hand to add Amyness, which honestly makes everything sound better than it would otherwise, and Talis liked what I did with her song.

(The song in question is "Harbouring Hopes", which is the final track on her album Archetype Cafe. As I commented when I played it, "I'm sorry to say the song first came to my attention at a time I desperately needed it, and I'm happy to say that I haven't needed it for a very long time.")

There were some more personal non-music related highlights as well, but they all come down to "getting to spend time with people who are dear to me", and if I started to list them I'd leave someone out. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed every single moment of every single conversation, every single hug and cuddle, and every single story.

And so another year is kicked off in grand fashion with a successful Gafilk. Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen (I have the best concom ever), and thanks to everyone who came up to me and wished me and Larissa luck on our upcoming move. Gafilk has always been and will always be a family gathering, and I always feel blessed to be in the middle of it every year.

Well, tonight was another total insomnia night. At least I actually made a virtue of it by getting things done that needed to be done.

I actually had an astoundingly productive day. I pretty much knocked off everything on my to-do list by lunchtime, so I rewarded myself with a bit of social frivolity in the afternoon.

Things are coming together nicely for Gafilk. Name badges are printed, hotel paperwork has been acquired and looked over, My Filk questions have been written, and various and sundry things have started to collect into a staging area for transporting. It's going to be another awesome year, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who's coming.

Meanwhile, the last push of packing is underway. Both desks are completely clear, the closets are pretty much empty of everything that won't be going into a suitcase soon, and my fear that we're going to end up with a lot more than will fit in the car is subsiding.

In a couple of hours, I have my final appointment with my massage therapist, who I will miss tremendously, and then perhaps I'll ponder a nap.

Current Mood: awake

Or in my case, working through the weekend. We got a lot done the last two days, though I remain frustrated that every time we finish packing a box, I look around at it seems like there's 10% more than there was before. (

hsifyppah suggests to me that this is because all the things that were packed in are all saying "Oh, that's better, there's space! *Streeeeeeeeetch!*" Little by little, though, we are getting things done.

Four boxes of clothing are stacked by the door. We will ship these, rather than make space in the car, because they're relatively light and we won't need them until we get to the other side of the journey anyway. Our washing machine and dryer, which were only six years old, have been given to a good home, along with a number of tools and other miscellany. The remaining books have been sorted into "the ones we're taking with us" (because we have to have SOME books, or it won't be home) and "the ones that go to storage).

Gafilk prep (which is happening simultaneous to all this) continues apace. I will check the mailbox one last time tomorrow before checking badges. And

hawklady texted me earlier with a photo of the lovely cheeses that are being smoked for the con suite, which I passed on to Twitter:

"Sharp cheddar, 3yr cheddar, Gouda, Manchego, Pepperjack & Jarlsberg in smoker about to be turned #gafilk #consuiteprep http://pic.twitter.com/70EREJFH "

Between these two things, I have a long list of things to do tomorrow, but still quite a lot has been accomplished over the weekend! We celebrated by sitting down to watch two more episodes of Season 2 of Game of Thrones, which we had gotten sidetracked from earlier in the year and never gotten back to, and a very old episode of The Big Bang Theory to cleanse the palate afterwards. (I love GoT, but it's unrelentingly grim and there's only so much of it you can watch at a time before you need something light and cheerful to chase it with.)

How was your weekend?

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Richard Thompson -- Good Things Happen To Bad People

Author Larry Niven has won Hugos (five of them) and a Nebula, and various other awards for his stories, including Ringworld and 50 other books. He co-authored The Mote in God's Eye and Lucifer's Hammer, and edited the Man-Kzin War series. He also loves filk music. He goes out of his way to attend filk conventions on the west coast, not seeking any attention, not asking for any of the perks that authors usually expect like readings and signings. He goes to filk cons because he wants to hear this music.

Misty Lackey even created a game around Larry’s love of filk called “Make Larry Cry”. It’s not very hard to do. You just write a beautiful melody and fill it with poignant, compelling lyrics…and make sure that the science is at the very least plausible, and sing it to Larry. (Ask Bill Sutton about his humbling attempt to win the contest with Pilot’s Eyes.)

Mendel’s Rules do apply, so we shouldn’t be too surprised that there are other filkers in the Niven closet. In fact, you'll be enjoying the song styling of Larry's filking nephew, Tim Griffin, at the ConCom's Choice concert. (Who knew!?!) Larry Niven is very approachable, enjoys a good conversation, and contributes to the circle in his own delightful ways. We’re extremely happy to have him as Super Secret Guest for GAFilk 2013.

You can get more information (and buy your membership!) at http://www.gafilk.org/

Current Mood: excited

Our Super Secret Guest is...

Elise Matthesen

by Brenda Sutton

Elise Matheson

So let me 'splain...

We're not superstitious, no...but the thriteenth GAFilk experienced a series of unsettling circumstances, starting with Seanan McGuire losing her origianal backup band, and culminating with a wallapalooza of an ice storm that kept many at the con for two extra days. In the middle there, our Super Secret Guest, Patrick Nielsen Hayden and and his wife Teresa found themselves unable to attend, and therein lives our tale.

Not only was GAFilk going to be Patrick and Teresa's first filk con, but it was going to be their friend Elise’s first filk con, too. We all met "for real" in Australia at the WorldCon. (I say “for real” because I’d been communicating with and following Elise’s Live Journal since the tragic and untimely death of her dearest dear, John “Mike” Ford in 2006. Elise wrote a hauntingly beautiful love poem about their relationship that she graciously allowed me to publish in the Mythic Passages e-magazine. I urge you to go read it here, but take a box of tissues when you do. Since then, I’d been lurking over her website, watching her bravely wrestling with grief and gracefully getting on with life.) When GAFilk chose Patrick as our Super Secret Guest, he mentioned that Elise might be coming along, too. I was over the moon!

We were all looking forward to a bang-up GAFilk, hearing Patrick's music with The Deaftones, Teresa and Elise, backing him up. Elise flew out from Minneapolis to NYC, and the three of them planned to travel down to Georgia together. Then on Wednesday night Elise suffered a stroke. Fortunately, Teresa recognised the symptoms and they rushed her to a hospital, spending the weekend and then-some at her bedside until she was well enough to travel home. Naturally, we were all worried sick, and so very sad that they weren't coming to GAFilk, but grateful that Patrick and Teresa had been there to help. We were also very glad to learn that, because of their swift efforts, Elise suffered no lasting side affects from the stroke, and recovered swiftly. We were even happier when Patrick volunteered to come to GAFilk this year.

SO...when we started hunting for this year's Super Secret Guest, it seemed to us that Elise was the perfect choice. The Deaftones will ride again, and you'll finally get to meet the charming and talented Elise Matthesen. She is an exceptional jewelry artist. (Elise designed the famous tiara that graces the heads of John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award winners, including our own Seanan McGuire.) (Digression: She brought all her jewelry-making equipment Down Under for the Worldcon in Australia but, because of Customs restrictions, was not allowed to sell any of her beautiful pieces. So...she gave them away. This speaks miles to the character of this lovely woman. Not only was she just handing out her exquisite work, but, as is her custom, she was also naming each piece. At this year's GAFilk banquet I'll be wearing a lovely pair of amethyst crystals with silver full moons named “That Second Drink With the Man in the Moon”.)

Not only is Elise an accomplished artist, but she's also a talented poet who writes quite a bit of parody filk, too. Check out Elise's Live Journal for many delightful examples. She's a fine singer, as you'll all soon find out. When we asked her what she'd like to do at GAFilk, Elise suggested group a capella singing, and started right in compiling a songbook for us all to enjoy. What can we say...perfect fit.

Current Mood: excited

kitanzi and I have made it home with all of Gafilk's sound equipment and other assorted gear.

museinred and

decadentdave drove up in

hawklady's truck, and are now heading back to the hotel, with hopes of heading out tomorrow to AL. Several people who couldn't get away on Monday got out today.

The ATL roads are still very uneven, even with a day above freezing for stuff to start melting. The worst driving I saw was when we'd hit a clear patch of pavement and everyone would suddenly assume that it was okay to zoom up to highway speeds, only to have to slow back to a crawl at the next icy sections.

The GA400 ramp looked like a ski jump from down the highway. Going over it was a slow affair, since there were basically a couple of tread-width patches clear up the centre of it, and the rest was still covered.

I don't think we got over 40mph the entire trip, and spent most of it between 15-25. But we're home safe, and home is nice.

I'm still running a check-in thread for people to let us know they got home safely. Sign in if you haven't.

Hope to see everyone next year. We'll make an effort to have less weather. :)

Current Mood: good
Current Music: All the music from the Son of Sled Dog Filk (in my head...)

I've seen some folks posting that they got home okay, but since I'm still at the convention hotel and haven't had a chance to thoroughly look through LJ yet, I figured I'd just post a general request here for people to leave a comment and let me know they got home okay.

More on the con later. I hope everyone had a wonderful time, despite the weather!

Current Mood: calm

Our Super Secret Guest is...

Patrick Nielsen Hayden!

Collage of Patrick Nielsen Hayden holding Hugos, editing, playing the guitar, lounging with wife Teresa

Patrick Nielsen Hayden is a World Fantasy and Hugo Award-winning fiction editor at TOR Books. He's brought to our shelves amazing books by Emma Bull, John Scalzi, Charles de Lint, Ben Bova, George Alec Effinger, Cory Doctorow, Jo Walton, Susanna Clarke, Christopher Priest, Adam Stemple, Glen Cook, David Weber, David Langford, John Barnes, Robert Holdstock, George R. R. Martin, and Arthur C. Clarke. He's also an essayist and reviewer who teaches workshops in places like Viable Paradise and both Clarions.

And...he's also a very talented musician. Patrick plays two guitars. A Taylor acoustic ("I'm much more of a lifelong acoustic guitar player than electric.") and a year-2000 Fender-made reproduction of a classic 1952 Telecaster. ("Faithful to a fault, it's a commemorative edition that I bought used. The varnish on the body is nitro-cellulose, not acetylene; it's all 1952 ingredients. The pickups are wrapped in waxed string. The biggest downside to this is the authentic 1952 sucky tuning mechanism. Otherwise it's a gorgeous guitar, and it has that great authentic American twangy sound that all Telecasters have — in spades. The first time I played that guitar it had opinions about what kind of music it should be playing.") He plays the electric with the Americana rock quartet, Whisperado. If we're lucky he'll be playing both of them here at GAFilk, and singing along with his wife, the talented editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden.

When considering GAFilk's criteria of characteristics that make for a good Super Secret Guest, Patrick really stands out. He's genial, personable, and musical. He has interesting opinions about the stories we read and the world we share, and he loves to talk about them. Plus, he's contributed to the sf and fantasy community in ways that some people may never appreciate...but we all should. We think GAFilk will be an eye- (and ear) opener for all of us.

Read Making Light, the Nielsen Hayden's weblog, with contributions from James D. Macdonald, Avram Grumer, and Abi Sutherland.

Check out his band Whisperado.

It's the Georgia Filk Convention, happening 7-9 January 2011 at the Crown Plaza Airport in Atlanta, GA.

Guest Of Honour: Seanan McGuire
Toastmaster: Matt Leger
Interfilk Guest: Howard Scrimgeour
PLUS another Super Secret Guest!

Come celebrate the fannish New Year with three days of fun, music, and friendship! We'll have great concerts, the annual dinner dance banquet featuring Play It With Moxie, and, of course, singing until the early hours.

Membership is only $40 through November 30, 2010. (That's tomorrow, so send in your registration today! We will announce the Super Secret Guest on Wednesday!

You can get more information about Gafilk, including online registration, at :

http://www.gafilk.org/

Hope to see you there!

(Please feel free to repost this to other appropriate communities and lists you think might be interested.)

Current Mood: excited

So, some more random thoughts from Gafilk weekend.

Thursday:

Since I had actually taken Wednesday off to get some last minute stuff done, Thursday was remarkably unstressful; a first for me. I had to go drop my car at the shop in the morning to get the side mirrors fixed (long story), but aside from that, we had everything pretty much ready to go.

hawklady showed up around lunchtime with her pickup truck, we got the sound equipment and other bulky stuff loaded in, and then she and

kitanzi headed down to the hotel, with me behind in the car. We got checked in, settled, and started checking on flights. The weather forecast was for winter weather, so we were naturally concerned about people's travel. Several people had their original flights cancelled and had to reboot earlier or later, including

bedlamhouse &

ladyat's flight, which was early, and Ellen and Delia's flight, which was delayed. Poor Alexander James Adams had his flight cancelled entirely, and ended up flying in on a crack-of-stupid morning flight on Friday instead. Poor guy. I let other folks have the perk of meeting the guests at the airport this year, which left me free to go and take

museinred to get a new cell phone, as she'd lost hers somewhere in the wilds of Manitoba. After stopping for dinner, I got back to the hotel, peeked in briefly on Play It With Moxie, who were rehearsing in the main room, and then went off to relax before the big day.

Friday:

Friday morning started out pretty normal. We got the dealers room open so the hucksters could go ahead and start setting up, made sure registration was good to go (which, being run by Myra, it was), and then headed off with

bedlamhouse to pick up some of the last bits we needed for the sound gear. Last year, we had to hire sound equipment, which is frightfully expensive, so this year we'd started buying our own kit, but we still didn't have everything we needed for the weekend, so a bit of shopping was in order. We got most of what we needed at Guitar Centre, and then set off to look for a Radio Shack....

...and found ourself trapped in an episode of the Truman Show.

The first Radio Shack my GPS directed us to turned out to be a newly constructed block of apartments, which wasn't terribly useful, so I looked up another one that was nearer the hotel and we set off again. As we got close to where the place was, we were directed to turn down a particular street, but were thwarted by a cop parked behind a set of orange cones. Undaunted, we began plotting an alternate route, which brought us out and around down a side street, then told us to turn......down a short connecting street that was being dug up by a construction crew, who forced us to turn around. We were starting to get the feeling we were stuck on the set and couldn't get to the store, but finally we made our way around all the obstacles to get the last few things we needed. We stopped at the Chinese restaurant near the hotel for lunch (Note to self: your first meal of the day should not be at 3:30pm)

Back at the hotel, it was time to do the usual "bounce around and make sure everyone has the things they need", before going up to the room and finalising the questions for the My Filk panel. I had gotten questions from both our SSGs and our Toastmaster this year, but the Second Line category I always write myself. Once that was done, there was nothing to do but get dressed up and prepare for opening ceremonies.

Friday night is always "showtime" for me at Gafilk. I almost never have anything to do on stage during Saturday, but Friday night is opening ceremonies, meeting the guests, and then hosting My Filk. Sunday afternoon is closing ceremonies. In between, most of my duties lie behind the curtains. But we got everything kicked off, introduced the guests, and sang Auld Lang Syne. I only got some of the events out of order. (Next year: lists!)

Once the party was underway, Bill and I began trawling the audience for panellists. we managed to find a good cross-section of people, but this year's question set apparently was brutal, though I can think of people who might have had an easier time with it. (

telynor would have aced the folklore section, for instance.) The insta topics this year were "poker and escalators" and "nuclear hot sauce and snakes" The judges had a spirited consultation afterwards, and then declared they were a hung jury, and appealed to the audience to clap for their favourite. The sound board declared that Team 1 eked out a victory over Team B.

The Friday Night concert this year was the very talented Dene Foye. I've enjoyed Dene's music for a few years (and besides, he covers *two* of my songs. How can I not like him?), so it was lovely to hear him do an entire set. (I grinned madly when he did "Naked Ambition" in his set.) The concert was well received, and after it was over, open filk started. I found myself wandering about a bit, spending some time in the bar, and then heading to bed reasonably early.

And this is getting long, so I'll finish up the rest of it later.

Current Mood: refreshed

Another year gone by, another GaFilk.

I will post some more thoughts on the weekend later, but I did want to let everyone know that I am once again collecting con reports here:

http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?keyword=Gafilk2010&user=autographedcat&sortby=des

Please let me know if I have missed any.

(Note: Some of these posts are friends-locked. I cannot promise that every link you see in the list will be a post you can view. If you want to see someone's locked post, please contact the author directly, as I cannot control the settings of other's journals.)

Current Mood: content
Current Music: Hawkwind - Quark, Strangeness, and Charm

Well, the badges are printed, the lists are made, the bags are packed. Tomorrow,

hawklady comes by about lunchtime with her truck to carry the big bulky stuff to the hotel for us, and we head on down.

Everyone who will be there, see you soon! Everyone who won't be there, we will miss you.

It's gonna be a great weekend.

Current Mood: nervous
Current Music: Simple Minds - Belfast Child

Our Super Secret Guests are...

Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner!

Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman Ellen Kushner is a woman of many talents. She's an award-winning author (Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners, Thomas the Rhymer, The Privilege of the Sword, The Golden Dreydl, and The Fall of Kings, co-written with Delia Sherman) as well as the radio host of PRI's Sound & Spirit, which Bill Moyers called "the best program on public radio, bar none." Ellen is the co-founder of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, an organization encouraging creativity that falls between genre categories. She is well known for spoken word works such as Esther: the Feast of Masks with Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, and The Golden Dreydl: a Klezmer 'Nutcracker' for Chanukah In 2008, Vital Theatre in New York City commissioned her to script a fullscale theatrical version. "The Klezmer Nutcracker" played to sold-out audiences, with Kushner in the role of the magical Tante Miriam, throughout the 2008-09 holiday season. And she sings, too! Ellen performs a musical telling of Thomas the Rhymer. If you're lucky, you'll be able to see this wonderful work performed here at GAFilk. Ellen is currently working on a live staged version of The Witches of Lublin and a musical, The Bone Chandelier, with composer Ben Moore. You can read more about her at her website www.ellenkushner.com

Ellen currently lives in New York City with her beautiful partner...

Delia Sherman is ALSO an award-winning novelist (Through a Brazen Mirror, The Porcelain Dove, Changeling, The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen, and The Freedom Maze, a time-travel fantasy set in Louisiana, which will be published in 2010.) Her short fiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy and Poe. Her short stories for younger readers have appeared in numerous anthologies. Delia has judged the Crawford Award for Best First Fantasy Novel, The James Tiptree, Jr. Award for Fantastic Fiction, and the World Fantasy Award. She has served on the Motherboard of the James Tiptree Jr. Award, and is a founding member and past officer of the Interstitial Arts Foundation. Delia has worked as a contributing editor for Tor Books and has co-edited the fantasy anthology The Horns of Elfland with Ellen Kushner and Donald G. Keller, as well as The Essential Bordertown with Terri Windling. She had co-edited two anthologies of Interstitial fiction: Interficitons 1, with Theodora Goss, and the recently released Interfictions 2, with Christopher Barzak. She teaches SF and Fantasy writing at Odyssey: the Fantasy Writing Workshop, and the Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers' Workshop, as well as workshops at colleges and science fiction conventions all over the country. She is a charming person and a snazzy dresser. Learn more about Delia at her website, www.deliasherman.com.

Photo by Ellen Datlow, used by permission

You can get more information about Gafilk,and register for the convention, online at http://www.gafilk.org/

Current Mood: excited

Don't forget that today is the last day to buy Gafilk 12 memberships at the prereg price. Tomorrow the price goes up, and we will reveal who our Super Secret Guest will be!

You can get more information and register online at http://www.gafilk.org/

Current Mood: cheerful

Folks are starting to shop for turkeys and pumpkin pie, so you know what that means – it’s time to get your reservation for GAFilk 12!

On December 1st we announce our Super Secret Guest(s) for 2010, and the registration rates go up from an economical $40 to the at-the-door price of $50. This year’s GoH is the amazing singer/songwriter Alexander James Adams, and Interfilk is sending us Andrew Ross – two great Oregonian performers at the same southern con. Who’da thunk it? And Terence Chua is traveling all the way from Singapore just to be our Toastmaster.

Come raise a glass of champagne to ring in the New Year with people who actually know all the verses to Auld Lang Syne. Test your knowledge of all things filk playing the My Filk panel game. And don’t forget to bring your glitz for the dinner dance, with music by Play It With Moxie, one of the finest blues/jazz/swing bands around. (This even always sells out, so book your reservation early!)

We just want to spend time relaxing with our friends, so y’all come! Visit http://www.gafilk.org/ for more information!

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Urban Tapestry - Come Down To GAfilk

Well, not *that* young, but...

I mentioned in my last post that I found I still had a large assortment of Gafilk photos to upload. When I actually set about doing this, I was astonished to discover that not only did I have Gafilk photos I had never uploaded, but in fact photos from last year's OVFF as well. So I've gone through them all, cleaned them up a bit, and uploaded them for your enjoyment:

Ohio Valley Filk Festival 2008
Georgia Filk Convention 2009

There are a lot fewer photos from Gafilk this year, because I spent most of the weekend running around putting out little fires, but I did manage to get to a couple of concerts with my camera. (I attended bits of other programming, I just didn't have the lens with me.)

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Wilderwood - Six Forty-Five

This is just a reminder that the Gafilk room block closes on December 17th. If you have not yet made your hotel reservations, please do so now, to ensure that you can get the convention rate.

If you have any difficulties with reservations, please contact me directly.

Feel free to repost this to other mailing lists and forums where it may be of interest.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Billy Bragg - A New England

Our Super Secret Guests are...

Emma Bull and Will Shetterly!

Emma Bull
is a science fiction and fantasy author whose best-known novel is War for the Oaks, one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy. She wrote the screenplay and played a cameo role for War for the Oaks when it was made into an 11-minute mini-film designed to look like a film trailer. Her 1991 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel Bone Dance was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, followed by her 1994 novel Finder, set in Terri Windling's Borderland shared universe. Along with filker Nate Bucklin, Emma and husband Will Shetterly were members of the writing group The Scribblies, which also included Pamela Dean, Kara Dalkey, Patricia Wrede and Steven Brust. With Steven Brust, Bull wrote Freedom and Necessity in 1997, an epistolary novel with subtle fantasy elements set during the 19th century United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Chartist movement. She sang in the rock-funk band Cats Laughing, and both sang and played guitar in the folk duo The Flash Girls while living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Will Shetterly is an American fantasy and comic book writer best-known for his 1997 novel Dogland, inspired by his childhood at the tourist attraction Dog Land owned by his parents. In 1991 Will won the Minnesota Book Award for Fantasy and Science Fiction for his novel Elsewhere, and was a finalist with Nevernever; both books are set in Terri Windling's The Borderland Series shared universe. He has also written short stories for various Borderland anthologies. Shetterly created the comic book character Captain Confederacy, played a small role in the film Toxic Zombies, and ran for governor of Minnesota in 1994 on the Grassroots Party ticket. He placed third out of six candidates. Together Will Shetterly and Emma Bull created and edited the five anthologies in the Liavek shared universe.

Emma and Will currently live in Arizona.

You can get more information about Gafilk at our website at http://www.gafilk.org/.

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: The Flash Girls - November Song

"Hey sibs, it's that time again!"
"Time to make a Babylon Five sculpture out of chocolate?"
"Time to recap scenes from last weeks episode?"
"No, no. It's time to remind everyone that the deadline for getting memberships for Gafilk at the low, low registration price of $30 is this weekend! On Monday the price goes up, when we reveal the identities of our Super Secret Guests!"
"Is one of them Barack Obama?"
"Iiiiiiiiiiiii....think he's gonna be a bit busy in January. But I can tell you that our already announced guests this year include:

Guests of Honour: Barry and Sally Childs-Helton
Toastmaster: Larry Kirby
Interfilk Guest: Harold Feld

Plus, of course, not one but two Super Secret Guests! It's going to be really exciting!"

"Wow, I can't wait"
"Me either!"
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go get your memberships right now! Supplies are running out!
"No they're not!"
"Ssshhhhhh. This is called marketing!"

Gafilk 2009 will be held in Atlanta, GA on January 9-11, 2009. More details can be found at http://www.gafilk.org/, including hotel information. Hotel reservations should be made by December 25, 2009 to guarantee the convention rate.

Hope to see everyone there!

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Oysterband - Another Quiet Night In England

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