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This is an official notice from FilkCONbobulated headquarters in the Crowe & Dove House deep in the wilds of Iowa!

I haven't had the brain to do a con report.

I worried Lizzie the week before the convention. I said to her "I am feeling really optimistic about this". She almost took me to the ER (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration, she did look at me amazed).

There were two small glitches. The popcorn for Friday night was never acquired. There were a lot of things to do Friday morning. We'll make it happen next year.

The Friday night circle was badly organized, it was a little too spontaneous. The rest of the weekend Andrea and Emily took over setting it up, and it went much smoother the next two nights.

That was it for things that went wrong.

We were right at the limit of our space. That was the only thing I was worried about. It was fine.

We learned a few things that will make next year even better, but it really went as well as it possibly could have. The response online has been marvelous, thank you so much everyone who made comments, whether on your pages or ours.

We have so many people to thank.

I want to start with Andrea Hawkins-Kamper. Andrea has been drafted for logistics next year.

Steven Willett for his help setting up and tearing down the PA and Jen Midkiff for her help with running sound.

The fabulous Rachel Esler for running our con suite and Jan DiMasi for all of the wonderfulness that she supplied for it. It was the one thing that neither Lizzie or I had ever been involved with.

My daughter Reilly for running Friday registration for us. We were both much too scattered to have been good at that.

Everyone who brought an instrument to the petting zoo. Jen Midkiff (again), Deirdre Murphy, Dave Stagner, Bryan Baker, and I know I am forgetting someone, remind me and I will add names. It was a marvelous success and I think will be a part of the con from here on.

The fabulous Interfilk team, Merav, Emily & Xap. We raised a nice bit of money at the auction, of course run by Bill Roper.

Oh, and Bill Roper for being our only huckster. I didn't want to set up a separate room for vendors, so we'll go with one for next year as well.

All of our Go Fund Me Corn-Conspirators for help us is raise the seed money to do this thing. And in the midst of that Brenda Sutton for her donation of the last of the Chambanacon cash. She has guaranteed more years of the con.

Our GOHs, Bryan Baker and Larry Kirby.

And of course our fearless leader, my partner in crime, the fabulous Lizzie Crowe! This is all her fault. She came up with the idea and the name.

The con was built on some pretty basic concepts.

What we wanted to do was give our Filk family a place to hang out in the summer. To have some interesting things going on during the day, and then give everyone space to sing at night. We wanted to keep it simple. And I don't see us changing that much over the next few years.

Our idea is to feature as GOHs people from the Midwest who may not have gotten out of the Midwest much. We're already pretty certain who we want for GOHs for year three. And of course Interfilk will bring in people from everywhere and anywhere.

But we want to keep that simplicity.

We asked the community if they wanted something like this, and the answer was a resounding yes. Then so many of you came and brought your smiles, your support, and your music. That is why next year is called If You Filk It They Will Come (plus I needed more Iowa references ... and more corn references, sorry [not sorry]).

This is absolutely the con that Filk built. We were covered in an embarrassment of riches in the form of convention running experience and help from this community. So much positive and supportive feedback, and literally all of the constructive criticism was useful. Much of it, we’d thought of, some of it was inspired. And this community continues to show up and celebrate together. We will be forever grateful for all of you.

Eric & Lizzie
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Just an FYI, the FilkCONbobulated room block closes on Thursday! Book early and ... well ... book early.
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Located in the Crowe & Dove House deep in the wilds of Iowa!

The room block closes June 4th, get your reservations in before that. The code is good from Thursday to Sunday.

Pre-reg closes June 19th. Registration at the con will be card only. If at all possible please pre-reg so we have a better idea of how many are coming.

If you backed the Go Fund Me and have not let us know if you are attending, please send me an email, my address is on the website.

The food guide is available on the Hotel page on the website as well as in the files in the FCB Facebook group.

The website has been updated with this information.

The Ropers will be there selling CDs.

The numbers are looking very good. I am actually a little concerned about whether our mainstage area will be large enough to seat everyone. What a terrible problem to have!

See you soon!
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We escaped the house the next day and quietly made our way across the highways and byways toward our home. I still had the howling of the dogs ringing in my ears.

My sleep had been restless because in my dreams faces kept leaning toward me and warning me about Grandma.

We passed the time with music and stories piped into our vehicle by the stream driven wireless. Occasionally one or the other of us would talk about one incident or another but mostly we sat in happy silence as our home got ever nearer.

We paused for a brief respite in a strange town where people attempt to learn to fly without the aid of machinery. Through the aether we heard a ringing.

The crafty old wizard had found our location out on the road and through obscure magic spoke to Lizzie.

"Let me talk to Eric".

The fear set in again, I had obviously been judged. Would I be joyous, or would I be damned? Or both?

"It was nice to meet you, I like you a lot, welcome to the family".

They say that you have several families in your life, the one you are born into, your partners, and the people you choose to be family.

This one had chosen me.

His voice faded into the aether, and left Lizzie and I looking at each other in amazement.

We would return many times to this strange place, we are due there in a month or so, and I am no longer afraid.
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Fifteen years. Fifteen years years since a sanity sapping incident usually found in the pages of an HP Lovecraft story.

Fifteen years years ago I woke up in a bizarre house on the outskirts of Indianapolis thinking I was prepared to face some truly eldritch terrors.

Nothing I could have done could prepare me for the onslaught.

First there were the beasts, one the size of a small truck. At one point it pinned me to a couch for what seemed like an eternity. The other two were baying hunters who still live in my nightmares. They gave me no choice in the matter, I had to give them all skritches.

Then there the people who lived there. Lizzie, along with two others, would spontaneously break into song. I was in the world's most surreal musical. It knew no genre nor decade, instead it skipped through the years like a stone across water.

The matriarch of the house seemed so sweet, but I heard the stories. She was no one to be trifled with.

Then there was my wife's clone, or perhaps my wife is the clone, I am still uncertain. She greeted me with a grin and could obviously sense my fear.

Her husband put me at ease with talk of games and gaming, but I had also heard the stories.

My wife had tried to warn me of the dangers, still, I faced them as best I could.

And then, without warning, skipping through the wards and shields of the house with no effort came ...

GRANDMA !!!

Oddly enough, regardless of the tales I had been told, I found her easy to face. She met me with absurdity, I responded in kind and she retreated.

Then came dinner, all laid out upon a great table worthy of a castle of legend. I did not realize that the geeky man I had talked gaming with earlier was a master of his craft. I could sing praises of his food, but there is no time at the moment.

Grandma returned along with the rest of the horde. It felt like hundreds, my wife claims it was just seventeen. I grudgingly accept her claims, but I know what I saw.

Then came the expatriate patriarch, the crafty old wizard. He attempted to see if he could instill a certain fear into me. He didn't understand that I also had a daughter, and was prepared to do the very thing he was attempting when my time came to face my daughter's suitors.

The warnings came, one after another, they all wanted me to be aware of the real danger here.

Did they warn you about grandma?
You know about grandma?
Be careful around grandma.

Her youngest child, her only son, shortly after she had left the table for a moment, leaned across and asked "They told you about grandma, right?"

Seven times I was warned, there must be a significance to that number.

By that time I was fully aware of the dangers of grandma. Still that was the least of my problems.

After dinner some of us retreated to the kitchen where I found that the crafty old wizard was a raconteur of considerable skill. Yet, I come from a family of story tellers going back generations, so I did my best to match him story for story. The laughter went far into the evening.

Evening passed, and the horde vanished into the night. I still did not know if I had passed the many tests they had obviously, and in some cases not obviously at all, laid out for me. And that is a story for tomorrow.
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We're just a little over two months away from this craziness that we have decided to commit.

Our room block is moving along nicely, as are registrations. I'm sitting here and listening to EuroFilk while working on the first draft of the program book. I have an idea for the cover but I need someone to do a bit of artwork for it. Simple semi-realistic person with a guitar in a specific pose, one color. If this is something that interests you, send me an email and we can talk. ericcoleman @ gmail.

We have our evil plans for the gathering after opening ceremonies.

Staff has come together, and we have several people who are willing to help on sound.

Sound gear is close to being put together.

It's all falling into place.
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Hallie Dolin, Marty Burke, Flash Girls, Linda Short, Pair O'Dice, Moss Bliss, Rhiannon's Lark, Puzzlebox, Playing Rapunzel, Two Bard Party, John Anealio, Ookla the Mok, Phoenix

Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.

filkcast.blogspot.com
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Pete Clark, Roberta Rogow, Diana Gallagher Wu, Elizabeth Stevens Jean Strathdee & Jim Strathdee, Leslie Fish, Cindy Smith, Stephen Savitzky, Robin W. Bailey, Randy Hoffman, Brenda Sutton, Chris Weber, Carolyn Brown, Carl Hylin Karen Jolley & Karen Willson, Tricky Pixie, Joe Ellis, Griff The Filker, W Scott Snyder

Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.

filkcast.blogspot.com
ericcoleman: (Default)
After much coding, waiting for Square, and gnashing of teeth, FilkConbobulation registration is live! Prereg is $50.00, it will be $60.00 at the door. There will be a student rate, that will be posted soon.

Folks who backed the GoFundMe do not have to go through the registration process. We know who you are (bwahahahaha).

Our special thanks to JT Traub, Rob Wynne, and Merav Hoffman for helping Lizzie get through the coding with an inkling of her sanity left (as much as she generally has).

Hotel registration is also live.

This is starting to look like an actual con!

filkconbobulated.org
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Phil Mills, Windbourne, Rhodri James, Rhiannon's Lark, Bill Maraschiello, Wyld Dandelyon, Char Mackay, Andrea Dale, Eli Bar-Yahalom, The Unusual Suspects, Boogie Knights, Valentine Wolfe, W Scott Snyder

Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.

filkcast.blogspot.com
ericcoleman: (Default)
Anne McCaffrey, Tania Opland & Mike Freeman, Jim Thorne, Carol Ferraro & Barisha Letterman, Random Fractions, Linda Melnick, Bill Sutton, Meg Davis, Dan The Bard, Ju Honisch & Katy Droege-Macdonald, Jordin Kare, Puzzlebox

Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.

filkcast.blogspot.com
ericcoleman: (Default)
Ok, we are doing this thing in a slightly different way. Because kickstarter has limitations on how they fundraise, we are doing this thru GoFundMe. HOWEVER, much like a kickstarter, there will be tiers for donations to the convention that get you different things. Badge level, Supporting Membership level, and Glad to help level. Come see!
https://gofund.me/70d28e045
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We're starting a week earlier this year so everyone has a week to listen to the Best Filk/Classic Filk songs, rather than two days. The Wednesday of OVFF we will play songs from albums coming out at the con, and that have come out recently.

If you have music being released that weekend, please let me know.

October 1 - Hero Songs - Villain Songs
October 8 - Writer/Composer - Best Performer
October 15 - Best Classic Filk Song - Best Filk Song
October 22 - New Releases
ericcoleman: (Default)
Here is the FilkCast Pegasus schedule for this year. We're starting a week earlier this year so everyone has a week to listen to the Best Filk/Classic Filk songs, rather than two days. The Wednesday of OVFF we will play songs from albums coming out at the con, and that have come out recently.

If you have music being released that weekend, please let me know.

October 1 - Hero Songs - Villain Songs
October 8 - Writer/Composer - Best Performer
October 15 - Best Classic Filk Song - Best Filk Song
October 22 - New Releases
ericcoleman: (Default)
Nathaniel Johnstone, Daniel Kelly, Naomi Hinchen, Heather Alexander, David Kushner, Catherine Mac Donald, Steve Macdonald, Karen Jolley, Beth Kinderman, Yang The Nauseating, Lambda Miners, Meri Amber, Hello, The Future!, Gary "MoFilker" Hanak

Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.

filkcast.blogspot.com

14 Years

Jun. 18th, 2025 09:01 pm
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The day before, when we had got to the hotel and realized that I had forgotten my stage rig. It was sitting by my desk at work.

Also Pauly Shore was sitting on a bench in front of the hotel working very hard on us noticing that we weren't supposed to notice him, but of course we were supposed to. But hey, it was Pauly Shore ... so we ignored him.

My boss overnighted the case to us. The hotel lost track of it for a bit, but we got it in time to play our first show.

14 years ago today. The very first full length Cheshire Moon show.

Looking at the set list is fun. Half covers, we still do one of them occasionally (She Moved Through The Faire). We only play two of the originals still, Out Of The Light And Widow's Garden. We will occasionally play If I Were The Rain if we have a second voice for it.

Pronouns (parody of Wimoweh)
Child Of Stars
Lighthouse
If I Were The Rain
Out Of The Light*
Halley Came To Jackson (Carpenter)
Temple Of The King (Dio/Blackmore)
World Walker
Follow That Road (Hills)
Swamp Witch (Stafford
Bloodletting (Napolitano)
She Moved Through The Faire (trad)
Widows Garden*

Since then ... a couple things have happened.

Let's see, over half a million miles on three vehicles. Two wonderful train trips. We flew to England. 4 Albums, three EPs and a couple of singles. Pushing 200 songs written. 200+ shows played (I lost count a few years ago). GOHs at 10 cons, played at many more. 300+ episodes of FilkCast. The Filk Hall Of Fame.

And all because two people met walking down a hall at a con.

The most important thing. Lizzie is sitting across the room from me while I type this. With me retired we're together all of the time, and that suits us so well.

15 years together this fall. 14 years married. The best time of my life. Thank you, all of you, for giving us this life.
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A wonderful school is in danger of closing. Everything is explained here. Help them out if you can! Spread the word if you can't!
https://www.gofundme.com/f/saving-dreamflight
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Thanks to the efforts of Bryan Baker, we have a live album!
We play songs!
We tell stories!
We digress!
Eric only plays THREE instruments the entire show!
So gather up your farm fresh produce and listen to us live at Demicon 36!
https://cheshiremoon.bandcamp.com/album/cheshire-moon-demicon-36
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Lawrence Dean, Cat Greenberg, Ju Honisch & Katy Droege-Macdonald, Harmony Heifers, Harold Groot, Rhodri James, Nancy Louise Freeman, Capplor, Bardz At Large, Suzette Haden-Elgin & Randy Farran, Clam Chowder, Dandelion Wine, Foot Pound Force, Bryan Baker

Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.

filkcast.com

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