So ... the long form

[ericcoleman]

So … here I am at Billy Joe’s for the second preliminaries for the Standup Contest.

I’m looking forward to seeing the comics tonight.

So … updates which I have had not time to do recently.

As I said, I got into the finals last week. The rest of the weekend went thusly …

I didn’t do anything really Friday night. I was going to go see a friend play in southern Iowa, but he was uncertain as to whether he was going to be there so I elected to not go.

The moose and I took off Saturday morning for St Cloud MN. There was a wedding that involved various folks from my family. We made it barely on time, minutes to spare even.

The wedding was lovely. I hung out for a few moments after and hit the road again.

So, let’s start with my new stalker.

As we were approaching St Cloud, we hit this storm. As I hit the other side of the Cities, I hit the storm again.

The damn thing followed me for hours. It cut across country to hit me again on the way south. Now I have had my share of stalkers over the last couple of years (some of them quite cute even) but this is the first time I had been stalked by a friggin storm.

So …random comments about the drive.

One stop shopping as only WI can do it.

There was an exit, probably an hour into WI that had everything a driver could need. Three buildings.

Fireworks
Cheese Curds
And Porn.

All of which seemed to be closed at 6 when I drove past (at least I saw no cars there). Must be the blue laws.

Apparantly in the Dells everything must be accompanied by a water park.

A convention center … and water park
A hotel … and water park
A gas station … and water park.

I think I saw signs for 15 or more as I drove through the area.

Oh, Wisconsin. It’s lovely, really deeply lovely. But is it a state law for there to be the same 4 food establishments at every exit.

Macdonalds, Burger King, Hardees and … and … CULVERS

CULVERS everywhere … everywhere .

I know that they started there, but is it really necessary for there to be dozens of them ???

I finally found a place that was none of the above, but I almost stopped for pizza. There was a Shakey’s at the stop where I got food and gas.

But, I was running late by that point.

I hit the border, then missed my turn and ended up on 90 instead of going further south on 39. This ended up working out to my advantage as I think I cut a bit of time off my trip, or I would have if I hadn’t stopped, looked at a map and then called Polyfrog to verify that I was going to be ok.

I got to the hotel at about 12:15 (so I figger 11 hours in the car through the day). I wandered into the filk room then off to the other filk room to see what was going on there, then back to the first room again, then I think I played a song (Jordan Cochran, no one had seen the movie) and then wandered back to the other room to watch Tom Smith Lukeski sing for a few moments, then I crashed …

Hard

I slept pretty well and got up just in time to get to my panel.

I want to thank ann_totusek and barbarakitten for getting me food and drink.

The panel, on bad guys and evil races in SF and fantasy was a blast. Samuel Clemmons was the moderator (he seems to do that even when he isn’t officially the moderator) and it was much silly fun.

I ran off a little early to check out the room I was playing in, and to tune up. lukeski, filkertom, and two klingons were just finishing off and most of the crowd went with them when they left.

So I had my usual worry about a crowd. I shouldn’t have worried. I am guessing that as the first few songs went by 20-30 people ended up in the room. I asked at one point who was on LJ, and all but three folks raised their hands.

I love LJ.

I talked about the show already, it was very nice and relaxed and loose. The crowd was great, as it always is at a con. Thanks so much for listening. It was nice to see exapno, tesselene, beige_alert and more that I can't remember now.

I covered the rest of the afternoon I think. And I know that I am forgetting some stuff.

I saw a bunch of folks, basically you can look at my friends list and figger that I saw about a third of them.

A bunch of us went out to some very tasty Chinese, where we ran into phup and theaspins, much to their surprise. The ride with Art and a fellow who’s name I can’t remember was … well … loud, silly and TONS of fun. Do not ask anyone involved about following the yellow car, just don’t. It’s for your OWN GOOD.

We got back to the hotel and went to the con suite to play music. This is where the weekend finally really fell into place for me.

I do have to say that the whole weekend was off kilter to me. I haven’t felt as out of place at a con in several years, but the more I think about it I think it was just the time I was there and everything else.

The circle was wonderful, made all the more so by sitting next to Andy Anda.

The advantage he has is that he gets to play on everything, cause everyone wants Andy to play with them, he’s that good.

It was nice to get a chance to hang out and talk with musicmutt., and especially to hear him play more. He is an amazing performer. Also, I have been watching he and chirosinger on LJ for some time now and I must say that they are even cuter together in person. You two make me smile.

It was nice to meet folkmew, after having heard so much about her. I only got to hear her sing a few songs, but man she is amazing.

I do wish that the fellow sitting next to me had played more, I loved his guitar playing.

It was nice to see the regulars and especially I want to say that I am glad that things got better for you as the weekend went along tigertoy.

We finished off after midnight, and I have already talked about playing Hides with Andy so I won’t rant more.

A bunch went out to breakfast, and the trip there was … well … eccentric.

It was great food and wonderful company. It was nice to meet some new folks and nice to hang out with folks the folks I have known for some time.

I took off around noon, the drive back was unexceptional. It was good to be home.

Now back to the comedy

Comments

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

Now back to the comedy

Wait, what are you calling this post?

*snickers, giggles, laughs*

This was the serious stuff? Oh, and ain't parts of Wisconsin great? Heh...

[ericcoleman]

So … here I am at Billy Joe’s for the second preliminaries for the Standup Contest.

[chirosinger.livejournal.com]

It was good seeing you too. And I've had "Hey Dad" stuck in my head for days now! So we're cute huh?

[ericcoleman]

I don' think I have ever caused an earworm before ... cool ...

and yeah ... you make me happy ...

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

If I remember the circle right, the person immediately to your left was Mike Kube-McDowell, and I do wish we'd heard more from him. But the good news is we got to hear *something* from him, and that he's getting interested in being more musical.

[mplsfish.livejournal.com]

I think Wisconsin is creepy.

[ericcoleman]

I don't think I would want to spend time there ... but it's very pretty to drive through ...

[mplsfish.livejournal.com]

What happens to me is I get there, and I think 'Woh. This is pretty. Look at those houses..." then after I've been there for 12 to 24 house i get this feeling. Like the whole place is waiting for the big event when all the pesky ground crawlers will finally be destroyed and WISCONSIN can again roam the earth freely.
er...um...just a feeling..

[beige-alert.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to imagine a cheese curd and porn firework. There would be a tremendous bang, a big cloud of cheese-scented smoke, and porn would flutter down from the sky.