Archon, the entire story

[ericcoleman]

The weird thing is, I got going just when I wanted to. I hit the interstate right at 8:30.

The drive was pleasant. I could have taken the freeway and drove further, but taken the same time. I decided to go cross country. The drive was prettier. I had to drive through some small towns, but that is a plus as far as I am concerned.

I got to the hotel around 3:30, got my badge, got checked in and settled in.

Opening ceremonies were … well … opening ceremonies. The film they showed was hysterical (from the Lucas tribute on USA, Shatner’s opening number). It was odd being pointed out. Nice, but odd.

I went back to the room after and crashed out for an hour.

The first set of the weekend was great. I think this was the set list

Hey Dad
Trophy Wife
Jordan Cochrane
Don’t Go Home (the mix and match lyric version)
In Crosby Park (my right hand was not quite up to the challenge)
Color Of Your Eyes
Standards
Woman I Want
Low Self Esteem
Bang My Bald Spot
How Can I Miss You?

filkertom managed to get to the hotel earlier than he expected so we joined forces for the filk mayhem hour.

Playing with Tom is wonderful. Hard damn work, but wonderful. I wish I had been able to think a little quicker since I was up there with one of the fastest minds I have known.

I did mostly cover songs for that set.

Marie Provost (Nick Lowe)
Urban Spaceman (Bonzo Dog Band)
Philosophers Song (Python)
I Want To Kill Everybody (Ed Haynes)
How Can I Miss You? (again)

I think that’s it. It was a great time. I wish I could remember what Tom played, but I was too busy laughing.

I crashed out pretty much right after.

Friday (wow, just Friday)

I met one of the other GOH’s as I was on my way to breakfast and we ended up chatting for some time. Janet Wilson Anderson is an amazing costumer and an amazing person. I went to a movement class she was teaching not too long after and it took me back to so many classes I took when I was in college and before. Great practical information on how to move in costume and how to let the costume tell you how to move. She’s a very good teacher.

I crashed out for a couple of hours and headed to the drinking songs and silly stuff panel/concert. It was more silly stuff than drinking songs, but a ton of fun. I have no idea what I played. Things are a bit of a blur for the weekend.

I headed back to the room and changed clothes for the GOH dinner, dinner theater and speeches. The dinner was wonderful. Usually the whole banquet thing is pretty grim but the food was amazing. The show after was a blast. An interactive mystery of sorts.

I already posted the speech. I did improv off that a little, but that was the speech pretty much. I was deeply nervous. About the only time all weekend that I was.

I hit the open filk after and stayed till around 1:30. I would have liked to stay later, but the air conditioning was killing me and I had more singing to do throughout the weekend. I did Roman Wall Blues (yer welcome mike46), Philosophers Song again and I don’t think I did any of the other cover songs I learned for the weekend for the rest of the weekend. I did a couple of originals but it’s that whole blur thing again. I know I should have kept these notes up through the weekend, but I was having too much fun and I was too overwhelmed.

Saturday
I had very little to do Saturday till 7pm so I got up, got some food and then went back to bed till around 3. I needed the sleep. I went to the Q&A with the media GOHs, which was a lot of fun. Mark Singer is very slick, Joanna Cassidy is a hoot and Melody Anderson is very sweet and WAY more beautiful than she was in the 80s.

The songwriting panel was very fun. It’s great to be able to talk about the process, and to hear others talk about it. filkertom has fascinated me. I have not been really in the mindset for improv in ages. I work very hard on my stage patter and, while I have a lot of material to work with, I don’t tend to improvise a lot onstage (more on this later, and a bit of a contradiction).

They save seats for the masquerade for the GOHs so I got to be right up front for what is the best masquerade I have ever seen. Not just the costumes (which were exceptional) but for the show. Every scene change tied into the previous and next entry. The lights and sound were exceptional. 41 entries and it seemed to take no time at all. Of course waiting for the judges seemed to take months, but it always does.

Just an aside. The masquerade was a perfect example of how well this con is run. Wonderful efficiency everywhere.

I also want to say that they took very good care of me. I was welcomed at all points, everyone was a lot of help (just one example, they made sure I found a music store, since there were some things I needed) and were generally wonderful.

But I digress.

The open filk Saturday night was packed. I did some of the songs I had done already as well as a very nice Pine City Motel Blues. Got the best laughs I have ever gotten on that song. I closed out my evening with a nice version of Hides.

I went back to the room around 2 and finally crashed around 3.

I got up and went off in search of breakfast, but they were just closing the buffet. Ended up at the VIP room and had a couple of bagels, crashed out again for an hour or so (see a theme here, I was a good person and took care of myself though) and then headed out to set up for the last set of the weekend. filkertom was supposed to be part of the show but he had to head back home. lukeski finished his show and went off to have a Lukeski moment and that left me to play essentially a solo show for the next 50 minutes. It was the loosest and most fun music I did all weekend. The audience was great and were fun to play with. Luke came on for two songs (You Might Be A Trekkie If … and Murder Was The Play, the first requested by me and both amongst my favorites of his material). I needed a break, the humidity went way up this morning and it was like playing in lukewarm soup on that stage. I think I did

WYSIWYG
Hey Dad
Trophy Wife
The Woman I Want
Color Of Your Eyes
Standards
Low Self Esteem
How Can I Miss You?
Hides, since I always close a weekend with Hides.

I sold some CDs (which was worrying me, since I had sold basically none up to that point in the weekend).

This last set really was the perfect example of why I love performing. The audience was with me, if not a little ahead of me, the whole time. I did come up with one of the great con truths during the show (at least IMNSHO). I was trying to speak and the words kept going strange places. “Everyone sounds like a wookie Sunday at a con”. There was a lot of interaction with the audience, a lot of playtime. It was wonderful.

Closing ceremonies were very nice.

I want to thank everyone for making this the best experience of my fannish life.

The concom were amazing, the folks at the con were wonderful. I made some new friends (send me email folks, I want to hear from you), hung out with some old friends.

This was wonderful. Thank you all so much.