This was a rough choice

[ericcoleman]

Windycon has been my home con for some years now. It was the first con I went to, and I have yet to miss one in the 16 or 17 years I have been going to cons (although something could be said for me really being there last year, I was on drugs)

I have been made an offer that I can't refuse. After all how can someone refuse someone who can write a sentence like "Anyway, since you yourself are an artist such as yourself I would like to invite you to participate." Or for that matter a con that makes anagrams of the performers names (so The Great Luke Ski becomes Thrust Like A Geek)

I will be attending and performing at Con On The Cob in Akron OH the 2nd weekend of November.

Comments

[wwetuesday.livejournal.com]

All COTC has to do know is get Tom Smith and I'll have no reason to go to Windycon.

I've had three reason to go to Windycon the last few years. Luke Ski, Tom Smith, and Eric Coleman.

You and Luke will be at COTC (Luke will be at Windycon on that Sunday, but he'll be forces to share the stage, while at COTC he'll get his own set).

All they need is Tom Smith, and Windycon won't have me there.

[born-to-me.livejournal.com]

I'm curious as to what you mean by "he'll be forces (sic, I assume you mean "forced") to share the stage"? I can't find a WindyCon schedule online, but I know Luke often chooses to perform with other people, like Travis Clemmons... which I don't call being "forced".

I'll admit that ericcoleman being at a different con makes Windy look rather bleak to my crew.

[wwetuesday.livejournal.com]

Here's what I mean. Last few years at Chicago cons Luke's either been in some corner of the con that it looks they don't want anyone to find him (even then, he fills that tiny room up to overflow) or they have him share the stage with someone who, on his own, can get (and has gotten in the past) their own solo set.

It feels like those running the Chicago cons have little-to-no love for Dementia. Even when there's proof that it brings in people, they treat it like second-class.

Nothing against Clemmons, he deserves his own solo set, and so does Luke, on the main stage.

I just wish those running the Chicago cons will realize that.

[born-to-me.livejournal.com]

I think I see exactly what you mean now, and it is a shame that a *proven* commodity can get shuffled to the back. I think Luke and Travis have a ball performing together, but you're right - that should probably be a different concert, separate from their own solo time in the limelight.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Speaking as someone who runs away screaming at the thought of being on concom, but who's been going to Windycon for a really long time mostly for filk, I think the problem is that the Dementia/comedy artists are being programmed as part of the filk track. While there is overlap in the audience, they're not the same, and the core filk audience gets restless if too much of the filk program is devoted to comedy.

I think there is room at a con the size of Windycon to have a core filk track and also a comedy track. The comedy artists who are willing to be part of the filk community are welcome in filk circles, and if the scheduling of the two tracks can coordinate rather than compete, people in the overlap of the audience can get both while people who only want one don't have so many holes in their schedules. Whether this could happen at Windycon specifically depends on what space is available and whether there's someone on concom to go to bat for it, but I think the dementia/comedy folks need a dementia/comedy person on concom, parallel to the filk person on concom, to be happy.

All I ask, as a primarily filk person who also likes some of the dementia stuff in my mix, is that these two people play nice rather than trying to crowd each other out. I won't always go to Eric or Luke's shows but I want to see them at the con and I want them to have shows. (Oh, and Tom? You can't have Tom, he's ours. *grin*)