Duckon, the extended dance mix version

[ericcoleman]

Considering the weekend, there is nothing wrong with me at the moment that 18-20 hours of uninterrupted sleep wouldn't cure.



I had some family things to do Thursday morning, so I got to work late (1 or so) and realized I had nothing to do. Nothing. So I made a few deals with a few people and took off early.

I got to born_to_me and gundo's hours earlier than I had originally planned, and then found out about a cat's plan to take me down ... down to the floor that is. Yes, in a very careful, methodical manner, a cat put enough holes into the air mattress I was to sleep on that it seemed to be ok, but slowly sank to the floor. Ya know, I'm not the sort of guy who can sleep on a floor. I'm just trying to work out which cat I offended. A different air mattress was found and sleep was achieved.

Friday

After some of the best donuts in the world, gundo and I started loading up. We got to the hotel around noon and started unloading, where I managed to try to drive my hand cart through the index finger on my left hand. Part one of why drumming was really interesting this weekend.

Getting there that early meant that setup could go nice and slow. We got set up and sound checked, and then we went in search of the various Special Guest Villains. Everyone showed up about 5:30 and we ran through the stuff. I swap out my grip on my right hand occasionally, going to a mallet grip, when my hands get tired. I have a lovely blister on the inside of my index finger from sound check. I used a LOT of tape during the actual show.

As has been said now (and there should be video proof on You Tube shortly) we did the Time Warp at opening ceremonies. We being the aforementioned Duckon FilkHarmonic. We were
Riff - filkertom
The Criminologist - billroper
Magenta - sweetmusic_27
Columbia - seanan_mcguire
The Band - toyboatband

Oh boy it was fun. gundo and I had talked about it and he mentioned it to qnofhrt who informed us that we would be doing it at opening ceremonies. No, not asked if we would, informed us that we would. She's like that I have found.

I sat out and watched Whose Line Is It, while gundo, mike46 and anach supplied music. I was tired enough, so I sat in the back and worked on some sticking exercises and got ready for the show.

We had 3 Special Guest Villains for this show. Here is the set list.

The Toyboat Blues - an improvised song with filkertom
Hellraiser - Vocals - filkertom
Uplift (Andy Eigel)
If I Had A Rocket Launcher (Bruce Cockburn)
Gimme Shelter (Jagger-Richards) - Vocals - seanan_mcguire
Son Of A Witch (Music Nazareth/lyrics by jerusha)
Sunset Boulevard
Merlin (Douglas McArthur)
Poolhall At The End of The Universe
Banned From Argo (Leslie Fish
This Island Earth (Paul Cooper) - guitar & vocals - sexybass
Locomotive Queen (music Ian Anderson/Lyrics Andy M. Stewart) - guitar - sexybass
The last song we stole from tarkrai ... he did it in the circle at OVFF last year, with most of us tagging along. We felt it needed the full band treatment.

The show went well, we sold a whopping 2 CDs. After we tore down, a few of us went out to eat, and then I got back and collapsed. I missed the circles, but I needed rest more.

Saturday
We all got out of bed early to go load out the gear. After that I got a little breakfast and went back to bed for an hour or so. We had a kids concert at noon. Yeah, I know, why warp poor children more than is necessary? It ended up not being an issue, since the only kids who showed up were us, sexybass, born_to_me, sexybass, sposter (thanks Phil) and Xapling2 (who may be more grown up compared to the rest who were there). It ended up being more of a jam between us than a concert. I'm sorry I missed sweetmusic_27 and mrgoodwraith's shows, but we had a lot of fun playing. Tom broke me with a James Gordon song called The Humline Song. I need that song.

The rest of the day was taken up by concerts.

Kathy Mar
I had never seen her do a whole show, I had heard some songs at OVFF, but never a whole show. She was amazing.
Vixy & Tony
See above. Adding s00j to the mix put it through the roof for me, as did s00j when she did Firebird, the audience is probably still not sure what hit them, just that they liked it.
Tom Smith
Brilliant as always. A little looser, did some stuff I haven't heard him do live. This may be one of my favorite shows of his.
GOH seanan_mcguire
Someone else I had only do songs here and there. Yeah, that is the theme for the weekend for me. Like the others I am very glad to have corrected that. She's amazing.

I ran to the hotel restaurant to get a quick bite ... great food, lousy service. I didn't get asked what I wanted to drink till my second trip to the buffet, and when I came back with ice cream my table was being cleared.

I went up to the room for a bit of downtime. I needed it. We got set up in the big room, complete with tollers requested keyboards and a good thing (depending on your definition of good) as we got to do Hellrogers to for filkertom. mike46 is a sick sick man. We also did Banned and Merlin (I can't think of any more of our stuff we did) and joined in a lot. I already mentioned playing along with adamselzer. We also joined in with jcw_da_dmg and filkertom and I know more, but my brain is mush now (now?)

We packed up after gundo played Wish You Were Here, and I wandered down to the other filk room where I got to play Hides with aaanda

I think I finally hit the pillow about 4am.

Sunday
I slept as long as I could. mike46 and nyarlat4 had already left cause nyarlat4 had his HS graduation ceremony that afternoon. Congrats.

Once again a quick bite to eat and some conversation with omnisti, s00j, tollers, exapno and a few others. I really had no conversation time this weekend, and I wish that I had. It was especially nice to see omnisti and s00j. I hadn't seen them since they drove through and had lunch a year or so ago. It seems that they will be at OVFF, so I'll see them again then. And take a listen to the buzz folks. s00j is a major major talent. And remember I have been saying this for several years now. You gotta learn to trust me on these things.

I was on a panel with awfulhorrid and Sue Blom (is she on LJ?) called Random Babbling. I actually kinda felt bad, since I think I did a lot more random babbling than both of them put together. It's not like I get carried away or somethin ...

I went back and forth all afternoon about staying for the Dead Duck and then crashing at born_to_me and gundo's and then driving home today. I'm glad I made the choice to come on home.

I got home about 9, went to bed about 10, and laid there and watched TV till about midnight when I finally got to sleep.

Another amazing Duckon weekend. And as I can never say often enough, thank you janmagic for dragging me to this several years ago. It's always so special. And thank you for taking such good care of us.

Comments

[bammba-m.livejournal.com]

I said it several times this weekend... you have to pick the con you're going to, which (unfortunately) means you end up missing a lot of other cool cons.

I am really glad that I was able to run into you this weekend, and while I wish we could have had more time together, I'm still quite pleased with the con I attended.

[kyril.livejournal.com]

Yes, after Firebird we're not sure what hit us.

The LJ you're looking for is tollers not toilers.

[ericcoleman]

That's what I get for trusting my eyes and not just cutting and pasting ... thanks

[qnofhrt.livejournal.com]

Vixy & Tony
See above. Adding [info]s00j to the mix put it through the roof for me, as did [info]s00j when she did Firebird, the audience is probably still not sure what hit them, just that they liked it.

That pretty much sums it up. I had heard of SJ Tucker but never heard her sing. Firebird was a sonic force that blew me into the middle of next week. Her voice blended really well with Vixy's too.

Oh boy it was fun. [info]gundo and I had talked about it and he mentioned it to [info]qnofhrt who informed us that we would be doing it at opening ceremonies. No, not asked if we would, informed us that we would. She's like that I have found.

Actually it was jerusha who mentioned it to me and said y'all were going to do it at closing ceremonies. What I said was it needed to be at Opening Ceremonies, when there were more people to appreciate it.

[ruisseau.livejournal.com]

I am gonna be kicking myself for ages for not being there! But I wanna be a teacher and I gotta do the right thing. Maybe next summer. . .

[s00j.livejournal.com]

*hug hug hug HUG*

I have SO missed seeing you rock out.
This weekend was good, good medicine...and now I get to read the nice things you and folks say about me and my west coast tribe? Man, what a life! Thank you.

OVFF is still a pipe dream, btw, but I really want to try to make it for at least a day if I can. We'll be nearby in Kentucky at a festival, short drive away in my scheme of things.

[ericcoleman]

And it's a totally different sort of rocking out now.

Now that I have seen a couple of songs, I really really want to see an entire s00j set soon.

Safe travels, and hopefully see you soon.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

It's the first time I've done Coraline with live electric accompaniment! I was very pleased. Total rockage!

[awfulhorrid.livejournal.com]

I never get to see everything I want to see ... which is probably good because if I saw everything I'd feel like I wasn't being offered enough to see. (If that makes sense.)

Thank you for babbling randomly with Sue and me! Sometimes the only way I get to have a conversation of more than a few minutes with people at a con is to be on a panel with them.

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

"what is Sue's LJ name?"

sposter

[ericcoleman]

There are too many people on my friend's list ...

and ya know, I don't think I heard you sing all weekend. I'm bummed.

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

You weren't around Saturday night for Jane's cheerleader act during "Cheerin' For Chess"?

(I remember thinking for a moment that a rock band would sound good on that and then realized I didn't have enough brain remaining to coordinate.)

[tarrestrial.livejournal.com]

Yay for DucKon! Like you, I slept very well Sunday night and most of Monday... But I had a great time while I was there.

It was nice to meet you at the Random Babbling panel. I looked up recent Mike Patton projects. Was it Fantomas or Tomahawk. Those appear to be his post-Mr. Bungle projects.

[ericcoleman]

Fantomas ... take a listen to to Suspended Animation

[ericcoleman]

Yes I was ... so I heard one. I'm still bummed, I wanted to hear more.

[tarrestrial.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip! :) I like "Delirium Cordia" too.

Wow!!! What a Con

[sexybass.livejournal.com]

We love Duckon and we love Toy Boat!!! Thanks again for allowing me to relive my old rock days and join you guys on stage. Sue said I looked like I had transported back in time and it was good I didn't try to do the splits on stage or stage dive or play the guitar with my teeth like I did once many many years ago at a Dandelion Wine gig in Winnipeg. Dave didin't find out till after the concert :-D Thanks again Eric and we will be in touch and hopefully see you all again in the near future.

[catalana.livejournal.com]

It was great to see you at Duck! *hug*

[ericcoleman]

Oh hey, send me an email at ericcoleman at gmail dot com. I need to ask you something.