Duckon

Jul. 3rd, 2010 07:45 pm
ericcoleman: (Default)
[personal profile] ericcoleman
I suppose I have to put forward my thoughts on Duckon.

I got there late, so some of this is what I heard, not what I saw. My final conclusions are my opinions, not of anyone else.

First of all the Dandelion Wine CD release party. From what I heard, this was cleared with the concom. The concom came and shut it down.

The wife of next years con chair came out of the main room and told Megan that she had the right to tell Jan to go fuck herself and was going to tell other concom members that they had her permission to do so. This in a public space.

None of the folks who Jan had arranged to have badges had badges. When I got there on Saturday this was still not straightened out. I know Jan, she gets her info in early.

For the record, I also made Megan cry, this when one of her staff was doing the worst job of running sound I have ever seen at a con, this the day after all of the sound issues were solved. I had watched poor Scott Snyder struggle through a set, little did he know that the sound guy was doing is best to make sure that he sounded even worse than he did (he had throat problems). The idgit was mixing the sound by sitting 10 feet in front of one of the PA speakers. It sounded fine where he was, it sounded like crap everywhere else in the room. When it was obvious that this was going to be the case for Talis (the big name filker from the UK) I spoke up ... fervently (you all know how I can be), and the guy finally did a half way decent job. Halfway. I am by no means a professional sound guy, but I could have solved any of the problems they were having at that moment in a verse and a chorus. This guy simply didn't want to. He also talked on his cel phone, and at one point in Talis's concert carried on a full voice conversation 15 feet from her. At that point I snapped and got Megan's attention and mouthed at her to tell him to SHUT THE FUCK UP. She told him (a little more politely I would guess) and he came over to me all pumped up and said, in a nice macho aggressive way "IS THERE A PROBLEM". "Yeah, you are talking during someone's show, it's rude". Since it was obvious that I was not afraid of him, he walked away.

After that show Megan took me and Gundo aside and told us that the powers that be had told her that Toyboat was to have no sound support, this for an electric band. She told us that she was going to do it anyway.

I'd like to say for the record that I think Megan did the best she could, but that she was thrown into the deep end with no way of getting out. I feel terrible for her. She's a long standing member of the WSPA and one of "my kids". I think the way she was treated was shameful. But not the way she was treated by Jan, that was just Jan's natural frustration at the behaviour of the concom. Unfortunately Megan got the brunt of it.

Now for my opinions on this ...

Now the concom is doing it's best to make Jan look bad, to save their asses. Filk was a target that weekend. Jan had a lot of power, and that had been upsetting some of the folks on the concom. They took a bad moment and used it to get rid of her, but if you look at what happened that weekend, it is Jan who is owed an apology.

As for the future of Duckon filk. It's dead kids, you killed it. I feel bad for Gary, FINALLY a GOH next year (bout time that a major con did this, he's brilliant), but who is going to be there to see him. There is no major filker who will touch Duckon now and there is no one who could bring anyone in who will take the job. The word is already going through the community that one of the most beloved figures in the community was treated abysmally. And she was.

Re: New con

Date: 2010-07-05 08:11 am (UTC)
ext_58174: (Default)
From: [identity profile] katyhh.livejournal.com
Wow. Cool! Hmmm. Now I want to go. Sigh :)

Re: New con

Date: 2010-07-06 12:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] allisona.livejournal.com
Me, too! (though I fear I can't this year...)

What an amazing concept for a con!!

(Loving the craft and technical workshops as much as the music!)

I want to make a blinkie!

Re: New con

Date: 2010-07-06 03:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gundo.livejournal.com
Next year the music track is going to have a "how to build your own slide guitar out of a 2x4" hands on workshop. This year we're handing out harmonicas and all learning how to play them together.

Re: New con

Date: 2010-07-06 03:38 am (UTC)
billroper: (Default)
From: [personal profile] billroper
BTW, if you need me for any more programming this year, I'm game as long as it doesn't conflict with the harmonica workshop. (I have promised [livejournal.com profile] daisy_knotwise that she gets to go to the harmonica workshop while I watch Katie and Julie. :) )

Re: New con

Date: 2010-07-06 10:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] phuphuphnik.livejournal.com
oh god oh god oh god

Re: New con

Date: 2010-07-07 03:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] allisona.livejournal.com
Are you on the concom for MuseCon? I was telling my husband about it today, how it was this cool sf con for the arts with music, crafts, technology, etc. that's just starting up this year, and he wonders if you're ever going to consider any programming about the art of film-making. He's an sf fan and likes sf conventions and he's heavy into amateur film-making.

Re: New con

Date: 2010-07-07 03:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gundo.livejournal.com
I'm actually the head of the music track, so yeah, I'm in a position to make sure that we've got some great music in place :)

One thing that we're really trying to do is make the con *interactive*...if he's interested and would help us create panels, then we're into the art of film-making. That simple.

Re: New con

Date: 2010-07-07 04:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dave-ifversen.livejournal.com
There are a few of us interested in film-making (I'm currently working on a Star Wars Fan Film that my officemate is doing, called Star Wars Forgotten Realm). At some point, I was hoping to get some of the cast and crew to come in and talk about the various things we went through while making the movie (I don't know if I can pull it off this year or not). I was hoping that, rather than have a standard 'film room' like most SF cons, we would be able to give people interested in film-making a place to discuss the how and what of film-making and a place to show their finished films. The whole point is to bring people together to talk about the creative things they do, and to share that with others.

In addition to what <lj user=gundo> said...

Date: 2010-07-06 03:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] born-to-me.livejournal.com
I'll be doing a Reiki I class this year (which I'll gladly do again next year if people are interested), as well as a very beginning polymer clay workshop. There will also be more advanced polymer clay classes, several kinds of needlework and all sorts of stuff. It's going to be very eclectic and -very- interesting.

Profile

ericcoleman: (Default)
ericcoleman

June 2025

S M T W T F S
12 345 67
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 14th, 2025 07:53 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios