FILKING
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
Filk is the music of science fiction fandom. The word started out in Lee Jacobs' typo for "folk music" in an early 1950s zine intended for SAPS, but didn't really get defined until Karen Anderson did so in Winter, 1953. (See http://www.nightsong.com/filk/twippledop/ for scans of Karen's zines.) The phenomena that the word "filk" encompasses goes back to Jack Speer's songs sung at the 1940 Worldcon, and nowadays it spreads out to include a worldwide fannish tradition to be found on CDs and cassettes, songbooks and webpages, filksong conventions and filk radio, house filks and rec.music.filk.
All fans are welcome to come to the filk room and participate. The audience plays a key part in the filk experience. Even if you don't know any filksongs, you can speak up to request a song about your favorite book or movie or television show or any other subject that you're interested in. Folksong performers are always welcome, expecially if their songs have a science fiction or fantasy or mythic connection. Science and teaching songs are also always welcome, expecially this year as LosCon looks to dig up its SF roots.
This year LosCon has a special Music Guest of Honor, Dr. James Robinson aka Dr. Jim (and formerly known as Dr. Jane), whose songs have appeared in some wonderful CDs and songbooks. Dr. James has been active for years in running the Silicon Valley filk convention of Consonance, but it's been a long time since he came down to Southern Californa. We hope to feature him in a number of program items, including but not necessarily limited to
* a concert,
* a theme circle on Critters Extant and Extinct (with special focus on Cats and Scientists),
* a lecture series: "Dr. James Explains It All," in which he looks back at some of the songs he wrote (including those requested by audience members) and explains how the song came to be and what some of the more obscure references mean.We may also be having a roleplaying game song circle. Let us know if you're interested.
We will have concerts by other members, including Steve Savitzky, whose album: Coffee, Computers, & Song! is now available for pre-order at theStarport.com.
We will have a ceremonial singing of "Banned from Argo," listed in the program book so people who don't want to hear it, don't have to come.
And of course we'll be having an evening filk circle at which everyone is welcome to come and share their songs with everyone else.
Filk Schedule
(subject to change)Friday afternoon
Alexander Adams Concert 3:00 - 5:00 PM Friday evening
Maya and Jeff Bohnhoff Concert 8:00 PM Dr. James Concert 9:00 PM Open Filking 10:00 PM Saturday afternoon
Steve Savitzky Concert 2:00 PM Moira Stern Concert 2:35 PM Lynn Maudlin Concert 3:10 PM Kazoo Presentation 3:45 PM Dr. Jim Explains It All: Dr. James Robinson considers his more obscure songs and explains what he had in mind when he wrote them, with questions from the audience welcomed. 4:00 PM Saturday evening
Banned from Argo (led by Barry Gold) 8:00 PM Open Filking 8:15 PM Sunday afternoon
Critters (Extant & Extinct), a theme circle interested in anything from cats to scientists: hosted by Dr. James Robinson 11:00 AM Alexander Adams Concert 1:00 - 3:00 PM Endangered Species Filk 3:00 PM Dead Dinosaur Filk 7:00 - 10:00 PM Filk Program Participants
Music Guest of Honor: Dr. James Robinson
Dr. James' song lyrics show him to be an expert on many subjects, including academia, cats, dinosaurs, and the Loch Ness Monster. His melodies cover a broad range of musical styles from polka and ragtime to blues and rock. Several albums are available through filk.com.Other Filk Program Participants
Jeff & Maya Bohnhoff: Maya is a professional SF writer. The Bohnhoffs started their musical career as members of a rock band but now play acoustic guitars. They've released three CDs of filksongs and will be Guests of Honor at Gafilk (in Georgia) and at 2t0nic (the UK filk convention) in 2008. One album available on Amazon is Manhattan Sleeps. More is available from filk.com
Lynn Maudlin has performed at colleges, nightclubs, coffee shops, concert halls, and SF conventions. She's a Mythopoeic Society member. She has released a cassette (maybe now a CD) of her songs.
Steve Savitzky hopes to have his first CD out by Loscon. He's a hacker songwriter, who writes songs on subjects ranging from computers to dragons and also sets Yeat's poetry to music.
Moira Stern is a harpist filksinger with a nearly five octave range and perfect pitch. She specializes in the folksongs of Britain and Ireland. Avalons Daughter
is the CD she made as a "Musical Tribute to Marian Zimmer Bradley," her mother.
