Filking at Westercon 50

	With Orycon coming up this weekend I wanted to introduce myself 
	as the individual running Performing Arts Programming for Westercon
	50 in Seattle next July 3-6, so that those of you who have ideas
	you would like considered for this event would know who to start 
	talking to.  Most of you already know me as Karen or Altair, the
	energetic lady with the large blue bag of notebooks sitting in
	almost every circle.  (And the laced drum, and tape recorder, and
	oftentimes embroidery. :)  The rest of you are probably just used
	to be throwing my $4 around here.  

	Anyway, the Performing Arts Dept at Westercon includes Filking 
	(panels, concerts, circles, etc), as well as the Friday Night Cabaret  
	(which tentatively will include some combo of comedy acts, dancing, 
	sword fighting, story telling, and singing).  My roommate Ashley 
	blindly agreed to be my Assistant.  In the past I've mostly worked 
	Operations type jobs at cons (security, volunteers, office), in fact
	they were trying to get me to run Volunteers again as I did in '93;
	but I've kind of gotten used to *seeing* the con again after the 
	break I took for grad school, and so I've been doing more light items
	in the past couple of years:  Things that are mostly pre-con work 
	and which relate to events I'd be attending anyway.  [This title 
	also gives me the right to kibbitz on the rest of the programming 
	decisions, like JMS's appearances.  :) ]  You've all seen my 
	involvement here; I also ran filking for Rustycon last year, made 
	sure it existed at Dreamcons 5-7, and co-ran it with Steve Dixon at
	Norwescon 18.  

	Right now we are in the process of recruiting guests for the con,
	heavy duty panel creation will begin in Dec & Jan.  So far, Cecelia
	Eng, Mary & Jordin Kare, and Margaret Davis & Kristoph Klover of 
	the Filk community have said they are attending the con; and we 
	expect this list to grow substantially especially after Orycon.
	The Heads of Programming are filkers themselves, and have set aside
	a huge room (1/2 again as big as the one at Ory) for Performing Arts
	in the evening:  it's just above the main programming floor, and just
	below Hospitality, but not over the dance.  Plus we should be able to 
	have a second overflow space for related activities in the evening as 
	well; and may even be able to have a "dead-dog filk" on Sun.  I 
	intend to do a line-up of concerts, maybe a jam session or theme song 
	circle or two; and some number of panels (such as Filk 101, Music & 
	Our Lives, Songwriting Basics, Recording Industry, etc).  Circle
	format will probably vary between Moderated Chaos and Bardic depending
	on the size and composition of the gathering, but with (hopefully) 2
	rooms we should have some flexibility here.

	Once I have some more names I will begin speaking to individuals 
	about various participation options, but it's not too early to throw
	your opinions into the ring even now:  


	-- If there's a performer you'd like to hear

	-- If there's a panel idea you'd like to see presented

	-- If there's a topic, theme circle, concert, whatever


	-- And particularly if there's something you can contribute


 	Please let me know.  I can't promise it will happen, but I'll 
	certainly consider the idea.  You can email me at my personal 
	account or post something for discussion to the list.  (Warning: 
	No guarantee I'll see your note in less than a week, or be able 
	to respond in less than 2; my schedule is really erratic.)  You 
	can also write to me in care of the con:  Westercon 50; PO Box 283; 
	Seattle, WA  98111-0283.  Finally, pull me aside at Orycon if I'm 
	not currently moving Mach 4, and we'll talk shop.  

				Until later,
					Quarong
					(quarong at eskimo.com)