Westercon 50 Performing Arts information

From: Mistress of the Blue Shift <quarong at eskimo.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 22:32:04 -0700 (PDT)

Hello,

My name is Karen Rall, and I'm the Head of Performing Arts Programming for Westercon 50. I've been doing a lot of planning over the past couple of months, and now wanted to share with you some of my ideas for these events. The following document is excerpted from my own working notes, and includes information about attending performers, planned music panels and concerts, and the Thursday Night Cabaret. THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS! Particularly when it comes to scheduling things. I welcome your feedback and suggestions, and I'll try to use as many of them as possible.

[Another version of this letter has gone out to the pros involved. If you can think of anyone else who might be interested in this information, let me know and I can send them a copy as well.]

I cannot emphasize strongly enough, YOU ARE THE ONES WHO ARE GOING TO BE THE MAJOR BENEFICIARIES OF THESE EVENTS, THEREFORE I WANT YOUR INPUT! Some of you have already made comments which led to events below, others are activities which have been used at a number of previous conventions, and some sprang out of the dark corners of my brain. I am very interested in your feedback:

• Which three filk events are your favorites?
• Which ones could you not care less about?
• Do you have any suggestions for scheduling the various filking panels? (Earliest & latest times, which would make a good lead-in into song circles, etc.)
• What would you hate to have a music event scheduled against?
• How many of you would be interested in being able to do a song or two onstage, during an "open mike" concert slot?
• Anything else?

[Disclaimer = While I've said I really want your input, and I do intend to consider all of it; I expect there will be nearly as many suggestions as I receive replies, so some compromises will have to be made to maximize everyone's enjoyment. In addition, some decisions will be affected by factors I have no control over, (such as when we can schedule rooms around major events). I intend to send out a (hopefully) final schedule to everyone interested shortly before the convention.]

For those of you who have not seen a recent Westercon 50 Flyer:
-- It is being held at the Seattle Sheraton on July 3-6th, 1997. (Thur-

         downtown.)
-- Rooms are $115 a night for 1 or 2 people, $130 for 3 or 4, and our

	room block is good until June 1st.  Call (206) 621-9000 for 
	reservations.


-- Registration is $55 until June 1st, $60 at the door.  Some one day 


	passes will also be available onsite, Thur & Sun are $30 each, 
	Fri & Sat are $40 each.  Mail prereg money for weekend 
	passes to:  PO Box 283; Seattle, WA  98111-0283.


-- Guests of Honor are:  Martin Harry Greenburg, J. Michael 


	Straczynski, Amy Thompson, Victoria (Poyser) Lisi, Jack 
	Cohen, Walter J. Daugherty, and Spider & Jeanne Robinson.

-- For more information, mail <Wester50 at isomedia.com>, check out
<http://www.isomedia.com/Westercon/>, or call (206) 742-8943.

#########################################################

WESTERCON FILK PROGRAMMING PERFORMERS:
-- Music Guests of Honor = Spider and Jeanne Robinson

• Attending = Heather Alexander & Phil Obermarck, Joe Bethancourt, Steve Dixon, Duras Sisters, Cecelia Eng & Andrew Nesbitt, Cat Faber, John Hedtke, Jeff Hitchin, Jordin & Mary Kare, Darragh Metzger, Stephen Prescott. Anne Prather, John Moore, Clarrise; Barry, Lee, & Lynn Gold; Quentin d'Or, Scott MacHaffie.
• Not coming = Kristoph Klover & Margaret Davis, Mercedes Lackey, Steve Savitsky, Telynor, Jane Robinson & Cynthia McQuillin, Leslie Fish, Julia Ecklar. (Some had prior committments, some weren't in a position to trek to Seattle at this time for other reasons.)

LOGISTICS:
-- The Metro Ballroom is our primary base, especially in the evenings.
(It's 91x52 ft in a greatly enlongated hexagonal shape. There are 3 big columns about 20% away from the west wall, spaced the length of the room; they're in front of the windows, ie to your right as you come in.) This is the only room on that floor, with some hallway nooks that will be used for rotating con displays. It's more than large enough for a good-sized circle, and still leaving room for someone to be tuning or talking quietly in a corner. (It holds 300 people banquet style, and is probably half again as big as the Klamath room at Orycon.) There's nothing over or under it to make noise, but it's just off the central stairway up from the dance, and only one floor below Hospitality.
-- The daytime panels and theme hours will likely be in one of the
smaller rooms on the main floor. We will also have the Cedar room here at night for a secondary song circle. (It holds about 50 banquet style and is well insulated from the dance.) The concerts will be in the East Ballrooms.
-- We will have a basic sound system for the Cabaret and the Concerts.
For the theme hours and circle, performers will have to project as usual.

IDEAS:
-- CONCERTS:

• There have been repeated requests to hold these earlier in the day, and not opposite the open circle; but that's not really feasible on a wholesale basis, though we'll get some in earlier.
• A couple of fairly mainstreams acts at the Cabaret = Spider & Jeanne Robinson, and the Seattle Knights singers. Thur 6pm to midnight, Grand Ballrm C.
• Celtic Jam Saturday night. (9-11pm, ie post Masquerade) Several of the performers I originally had in mind for this event are unable to come. Is there still interest to try it, or should we use the time for something else?
• Regular 30 minute slots on Friday evening from 5-11pm in the East ballrooms, when we have to give up the room to the Rocky Horror Players. (Both are using the same sound system most likely, or else I'd put the filk concerts in the Metro room and not have the timelimit.) Maybe more on Sat evening, if we abandon the Celtic Jam. One of these half hours should probably be for one-shots.
• Spider & Jeanne Robinson and Heather Alexander will both be given one hour slots sometime during the weekend.
  reply
  • THEME HOURS:
• How much interest is there really in these?
• "Media Filk" = Babylon 5, Star Trek, etc.
• "Science & Tech" = Computers, genetics, spacecraft, etc.
• "Classic Filk" = This was a neat suggestion of Cat's, find a couple of well known filkers, and ask them to pick 4 or 5 songs that they consider to be tried & true representatives of the genre to perform. This might be especially nice for newcomers, and a nice match for the Westercon theme.
• "Children's Filk" = This has been popular at other cons, usually in the morning.
  • PANELS:
  reply
• "Filk 101" = For all of the newcomers who have questions to ask, and all of us experienced filkers who can't resist sharing our opinions. It should cover circle types, common terms, etiquette, filking history, and where to find out more. This should be held early in the con, Thur evening or Fri morning.
• "Music & Our Lives" = What draws us to filk instead of (or in addition to) rock? How do we use music to change our moods? How does filk preserve the history of fandom and our world. (eg the Challenger Memorial tape, Dawson's Con, etc)
• "Jamming in the Key of C" = Very successful at Orycon, this panel was a combination lecture on the technique and etiquette of playing spontaneously with other musicians; and partially a chance for every musically oriented con attendee to get together and play off of one another. It might require a larger room and 2 hour time block. Heather Alexander moderator.
• "The Recording Industry" = The technology, financial, and marketing aspects of creating and selling an album. This may sound of limited interest, but with some well known speakers, I've seen it draw 20-30 people.
• "Writing Music & Lyrics" = This is an audience driven howto discussion, often done at cons which might be best done as a roundtable discussion given the generally low turnout. Mickey suggested turning this into a bit more of a workshop by offering participants the chance to bring a song they are working on for some advice; in which case the panelists should come ready with some material (original or just something in the genre) that they feel could use some improvements (scansion, trimming back verses, an awkward chord shift, whatever).
• "Filk Improv" & "Filk Sweatshop" = Suggested by Jeff Hitchin, I think the first term refers to a concert in which the audience puts topics into a hat, and the perfomers draw them out and then play a song on that subject. In the second the writers would be given themes, and have to come up with a relevant new song within a certain time limit. Perhaps the first could be used as a time filler while other artists work on the second?
  • DANCE:
• Regency Dancing by John Hertz. Fri 9-12mn, setup at 8 after the Locus Awards Banquet. reply
• Scott MacHaffie is interested in teaching Irish & Scottish dancing at the con, probably a medium sized room & 2 hour block so that he could cover some of the culture and history of this region, and then teach several social dances.
• Betty Bigelow's Middle Eastern troupe, and perhaps the Samara Dancers, will be performing during the Cabaret.

A LOOSE SCHEDULE:
[This is a first draft, meaning that EVERYTHING WILL PROBABLY CHANGE BEFORE THE CON! Various items may yet be moved around or dropped depending on what other programming items are scheduled, and when the panelists in question are available; but it's my best design given the info I have now. I've made note of some of the other major programming items that are set at this time for your reference. Please let me know what you are thinking. I just used Cedar as a default for the smaller items, and the Metro for the bigger stuff, but they could go in another room. The East and West rooms were chosen in a couple of places based on what events we planned to have follow in those areas.]

THUR:

	6pm - midnight, Grand Ballrooms = Cabaret
	[7pm-8pm, West rooms = Opening Ceremonies]
	7pm - 8pm, Metropolitan room = Filk 101  (non-music act at 
		Cabaret)
	8pm - wee hours, Metropolitan room = Open Filking
	[9pm - wee hours, West rooms = Anglicon Casino]
FRI: 
	11am - 1pm, Metropolitan room? = Celtic Dance class 
	[1pm-2:30pm, Grand Ballrooms = JMS B5 Presentation]
	4pm - 5pm, Cedar = Media theme hour
	5pm - 6pm, East Ballroom = Filk Improv panel  (gets bodies 
		for . . .)
	6pm - 10pm, East Ballroom = Filk Concerts  (sound sys, yeild 
		to Rocky Horror)
	[7pm-11pm, Metropolitan room = Meet the Pros/Meet the 
		Fans]
	8pm - wee hours, Cedar room = Open Filking
	[8pm - wee hours, Grand Ballrooms = Dance]
	8pm - 11pm, West Ballroom = Regency Dancing
	11pm - wee hours, Metropolitan room = Open Filking
SAT: 
	[11am-1:30pm, Grand Ballrooms = JMS B5 Presentation]
reply	11am - noon, Cedar room = Writing music & lyrics
	noon - 1pm, Cedar room = Classic Filk theme hour
	4pm - 5pm, Cedar = Media theme hour 
	5pm - 6pm, Cedar room = Music & Our Lives
	[6:30-9pm, Grand Ballrooms = Masquerade]
	7pm - 9pm, Metropolitan = Open Filking  (or when the 
		masquerade ends)
	8pm - wee hours, Cedar room = Open Filking
	[9pm - wee hours, Grand Ballroom = Dance]
reply	9pm - 11pm, Metropolitan = Jamming in the Key of C (post 
		masquerade)
	11pm - wee hours, Metropolitan room = Open Filking
SUN:
	11am - noon, Cedar room = Recording industry
	[11am-1pm, Grand C = Art auction]
	noon - 1pm, Cedar room = Science theme hour
	noon - 1pm, West Ballrooms = Children's theme hour
	1pm - 2pm, West Ballrooms = Heather Alexander concert
	2pm - ?, West Ballrooms = Spider Robinson starts "Pun Day"
	[3pm-4pm, Grand ballrooms = Closing Ceremonies]


**************************************************************************

WESTERCON CABARET This event is intended to showcase a variety of the "performing arts" activities in fandom: Everything from singing to radio drama, martial arts to dance. Acts with an * are ones that are definitely on, discussions are still in progress with the others. At most I may have one or two openings still, if you have a really cool idea to propose.

PLANNED ACTS:
Spider & Jeanne Robinson = music and storytelling. * Seattle Knights Musical Troupe = 5 person group doing various Celtic

	and other period songs. They'll share an hour with their 
	group's fighters, doing a variety of musical, martial, and 
	dramatic skits.

TJ Glenn & Action Masters = storyteller, stuntman, and sword fighting Dark Ages = sword fighting
* Seattle Knights = sword fighting, both all-out and in dramatic skits.

	They'll  split an hour with their musical group.  See details 
	above.

• Betty Bigelow = Middle Eastern dancing. Samara Dancers = Middle Eastern style performances
• Joy Jackson = old time radio drama The story they'll do is called "The Junkyard" by Clifford Simak, originally broadcast on 2-22-56. (The plot: A starship crew lands on a planet with a whole bunch of simple artifacts from a variety of alien cultures. They explore for awhile, but when they try to return to their own ship they find they can't remember how to operate it. It turns out one of the devices is causing them to gradually lose their advanced cognitive skills, and they now must come up with a plan to defeat it.) She says it's actually a fairly good mix between serious and funny.

Calvin Taylor = Our own Westercon time travel scenario.

• Steven Barnes = Willing to do 2 hours of MC'ing.
• T Brian Wagner = Willing to do 2 hrs of MC'ing earlier in the evening. Perhaps also some kind of mentalist of other dramatic skit.

LOGISTICS & IDEAS:
-- We're targeting an older, more sedate crowd here, folks who
generally aren't interested in the rock dance, and miss having something entertaining to get involved in the evenings. Open filking can be going on up in the Metro room; and as the only other main programming item is the Casino, we should get a large drop in and out audience.
-- Run from 6pm til midnight or so Thur evening in the Grand ballroom.
One recommendation was for 20 min skits, with 10 min for changeover.   I was thinking 30 min skits, doing changes as fast as possible, but this wouldn't give us as firm of a schedule to publish. Some of this will depend on the number and type of acts we have. (What about changing it to 7pm-1am, give people more time to attend after work?)

I believe that is it for now. I look forward to your feedback, and to seeing you at Westercon 50! Thanks.

					Quarong
					<quarong at eskimo.com>

Received on 04/14/97