[filk] Norwescon Filking

First of all, my apologies for not staying in more regular contact with all of you, especially with the con being so close. My obligations and interests in other parts of my life have continued to increase, and I had to come to the realization I don't have the time to devote to this task anymore; so next year it will go to somewhere else. I have been training Michelle Hansard and Audrey Eschright of Escape Key a bit this year to possibly take over, but whether or not they do so will be up to them and the ConCom for Norwescon 26. I'm not leaving Filking or Cons altogether by any means, just stepping back from being the primary organizer. I still have files of ideas, notes, and addresses, and a love of the subject and its participants; so I'll probably still kibbitz a little from the sides, and will always be available for questions.

Second I'm going to apologize for whatever the Filk Track looks like this year, even though I've had very little to do with it. A lot of decisions were made without me even having a chance to have a say, things were changed afterwards without me being consulted, and a lot of information seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the line. So the bad news is we're not having the kind of track I had dreamed of for Norwescon 25. The good news is we're great at creating our own fun, and will have an enjoyable time no matter what.

Now on to what I know and am trying to set up. The schedule on the website is way out of date, but this may be changing in the next few days. I have what I think is the current one on my computer and can email it to any of you if you want, but I'm not going to do so as part of the mailing list. There are some changes since the Program Book went to press, but I'm going to try and get all of these, and the concert schedule, into the first Daily Zine. The concert schedule will also be put on flyers around the con.

People who are coming:
· Invited by the con = Escape Key (Michelle Hansard, Audrey Eschright, Matthew Dockrey), Anne Prather, Maya & Jeff Bohnhoff, Alisa Garcia, Jeff Hitchin, Betty Bigelow, Darragh Metzger.

·       Just showing up  =  Scott MacHaffie
·       Not coming  =  Steve Dixon, Joe Bethancourt, Michael Kelly, Paul 
Kwinn, Taunya Gren
·       Still being determined  =  The other members of A Little Knight Music.

• Filk 101 will take place Friday at 11am in Ballroom 3. This is a huge room, but they insisted they had nothing else to put there and so we got it. We'll just have a nice cozy chat up front as a result.
• Top 20 Filksongs is still set for 2pm on Saturday. The description for this is "Our performers will perform for you some of the songs they believe every filker must know." I've asked the performers for what songs they think fit this description, but I can also pass on your suggestions. (I still have the list we started putting together last summer.)
• Sunday we were going to do a Celtic Jam Session after teaching some Celtic dances, but due to Joe Bethancourt's cancellation and my difficulty in reaching a couple of other volunteer musicians, this is being dropped. Instead it will be an open song circle from about 3pm until everyone goes home. The con is running a dance Sunday night this year, so you can stay for quite awhile, although I'll probably have to leave shortly after the dance class.
• Open Circle we are getting moved all over the place, so look at your program schedule. Thursday it's the traditional Evergreen rooms, Friday we're in Cascade 7 & 8 (panel wing), and Saturday we're in Olympic 3 (the wing where Hospitality often is). Overall there are a lot of room changes this year due to some hotel issues.
• Middle Eastern dance = Betty Bigelow will be doing her usual class on Saturday afternoon. The head of programming is currently trying to find a slot for a social dance activity by them as well.
• The concerts Friday night will occur in Cascade 7 & 8 over my objections. I forget all of the details now, but suffice to say by the time they got done with a bunch of other requirements, this was the only room we could have. It's a lot smaller than the Evergreen rooms and I don't know how much noise pollution we will be facing or creating since I haven't seen a current version of the whole grid, but we get to make the best of it. I'm still working with the various performers on the exact lineup.

Ok, I think that's all I know at this time. My email time isn't going to be much better between now and the con than it has been in the past few weeks, but I'll do what I can. Thanks for your patience. I'll see you at the con!

Quarong

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Karen Rall, Folk Music Programming Coordinator for Norwescon 25 in Seattle. If you'd like more information about Celtic music activities in the Greater Seattle
area, or about Filking at Cons & SCA Events, please send me mail at <quarong at mindspring.com>. General Convention info is available at <www.sfnorthwest.org>, and SCA information at <www.sca.org>. Received on 03/10/02