About Our Guests

We are honored to have the following guests this year at Consonance:

Here's what the front page of Dandelion Wine's own pages has to say about them:

Dandelion Wine started its musical existence at a science fiction convention back in 1985, playing "Filk Music" - songs of science fiction and fantasy. Being folkies at heart, the band quickly moved into the contemporary folk music field.

The music of Dandelion Wine ranges from songs of the sea, songs of the earth, to songs of worlds beyond. This is music with a twist of something strange, something exciting, something wonderful.

Arising from the combination of folk music and science fiction and fantasy literature, these musicians and songwriters have created a startling fresh blend of the two and if this sounds intriguing give Dandelion Wine a listen.

For information about Dandelion Wine, visit their website by clicking here.

For more information about Dave Clement, click here. Dave was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1999. To view his citation, click Here.

For more information about Tom Jeffers, click Here.

Our Interfilk Guest, Franklin Gunkelmann, comes to us all the way from Germany. He is a man of many talents: songwriter (in both English and German), performer, translator of filk songs, and MC.

He has been Zeremonienmeister (Master of Ceremonies) at the German filk con, FilkCONtinental, every year, from1997 on. Why do they keep inviting him back? Probably because of his exceptional wit, humor, and panache. The FilkCONtinental web site says (if our translation is correct) that Franklin will inflict "severe bodily harm through determined assault on the laughter muscles".

Franklin has delighted audiences at the German and British filk cons for years. Our photo of Franklin was taken during his concert set at FilkCONtinental 2001. Franklin is also known for his masterful translations of filk songs from English into German, including Zander Nyrond's "Sam's Song", Steve Macdonald's "Many Hearts, One Voice", and Dave Weingart's "The River".

Franklin is active in a German medieval re-creation group similar to the SCA. At Consonance, he will lead a workshop on medieval dancing.

For more information on Steve Savitzky, visit his website by clicking Here.