What a great weekend! This year we had a new hotel, the Hilton Newark/Fremont, which offered us inexpensive rooms and great function space at a price we could actually afford. The con suite room was perfect, with a little prep area, a large buffet table and lots of room to sit or to move around. The hotel staff went out of their way to be sure everything proceeded smoothly. And best of all, THEY WANT US BACK NEXT YEAR! (Well, shucks... I dunno......... oh, ok.... )
As always, Seanan put together a dynamite program, but with the talent she had to work with, it could hardly have been otherwise. The traditional Drum Circle started the festivities on Friday night, featuring Alec Adams and his bodhran and Chris O'Halloran and her taiko drum. All sorts of drums and strange percussion items added their sounds to the rhythmic cacophony, and everyone had a splendid time. It was probably the first time in history that hotel guests made more noise than the over-amplified karaoke performers in the bar.
The first concert was by Mary Crowell, our 2008 Toastmistress, returning all the way from Alabama. Her jazzy, sometimes smoky piano style and lovely voice were a welcome treat for those of us who didn't get enough of her two years ago.
And speaking of "Toastmistress", "two years ago" and "couldn't get enough of her", this year's Toastmistress was the much beloved Judi Miller, who accompanied almost all the other concert performers with virtuoso displays of American Sign Language, leaving the rest of us wondering where she gets all that energy. For her own concert, she sang and played guitar (yep -- she can do that, too!) for about half an hour, then invited other performers onto the stage to play her favorite songs, to which, of course, she signed.
The evening ended with Diana Paxson leading a bardic "Journeys" theme circle, which was very well attended and segued flawlessly into open filking until breakfast...
Saturday began with traditional Bavarian Dancing with Ju Honisch, one of our International guests. Attendees were treated to her authentic costume and enthusiastic teaching style, and even those with two left feet were dancing, smiling and having a wonderful time.
Concerts began with Sibylle Machat, another German, who left the audience rolling in the aisles with her funny songs and zany interpretations. After the one-shots a more local zany performer, Brooke Lunderville, took the stage and entertained us as she always does with well-crafted silliness and a smattering of serious songs, just so we don't pigeonhole her.
We were lucky to have Interfilk Guest Chris O'Shea at the convention; because of an over-aggressive spam filter, he didn't make his travel arrangements until a week before Consonance! Chris treated us to a delicious baritone voice (that's right, he's *not* a tenor!), excellent guitar work and songs on many topics and in diverse musical styles. We were hoping for some magic tricks -- if not on stage, then in the hallways -- but had to settle for the World's Best Hugs instead... Yes, folks, Interfilk did it again! And so that Interfilk can *keep* doing it again, the Interfilk Auction was held with Bill Roper and Nick Smith presiding, and the wenches doing their mad dashes from bidder to bidder, "convincing" people to offer absurd amounts of money for the items. Speaking of which, our thanks go to Kathleen Sloan for donating a hand-made (by her) necklace for the benefit of Consonance's International Guest Fund. The necklace sold for $350!
After dinner the International Guests, Ju and Katy, gave an incredible performance with their gorgeous harmonies, wonderful original songs, and the normally reserved Ju mugging and clowning at appropriate places. Katy's guitar... Ju's recorders and whistles... two women whose voices blend close to perfectly. They were amazing when they performed at Consonance in 2004, and somehow -- even though they *say* they don't get to researse together much -- they've gotten even better.
Our guests of honor, fiddler/drummer/vocalist Alexander Adams, cellist Betsy Tinney and guitarist/vocalist Sooj Tucker (collectively Tricky Pixie) brought the house down. Excellent musicianship, stunning arrangements, wonderful songs, high energy performance -- there was absolutely nothing not to like. And then there was a guest appearance by band manager Kevin -- the Orange Menace -- who does "sinister" delightfully well...
The evening ended with an "Evil Genius" theme circle led by Bob Kanefsky, which dissolved into open filking until the wee hours of the morning...
There were four concerts on Sunday, starting with Tim Griffin singing his "teaching songs". He's an elementary school teacher determined to make learning fun by singing about bugs, history, and... well... boogers. Steve Macdonald sang his heart out, as he always does, with his powerful voice and excellent songs ("Windigo" has to be heard to be believed). Tom & Sue Jeffers (Stone Dragon) gave a wonderful concert in the folkish vein, with harmony, mellowness and merriment. Last was Dave Clement -- what can you say? He has a classic voice, a gentle manner and a solid repertoire; for several numbers he was joined by his old singing partner Tom Jeffers (remember Dandelion Wine?).
The rock jam was raucous and rowdy, once again challenging the noise supremacy of the hotel bar...
And then came the last gasp -- the Faeries & Flyswatters Filk. Everyone tried to crowd into Ballroom II, but the room was just not big enough, so an overflow filk (featuring Mary Crowell and the unmovable keyboard) started in the hallway. When the Pixies got back from dinner, they had no choice but to set up in the hallway, and pretty soon there was no room in the hallway because everybody was out there. So.... finally a number of people got cold and decided to go back into Ballroom II; enough attrition had occurred that there was finally enough room for everyone. At 2PM Steve MacDonald had us lie on our backs and sing at the ceiling -- "to test the acoustics of the room". (The room, it should be noted, passed with flying colors.) And four hours later, the last filk finally came to an end...
Thank you all for coming to Consonance 2010! The entire "World's Largest Filk Concom" had such fun this year that we'll all be back in 2011, on the first weekend in March, to make it happen again. Heartfelt thanks in order for the Con Suite Staff (Riley, Robert, Victor, Lara & Colleen), Registration Staff (Ravan, Datawolf & Miss Kitty), Programming (Seanan), Children (Alison), Dealers (John & Mary), Publicity & Publications (JohnO, Karl, Jim, Maya, Ravan & Datawolf), Guests (Chris), Sound Staff (Kristoph, Mud, Trob & JohnO), Logistics (Jim, Chris, JohnO & Lynn), Finance Team (Alan Jim, Ravan & Datawolf). Your humble Chairman and Hotel Liaison -- who shall remain nameless -- appreciates you one and all! See you next year!