Leslie Fish's Filksongs
The Virtual Filksing
Convention Reviews
Personal Filk Projects
Other Cool Stuff
This year, I couldn't attend Musicon 4, the South's most excellent (and only)
filk con. Too many cons, too little money, too many classes this semester. However,
I didn't spend my weekend pining over missing the con. After reading oodles of Information
Superhighway hype, I decided I would, instead, try a virtual con! Thus, since Spencer
Love and Gary McGath came from Boston, and crashed at my place (after they got out
of the van) for a night, I got the tapes for FilKONtario 1993, and in the comfort
of my own bedroom, attended my first Virtual Con!
The trip to the con was great. All I did was climb up my staircase, and the hotel
room was already reserved for me. What a deal! The maid service, however, sucked,
so I didn't leave them a tip. <Heh heh.> And there wasn't even a single problem
with the elevators! The membership was a total steal, too, although the con suite
could have been better, unfortunately.
The programming started Friday morning at midnight, sortof, as soon as Gary and Spencer
fell asleep. (They had a real con to attend, and left Friday at 9:45 AM). All I had
to do was push the magic "play" button, and my Virtual Con Experience began.
I was surprised to discover that I had attended this con. Thus, I even was able to
experience my own performances without having to strum a single guitar string or
open my mouth! I played my songs easily and effortlessly! Unfortunately, they didn't
sound any better than when I sang them the first time. Bummer. I guess you can't
have everything.
One of the other advantages of a Virtual Con Experience is that there is no
filkhogging!. At a virtual con, filkhogs magically disappear at the push of a button,
namely the one labeled "Fast Forward". I am trying to develop a means of
implementing this functionality in a real con. While various shotguns and stun beams
have been considered for feasibility, they appear to be sadly in violation of most
conventions' weapons policies.
But, seriously, I hear Musicon was a blast, and I will definitely try to attend next
year. I look forward to hearing real con reviews from people, especially since
I'll be experiencing the con virtually tomorrow night in Spencer's living room. ;)