Last night, I got to drop an entire entertainment centre off of a third story balcony. But you don’t want to hear about that. You want to hear about the recent musical events I’ve attended.
Tag: filk Page 11 of 14
So kitanzi has gotten her brain eaten by the lure of Sudoku, and we were looking over the latest puzzle she’s bent her mind to and this came out of nowhere:
Here’s a seven, there’s a seven
And another little seven
Crooked seven, funky seven
Seven Seven
Eight.
(ttto: “The Llama Song”)
Edit: Corrected spelling, thanks. :).
Inspired by a conversation on Filkhaven:
Uplift and Separate
(with most insincere apologies to Andy Eigel)
Cups – surround the breast – in their soft – cotton folds
Wire – underneath – provides support – perfect hold
Shoulder straps will adjust for comfort fit
clasp in back gives your boyfriend a fit
I should probably….stop right there.
I’ve been pretty quiet lately, but its not that there hasn’t been a lot going on. Some of it hasn’t been good, but I’m not going to talk about that here. Drop me a line if you really want to know about it.
I’m choosing instead to focus on the good stuff. There’s actually a fair bit of it about. In fact, here’s a baker’s dozen really cool things that are going on in my life right now.
- My creativity has actually been sparking lately. I’ve now finished more songwriting in 2006 than I did in all of 2005, including some stuff I’m rather proud of. Better yet, I’ve been playing more music than I have in months, which is a sure sign that I’m feeling better about the world. I’m adding new songs to my repertoire, which is helping me keep from being bored with what I’m doing musically, which in turn inspires me to write more. I actually got stuff I’d written recently onto online songbook.. I even went and made a second index page that separates the song by year, which will make it easier for people to find the new stuff, even if it does highlight just how little I’ve written in the last few years.
- We had not one but two housefilks in February, and each featured wonderful faraway visitors. The first was the official GaFiA housefilk, and featured such luminary travellers as sdorn, sdelmonte, and batyatoon! The very next weekend, there was a gathering at joyeuse13 and abovenyquist‘s house, in honor of the visiting celticdragonfly! Yay faraway people I don’t see often enough.
- In spite of all the cramping our budget has suffered since the middle of last year, as of this moment our bills are all paid up, and we’ve gotten rid of a number of small debts that were being carried on our books. This puts us in excellent shape, if we’re careful and prudent, to reach our goal of paying off *all* our debt by the middle of 2007!
- kitanzi is almost done with her physical therapy following her shoulder surgery in December, and is feeling much better and stronger than she had in many many months. Crappy health is definitely one of the things I’m looking forward to putting behind us as we move further into 2006.
- Speaking of feeling better, we both have been feeling much better rested in the last week, since we acquired kitanzi’s early birthday present: a mattress pad. The pad is made out of a three-inch thick slab of four pound memory foam, and the difference it has made in the comfort of our sleeping is astounding! Many of our aches and pains have been reduced since we started sleeping on it.
- Thanks to klrmn (who I miss terribly since she moved to California, but that’s a different post), we now know where to go for all-you-can-eat made-to-order sushi. Yummmmmmm.
- One of my best and oldest friends, Jeff, has finally joined LiveJournal. Jeff has been my writing partner, confidant, and brother-in-arms since we were both in Jr. High school, and I’d love to introduce you all to him. So go say hi to hejira2006,and add him to your friends lists, because honestly, if you are the sort of person who likes me, I think you’re going to like him too. (Just be nice to him — I don’t want him to be scared off. *grin*)
- Another of my best and oldest friends, vila_resthal, will be getting married in August. Dan is the editor of Aphelion Webzine, a project he and I have worked together on since its inception ten years ago. (And if you’re inclined to like reading or writing original SF/F fiction, go check it out. It’s a groovy place. We take filk lyrics, too. *grin*) I’m so very happy to see him happy, and I really like his new lady love, and am looking forward to the wedding, which will be held at the same time as ApheliCon 2, the second annual Aphelion writers cookout party.
- I now own a Macintosh computer! tarkrai acquired a 17“ G4 iMac, which he gave to me for my very own. He claims that it’s a bit quirky but isn’t sure why, but so far I haven’t actually had any trouble with it. And it’s pretty. And it’s cool. And it’s a Mac. Shiny! Thanks, Smac!
- Just in general, I have the best friends in the whole wide world. Yes, I do.
- We have tickets to see Great Big Sea in concert in Atlanta in April! I am *very* much looking forward to finally seeing them live, after all the amazing reports we’ve gotten from our friends about their shows.
- I’m leaving on a plane tonight to spend the weekend visiting aiela, my girlfriend who lives near Canada. *grin* This will be my first ever trip to Michigan, and I’m hoping to sneak across the border for a day so I can *properly* say I’ve been to Canada, rather than having simply been trapped in a plane on a runway there for 3 hours. 🙂 And I get to meet her fiancé, davehogg, who has become a Friend In His Own Right, much to be delight. I don’t get too see aiela often enough, so I’m very much looking forward to the trip.
- Last, but not least, I am still married to the most amazing, beautiful, intelligent, sexy, and all around wonderful person in the entire world. I am absolutely the luckiest person on Earth. And I never, ever forget it.
So, what’s really cool and good in YOUR life right now?
I actually got the idea for this song some time ago, but couldn’t figure out where to go with it. Then one golden day, it came to me, and I wrote it down and set it aside to polish later, then lost it. Going through a box yesterday, cleaning out the storage closet, I found it again, and set about giving it the polish I thought it needed. Enjoy!
Where’s the Filkcircle
by Rob Wynne
Music: “Where’s the Orchestra” by Billy Joel
© 2006
Where’s the filkcircle?
Wasn’t this supposed to be an SF con?
Here I am, wandering the halls
How the hell could I have missed rousing guitars?
I liked the masquerade
Even though I had absolutely no idea at all
What was being said in all the panel talks
There’s the big name fan
The leading pro who never left the audience
Where’s the filkcircle?
After all, this is my big weekend from home
My trip to faerie, or the stars to roam
I assumed that a con would have a song
So I was wrong
So I’ll just sit right here
And play my guitar softly in the atrium
Then slowly one or two
Stop to hear a song
Then sit and sing along
And after the con is done
And after the last dog falls
The last note calls
From an open chord
At the filkcircle
This one came about in a fit of boredom one afternoon. kitanzi and I traded verses back and forth through e-mail until it came together. A bit of polish, and voila, a new song!
I think many people will be able to relate to this one….
Your Call Is Very Important To Us…
by Rob Wynne & Larissa March
TTTO: “Nessie, Come Up” by Dr. J. Robinson
© 2006
The customer sits by his keyboard
He needs to reach tech support
His coffee goes cold
while he’s waiting on hold
Three hours at the last report
The muzak plays soft in the background
As a voice he no longer believes
Says “Each call will be
Answered momentarily
In the order that it was received”
Thank you for holding on still,
For waiting for us so long,
For being polite and holding all night,
Your hope and your faith are so strong!
We thought that you might, we bet we were right,
We see that we weren’t wrong!
Thank you for waiting so, waiting so, waiting so,
Thank you for waiting so long!
He daydreams of a working computer
As the music his thoughts intertwine
He starts to lose hope
He’ll be able to cope
When a cheerful voice comes on the line
He tells her his problem in detail
And all of his details and specs
“Oh, sorry, sir you
Got into the wrong queue
I’ll transfer you, hold just a sec…”
Thank you for holding on still,
For waiting for us so long,
For being polite and holding all night,
Your hope and your faith are so strong!
We thought that you might, we bet we were right,
We see that we weren’t wrong!
Thank you for waiting so, waiting so, waiting so,
Thank you for waiting so long!
The morning sun shines through the window
As he slumps in his chair, fast asleep
The phone in his lap
He succumbed to a nap
And slowly the hours have creeped
A puzzled technician asks three times
“Hello, is there anyone there?”
Then she shrugs and moves on
As he wakes with a yawn
To hear that same tape loop declare…
Thank you for holding on still,
For waiting for us so long,
For being polite and holding all night,
Your hope and your faith are so strong!
We thought that you might, we bet we were right,
We see that we weren’t wrong!
Thank you for waiting so, waiting so, waiting so,
Thank you for waiting so long!
No better way to get back into regular musical activity than to write a new song, right? Right!
Lawyers, Guns, and Honey
TTTO: “Lawyers, Guns, and Money” by Warren Zevon
by Rob Wynne and Jeffrey Williams
© 2006
Well, I went to talk to Piglet
Kanga, Owl, and Roo
I wish somebody’d told me
That Tigger’d be there, too
We went walkin’ to the mill pond
Saw Eeyore’d fallen in
Send lawyers, guns, and honey
Yeah, Tigger’s bounced again
Oh, I’m a bear of little brain
I’m full of cheer and pluck
Just halfway into Rabbit’s hole
And I found I was stuck
Yes, I found I was stuck
Well, I found I was stuck
Now I’m hanging from balloon strings
I’m a desperate bear
Send lawyers, guns, and honey
The bees have seen me there
Send lawyers guns and honey
Send lawyers guns and honey
Send lawyers guns and honey
Send lawyers guns and honey
One of the negative side effects of my recent depression is that I’ve been unmotivated to really play music the way I do normally. I’ve not been writing regularly, not practicing, not learning new songs, and not playing when I’m in an environment where I have the opportunity Some people remarked sadly that they didn’t hear me play anything at OVFF or Gafilk (which I appreciated, by the way), and the main reasons for that were emotional distraction and lack of recent practice required to keep me in any kind of playing shape.
This is something i obviously want to change. Music feeds my soul, and my soul’s gotten a bit thin lately. So I’m determined to begin purposefully practicing again, in order to being participating again in social situations where I can play music, such as filkcons.
To that end, I have a query to those of you reading this who are familiar with my repertoire: what songs should I concentrate on getting back into shape. What, out of the songs you know that I play, either my own or by others, would you most like to hear me do more often? Given what you know of my current talents, what songs should I look into learning that would suit my style and skill?
I play as much for the enjoyment of those around me as I do for myself, so here’s your chance to let me know what you’d most like to hear me do. 🙂
All For Me Swag
by Robert Wynne and Bill Sutton
Music: “All For Me Grog” (trad)
© 2006
Chorus:
It’s all for me swag, me jolly, jolly swag
All for me hoard and me treasure
Well, I spent all my g.p. on a brand new sword +3
So its down into the caverns I must wander
Where are me boots? Me seven leaguer boots?
All for me hoard and me treasure
Well, they gave me a long stride and they split me underside
So its down into the caverns I must wander
Chorus
Where is me helm? Me magic, mystic helm?
All for me hoard and me treasure
It protected me from pain till the flayers ate my brain
So its down into the caverns I must wander
Chorus
Where is me mage? Me wimpy little mage?
All for me hoard and me treasure
To beat the troll she planned to use a spell called ‘Burning Hands’
So its down into the caverns I must wander
Chorus
Oh, where is me thief? My sneaky halfing thief?
All for me hoard and me treasure
Well he snuck off in the night with the loot from our last fight
So its down into the caverns I must wander
Chorus
Oh, where is me dwarf? Me sturdy fighting dwarf
All for me hoard and me treasure
Well, he took a fireball hit, and it blew him all to…….heck
So its down into the caverns I must wander
Chorus
I’m stabbed in the head, and I’d rather stay in bed
To finish healing from our last adventure
But I spent up all me dough, raising everyone I know
So its down into the caverns I must wander
So, on #filkhaven, the discussion came around for some reason to scouting, leading to this discussion:
mew: Oh man… I am seriously going through nostalgia here. I’m looking at all these camp songs I haven’t heard in years and years because one of C’s teachers was trying to remember the words to one. Sheesh. 🙂
Mary: *grin*
Mary: It would be fun to have a “camp songs” theme filk
***phydeaux_busy goes off to get more tea and a plateful of greasy, grimy gopher guts
Hitch: I once got away with singing a ‘camp song’ at the first UK filk Con
Hitch: well, not so much camp as Cub Scout…we used to be known as Wold Cubs, but that was before the Scouting association banned lycanthropy
Mary: *blink* What’s Wold?
Hitch: could be Wolf Cubs but based in the Cotswolds
phydeaux_busy: Maybe it’s Woad Cubs..they DO have that blue uniform, and to save on cloth…
Which lead of course, to imagining the Woad Cubs, and the filky part of my brain kicked in:
What’s the use of badge for merit
which proclaims you raised a ferret
if you’ve got nowhere to wear it
once it’s been bestowed?
Oh to have a sash of cotton
to sew patches that you’ve gotten
Instead all we’ve got’s this rotten
uniform of woad!