markbernstein's Journal

FKO, somewhat briefly
Left Michigan Friday at 2 with friends

paltergo and Shalla (who were also delightful roommates). Got stuck in the line at Canada Customs that had an agent who insisted on Doing His Job by spending a couple of minutes questioning the occupants of each car. Some time later, encountered a lane-shut-down-by-an-accident on the 401, causing us to take an hour to cover three miles. As a result, pulled into the hotel parking lot at 7:15. Left everything in the car and rushed in to watch the last half of Tom and Sue's wedding. It was beautiful.

Otherwise, I had a very laid-back weekend. Friday night, after saying some hellos and buying

vixyish and

tfabris's new CD, I crashed at 11:30. This led to getting up early enough on Saturday to have breakfast, do half an hour on a treadmill, and soak in the hot tub (sadly, the jets weren't working) all before the con opened.

Everything I heard of the Saturday concerts was good, and Tony and Vixy's set was wonderful. The highlight was a sequence involving visual aids (held by Erin, Jodi, Allison, and Debbie). First, Vixy's song about Edward Gorey's "The Gashleycrumb Tinies" to a tune I'd never heard before, "Pepper" by the Butthole Surfers". Then, Jonathan Coulton's "Re: Your Brains" in French. Then a surprise group rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Tony.

The Interfilk auction was fun, as always, and in the non-voice part, I bought a book. Neat.

I spent a chunk of Saturday evening in a great open circle in the alternate room. Didn't do any solos, just harmonizing, and had a wonderful time. Crashed at 1.

And the highlight of Sunday? Winning this year's Penguin Instafilk Contest. The list of words (handed out Friday) that had to appear in this year's song were emerald, rainbow, shingles, meniscus, and, of course, penguin. (I admit, I had to look up meniscus.)

The result:

( I used to have a life I knew was boring )

Advertisement