Arisia!
So, this Arisia definitely ranked high on my all-time list of best con experiences. This con was full of music and dancing, things that are almost guaranteed to improve any experience for me. The biggest thing that pushed this con from a good con to an amazing con for me was, of course, the joint Stranger Ways and Sassafrass concert. Playing with Sassafrass was great: they are an awesome band and it was an honor to share a concert with them. We did several joint songs and they were lots of fun (the ones that are part of our repertoire are viewable on our youtube channel, along with most of the rest of our sets). We also filled the room, a turnout that certainly surpassed our expectations, and have already made back the costs and a bit more on our new CD.
Now for a lot more detail on the rest of the weekend.
Friday was my one free period during the con. After rehearsing for the next day's concert, I spent time hanging out with cindy_lu , zebediah , zsquirrelboy, and ectophylla . I got my one real chance to wander around the art show and the dealer's and got great fingerless gloves for playing fiddle when my fingers are too cold to work. The Friday night dance started with a band that did not work for me, so I spent the early part wandering parties and hanging out, but the next performance was much better and I had a good time dancing. I actually got to sleep at a not too absurd hour, so I could get sleep before Saturday morning.
Saturday was dominanted by our concert. The morning was all about getting ready for the concert, and despite some bumps and hurdles that had me on edge, everything went really well. Lots of people showed up who didn't know either band, and I think even more people came in knowing one or the other and left liking both. We sold 24 CDs and 9 download cards over the course of the weekend (thanks to Foam Brain for selling our CDs outside the concert).
After that, I was on the Poly Households panel, which was fun, but focused more on the housemate and legal parts and less on the relationship parts, which left me feeling like I had less to say. Poly 201 was interesting, and led to some neat discussions. Then I had a short break during which teenyweenyowen and I failed at getting dinner, before coming back for the Funny Song Sing-along. That was a particularly fun panel to be on. There were lots of great songs, and wonderful participation. I got to introduce a couple of my dad's songs, which went over well.
Saturday night, natbudin, in_water_writ and I ran Time Travel Review Board. In a sign of the awesomeness of this con, this was one of the best LARP runs we've had at a general con (as opposed to a LARP con), and I've barely been mentioning it because it was totally overshadowed by the rest of the con. Thanks to all our players for a great run. After that, I spent most of the rest of the night at the dance. I got to dance with most of my favorite East Coast people to dance with, including way too many friends to list here and some fun new people, but it was a special treat to dance with zebediah , as always.
Sunday I got to truly enjoy the luxury of not staying in babysitting and getting to sleep in. After a leisurely brunch with teenyweenyowen , I played with the Waytes for the renaissance dance. Special thanks to marnen for sitting in with us, allowing me to spend a little more time on the gamba (and giving me another chance to make music with him). After that was the LARP war stories panel, followed by the bawdy songs panel that natbudin was on. With my crazy schedule, that was the one programming item I made it to that I wasn't on the panel for, and it was lots of fun. Then was the Supernatural Ballads panel, which did not work out to be quite what I had expected, but provided an opportunity to hear several well-performed ballads.
Sunday night I spent a bunch of time in the late night filk circle. I have learned in the past couple years that, while the big daytime filk circles make me a little crazy, the small late night circles are a lot of fun. I also learned that I cannot really learn new tunes after about 3am. I can get down the basics, but I don't improve no matter how many times I play it and I won't really remember it in the morning.
Monday I packed everything up and ran off to the instrumental jam. It was listed as instrumental jam with dancing, but no one except some drifting children showed up just to dance. However, as a jam, it was a lot of fun. I had printed up packets and we played a bunch of those tunes, and several others that people who showed up picked. We had several great instrumentalists, and it seemed to go very smoothly, including a remarkably functional period of instrument swapping.
All in all, this was a hell of a con. Thanks to all the people who made this con work, and all the people who made it special for me, particularly my bandmates, Sassafrass and everyone who showed up to our concert!
Now for a lot more detail on the rest of the weekend.
Friday was my one free period during the con. After rehearsing for the next day's concert, I spent time hanging out with cindy_lu , zebediah , zsquirrelboy, and ectophylla . I got my one real chance to wander around the art show and the dealer's and got great fingerless gloves for playing fiddle when my fingers are too cold to work. The Friday night dance started with a band that did not work for me, so I spent the early part wandering parties and hanging out, but the next performance was much better and I had a good time dancing. I actually got to sleep at a not too absurd hour, so I could get sleep before Saturday morning.
Saturday was dominanted by our concert. The morning was all about getting ready for the concert, and despite some bumps and hurdles that had me on edge, everything went really well. Lots of people showed up who didn't know either band, and I think even more people came in knowing one or the other and left liking both. We sold 24 CDs and 9 download cards over the course of the weekend (thanks to Foam Brain for selling our CDs outside the concert).
After that, I was on the Poly Households panel, which was fun, but focused more on the housemate and legal parts and less on the relationship parts, which left me feeling like I had less to say. Poly 201 was interesting, and led to some neat discussions. Then I had a short break during which teenyweenyowen and I failed at getting dinner, before coming back for the Funny Song Sing-along. That was a particularly fun panel to be on. There were lots of great songs, and wonderful participation. I got to introduce a couple of my dad's songs, which went over well.
Saturday night, natbudin, in_water_writ and I ran Time Travel Review Board. In a sign of the awesomeness of this con, this was one of the best LARP runs we've had at a general con (as opposed to a LARP con), and I've barely been mentioning it because it was totally overshadowed by the rest of the con. Thanks to all our players for a great run. After that, I spent most of the rest of the night at the dance. I got to dance with most of my favorite East Coast people to dance with, including way too many friends to list here and some fun new people, but it was a special treat to dance with zebediah , as always.
Sunday I got to truly enjoy the luxury of not staying in babysitting and getting to sleep in. After a leisurely brunch with teenyweenyowen , I played with the Waytes for the renaissance dance. Special thanks to marnen for sitting in with us, allowing me to spend a little more time on the gamba (and giving me another chance to make music with him). After that was the LARP war stories panel, followed by the bawdy songs panel that natbudin was on. With my crazy schedule, that was the one programming item I made it to that I wasn't on the panel for, and it was lots of fun. Then was the Supernatural Ballads panel, which did not work out to be quite what I had expected, but provided an opportunity to hear several well-performed ballads.
Sunday night I spent a bunch of time in the late night filk circle. I have learned in the past couple years that, while the big daytime filk circles make me a little crazy, the small late night circles are a lot of fun. I also learned that I cannot really learn new tunes after about 3am. I can get down the basics, but I don't improve no matter how many times I play it and I won't really remember it in the morning.
Monday I packed everything up and ran off to the instrumental jam. It was listed as instrumental jam with dancing, but no one except some drifting children showed up just to dance. However, as a jam, it was a lot of fun. I had printed up packets and we played a bunch of those tunes, and several others that people who showed up picked. We had several great instrumentalists, and it seemed to go very smoothly, including a remarkably functional period of instrument swapping.
All in all, this was a hell of a con. Thanks to all the people who made this con work, and all the people who made it special for me, particularly my bandmates, Sassafrass and everyone who showed up to our concert!