OVFF 2015: Baby Love, My Baby Love
OVFF was good, but interesting and possibly unique. This was Sam's first con, so we weren't sure quite what to expect. Other than being fussy during the Sunday dead dog, I think he did quite well. It was a smooth drive in both directions, and it only took us about half an hour longer than usual. This may bode well for FKO still being drive-able if we want, rather than falling back on the fly to Buffalo/rent a car scheme.
Not surprisingly, everyone thought Sam was adorable, and many of his Filk Aunties including Auntie Judith, Auntie Brenda and Auntie Naomi got a chance to hold him. We availed ourselves of the excellent children's track, taking him to a Kookieklatch and Storytime, and a Stone Dragons kids concert which also featured janeg, phillip2637, and honorary Canadian catsittingstill. Tom and Sue invited me to sit in for a song, so I offered up musicmutt's "Chocolate is a Vegetable". As for the Kookieklatch, I MADE SAM A KOOKIE BUT I EATED IT. And we were read books about poop (Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi, I think), farts (The Gas We Pass: The Story of Farts by Shinta Cho, I think), and time zones (title gone due to Baby Brain).
Watching our friends' reactions was as entertaining as I expected. The prize for the best double-take goes to andpuff, who spotted us rolling Sam past the Lotus Grill, scooped her jaw up off the table where it landed, and came flying out of the restaurant to greet us. Honorable mentions go to unkbar and kilted_singer.
What I caught of various concerts was good. GOH's Heather & Ben performed the entirety of their new album "Imagineer". Toastmasters Kristoph and Margaret covered the spectrum from filk to medieval to Tolkien to Celtic. And it was great to hear Interfilk GOH meritmaat again. Also caught sets from Talis Kimberley, Cheshire Moon, and Joe Giacoio, and jodimuse's CD release concert. Plus sweetmusic27 and judifilksign were on hand because everything is better with fiddles and signing.
Due to the need to make sure I got enough sleep around Mr. Baby's feeding schedule to be functional, I didn't get to sing as much as I have at many OVFF's - or to hear some of the folks I usually seek out in the circles. Friday night I gravitated to one of the small rooms where mrgoodwraith, Bill Davis, and a bunch of folks whose names I didn't catch (and who were really good) but I think were billing themselves as The Usual Suspects. Crashed at around 12:30am. Friday I let the_sheryl enjoy the song contest, Interfilk auction and the early part of open filk while I went upstairs (after a stop at jodimuse's CD release party, put Sam to bed and took a nap. We switched just before midnight and I came back downstairs until around 2:30am. Hit the main room just as catalana and the Ropers were fading but in time to catch a chilling new song of Erica's inspired (IIRC) by a book about the Manhattan Project. Hung out there for about an hour until it looked like that room was starting to fade (and the mood wasn't quite doing it for me), then switched to the room where the Parodies theme filk had been scheduled and was pretty much still going. Caught a couple of songs from filkertom, markbernstein, and mrgoodwraith and got to sing "Let the Redheads Win" with judifilksign sitting right next to me. Obviously, I lived (*grin*). It was a fun little room.
The closing Jam was fun as always. Luckily gundo had a small amp I could borrow, since I'd forgotten to grab mine in the scramble out the door Friday morning. (The Squier I remembered. The amp I didn't even though IT LIVES RIGHT NEXT TO MY GUITAR CASES. Baby Brain again. Also, failure to be smart and stage my musical gear in the foyer Thursday night.) As usual, I offered up "Cover of the Rolling Stone".
Gave mneme and drcpunk a ride to and from BD's but we ended up sharing a table with Bill Laubenheimer, Carole Parker, and Cat Greenberg and her little boy. There was a bit of confusion about how many free spots there were at the table we'd staked out for us and Cat since it had more room around it for strollers and car seats than some of the tables in the area that's usually designated for OVFF. But everything worked out eventually.
All three of us were down for the Dead Dog filk, but I was too brain dead to try and get a song in edgewise in a big, competitive circle. Didn't help that Sam wanted a bottle shortly after we got back from BD's, then was a bit fussy following that even after a diaper change, so I ended up out in the hallway listening to the conversations out there, with Sam up on my shoulder. Finally decided to say goodbye to everyone and pack it in a bit after 10pm. (Which was OK, we needed to get an early start Monday morning since I wanted to be home for the first in a series of 50th anniversary events for the private Jewish school I attended from 7th to 12th grade.)
Next appearances for us will be Philcon (Saturday and Sunday only) and Chessiecon. Then life gets interesting, because our next couple of trips after that require flying. This will be a new challenge for my packing-fu.
Not surprisingly, everyone thought Sam was adorable, and many of his Filk Aunties including Auntie Judith, Auntie Brenda and Auntie Naomi got a chance to hold him. We availed ourselves of the excellent children's track, taking him to a Kookieklatch and Storytime, and a Stone Dragons kids concert which also featured janeg, phillip2637, and honorary Canadian catsittingstill. Tom and Sue invited me to sit in for a song, so I offered up musicmutt's "Chocolate is a Vegetable". As for the Kookieklatch, I MADE SAM A KOOKIE BUT I EATED IT. And we were read books about poop (Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi, I think), farts (The Gas We Pass: The Story of Farts by Shinta Cho, I think), and time zones (title gone due to Baby Brain).
Watching our friends' reactions was as entertaining as I expected. The prize for the best double-take goes to andpuff, who spotted us rolling Sam past the Lotus Grill, scooped her jaw up off the table where it landed, and came flying out of the restaurant to greet us. Honorable mentions go to unkbar and kilted_singer.
What I caught of various concerts was good. GOH's Heather & Ben performed the entirety of their new album "Imagineer". Toastmasters Kristoph and Margaret covered the spectrum from filk to medieval to Tolkien to Celtic. And it was great to hear Interfilk GOH meritmaat again. Also caught sets from Talis Kimberley, Cheshire Moon, and Joe Giacoio, and jodimuse's CD release concert. Plus sweetmusic27 and judifilksign were on hand because everything is better with fiddles and signing.
Due to the need to make sure I got enough sleep around Mr. Baby's feeding schedule to be functional, I didn't get to sing as much as I have at many OVFF's - or to hear some of the folks I usually seek out in the circles. Friday night I gravitated to one of the small rooms where mrgoodwraith, Bill Davis, and a bunch of folks whose names I didn't catch (and who were really good) but I think were billing themselves as The Usual Suspects. Crashed at around 12:30am. Friday I let the_sheryl enjoy the song contest, Interfilk auction and the early part of open filk while I went upstairs (after a stop at jodimuse's CD release party, put Sam to bed and took a nap. We switched just before midnight and I came back downstairs until around 2:30am. Hit the main room just as catalana and the Ropers were fading but in time to catch a chilling new song of Erica's inspired (IIRC) by a book about the Manhattan Project. Hung out there for about an hour until it looked like that room was starting to fade (and the mood wasn't quite doing it for me), then switched to the room where the Parodies theme filk had been scheduled and was pretty much still going. Caught a couple of songs from filkertom, markbernstein, and mrgoodwraith and got to sing "Let the Redheads Win" with judifilksign sitting right next to me. Obviously, I lived (*grin*). It was a fun little room.
The closing Jam was fun as always. Luckily gundo had a small amp I could borrow, since I'd forgotten to grab mine in the scramble out the door Friday morning. (The Squier I remembered. The amp I didn't even though IT LIVES RIGHT NEXT TO MY GUITAR CASES. Baby Brain again. Also, failure to be smart and stage my musical gear in the foyer Thursday night.) As usual, I offered up "Cover of the Rolling Stone".
Gave mneme and drcpunk a ride to and from BD's but we ended up sharing a table with Bill Laubenheimer, Carole Parker, and Cat Greenberg and her little boy. There was a bit of confusion about how many free spots there were at the table we'd staked out for us and Cat since it had more room around it for strollers and car seats than some of the tables in the area that's usually designated for OVFF. But everything worked out eventually.
All three of us were down for the Dead Dog filk, but I was too brain dead to try and get a song in edgewise in a big, competitive circle. Didn't help that Sam wanted a bottle shortly after we got back from BD's, then was a bit fussy following that even after a diaper change, so I ended up out in the hallway listening to the conversations out there, with Sam up on my shoulder. Finally decided to say goodbye to everyone and pack it in a bit after 10pm. (Which was OK, we needed to get an early start Monday morning since I wanted to be home for the first in a series of 50th anniversary events for the private Jewish school I attended from 7th to 12th grade.)
Next appearances for us will be Philcon (Saturday and Sunday only) and Chessiecon. Then life gets interesting, because our next couple of trips after that require flying. This will be a new challenge for my packing-fu.