It's that time again! The nominating ballot for the Pegasus Awards is up. What's the Pegasus? The Pegasus is an award created by the filk community, to honor and recognize excellence within the community.

From the ballot itself:

Please keep in mind that the Pegasus Awards are for excellence in Filking, not in music in general, or even funny music in general. Nominated songs should be part, one way or another, of the music of the filk community, and for "Best Performer" and "Best Composer", people you nominate should be participating members of the filk community.

By the same token, voters should also be participating members of the filk community.

There are any number of amazing, delightul nerdy, geeky musicians around these days. Are those musicians members of the filk community? They are, if they consider themselves to be. If they don't consider themselves to be, then they're not.

What about you? Are you a member of the filk community? I think you are, if you consider yourself to be. We don't have a member roll, we don't have dues, we don't have a minimum time or attendance requirement, you don't have to sing or play an instrument or make an album. The highest principle we hold is that everyone is welcome and no one is excluded. You just have to genuinely want to be part of the community of people who share filk music.

It's important to remember that "filk" isn't simply a synonym for "geek music". Filk is so much more than just a genre of music. Filk is people. ("It's peeeeoplllllle!" er, ahem.)

Here's a post that I wrote a while back on the filk community, the Pegasus Awards, and what they mean to me.

From that post:

The filk community accepted me wholeheartedly over a decade ago. I had never before felt so unreservedly accepted, so welcomed, and with such a wonderful place to share music. This community means more to me than I can possibly explain, and the award is meaningful to me because of the community. I've received three Pegasus Awards, two jointly with Tony, and each one has touched me deeply because of where it comes from and what it means. The Pegasus Awards are meant to be the filk community saying to some of its members, "we honor you and your music."
...
...campaigning is likely to result in ballot-stuffing; not maliciously, but just by people who won't know it's a community award (they can't know if nobody *tells* them, after all), who see just a name and a URL and say "oh I'm a fan of X and they're up for some award I've never heard of, I'll vote for 'em, sure!" If you have already been campaigning, please consider explaining the award to your readers, and asking them to judge for themselves.

It's important to me that the Pegasus Award remain what it was intended to be: an award given by the filk community in recognition of its members. That's tricky, because membership isn't restricted, as with an organization like SFWA. The filk community isn't an official organization; it's just a community of people, open to anyone who wants to be in it, and that means the ballot has to be an open ballot, or else we'd be betraying our own principles. So we're basically on the honor system.

Let's use the Hugos as an example, because they're coming up too. Let's say I wrote a short story that's up for a Hugo. I'd be totally comfortable going on Twitter and saying "Everyone vote for my story for a Hugo because it's awesome!" Why? Because the Hugo is an award *meant* to be awarded to the work with the most SF fans who think it's awesome. Hopefully all the voters are *reading* all the entries, but given that, the Hugo is intended to be voted on by all SF fans, worldwide. There's nothing wrong with that kind of award. That's how it's defined.

I would not, however, go on Twitter and say "Everyone vote for my song for a Pegasus because it's awesome!" Because the Pegasus is not meant to be awarded to the song/band with the most fans worldwide who think it's awesome. I have fans who are not members of the filk community. If I start campaigning on the internet at large, then I may get votes from people who a) have never heard of and b) don't care about the filk community. Even if they are dutifully listening to all the song samples before voting, it's still not okay, because the Pegasus is not that kind of award and that's not how it's defined.

Those people would mean well! They'd just be trying to express their love for one musician/band! But they'd inadvertently be taking the award away from the community that created it and from its intended purpose.

The Pegasus is not an award for the nerd-band with the most fans. It's not the Grammies of geek-music. It's a community award, and it's meant to be both voted on by and bestowed upon community members. It's meant to represent the collective voice of the filk community.

If you love a geek musician's work and you're not sure whether they're filkers, then hey, why not ask them? "Do you consider yourself a member of the filk community?" If their answer is no (or if their answer is "huh?"), then please consider not nominating them for a Pegasus and not campaigning to get their fans to vote.

I believe the key here is self-identifying. Jonathan Coulton, for an obvious example, isn't a filker-- not so much because he's a professional musician, in my opinion, but because he specifically does not self-identify as a member of the filk community. (I do mean specifically. as I understand it he's been invited to filk cons and has politely declined.) Being a professional doesn't mean you're not a filker; there are lots of working musicians who are a part of the community and have been honored by it. Heather Dale & Ben Deschamps. Tom Smith. Chris Conway. Wild Mercy. Many more. Some are even in the Filk Hall of Fame (an award for long-term contributions to the filk community, not primarily in terms of performing.)

If you're not sure whether you're a filker, there's nobody to ask but yourself. I don't get to answer for you and neither does anyone else. Have you been to any filk cons or filk circles or house filks? Have you really wanted to go to one even though you haven't been able to yet? Do you hang out with, or listen to music by, or play music with, or help organize & support, people who consider themselves filkers? Do you genuinely want to be part of the filk community?

If you want to, then I say welcome! If you don't want to, then that's okay too! Just... please, I ask that you recognize our community award for what it was intended to be, and make your nominating/voting decisions accordingly.

Thank you.

Here we are at the con! I have a snoring tfabris next to me. We're fed and rehearsed and are hanging out until either our friends wander in to rehearse with us or time passes and we feel like doing something else. :)

We flew redeye overnight Wednesday night. (I prefer to fly to the east coast in my sleep-- travel time always feels like wasted time to me. Hurry up with that transporter technology!) Flight rather violently turbulent, and I had to wear my scarf over my face most of the time because we were right next to the lavatory and the stench was noticeable even with the door shut the entire time, but other than that it was uneventful and we're here.

(Oh yeah, also there was the luggage debacle. Airlines charging exorbitant fees for checked bags has led to more and more people bringing HUGE rollerboard suitcases as carry-ons. Which quickly filled all the overhead bins. Which led to a log jam of people having to get back OFF the plane to gate-check their HUGE rollerboards. And then some of said people seemed to think that to get back on the plane they should get to push past the line of regular boarding passengers, ignoring the facts that a) this was just plain rude, b) the unmoving line was caused by their huge honking carry-ons in the first place, and c) it would be physically impossible anyway to get two abreast in the aisle of your typical airplane. I have seldom hated people more than I did in those moments.)

(But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln...)

We had a relaxed Thursday morning; checked in, napped, showered, and I was suddenly ravenously hungry, so we walked to Max & Erma's after determining that sweetmusic_27 and her visiting autographedcat and kitanzi were not hungry but were in fact directly above us. (You damn kids! Stop all that noise!) Stuffed myself to the eyebrows with salad and then we walked back to more lounging/napping and eventual wandering around saying hi to people. Like you do!

Reg, a bit of rehearsing, then the mixer and the Get Off My Lawn concerts and the Twofers (I'm glad I stayed for the Twofers despite the room being so freezing cold that my nose threatened to fall off. Everything else was the same way-- when we checked in, our room's A/C was on and set to 60 degrees, we bundled up and went outside and it was quite you-don't-need-a-heavy-coat pleasant, and then the restaurant's A/C was blasting and we were freezing again. What is up, people? It's October, you don't NEED the A/C!) Anyway, um, Twofers. Lem, Professor Pete and his Amazing Banjocimer (or was it a Dulcijo?) and BAGPIPES! Awesome. And then more wandering and open filking and Ben made me an adorable pipe cleaner dragon (or dinosaur. It could be either, given that it was made not long after him singing "Jurasic Park". I choose to believe it is a dragon. Raar!) Also I finally got around to offloading a bunch of photos from my camera so that I'd have room to take con photos. Go me! Now I just have to REMEMBER to take con photos.

Now we are fed and rehearsed again and, as mentioned, 50% of us are snoring. There may shortly be a bit more rehearsing, once all the people involved are collected. (Collect 'em all!) See you later, groovy people!

P.S. -- anyone at the con-- I seem to have misplaced my long black cardigan sweater. I could SWEAR it was over my arm when we left open filking last night, but I can't find it today. If you see such a thing, let me know, or give it to the good folks at the Gopher Table, who are also Lost & Found, would you? Thanks!

Holy cow, we WON! Vixy & Tony won Best Performer!

We TOTALLY didn't expect this. The field was SO strong this year, there was literally nobody in *any* category that we wouldn't have wanted to win!

I wish I had said nice things like how wonderful I think everyone else is, and how everyone nominated deserves it, but I just got tongue-tied. (I hope I didn't sound ungracious. We were just really really really surprised! Not that we don't think we're good, but everyone nominated is *SOOOOO* good!)

Thank you to everyone! *bouncebounce*

Full list of winners can be found here on the filk community and here on the Pegasus community (soon) and lots of other places.

Congrats to all!

Just a few hours 'til we get on a plane for OVFF! We're taking a *really* late redeye, as is my usual wont for traveling to the Far East, because I always hate the waste of time it takes to fly somewhere, and so would rather take a long flight at a time when I'd be asleep anyway.

I wish we were already there, but Tony had to get caught up at work in order to take tomorrow and Monday off. I took today off so that I could pack at a leisurely pace and get some things done. As usual, my to-do list was overly ambitious, and the three things left uncrossed make me feel all down on myself even though I did a bazillion things today including stuff that wasn't even on the list, and I did all the important stuff (like dealing with Mom's meds) and all the OVFF-critical stuff (like laundry and packing). I'm just Like That; no matter how much I get done, it's never good enough for me.

So I wound up feeling kinda down when Tony got home, because that signaled the end of the work day, i.e. the end of my "I am using time I would not otherwise have had today!" day and Supergirl didn't do Everything There Was To Do yet. Also, I think, partly because I just wish we were there already.

To distract myself, I engaged in my habitual practice of providing musical interludes for Tony's video games.

The other day, he was playing the new Star Wars game, where you're a Sith ("How come no one's EVER glad to see me in this game?" "Um, sweetie... you are *evil*, remember?") and fighting some Jedi who was shreiking about his temple being destroyed. Now, in these narrative action games, when you die and restore from a save point, you wind up hearing the same dialogue over and over. And over. And OVER. And at one point this guy kept yelling "Stop... destroying our home!" But there was something about the "Stop..." it was exactly the right pitch and pronunciation for my brain to add, in Tom Petty's voice, "...draggin' my heart around!"

So I walked around the house for a bit, doing my chores, while singing, o/~ There's Sith runnin' round loose in the world / ain't got nothin' better to do / than make a meal o' some Jedi kid... o/~ (...and then I couldn't remember Stevie's next line.)

Tonight he was playing some mercenaries-in-the-jungle game, and his partner kept yelling "I'm out! COVER ME!" What could I do but yell "WHEN I SLEEP!" And then continue, o/~ Cover me... when I load... someone chased me through the trees... now I'm on my KNEEEEES..."

Tony doesn't usually notice until I've been singing for a while, but sometimes he'll surprise me. Tonight he came in on cue with a chorus of o/~ don't you know they're gonna SHOOT THE MONKEY! o/~

(Monkey being one of his nicknames, see.)

Sometimes I also MST Tony's games, but filking them is usually more fun.

Hope to see a lot of you soon. :)

I don't often do this, not because of a lack of gratitude, but because of a lack of time and mental energy. But there are some specific things and people I owe specific thanks for, and besides, hey, now it's the season, even. So here is a backlog of Thankful Thursday Thankful Things... things I'm grateful for, people I'm grateful for, people I'm grateful *to*...

1. The concom of VCon and all the folks associated with it, especially shaddyr, who invited us to be their Filk Guests of Honor, took wonderfully good care of us, were incredibly nice, and put on a great con. And gave me an extra opportunity to see my husband gifsh (and didn't mind when I snuck away from the con to do so).

2. pondside, who sent me a lovely gift, just 'cause she thought I'd like it. Just 'cause she's the kind of friend who does that kind of thing. It's a silver pin of Alice with the pig baby. It is adorable and shiny and it now lives on the lapel of the Princess Coat, where it looks stunning against the dark grey wool. Thank you, my dear. It is lovely!

3. cadhla, who lengthily, stealthily, and with great care and love orchestrated a small group effort to give me a big surprise that said "hey, we know things kinda suck lately, but we love you, and they're gonna get better. porpentine, aiglet, and ladymondegreen, who joined this orchestra in time and on key. Chocolate was tasty, crane was pretty, shawl was warm, most of everything else is still in my suitcase. :) (Yes, I am slow to do some things; unpacking is ALWAYS one of them.) Kellis the plush velociraptor, who I cannot help but think of as one of those break-a-half-in-heart friendship necklaces, only, y'know, a dinosaur bringing one half of the zombie apocalypse virus, is currently assigned to snuggling me while I watch TV, keeping me company while I draw on the couch, and guarding my laptop at night.

4. trektone, who sent me a nummy variety of chocolate, for much the same combination of reasons, with a heartfelt note. And don't worry, Joey; none of them were too anything. :)

5. tollers, who graciously fetched us from the airport to OVFF and didn't even ask for a tip. :)

6. braider, who graciously ferried us *to* the airport, with a quick tour of Columbus, including an awesome stop at the Bookloft on the way! I remember missing out on a Bookloft trip during my first OVFF, so I was *really* glad to finally get to see it! And y'know, I bought books, of course, 'cause I am physically incapable of entering a bookstore without spending money.

(And she didn't ask for a tip, either.)

7. Everyone who voted for us for "Emerald Green". Seriously, my mind is still kinda blown. Our two trophies are on the windowsill next to mine from last year, and it makes me deeply happy every time I look at them shining there.

8. My family, who, though they excel at driving me nuts, are, in ways that count, pretty awesome.

9. runnerwolf, without whom Conflikt would literally not be happening.

10. tfabris, who puts up with so much from me right now that I don't even know where to begin.

11. gfish. (My marriage really *does* go to eleven!)

And many, many other people too numerous and awesome to mention. You know who you are. Love.

I am sitting in the Saturday filk circle, across from Michael Longcor, and I've just requested him to play "Blacksmith of Brandywine".

I dedicate this request to gfish.

Happy Anniversary! :)

(He is following it up with another song written by the same songwriter [John Garvey] called "It's Quite a Lovely Painting, Mrs. Custer."

I'd just like to note that I wouldn't be here at all if Fishy hadn't gotten me into filk in the first place.

I love my life.)

Two things:

First: The Pegasus Ballot is Up!

This is the ballot for this year's Pegasus Awards, which are awards founded by/at the Ohio Valley Filk Festival to honor excellence in filking. (Those links and the FAQ can tell you what you need to know if you aren't familiar with the Pegasus awards.)

You don't have to be attending OVFF to vote. It's a community award-- you just have to consider yourself a filker. (Who's a filker? Anyone who thinks they are! Seriously, if you like filk, you're a filker.)

Massive congratulations to all the nominees! This year's ballot is one hell of a field-- I seriously have no idea yet how I'm voting in ANY category.


Second: My dear friend Seanan McGuire, who, if you don't know yourself, you may know through the number of her songs that I cover, continues to hold online art auctions for bits of her original art. These range from gaming and gamefic art, to art based on her music and featured in her albums or her behind the music site, to cartoons of her insane friends. Ahem.

Auction #1 is closed. Auction #2 is here but may be closing soon. Auction #3 is here, and may, depending on response, run through the long weekend. And then there may be more!

I'm planning to attempt this trick myself pretty soon-- once I can get my shtuff together-- so I'm hoping it works well! :D

This has been written over the course of ...pretty much the entire time since OVFF. :) I finally typed it into my laptop while waiting for my flight to Oakland on Friday, but had no internet then. So, here it is! I am sure I have forgotten many things and people. My brain was fuzzy even at the time; now that it's later I'm even fuzzier. At this point I frankly don't even remember what I wrote. Proceed at your own risk! Or something.

Friday, November 10, 2006
Well, here I am ostensibly on my way to go sing backup for cadhla on some things. Naturally, after worrying over being late due to bad traffic, I am here an hour early and the flight is delayed. And wifi at SeaTac isn't free (what's up with THAT?) So, what better time to work on my long-delayed OVFF con report?

I actually started writing this out longhand a couple weeks ago, when I didn't have my laptop and was watching West Wing with Fishy. I've been carrying the yellow legal pad around with me ever since. :)

(Note: My habit is to use the LJ name the first time I mention someone, and a plaintext name for them thereafter. I'm sure you can put it all together.)

( So! )

Best Battle Song: March of Cambreadth
Best Torch Song: X-Libris
Best Composer: Cynthia McQuillin
Best Performer: Judi Miller
Best Classic Filk Song: I Wanna Be Peter Lorre
Best Filk Song: The Girl That's Never Been

HOLY COW

IwonIwonIwonIwonIWON!!!

I had nothing prepared to say because I didn't really think it would happen. Just as Erica was about to say the name I thought, "Maybe I should have prepared a speech... nah..."

...and then she said my name.

I'm told that "shock and awe" is what described my face. I actually looked at the statue just to make sure it really said that before I spoke. I'm pretty sure I said some things but I have no idea what they were. I hope they were nice things. I hugged a whole lot of people. I mostly just remember bouncing a lot and going "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!" And I think I said a silent "HOLY FUCK" to Alisa and Taunya and Seanan. And then I got hugged more by a whole lot MORE people.

There are a lot of people I should have thanked, specifically-- gfish, for getting me into all of this in the first place; Jordi Sears for being probably the person most responsible for spreading that song around the east coast; Tony for being my ever patient guitarist; Xia and Fishy my dad and our recording engineer for making the CD possible; Karen Rall for being responsible for getting me on stage for the first time; Smac and Cat and Callie and Jeff and Andrew and the countless other filkers who were encouraging along the way--

--but the list gets too long and I'll never stop-- and I want to name EVERYONE--

and so I thank everyone. Every single one of you. I mean it.

PS: John and Merav noted that, amusingly, the statue could be read as dedicated to the girl that's never been Michelle Dockrey. Which, y'know, she hasn't been, so. :)

PPS: Hey Fishy-- they spelled it right. :D

So, I really should post about this too, but I am too lazy busy at work to come up with my own post. So I'm largely going to quote from this post of tfabris's:

But right now, I think my favorite thing is this. Vixy and I are in the process of recording her second album, and although the album probably won't be finished for quite a while, we've got several songs polished enough to put on a CD. We're only making one copy available, and it's not for sale. It's being donated to Interfilk. If you want this, you have to come to OVFF, come to the Interfilk auction on Saturday night, and bid your precious little heart out.

As you can see from the photo, in addition to the CD, we'll be including lyric sheets with full chord charts. The CD itself sounds really fantastic, with three nearly-complete songs, two quite-listenable scratch tracks, and an instrumental version of one of the songs, in case you wanted to sing along karaoke-style. Click here to read the complete liner notes if you want to know exactly what's on the disc. And if you're really interested in hearing it before you bid, poke me or Vixy at some point during the con, and maybe we'll have time to arrange a preview listening for you.

I don't know whether he actually means we'll play you the CD, or we'll sing something for you. In either case, poke gently. :)

(Go click that pretty photo link, by the way. I'm really proud of how it came out.) :)

In other news, WOW am I NOT READY for OVFF. But ready or not, here I come, Columbus! See you on Thursday!