Re-wrapped the finger, no blood but there would have been if I hadn't peroxided and iodioned it. This time the plastic wrap did not protect it in the shower so had to re-wrap it, no plastic because the finger really needs to breathe.
Half a banana and a Kind bar, quick check of email & FB, then off to Milpitas. No rush hour so took the freeway, was there in 15 minutes.
10 am session with Vanessa from Alberta started with 3 people, but grew to fill the room. Most filk events are open ended and you don't miss much if you're late, but this was a structured class, so being late was not good. She started by teaching us a song found on a Roman tombstone circa 1 AD. It had both words and trop on the stone - trop being musical markings. She presented this as the oldest complete written song we know of. I thought the trop in the torah were older but further research shows those did not appear for many centuries.
She had three songs written in Greek which were Roman songs - Greek being the lingua franca of the Roman poets, apparently. She came across as fluent in ancient Greek, among other languages. She has a beautiful, trained voice as well. And she is the same kind of beautiful as my cousin Shana in England. All through the con I couldn't take my eyes off her - she would be a great portrait model. A pity she is significantly othered and 2500 miles away.
Vanessa Cardui The splotches are from the disco multi-colored lights they were using.
Visits to the con suite were next, it wasn't as jammed with chairs, and there was coffee cake and dark chocolate.
2-fers were from noon till about 1, I was second to last. I did okay, but audience reaction was tepid. Lem was next, he had some tuning issues and didn't get the applause he deserved.
Then 3 concerts. Infilktion with Char was loud and mostly boring, I left in the middle.
Concert by Vanessa was amazing. A wide range of subjects, and very filk oriented. Audience loved it.
Toyboat did straight rock and roll, no hint of sci-fi content.
Then the Interfilk auction, which was slow and mostly alcohol, which is something new. Very few CDs of filk music - Harold's passing left a huge dent.
Blind Lemming Chiffon (an old friend from Denver) and I went to dinner at the Halal Chinese place across the street. Plan A was the Malaysian place, but it has been replaced by "Fusion Noodles" - all Chinese, Shechuan from the looks of the posters. I had the worst chowmein noodles ever, but there was all kinds of meat and seafood in it, so I mostly left the noodles on the plate. He had chicken moo shoo, which disappeared quickly.
It was cold and very windy both directions.
Back for more concerts:
Sunni Larsen, who sings beautifully but plays violin even better. She mostly sang. Vixy & Tony backed her up for much of the concert, I have not seen them in a while and they both have been on the same diet as me, it looks like. Sad because unlike me they were trim not too long ago.
Tomboat = Toyboat + Tom Smith wrapped things up. It started great with Tom singing some group participation filk numbers, but then took a turn to the dark side, heavy rock songs. I guess that's what happens when you have a rock band behind you.
Was asked by a new fan, Tamara, if I had sung a lullaby at last year's 2-fers, but sadly I was not there last year. She said it inspired her to sing this year. Gave her my card. On my way out (9-ish) I dropped by the filk circle room and gave Vanessa my card.
Home in 12 minutes. Or was it 15? Less than 45.
Shot up (I forgot at dinner) took meds. BP was high.
Nobody's on Twitch. Have been keeping track of FB all day - my Hilton Honors membership gets me free wi-fi at the con hotel.
Plans for tomorrow:
Breakfast
2-fers at the con start at noon - will look forward to Tamara
Tom Smith at 1, hopefully he will perform the music I came to hear
May stay for Jeff & Maya's - but may bail if they go all rock star or morose on us. 50% chance of that.
Definitely leaving before the Rock Jam.
Do some shopping at 99 Ranch across the street. Lamyay if they have it, maybe a lobster or two if the price is right - they don't say online. Coconut water
Charge the car
Catch up on Tivo
