Entry tags:
Constitution - con report
This weekend, Henry and I went to Constitution. It's a small con, but one I'm very fond of. It has existed several times under various names. It's a combined SF, filk, RPG convention. As I like all three of these, and also like small cons set in universities (cheap accommodation and nice grounds to walk in), it's a winner all round.
The SF part is technically Unicon, and I think the gaming part is the British Roleplaying Society (or something like that) and the filk part is Harmuni. Somehow, these three cons blend into one and gain several benefits thereby.
I was in for a fairly busy weekend.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ceb had asked me if I'd like to be on a couple of panels and I'd said yes. Then, she asked if I'd like to help organise the backstage stuff for the cabaret that was part of one of the freeform games. I've always admired what clarence does when she takes on this job, so I said I'd like to give that a try as well. Then I looked at the other freeforms and decided to try something new, so I signed up for the Ars Magica Second Tribunal game.
Then, things got a little more interesting. The holiday camp freeform game that the cabaret was to be part of was cancelled, as not enough people had signed up.crazyscot and I decided to carry on with the cabaret anyway. He would be doing the sound desk and I'd deal with the rest. We only had three names for the cabaret at that point (including Alcuin and Cardinal Cox) and the third dropped out on hearing that the freeform game had been cancelled.
Lesser souls might have quailed at this point...
However, if there's one thing I've learnt from experience with Redemption and Orbital it is that a cabaret can succeed, but ONLY if you make it clear that you will run it come hell or high water. If people believe that you really mean it and that you won't chicken out if you only get three acts, then they start to emerge from the woodwork.
The second thing I've learnt is that it's no use waiting for them to volunteer, you have to go and ask them personally. I emphasise that word personally. If you issue a general request for volunteers, as I did in my LJ a week or so ago, you will be lucky if you get a single person. If you sit down next to someone in the bar and get talking, you've a much better chance.
Rule number three - never stop asking. I asked Rafe for help, knowing full well that he would find some good filkers for me. He did. He persuaded 'Playing Rapunzel' and Christo (seriously good musicians and you can buy their CD's from their respective web pages). I then asked more filkers myself after one of the filk sessions (which I was at anyway as I love good filk) and Nat and Tom volunteered. Patrick and Owen actually put their names on the sign-up sheet without me asking them! (I suspect their dad talked them into it). Peter, David and Roz were mugged by me in random corners of the convention and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seph_hazard got 'volunteered' by email just before the con as I know she can do a stonking version of some classic cabaret songs.
Rule four - take material with you. Several of my last minute volunteers had material that they either had on them or had memorised, but one of my Les Barker poems got used (Daschunds with Erections can't climb stairs), and my print out of "Three HaPence a Foot' was given a brilliant rendition by Roz (another Stanley Holloway fan).
Rule five - do something yourself. I'd done a poi routine at Redemption, but I'd still not fully recovered from a really bad bout of flu a couple of months before. I don't know how badly it showed to the audience, but I knew I'd made several bad mistakes and my son Kelvin watching from the tech desk confirmed my count. So, I decided to do the same one again, which meant a LOT of practice as I'd gotten rusty. Every spare ten mins when I wasn't in a programme item or chatting to friends, I nipped outside and ran through it, gradually committing it to memory and rehearsing the linking moves in particular. It's easy (okay, for given values of 'easy') to do different moves in poi - the challenge is to work out how to keep the linking move smooth. How do you get from a weave to a helicopter? (In that particular case, it turns out to be much easier if you use a reverse weave) I finally managed to run through without a mistake about an hour before the sound check began...
Rule six - You want some really good acts, but don't forget that the cabaret is for all skill levels, so don't turn anyone away (besides, you can't always tell in advance who the good acts will be). Our youngest performers, Patrick and Owen, looked pretty nervous, so I put them early in the running order so they could do their act and then relax. The audience were supportive as a good fannish audience will be, and I hope the boys will be encouraged and go on to do more.
The sound check went like a charm. The half hour stagger of the evening meal, which was an annoyance in some regards, meant that people ate either early or later and arrived at intervals, so no one had to wait long for their turn.
I tried to keep a good mix of styles and so forth in the running order and ended with the poi as that needed all the mikes moved out of the way. Conveniently, that was the only stage reset that we needed.
The actual cabaret itself went like a charm. The performers were all there ten mins in advance, took up their reserved seats on the front row and went through their acts without a single hitch. Not only that, there were some seriously good performances. The audience stayed with us right to the end and, I manged the poi with no mistakes! I had people afterwards (and even one person on the next day) telling me how much they'd enjoyed the show. I can honestly say that it was one of the best convention cabarets I've been to.
Moral? Never underestimate fannish talent. (and be very grateful for people who are willing to spend time rehearsing pieces they've never done before) Also, remember that fandom includes professional performers like Christo and Cardinal Cox (I tried to find a You Tube performace of the Cardinal's performances of his poetry, as reading the words doesn't really give you an idea of how good he is, but I failed.)
I enjoyed the whole thing enormously. I like organising things, especially when they turn out really well!
The SF part is technically Unicon, and I think the gaming part is the British Roleplaying Society (or something like that) and the filk part is Harmuni. Somehow, these three cons blend into one and gain several benefits thereby.
I was in for a fairly busy weekend.
ceb had asked me if I'd like to be on a couple of panels and I'd said yes. Then, she asked if I'd like to help organise the backstage stuff for the cabaret that was part of one of the freeform games. I've always admired what clarence does when she takes on this job, so I said I'd like to give that a try as well. Then I looked at the other freeforms and decided to try something new, so I signed up for the Ars Magica Second Tribunal game. Then, things got a little more interesting. The holiday camp freeform game that the cabaret was to be part of was cancelled, as not enough people had signed up.
crazyscot and I decided to carry on with the cabaret anyway. He would be doing the sound desk and I'd deal with the rest. We only had three names for the cabaret at that point (including Alcuin and Cardinal Cox) and the third dropped out on hearing that the freeform game had been cancelled.Lesser souls might have quailed at this point...
However, if there's one thing I've learnt from experience with Redemption and Orbital it is that a cabaret can succeed, but ONLY if you make it clear that you will run it come hell or high water. If people believe that you really mean it and that you won't chicken out if you only get three acts, then they start to emerge from the woodwork.
The second thing I've learnt is that it's no use waiting for them to volunteer, you have to go and ask them personally. I emphasise that word personally. If you issue a general request for volunteers, as I did in my LJ a week or so ago, you will be lucky if you get a single person. If you sit down next to someone in the bar and get talking, you've a much better chance.
Rule number three - never stop asking. I asked Rafe for help, knowing full well that he would find some good filkers for me. He did. He persuaded 'Playing Rapunzel' and Christo (seriously good musicians and you can buy their CD's from their respective web pages). I then asked more filkers myself after one of the filk sessions (which I was at anyway as I love good filk) and Nat and Tom volunteered. Patrick and Owen actually put their names on the sign-up sheet without me asking them! (I suspect their dad talked them into it). Peter, David and Roz were mugged by me in random corners of the convention and
seph_hazard got 'volunteered' by email just before the con as I know she can do a stonking version of some classic cabaret songs. Rule four - take material with you. Several of my last minute volunteers had material that they either had on them or had memorised, but one of my Les Barker poems got used (Daschunds with Erections can't climb stairs), and my print out of "Three HaPence a Foot' was given a brilliant rendition by Roz (another Stanley Holloway fan).
Rule five - do something yourself. I'd done a poi routine at Redemption, but I'd still not fully recovered from a really bad bout of flu a couple of months before. I don't know how badly it showed to the audience, but I knew I'd made several bad mistakes and my son Kelvin watching from the tech desk confirmed my count. So, I decided to do the same one again, which meant a LOT of practice as I'd gotten rusty. Every spare ten mins when I wasn't in a programme item or chatting to friends, I nipped outside and ran through it, gradually committing it to memory and rehearsing the linking moves in particular. It's easy (okay, for given values of 'easy') to do different moves in poi - the challenge is to work out how to keep the linking move smooth. How do you get from a weave to a helicopter? (In that particular case, it turns out to be much easier if you use a reverse weave) I finally managed to run through without a mistake about an hour before the sound check began...
Rule six - You want some really good acts, but don't forget that the cabaret is for all skill levels, so don't turn anyone away (besides, you can't always tell in advance who the good acts will be). Our youngest performers, Patrick and Owen, looked pretty nervous, so I put them early in the running order so they could do their act and then relax. The audience were supportive as a good fannish audience will be, and I hope the boys will be encouraged and go on to do more.
The sound check went like a charm. The half hour stagger of the evening meal, which was an annoyance in some regards, meant that people ate either early or later and arrived at intervals, so no one had to wait long for their turn.
I tried to keep a good mix of styles and so forth in the running order and ended with the poi as that needed all the mikes moved out of the way. Conveniently, that was the only stage reset that we needed.
The actual cabaret itself went like a charm. The performers were all there ten mins in advance, took up their reserved seats on the front row and went through their acts without a single hitch. Not only that, there were some seriously good performances. The audience stayed with us right to the end and, I manged the poi with no mistakes! I had people afterwards (and even one person on the next day) telling me how much they'd enjoyed the show. I can honestly say that it was one of the best convention cabarets I've been to.
Moral? Never underestimate fannish talent. (and be very grateful for people who are willing to spend time rehearsing pieces they've never done before) Also, remember that fandom includes professional performers like Christo and Cardinal Cox (I tried to find a You Tube performace of the Cardinal's performances of his poetry, as reading the words doesn't really give you an idea of how good he is, but I failed.)
I enjoyed the whole thing enormously. I like organising things, especially when they turn out really well!
no subject
I'm wishing I'd gone along to it now but unfortunately we went out for dinner on Saturday night and didn't get back 'til quite late.
I had even written a poem for it and was wondering whether to perform it or not (I felt some apprehension that I might get lynched).
It was yet another reworking of the poem 'If' and maybe a little out of date (we fans are not quite so socially inept as we once were) but being out of date and occasionally inaccurate has never stopped me before so I'll post it here:
If
If you can talk when others don't want to hear
and ramble on long past when you should stop
If you can walk whilst reading a book
and know the whereabouts of every bookshop
If you can read and not tire of reading
tho' others may point and stare
yet you continue blithely on
with ne’er a worry nor care.
If you can dream without emotion
and consider reason is all
If you meet with nuance and subtext
and fall not under their thrall
If you reject the small talk of others
and consider it the domain of fools
who use it to do you down
with inanity as their tools.
If you can debate beer forever and a day
If you can take a single rule and argue without end
If social norms you fear and go your own way
With regular folk you do not blend
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With a libraries worth of fun
Yours is your universe and everything that’s in it
And which is more, you’ll be a fan my son.
no subject
no subject
If you can talk when others are not listening,
and ramble on long past when you should stop;
If you can walk and read while never tripping,
and know the whereabouts of each bookshop;
If you can read and never tire of reading,
tho' others point a finger, laugh and stare;
If you can turn the next page, never heeding,
And give their scorn and laughter not a care:
If you like that version (and aren't offended by me altering it), then I'll happily work on you with the other verses when we next see one another. (It's easy for me, I can work scansion almost by instinct when it's a Kipling poem)
We'll be having a cabaret at Odyssey...
no subject
As you spotted I haven't yet quite got my ear attuned to the Kipling rhythm but those few tweaks you made really captured it.
I'm far from offended you decided to spend some time on it. I actually feel quite honoured you felt it was worth while doing so.
no subject
We'll definitely get it ready for the Odyssey cabaret (if you're coming, that is). Grab me next time you see me and we'll get the other two verses to the rhythm as well.
no subject
Reading your report is fantastic!
no subject
Some things become automatic when you've run a lot of events. eg. You see the gamers playing in the dark and you automatically look for the venue staff who have the master key for the lights. You don't even bother looking for a committee member, because you know what the solution to the problem is.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Cabaret Excellent.
Bloody Hell, Seph Hazard can sing. And she has a great stage presence - something which I have not seen in a long time. If she decides to make a career in show business I think she will be quite successful.
I enjoyed Patrick and Owen's song a lot. It may help that I recognised the "pop" song they were performing and thought that it was a good choice for one voice and one guitar. - especially a young voice.
Chris Conway is always entertaining - in a professional kind of way. (I'm thinking he could appear in Little Britain saying "I'm a proFESSIONal"). Apparently we all need to encourage
> I'd done a poi routine
I'm going to swear again. Bloody Hell. I remember just a few years ago I was teaching you how to do a basic 3 beat weave and now I've seen you do a perfect routine with between 20 and 30 tricks/weaves in time to music. Wow. This was a seminal moment for me in my poi hobbying. I bought two new sets of poi last Thursday and hadnt really practiced with them yet. You've given me the impetus to learn a few more moves. So yesterday I got out my new poi socks, found Nick Cann on YouTube, and practiced for ages whilst watching Mission Impossible 2 on the tv. The socks I bought are a bit like yours - and easier to use inside.
Re: Cabaret Excellent.
I think those two lads have potential. It takes real guts to sing for an audience at Owen's age.
Well, I've just renewed my ZZ9 membership, so if we meet up at a slouch/picnic, I'll bring my poi along and teach you a new trick (and techniques for doing links if you're interested).
Think of yourself as an inspiring teacher. Getting the weave to work gave me the impetus to do more.
The sock poi are very good for wraps and buzz-saw moves, but do have some limitations.
See here for a good site for learning tricks. http://www.homeofpoi.com/lessons_all/teach/Library-POI-3_0_0
Re: Cabaret Excellent.