Gafilk Part 3: The Brobdingnagian Bards

Busybusy. As I've mentioned before, I'm using Scrivener to work on my graphic novel. After much research and several false attempts, I've finished background notes, character notes and a plot arc for the series as well as the first book. Instead of writing the first book from start to finish, though, I'm writing scenes instead.

I can picture certain scenes in my head that I want included, so I'm writing the scripts for those first; when I'm finished scripting the scenes, I'll arrange them into logical order and then fill in missing scenes to make up the chapters.

It's not how I write my novels but this method feels much more natural for me; hopefully it'll all work out in the end. :-)

But back to my GAfilk report! Continuing from Part 1 and Part 2, here's Part 3...



Thanks to Interfilk, GAfilk got The Brobdingnagian Bards (pronounced brob-din-nahg-EE-en) this year, a Celtic Renaissance music duo from Austin, Texas whose members are Marc Gunn (autoharp and vocals) and Andrew McKee (recorder, mandolin, vocals).

Andrew:


Marc:


I had never heard of them before GAfilk and found their performance highly entertaining, full of humor and energy. The Bards apparently have a huge following, especially at DragonCon, a big media convention in Atlanta. And of course their following is even bigger now, after GAfilk!

The Bards are on MySpace, an official Web site, were ranked as one of the top 20 bands on the original MP3.com, were headliners at the Oscar party for the The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and even have their own comic strip! I notice Marc's also on MySpace and on Livejournal.



Marc was one of my favourite photographic subjects at GAfilk. Partly because he wasn't camera-shy at all (the opposite, in fact :-D) but mainly because he was always so animated and having fun.

Here he is with VoiceOfKiki (I have no idea what they're doing and I'm not going to ask):



With Tanya Huff:



The Bards were also very good sports during the Interfilk auction; I suspect they had never attended one before, but learned about "wenching" very quickly. :-D

'Twas also fun to sit in on an Irish music session Saturday afternoon with Andrew, Mary and Amy:



Above: one of the things I love about GAfilk -- with only one track of programming and lots of "breaks," there are plenty of opportunities for impromptu music jams to spring up here and there, like the one above.

Anyway, I enjoyed meeting both Marc and Andrew and hope to see the Bards perform again sometime.

You can see my GAfilk photos on Flickr.




Livejournal comments

GAfilk report (part 2)

In my last Blathering post, I mentioned that one of our Squirrelbuster feeders was busted. Well, the company wrote back right away and said they were going to send me a replacement ring. In fact, turns out that the rings for an older version of the Squirrelbuster feeders was made of METAL, so I'm going to try that out.

Our neighbourhood squirrels are going to be SO frustrated. Heh.

GAfilk report so far: Part 1. Here's Part 2...



The GoHs at the convention were Maya and Jeff Bohnhoff. I first saw the Bohnhoffs perform out on the West coast years ago, and was blown away. Jeff has come to visit; he and my Jeff got along right away...they're both Apple technogeeks and also like similar types of music. As I posted back then, it was pretty clear to me that I could easily walk away from their conversation and neither of them would notice. :-)

I've visited the Bohnhoffs a couple times since, with and without my Jeff, and can say without hesitation that Jeff and Maya are just as nice/cool at home as they seem to be at conventions. We try to get together whenever we can, but unfortunately this isn't nearly as often as I'd like. Geography sucks sometimes.



Here's a cartoon I made to accompany the bio I wrote about the Bohnhoffs in the GAfilk program book:



Anyway, the Bohnhoffs' concert was fantastic. They both put so much energy into their performance, and I could listen to Maya sing forever. As for Jeff's guitar skills -- well, I'm convinced that he must be faking it somehow. There's a tiny machine with loudspeakers inside his guitar(s), and he's just going through the motions. That has to be the case, else his fingers should be falling off during some of those wailing guitar solos.

I'm jealous of those attending the British Filk convention this year because they get the Bohnhoffs as guests! Jeff and Maya are also going to be at Duckon (Naperville, Illinois) in June.

More GAfilk highlights coming soon.

Meanwhile, here are a few more fridge magnets I've posted in my Etsy store recently:



I'll be posting more Valentine-themed paintings in the next day or two, like You Always Seem To Know Exactly What I Need.



Livejournal comments

GAfilk (part 1) and a busted Squirrel Buster

Got back from GAfilk late last night. It was truly a relaxacon for me this year...I had zero commitments and spent my time attending some of the concerts, hanging out and chatting, listening to music, sometimes noodling along on my flute.

Many kudos and thanks to the GAfilk concom, who always do a fantastic job at making this convention unique in its atmosphere and programming. I'm going to write more about GAfilk once I've caught up with work and e-mail a bit, but felt compelled to do a mini-rant about (surprise surprise) squirrels first.

The t-shirt pictured at the top of the page was a gift from my friend Mary Crowell, whose band Play It With Moxie is featured every year at GAfilk's Saturday banquet and dance. Here's a photo I took of Mary this past weekend:

Anyway, the t-shirt is especially appropriate because I came home to find our Squirrel Buster feeder was VANDALIZED BY SQUIRRELS WHILE I WAS GONE. The furry little beasts have chewed enough of the plastic ring (which the birds perch on) so that the metal screws won't properly fit anymore, and the ring falls off.

In other words, the squirrels have managed to figure out how to keep the birds out of the seed even though they still can't get at the seed themselves.

Grrrr.

Jeff has used some wire for a temporary fix, but I've also written to Brome, the company that made the Squirrel Buster, and let them know as well ask if those plastic rings are available separately. I've also helpfully pointed out that entering the term "squirrelbuster" in Google turns up my Blathering post as the first result right now.

Speaking of customer service, remember I posted that my copy of Cybele's secret was missing pages? Well, I wrote to Pan Australia and the publisher is going to send me a new copy, yay!

More on GAfilk soon. I'm also gradually uploading some of my photos from the weekend to my Flickr set, for those interested.

By the way, I've added some more Dirty/Clean dishwasher signs to my Etsy shop, if you're interested (see the left-hand sidebar pics on this page).

Livejournal comments