What's In A Name?

Chris and I trekked up to Tempe last night for the opening evening of FiestaCon (which is also Westercon 62). With everything so crazy at work over the past month, I hadn't paid attention to who was attending. And OMG! Last night I was in a filk circle with Leslie Fish! How cool is that? (for my non-filk friends who have no idea what this post is all about - take my word for it - it was majorly cool)

Had a great evening and swapped lots of great songs.

Before the circle started, I sat on the Semi-Instant Filk panel. We had a very small crowd at first and had a bit of a slow start extracting panel ideas but eventually someone supplied the words Nocturnal, Robot and Algae. An alternative set of words was also supplied, but I was already off and running with the first and wasn't paying a lot of attention. The result?

Marvin's Song
by Mel Tatum
tto: Annie's Song (John Denver)

The nocturnal robot and the pond full of algae
He was manic depressive and he wanted to see
the green glowing carpet laying over the water
He rusted his chassis, he's frozen in place

Please help him unfreeze
Do you have some oil handy?
He is drowning before you
He needs oil right now
Look - the water is rising
soon hell be no more with us
Please help him unfreeze
Before he drowns

The nocturnal robot and the pond full of algae
He was manic depressive, now he's drowning you see
He was once known as Marvin, now he's just frozen metal
He flooded his chassis, he's Marvin no more.

I just updated my filk site with five songs - the two I posted here this week and three I discovered I had forgotten to upload.

meltatum.wordpress.com

As always, everything posted there is available under a Creative Commons non-commercial, attribution, share alike license

At Balticon, the filk circle one night started by singing silly childhood songs, and I got to thinking how many of the ones I remembered dealt with food of one sort or another. Then they got mushed together in my brain, and the result was what I am called the Menu Song. This doesn't really have a tune yet - just basically follow the rhythm of "great green gobs":

My best friends are Susie, Pam and Lizzie Jane
We live on the same street. We all hate that Elaine
Our moms made us ask her if she wants to play
so she's coming over and we'll have a party

We're serving
great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts
with a side of meatball garnished with a peanut
cake made out of itsy bitsy spider bits
pureed cream of earthworm topped with some chewing gum
peeled from the bedpost.

I just saw my boyfriend with some other girl
they were in a liplock; Makes me wanna go hurl
No man treats me like I am disposable
I've been plotting vengeance, gonna cook his last meal

I'm serving
great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts
with a side of meatball garnished with a peanut
cake made out of itsy bitsy spider bits
pureed cream of earthworm topped with some chewing gum
peeled from the bedpost.

Life has got a funny way of bringing joy
thought I'd have a daughter. Ended up with four boys
Love them dearly, but I think I run a zoo.
It is Peter's birthday. Can't believe the menu

I'm serving
great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts
with a side of meatball garnished with a peanut
cake made out of itsy bitsy spider bits
pureed cream of earthworm topped with some chewing gum
peeled from the bedpost.

Today was a great day, musically speaking.

Before work, I had a skype lesson with my flute teacher - there's an 8 hour difference between here and Dublin, so the lesson is right before work for me and early evening for him. This was the second lesson - the first was a week ago. I've been struggling for months with my new wood flute; I just can't seem to get it under control and I've been spinning my wheels with no forward progress. With a little guidance from a great teacher, I catapulted out of the rut this week and made substantial forward progress. I do believe he was impressed. I know I was thrilled. Because not only did I make progress on the flute, I made progress in learning by ear, which has been a major bugaboo for me.

Then after work I had my very first voice lesson. I've been trying for a year to find a teach willing to work with an adult novice. I found one here in Tucson, and she not only has experience with adult novices, she has a wide range of teaching experience, AND she is familiar with Irish and Scottish music. And we isolated several things I was doing wrong, and the fixes were fairly straightforward. Woohoo.

Then shortly after I got home, a friend from Oklahoma called. I had sent him the lyrics to a Christmas song I wrote - the first time I every wrote just to the rhythm of the words, and not with a melody. I don't "hear" melodies, so I've been using traditional tunes as the basis for many of my songs. My friend hears melodies, but not lyrics, so I sent him the lyrics to see what he would come up with. I thought it was a good song, but fairly pedestrian in parts. He called to see what I thought of what he'd come up with and played it for me over the phone. I was in tears halfway through. It was SO much better than anything I've ever imagined. It was not only hearing the words come to life, it was realizing that they'd graduated from college and landed an amazing job, when I figured they would be sacking groceries with a GED. Mega, major coolness. Sniff. He's going to fine tune it and record it and send it to me over the next week. I can't wait.

Life is good.

I love Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series - and tonight this song just started falling in to place - as long as you've read a dust jacket or seen an HBO trailer for True Blood, there shouldn't be any spoilers here:

This Here's Bon Temps
tto: Master of the House (from Les Mis)

This here’s Merlotte’s the local bar
We welcome all despite who you are
You must behave, that is our rule
No starting fights or wrecking the stools
And if you are wise
you’ll heed our advice
cuz some things may not be
what they seem to be

Shifter at the bar, vampire in a booth
Oh my god, I think that he just said forsooth!
It’s a little weird, knowing that he’s dead
knowing that he watched a French king lose his head
We’re a crossroads here in Bon Temps
Everything from Were to Fey
So do not be surprised
when you find that dog is not a stray!

Check out our barmaid, Sookie is her name
She is special in a telepathic way
Serving up the beer, handling the crowd
Pickin’ up their stray thoughts when they broadcast loud
Tara thinks her date is boring
Jason thinks he’s getting laid
No wonder she likes vampires
It’s because they have a quiet brain

Eric runs a bar; Pam she helps him out
Fangtasia is fun of that you cannot doubt
Look around the room, fang bangers galore
Who needs that New Orleans or that Lestat?
We’ve got our own local vampires
That’s enough for us ‘round here
So keep Jean-Claude and Asher
Really! We don’t need them to appear!

His name is Bill, he’s back in town
it’s been awhile, he roamed around
they’re after him, his blood to drain
but thanks to Sookie, he is okay
Sookie’s head o’er heels
words they don’t convey
She really does not care
What her friends will say

[note: skip musically to last verse]

Sookie and the Vamp
Setting tongues to wag
You would think that no one here had ever shagged
Vampires are real, time to readjust
Southerners must let loose of their prejudice
Some vamps they are going mainstream
they’ve achieve a life long dream
They are drinkin’ that True Blood
Even if it tastes like crud!
You cannot deny that life in Bon Temps is forever changed!

For those musicians in the Tucson area, mark your calendars for August 26 an 27. That's when you'll have the opportunity to take private lessons and/or workshops with the internationally renowned, award-winning musicians who make up the groups Cara and 2duos.

The bands are performing on Saturday August 29, at the Temple of Music and Art (for ticket information, see www.inconcerttucson.com). The bands are arriving in town early and will be available to teach private lessons and workshops on Wednesday August 26 and Thursday August 27. Private lessons are $40/hr and workshops are $30 each. For more information, or to register, contact me at melissaltatum AT yahoo DOT com. Please note these are not beginner workshops - students are expected to provide their own instruments and know how to play them. Whistles should be in the key of D.

Wednesday Aug 26 (Cara only): Private lessons available from 10am - 12:00noon and from 2:00-4:00pm on bodhran, fiddle, guitar, flute & whistle

Thursday Aug 27 (Cara + 2duos): private lessons and workshops
Private lessons available from 10am - 9pm on bodhran, fiddle, guitar, bouzouki, vocals, flute & whistle

Thursday workshop schedule (note: for fiddle, flute, guitar,and whistle, two teachers are available and the workshops will be divided into two skill levels where necessary)
4:30-5:45pm fiddle
4:30-5:45pm flute
6:00-7:15pm guitar
6:00-7:15pm bodhran
7:30-8:45 pm whistle

All events will be held at Rountree Hall on The University of Arizona campus.


Band biographies:

CARA tour world wide with their unique interpretation of Celtic music. They are rooted in traditional music and song, but their own exciting compositions have received wide critical acclaim. While the two female lead singers are surely a hallmark of the band, the quality standard for instrumentals and arrangements is equally high. Cara combine their mastery of vocals, piano, fiddle, flute, guitar, bodhrán, uilleann pipes, accordion and concertina with a dry-witted and very entertaining stage presence. For more about CARA, check out the band's websites at www.cara-music.com/english/ and www.myspace.com/caralive

2duos consists of four well renowned and successful musicians from Europe - two from Scotland and two from Germany - all with a passion for Irish, Scottish and German folk music. Demonstrating that the musical culture and heritage of their home countries does indeed have lots in common, 2duos have been wowing both audiences and critics alike with their unique blend of German, Irish and Scottish tunes since their formation in December 2006. For more about 2duos, check out their websites at www.2duos.com/ and www.myspace.com/2duos


Instructor biographies:

Patricia Clark is studying for a BA in Irish music and Dance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick. She taught at numerous festivals around Europe like Cambridge Folk Festival and Sidmouth Folk Week in the UK, Le Bono in France and many more. She also is a sought after teacher for masterclasses by musicians visiting Ireland. Toured with several international artists such as Altan, At First Light, Gráda and The Outside Track. Patricia plays fiddle and piano

Aaron Jones was voted ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ at the Scots Trad Music Awards 2005 and is also a member of award winning Scottish band ‘Old Blind Dogs’ - winners of ‘Folk Band of the Year’ at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2004 and 2007. He is in great demand as both an accompanist and a singer and continues to work with some of the biggest names in traditional music. He is also a founding partner in traditional music resource www.tradmusic.com, which launched in 2002. As well being a Committee Member for the Musicians Union of Scotland and Northern Ireland he is also an official accompanist at the prestigious BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Awards. Aaron sings and plays bouzouki and guitar.

Claire Mann has established herself as one of the leading performers and teachers of traditional Irish fiddle and flute. She has toured extensively worldwide with bands Tabache, Croabh Rua, The New Shoes, Tom McConville and Christy O’Leary and is also a tutor of traditional music on the renowned RSAMD and Newcastle University folk degree courses. Claire sings and plays flute, fiddle, and whistle.

Claus Steinort started playing the Irish Flute in 1989. He has been touring and recording with several bands, including Dereelium, Steampacket and Cara. Claus has spent a lot of time in Ireland in the 90s, including a semester in Dublin, where he studied applied languages. Claus has a diploma degree in applied languages (technical translation). He has taught Irish flute playing since 1996 at various occasions, mainly for the Uilleann Pipes Society of Germany, at Wimborne Folk Festival (UK) and various Folk Weeks across Germany. He also started playing the Uilleann Pipes in 2004 and is a master of ornamentation and interpreting a tune. He also plays and teaches tin whistle.

Juergen Treyz was classically trained on the piano and graduated in Jazz Guitar at the MGI Munich. He also got involved with medieval music as well as folk music from all over Europe. He combines his knowledge of harmonic structure with a sure taste in styles and is one of the most distinctive guitar players and arrangers in Celtic Music today. He also works as a composer for audio books, TV series, theatre plays and movies. He runs his own recording studio named artes Musikproduktion and produced a vast amount of CDs, both with his own music and as a producer for various bands.

Rolf Wagels started playing bodhrán in 1993 and was rated among the best bodhrán players of continental europe. He teaches all over Germany and is a member of the highly praised trad irish bands Cara, DeReelium and Steampacket. In June 2005, he was the first non-irish teacher at the renowned Bodhrán Summerschool "Craiceann" on Inis Oirr (Aran Islands) and was asked to return every year since. His style is a mixture of traditional pulse orientated playing and the more extroverted top end style. Webpage: http://www.bodhran-info.com and http://www.myspace.com/rolfwagels

Gudrun Walther was classically trained on the fiddle, but picked up folk music also from a very young age and combines the two styles in her fiddling. She studied in master classes with many internationally known fiddlers from Ireland, France, Germany and Scandinavia, and makes her living as a touring musician since 14 years. Gudrun is also a popular teacher for fiddle as well as for ensemble playing and arranging.

Chris and I spent the week after Balticon playing tourist in Washington, DC, then hit Gettysburg before attending a wedding in Pennsylvania and finally arriving back home today.

Chris had never been to DC and we secured a great deal on a hotel room four or five blocks north of the Mall, so we spent most of the week doing the museum thing. Saw:

National Museum of the American Indian - I still have mixed reactions to this museum - I like the concept but have reservations about its implementation - great food court

National Archives - saw the new Rotunda with the major documents - well done and the guard who was "on the gate" did a fabulous job of being stern yet a wry sense of humor and keeping things under control

Air & Space Museum - as always, one of my favorites

Natural History - Chris did this on his own as I went back to the hotel for a nap

American History - some good stuff, but all in all a bit of a disappointment - the exhibition on book illustration was really pretty lame after the Book of Kells and the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, and they had only a few First Lady Inauguration dresses on display

International Spy Museum - AWESOME! well worth the $18 admission fee. Cool exhibitions about spy gagetry and about women spies and the history of spying

National Portrait Gallery - nice exhibit on Lincoln with cool cell phone guided tour of that gallery - and the original of the now iconic Obama picture which I hadn't realized was a collage with some neat texture elements that don't usually get reproduced

National Geographic - 2 exhibits - one on illustrations of birds which was nice but which I think Chris the bird watcher got more out of - and a cool one with photos of big cats (lions and leopards mostly) taken by a husband/wife team

also did quick trips thru Arlington National Cemetery and the National Zoo (pandas!); took my Aunt in Arlington to dinner for her birthday; had lunch with podcaster friends; and dinner with a former member of a writers group who now lives in Annapolis

Major Disappointment: Didn't get to the Newseum (the journalism museum)

Major highlight: Gettysburg. Got there in time to book one of the Licensed Battlefield Guides who drives your car on a private 2 hour tour. Ours was not only fascinating and knowledgeable (and a good storyteller), he managed to work in enough landmarks - both physically and on the map - that I never got lost or disoriented - a major feat!

I created a space for my filk lyrics at meltatum.wordpress.com

I'll have everything up there tonight (or at least that's the plan

They're not in any order, but I activated the search function

And everything there is subject to a creative commons attribution-noncommercial-share alike license

Enjoy!

Apologies to everyone for the delays in responding to messages - I actually (gasp!) stepped away from the computer for the last few days of our vacation. I'll post a vacation report shortly, but first I'm going to answer comments and do a little catching up. I've noticed a bit of a backlog, tho, and I didn't want to anyone to think I was ignoring you!

At quadrivium's Kaffeeklatch at Balticon on Monday, the idea of Cthulhu as a household cleaner product was raised (don't ask how - it's a long story). It was decided we needed a jingle, but one was not forthcoming at the time. As happens with my snarkiest stuff usually, it popped out of the back-brain a while later. Here's my take at a jingle - to the tune of "I don't want to grow up; I'm a Toys R Us kid"

You don’t need chemicals, get a Cthulhu head
Just hold it up and germs will run, it frightens them dead!
From rooms to halls to shopping malls
it’ll clean it fit for a god! Jihad!
If you want to go green, be really eco-clean
You gotta get a Cthulhu head!

Slept in again Sunday, although not quite as late. Spent an enjoyable hour at the podcasting and music panel, which focused on ways to integrate music with podcasts and where to find music. Went to part of the Folk Songs for Kids of All Ages, which was part of the kids track and featured Mary Crowell, Gary Ehrlich, and Dave Clement doing round robin of songs for kids. Funny stuff, but I had to leave a little early because I wanted food and I wanted to catch part of Gary's concert on the Hrab stage in the lobby.

I spent most of the afternoon hanging out in the lobby, because it was a good place to listen to music, work on the talk I was presenting the next day, and chat with the occasional passer-by whom I happened to know. Which is why I happened to be there for the band Igor's Egg. As most of you know, Chris and I host house concerts and music workshops, and we travel to several Irish festivals. So we know lots of musicians, are on the periphery of the music promoter world, and see lots of situations where one band is following on the heels of another. Coming from that background, here's my take on Igor's Egg - talented bunch of folks but completely rude and totally self-absorbed and should NEVER be booked by anyone running any multi-band situation.

They started by dismantling the stage because it was "too small" for their set up - never mind they were on at 4pm and another performer who would need the stage was on at 5pm. I even overheard the discussion "where should we put the stage?" - "here close because Maugy is up next and will need it". I saw their set up and knew they were going to crank the volume waaaaayyyy tooo loud, so I relocated down the hallway, where they were indeed still too loud, but at least my ears weren't ringing later like the girls complaining about it in the bathroom.

And they didn't STOP performing until sometime between 5:15 and 5:20 - EVEN THOUGH THEY KNEW the next performer was scheduled to START at 5pm - never mind time for them to break down and him to set up. And during their breakdown, they piled stuff on about 25% of the available seating for the next guy's concert. Totally unprofessional and unacceptable. It also meant I had to miss part of Steve's concert because I had a 6:30 commitment (he was supposed to be over by then if he'd been able to start on time).

After a fun dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, it was a race back to the Theme Filk, which was Myths and Legends, which flowed directly into Open Filk. Nice variety of songs - three new instruments were present - a traveling guitar, a harp and a fiddle - which all added a nice touch, but I particularly enjoyed the fiddle which Marnen played extremely well, but most importantly he had a true knack for employing it very effectively in the group setting and it really enhanced the music. I did The Devil Made Texas (stolen from Ed Miller), Paksenarrion (tto Mrs Robinson) and Do You Watch a News Show (tto Do You Hear What I Hear).

Since this was Memorial Day Weekend, there was a Day Four of the con. That started with Mary Crowell's Kaffeeklatch, which was a lot of fun. Then I attended her workshop on riffs and fills, at which I learned a lot. Then it was my turn for my talk on Gender and Attitudes toward Copyright in the Filk Community. I think the talk went well, and I got some good feedback, and was totally chagrined when I ran 5 minutes over my 50 minute time slot - I was trying to watch the time, but got absorbed in the audience discussion. At least we got out (barely) before the next panel was supposed to start. We said our goodbyes, grabbed a quick lunch, and headed for DC where we are spending the next phase of our vacation.

Saturday started with me sleeping in til almost 10am - practically unheard of, even if it was somewhere between 1 and 2 AM when I left the filk room. Chris and I walked the half mile to an open air shopping center which has a Panera for a late breakfast. While it is a bit of a pain crossing a VERY large street (something like 5 lanes each way - but there is a walk/don't walk signal), it's really the perfect distance to stretch your legs and get out of the hotel for a bit. The shopping center has seven or eight food choices, ranging from sandwich shop to high brow, plus a grocery store, so it's rather convenient all in all.

I wanted to attend a panel on podcast hosting, so we didn't linger too long over brunch. But it turns out the panel was not about BEING the host of a podcast - as in the person talking. It was about the storage and downloading and delivery systems - as in being the computer and hosting service. Oops. Amazing how words can mean different things! The folks on the panel had lots of good info, but I left after 30 min because it was WAY too techie for me - my IT person at school deals with the miniscule demands for my itty bitty podcast.

Then I went to Bud Sparhawk's reading. I don't attend many readings, because I am a visual person and it is very difficult for me to pay attention aurally for more than 10 min or so when there's no visuals to which to link the audio. But Bud Sparhawk is one of my favorite Analog authors and even after I dropped my Analog subscription, if I see an issue on a newsstand with his name on the cover, I buy it. I met him for the first time at the Nebs in Tempe, and I'm afraid I did a bit of the fan girl gush. Most of his panels this weekend were at times when I had conflicts, so I made time for his reading, and I'm glad I did. It was something totally different for him - actually a futuristic Hamlet - but it was done very well and I actually paid attention the whole 50 minutes. Something of a miracle, and a testament to how good the story was and how much it captured my interest.

Then it was straight to Mary Crowell's GoH concert, which was fabulous. I'm not a gamer, but her Magic Missile song was fabulous. She did several others I hadn't heard before, and several old favorites, including ending with my all time favorite, Legolas (even if I drool over Aragorn when I watch the movies). The family in front of me were also great to watch - they clearly hadn't heard her before, and were also clearly gamers - and they were completely and totally hooked halfway through the first song.

Grabbed some food and a nap and then headed to dinner with Mary and Wesley Crowell - this was my first time to actually meet Wesley in person and I thoroughly enjoyed it - Steve Zeve, Dave Clement, and Anne didn't-get-her-last-name. We went to one of those Japanes steak houses where they cook in front of you, which was really cool but we were having such a good time talking we missed half the show.

Then it was off to Open Filk, which started as fun and ended as magical. The circle was off to a slow start, at least in terms of arrivals. At first it was some audience and the afore-mentioned female duo whose name I missed, and me. They had vocal training and proposed some warm ups which were terrifying to me as the total non-trained singer, so we ended up swapping songs from childhood which was a total riot. We had a blast, and when Gary and Sheryl arrived, I asked Gary for the Evil Overlord Rules song, which fit the mood really well. More singers drifted in, but there was a lot of reticence to jumping in, so the circle switched from chaos to bardic for a bit, and then went back to chaos when things got going. I did That T-Rex Sue (tto Johnny Cash's Boy Named Sue) and one I'd just finished called King of the Hacks (tto Devil Went Down to Georgia), and when Sheryl did one about con-running, I had to chime in with Be Our Pest. Gary also accompanied a new filker on a couple of really nice songs - I especially liked the one about the singularity. And there were several other really nice songs. Mary did Time Share Whorehouse for one, a song that always cracks me up.

But the magical part of the circle was listening to Steve Haug, Dave Clement, Mary Crowell and Robert Cooke trade songs and accompaniment and not only getting to enjoy their work, but also getting to watch the process of creation. In particular, Robert asked for help building an accompaniment for the a cappella Angel song I had liked so much at his concert. The stuff that Dave and Mary came up with fit so well and enhanced the song so much I had goosebumps by the time they were through. And the magic infected the whole circle, because no one disrupted the flow - those of us who had nothing to contribute to the process just sat back and let it flow over us, totally captivated. It was another late, but glorious night.

To be continued ...

First, I'm on vacation! Wheee! I'm actually on day four of vacation! Four and one-half months of 70-80 hour work weeks are over. I still have buckets of work to do, but it is now at the manageable level. And I'm getting caught up on sleep and relaxation - just spent a fabulous Memorial Day weekend at Balticon. Since I haven't been posting on a regular basis, let me start with a Balticon report, and then I'll catch up on other news in posts over the next couple of weeks.

After departing at o-dark-hundred (0430 to be exact) for the airport, we had a blessedly uneventful, if long, travel day. Flew to Albuquerque where we had all of a 30 min layover, flew into BWI, caught the train (90 minute ride) to a station a few blocks from the con hotel, got settled in, got food, got badges, and started having fun.

Balticon was where I started filking 2 years ago and it was great to be back. We traveled to Balticon 2 years ago because we had met Paul Fischer and Martha Holloway on a train in Scotland after the Glasgow Worldcon and become friends. Paul got Chris started in podcasting (and thru Chris, I got started podcasting). Since Paul and Martha work on the con we don't get to spend a lot of time with them, but it is nice to see them in person and we did get to chat a bit here and there.

I spent most of the weekend hanging out with the filkers, although I did pop into a few podcast panels. Friday at the con started with me attending a panel on pushing the boundaries of filk with Musical GoH Mary Crowell, who I met a couple of years ago at an Archon and who also performs with The Three Weird Sisters. Also on the panel were Rob Balder and Devo Spice of FuMP - the Funny Music Project - and Gary Ehrlich, who was coordinating the filk track.

Friday also featured concerts by Roberta Rogow and Robert Cooke - Robert did a hysterical version of an old Irish Standard pub song (it's late as I type this and my brain is totally drawing a blank on the original song but it's really famous and I'm going to feel totally stupid when it finally pops back into my brain) that featured a happy if rather dim dog. He also did an a cappella song inspired by the show Angel that was awesomely haunting and really cool.

Open Filk on Friday night was fun and low key. It basically did an almost complete turn over after midnight, so it was really 2 circles. Mary Crowell was there, as were two girls who performed as a duo and had some great stuff (I didn't catch their names), Dave Clement, Robert Cooke, Steve Haug, Mattie (blanking on the last name), Rob Balder, Gary Ehrlich and his wife Sheryl (MUST remember to ask what her last name is) and two guys from Bene Gesserit Witch who do a rock opera based on Dune. I did several well-received songs, including Technobabbletertiaryplasmagroundencoder. Sheryl did a Bash the Bulrog, and Dave followed up with a version set to that famous folk song (again blanking on title, but the chorus includes the line The Band Played Waltzing Matilda). And Dave (at my request) did Caledonia, which I had heard him do two years ago and adored his version. His voice is simply amazing and I could listen to him all night.

To Be Continued ....

The Fourth Episode of The Rountree Report podcast is up. It is the second of two podcasts recorded at the North Texas Irish Fest, and in it we journey (at least metaphorically) to Ireland, courtesy of my four musician guests - Daire Bracken, Eamonn de Barra, Mairtin de Cogain, and Eithne Ni Chathain - all of whom also speak Irish. We discussed topics ranging from language to culture to music and the connections between all of them. Many of the issues we discuss, particularly about the preservation of language, are shared by cultures around the globe.

The podcast can be accessed in three ways:

1) on the blog rountreereport.wordpress.com (no opening www)
2) on the website www.law.arizona.edu/depts/iplp
3) via a free download at iTunesU (search "rountree report" or navigate to University of Arizona then Law then rountree report)

It's been an interesting filk week.

Last weekend I finished my co-authored article exploring whether gender influences attitudes toward copyright in the filk community, which we submitted to a law review and presented at an awesomely fun conference in DC

Questions at the conference sparked a second esssay on identity and authenticity in the filk community, which went off to a peer reviewed journal on Friday

In the process, I exposed lots of folks to the filk world through clips of my favorite performers, which include Brooke Lunderville and John Caspell.

Then my June Xenofilkia arrived Friday am and it had one of my songs in it!! Woohoo! First time in Xenofilkia!

Then this morning I logged on to sff.net and saw John Caspell's name at the top and promptly hopped over to LJ to see what happened. I only met John once, but his music made a big impression on me. I know he will be missed.

Episode three of the Rountree Report podcast is now available! This installment of the Rountree Report, we venture far from both Rountree Hall and from the topic of law. As I’ve mentioned, the Rountree Report is focused not just on law, but on the protection and preservation of culture. Episode three takes us (at least metaphorically) to Scotland, which has three languages - English, Scots and Gaelic. For the interview portion of episode three, I spoke with Ed Miller, Scottish singer/songwriter, who also holds degrees in Folkore and Geography. We talk about Scottish culture, the Scots language, and the connection between place and culture.

For our From the Reviewer’s Corner installment, I take a look at two other Scottish singers - Jim Malcolm, who sings in both Scots and English and Julie Fowlis, who sings in Gaelic

There are three ways to listen:

1) on our website www.law.arizona.edu/law/depts
2) on our blog rountreereport.wordpress.com
3) download it from iTunesU (search for "rountree report")

Enjoy!

Went to the chuck jones gallery in santa fe. Must have "geek" stamped on my forehead because the gallery manager immediately spotted us as a mark. He was a great salesman but he shmoozed us differently than the other visitors and offered to bring out other cels from the back if we were interested in something. Which I was. He brought out a couple which made me drool and were of course twice my budget. He's checking on a couple of things before I make a final decision. We're in town 2 days and methinks art is likely to come home with us. Sigh. I am so weak

As part of my new job, I've started a podcast and we've just released the first episode. It's available on our blog at http://rountreereport.wordpress.com

The podcast will cover an eclectic variety of topics - its central theme is the protection and preservation of culture, which means each individual episode may cover anything from law to art to music to language or anything else relating to culture. While the primary emphasis will be Indian and Indigenous culture, they are not the exclusive focus of the podcast. We anticipate releasing one episode every two weeks or so, although the exact schedule may vary.

Our first program is a bit of a departure and not exactly what we had planned. We were originally planning a discussion about a cultural topic currently in the news, but just as we were finalizing our plans, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, a decision that has the potential for wide reaching impact in Indian law.

The case centers around a highly technical statutory interpretation issue regarding the Federal government's ability to take land into trust for Indian tribes, but that narrow technical focus conceals a wealth of policy issues. So for our inaugural podcast, Profession Kevin Washburn and I sat down within a week of the decision being handed down, and talked through some of those larger issues and speculate about some of the potential impact of the decision. This is probably the heaviest "legal" show we'll ever do, but since this podcast originates in a program focused on Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy, and since a land base is at the heart of any government's ability to protect and serve its citizens, we thought it important to explore this brand new decision.

Special thanks go to the band Injunuity for allowing us to use their song Indentation as our theme music. For more about this great band (recipient of the 2008 Debut Group of the Year Award from the Native American Music Awards), check out their website at www.injunuity.net

We hope you enjoy the podcast and keep checking back for more episodes!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the one negative spot about NTIF is that when I went to close my tab at the hotel bar Saturday night, I discovered the bartender had lost my credit card...then Chase's computer system was down ...then I needed some therapy, so of course I had to filk about it - this is to the tune of Margaritaville:

Had a great evenin'
Time to be leavin'
Head to the bar to settle my bill
Bartender tells me
I make her repeat
"Ma'am, I'm sorry we have lost your card."

I count to 10 again while they search the bar
lookin' for my lost credit card
bartender swears it's just an oversight
I don't care -
I'm really pissed off.

Okay, I give up.
It's not gonna show up
It's time to call and cancel the card
Wouldn't you know it
System is broken
"Ma'am, I'm sorry, we can't take your call."

I count to 10 again while they transfer me
cancelin' my lost credit card
Fraud alert says I won't be liable
I don't care -
I'm really pissed off.

I have no plastic
I'm waitin' on Fed Ex
They're gonna bring my new credit card
but in the meantime
I'll have a good time
I'm plotting and planning revenge oh so sweet

I count to 10 again as I write this song
documenting my lost credit card
If you should drink at a Radisson bar
Don't run a tab
on your credit card.

If you should drink at a Radisson bar
Don't run a tab
on your credit card

Chris and I traveled to Dallas this weekend for the 27th annual North Texas Irish Fest. The major problem this year was trying to figure out how to see everyone we wanted to see (and hear) - there were just too many great groups in the line up! Thank goodness this year (for the first time) we were able to attend the entire festival - Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.

We flew into DFW Friday and caught the Super Shuttle to the Radisson Central, which was serving as the NTIF main hotel. That will be the last time we use Super Shuttle in Dallas - it was a nightmare - dispatch screw ups, incompetent drivers, long delays - we called Super Shuttle at 3:35 (we had a reservation) and said "we're outside x and such baggage claim". We got to the hotel at 5:00pm. That's pretty much the same amount of time it took us to fly from Tucson to Dallas.

But once we got to the hotel it was an awesome weekend - great music, catching up with friends and family, and making new friends.

Friday night we arrived at Fair Park shortly after the Festival opened and spent about 30 minutes get oriented to the new layout (a result of construction delays on the usual buildings). Stopped by Brad Foster's booth for a brief chat, browsed the vendors a bit, got some dinner, and then split the 8:00 hour between Tullamore and Clandestine. Met up with our friend Christine from Tulsa, who had traveled to Dallas on business and we coerced her to stay for NTIF. Then I worked the merchandise booth for Round The House, a wonderful band out of Tucson. They run the local session in Tucson on Sundays, and in addition to being very talented musicians, they are just really nice people. We enjoyed getting to spend more time with them this weekend and get to know them better.

Then it was back to the Radisson where we made a quick stop at the bar that turned into several enjoyable hours. Visited with Ed Miller and met his wife (we hosted Ed last year for a house concert in Tulsa). Chatted with members of Beoga and also with Mark Clavey (of Tullamore) and Mairtin de Cogain, but spent most of the time chatting with new friends Ros and Paul who are involved with the Houston Highland Games.

Saturday was a very long and very full day that actually seemed to go by in a flash. As usual, I woke up before Chris, so I tip toed around, got ready, and went down to breakfast. Chatted with Mark of Tullamore and Claire of Round The House before heading over to the festival grounds, where I chatted with Jonquele Jones of Cor Gaelige and then caught the first part of Cor Gaelige's performance before I went to help Round The House at their workshop (playing music for dancers). Cor Gaelige's booth was right across from the workshop stage, so I also helped cover the booth until Cor Gaelige returned from their performance. We've helped with the Cor Gaelige booth the last several years - they sing in Irish and Gaelic, and at their booth they offer information on learning both languages. The booth includes a "hedge school", where we sit down and teach a few minutes of language lessons to interested passers by. (those of you who know me won't be suprised that my class was "insults and idioms in Scottish Gaelic").

Ran into Steve and Miranda of Arabesque, friends from Oklahoma, who let me tag along as they showed me the intricacies of the hospitality suite (Chris and I had badges this year that got us access). I returned the favor by totally hooking Miranda on my new Terry McGee flute. I just wish *I* sounded like that when I played it.

Caught Beoga's 1:30 set (awesome as usual), then wandered during the next time slot between Arabesque, Four Men and a Dog, and chatting with friends. One of the things we love about NTIF is that during our years attending it, we've made lots of friends, and there's also a signficant cross-over between our science fiction friends (especially the filkers) and the NTIF crowd. So this our weekend to play "what's new with you?"

Spent the rest of the festival Saturday seeing Mairtin de Cogain, Slide, and Ed Miller, as well as visiting with members of Slide who we had hosted for workshops last fall in Tulsa (and who had returned to Tulsa this past week for another set of workshops). We had planned to stay for Liz Carroll & John Doyle's set, as well as Slide's last set, but we were tired and decided to go back to the hotel. I had intended to make the rounds of the sessions and especially the song circles, but ended up spending the entire evening (and a chunk of the morning - we left at 2am, which was actually 3am with the time change) in the bar chatting.

One of the greatest things about Irish and Scottish music is the sense of community. Everyone just seems to want to share the music and the company and expand the circle. And with very few exceptions the people involved in this music are interesting people with very diverse backgrounds. Ed Miller and his wife Nora sat down at our table and that caused the two people performing with him this weekend (Scooter Muse and Jill Chambless) to sit down at our table. We talked about everything from books to music to I can't remember what all. Liz Carroll and Mairtin de Cogain joined us and we talked more book stuff.

Then I chatted with Eamonn de Barra of Slide and he introduced me to Craig who had a booth with photographs. We had a nice chat, and then when Chris and I stopped by his booth Sunday, we discovered a gorgeous picture of Carlingford Loch. We've got a CD with a tune called Carlingford Loch - we love the tune but had never seen the place, so we had to get the photo.

The only bad thing that happened during the weekend was that when I went to tab out at the bar Saturday (okay, Sunday morning), the bartender had lost my credit card. So I had to cancel the card and order a new one, which was a hassle, but they waived the tab, so I can't complain too much.

Sunday was more great music - Round The House, a bit of Threadneedle Street (couldn't stay for the whole thing), and Ed Miller (with Scooter Muse and Jill Chambless). Ran into Joseph Abbott after the Ed Miller set and got to chat a bit, then got to chat more at the hotel Sunday evening. The rest of Sunday was spent recording podcast interviews for my upcoming podcast about cultural connections and preserving culture (more details on that in a week or so). Then it was back to the hotel to collect our luggage and off to spend the rest of the evening and Monday visiting with my family.