From: roper@chinet.chi.il.us (Bill Roper)
Subject: Re: BNFs vs "Filk Elitists"
Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX
 
 
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 07:28:04 GMT

I should not type this message at 1 in the morning, but...
 
For any individual, the perfect filksing is the one where you get to
hear each person sing exactly as often as you want to hear them sing.
Moreover, they will sing exactly WHAT you want them to sing.  And, as
a group, the people in the filk will manage the mood of the sing to
provide the maximum desired emotional impact, whether that be silly,
or serious, or (if we're lucky--IMHO) some of both.
 
We're going to see damn few perfect filks.
 
Now my personal preference (possibly due to my Midwestern upbringing)
is for Midwest chaos.  But (except under VERY unusual circumstances)
the carrying capacity of a chaos filk is about seven people with
instruments who want to sing regularly.  (And the wording here doesn't
try to imply that others are not welcome to sing; nor that they're
not welcome to sing along if they're familiar with the material.
Mind you, you haven't lived until you've seen someone trying to sing
along with a song that's being sung at a filk for the first time
that's NOT to some known tune...but I digress.)
 
At OVFF this year, I went into the big room after the banquet.  I 
sang a song or two.  I watched Wulf (Mike Longcor) getting stepped
on as he tried to get a song in.  I felt like I was having to work
pretty hard to get in edgewise.  So I did what I always advise people
who are not happy with the current filk to do -- vote with your feet.
When Wulf packed up to go, I followed, and we headed down to the
alternate filk room and started a filk -- which is, by damn, what
that extra room is there for.
 
(Kathy Mar was talking to a group in one corner of the room, and I
suppose we probably owe her an apology for barging in.  On the other
hand, she didn't seem perturbed, so...)
 
Juanita followed, along with some folks from Toronto whose names
I've dropped (I have a terrible memory for names -- your convention
name badge is MY friend!).  And we had a great time!  We sang what
we felt like singing; we sang about as often as we wanted to; and
we heard some good stuff -- including a few historical songs from the
Toronto contingent that I'd never heard before.  As nearly as I could
tell, the people who followed us down there had a good time.
 
And, you know what?  If they didn't have a good time, well, they had
the right to vote with their feet and head back to the main sing,
or the con suite, or a room party, or wherever they wanted to go
that would make them the most happy.  This is why I had five rooms
for filking at Chicon -- if you can't find something you like, then
there's space to create something new that you will like.
 
Side comment about getting on the convention live tape:  I ran filking
at the first Worldcon where there was "professional" taping going on
(Chicon IV, back in 1982).  Although there were multiple rooms
available for filking, you could not get people out of the room where
the taping was going on.  It was wall-to-wall bodies and no oxygen.
Nobody was going to miss their opportunity to get on that tape and
become a star.
 
I was getting desperate trying to peel people out of that room.  So
I sent my trusty assistant, Greg Cronau, crawling across the room to
ask one of the popular filkers if (s)he would go to another room to
try to draw off part of the crowd.  (S)he looked at him like he was
nuts.
 
So then I sent Greg back to talk to Juanita.  And, although she was
tired and getting ready to crash, she headed down the hall, which
pulled about 20 people out of the room and got the population density
back down to something livable.  I think I still owe Juanita one...
 
Anyway, the point of this is that the tape came out (and the only
reason I'm on it is because I happened to end up at a dead dog filk
in Kelly's suite where the mikes were -- I never did make it into
that big room!)  And it didn't change anybody's life.  I won't deny
that it was a kick.  But in the long run, it didn't change anything.
 
It's 10 years later now, and I've gotten familiar enough with the
process that I believe that ANYBODY who really wants to can produce
a tape of their stuff.  Recording technology has improved; duplication
is cheaper.  What you need is (a little bit of) money, time, patience,
and talent.  (Practice is also good.)
 
And if you (collective you, addressed to no one in particular) put out
a good tape, people will buy it.  And if you put out a bad tape, people
won't.  But if your goal in life is to be on a published tape, you 
can do it, and there is nobody out there who's going to stop you.
 
It's 1:30 AM.  I think I'll go to bed.
-- 
Bill Roper, roper@chinet.chi.il.us