From: lola@lucid.com (Lola McCrary)
Subject: Re: Filk hogs, fact or fiction
Organization: Lucid, Inc.
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 05:24:15 GMT


I'd like to do a few reality checks here.

Clearly there are many reasons why people go to filks.  Various posters have
stated them.  Perhaps the filk organizers should take note of the various things
people hope to get from going to a filk, or a filk con.  

I'm a little annoyed that the title BNF (Big name filker), which seems to
translate to talented performer or writer, is being used here as close to an
insult.  Many people who go to filks go to see/hear/perform with talented
performers and writers.  Otherwise there would not be "guests of honor" who are
used precisely to draw people to a filk.  I'd really like to see how many
people would pay money to go to a filk that was advertised as "a weekend to get
together with as of yet unnamed people to perform and/or listen."  Probably
wouldn't draw a lot of people, especially if the filk concom was asking
potential guests to pay airfare and hotel rates as well as con fees for the
previlage of taking their chances.

*I* would define a BNF as someone who has received enough assurance from their
peers (other filk fen) about their talent that they have put money, time and
energy into a selling product (tape, songbook, etc.).

That said, I don't think I've ever seen a BNF (and I've been to about 50 filks
in the last four years) who is a filk hog.  I define a filk hog as someone who
insists on a following song time after time, and who starts the very second the
last chord ends, thereby not giving anyone else a chance to get a request, or a
piece in.  I do not consider someone who is receiving requests to be a filk hog
unless there are clearly other people trying to make requests or perform.  And
most I've seen will, as has been mentioned before, point out that someone else
wants a turn and pass that time.

Most filk hogs I've seen have been beginners and/or low talent people trying to
attract attention.  Most BNF are not insecure enough to have to engage in that
behavior. 

So, from my experience, the idea that BNF are filk hogs is a myth.

Second point.  In some people's minds, there seems to be an unspoken rule that
the BNF who graciously accepts an invitation to be guest at a con must, as part
of their duties, listen to and applaud the efforts of the untalented or
clueless.  Say what?  If this is a stated rule by the concom, that's different.
If, as part of the fee for airfare and hotel room, the guest is *expected* to
sit and in any and all circles for x-hours, then it should be part of the
contract with the guest.  Filk guests are fen, too.  Many of them are there to
enjoy other people's music, and see people they havn't seen for a while.  Even
the negotiated fee probably isn't enough for them to stroke the egos of the
untalented or clueless out of the goodness of their hearts.

People with no voice and no talent like to sing.  I'm one of them.  But I don't
pick up an instrument I can't play, or sing solo a song way off key, and expect
people to applaud and ask for more.  And I certainly don't do it every 2nd or
3rd song.  

So set up circles that are precisely labled as "talent no object".  Let those
who like such sing and play there.  Just don't bitch at those who don't, be
they BNF or other talentless fen.  You know what you like, and what you don't
like as far as music goes.  If you stay someplace where you are not having fun,
that's your problem.  Don't expect the rest of us to do likewise.  Especially
if we've paid money to come to a con and enjoy ourselves.

Yes, beginners have a place.  I make a big distinction between beginners and
the talentless and clueless.  Part of the reason I go to cons and filks is to
find new people who I enjoy.  Some people I didn't like at first have worked
hard and improved, and I've grown to like them.  They've taken what talent they
had and worked their tails off.  So I'll give them some slack (unless they turn
into filk hogs) for being off key, or hitting wrong chords on the guitar (I
know, generous of me.  But we're talking here about an event I've spent time
and money to get to.  I figure I'm allowed to be as critical of filk as I am of
a professional concert I go to, or a play I see.  Just because it is fen
doesn't mean I'll listen if I'm in pain because it's so bad).

This is probably not a popular attitude to voice.  However, I wonder how many
people who go to cons actually feel this way.  

Lola