Duckon 20: the con that barely was (long, sorry)

So, made it through Duckon without too terribly much gnashing of teeth. I got to see a whole lot of people that I wasn’t expecting, many I was, and it was overall a stellar time. I learned a great deal about the sound set-up for the filk room, as well as the highs and lows of being on tech staff. We managed our way through a handful of major and minor issues, Megan at the helm and Eric keeping the troops in line. The troops, mostly consisting of WSPA anyway, all managed to have fun, which is always a plus.

This con was also the first real time I’ve been in charge of making sure the family stayed healthy, ie slept, fed, didn’t overwork, kept up spoons, etc. it was both way more and not nearly as bad as I expected. Must remember to chuck expectations before leaving the house.

I got fitted for my wedding dress!!! SO happy! Just a reminder that the infamous wedding of Eric and Lizzie is at MuseCon, August 6th! Come join us!

Seeing Lee Darrow was also fantastic as always, and the hypnosis panel was tons of fun. It made for an interesting study in human response and acceptance as much as suggestion. And Lee’s just nuts anyways, which makes it worth it.

Then there was the concert. Cheshire Moon’s very first Concert EVER!! YAY! Here’s what we played:

Pronouns (Wimoweh parody, blame my sister)
Child of Stars
If I were the rain
Lighthouse
Out of the Light
Halley Came to Jackson (Mary Chaplin Carpenter)
Temple of the King (Dio/Rainbow)
World Walker
Follow That Road (Anne Hills)
Swamp Witch (Jim Stafford)
Bloodletting (Concrete Blond)
She Moved Through the Faire (Trad)
Widow’s Garden

Pronouns was SO much fun! Lexie and I wrote that when I was back in Middle school, and I happened to start singing it in the car with Eric one day coming home from work. He of course laughed his ass off, and then commented that we should perform it. After picking my jaw off the floor of the front seat, we worked it out.

Child of Stars fell out of the sky one day when Eric was working with the Bouzouki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_bouzouki). We’d just listened to Carly Simon’s ‘Woodstock’ a couple nights before, and this image started tinkling in my head. Once Eric started playing, this little gem found it’s rhythm and voice and the rest is now history.

If I were the Rain started out as a single line: “If I were the rain, could I reconnect the pieces of your broken heart the way the rain connects the earth and sky?” The rest was a call and response of wants and needs, wanting to need, and needing to want.

Lighthouse, like Child of Stars, came out of nothing to start. That seems to be a recurring theme in our music. Stories drift in that are ready to be told, and we find ways to tell them. I hope they’re happy in the telling.

Out of the Light barged in on me at work. I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am to have the Voice Memo feature on my phone, because this one wouldn’t wait. He wanted a melody line NOW (insert voice of Veruca Salt)! I ended up getting it down in three files between making copies and stuffing envelopes. First one that’s ever been that pushy…. I kinda liked it.

Halley Came to Jackson is one of the pretties things I have ever heard. Eric brought it out as a suggestion for us to do specifically at Duck, and once I heard it, I knew he was right.

Temple of the King has always been a favorite of mine. I admit that I don’t like ALL of Rainbow’s stuff, but this one had such amazing imagery to it that I couldn’t help it. The trouble was going from the deep thickness of Rainbow down to the two man crew of Eric and me. We settled on a 6 string and a Djembe almost as big as I am. Eric took the lead as I gave him a heartbeat, and this one might stick around a while to honor the former ringmaster of Black Sabbath.

World Walker is all Eric’s fault. He just HAD to pick up a new instrument and start noodling with it in my living room back in Chicago. He pulled out something interesting out of a wild tuning, and I scurried off for a pen. The character in it is from a Game I’m trying to pen down, and he’s an odd bird but worth sticking with.

Follow That Road was one of the first thing Eric and Worked on. Love love love Anne Hills’ work. We’d been moving this one around musically for several months, working with effects and sounds and echoes to get it just right. This is one that I wouldn’t mind putting on the album, but not sure yet. And yes, I did say album. Working on it.

Swamp Witch was just a good time. Nothing like a reclusive trad craft crone to bring out the cackle in a girl. Another one that will likely stick around to honor the deep-seated crone. Fire burn and Cauldron bubble…

Bloodletting is so much fun to do, especially at a sci-fi con. Vampires and witches and storytellers, oh my. These two right in a row should come with a warning label to hold onto something.

She Moved Through the Faire has been done and done and done and done and with good reason. I have heard more versions of this piece than most others, and I’ve liked almost all of them. It’s a wander, a tragedy, and a wonderment.

Widow’s Garden ended the set, but it’s the one that started it all. This piece was crafted in our hotel room at Strowlers in St. Louis, and was the first the Eric and wrote together. He’d just gotten something interesting put together on the new Strat, and I went diving for my book (Which he now calls my Tardis) and a pen. We swam back and forth between melody and verse, finding our way through a story waiting to be told. And as we came to the end at last, we knew. From a guest villain in Eric’s show 6 months before to partner in something new and wild, we knew. A beginning had been made.

I cannot express how gleefully thankful I am to all of you who made it to our show. We were so amazed at the response, and yes, I promise we will have an album put together soon, hopefully ready to go by next summer. To all those who asked: *squeeglompiloveyousohardthankyouforthinkingthatwedon’tsuck*

And now, here I sit, back in the office at someone else’s desk, getting Facebook updates from halfway across the country. I get to spend a week by myself in essence, save the occasional evenings with WSPA-3, waiting for Eric and WSPA-2 to come home. *sigh* The good and the not so good, but so far, still lacking the duck. I’m ok with that.

Now then, more Tardis adventures!