Tag Archives: music

Yes, You Can Nominate for the Pegasus Awards … But Not For Long

By | |
Comments Off on Yes, You Can Nominate for the Pegasus Awards … But Not For Long

Nominations for the Pegasus Awards close in less than two weeks!

The Pegasi are annual awards for filk — generally, folk music with science fiction or fantasy elements — given by the Ohio Valley Filk Fest. Categories include Best Song, Best Classic Song, Best Writer/Composer, and Best Performer, plus two special categories for this year: Best Gaming Song and Best Travel Song.


(Pegasus Award logo.)

I submitted my nominations yesterday. Here’s the online nomination form, if you’re ready to go.

Unsure whether you can nominate? You probably can.

First, you don’t need to be a member of the filk festival itself to nominate or vote. That said, according to the official rules “the purpose of the Nominating process is to poll members of the filk community for their independent opinions of each category.”

Unsure whether you’re a member of the filk community? The rules cover that, too:

Anyone who exhibits an interest in the filk community can be considered a filker. Exhibiting interest can be shown by, but is not limited to:

  • Filking at sf/fantasy conventions
  • Attending filk conventions
  • Attending house sings
  • Participating in online boards/discussions/mail lists/webrings pertaining to filk
  • Discussing filk and filk related issues with other filkers

That last category is pretty broad, but if you and I ever discussed filk in one way or another then it seems as if you’re in.

Curious about what songs, songwriters, and performers are available to be nominated? The friendly folks at OVFF ran a “Brainstorming Poll” to take suggestions for each category; check it out for recommendations, or just to get a feel for the wide variety of filk and filkers. (Something of a shameless plug: As I blogged when the brainstorming results came out, my original song “The Monster Hunter Ballad”* was suggested in the “Best Song” category. Surprisingly, I was also suggested in the “Best Performer” category.)

Who did I nominate? I don’t usually nominate-and-tell (or vote-and-tell), so I won’t go into it category-by-category here on the blog. I will say it was hard to narrow down the choices! In the end, I nominated a number of different people, and some more than once, including Danny Birt, Alex Boyd, Tally Dueshane, Jonah Knight, Michael Longcor, Mikey Mason, Madison Roberts, Carla Ulbrich, and Scott & Kirsten Vaughan (aka The Blibbering Humdingers). Contact me directly and I’ll tell you exactly who I nominated for what.**

So, ready to nominate now? Once again, here’s the online nomination form. You have until midnight on July 29th — go for it!

___
*Inspired by the series of books by Larry Correia. (Full disclosure: I work for Baen Books, which publishes the Monster Hunter novels.)
**And, if you ask nicely, I might also tell you which of my other songs fit the special categories.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

'The Monster Hunter Ballad' Made the Pegasus Award 'Brainstorming Poll'

By | |
Comments Off on 'The Monster Hunter Ballad' Made the Pegasus Award 'Brainstorming Poll'

My first original filk* song made it onto the “Brainstorming Poll” of the annual filk awards!

It’s not an official nomination, but it’s something.


(Pegasus Award logo.)

“The Monster Hunter Ballad”, inspired by the books by Larry Correia, made the poll in the “Best Song” category.

Nominations are open from now until the end of July.

___
*Folk music with science fiction or fantasy elements.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Filk Award Brainstorming is Open

By | |
Comments Off on Filk Award Brainstorming is Open

If you like filk — generally, folk music with science fiction or fantasy themes — you may be interested to know that the Brainstorming Poll for the 2012 Pegasus Awards is now available on-line.


(The Pegasus Award Emblem.)

As the site says, the Brainstorming Poll is not an awards ballot. It’s “a poll to help generate ideas for the 2012 Pegasus Awards.”

The filk-related Pegasus Awards* are presented by the Ohio Valley Filk Fest, which is “the world’s largest fan-run filk convention.” (The Blibbering Humdingers, who also live in my current hometown of Cary, NC, are the Interfilk guests this year.)

You don’t need to be a member of the OVFF convention to nominate and vote, but you do need to be part of the filk community, which is broadly defined as “anyone with an interest in filk.” Do you enjoy songs with science fiction or fantasy references? Then you probably qualify.

The OVFF folks will compile the results of the Brainstorming Poll and attach them to the Nominating Ballot, which they will release sometime next month. The nominating period runs for a few weeks, and then the Final Ballot will be released during the summer.

The Brainstorming Poll will close on May 5th.

// Shameless Plug Follows //

This post has been brought to you by “The Monster Hunter Ballad.”

___
*There is also a set of “Pegasus Awards” for non-broadcast media (video) production. Those awards haven’t even been around for 10 years yet, while the OVFF Pegasus Awards started in 1984.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

New Songs at StellarCon

By | |
Comments Off on New Songs at StellarCon

What a difference a year makes!

At the time of StellarCon last year, I had written a grand total of one filk song, which I sang (a year ago today, in fact) at the DeepSouthCon 50 party: “The Monster Hunter Ballad.”

Fast forward to this past weekend at StellarCon 36, and my filk repertoire had grown to the point that I debuted two songs on Friday night: the Firefly tribute song “Finding Serenity,” and “Don’t Cry When You Get Rejected” (to the tune of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina”).

But that wasn’t enough. Saturday afternoon I finished a Hobbit song I’d been working on, so that night I debuted “Thorin Oakenshield” (to the tune of “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer”). And even that wasn’t enough: I had started writing another new song at the con on Friday, and by Saturday night I had a couple of verses and a chorus for “Steampunk Pirates.” So the filk circle on Saturday also heard me sing my work-in-progress.

What is this craziness?

Whatever it is, it’s fun.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter — J.R.R. Tolkien

By | |
Comments Off on All That is Gold Does Not Glitter — J.R.R. Tolkien

Facebook friends have already seen this on my status, and will see it again when this blog post shows up there. But I’m proud, so I’ll take the risk.

The video below is “kinetic typography” by my son Chris (a.k.a. Topher):

He chose a verse from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and composed and performed the hammered dulcimer background music.

I think it turned out right nice.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Hugos, and Nebulas, and Pegasi, Oh, My!

By | |
Comments Off on Hugos, and Nebulas, and Pegasi, Oh, My!

I’ve seen quite a few “Hugo Nominations” blog posts since the turn of the new year — because the nomination period is now open — and a few other awards-related posts way back in late 2011. I even wrote an awards post back in early December, asking for reading suggestions for the Nebula Awards.

So, as yet another exercise in self-promotion, here’s my most detailed awards season post ever.

First, if you don’t care what the Hugo Awards are, or the Nebula Awards, or the Pegasus Awards, then thanks for reading this far anyway! If you think you might care, but just don’t know what they are, I’ll give a brief run-down of each.

The Hugos and Nebulas are Science Fiction & Fantasy awards. By analogy to film awards, the Hugos are roughly equivalent to the Golden Globes, and are given out at every World Science Fiction Convention; the Nebulas are roughly equivalent to the Academy Awards (since they’re voted on by members of the profession), and are given out at a special weekend event held by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.

I have two stories eligible for these awards:

  • In the short story category: “The Tower,” published in Crossed Genres Quarterly in June 2011. This is a “swords and sorcery” fantasy, in which there are swords and something resembling sorcery.
  • In the novelette category: “Therapeutic Mathematics and the Physics of Curve Balls,” published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact in September 2011. This is the story of a boy in a freak show who retreats into mathematics for comfort and sanity.

To nominate and vote for the Hugos, you have to be a member of WorldCon. A supporting membership (i.e., that gets you voting rights and usually an electronic package full of the nominated stories and artwork) is $50, so it’s not a trivial matter. If you think you might actually want to attend, this year’s WorldCon is at Chicon in Chicago. But to nominate and vote for the Nebulas, you have to be a member of SFWA, and that’s a big deal to some of us.

In contrast to the Hugos and Nebulas, the Pegasus Awards are “filk” awards, i.e., awards for science fiction & fantasy-related folk singing. (What can sometimes be confusing is that there are also other Pegasus Awards for video production.) The Pegasus Awards are given out every year by the Ohio Valley Filk Fest. They give awards in several categories, including Best Filk Song, Best Writer/Composer, Best Performer, and “Baddest-Ass” Song.

Pegasus Award nominations are made “by the people of the filk community,” whatever that means, although “voting is open to anyone with an interest in filk music.” The nomination period begins around Memorial Day and continues through July, then voting is open until Labor Day. More details about nomination submissions and such are yet to come; however, in the interest of planning ahead, I sang two songs around filk circles last year that should be eligible to be nominated:

  • “Saving Throws,” a Dungeons & Dragons-related song to the tune of “Edelweiss”
  • “The Monster Hunter Ballad”, inspired by the series of books by Larry Correia*

And thus concludes my shameless plug for the day.

___
*FULL DISCLOSURE: Larry’s Monster Hunter books are published by Baen Books, and I’m one of Baen’s contractors.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Can’t Get Enough Monster Hunter?

By | |
Comments Off on Can’t Get Enough Monster Hunter?

Ballad, that is … “Monster Hunter Ballad.”

Today Alethea Kontis posted on her blog a video shot during her “traveling sideshow” at Dragon*Con, which includes me doing a rough-but-passable rendition of my song, “The Monster Hunter Ballad.” Appropriately, I’m sporting one of the Monster Hunter International hats that were given out during the con.

My song starts at around the 7 minute mark. Before my song, Leanna Renee Hieber did an evocative reading (I was particularly taken with the imagery), and after my song, Danielle Friedman performed a wonderful “poi” routine … unfortunately, without fire. You will also hear some “zombie haiku,” which have become something of a staple at Alethea’s readings.

Thanks again, Alethea, for letting me play along!

P.S. For anyone who may not have seen it, the first video of the “Monster Hunter Ballad” is still available for viewing.

___

FULL DISCLOSURE: The Monster Hunter International books by Larry Correia, which inspired the aforementioned ballad, are published by Baen Books. I work for Baen as a contributing editor.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Having Failed to Be Raptured, I Wrote This Stupid Song

By | |
Comments Off on Having Failed to Be Raptured, I Wrote This Stupid Song

Yes, that’s really the title of my latest musical nonsense … or maybe, in this case, semi-sense … to hit the web.

Filmed in the Baen Barfly suite at Dragon*Con, you can click to watch it here:

Having Failed to Be Raptured, I Wrote this Stupid Song


(“Guitar Player” by Mister Wilson. From Flickr, under Creative Commons.)

I explain the genesis of the song in the video — I wrote it a while back, but it took months to add a chorus — so I won’t repeat those details here. But here’s one verse for consideration:

It seems to me when folks like that pick up the Bible
They only read the passages they like
They pick and choose what to believe for their agendas
And if you ask me, well, I’ll tell you that ain’t right

As always, tremendous thanks to Tedd Roberts for his video magic.

And, of course, I hope you get a chuckle out of it! And if you like it, feel free to share it with someone else who might appreciate it.

Finally, if you’re so inclined, now that I have four songs available, I started my own YouTube Playlist.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Think I'll Run for Congress, 'Cause I've Got Some Bills to Pay

By | |
Comments Off on Think I'll Run for Congress, 'Cause I've Got Some Bills to Pay

More of my musical nonsense …


(Write me in for any office, anywhere, anytime.)

Filmed in the Baen Barfly suite at Dragon*Con, a little ditty about “the only sport for adults.”* Here’s the chorus:

Politics, that’s the life for me
It fits my arrogant, megalo-maniacal personality
I’ll get my name in the papers and my face on your T.V.
And take good care of myself, my friends and my family — yes, that’s the life for me

You won’t find honesty like that in any standard campaign commercial, will you? So I think of this as the theme song for the Anti-Campaign.

Watch it here: Playing Politics.

Many thanks to Tedd Roberts for both the videography and all the YouTube magic.

Hope you get a chuckle out of it — the melody is a little monotonous (sorry), but consider the subject matter. And remember, if you don’t want to vote for any of the folks on the ballot, you can always write my name in!

I’m the Anti-Candidate, and I approved this message.

___
*Attributed to Robert A. Heinlein.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Dragon*Con 2011 Pictures, Part 2: Filk

By | |
Comments Off on Dragon*Con 2011 Pictures, Part 2: Filk

(In case you missed them: Dragon*Con Pictures, Part 1: My Friends.)

This year I’ve discovered that I really enjoy filk (genre-related folk music) and filking (playing and singing same). Part of that is the warm reception “The Monster Hunter Ballad” has received over the last few months, and part of it is an immense sense of joy at doing something I never thought I could: writing and performing original music.

How did I get into this filking thing? It was an overly long journey:

  • Way back in the mid-90s I penned Titan-rocket-program-related lyrics to a number of different Beatles tunes.* So far as I know they’ve all been lost, and probably just as well. But I didn’t play an instrument, so I never considered the possibility of writing an original Titan tune.
  • In 2000 I got stationed overseas, where during my off hours I wrote a novel** and learned a few chords on the guitar. For my farewell dinner at Thule Air Base I wrote “Home on the Tundra” (to the tune of “Home on the Range”). As proof, you can look at the last page of the September 2001 issue of the Thule Times.
  • In 2008 I wrote the first of what has become an annual series of songs for the Industrial Extension Service: “The I-E-S Song.” It hasn’t made it onto YouTube yet, but there’s still hope … though you can watch the video montage for the 2009 song, “The Economic Recovery Blues.”
  • At MarsCon this January I got the idea for a Dungeons-&-Dragons-based song, which eventually became “Saving Throws” (sung to the tune of “Edelweiss”). And somewhere along the line I got the idea for the Monster Hunter song, which I debuted at StellarCon in March.
  • And at ConCarolinas this June I actually took part in a “Filk Circle” for the first time, and had a great time — which naturally led me to look up the filk track at Dragon*Con.

I played a few songs on Friday night, and went back on Saturday night to listen even though I had a headache. Then I was back again to play on Sunday night — where I took pictures!

First, the director of the Filk Track, Robby Hilliard:


(Dragon*Con Filk Track head honcho, Robby Hilliard.)

That guitar he’s playing looks awfully familiar. (I actually loaned my guitar out a couple of times.) Robby did a great job organizing the track, and his whole staff was very friendly.

Here’s Alex Boyd, who on Sunday night set himself the challenge of playing only original filk that he had made up that day.


(Alex Boyd.)

One of the songs he did was, “Don’t Bring Your Guitar to Dragon*Con.” Given the difficulty of maneuvering through the crowds, he had a point. I bought one of his CDs.

And here’s Tally Deushane, singing “The Dragon*Con Song”:


(Tally Deushane.)

Tally got very tired of singing “The Dragon*Con Song” by Sunday night; she probably sang it a dozen times over the course of the weekend. After Dragon*Con she posted on her Facebook fan page that she had been named one of Glamour Magazine’s “Top 10 College Women of 2011.” If I’d known we had a celebrity in our midst, I would’ve asked her to autograph her CD when I bought it.

Finally, guitars and ukuleles were not the only instruments to be found in the filk circle:


(The anonymous accordion player who wowed us all on Sunday night.)

In summary, a splendid time was had by all.

And meanwhile I keep coming up with new song ideas, which is both a little scary and (to me, at least) a little cool.

___
*I included some of this history in a previous blog post.
**It was okay, not great. I think my second novel is better, though neither one has been published.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather