As usual, there’s a lot. This was a big music con for us. Lovely and delicious and wonderful, all of it. It is the self-feeding equation that the more fun we have the more fun they have so they have even more fun. I’ll try to be short here, but the best thing you can do is see these artists live. This is live music and their music is written and designed to be performed live. All of these artists have facial expressions and acting that go into their performances. And kazoos. Can’t forget the kazoos.
You can find the Blibbering Humdingers’ album “Voldemort Made me Crap My Pants” on iTunes. Scott and Kirsten Vaughan are a husband and wife music-making team who focus on songs about Harry Potter and the PotterVerse (yes, mom, that’s a real word). This is called WizRock and you can find previous information here. We were very proudly able to belt out the melodies this time around: “Grey Under-Paaaaaahnts!”
And We were NOT sniffling to “I Lose Myself”–we were just allergic to the hotel. Yeah. I’ve been really thinkin’ and thinkin’ about how to voice the reasons for why I read, and there it is, right there in that song. Shouldn’t have wasted so much thinkin’! I’m assuming they wrote this specifically for J. K. Rowling, but for me, the sentiment is applicable to any of my favorite authors.
The Blibbering Humdingers are absolutely irreverent; people can get rather sanctimonious about the whole Harry Potter thing, and it’s fun to hear people’s audible shock at songs’ topics. This musical duo to bring so much humor to the stories that everyone in the room love, and they carry so much energy and good cheer with their childlike delight in having a fun time.
Blibbering Humdingers-- it's not blurry, it's an action shot. Note the Monster Book of Spells.
Danny Birt’s musical performances are a destination point. It’s just him and his guitar, and he’s got a really fine voice. He has always got some new song he’s written that I hadn’t heard before. The new one this time is another parody on language. The entire song is just a list of consonants, but in “Text” those consonants impart an entire message from a veteran gamer to a new one. He’s very clever with language and words. He also did “I Love Calculus” at my request. Woot! No photo, sorry. (previous entry on DB here)
Boogie Knights, please see the updated post, more photos more information, more fun.
The world-rocker this time was Bill and Brenda Sutton. Hot damn. They write their own songs, and the set they performed for us were, well, I guess you’d call it Space Blues, or well, I’m not versed enough to know what I’d compare it to. You can absolutely imagine the down-and-out workers who make their living in space, sitting together in the galley and singing to each other to pass the time, as traveling workers and soldiers have always done. My faves were the song about Serenity, the one of Firefly, and the one written from the point of view of the bartender in Tanya Huff’s short story “I Knew a Guy Once” in Space, Inc., a collection edited by Julie Czerneda (yeah!) and published by DAW. Another way awesome song was titled “Vor“– yup! about the Vorkosigan Saga, by Loius McMaster Bujold.
Serious Nerd Moment: *Gasp!* I've got that at home! *Swoon!*
Brenda plays the Giant Irish Drum, which she will tell you about on their webpage, at www.bsutton.com. The website, unfortunately, has not been updated in what is internet eons. Of course, they’ve been doing this as long as I’ve been alive, so it’s probably not a big deal to them. It is too bad, this woman can sing me to sleep every night, and I would really like to buy an album of their Space Tunes.
For me to compliment their music mastery is like noting that the night is dark*. Bill and Brenda Sutton are a class above anything I’ve heard in, well, a decade or more. They are truly the superstars of this little corner of our galaxy.
Additionally, Brenda is a docent at a museum (I didn’t catch where) and gave a panel on hat making that was extremely informative, both historically and craft-wise. She imparted a serious dose of confidence in one’s millinery skills. Duncan and I walked out of there thinkin’ Hey we’re going to go make us some hats– and actually, I just might.
*OK! Yes, most of the time, and in most places on the planet, the sky is dark. But no, not everywhere.
