Minicon and Taxes

[billroper]

daisy_knotwise and I had a good time at Minicon this weekend, although maybe not as much music as we might have liked. But we were the auctioneers for the Art/Charity Auction which raised a lot of money for Minicon ($500 of it courtesy of Guest of Honor Terry Pratchett who bought one of the items that he'd donated and then donated it back to be auctioned again). And folks seemed to enjoy the auction.

We rode there and back with Steve, Sam, Bonnie, and beamjockey spread across two minivans, along with a whole buncha inventory for two dealer tables. A good time was had by all, or at least all who were awake at any given moment.

Now, it's time to go back and get our taxes ready to send to the accountant. *sigh*

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

How much did Jon Singer's tea cup go for?

K. [hasn't heard]

[billroper]

Gretchen auctioned that piece and I was paying attention to something else at the time, so I don't know. Gretchen?

[poltr1]

Heard several years ago that Minicon was filk-unfriendly, filk-unhostile, or filk-indifferent. Has the ice melted any?

[billroper]

The situation is complex.

A room was set aside for filk and another was made available for MNStf music. (The filk room was inadvertantly programmed for something else on Saturday night, but the room next door was available, so no big problem.)

On Friday night, I got to the room fairly early and we ran it pretty much as a performers bardic (few enough people were trying to perform that it was a sensible arrangement). One fellow and his son were also there early and we swapped songs for a while. Later, Dave Clement, Carol Ferraro, Eric (last name misfiled), and Richard Tatge (I'm suspecting I'm misspelling his name) joined in.

Saturday night was more typical of a Minneapolis filksing, as Laramie brought books for hymnal singing. She, Dale Yeo, Eric, and a gentleman whose name I missed were holding forth when Gretchen and I arrived. Later, Richard and Carol (and her husband, John) came by for a bit. Although they were set up for hymnal singing, it wasn't a problem if we sang something from our own books.

I can't tell you what was going on in the other room, because I never went by there.

Ok, here's where Uncle Bill takes his chances on putting his foot in his mouth and takes a stab at actually answering your question:

MNStf music (by whatever name) is its own thing. It's much more like a circle that you'd find at the Old Town School of Folk Music (although it can veer off into the Beatles and such) than a circle that you'd find at a filk convention. And among some (not all) of the performers and the listeners, there's a low tolerance for what I saw referred to in a recent on-line discussion as "suck".

Now to my mind, "suck" is a matter of taste. I've been in circles with immensely talented performers where the circle just sucked anyway. But in this case, we're pretty much looking at a reference to performers who are not considered "up to standard" in terms of talent and/or material.

And if someone is running a "by invitation" music circle, they're perfectly entitled to set it up in a way that makes them happy. They do need to make clear that this is what they're doing -- I think I suggested that it might be occasionally useful to refer to it as a "group concert" in environs outside of Minneapolis -- but once expectations are set appropriately, they've done what they need to do.

As long as a room is provided elsewhere for people who aren't invited who would like to sing, there's no structural problem. There are some problems of other kinds, but they're highly complex and not trivially solved, nor do I have any great ideas about how to solve them.

Does that help?

Music at Minicon

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

I know of no "invitational" music circles at this year's Minicon, and there was actually a lot more tolerance than there has been in some years past. (Bill, I was thoroughly taken aback when you mentioned that you hadn't been invited; *everybody* "hadn't been invited.") In many past years, there had been a Saturday night "singalong concert" with limited numbers of musicians playing by invitation of the host, but that wasn't the intent of anything that happened this year; the "Mn-Stf Music" room was an acknowledgment that at Minnesota conventions, there is a lot of music that isn't filk -- not a slap in the face to filkers, who got a room to themselves primarily so they wouldn't be overwhelmed and outnumbered by musicians whose work might not have been to their taste. There was one new singer present, a woman, who was an extremely limited guitar player and new to the circle, but our response was that individuals who knew the guitar parts to her songs helped her play them (which she specifically requested at a couple of points,) not to ask her to leave. And just for instance, Skylarker will remember a number of cons where she played in the same circle with the rest of us, and at any "non-invitational" circle, she absolutely had the right. I think, if I wind up acquiring czar-like powers with my running of next year's fan cabaret, or if I wind up working closely with the person who sets up function rooms for "Mn-Stf Music," "filk," or comparable themes, I am going to make a point of letting people know that certain rooms are not invitational. I don't actually believe that Minicon should provide rooms for invitational parties in any event, and I don't know of anyone who disagrees with me on this, so it shouldn't be too hard. (More input appreciated from anyone who reads this, of course.)

Nate

Re: Music at Minicon

[billroper]

Nate, if I misunderstood, then I apologize. However, there was a MNStf music session at Confusion recently that prompted a lot of discussion since it hadn't been clear that this was not an open circle, but instead a by-invitation circle.

I've certainly sat in large music circles at Minicon in past years and had a good time, playing the sort of stuff that I usually play. But I try to be careful not to intrude in a place where I might not be welcome. This may, perhaps, be over-sensitivity on my part.

It's also possible that a more careful reading of the program book on my part would have made clear that the MNStf music circle was an open circle at Minicon. Of course, that leads to the old line, "So who reads the program book at a con?" :)

Anyway, if I misunderstood, it was my mistake.