Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Christmas Filk for Cannibals

SOYLENT GREEN
Words: David Weingart © 1981
Music: Silent Night (traditional.)

Soylent Green
Tasty Green
Strangest food you've ever seen
Little crackers for you and me
Made from friends and neighbors
Made from neighbors and friends

Thursday, November 18, 2010

What is Filk?

Now there is a loaded question. According to the Wikipedia definition "Filk is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom and a type of fan labor." Filk is largely about science, computers, science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc. It can also be about current events, our pets, crazy co-workers, etc. My favorite definition of filk is oft quoted by a musician friend of mine, Kathy Mar. "Filk is anything that happens in a Filk circle."

For me, filk represents music about my life and the things I'm interested in. My preference is for the parodies, political thoughts and funny songs. Unlike popular music, filk is about participation. When you go to most musical events you are there to listen to professionals perform. At filk events, even "pro" concerts, you are expected to sing along.

Which brings me to the filk thing that eats up most of my time. The filk group I am a part of, Utah Filk Organization, has been working on an archive of filk songs and lyrics. It started as an attempt to turn personal filk binders into something more portable and useful at our local convention. It has since become a community thing where we share our resources with other Filkers by projecting lyrcs on the wall at conventions. We also plan on establishing a web portal where folks can get lyrics from us for free. Mind you, we will only distribute materials that we've been given permission to do so. The last thing we want to do is prevent artists from selling their own songbooks. If you are an artist and want to give us permission to give out or link to your lyrics/chords feel free to comment.

Update and Change of Project

I've decided to change the focus and intent of this project. Yes, I am a gamer. I am also involved in a lot of other aspects of fandom as well. I will be adding my participation in filk and Star Wars fandom into this blog. I also re-dedicate myself to writing. There will be at least one post a week. Feel free to poke me if I don't keep my commitment.