Music. Minneapolis Music.

[gerisullivan]

It's 27 years later. Twenty-seven years since Steve Sullivan found the all-night music party at Minicon 17, and told me it would be happening again the next night.

That Saturday night -- April 18th well into the dawn of April 19th, 1981, was a defining moment in my journey toward and into fandom. fredcritter played "All Along the Watchtower" and "Mississippi Half-step Uptown Toodeloo." I knew nothing of the Grateful Dead and found the lyrics impossible to decode, but in a friendly, inviting way. And, oh, the music. Oh, yes, the music.

markiv1111 broke a string and left the room to replace it. When he returned, he announced he'd written a song while he was gone, and promptly proceeded to sing it. It was smooth, complete, and very finished-sounding. An hour or so later, the same thing happened again. I didn't believe it at the time -- I thought it was a standing joke among the group, among those in the know.*

Then Reed Waller sang "Spoon River," and I knew I was home. Until that point, I'd only ever heard Josh White, Jr., sing the Michael Smith song at his concerts. Here I was, 600+ miles away from East Lansing, Michigan, the only place I'd seen Josh perform. Here, too, was a treasured piece of my life, a piece of my heart, entwined as it was to begin with.... And, as I have since come to understand, here was my very own Spoon River -- fandom, science fiction fandom.

Thanks to Applecon, I was able to spend this past weekend savoring and celebrating the music that brought me to fandom in the first place.I met new people, caught up with old friends, and just plain had a wonderful, soul-nourishing time.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you mizzlaurajean,lsanderson, ybmcu, and everyone at Applecon. This was good, so very good.

I didn't hear "Spoon River" this weekend. chasophonic may well have played it when I was out of the room. I never requested the song, or any other song, for that fact. The music endures, the music changes. The same is true of the musicians as well as all of us in the audience. I was happy to wait and discover what came next, with no needs to hear a special song, a particular song. For a song that wasn't even on my mind until we started sharing stories at the Music and SF panel I was on Sunday morning, it's interesting to discover just how much I identify it with all that went so well this weekend. I think it's that sense of homecoming, that sense of belonging, and especially that sense of discovering and helping create something new.

None of the examples I can find online come close enough to either Josh White, Jr.'s or Reed Waller's interpretations of the song, so a link to the Spoon River lyrics will have to suffice. For now, anyway.

May we all experience and savor the hope and everyday comfort of riding through the morning....

* Historical footnote: Anyone who knows him will not be surprised to hear that Nate indeed did write two songs that night. And many more in the 27 years since.

Comments

Reed Waller at Toadhall (Minnstf?)

[maruad.livejournal.com]

It may not have been the first time I heard Spoon River but the first time I was concious of hearing it was when Reed Waller sang it at my first party at Toadhall. I do not remember the specific reason he sang it then, though I remember there was a reason and it was succesful.

It is a beautiful song and a beautiful rendition. I think Kate was singing harmony with Reed on that occaision.

I always associate Minnstf with very good music. Partly because of my association with DecadentDave but mostly because of all the great and amazing music parties that would seem to just happen when I attended Minnstf events. It wasn't till I got to see Fredcritter agonizing over whether it was worth learning Black Muddy River in time for a Minnecon that I realized the work involved on the part of the participants.

The Minnstf events I attended over the years made me feel a bit like Samwise Gamgee encountering elves for the first time (on many levels)... above my likes and dislikes and oh so wonderful.

[mizzlaurajean.livejournal.com]

Hey Geri and maruad may I cross post these comments to the AppleCon live journal?

"like Samwise Gamgee encountering elves for the first time" - This is such a charming, hitting the nail on the head sort of statement.

Chas ended closing ceremonies with Early, which will forever have Kate singing along and forever will I see her in my mind when I hear it.

[maruad.livejournal.com]

I first heard Early from Reed, again with Kate singing harmony. I first heard a great deal of music which is very dear to me at those music parties.

A strange but wonderful exception was Ripple which I had first heard on an album by a band called Shiva's Headband. I didn't know it was a GD cover... nor when I first heard fredcritter sing it at a con (Valleycon maybe) did I realize it was the same song.

p.s. I suspect Geri is okay with us conversing though I bet she is still busy recovering from Applecon. I would sometimes need more than a week to physically recover from a visit.... evidently 3 hours of sleep a night for 5 nights in a row whilst partying the other 21 hours of the day followed by an 8 hour drive home can take a bit out of you. As a testement to my toughness I only once needed medical treatment to recover from my Minnecon exhuastion.

[pameladean]

Oh, Geri, I was thinking of "Spoon River" too, and of my own introduction to Minn-Stf music. Mine was much lower-key: it was Jerry Stearns, Fred Haskell, and Susan Ryan, at a meeting in Karen Johnson's parents' basement. I think the first person I heard do "Spoon River" was Bob Berlien, and I was actually privileged to be present in a barren hotel function room at some ungodly hour of the morning when he walked into a Windycon music session comprised mostly, though not entirely, of Minneapolitans, and wowed everyone.

P.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

My first Minn-stf music was on Sharon's porch, when Steve and Fred showed up with guitars, and a 30 pack of Stroh's and a bottle of whiskey. And Reed, Kate and Kara were there, and they played most of the night on the porch and then all decided it might be a little noisy, so we went to the attic, just the few stragglers, and then the sun came up.

K. [Sharon and Richard had long since gone to bed]

[pameladean]

Ooh, that's what I think of as perfectly Classic Minn-Stf music, though of course that just reflects my own trajectory. The staying up til dawn is definitely part of it. Nate didn't live in Minneapolis when I started coming to meetings and to Minicon, and the music at my first Minicon (12) was mostly, though not entirely, filk. I enjoyed it a great deal, but I didn't realize what riches were coming. Nate moved to Minneapolis, bringing Kara with him, in the spring of the same year that I moved there in the fall. I guess that was 1977. Yikes.

P.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I first heard "Spoon River" on Steve Goodman's Jessie's Jig and other stories CD. My first MNSTF music was my first Minicon -- 10 years ago.

[pameladean]

It is rather funny that I've learned so many songs just from Minn-Stf musicians rather than in their proper places.

Minicon 34, then? Wow.

P.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Oh, you and Karen and Nate and Geri and just about everybody have been going to Minicon longer than I have!

And by the way....

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

And by the way, if you're still in town (or even if you're not) please give me a call. Aren't we just about on track for one? (And yet again, tonight I am leaving the house at 5:15 for a 6:00 audition. We shall see what happens.) You and I are not in the same room often enough, these days, and I should probably have tried just a bit harder.

Nate

telephone

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

Geri, if you have tried to call today, my land line is completely not working. There is a power cord to the base that seems to be shorted out. James is talking about trying to repair it with a splice (the kind of splice that requires electrical tape) but I don't know if he has the skill. Louie will be home with her cell phone in an hour or so -- we'll see if she is more inclined to do the repair herself, or if I can just use her cell phone to call you on yours. (Or is the time bad for you, too, with a plane flight back to Massachusetts?)

Nate

[thaedeus.livejournal.com]

Nice post. I have just been on the edge of the SF music scene around here. [Some would say I'm on the edge in general.]

But I like hearing the stories. And I like science fictional music (even if I do it more metallic and electronic than most).

Never even heard of Applecon until too late. I need to
pay more attention. Too busy in RL.