March 1-3, 2013 The San Francisco Bay Area Filk convention! This Year’s Guests! breakfast buffet until noon in the Champagne I ballroom, and will be offering room service at Guests of Honor: Ookla the Mok West lunch and dinner with no service charge, and with a 10% Consonance discount. In other Toastmaster: Scott Snyder words, if you order room service, you’ll be Interfilk Guests: Merav Hoffman paying what you’d pay in the hotel restaurant. There are also a bunch of restaurants within International Guest: “Downtown” Freddy walking distance of the hotel, and many more within a short drive. Brown The Con Suite will be hosted by Riley, RJ, and Devon this year, with the return of RJ’s patent-pending video wallpaper, featuring no- Message from sound classic SF films and television. As the Chair always, there will be snacks and light meal fixings — drop by for conversation and a cup of tea. Victor Stevko Be sure to swing by the Dealers’ Room in Korbell to stock up on the latest music — the Welcome, everyone, dealers will be happy to help you find what to Consonance 2013! you’re looking for. This year, we’ve returned to our old/new Speaking of finding what you’re looking hotel, the newly refurbished, filk-friendly for, Miss Kitty will be at the Info Desk to Crowne Plaza Silicon Valley, for our annual answer all your questions. Don’t be a stranger! weekend of friends, filk, and fun. We have a Thanks go out to the Crowne Plaza staff, rockin’ group of guests this year. Ookla the who have gone out of their way to make things Mok (West) are our Guests of Honor, leading easier for us in the lead-up to the con. Thanks the charge. Toastmaster Scott Snyder, the especially to Susan Walters and Larry-the- pride of Austin, brings his formidable musical Catering-Manager for ironing out the rough talents to the party. International Guest spots. Downtown Freddy Brown is flying in from A huge thank you also goes out to the Toronto to bring us a touch of the blues. And Consonance concom for putting on a great con Merav Hoffman, our Interfilk Guest, is coming year after year — everyone on the concom in from New York leading a 15-member does a lot of work to put this show on, and backup band. they make things go so smoothly you’d think it Lara-our-programming-maven has also was easy. You guys are the best. lined up lots to do this year, so get in there and Finally, thanks to all of you for coming to participate! We have the traditional Friday the con. I hope you all have a wonderful time Night Drum Circle, Singalongs, hosted circles, and take home great memories of friends, workshops, the ever-popular Interfilk Auction, music, and good times. and the Closing Rock Jam. We have two groups of 2x10s — Miss Kitty has the signup NOW, GO HAVE FUN! sheets, so bring out those two songs you’ve been meaning to do and show ‘em off. Make music and have fun! Please note that the hotel’s restaurant will be closed for renovations over the course of the con. The hotel has arranged to serve the Consonance 2013 Page 2 OUR ADORABLE GUESTS the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a pirate, mathematical equations, a tandem bicycle, and GoH: Ookla the Mok West monkeys — oh my dear Lord, so many (aka, Rand Bellavia, Adam English and monkeys. The only thing out-numbering the monkeys is the parting couples, usually Luis Garcia) featuring a pratfall during their separation. After a minute of this, the view zooms in appreciation by Paul Kwinn on the bespectacled guitarist. A standard silent movie text card comes up, white text on a black background, with some white scrollwork around the edges. It says: “Rand Bellavia is half of Ookla’s writing team, plays guitar, and ends up singing most of the female and monkey roles in their songs. He’s sung and written songs since high school. Outside of musical environs, he acts as Director of the library and part-time professor at D’Youville College in Buffalo, NY. And he can tell you who put the Bop in the Bop Shoo Bop Shoo Bop.” You get up to pay your bill at a small diner in The image of the band returns, where the the middle of nowhere. But on your way to other guitarist has switched to a keyboard. the cashier, you notice an antique nickelodeon The view zooms in on the keyboardist, near the door. Having a nickel to spare, you bringing up a new text card: “Adam English is decide to invest in a little nostalgia. You the other half of Ookla’s song-writing team. He got deposit your five cents and turn the crank. his start in musical performance playing piano at a Tick. Tick. Tick tick-tick-tick-tiktiktiktiktiktik... pub when he was 15. When not pounding out the A flickering image of a strange creature tunes with Ookla, he’s the world’s mightiest appears. Body of a man, but the furry head is freelance caricature artist.” fringed by a striped mane and fangs protrude The band once again takes the screen. The from the mouth. A raccoon-like mask of dark guitars and keyboard have been replaced by a fur surrounds the eyes. He opens his mouth trumpet and trombone, while the drummer and tilts his head back, evidently roaring, and continues to drum. And that drummer grows a title appears below the picture: OOKLA THE to fill the screen before a new text card takes MOK! over: “Luis Tomas Garcia provides what passes for The name seems familiar somehow. international flavor within the group, having been The creature’s image cross-fades to a raised in Puerto Rico. He got his first drum kit at picture of a three-piece band. Two guitarists 20, immediately playing the heck out of the things, with artistically-trimmed beards flank a due to years of vibrant visualization. He claims to handsome fellow seated at a drum kit. The be an infiltrator of filk, working for the CIA. Who sub-title remains, however, and adds another knows? Though the band has had other drummers, exclamation point. Then a second line appears: this man is the first, most beloved, and Rock Music for Nerds. handsomest.” The band goes into action, playing The card pulls off to the side, revealing the furiously while various images flicker in, band’s 4 albums: Less than Art, Super Secret, animate a bit, then fade out, in the background: Smell No Evil, and Oh Okay LA. That’s replaced A flying saucer, several super-heroes, a by “And don’t forget last year’s EP: Nerdvana!” cowboy, the starship Enterprise, an astronaut, Then a large, Batman-style pow-balloon grows Consonance 2013 Page 3 rapidly from the center, containing “And International Guest: "Downtown" Consonance marks the release of the BRAND NEW Freddy Brown CD: Vs. Evil!” by Himself The band reappears again, inexplicably re- costumed, with Adam dressed in the comic faux-admiral wear of Captain Crunch, Rand in a brightly-colored [“When did this thing stop being black-and-white?” you ask yourself.] dashiki, and Luis in a poorly-constructed Chewbacca suit. After a moment’s confused staring at each other, they spin into a cartoon dust cloud, re-emerging in more casual clothes and re-located in a recording studio. As they record, newspapers spin out of the background. The first stops, proclaiming “Ookla the Mok lands deal with Disney to provide Fred’s parents knew from a very early age that theme song for cartoon series Fillmore.” The next he would be involved in music. When he was declares “Ookla puts three songs in Dr. Demento’s only 2 years old he crawled up the aisle after a 2012 Top 25, with ‘Tantric Yoda’ taking the number church service to where the musicians were one slot.” and picked up a violin … and tried to blow [You’d swear you can actually hear music into it. (Okay, he didn’t have much to go on coming from the machine at this point…] A — besides a potty — at that age). Fred has been final text card comes up: “Ookla the Mok, which fascinated with all kinds of music and claims to run on the management model of a instruments ever since. corporate oligarchy, has been getting filk audiences He started trumpet lessons when he was 8, on their feet for over 20 years, and shows no continuing his prowess on that instrument reduction in energy yet. Since they’re from Buffalo, through high school, becoming the top the Bay Area is about as far from home as they trumpeter in the Etobicoke School Band, and perform, yet they’ve played more concerts at winning the esteemed Music Award in 1970. Consonance than at any other single con. This is Trumpet was not his only instrument. He their fourth appearance at Consonance, and — after started guitar when he was 12 and played in a an unreasonable amount of time off from the con couple of folk groups in high school. Because circuit — they couldn’t be happier to make their he had already played trumpet for 4 years return appearance here.” before he got to high school the teacher felt he From behind the should start at the same level as everyone else diner’s counter, a so he was given the French Horn as his large man in an apron principal instrument in class but played his looks over toward the trumpet in the band, orchestra and brass octet.