The Not-At-Philcon Pity Party has begun!

[thatcrazycajun]

Well, it finally happened. Hotels got so expensive in Philadelphia, where the Songbird used to live (and I briefly shared her home), that Philcon, the venerable science-fiction/fantasy conference in that city whose 72nd annual iteration (!!) is under way this evening, has gotten priced out of town altogether. (And no, the old stomping ground at the Adam's Mark doesn't count as "out of town" just because it was on City Line Avenue.) Hundreds if not thousands of fans and pros are converging on the Philly suburb of Cherry Hill, NJ for Philcon the first time this weekend. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's only five miles from downtown and 20 minutes from the airport, and it offers some things in-town hotels don't. But I've always had this crazy, atavistic notion that a convention advertising itself as being of a particular city should actually be held in said city—among other reasons, to make it easier for non-driving fans to get to the silly thing. (Balticon has long annoyed me in this regard during the years it has bugged out of downtown Bawlmer for Hunt Valley, MD, which involves a truly interminable ride on intercity bus or train, then city bus, then light rail. Same for Shore Leave and Darkover Grand Council, the latter of which follows next weekend.)

But I suppose I shouldn't carp, as it's not my problem this year; the necessity of rebuilding my bank accounts in the wake of the obscenely expensive Kenya trip last month has prevented me from even considering a visit to Philcon or Darkover this year, once again. Who else isn't there and wishes they were? Who is there and wants to say howdy? Post here. Having been a Philcon regular for 13-plus years of living in the Northeast, I especially miss it as a famously filk-friendly con (I even ran filk programming on it the year before we moved down South) with great open-filk in the late evenings. Have a cup of hot mulled apple cider with cinnamon and join the pity party.

Comments

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

I'm not there either. I don't have the money and it's just plain cold up there.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I'm at OryCon... two good panels alreddie; one on community building (leadership is *earned*, even in a military organization), and Filk You Haven't Heard In A While, with Frank Hayes and Cecelia Eng bookending... they drug out "Witnesses Waltz" (there were actually a number of folk in the room other than me who'd seen a launch or landing), and "The Key of R", which I'd never heard before and was most amusing.

Hot mulled cider? Don't mind if I do!

[poltr1]

Not really missing any cons at the moment; I tend to stay a shut-in during the cold winter months.

I'd like to see Mother Grove tonight but I'm already at home and don't feel like going out again, especially since it's a drive to see them.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

I'm headed to California tomorrow morning for Thanksgiving.

[hms42]

You are missed. I am sitting in the 'golden oldies' theme circle at Philcon currently.

About 20 people present, which for about 10:40 on Friday night is fun.

[ldwheeler.livejournal.com]

Philcon used to be one of my regular cons -- mrgoodwraith and I have friends in the Philly/south Jersey area, and for awhile in the 1990s we were having mini-college reunions at the con in its Adam's Mark days -- but I can only afford three or four cons a year, and as I got more info filk, FKO and OVFF became regulars in my schedule. Confluence is currently my only regular gen-con. It's a pity, since I always enjoyed Philcon -- it was indeed filk-friendly, with good authors' tracks and a decent masquerage as well. If my financial state improves to the point where I can reasonably do half a dozen cons a year, Philcon would probably go back on my calendar.

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

Also not at Philcon, instead Friday night I hung out with jannyblue and partiallyclips who were in town for NEFE.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Howdy! Wish you were here -- you are one of my favorite filkers.

That cider sounds good!

Me t/o/o/! T/w/o! Nine!

[tree-lady.livejournal.com]

I haven't looked to see whose blog this is but I am with you, whoever you are!
I have been going to Philcon since the early 80's and I always filked there. This year was one of only 3 or 4 that I've missed. I missed it partially thanks to a lack of cash (had to do with a computer crashie-thingie) but mostly because PhilCon is now virtually unreachable by those who can't drive there.

This has long since become ridiculous! You mentioned several cons that have done the same thing but you neglected the location-rotating East Coast Filk con, variously called Concerto, Contata and Concertina. I think that one started off unfriendly to filkers without wheels.

I've only been to two or three of them. The one in Quantico, with Leslie Fish, Dr. Jane and Heather was probably the best con that I have ever been to in my life, with the possible exception of Worldcon/Noreascon in Boston in 2005(?)

I am getting increasingly bummed by cons scooting just out of my reach when my back is turned.

SherryT

Re: NEFilkCon etc.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

If my face up there in the userpic doesn't ring a bell, this is the blog belonging to the author of the Pegasus-winning song "A Simple Country Doctor," among others. I'm sure we must have bumped into each other in a Philcon filk room at one time or another, if you've been to that many; I started attending Philcon around 1989 or so and only stopped when moving back down South in 2003 made it no longer feasible. And I'm pretty sure I performed a concert at the Boston '05 Noreascon. In any case, welcome and feel free to add me to your friends list if I can do the same to you.

The NE Filk Con never intended to be unfriendly to non-vehicled filkers; I know, I was in on the planning/running of one or two of the early ones. The problem they have historically had is being a fairly small con, with a fairly small if dependable core membership of regulars (between 120 and 200). This severely limits the options financially as to hotels in and surrounding the Boston, NYC, central NJ and DC-area markets, often forcing them to use hotels at least somewhat off the beaten mass-transit track. (And many filkers I know in that group will be happy to pick up people at train/bus stations etc. and bring them to the hotel - hell, I'm willing myself when I have a vehicle with me.)

[filkferengi]

For the time- or cooking-skill-impaired, microwaved apple juice is a decentish cider substitute. It's also pretty soothing to filker throat.