[penguicon-general] Benoit Mandelbrot Has A Posse

[Matt Arnold]

On 4/27/07, Rob Landley <rob at landley.net> wrote:
> On Friday 27 April 2007 2:33 pm, Matt Arnold wrote:
> > For that matter, the usage of the word "filk" at all tends to create
> > schisms, in my opinion.
>
> I've been going to cons since 1984, and literally the only source of this
> particularl objection I've ever encountered was Blasted Bill.  (The ripples
> sometimes spread a bit far, but it hasn't been hard to find the center.)

Without putting words in my buddy's mouth, I would say he's a little
defensive against what he perceives as exclusionary. But there's no
question the exclusionary tendency is there in the "filk-only" track
of some conventions.

> Is he the guy who performed at ConFluence in Pittsburgh last year, with Ookla
> the Mok?
>
> If so, he was really, really good.

That's the guy. I'm normally good at getting guests, but when him and
John "hi, I'm a PC" Hodgman took their tour to Ann Arbor and me and
Scott Kennedy went to see him, I got shy for the first time and didn't
know what to say. "You perform to big crowds for money almost every
week, but I'd like you to interrupt that to come to my convention and
perform for free and the 2007 GoH slate is full so you have to pay
your own way" seemed inappropriate. At that time, I had no idea he
attended "filk" fests. It was a missed opportunity.

-Matt