Above: Urban Tapestry and Mary Crowell (photo by Walter). Many thanks to Mary for preparing the GAfilk songbook every year! I'm amazed at the amount of work that must go into this, and the fact that it's included in the membership fee. Thanks also to Karen Murphy, who did the layout. This year, the songbook includes the sheet music, lyrics and chords to three of our new songs: Hey J.K.!, Come Down To GAfilk and Sing With Me.

Above: Char during the Interfilk auction. I enjoyed getting to know this classy, good-humoured lady better during the weekend and was also delighted to hear more of her singing. Char kindly donated an hour-long belly dancing lesson to the auction, and you can see her giving a quickie demo above. I've attended one of her belly dancing workshops before; not only was it way fun, but a great abdominal workout!

Above: Dancing with Jeff at the banquet on Saturday night (photo by Walter). The Saturday night banquet is always one of my GAfilk highlights. I can't really dance (I tread on poor Franklin's toes several times, but he was a gentleman and didn't wince even once) but have SO much fun doing it at GAfilk. At so many other venues, dancing often becomes a peer pressure thing ("You're not having fun unless you're on the dance floor, come ON!") or a preening display where the more experienced make catty remarks about the supposedly inferior style and coordination of others.

At GAfilk, however, the Saturday night banquet/dance is conducted with the same easygoing spirit that pervades the rest of the weekend. There's no pressure to dance if you don't want to. Singles don't need to feel left out, either...just grab a few friends (or willing strangers) and get out on the dance floor. I also love the fact that at GAfilk, slow dances aren't the sole domain of male-female couples. I danced the last dance with the lovely Amy McNally, and got to ask her some Irish session questions I hadn't had the chance to before.

And oh my, it was fun to see people dress up in their finery.

One of the songs we premiered in our concert was "Come Down To GAfilk," a song I wrote with the help of several in the filk community. Many thanks to Brenda Sutton for playing bodhran for us in our concert!

I posted in Livejournal a while back, asking people to suggest words or phrases that they associated with Atlanta or more specifically, GAfilk. You can find the sheet music in this year's GAfilk songbook, thanks to Mary Crowell, but here are the lyrics:

COME DOWN TO GAFILK
Nov/2006
By Debbie Ridpath Ohi
With help from Matt Leger, David Weingart, Bill Roper,
Scott Snyder, April Leake, Larissa March, Melissa Glasser,
Margaret Middleton, Annie Walker, Bill Sutton, Rob Wynne,
Gary McGath, Ellen McMicking D.I., Gary Ehrlich, Alan Thiesen,
Emily Raftery, Phil Parker, Andrea Dale, Erica Neely,
Marilisa Valtazanou, Mary Bertke, Sherman Dorn,
Michelle Dockrey, Mary Crowell, Allison Durno and Jodi Krangle

VERSE:
A young man was walking 'long the road
when he came upon a Fairy maiden
He smiled and he tipped his hat, he said
"Miss, what are you doin' out here?"
(She said) Here is my answer true, I'm
Waiting here just for you.

CHORUS:
Why don't you come down to GAfilk
just for a day or two?
You will never find a place like
this where e'er you roam, don't worry
soon you will see
just like me
in a little while you'll feel right at home.

The young man said, "I don't understand"
The Fairy rolled her eyes
("This is gonna be harder than I thought")
"I'm lookin' for a place of joy, I'm lookin'
for a place with waffles" he said.
"Mister, as the sky is blue, I
have the perfect answer for you!"

(CHORUS)

The young man said, "You tempt me, I admit
but what about the music?" And the Fairy laughed
(and laughed and laughed and laughed)
"Three Weird Sisters entertain and Bill
Rintz is now one of us too"
"Strangers No More, quilt delight...the
House Band has us dancing all night!"

BRIDGE:
"There's chocolate fondue in the con suite,
Sutton has beer, would you like a dance, sir?
Happy New Year, dress up in your finery
MyFilk MyFilk, do you know the answer?"
("MyFilk MyFilk, I know the answer!")

(CHORUS)

The young man, he disappeared that day, as
did the Fairy maiden, though on
moonless nights if you close your eyes, you can
sometimes see him dancing in the glade.
You wait the evening through 'til he
whispers this to you...

(CHORUS)

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Copyright © 2007 Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Base URL: http://www.blatherings.com
Many thanks to Samurai Consulting. Reproduction and/or distribution of the whole or any part in any form is forbidden unless prior permission has been granted.