ConVersion is off and running. Registration was only half an hour late opening today, which isn’t too bad by short-handed volunteer-run standards. I was second in line, and although the person-in-charge didn’t seem to have a clue that I was, in fact, a program participant, nor did my name appear on any list he had, he nevertheless believed me and gave me my badge without making me pay for it. It only has my first name on it–Ed–so anyone wandering around looking for Ed Willett is out of luck, but then, nobody is going to be going around looking for Ed Willett, are they? I know my place in pantheon of famous names in SF…namely, non-existent.
After registration we (wife and daughter and myself) walked over to the Eau Claire market where we got a bite to eat from the Lebanese deli there, then brought it back to eat in our room while preparing to go to the cabaret featuring Spider Robinson opening for the Arrogant Worms. We got there to find the place pretty full, but still scored decent seats. Surprise one: there was food! Seems our trip to the deli was not, strictly speaking, necessary, although the food was already fading fast by the time we got there at about 7:25.
Surprise two: No Spider. Spider, alas, was too ill to perform, and from the sounds of it, may be too ill to even put in an appearance tomorrow, which is a shame. Nevertheless, his place as opening act was ably taken by a local Calgary band that plays East-Coastian Newfoundlandish tunes, and plays them very well. (And ten minutes ago I still knew the band’s name. Now? Forget it. Which I did, very well, thanks.)
Daughter Alice took the nap she did not take in the afternoon during the opening act, despite a volume level more suited to the Skydome than a not-all-that-large hotel two-rooms-joined-into-one hall. She woke up just in time to hear the Arrogant Worms, which is when we got surprise three: no Mike McCormick. His place was taken by a fellow from the late, lamented (or lamentable, I suppose, depending on your taste in music) Moxie Fruvous. But the concert was terrific nonetheless, with the new material from the latest album, Toast, every bit as enjoyable as the the better-known “classics” like The Mounted Animal Nature Trail.
Biggest cheers went for The Last Saskatchewan Pirate, a personal favorite of ours. Several members of the crowd, which, after all, was already amenable to the idea of dressing up in costumes, being a SF convention crowd, came as pirates.
Daughter Alice enjoyed the Worms very much. She got a big smile when they sang Rocks and Trees (title approximate), which we sang to her last fall while travelling across Northern Ontraio on Via Rail on our way to Toronto (and back). “Daddy, you sang that to me on the choo-choo!” Yes, I did, my brilliant and observant daughter.
She danced, she clapped, she swayed, and she waved her blinking-glowing-thingamajig I got her from the souvenir table in the air like it was a cigarette lighter and the Arrogant Worms were Bon Jovi. Or someone more current. (Or, considering she’s only three, quite possibly someone still in diapers…)
Now it’s time to gear up for the Big Push tomorrow: I have panels galore, and I start the day (after a breakfast meeting with other members of SF Canada who are in attendance) with a reading from Lost in Translation, in an hour shared with Dave Duncan, reading from his new King’s Blades tale Jaguar Knights.
It all wraps up by 4 or 5 p.m., though, after which I have great hopes for an excellent and entertaining supper, since I’m not in the slightest worried about getting back for the masquerade.
Tell y’all all ’bout it, t’morrow.
