Songs for Saturday: Live filk online

[mdlbear]

All the spring filk cons have been cancelled, but that doesn't mean you can't get a full weekend of live filk if you want to. Last weekend was the Festival of the Living Rooms, and this weekend was the German non-con Bleib auf der Couch! Con. It's a lot cheaper than air fare and hotel. Which is a good thing, because we're all going to have enough money problems this year.

You can find out about upcoming online events -- or announce one -- at FilkStreams.org – Where to find the best Fannish concerts online. You can also find links and announcements (and conversation) on the #filkhaven Discord server.

Software has been a very mixed bag, but all cross-platform: Zoom and Jitsi videoconferencing software for circles, Facebook and YouTube (mostly) streaming video for concerts. Jitsi is the only open-source software in the batch; it's a lot like IRC in being basically ad-hoc. All it takes to create a meeting is to give it a name. It did seem rather flaky, and the documentation is sketchy to say the least, but I love the idea.

I spent most of the day setting up my microphones -- or, rather, looking all over for the mic stands and fittings I knew I had somewhere -- and didn't get around to doing any singing. Maybe tomorrow.

Comments

[kjn]

Meanwhile, I did my sets mounting my Zoom H1 to the arm of my desktop lamp (and with the lamp doubling as ambient lightning, directed away from the camera).

One makes do with what one has.

I also participated in O.W.L. FEST, a wizard rock festival over on Facebook on Saturday. I really hope that this increase in online music will help to bring filk and wizard rock closer together.