Wow, that was fun, and very different from the last one of these parties I threw (at Arisia in January). This time I am at Wiscon, the Feminist Science Fiction Convention in Madison, WI. Here’s how the party went!

I decorated with some fun fabrics I had at home, one which is very ravenclaw (and added my scarf):

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Mirrored from the latest entry in Daron's Guitar Chronicles.

I could get used to playing these amphitheaters, with the gorgeous sky slowly turning from day to night while we played, I thought. I’d probably change my mind the first time we had a rainout, but that night in Mesa I could see the appeal.

It was a tight crowd, focused, and the acoustics were terrific, not a lot of concrete echo. They sang. They really really sang. There were long moments where Ziggy just gave me a look of mischief and held his mic out to the crowd and let them do the work.

Hansi Oppenheimer posted a teaser clip of the interview she did with me this past weekend for her documentary film on fanfic. Here it is from Youtube!

She’s trying to raise $1,800 to get to Ascendio in July to film interviews there, too, so if you want more info about the film, there’s lots of details at her IndieGogo page. (You don’t have to make a donation or order the DVD to see all the info…) Here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/104624

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Mirrored from the latest entry in Daron's Guitar Chronicles.

(The Kickstarter is done! We raised $3,386! Check the results here: http://kck.st/IlE7Bi)
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The venue can be beautiful and high tech and still not perfect. Soundcheck was slightly delayed while some tech problem was sorted out, so the whole band was there on the stage before I had a chance to play my usual warmup.

Petey, the island of salt and pepper hair on his balding head sticking up like he’d been pulling on it, said to me before we started, “If you’re going over tonight, city ordinance says sound’s got to be off by 10pm sharp.”

“Don’t worry, Pete,” I said. “Show’s starting at five, there’s no way I’m keeping us that long!”

“Can I get that in writing?” He cracked a smile.

Only 24 hours or so left on my first-ever Kickstarter. Having made goal, my main purpose in still posting about it is to remind readers that now they’re running out of time to get the perks, like an exclusive 5,000 word erotic short story, “Daron’s Night Out,” which can be had for even a mere one-dollar chip in!

(The only other way people *might* get to read this story is if an anthology I submitted it to–Bad Boys–accepts it… in which case it’d be a year or so before it sees print. But no telling whether it will be right for the editor.)

Click to chip in! It closes tomorrow (May 22) a little after noon!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1458565937/darons-guitar-chronicles-omnibus-book

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Mirrored from the latest entry in Daron's Guitar Chronicles.

That was the afternoon I started teaching Colin to play the guitar.

It was more or less a dare. “I can’t play the guitar,” he claimed.

“Sure you can,” I argued back, and that led to me teaching him.

Mirrored from the latest entry in Daron's Guitar Chronicles.

(Don’t forget tonight 5pm – 7pm Eastern: Google Hangout! DGC video chat, should be viewable to all here: https://plus.google.com/106322465979385944906/posts?hl=en)
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So the stupid part about being on a bus overnight that was built to sleep eight people was that we really didn’t sleep.

Bart got into his bunk but didn’t end up staying there. No one really felt like settling down; it was like a sleepover party. Colin had a nap and then got back up, and Chris never even got in bed, I don’t think. People had quiet conversations, or read a little, and checked out the various parts of the bus all over again.

It took me a little while to figure out why there were holes in all the tables. As soon as someone stuck a Coke can into one it was obvious, though. There were two toilets, one in each “lounge” area. The one in back was tiled and had gold-tone fixtures. (“Crap. This is nicer than the bathroom we have at home,” Chris joked.) The front lounge had a door that could shut us off from the driver completely, but there was a phone Marty could use to call us or vice versa. The front lounge was just a lounge, with a TV set in one corner and a VCR, while in the back the corners held some kitchen stuff, a microwave, coffee maker, freezer and so on. Ten people could comfortably hang around in the back, twelve if you were friendly. The banquette-type seats that lined it had drawers under them. There were also storage drawers under the double bunks that could be pulled out so that instead of eight bunks, you could sleep twelve.

The shower really seemed like something from the set of a science fiction movie. The entire interior was a uniform beige color and it was like it had been molded from a single piece of plastic, which I guess it was. When Chris got in I seriously wondered how he’d wash the lower half of himself since there wasn’t room for him to bend over. Those of us of the smaller species of human had a lot less trouble. Chris said he planned to shower at the venues whenever he could, which got a thumbs up from Carynne.

We did ti! We did it! You did it. MY KICKSTARTER IS FULLY FUNDED. I went off to work at my taekwondo school tonight at 5:30 only $63 short of the goal. By the time I got home at 7:30, one magical backer (number 101!) splurged to top it up! Wooooooo! THANK YOUUUUU!!!

There are seven days left in the campaign, so you have only a week to get your autographed printed copy of the Daron’s Guitar Chronicles omnibus book or other time-limited swag. (Deets as usual here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1458565937/darons-guitar-chronicles-omnibus-book)

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Mirrored from the latest entry in Daron's Guitar Chronicles.

Okay, it’s a Sunday, which isn’t a regular posting day for DGC, so here are news and notes about the Kickstarter which is ongoing and other cool site news!

Kickstarter
The Kickstarter stands as of this writing at 86% funded! $2,367 pledged, $383 to go.

Posting Schedule
Plesae note that as soon as the Kickstarter ends, we’re dropping back to Tuesday/Thursday posting,

Mirrored from the latest entry in Daron's Guitar Chronicles.

(Kickstarter update: $2,330 as of this morning! With $420 and ten days to go! More below.)
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The San Diego show kicked so much ass we did an extra encore, which was my fault. I just didn’t want it to end. Louis whapped me with a rolled up newspaper afterward.

“The first show where we have to get on the road overnight and you decide to go overtime?” he admonished.

“But it was worth it, wasn’t it?” I said.

He didn’t answer, just handed the newspaper to Petey, who whapped me with it again.