The Journey So Far...

I had a news item cross my google front page the other day that one of my favorite musical artists has a new album out.  And, this renewed my love of her work.  It is only a compilation of live recordings, so no new content, but I loved the few live recordings I had heard previously. But, this blog post is not about the new album, per-se.  What this is about is the news reminded me how much I love her work and that I want others to know of it and love it too.  I was introduced to her music when I bought the soundtrack for the movie Strange Days.  It was heavy, and angry and frenetic and everything I love in a revolution song.  Selling Jesus was a commentary on the bankruptcy of the soul when you give in to the unholy alliance of religion and the oligarchs.  It spoke to my punk, counterculture, cynical, libertarian soul.  I needed more, so I began searching for her music. And, everything else I found of her work fits me so well too.  Hed...

Well, I told you so.  About a week after Arisia began, I am posting my part two, well after it is over.  It's ok though, because I had a very good, if busy, time.  I didn't really have time to sit and blog, because I was too busy doing.  Now I do have the time, so here we go. I had seven panels I was a panelist on.  This was a lot.  Not too much, but just on the edge of too much.  I had no more than three a day, and I didn't miss out on any events I had to see, though there were a few panels I did want to see, but couldn't because of my panelist duties.  But there is always something at a con like this that is at the same time as something else.  You can't see it all, and you have to get used to that idea if you want to have a good time. Also, when I first wrote, I said I had three panels I was moderator on.  That changed, and I had four instead.  The moderator to one of the panels had to cancel their attendance, and I was asked...

Well, lots of feels today.   I have just breezed into Boston for the highlight of my year.  And it is a mix, this year, of nostalgia, trepidation and excitement. Arisia is a SciFi convention in Boston every January, and I have been going here almost every year for about twenty, and sporadically since 1994 before that.  When I first came here it was the closest to feeling like home I had ever felt before.  It was an immediate feeling of comfort that dropped over me.  It didn't matter that I had hitchhiked halfway across the state with no lodging planned.   I got a membership, and for the next almost 48 hours I lived and breathed fandom.  The hotel this convention, my convention, used that year was the Park Plaza.   It was quirky, and a little run down, and just connected with me like no other.  As time went on, the convention grew and the Plaza didn't.  We moved a couple of times.  But, due to a union strike at our...