This is the (mostly) true story of one of the most memorable stories (and moments) of the original Conterpoint, held in suburban Baltimore in 1993. I was at the Thursday evening pre-con party at Steven Joel & Lindy?s when the phone call from Spencer came (and contributed $20 to the collection to pay the hotel until he arrived with the con checkbook). The instafilk hit me the next day, and when the contest for songs written at-con rolled around Sunday (we had a lot of instafilkers in those days), I was ready
When Spence set out for Bal'mer to come to Conterpoint His van was filled with electronic stuff The registration records he could not fit inside And so he tied the box down on the roof While warping down the turnpike the box it opened up A check went bouncing down I-95 Our dough and pre-reg listing are blowing in the wind To Maryland they never will arrive He lost our money; That's our Spence He lost our money; has no cents He lost the hotel payment and registration list If we start getting junk mail you know that we'll be pissed He lost our money; Lordy no! He lost our money; 'Fraid it so Calamity Coyote ne'er had luck quite this bad That Spence arrived at all we should be glad! Spence stopped to phone up Lindy to tell her of the news An urgent cash collection was arranged "Another Spence emergency" is what the filkers used To describe this latest moment of Spence fame He accepted our charity and went to the hotel Unpacked his gear and went to Radio Shack He came back with some patchcords, some microphones and stands I wonder if he *really* lost that check!Spencer's reaction was a look of "Oh no, not again!" and an attempt to shrink behind the sound board. Then he came after me with a spare microphone cord, at which point I hurriedly finished the song and went flying out of the ballroom.
I had told Steve Brinich about the song after I started working on it Friday night. He responded with the following eulogy (and sung it at the one-shots):
THE ULTIMATE TRIBUTE Words: Steve Brinich, copyright 1993 Music: Eric Bogle -- "No Man's Land" Well, how d'ye do now, Electro, old friend? I see that you've met a most untimely end. Your latest performance went far overboard, So now you're here, strangled with microphone cord. You've also been squashed like a winery grape, A terrible price for your poetic rape. Did friends try to help you in your final scrape, Or did they all grab you and block your escape? Did the rage build up slowly from your filksong so lowly? Were you just the last straw that broke that camel's back? Did your eyeballs bulge out of their sockets? Can I have these filk notes in your pockets?Then, at the one-shots themselves, Sue Knapp (now Cochran) penned the following:
Con Sequences (titled by Carol Kabakjian) Tune:Barrett's Privateers by Stan Rogers Lyrics:Sue Knapp Oh the year was 1992 And I'm glad that I was there to see At Concertino in the month of June The con suite gather for to sing a tune Oh damn it all! We were bold For Spencer Love had not been told That we'd sing to him of Rennie's plea, "Don't Move Mountains" singlehandedly And under a table Spence did flee! Oh the year is 1993 And I'm glad I'm at the filk con now At Conterpoint in the month of June Gary Ehrlich sang a familiar tune Oh damn it all! He was bold He up and sang the lyrics cold He pulled no punch, spared no jeers Now he's a running man, we can see his fears He reduced J. Spencer Love to tears!Return to Songs to Shock and Delight