# How do Star Trek cons arrange themselves? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605 "2011-06-07T06:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/21 "2011-06-08T20:55:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Here is a classic example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDdTLlNWypQ) from one of my favorite filk singers, Leslie Fish. Thanks again! I had a hard time following the lyrics. I guess I need to drink more. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/22 "2011-06-08T20:59:29Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Thanks again! > > I had a hard time following the lyrics. I guess I need to drink more. Name a science fiction/fantasy show/book, and there is probably a filk song about it. Mecedes Lackey has a whole series of cds dedicated to her _Valdemar_ books(she even sings on some of them!) ---
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/23 "2011-06-08T21:00:06Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Thanks again! > > I had a hard time following the lyrics. I guess I need to drink more. i see what you did there. Typically if you are a Star Wars filker, you might sing the ballad of Tatouine or a rousing Empire anthem. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/24 "2011-06-08T21:22:08Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Wil looked like he was [having](http://hijinksensue.com/2011/06/02/phoenix-comicon-fancy-photo-comic/) [fun](http://hijinksensue.com/2011/06/03/phoenix-comicon-fancy-photo-comic-outtakes/), though. Oh, I’m not saying he was _cold_, but that all the guests I saw or interacted with were even [more friendly](https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zboJ8rAY6LZL8xWUz8S5b0svDnifkSDklgQ69_eY0eY?feat=directlink) than [he was](https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3V37lnreHEgibAS2CmTe2EsvDnifkSDklgQ69_eY0eY?feat=directlink), which is notable. He did seem aloof when I got the chance to speak with him, but I was just one random schlub out of thousands of schlubs so I can understand. The poor guy had a constant long line at his signing table. I felt bad for the guys on either side of him who didn’t have any lines. Sorry, hijack. Still marking. 😃 (And when Wil was performing or on panels, he kicked ass, no problems there.) ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/25 "2011-06-08T21:49:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Name a science fiction/fantasy show/book, and there is probably a filk song about it. Mecedes Lackey has a whole series of cds dedicated to her _Valdemar_ books(she even sings on some of them!) > [@melodyharmonius](#): > > Typically if you are a Star Wars filker, you might sing the ballad of Tatouine or a rousing Empire anthem. I guess I need to get out to more ST/SciFi conventions. The one and only convention I went to was right after ST-II came out. Walter Koenig was the only guest that I heard of. It was a combined Star Trek/Marvel Comics convention in Hartford. Kinda meh, when I think back on it. ---
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/26 "2011-06-08T22:28:12Z")
There’s some really great Fillk and Wizard Rock and other types of Sci Fi musical genres out there. One of my favorite artists is Voltaire - his music could be about being a zombie gigolo, a pirate saving a whale, or just a weird freak from New Jersey. Also noteworthy is Jonathan Coulton (Re: Your Brains) and Paul and Storm. Think of Barenaked Ladies with their geekdom turned to 11. (Cause y’know, it goes to 11 . . .) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/27 "2011-06-08T22:43:13Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Humorous songs related to some aspect of the fandom, usually (but not always) in the style of “folk” music. Not always humorous - over Memorial Day weekend I attended Balticon and heard this song [http://www.adapalmer.com/sassafrass/somebodywill.html](http://www.adapalmer.com/sassafrass/somebodywill.html) (Youtube version here [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3SHUfdyEZI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3SHUfdyEZI)) which is quite moving, and also heard a song about the way the Danes protected the Jews during WWII ([Rescue of the Danish Jews - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_the_Danish_Jews)). Balticon was a good example of the variety of SF cons (in this case, fan-run) - I moderated a panel which compared the Singularity with the Eschaton, and a panel about Doctor Who, participated in the trivia contest, went to filk concerts and sing-alongs, author readings, a standup comedy act and a Victorian dance, and gave a science talk - and it didn’t even go into the gaming or anime rooms. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/28 "2011-06-08T22:48:44Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I think I was [del]screwed over by[/del] at that one. Was it in Richmond, Texas? It was at the Plano Convention Center in Plano, Texas. Would have been 1999 or 2000. > [@](#): > > Maybe not the same event. The one I went to, out of his 2 hour presentation window, he spent the first 45 minutes showing a video of some old radio show scripts that he was involved with them digging and reading through. It must have been a different event then. He didn’t do anything like this at the one I went to. > [@](#): > > Your descriptions are consistent with the commercial media cons, not fan-run cons. That’s pretty much my only experience with Star Trek conventions. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/29 "2011-06-08T22:48:44Z")
P.S. And I saw one Doper there (one that I know is a Doper - could have been others there) ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/30 "2011-06-08T23:02:13Z")
The first time I saw my future husband was at a filksing in a friend’s basement. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605/31 "2011-06-09T13:35:12Z")
> [@Helena](#): > > The first time I saw my future husband was at a filksing in a friend’s basement. 😃 Are you from Kiribati? I just ask because a friend of mine met a woman at a filksing in a friend’s basement, and according to local custom, her family was quite insistent that he had to marry her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-star-trek-cons-arrange-themselves/584605.md?page=1)