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Comments? Please post them here. I confess I was somewhat skeptical when I first heard about Stevemac's plan to attend every filk convention in the year 2001. I admired him for his enthusiasm, of course, but had my doubts whether it would work from a practical sense. How could he afford the costs involved, for example? And such a project would inevitably become entangled in filk politics along the way. A noble aspiration, to be sure, but I half-expected to hear that he had decided to cancel his project, or at least scale down his goals. I never expected him to scale UP his goals. :-) Not only is he planning to attend every filk convention held this year, but he has also organized a mass recording project in which filkers are all singing a song he wrote specifically for the project, with the CD being tentatively scheduled for release in early 2002.
"(Then) I remembered a friend of mine who had played a couple con-tapes for me," said Steve. "When this friend had laughed at appropriate moments in a couple songs, it got captured on the tape. My friend didn't ever expect to make a CD or tape- but the fact that they showed up on one was a source of pride and honor." Steve decided to do something similar, creating an opportunity for all filkers to participate on a single album. His idea: have everyone learn one song, record people singing it at every filk convention, and then combine the recordings. Steve composed Many Hearts, One Voice for this purpose. In addition, Steve is asking each filk convention to submit a short list of songs they feel is representative of their area. At least two songs from each convention will be selected for the final CD, for a total of 19 tracks. The recording process basically consists of three stages. First, the choruses are recorded at each filk convention he attends. All these recordings will then be spliced together. In the last stage, he collects all the masters for the songs submitted by each convention. "Most of the masters for these are still in the hands of their respective recording engineers, because most of the engineers are doing multiple conventions. When each engineer finishes his last con, the masters will start making their way to Scott Snyder for synchronizing." Steve is also doing a CD "periodical" called WorlDream Editions. "The songs on this CD are pieces that I've run across as I go from con to con; each CD builds upon the one before it. Each Edition CD is sold at the InterFilk / Fan Fund auction at each con." More info about these songs can be found at http://www.smacdonald.com/songs/ and http://worldream.filk.org.uk/songs/.  Recording at FKO. How can he afford to go to all the filk conventions in 2001? "Luck, and Ramen noodles," says Steve. "You think I'm kidding? In my area, Ramen noodles are 5 packs for a buck. That's a week's worth of lunch... :)" He had originally planned to fund WorlDream with stock options that matured in January, 2001. When the stock market took a downturn, Steve had to reexamine the feasibility of his project. "I felt that it was possible, with a bit of creative financing and some way of generating funds while I was on the road. This is where the t-shirts came from- finding a way to defray the cost of food, con registration, and lodging. I've had to tighten the belt quite a bit, and conduct a bit of fundraising (I'm selling tshirts at each con to help defray travelling costs); but so far it's going well. Some folk have stepped forward and given direct donations to the fund to help ensure its continuation as well." Ironically, the most difficult part of the experience for Steve was writing convention reports. "Simply put: I don't do well forcing myself to sit and write," he admits. "I feel very strongly that everyone deserves to see where things are, and how they're coming. But actually getting the bloody con reports written has been a BIG thorn in my side." Steve says that for him, the best part of the experience has been the universal connection he feels for filkers at each convention. "Seeing tears in people's faces as we're singing, and desperately holding my own back so that I can lead the song. Being hit with a WALL of sound the first time we record at each con. Watching people connect with the fact that we're building a Filk celebration of the beginning of this Millennium; and that they are held together with everyone else who has ever participated in the project, past and future."  Recording at Consonance. Steve is grateful to the various groups and individuals who have helped him in his efforts: convention committees (for agreeing to give him the equivalent of two hours of primetime programming), the folks at Filkhaven (irc.us.filknet.org) for suggestions and support, Offworld Designs, for the tshirts, the sound engineering staff at each convention ("Spencer Love, Chris Croughton, Gerry Tyra, Ken Lalonde, and Scott Snyder have truly put in heroic efforts to date), supporting staff and friends, and "InterFilk, the UK Fan Fund, and the German Fan Fund for allowing the use of their names, and a place to put the funds when all is said and done." The artwork for the WorlDream logo and the album covers for the Editions CDs is by Beckett Gladney. Steve explains, "The image consists of a field of dandelions, sending their seeds into space. Hanging over the field in space is a planet, made from a dandelion. Go to my WorlDream Web site or http://www.worldream.filk.org.uk to see these beautiful images." Filkers are also organizing the WorlDream Quilt Project, a collaborative effort involving donated squares and borders from members of all the filk conventions. A raffle for the quilt will be held at OVFF, with proceeds going to Steve to support his project.  Recording at ConThirteena. One of the challenges of the project was writing The Song that everyone would sing: All profits from CD sales go to Interfilk, the British Fan Fund, and the German Fan Fund. "This is the best way that I can think of to give back to our community," says Steve. "All the participants on the CD have agreed to donate their royalties to the project- so the only costs are going to be CD duplication and packaging."
 Recording at GAfilk. Despite the amount of organization and funding needed for this project, Stevemac is actually pulling it off. "Response has been awe-inspiring," says Steve. "I'm finding that at the start of each con, most people haven't been aware of what's going on. Response at GaFilk, ConThirteena, and Consonance was mostly from word-of-mouth of a small number of folk who had spoken with me personally before the con, or had participated at a previous con. By FilKONtario, nearly a third of the chorus were people who had been at one or more of the previous three cons." Steve says that they seem to be averaging about 60 voices at each con. So far, over 200 people have participated in the project. If the trend continues, he anticipates having nearly 600 voices on the song by the end of OVFF weekend (each time a person participates at a con, they are counted as one voice). Thank heavens for people like Steve Macdonald, with his stubborn optimism and crazy ideas; they'll keep the rest of us from getting too cynical in this post-dot-com slump. :-) When asked what he plans to do next year, Steve replied, "Move to Chicago. Find a new job. Get handfasted. Spend time with my children. Sit at home. :) And miss my friends- old and new; cuz there's NO way I can afford to do this again. sigh"
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The idea for WorlDream originally came from Steve missing filk friends, and vowing to see more of them in 2001. As he began to finetune his project plans, however, it turned into something much more. He thought about the wonderful connection he felt with everyone at cons, and wondered how he could help other feel that same connection.