On the Mark, Darkover

[cellio]

This weekend I'm heading down to Timonium, MD (near Baltimore) for Darkover, an SF/music/etc con. This con has the best music programming I've encountered at a con that doesn't officially specialize in music, and On the Mark has been playing there for a while. This year we have two concerts, Friday night at 9 and Saturday afternoon at 2. If you're there, I hope you'll come say hi.

These will be On the Mark's last performances for the forseeable future. We've been doing this for something over 15 years and it's been a lot of fun, but life changes and people get busy and we're moving on to other things. We'd rather go out on a good note than slowly fade away, and I'm pretty happy about the performacnes we have planned for this weekend. Last night at practice we began the process of figuring out who actually owns which instruments and equipment (hey, these things can get fuzzy), which was a little bittersweet.

Flights were exhorbitant (twice as expensive as Boston -- WTF?) and buses and trains have impractical schedules, so I'm driving. Here's hoping the weather in the mountains doesn't suck on Sunday and that visibility is good. It's only 250 miles, which isn't a big deal, but 100 of those miles always seem to be miserable on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. They're worse in the other direction, though; I guess more people head from the coast inland for the holiday than the other way around.

Comments

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on 15+ years of performing. I'm sorry I won't be able to see you and On the Mark, but hope to at least get to hear a recording, maybe?

Have a wonderful time at the con. Let's see, what to say pre-performance... ah! Break a hammer. :)

[kyleri]

What with one thing and another, I won't be making it to Darkover this year - a shame I'll miss your last show! It was great hearing you guys last year, though.

[jeannegrrl.livejournal.com]

I hope very much that I will be able to make your Saturday performance. Regardless I hope you have a great farewell weekend and a fun time at the con.

[cellio]

Break a hammer. :)

:-)

[cellio]

Sorry I'll miss you, but I admit I'm not surprised given the chaos in your life recently.

[cellio]

Ooh! I hope you can make it too; I didn't realize this was a possibility.

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

Have a good, safe trip!

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

Bummer! I know, I know, life changes, but still... That said, it's been wonderful being able to listen to you as often as we have been able to. Now, with as busy as your lives have become, is the time to begin planning your reunion concert.

S

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to seeing you this weekend.

I understand why you consider this a good time for On The Mark to say farewell. In many ways it is similar to why Clam Chowder retired back in '89. (But, as you can tell from the Clams, reunions are always a possibility down the road!)

[xthlcm.livejournal.com]

You might want to try taking a long way around -- take 79 south to 68 and then take 68 east to 70. That's generally a less-trafficked route, and lets you avoid turnpike madness on Thanksgiving weekend. It's also a gorgeous drive -- I used to try and take that route (whenever I had the time) while visiting my parents down in DC.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tip! I hadn't thought of that, and a look at Google Maps shows that this should work well. (Yay for the hybrid view so you can get a sense of terrain!)

I'll take the usual 76/70 route down because Friday is time-constrained, but I think I'll take 68 home on Sunday.