All programming slots are now filled.  Changes require excessive bribing.

In addition to our guests Sam Baardmann (accompanied by Susan Israel) and Mich Sampson, we've been busy lining up some great concerts and workshops. The following folks have requested performance time at 1812Tone:

• Dragster -  "We Apologize for the Inconvenience" (Chris  & Peter Smith with Keris, Mich Sampson, Marilissa Valtazanou and the JLA)
• Patchwork (Martin Gordon-Kerr - Drums; Andy Gordon-Kerr - Keyboard; Simon Fairbourne - Bass; Talis Kimberley - Vocals; Chris Malme - Vocals and Guitar)
• n'Early Music Consort
• Dave Clement
• Bill & Gretchen Roper
• Talis Kimberly & Friends
• Songbird
• Mike Whitaker
• Katy Drõge and Juliane Honisch
• Lawrence Dean
• Paul Bristow & Friends - "Should We Get Together More Often?"
• Chris Conway
• Miki Dennis (Reading "Bitch" Poetry — that's what Miki calls it!)
• Gwen Knighton
• Kathy Sands

Along with the customary two hours of  2 x 10 Concerts that folks can sign up for at the con (2 songs or 10 minutes, whichever comes first), we also have an Irish Sessiun with Susan Israel, an Accompanying Guitar workshop with Sam Baardman,  SATB and an Ecumenifilk with Mich Sampson, and a Tech Mixing workshop with GK.   If we can pull it off, we're also hoping to present a "blending" of British "Silly Games" with Peter Wareham and Gwen Funnell with American Stand-Up/Improve Games with Bill and Gretchen Roper. Should be a lot of fun.

Our most exciting endeavor is something that we're calling "Unstabands."  On Saturday, four groups of musicians who ordinarily do not have the opportunity to play together will enter the Alternate Programming Room. All singers, but included in each group will be one guitarist, one bass player, one percussionist, one keyboardist, and one or two "additional" musicians. One of the bands will be Voices Only.

The members of each band won't know who the other players/singers are until they reach the convention.

Each band will be given one hour to play and sing together -- whatever they want to play.

Listening audiences are welcome, but the Unstaband is the band - no add-ins.

At the end of the hour, the members of the Unstaband will decide which of all the songs that they played really rocked. Then they will give over to the next Unstaband. Bands are discouraged from meeting on the side for additional "rehearsal."

On Sunday, before the Sams recipients grace us with a repeat performance of their winning compositions, each Unstaband will play their selection. (We're asking the keyboard players to share an instrument.)

It's not a contest or competition. No prizes or lasting fame. We're hoping that folks will jump on board for the sheer exhilarating fun of a musical experiment. It might not work, but then again...it might.

12-Tone Technique bases the melodies and harmonies of a piece
on an ordering of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale.
The 12 tones of an octave are not centered around any single tone,
but are united by the composer's selected order of tones for a given composition.
This technique represented a clear break with the harmonic formulas of music
that had been developed during the 18th and 19th centuries.