Filk & Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full

Subject: BS: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Spearcarrier
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 01:54 AM

Hi all. Long time no hear from. Well, I have stopped by to read threads anonymously but having things to say is hard. But tonight it's suggested I speak up, so I am.

I'm a huckster for filk music CDs. I started out selling only at conventions, but in the past couple of years the music has started to take over my online store. Then last month we (me + the better half) recently acquired the stock of the late, great Michael Liebmann, a vendor at various events. He not only had a lot of filk, he had a lot of Celtic and Scottish folk music.

So now my hallway is full of boxes. It's been a few weeks now and I only have 1/2 of the stock put into the store.

I'm trying to find ways to sell it. Selling the filk has been okay, considering - I'm a member of filk forums and people know me. But the Celtic stuff has proven very very difficult. Even without COVID, events I could take them to don't happen near me. And selling online only works if people know you're out there.

So I'm speaking up in here, on the off chance people are interested or (just as nifty) they have suggestions on events that might be near us or other avenues. I am located in Southern Illinois.

Because Liebmann passed away from complications in surgery for a brain tumor, we're giving part of the proceeds away to charity to fight cancer. So far it's been very interesting, seeing all of these artists I've never heard of and hearing songs that are new to me. I love folk music, but I have a long way to go when it comes to learning.

I was gonna end up speaking up eventually anyway. I'm on the hunt for magical traditional folk songs again - which I think was what we talked about the last time I spoke up.

The online store is here: www.woksprint.com

It might 503 out. Just hit refresh. And no, I'm not happy with our provider. Why do you ask? :-p

Subject: RE: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 10:27 AM

This isn't BS, so has been moved to the top of the page. I know "filk" is a thing, but is that a typo in your post? I and O are adjacent on the QWERTY keyboard. You're talking about "folk" CDs, aren't you?

Subject: RE: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: GUEST,cnd
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 11:25 AM

SRS, filk is science fantasy themed folk music. Popular themes are star wars, star trek, etc. I have a wonderful Manley Wade Wellman filk cd from the Silver John stories.

I'll have to look through your sales list myself!

As for selling, my number one suggestion would be listing them for sale on discogs, Amazon and eBay. Discogs to me is the best route and personal favorite because, assuming the CD is in their database already, its as simply as listing it for sale and adding condition info. If not, making a page for it is fairly self explanatory. Amazon and eBay are other routes but they'll be more tedious to set up

Subject: RE: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 01:26 PM

I know what filk is, but with the subject line "folk" and "filk" in the body text, I wonder if both should be listed in the subject.

Subject: RE: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Spearcarrier
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 02:26 PM

Well, I probably should have included both words but the header only gave me so much room. I had to edit it several times to get the word hallway to fit. :-)

I have to wiggle through the hallway to get into the washroom. It used to be much worse, though. I've been ignoring all things to get these CDs processed so I can have my hallway back.

Discogs is certainly a great suggestion... but believe it or not it's harder to list there than ebay and Amazon. My store attaches automatically to ebay and amazon, and even adds extra fees to cover ebay and amazon fees. With discogs, a lot of my CDs aren't in their database which means adding them, which can be a real boring PITA if you're doing several hundred. Also, because it doesn't attach to the website, there's an inventory issue. But I've got a couple listed there.

I admit I was hoping to hear about a Celtic or folk music festival near me. =^-^= Also, I want to hear more about this Manley Wade Wellman CD...cry.

Subject: RE: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: cnd
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 05:18 PM

Sorry SRS, I mis-read your message.

Spearcarrier, you can read about the CD and book it's paired with here. The CD was "Who Fears the Devil" by Joe Bethancourt, and it was a real doozy for me to find.

Yeah, Discogs' process of adding albums manually can be rather tedious if the majority aren't online already. If that's the case then your traditional online retailers are your best bet. Or if you can find a local shop that specializes in that sort of music and would be interested in buying in bulk.

Subject: RE: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Spearcarrier
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 05:45 PM

Oooh! This one keeps popping up in my searches when I look for information about one of his CDs but by the Devil name, not by "Wellman". All if it makes sense now. Haven't seen this one in the hallway collection, alas!

I'm also trying to track down Benthancourt's Black Book of Lock. I'm finding references, but not it. Nothing that will open on my computer anyway.

Subject: RE: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: GUEST,#
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 06:12 PM

Joe Bethancourt wrote under the name Joseph of Locksley at times. Interesting character.

Subject: RE: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: cnd
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 06:38 PM

It's a neat CD if you're into the book series, but musically the performance is just "decent" in my opinion (partially intentional, he wanted the cd to have a 'field recording' feel to it). The Wellman name comes from the fact that almost all the songs on the CD are from Manly Wade Wellman's book series "Silver John", released as a compilation under the name "Who Fears the Devil?"

"The Black Book of Locksley"... That's one I hadn't heard of. Even his website(s) (archived link, current site) mention its release only in passing.

Not to continue to derail the thread, but I assume you know the original 'Black Book' was not a recording but a .txt file that circulated widely around the internet. There's a few different versions of it uploaded to the 'net but what (appears) to be the most complete and updated version is available here. Good luck finding the recording, though!

Subject: RE: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Spearcarrier
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 07:00 PM

Oh I'm not interested in a recording of the Black Book. I'm talking with a fellow filker about releasing an album (for fun) where the theme is magic's price. Bethancourt was a friend of hers, so it occurred to me he might have had a song touching on it.

I managed to find an old reference where someone had uploaded simply everything into a university archive, which of course is gone now, but the wayback machine crawled a lot of it. So I've been downloading all day instead of entering CDs into the store. I also found another version of it, courtesy of the wayback machine, that appears a bit edited. Couldn't find it *anywhere* else. Someone had linked it to me at a pagan archive site, but that refused to open for me.

The link you've helpfully provided just happens to be one of the parts the wayback machine didn't crawl. It's fate! ;-)

Subject: RE: Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: GUEST, Lin
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 09:13 PM

Hi,

Do you have any of Meg Davis tapes or CDs I can buy?
I have a few of her albums but not all of them.
Thank you,
Lin
.

Subject: RE: Filk/Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 09:17 PM

Spearcarrier, I added Filk & Folk to the thread title, so both are covered. We sometimes get inquiries about the availability of Filk recordings. Feel free to let us know what you have available, and how people can make purchases from you.
Joe Offer, Mudcat Music Editor

Subject: RE: Filk & Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 21 - 12:27 AM

Good - thanks, Joe! Having those few extra characters can make a big difference.

Subject: RE: Filk & Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Spearcarrier
Date: 19 Mar 21 - 04:24 AM

I have one single Meg Davis CD: Music from Wonderland. I'm supposed to pick up more of that one this weekend, but I make no promises. She did sell out quickly, which was good for the charity payment. :-)

You can just go to the website and do a search. (www.woksprint.com) The list of what I have is pretty long, and I have a few boxes to go through still. Off the top of my head: Golden Bough, Unusual Suspects, Children of the Future, Celtic Harp CDs of various forms. There might be a Bethancourt. I found the Devil one in a box today. ... dragons don't share much....

Thanks for changing the thread title. I admit I'm not very clever at times.

Subject: RE: Filk & Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 19 Mar 21 - 06:13 AM

I only became aware of the existence of 'filk' quite recently, due to Piers Cawley's Friday night song-swaps on YouTube.

Filk intrigues me, as a diehard folkie who is also into some scifi and comics.

What specific subjects are biggest in filk? I mean, are there some particular subjects (or movie franchises or book series) that really stand out in the filk world as massively popular?

I was also wondering who is really good in the filk world? Who is the filk world's equivalent of a Martin Carthy or Bert Jansch? (The few filk acts I've listened to so far have been pretty uninspiring frankly)

Subject: RE: Filk & Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Spearcarrier
Date: 19 Mar 21 - 03:17 PM

Who have you listened to?

When it comes to subjects, currently everyone wants to sing about TV Shows. Everyone. (Even I wrote a song about a TV show.) There's a couple of entire CDs devoted to Firefly out there, one of which is by The Bedlam Bards - who also do Celtic rock. There's a music video I did to one of their songs. I'll see if I can find it for you.

The Faithful Sidekicks have an indie sound and sing about gaming for the most part. I like their stuff, though, because they try to keep most things on the happy side. I think their song Achievement Unlocked is pretty decent.

In the 80's and 90's there was a rush of songs about books: Pern, stuff by C. J. Cherryh, Elfquest, etc. Those were commissioned, and I have to admit I've a biased fondness for them. Kari Maaren, who sings with a ukulele, will do songs about books. One of my favorite songs by her is, "Being Watson". Very good pov by Watson, very nice melody. Most of her stuff is funny, but that one is poignant.

But I wouldn't know who to compare to people like Martin Carthy and Bert Jansch. Leslie Fish, who has been in filk since the 60's or 70's (and is still around) was a folk singer first. Friends with another famous folk singer to whom she "sang last but sang long". Someone I know called her "The Great One" because she was so influential on the filk scene. But to compare is hard.

Another filk/folk singer that comes to mind is Cynthia McQuillin. She's got a keyed down style, more acoustic and down to earth. I like her stuff a lot. I'm always having to re-order her stuff.

With Leslie's stuff, when I sell out of things they're gone. I just sold out of Serious Steel, never for it to return (I say with sorrow). People have been working to get it online for download. I'm trying to get it so her stuff can also be downloaded from the site. It makes it easier for people coming there for other things.

The video: https://youtu.be/m8pbTBU3Cjw

(Sorry don't think I can embed.)

Subject: RE: Filk & Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Mar 21 - 05:08 PM

That link: Bedlam Bards: Dark Lady (YouTube)

Subject: RE: Filk & Folk CDs, and now my hallway is full
From: Spearcarrier
Date: 19 Mar 21 - 07:05 PM

I'll get the hang of it eventually. I'm used to just copy and pasting into the browser bar and forget not everyone does that.