HW: Hawkfest 2003

[Henderson Keith]

AS declares...

>I can't say too much about the Hawkfest because I promised Starfarer that
>I'd write a little review.

Ditto me, for AI.

But what an amazing lineup of talent over the three days.  Worth
putting up with the fickle weather and lack of food variety.  :)

Thanks to all who helped with my (and others?) travel connections.
It really all went quite well, and going home that hour early saved
me from missing my flight, given that the the train was slowed 40
minutes for some unknown reason (not because they didn't announce it,
but rather because I couldn't understand what the heck he was saying,
and he wasn't even a Geordie).  :)

Grakkl (FAA)

P.S.  'Surprise' band of the fest was the amazing performance by
Afresco Mantis, the surprise being mostly that they were never on
the bill to begin with, but had their instruments ready to go once
a spot was available in the barn.

P.P.S.  Unfortunate (for me) was missing Martyn 'Doc Hasbeen' Needham
in the barn just 'cause I didn't know music was starting over there
so early (I thought it was a 'late night' thing only)...but thanks to
whoever it was who pointed this oversight to me....I missed nobody else
except PXR1 I guess (who unbelievably was put on at the same time as
Hawkwind...that was kinda stupid...somebody should have thought a second
longer and left the barn 'dark' for those three hours at least).  Somebody
remind me again who PXR1 is/are (knowing only the one track from
Elf & Hawk), and if and how they fit into the Krel/Spacehead family tree,
which may or may not be the case.

P.P.P.S.  OFF-topic wandering: Can anybody explain the logic behind
the alphabet-shuffling of the CA guv'ner ballot, and how it makes it
more 'fair' if they randomi(s/z)e it beforehand (rather than just ABC...)?
Doesn't it just *change* who gets the 5% boost at the top of the list
rather than eliminate the bias?  What, were they afraid that candidates were
going to start changing their legal names to "Joe Aardvark" or "AAA Heating
and Cooling"?  Maybe I'm stupid, but I would have thought that printing
an equal number of ballots with *each* of the candidates listed at the top
would have made the most sense.  Although now with 6000 candidates (or
whatever it is) for one stupid election, the printing costs would start
to get extreme, now wouldn't they?  Anyway, in this crazy world where
people are looking to organized religions (of all things) to figure out
whether it's 'OK' or not to be homosexual, I guess very little makes any
sense anymore.  At least we in the scientific world (and I speak for most
of 'us') :) don't look to religious leaders anymore to determine whether
the Earth is revolving around the sun, or vice versa.  Oh yeah, and how
'bout that Marsrise at Hawkfest?  Just wait until the upcoming New Moon.
Almost close enough to have HF'04 there, yeah?  Who has the Martian Shuttle
schedule handy?  I'd better start to work out my travel now!

P.P.P.P.S.  Tuesday it was 41.5 C (107 F) here in der Schweiz, not
only an all-time record for the country, but by 2.5 damn degrees C (~4F)!
"Layers of smoke in the atmosphere have made the earth too hot to bear."
(You didn't hear *me* say that now...I'm just quoting!)  :) Plus, 'smoke'
causes cooling if you wanna really be picky.

P.P.P.P.P.S.  Not such a short email after all.