Video: "Owl Singalong" - Raffi

Raffi - Owl Singalong cover

Raffi - Owl Singalong cover

The return of Raffi to the kids music scene has been one of the most pleasant surprises from the past couple years of kids music.  His 2014 album Love Bug was a solid return to the industry, his voice and sensibility undimmed from the '70s and '80s when he almost single-handedly created the kids music section in record stores.  He's said he felt a "stirring" to make music, and that stirring continues as he releases his next album, Owl Singalong, on January 15, 2016.

He's already released one video from the new album, for the reggae-and-strings "Green Dream" and now he's released a second video.  It's for the title track, "Owl Singalong."  The track is classic Raffi -- gentle, funny, and featuring his voice, which remains the best male voice in kids music.  The video is pretty simple, little more than illustrations, but they're cute enough, and the song engaging enough, that it should work well for the preschoolers in your orbit.

Raffi - "Owl Singalong" [YouTube]

Kids' Songs for Halloween (2015 Update!)

I've said a number of times that I'm not a big Halloween fan -- don't hate it, just not a holiday I have a particular affinity for.  Love the community feel of the holiday (given the climate in late October in Phoenix, the holiday in our neighborhood is a giant block party), hate the candy.

But I am in the minority, I believe.  So here's a collection of kindie Halloween songs I'm aware of, some of them released this week, some of them dating back to 2006).  This is an update of  my 2014 list with some subsequent songs.

I've added a handful of new songs to this list and, probably more importantly, I've partially organized it (in this case, alphabetically by song, for at least the non-playlist portion).  But I'm sure I'm forgetting some, or missing your favorites -- as always, list them in the comments, and have them forever immortalized.

Albums

-- Katherine Dines: Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta Spooky!

-- Monty Harper: Halloween Madness
-- Magic Maestro Music's: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

-- Mr. Billy: Big Pumpkin

-- Eban Schletter: Eban Schletter's Witching Hour
-- Sue Schnitzer: Boo, Cackle, Trick or Treat
-- M. Ryan Taylor: Thirteen For Halloween
-- Wee Hairy Beasties: Creepy Lullabies

Songs

"Bah Humbug Halloween" - Poochamungas (new for 2015!)

"Ballad of Boo Ghosty" - Alison Faith Levy (new for 2015!)

"Batty Bat" - Sesame Street's The Count

"Bonobo Joe and the Voodoo Queen" - The Hipwaders (see here)

"Boo!" - Trout Fishing in America

"Boogieman" - Secret Agent 23 Skidoo
"Boogieman" - Keith Munslow

"Boogie Man" - Heidi Swedberg and the Sukey Jump Band

"The Boy Who Cried El Chupacabra" - The Hipwaders (new for 2015!)
"Bumps in the Night" - Mr. Whirly (new for 2015!)

"Dance Like a Monster" - Play Date

"Do You Believe in Monsters?" - Mr. Ray

"Confusing Costume" - Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights

"The Day After Halloween" - The Sippy Cups

"Dia de los Muertos," Uncle Rock (Plays Well With Others)
"The Edison Museum" - They Might Be Giants (No!)

"Es Halloween" - Mariana Iranzi (new for 2015!)

"For Halloween This Year" - You and Me and the Rain

"Gettin' Down on Halloween" - Boxtops Jenkins

"Ghosts and Goblins - Mister G

"Goblins" - DidiPop

"Halloween" - Charity and the JAMband

"Halloween" - Princess Katie & Racer Steve

"Halloween" - Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke
"Halloween Every Night" - Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips

"Halloween Freak Out" - Chuck Cheesman

"Halloween Is Finally Here!" - Bears and Lions

"Harry's Haunted Halloween Circus," - Ralph's World (At the Bottom of the Sea)

"Heebie Jeebies" - Jazzy Ash (new for 2015!)

"I'm a Jack-o-Lantern" - The Boogers

"I'm a Vampire" - Roy Handy and the Moonshot

"I'm Not Afraid" - The Angry Beards

"Miss Elephant's Gerald" - The Pop Ups

"Missing in the Corn Maze" - vogelJoy

"Monster League Baseball" - Eric Herman

"The Monster Under My Bed" - Mighty Weaklings

"Monsters" - Jazzy Ash
"My Brother's a Monster" - Laura Freeman

"November First (Jump, Run, Shake)" - Eric Herman

"On Halloween Night" - Joe Scruggs

"Perfect Pumpkins" - Todd McHatton

"Pumpkinhead" - The Hipwaders

"Pumpkin Pied" - Gustafer Yellowgold

"Rattlin' Rattlin' Bones - Boxtop Jenkins

"Robot for Halloween" - The Flannery Brothers

"Robot Monkey Head" - John Hadfield (OK, not totally Halloween-themed, but SHOULD BE)

"Scare Me Scare You!" - Baze and His Silly Friends

"Scream" - Secret Agent 23 Skidoo and The Not-Its (new for 2015!)
"A Skeleton Bang," Rasputina (Colours Are Brighter)

"Skeleton Dance" - Monty Harper (new for 2015!)

"Skeletone" - Caspar Babypants
"Skin and Bones" -- countless recordings (Raffi, Sam Hinton, the Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta Spooky disk above)

"Snowstorm on Halloween" - Turkey Andersen (new for 2015!)

"Spooky Dance" - Rebecca Frezza

"Spooky Stuff" - David Tobocman

"Spooky Way Home" - The Crayonettes
"That's How a Pumpkin Grows" - Brian Vogan

"Them Bones" - lots of artists, including Caspar Babypants

"There's a Monster in My House" - Eric Herman

"Trick or Treat" - Justin Roberts

"Wesley Werewolf" - Skelly and the Punkins

"Where Do Monsters Go?" - Ratboy Jr.

"The Winchester Festival" - Mr. David

 

Bill from Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child also published his playlists from his '05, '06, and '08 shows...

Themed songs from 2006 show:

Ralph's World - Harry's Haunted Halloween Circus (At the Bottom of the Sea)
Roger Day - Monster Face (Ready to Fly)
ScribbleMonster & Friends - A Monster Goes Rrraargh! (Chocolate Milk)
Deedle Deedle Dees - Scared By My Own Costume (Live at Flywheel)
Monty Harper - Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet (Great Green Squishy Mean Concert CD)
Elizabeth Street - Really Gross (Different)
Telephone Company - Baby Halloween (The King's Surprse?)
Milkshake - Scared (Happy Songs)
Steve Weeks - 4 Little Girls (Aaron and his Aeroplane)
TMBG - Something Grabbed Ahold of My Hand (Apollo 18)
Mary Kaye - Skeleton Song (Spin Your Web)
Rebecca Frezza - Monster in My Room (Music in My Heart)
TMBG - Fingertips (Apollo 18)
Laurie Berkner - Monster Boogie (Buzz Buzz)
Andy Glockenspiel - Monster in Pink Underwear
Muppets - Wild Thing
They Might Be Giants - Hovering Sombrero '05 (Here Come the ABCs)

2005's list, "where we were much more Halloween-themed throughout":

They Might Be Giants - Hovering Sombrero '05 (Here Come the ABCs) (telling you, that floating hat is scary)
Splash 'n' Boots - Spooky-Doo (Getting Our Feet Wet)
Josh Greenberg & the Mother Goose Jazz Band - Boogie Woogie Ghost (Rhythm and Rhymes)
Trout Fishing in America - The Goops (It's a Puzzle)
Jennie Avila - Gargoyles (For Kids)
Troubador - There's a Werewolf Under My Bed (All About Animals)
Laurie Berkner - Monster Boogie (Buzz Buzz)
Two of a Kind - This Holiday Is Halloween (Friends)
Kevin Kameraad - Pumpkin Belly (Tomato Collection)
Monty Harper - Trick or Treat Smell My Feet (The Great Green Squishy Mean Concert CD)
Babaloo - Gorilla in the Middle of My Bedroom (Bean Bag Bop)
Ben Kweller with Ben Folds and Ben Lee - Wicked Little Town (Wig in a Box)
They Might Be Giants - Something Grabbed A Hold of My Hand (Apollo 18)
Ralph's World - Harry's Haunted Halloween Circus (At the Bottom of the Sea)
Nerf Herder - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Theme
Daddy A Go-Go - Scaredy Cat Cowboy Part 2 (Mojo A Go Go)
Roger Day - Monster Face (Ready To Fly)
ScribbleMonster & His Pals - A Monster Goes Rrraargh! (Best of Friends)
They Might Be Giants - Someone Keeps Moving My Chair (Flood)
Too Much Joy - Pride of Frankenstein (Cereal Killers)
Kevin Kammeraad - Moogie Monster Man (The Tomato Collection)
CandyBand - Monsters (More Candy)
Jack Sheldon - Them Not-So-Dry Bones (Schoolhouse Rock! Science Rock)
They Might Be Giants - Fingertips (Reprise) (Apollo 18)
Monster Mash (Music for Little People)
Telephone Company - Baby Halloween (The King's Surprise?)
Gunnar Madsen - Mayonnaise & Pumpernickel Bread (Ants in My Pants)
They Might Be Giants - Exquisite Dead Guy (Factory Showroom)
Peter Alsop - What If? (Pluggin' Away)
Bill Harley - Monsters in the Bathroom (Play It Again)
Babaloo - Monsters in the Bathroom (Room for Everyone)
Wolf Party (Sun, Sun Shine: Songs for Curious Children)
Belly - Witch (Star)
Daddy A Go-Go - Scaredy Cat Cowboy Part 1 (Mojo A Go Go)
Rockapella - Zombie Jamboree
David Roth - Halloween
Deedle Deedle Dees - Scared of My Own Costume (Let It Dee)
Justin Roberts - Thought It Was A Monster (Yellow Bus)
Milkshake - Scared (Happy Songs)
Steve Weeks - 4 Little Girls (Alphabet Songs Vol. 1)
They Might Be Giants - Skullivan (The Spine Surfs Alone EP)

Spare the Rock 2008

TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
TMBG - Whistling in the Dark
Steve Weeks - 4 Little Girls (Alphabet Songs Vol 1)
Kimya Dawson - Little Monster Babies (Alphabutt)
Deedle Deedle Dees - Scared By My Own Costume (Let It Dee)

Wee Scary Beasties - Pumpkinhead (Creepy Lullabies)
Telephone Company - Baby Halloween (The King's Surprise?)
Roger Day - Monster Face (Ready to Fly)
Ralph's World - Harry's Halloween Circus)
Dr. Strangeblood & the New Zombies - Monster Mash (EP)
Salteens - All My Friends (Yo Gabba Gabba)
Los Straitjackets - Munsters theme
Soccer Team - I'll Never Fear Ghosts Again
Baze & His Silly Friends - Scare Me, Scare You!
Egg - Night Time Party
Jimmies - Soaper the Scaredy-Bot (Make Your Own Someday)
Mike Doughty - Firetruck (Smofe + Smang)

ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
Justin Roberts - Maybe the Monster (Meltdown!)
Hank Hooper - Human Fly (Playground Fortune Teller)
B-52s - Planet Claire (Anthology)
Lamar Holley - Digestion (Classroom Pop Vol. 1)
Aric Bieganek & Recess Rock - Bright Lights, Big Kitty! (Bright Lights, Big Kitty)
Monty Harper - Trick or Treat Smell My Feet (Great Green Squishy Mean Concert CD)
Louis Armstrong - Jeepers Creepers (Back Through the Years)
Telephone Company - Lumberjack (Panda Brain)

Mates of State - Starman
Mighty Weaklings - Monster Under My Bed
Rechov Sumsum with Ronnie Rock - En Den Dino (Sesame Street Playground)
TMBG - The Guitar
TMBG - Spare the Rock

Gwyneth's Halloween set from 2007:
Lager Rhythms - Zombie Jamboree - Aftermath
Steve Weeks - 4 Little Girls - Alphabet Songs Vol. I
Ralph's World - Harry's Haunted Halloween Circus - At The Bottom Of The Sea
ScribbleMonster & His Pals - A Monster Goes Rrraargh! - Best Of Friends
Karl Williams - Merry Halloween - Big Fish Little Fish
Sue Schnitzer - Black Cats, Spiders, and Bats Blues - Boo, Cackle, Trick or Treat
Wendy Rochman and Sue Schnitzer - Your Bones - Boo, Cackle, Trick or Treat
Laurie Berkner - Monster Boogie - Buzz Buzz
C. Shells - Halloween Ghosts - C. Shells
Dan Zanes & Friends - Moonlit Town - Catch That Train!
GeereMusic - Halloween is Magic Time - Celebrate! Vol 1
Family Circus Kids - The Spider - The Complete Lyric Language
Janet Sirett - Another Halloween Night - Creepy Crawly Slimy Things
Brady Rymer - Full Moon Walk - Every Day Is A Birthday
John McCutcheon - Halloween - Four Seasons-Autumn Songs
Carole Peterson - Black Bat Farm (Oct) - H.U.M
DJ Spook A Lot - Skeleton Dance - Halloween For All
The Hipwaders - Howling At The Moon - The Hipwaders
John Bindel, Nashville Chamber Orchestra And Kid Pan Alley - Scary Things - Kid Pan Alley- Nashville
String Bean Jones (With The Lefty Jones Band) - Good Ghosts Here - Live From The Bathtub
Justin Roberts - Maybe The Monster - Meltdown!
Pam Blanchard & the Sunny-Side Up Band - Halloween Waltz - Music Makes Me Happy
Bruce, Troy, and Margaret - Thirty-Six Witches - Now For My Next Number
Steve Songs - One Halloween Night... - On A Flying Guitar
Monty Harper - Trick or Treat Smell My Feet - The Great Green Squishy Mean Concert CD
Steve Blunt and Friends - Pumpkins, Beware! - Outta School!
Sesame Street - The Monster in the Mirror (Grover) - Sesame Street Platinum All-Time Favorites
Brent & Woofy - On Halloween - Shine Shine Shine
Eric Herman And The Invisible Band - Hide And Go Seek With The Moon - Snow Day
Erin Lee & Marci - The Moonlight Wolfbite Batjuice Jamboree - Snowdance
Mary Kaye - The Skeleton Song - Spin Your Web
Thaddeus Rex - The Moon Is Rising - We Wanna Rock
Wee Sing - The Ghosts Go Flying - Wee Sing For Halloween
Danny Adlerman - Pump the Pumpkin
Imagination Movers - Knocking on Your Door 2

Devon has a lot more suggestions, including this list of songs.

Intro to Kindie: Stephanie Mayers

Stephanie Mayers

Stephanie Mayers

Stephanie Mayers has been behind the scenes of many of kindie's most influential people and places for more than a decade: World Cafe Live's Peanut Butter & Jams (one of the very first kindie concert series), Putumayo Kids, Dan Zanes, Kindiefest (to name the big ones).  In short, Mayers herself has been one of kindie's most influential people for more than a decade.

And now she's continuing that work with the recent creation of Mayers Consulting, a marketing and promotion firm focused on kids music and folks in that orbit.

It's in the spirit of those years of discovery that Mayers offers up her "Intro to Kindie," a list of songs introducing kids music to a newcomer to the genre.

Mayers Consulting logo

Mayers Consulting logo

When asked to put together my “intro to kindie” I decided to go about it by following my own personal kindie path. I began discovering this music 10+ years ago when I was booking for the Peanut Butter & Jams series in Philadelphia -- there I realized [there was] this exciting and refreshing budding genre and all that was starting to be.

This is a playlist of my own discovery from Philly at World Cafe Live to New York with Putumayo Kids, to working with independent artists, Kindiefest, the Dan Zanes universe and beyond. Songs from artists I was working with, songs I discovered from being a part of the community and songs that have played a part in raising my own family. This list is an abridged, incomplete, diverse collection but somewhat representative of how I’ve seen kindie.

  1. All Around the Kitchen- DAN ZANES
  2. I’m From the Sun- GUSTAFER YELLOWGOLD
  3. I Found It- BRADY RYMER
  4. Pink Piggie Polka Pancake Picnic- ERNIE & NEAL
  5. Hope My Mama Says Yes- AUDRAROX
  6. Bounce- ELLEN AND MATT
  7. Gazoopa- DIRTY SOCK FUNTIME BAND
  8. Bed Head- THE JIMMIES
  9. Polar Bear- THE QUIET TWO
  10. No More Monkeys- ASHEBA
  11. LadyBug -TERRIBLE TWOS
  12. Sometimes- FRANCES ENGLAND
  13. Pancakes- BEARS AND LIONS
  14. High Five- SHINE AND THE MOONBEAMS
  15. Hey Sister- WALTER MARTIN
  16. Folsom Preschool Blues- OPUS DITTY
  17. So Glad I’m Here- ELIZABETH MITCHELL
  18. Gotta Be Me- SECRET AGENT 23 SKIDOO
  19. Bowl of Cherries - Rhythm Child
  20. I’m a Pirate- Rhymezwell

Stories, Memes, and Fans: A Review of NerdCon: Stories 2015

I'll begin with a story.

Last year, in September 2014, I went to Portland, Oregon for XOXO, a conference and festival designed for people who make a living with the internet, either because they make the internet go in some way, or they use the tools and social structures the internet enables.  Silicon Valley folks, musicians, and... me.  (It was a lot more diverse than that sentence implies, but it's safe to say I was more the exception than the rule.)

It was only after I got to Portland and started focusing on the speaker's list for the conference portion that I realized that the speaker Hank Green was the Hank Green, that guy who's one-half of the Vlogbrothers, a founder of VidCon, and -- this is the important part -- somebody who my daughter, Miss Mary Mack, by now a teenager, is a huuuuuuuge fan of.  (She is an avid Nerdfighter, as some of Vlogbrothers' fans call themselves.)  In other words, if it had been my daughter there in Portland, and not me, the entire conference would have been leading up to Green's talk instead of his talk being an "oh!" moment, as it was for me.  (His talk, by the way, is really good.  I recommend it.)

Having said that, my daughter took the news that I saw Hank Green in stride.  Had I met Green in person, as Nick Disabato did, it's possible that her reaction would have been more along the lines of the author's teenaged nephew, who, after hearing that Disabato had casually chatted with Green in the food truck lines for a half hour, yelled at him in anger, "Hank Green was wasted on you!"

All of that -- hearing Green speak, my daughter's Nerdfighteria, the fact that I get myself to conferences I'm not entirely sure I'm the target market for -- helps to explain why I found myself in a large convention center ballroom in Minneapolis a couple weeks watching a squid answer questions.

Rapid-fire question and answer with famous people and a squid at NerdCon: Stories

Rapid-fire question and answer with famous people and a squid at NerdCon: Stories

We were in Minneapolis for NerdCon: Stories, the first NerdCon from Green and the folks who put on VidCon in Anaheim every year.  VidCon is a huge affair, bringing nearly 20,000 fans to a convention center across the street from Disneyland to meet and maybe learn from the biggest names in online video, names that I, for the most part, would not recognize at all, but would be stunned to find out would have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fans on YouTube, Vine, Snapchat, etc. etc.

In related news: I'm old.

But in late March, John Moe of the great radio program and podcast Wits noted that he was going to be participating in this thing called NerdCon: Stories, a conference which billed itself as a celebration of story-telling featuring authors, podcasters, musicians, and others.  The conference was being run by Hank Green's VidCon folks.  The conference would be held in Minneapolis, where I have many friends.  In other words, not only did this sound interesting, it also sounded like it had a much better chance than most first-year conferences of being well-attended, and even if it wasn't, we could visit friends.  It was actually doable... so we went ahead and did it.

I guess I should explain the squid.  The squid was -- and I hope I'm not revealing any secrets here -- a guy in a giant squid costume.  To be more specific, The Giant Squidstravaganza is the brainchild of Paul and Joe DeGeorge, who are also the folks behind Harry and the Potters (more on them anon).  The squid has a podcast -- the Cephalopodcast, of course -- and why wouldn't he be answering rapid-fire questions about himself with the likes of Rainbow Rowell, the aforementioned John Moe, Mara Wilson, and Joseph Fink (Welcome to Night Vale)?  It could have gone over very poorly, but it (both the squid in particular and the panel in general) was, like much of the conference, very, very funny.

In looking back at the conference agenda, I realize just how dry it all sounds, how... conference-like.  Panels, mainstage things, breaks for meals.  "We will learn about the importance of stories and how to produce stories, and the technical components of making a living sharing stories..." [/boring teacher voice].  But in execution, the weekend was was way more of a festival or what a "con" might entail.  Of course, I've never attended a "con" before.

In related news: not only am I old, I don't play RPG games, rarely read fantasy or sci-fi, don't watch much TV, and am generally, it would appear after reading this, a stick-in-the-mud.

But do I enjoy watching authors and podcasters get into arguments that devolve into (exaggerated fisticuffs) over whether someone would rather fight against 100 duck-sized horses or one giant horse-sized duck.  Thank you, John Scalzi and Kevin B. Free (again, from Welcome to Night Vale among other things) for taking the absurdity of that particular debate to its logical conclusion -- headlocks.

A spirited debate at NerdCon: Stories 2015

A spirited debate at NerdCon: Stories 2015

NerdCon: Stories was probably the funniest conference I've ever been to, and that includes not only the occasional day-job conferences (very dry) but also XOXO, Kindiefest, and even MaxFunCon, which is from a podcast network that features comedians.  I laughed a lot.  Not only that, the absurd nature of some of the discussions led to some amusing in-conference viral memes, like how an answer in a mainstage game of Superfight about the Illuminati, but made of guacamole, led to the creation of The Guacanati (and, of course, the accompanying Twitter account) and its own hand sign (two hands forming a triangular tortilla chip shape). 

I also thought quite a bit about stories and narratives and who tells those narratives and the importance of hearing those narratives from a wide range of perspectives.  Some of the panels were more focused than others, but I viewed the process of picking what panel to see when multiple panels were taking place akin to that of picking classes in college -- pick the professor (i.e., panelist) you want to hear, not the class title you think you want.  So while the topic of the challenges of adapting a work into another medium didn't interest me at all, the fact that John Green (Hank's brother, an author, perhaps you've heard of him?) was speaking on that panel very much did.

But as someone for whom "fandom" is not a particularly pleasant state of being, I felt somewhat at a remove from the guests.  I sympathized with author Patrick Rothfuss, who recounted a story of politely declining to take a selfie with a fan led to a somewhat dismissive public response on Twitter, without the fan knowing that Rothfuss was in the middle of trying to make funeral plans for a recently and suddenly deceased friend of his.  Believe me, as a Kindiefest guest, I get where Rothfuss was coming from -- even on the waaaaaay smaller scale of Kindiefest, I would get exhausted from talking to folks who wanted to talk to me about Kids Music Stuff when I would have been happier just talking about random things like the weather or the awesomeness of the taco truck down the street.  I can only imagine how taxing that must feel for Rothfuss let alone John Green, who didn't do a signing session.

Miss Mary Mack was all about trying to meet Hank Green (his two signing sessions filled up incredibly quickly in advance and she wasn't able to do so), while I sat to get books autographed by John Scalzi (for our hosts) and John Moe (because I really like his stuff), and aside from 10 seconds of chit-chat, that was all I needed.  But both of them are funny people -- I feel like if I spent time interacting with them that wasn't creator-fan but two middle-aged guys talking about something random, that would be more my speed.  It was those opportunities that I wished there'd been more of, because I'm used to those opportunities at the smaller conferences like those I mentioned above.  With well more than 2,000 fans in attendance at NerdCon, that probably wasn't going to happen.

So it was the youngster -- i.e., Miss Mary Mack -- who found herself in the middle of a circle of fans around Harry and the Potters as they finished up a party for the Harry Potter Alliance, singing the band's lovely singalong "The Weapon."  She was the one getting Nerdfighter pins, meeting fellow fans, getting us to go to a Nerdfighter meetup Sunday afternoon after the conference had ended.  I had a lovely time, but I hope for her it meant even more.

OK, some final comments in case there are any NerdCon folks (producers, attendees) who've read this far:

1) I wish there were more structured opportunities for attendees to interact with each other (and, to the extent possible, with the guests as well).  I kept watching the guests have fun interacting on stage and wishing there were similar opportunities for the attendees.  Now those interaction opportunities could be as simple as a game room, or an ongoing open-mike or storytelling session (they had those, but they were limited in time, and because the open-mike session was on the mainstage, it may have scared off some folks who might not have wanted to share their talents in front of hundreds of people).  But I think one of the great things about MaxFunCon is that there's little distinction between guests and attendees.  Obviously its size (less than 200) makes that possible.  XOXO is larger (close to 1,000) but by having a smaller conference and including a festival component that includes gaming and music, it provides more of those attendee interaction opportunities.  I'm not suggesting that there be a ton of public-facing performances for attendees.  I'm struck in reading Fangirl, a YA novel I picked up at NerdCon, written by guest Rainbow Rowell, how the impulse in writing fanfic (another thing I've never had any interest) can be primarily that of community, not of performance (let alone fame).

2) I wish there had been a closing session.  The last session Saturday night was a performance of "Too Might Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" performed by the Neo-Futurists (i.e., the folks behind Welcome to Night Vale), which was really enjoyable, but it was odd that a conference dedicated to the story didn't provide one of the most important things almost all good stories provide: closure.

3) I also had a small sense of confusion over what the conference was trying to be -- a conference, a "con," or a festival -- but its good humor and diverse guest list overcame that confusion.  Maybe rather than giving it a "Stories" focus, they could have called it NerdCon: Hank, or "HankCon," or "HankAndPatrickCon" (because Patrick Rothfuss was a major contributor in the planning of the weekend).  XOXO has always essentially been a weekend of the two Andys who are its founders indulging their own tech and culture whims, and it always seems to work out.  Hopefully they'll figure out what worked and tweak next year's event accordingly.

4) Mary Robinette Kowal should teach courses on how to run a good conference panel.  Her method -- take questions first, before the panel starts -- should be, well, mandatory for any conference that isn't taking questions solely via Twitter.  (OK, I hate to mandate anything.  But I loved that approach.)

If you're interested in other perspectives on the conference, I recommend John Scalzi's and Hank Green's comments.  Having said all this, I haven't said all I want to say, but it's time to wrap this up and press "publish" on this post.  I'd like to think that Hank Green wasn't wasted on me this time around.  I (and Miss Mary Mack) had a blast and look forward attending another NerdCon (Stories or otherwise) in the future.