Friday, September 14, 2007

Alive and Well On The Net

Some things never go away, even when you wish they would. Last month I was at the Chengdu International Science Fiction Conference in Chengdu, China -- a wonderful experience. But at a cultural presentation of dancers and musicians, the two Japanese-writer guests sang a Japanese song. Then the Russian cosmonaut sang a Russian song (and that man could SING). This put pressure on the Americans -- should we sing? What should we sing? How bad would we be?
We did sing, resulting in the worst rendition ever of "Oh, Susanna!" This is not false modesty. We were truly terrible. Neil Gaiman, refraining from joining in on the grounds that he's a Brit, said, "Couldn't you guys at least choose one key?" Apparently not.
And now, because nothing on the Internet ever dies, there are photos. There may be a video. So, to forestall the gunshot wound by firing first, here are Carolyn Clink, Rob Sawyer, Michael Swanwick, me, and David Hill murdering poor Susanna, while Neil winces in pain.

4 comments:

Jack Skillingstead said...

The picture fails to display, but I'm sure the one in my mind is, ah...sufficient.

Ruhan Zhao said...

It is pity that such a wonderful picture fails to display. Maybe you could try again?

Ruhan Zhao said...

Nancy,
Your post here got a very warm response from Michael Swanwick, and he raised the singing to a much higher level:
http://floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2007/09/worst-rendition-of-oh-susanna-in-human.html

Anonymous said...

Geez, I'm so sorry for sleeping over that morning... I shouldn't have missed THIS!