# FC2010 December Newsletter



## frysco (Dec 31, 2009)

In this issue:
1. Fursuit Badge Photographs
2. Con Book Art/Story winners
3. One-day Con Badge Prices
4. Dealers Room
5. Furry Market Place
6. Overflow Hotel - The Sainte Claire
7. Gold Strike at Furcon 2010!
8. Parking at the Fairmont
9. Complimentary High-Speed Internet Access at the Fairmont
10. Further Confusion 2010 Night Time Dance Schedule
11. Next Staff Meeting
12. Clementine: A History


*1. Fursuit Badge Photographs*

If you have a fursuit, are pre-registered, and would like a fursuit badge,
here's what to do. 

Check out <http://www.furtherconfusion.org/fc2010/policies/fursuit_badges>
for what you need to do to get a fursuit badge.


*2. Con Book Art/Story winners*

Thanks again to all who entered the con book story/art contest this year.
The winners this year received a patron membership to the convention:

Art winners: 
- Truro the Lost for "Dance-Hall Gal", partial-page illustration 
- Zaos for "Blazing Sunset", partial-page illustration

Writing winner:
- Jay Blanc for "Little Wah &amp; the Golden Dragon's Roar"

Congratulations to all!


*3. One-day Con Badge Prices*

We'd love to have everybody for the whole con, but if you can only stay a
day we've got day badges! See below for the price of a day badge for each
day of the convention; they can be bought at Registration at the con
itself.

Thu: $20
Fri: $25
Sat: $30
Sun: $25
Mon: $20


*4. Dealers Room*

The Dealers Room is sold out, however we were able to send out a round of
invites to our waiting list. If you were on our waiting list, please check
your email, as you might have received a table offer from us! If we don't
hear back from those people we sent offers to, we -might- have a table
left. And if any cancellations happen, that would also free up a table for
the waiting list.


*5. Furry Market Place*

Sales of the Furry Market Place spaces are now closed. No more spaces will
be sold. If you still want to sell things at _Further Confusion_ 2010 and
you don't have a space in the main Dealer Room or the Furry Market Place,
then your only chance is if someone else cancels AND you have sent in a
Waiting List application (available on the Dealer Page of the _Further
Confusion_ 2010 website).


*6. Overflow Hotel - The Sainte Claire*

Our overflow hotel this year is the historic The Sainte Claire Hotel,
located across the street from the Fairmont. The room rate is $119 per
night. Reservations can be by calling the hotel directly at (408) 295-2000
or toll free (866) 870-0726 and asking for the _Fur Con_ rate. The hotel is
just a few hundred feet from the con and each room offers refrigerators,
DVD players, and complimentary wireless internet (some rooms also have a
wired port).


*7. Gold Strike at Further Confusion 2010!*

It's true ladies and gents. I saw the first nuggets today and I assayed
them as genuine gold nuggets from the strike area in Northern California.
It has been said that every member who manages to make it to _Further
Confusion_ 2010, even as a mere attendee, will get a sample from their
claim. Now you folks know that a good claim is worth more than stock in
the Pacific Union Railway, but many of those are just dead end tracks.

Be sure and check your tailings bag you will receive at Registration. Most
will sadly just have the illusion of Fools Gold, but for 30 lucky claim
owners, their bags will contain a genuine Northern California Gold nugget
of approximately 1 g.


*8. Parking at the Fairmont*

Parking for _FC2010_ can be really cheap, or even free! This all depends on
your arrival and departure times and careful examination of the fee and
time schedules for the public parking lots. 

Check out our Parking Information page at
<http://www.furtherconfusion.org/fc2010/hotel/parking> for more details.


*9. Complimentary High-Speed Internet Access at the Fairmont*

A reminder for those who have booked rooms at the Fairmont: Be sure to
join Fairmont's President's Club. There are many benefits including
express check-in, free local calls, and perhaps most importantly,
complimentary in-room Internet. Enrollment is free. Follow this link
<https://www.fairmont.com/fpc/FPCEnroll> to sign up.


*10. Further Confusion 2010 Night Time Dance Schedule*

Once again, we have great things planned for the dances at _Further
Confusion_. Since we've moved into a great new hotel which offers us more
convention space than ever before, we've also expanded on the dances. In
addition to the dance music we'll have in the Imperial Ballroom, there's
another great space (looks like a mini-ballroom) known as the Club Regent
where we'll also be having music of different genres.

We are lucky to have so many talented DJ's and musicians, both
professional and amateur, donating their time and skills to perform for
you. They all do this for the love of the music and the fandom.

We will also be bringing back "Live! Action! Drawing!" This is the big
easel on the stage during the dances. Instead of scheduling artists in
advance, we thought it would be fun to find artists at the time. So if
you're an artist and you're at the dance and interested in doing some
drawing, find the pink and green bunny and let him know.

In the next few weeks, keep an eye out on the forums and elsewhere for
full bios on all the DJ's/musicians and details of the different dance
events.

The Dance schedule can be found on our website at
<http://www.furtherconfusion.org/fc2010/schedule/hours#dances>


*11. Next Staff Meeting*

Our next staff meeting will be on January 9th, starting at 1 pm in the San
Jose Fairmont. The final meeting will be on January 16th at the same time
and is mandatory for all staff. Parking is available in the surrounding
area but is not free. The parking lot closest to the hotel will run $7 for
the duration of the meeting.


*12. Clementine: A History*

Oh My Darling, Clementine is an American western folk ballad usually
credited to Percy Montrose (1884), even though it's sometimes referred to
Barker Bradford. The song is believed to have been based on another song
called Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden by H. S. Thompson (1863).

Clementine's grieving admirer originally used her first name in the song.
After singing the new song to the deceased's family relation they objected
to the use of her first name, embarrassed that people would then know
their own daughter could not swim. To make the family happy the maiden
fair's real last name was used and changed slightly in order to rhyme with
other words in the song.

Clements was the real last name of the maiden fair; she was born in
America to the descendant English noble family (relation to Captain
Benjamin Clements of Virginia) with intermarried maternal blood lines to
Scottish Royalty. During the 1800s women of this family were renowned for
their natural captivating beauty which caught the eye of the song's
creator. Lady Clements fell into the water near her own home and drowned
because she did not know how to swim. Although Clementine's Father was not
truly a 49er he was a farmer, this portion was added due to the popularity
of the gold rush at the time and its ability to rhyme in the song.

The words are those of a bereaved lover singing about his darling, the
daughter of a miner in the 1849 California Gold Rush. He loses her in a
drowning accident, though he consoles himself towards the end of the song
with Clementine's "little sister".

The verse about the little sister was often left out of folk song books
intended for children, presumably because it seemed morally questionable.

Another theory is that the song is from the view of Clementine's father,
and not a lover.

Gerald Brenan attributes the melody to originally being an old Spanish
ballad in his book South from Granada. It was made popular by Mexican
miners during the Gold Rush. It was also given various English texts. No
particular source is cited to verify that the song he used to hear in the
1920s in a remote Spanish village was not an old text with new music, but
Brenan states in his preface that all facts mentioned in the book have
been checked reasonably well.

Lyrics

_In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine
Dwelt a miner forty niner,
And his daughter Clementine

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Wearing boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Drove the ducklings to the water
Ev'ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,
But, alas, I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

How I missed her! How I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
But I kissed her little sister,
I forgot my Clementine._

-- 
Further Confusion
info_@_furtherconfusion.org
<http://www.furtherconfusion.org/>


----------

