has been active in filk since the 1970’s and a mainstay in the filk community and diverse other musically fannish communities for almost as long.
While at college, he was invited to attend an early Chambanacon and sat in on a filk circle at which many now legendary filkers were making their own entertainment and having a great time doing it. Already active in the Society for Creative Anachronism, Mike added guitar and singing at the end of SCA events, thereby adding another segment of fans to the filk community. Soon after, he became involved with the newly formed Dorsai Irregulars, and quickly helped give them their early reputation as a hotbed of fannish music-makers. Mike has served as a bridge. Through his music and his personal contacts, he has helped people to cross multiple genres, and many people found filk through Mike. For the past ten years, he has been head of the committee to select recipients of the Shirley Martin Scholarship Awards for Young Songwriters, a program that has had a real effect on teenagers and young adults in the Mid-North region of Indiana who aspire to song writing.
When he first entered filk, filkers were rare. Filkers who understood music as a performing art were even more rare, but Mike understood that a song benefited from good lyrics, a good tune, and a good presentation. His musicianship, his showmanship, his flair for composing, his facility across multitudes of filk genres, his impeccable guitar work, and his wonderful baritone voice make him a recognizable and popular performer.
His repertoire covers everything from Irish folk songs to the poems of Rudyard Kipling and Martha Keller, to the history of his home state of Indiana, to science fiction, fantasy, and horror. As a songwriter, he’s equally at home with rousing crowd pleasers (“Privateer”), gross humour (“Rhinotelexomania”), and ‘ose (“Monster in My Head”), and love songs both romantic (“Eternity’s Waltz”) and earthy (“I Like To Watch You Walk”). He also covers a wide range of musical styles, including folk, blues, country, and rock.
He has received the acclaim of fans over the years, making them laugh, cry, cheer, and sing along at the top of their lungs, and winning several Pegasus Awards for both writing and performing. Along the way he wrote and recorded fourteen albums of filk music.
He is a gentleman, a humorist, a philosopher, and a proponent of service to humanity. He is a welcome addition to any circle, and he gladly backs up others at the drop of a hat.
For these contributions to filk music and the filk community, Michael Longcor is inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame this twenty-sixth day of April, Two thousand and fourteen.