has been active in recording, publishing, writing, and performing filk for over twenty years. His songs and performances include strong original material, both serious and humorous. He has a tape of his own, “The Grim Roper,” and one shared with Clif Flynt, “Liftoff to Landing”. He received Pegasus Awards for his songs, “Wind From Rainbow’s End,” and “Kinda Mediocre, Actually”.
As The Secret Empire, Bill and wife Gretchen run a dealer’s table at filk and general conventions, and thus have spread word of many new performers and songs to a much wider audience.
Bill co-founded Dodeka Records, Ltd. (with Gretchen), publishing a number of quality filk tapes and CD’s, and has produced and distributed recordings of artists ranging from the Midwest to Canada and the East Coast. As a publisher, he has encouraged other filkers to perform and record.
Bill runs a great filksing. His brand of “organized chaos” makes for the most wonderful, interactive, participatory filk experience that can be had anywhere. He recognizes how to moderate the atmosphere of a filksing, by encouraging shyer performers, suggesting follow-ups, squelching filk-hogs (politely, of course), encouraging wild schtick, and keeping the performers going at their absolute best. He has an innate sense of the mood in the room, and he can gently move things along when they get too ose. He knows exactly when and how to perform his own material, and never hogs the spotlight. Nothing can compare to the wonderful live experience of being in a filk room jammed full of people trading songs, when one of them is Bill Roper.
For these contributions to filk music and the filk community, Bill Roper is inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame this First Day of April, Two Thousand.