attended his first open filk at Marcon in 1989; that weekend he wrote his first filk song. He is a performer who has a growing repertoire of both original songs and parodies. He has produced a boundless output of songs, ranging in tone from the hysterical (“Naked Mole Rat”), to the perennially crowd-pleasing (“Perky Goth”), to the haunting (“Elizabeth Dane”) to the touching (“My GAFilk Song”). They are warm and humane and full of clever wordplay, perfectly matched to his delivery and demeanor. They have won awards and made us laugh and cry. Three of his songs have been honoured with Pegasus nominations; four have been included on the Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle recordings. In concerts and filk circles he not only performs his own songs, he also covers songs by less well-known filkers, to promote the work of others who can’t make it to the con. The fact that he has done all this without playing any instrument other than his own voice is encouraging to all those in filk who are not gifted with instrumental ability, proving by example that it can be done.
Randy, along with his late musical partner Kira Heston, was sent as Interfilk guest to Consonance in 2012.
He has been a tireless ambassador for filk, and been pivotal in bringing many a newcomer into the fold, including many people from outside of filk who have stayed to enrich our community.
He has also been the prime mover behind making his home convention, Confluence, a hotbed of filk, like a filk convention combined with a regular convention. In addition to the usual concerts and panels, he has written and organized multiple filk musicals performed at Confluence.
People are regularly delighted they find themselves in a circle with Randy, and look forward to hearing him sing. It’s a lovely and fitting bonus that he’s one of the nicest people around.
For these contributions to filk music and the filk community, W. Randy Hoffman is inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame this 13th day of April two thousand nineteen.