#pianobarcon — Public Fediverse posts

@alice gay guy here, cybersecurity wonk by day, but also a mostly self-taught popular music concert pianist who runs #PianoBarCon at cybersecurity conferences, since I can perform as if a human karaoke machine (several hundred memorized pieces), with all tips going to charity. It helps that I have perfect pitch, a phonographic memory, and can rearrange music on the fly.

Having #PianoBarCon come up and not currently being on the job, I took the time to actually develop a new karaoke list for the performance at #BlueTeamCon. These are the top 13 things I learned (some having an infosec/IT leaning)

1) I can work steady through lunch and work on a song list for five hours.

2) I've forgotten a LOT of the music I knew from 25 years ago; the 1,600 song list has to go.

3) I still remember a lot of music.

4) It's harder to work on this when using an old computer (the new one is in the shop getting a new motherboard under warranty) but based on proper contingency planning I was still able to get at my file archive.

5) After all these years, I figured out to put the favorites in bold type, so they are easier for people to see.

6) Considering the size of the party and that it is a two-hour (anticipated) gig, I think 25 printouts is enough.

7) It's really cool that I got rid of my 15-year-old Brother laser printer to upgrade to one that would print on both sides of the paper. There was nothing wrong with the old one, but I decided I deserved an upgrade last year.

8) You can legibly put 270 song titles across 4 printed pages, even if over 100 of them are in bold type because they are more popular.

9) I easily could have put more songs on the pages, but really that's way more than enough. Figuring 3-4 minutes a piece, a two-hour gig should be no more than 40 pieces. I've had "two-hour gigs" go four or five hours (sometimes it happens), and one has to figure that not everyone is going to like every piece I can play, so one needs more pieces. I should still be well set, especially since I could have put easily another 50 pieces on there that if someone requests them I can do.

10) It is appropriate to put some instrumental only pieces on this list so if someone wants to hear Linus and Luch (Vince Guaraldi) or the Pink Panther Theme they know that I know it.

11) ChatGPT is excellent for normalizing the song titles and the entity related to them but still has to be checked (I fixed some mistakes).

12) People are bound to find mistakes I didn't catch in the list, I'm bound to have a brain freeze and not be able to play something on the list that someone is going to request, and in spite of that we'll all (or most of us, anyway) will have a good to great time, and we'll raise hundreds for charity while doing it.

13) Brother may still make rock-solid hardware, but their marketing has gone way over the top. I will still buy their products, but apparently their products are so solid that they have to (or chose to) resort to making money through their marketing efforts.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at #blueteamcon Saturday night by the Sober Party Room at 8:30 PM.

#PianoBarCon with @Blueteamsherpa is absolutely the most fun I've ever had at Lobbycon through 16 years of attending Shmoocon. I'm so happy to see that he's running it for #BSidesCharm!

https://infosec.exchange/@Blueteamsherpa/114123924680931546

Tickets – BSidesCharm

https://bsidescharm.org/registration/

Additional ticket to #PianoBarCon for BSidesCharm attendees: FREE.

At the same time, if you have songs to request, you’d be welcome. If you want to tip the pianist (ahem), know that this is done by making donations to a charity of BSides’ choice (or really, your choice).
#bsides
#bsidescharm
#PianoBarCon

#shmoocon

#pianobarcon did happen. It may happen again tomorrow. It’s about having fun and raising money for charity. The first is enough. If you want to do the second part please do.

To make up for not doing #PianoBarCon at #Shmoocon, I splurged and put one of my favorite slogans I came up with and put it on a shirt. See you there!

#ShmooCon roommate and space ad.

I’d like to put on #PianoBarCon at ShmooCon but it’s not an officially approved event. I also don’t want to anger folks.

1. it’d be easier if I had a room at the hotel. Anyone open to having a quiet drug-free roommate that comes in late?

2. Anyone care to sponsor a space? I am open to suggestions. If someone wants me in a space where they profit, my “compensation” will be that the sponsor donates to a charity that ShmooCon supports. I see PianoBarCon as a fun raiser and a fundraiser, but not to raise funds for me.

If you can help with either, let me know.

Fedi hive mind,

I have played piano professionally since 1980.

Because it was a thing, I have audio CDs and DVDs of my performances. I kept them, along with reference letters and thank you notes, because I thought I might have to prove to a client that I was really a professional musician. This once helped me with an insurance claim after an auto accident with brain injury took me out of the business for a year (had to relearn how to use my hands), but those days are over. I do play the occasional professional gig and I run #PianoBarCon at conferences, but no one ever asks to see how I played piano as a synagogue musician back in the 1990s, just as an example.

I do have CDs that store the information for the songs I've written, but other than having file dates on them, they aren't that much good. Everything is online, the music is copyrighted, and away I go.

I have to make up my own mind, but do I archive the discs, keep them, or just dispose of them. It may not be a binary decision either (keep some, ditch others). Your thoughts may help me make my mind up.

@BSidesCharm I’ll be there. Hoping they have the piano in tune.

#PianoBarCon

#twittermigration
#flipthebird

Howdy all. Blue Team Sherpa, Gary Rimar, the Piano Guy, the guy who runs #PianoBarCon, it’s all me.

I figured out about a dozen years ago that I’d be happier doing cyber than fixing computers, fell into RMF, then CDSs and policy around them, and now do consulting through an excellent employer.

Why this handle? When I started feeding the bird, I was telling blue teams what to do, leading them through policy. There were other sherpas before me, and at least the one I know is also very worthy of respect.

Since my posts on the bird were 90% infosec, it made sense to come here. I read more than I write, and am grateful for others’ wisdom.