Sally Childs-Helton HoF

Sally's first filking experience was at Marcon in 1985 when she dragged a set of congas into the filk room and nobody threw her or the congas out. She and husband Barry perform in and out of fandom as a duo, with the fannish Black Book Band, and the eclectic Celtic band Wild Mercy (www.wildmercy.com). Sally and Barry were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2003; she is the instigator for FilkCamp.

A percussionist, ethnomusicologist, and music educator, Sally holds her B.M.E., M.A., and Ph.D., is a certified Music for People improvisation teacher, and a Remo HealthRhythms facilitator. Her teachers include David Darling, Glen Velez, and Arthur Hull. Sally has founded three annual drumming festivals (www.womendrum.org); teaches ethnomusicology at the university level; conducts drumming and improvisation workshops around the country; and accompanies and creates original scores for dance, theater, and choruses. She believes almost anything can (and should) be a percussion instrument. Sally's "day gig" is as a not-so-mild-mannered university archivist and professor of music and anthropology.

A voracious reader, her current tastes bend toward William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Tom Robbins. Her latest archivally-related addiction is making books by hand and other paper arts. Besides playing music, Sally's favorite hobbies are sleeping, discovering the unified field theory, and corrupting the youth of America. She and Barry live in Indianapolis with their two canine housemates Nina and Piper. Sally is also taller than most people think she is.