Guest of Honor, Alexander James Adams
Transition. That's the word that comes to mind when thinking of the life and career of Alexander James Adams. An accomplished singer/songwriter and musician, playing guitar, fiddle, mandolin and bodhrán, Alexander's connections to the filk community extend back for over twenty-five years. The first couple of decades, though, occured in a very different form — that of Heather Alexander.

A native of California, Alexander began performing original music in the mid-eighties for friends and at Renaissance fairs. Based on a strong perfomance at a science fiction convention, Off Centaur brought on Alexander to record. This working relationship continued after Off Centaur transitioned into Firebird Arts & Music. In the late 1980s Alexander founded the Celtic fusion rock band Phoenyx, releasing one album, Keepers of the Flame. The band disbanded in 1991, so Alexander returned to a solo career. After Firebird Arts & Music produced a live album, Alexander created the Sea Fire Productions label, releasing Wanderlust in 1994. Two live concert albums and several studio albums followed. In 2001, Alexander, Andrew Hare, and Dan Ochipinti founded a new band, Uffington Horse. Alexander continued to perform solo gigs between band appearances.

In 2002, Alexander moved to the Pacific Northwest, settling in Banks, Oregon. Offering fans a limited run of the Uffington Horse promotional CD helped finance the recording of the studio album, Enchantment, published in 2004. The band performed at numerous science fiction and Furry conventions.

In early 2007 many filkers received an mysterious email. Heather Alexander sought a toadstool ring, a fairy mound upon which to sleep. Eh, what? A few weeks later yet another missive arrived. Heather never returned from wandering in those faerie realms — Alec appeared in her stead. Okay, anyone who had ever seen or heard Heather perform did understandably blink in fairly stunned amazement, but ours is a community of acceptance. We want our friends to be happy. Alec is a happy man, and we're happy for him.

Since successfully transitioning gender in April 2007, Alexander James Adams has also performed with Uffington Horse and with S.J. Tucker and Betsy Tinney in a new band, Tricky Pixie playing "gypsy celtic folk rock for naughty punk faeries." Later in 2007, the band released a recording of their first concert, Live! debuting Alec's first post-transition voice. The solo instrumental album, Cat & The Fiddle, was followed by Balance of Nature, mixng a few older works, such as Creature of the Wood, with new songs. In November 2007, Alec released the Yule album Wintertide. With the same technique that allowed Natalie Cole to perform with her long-departed father Nate King Cole, Wintertide, featured duets with the voices of both Alec and Heather. A Familiar Promise, released in July 2008, also includes duets between both voices.

To be honest, many filkers loved Heather Alexander,whose songs inspired the character of Juniper in S.M. Stirlings novels. We mourned the loss of our familiar friend when she chose to remain in faerie realms. Few of us of on the east coast have had any opportunity to encounter Alec. We at GAFilk are looking forward to meeting him, hearing him, playing with him, dancing with him, and warmly welcoming him into our community of friends.

• More about Alexander James Adams on his website, faerietaleminstrel.com