Off Centaur Publications was the first "commercial"

filk Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. The genre has a ni ...

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

. It was founded in 1980 by Teri Lee,

Jordin Kare Jordin T. Kare (October 24, 1956 – July 19, 2017) was an American physicist and aerospace engineer who researched laser propulsion. He was responsible for Mockingbird, a conceptual design for an extremely small (75 kg dry mass) reusable ...

, and Catherine Cook, and was based in

El Cerrito, California El Cerrito (Spanish language, Spanish for "The Little Hill") is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, and forms part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It has a population of 25,962 according to the 2020 United States census, 2 ...

. The label produced high-quality recordings of some of filk's best performers, and changed the course of filk music. It was dissolved in 1988, and Teri Lee would go on to found Firebird Arts and Music. Like some other filk labels the name was a

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

upon the idiom "off center" meaning eccentric, odd, or unusual—all of which could be considered legitimate characterizations of filk music. (Other filk labels have included Wail Songs, Unlikely Publications, and Random Factors, illustrating the style of self-deprecating humor common among these publishers.) Because of the dissolution, releases from this label are very difficult to find. At an Interfilk charity auction at

FilKONtario FilKONtario is a fan-run convention in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario area dedicated to filk, the music of science fiction and fantasy fandom. Established in 1991, it is the only filk convention in Canada. In its fifth year (1995), the conve ...

, a copy of Julia Ecklar's '' Horse-Tamer's Daughter'' was sold for CA$400.00. Off Centaur tapes are considered "

unobtainium Unobtainium (or unobtanium) is a term used in fiction, engineering, and common situations for a material ideal for a particular application but impractically difficult or impossible to obtain. Unobtainium originally referred to materials that do n ...

" since few have been republished or re-created. Off Centaur Publications was inducted into the

Filk Hall of Fame Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. The genre has a nic ...

in 1995. Lee and Kare passed away in 2021 and 2017.

Notable albums and performers

* ''A Wolfrider's Reflections, Songs Of

Elfquest ''Elfquest'' (or ''ElfQuest'') is a comic book property created by Wendy and Richard Pini in 1978, and still owned by them. It is a fantasy story about a community of Elves (Elfquest), elves and other fictional species who struggle to survive and ...

,'' (1984), including songs by

Mercedes Lackey Mercedes Ritchie Lackey (born June 24, 1950) is an American writer of Fantasy literature, fantasy novels. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world of Velgarth, mostly in and around the country of Valdemar (fictional co ...

Leslie Fish Leslie Fish is an American folk musician, author, and anarchist political activist. Music Along with The DeHorn Crew, Fish created the first commercial filk recording in 1976, ''Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet''. Her second recordin ...

, Cynthia McQuillin, and

Julia Ecklar Julia Ecklar (born 1964) is an American science fiction author as well as a singer and writer of filk music. Her written works include multiple List of Star Trek novels, Star Trek novels, written under her own name as well as the collective pen name ...

* ''

Cold Iron Iron has a long and varied tradition in the mythology and folklore of the world. While iron is now the name of a chemical element, the traditional meaning of the word "iron" is what is now called wrought iron. In East Asia, cast iron was al ...

'' (1983) sung by

, lyrics by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

* ''The Best of Chi-con IV'' (1982) anthology, recorded live at the 1982

Worldcon Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...

* ''Minus Ten and Counting: Songs of the Space Age''(1983)' including songs by Leslie Fish, Roy Torley, Julia Ecklar, Ross Douglas, Doug Olsen, Cynthia McQuillin, Catherine Cook, Sandy Rittenhouse, and George Spelvin * ''Space Heroes & Other Fools'' (1983) by Julia Ecklar, Anne Harlan Prather, and Leslie Fish * ''Horse-Tamer's Daughter'' (1983) by Julia Ecklar * ''Singer in the Shadow'' (1983) by Cynthia McQuillin * ''Captain Jack and the Mermaid'' (1984) by

Meg Davis Meg Davis (born January 28, 1953) is an American singer of traditional music. She is also a songwriter, best known for her classic ballad "Captain Jack and the Mermaid" (recorded by many world folk groups such as De Dannan). She is known primar ...

* ''Lovers, Heroes & Rogues'' (1988) by

Michael Longcor Michael Longcor is a folk and filk singer. His songs span a range of topics including military history, Indiana history, and humor. He has won six Pegasus Awards and has been nominated for six others. His music has appeared on Dr. Demento an ...

* ''On a Bright Wind'' (1984) by

Kathy Mar Kathy Mar (from Chinese by analogy with non-rhotic accents) is an American filk Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed s ...

* ''Murder, Mystery and Mayhem: Songs by Mercedes Lacke'' (1985) anthology, lyrics by

* ''Past Due'' (1986) by Bill Sutton * ''Rebel Yells'' (1986) anthology, recorded live at the 1986

* ''Where No Man...'' (1987) collection of

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

filk songs

Songbooks

* '' Westerfilk Collection'' * ''A Wolfrider's Reflections, Songs Of

'' (1984, 1987), edited by Teri Lee

Notes

External links

Library listing

American record labels Record labels established in 1980 Filk music {{US-record-label-stub

Notable albums and performers

Songbooks

See also

Notes

External links