FRIDAY - The last rush hour of the week was more horrendous than usual, so I wasn't present when the festivities got underway, but seeing that the first few events listed in the program had been rescheduled and/or cancelled didn't inspire my confidence in the organization of the rest of the weekend.
I was anxious to see the Sci-Luv documentary and disappointed at its goofiness. Fans brought their collectibles for appraisal by an "expert", and the host was to have provided comic relief, which would've been fine had he been funny. KLS was the special guest, though Frid's hair was appraised at a bit less than what she hoped it would someday bring in for charity. A handful of fans were interviewed-- one that emulates Angelique in her practice of black magic and another that was turned on by the prospect of her lover sporting fangs. I did laugh along with the fan whose mother named him Barnabas Collins, but three cheers for whomever made the decision to NOT air this thing on TV.
In KLS' bloopers segment, she read several amusing fan letters. I wonder if they'll end up in a book someday.
Lara Parker, as you already read, was a no-show that night as she was busy with some last minute sewing for the weekend wedding. Diana Millay's plane was struck by lightning while on the ground in New York and she chose to not make other arrangements.
Several of us met up with Julia99 in the hotel restaurant and we had a blast talking with her. We adored your friend Scott too, btw!
SATURDAY - The Louis Edmonds tribute video is absolutely amazing. I left the ballroom when Roger Davis took the mike and returned when he was finished, heheh. Jeanne Avery's presentation was interesting, and that was followed by the first of 2 charity auctions. Items in this one included an autographed script, one of Michael Stroka's shirts, a graveyard prop from the '91 series, a packet put together by Dean Wilson from Frid's Crawfordsville show, and a photo of Frid and Moltke signed by her. Darren's presentation of trailers and clips was awesome, and I'm grateful to the powers that be for not rushing him cuz his material is always fascinating. David Selby introduced "The Griffin and the Minor Canon" and everything about the video is delightful. He lit up when he spoke about it, and I can't recall ever seeing him smile so broadly and so often. This was the only day he attended, so I'm happy Minja and others got to meet him in the autograph line and for my friends who snagged some special time with him that evening.
The Dealer's Room was once again both fun and dangerous on the pocket book. I had to stop by Malia's table to chat for a bit, and I was sorry to learn from Kathy Resch that the debuts of the Leviathan Concordance and newest TWODS were delayed due to printer problems. And has anyone heard any more from the editors of the DS locations book?
The costume gala was extra special because of ProfStokes' performance of her Dream Curse song that was posted a short while back. All the entrants were wonderful, and the audience showed great taste in their enthusiastic response to her song. What a shame that VAM didn't participate this year.
Several of us gathered in a huge lobby in the convention area for a party, where any fans that wandered over were welcome and friends flowed in and out until late. Many thanks to everyone that came... I hope you all enjoyed yourselves... and to Bobubas for, er, borrowing the tables and chairs, to Sid (God bless him!) for his help at the party's end, and most of all to Ben for entertaining us with his amazing piano playing. (Ack, Gerard, would you believe there were 2 pianos side by side? It would have been ideal for that duet, dude!) Should I also thank Hertz for the use of their counter, hee hee, which was ideal for setting up a bar, and to the cleaning staff of the Marriott?
SUNDAY - Okay, this was the first year I'm aware of in which Saturday and Sunday events weren't scheduled to begin until 11 a.m., which I must say I really liked cuz it allowed time to get downstairs and to breakfast before things got underway, yet you'd think they could actually start at 11, but noooo. Fans were left standing outside the doors until they were eventually opened. <Sigh>
First on the schedule was fan videos, and I was ever so delighted that ProfStokes' was first. Okay, we know she can write and sing, but edit videos too?
The Pretenders lyrics ("I'll Stand By You") were painstakingly matched to B & J scenes. My personal favorite was the line "Won't let nobody hurt you" as Julia beats on Adam as he's strangling Barnabas, LOL!
Richie Halpern, who doubled as both emcee and later played Julia in the 3rd daily skit ("Thrilling, Chilling Sounds of the Old House" and "The Haunted Mansion of DS"), brought a couple of fans on stage to show off their t-shirts. Craig_Slocum mentioned that she was one of them (the pic turned out great, Cheryl!) and I wish I'd photographed the other-- hers had a great picture of Karlen from (I think) the cast photo shoot on the staircase, with a caption under it that said, "Got Willie?"
I saw Donna McKechnie's video and okay, it wasn't my cup of tea so I'll reserve judgment. I wasn't in the convention area the rest of the afternoon, but I returned for the banquet. Once again there was a line for the exchange of tickets and another to enter the ballroom. My table rocked; Julia fans know how to have a good time! Marie Wallace was very gracious, as always, as she visited the different tables.
Following dinner, Roger Davis showed a video covering his latest real estate project. I felt like I was trapped in telemarketing hell. After a touching tribute to the WTC offered by Jim Pierson <sniff>, the Sciography documentary, originally scheduled to be shown the previous evening, aired. Let me begin by bringing up what was good about it-- Michael Miozza's Seaview segment was fantastic, as was Christine Domaniecki's interview-- she's very pretty, and discussed winning a role on DS, an experience she said led to the happiest day of her life, and Darren's restoration piece was also very well done. I was disappointed, however, that many other fans interviewed, including RobinV and Henry, were not shown at all. That having been said, the rest of the documentary was crap as it soon became apparent that the producers had set out to portray the show in a sensationalistic light-- they offered gossip that was paired with clips and stills and snide comments and snippets of interviews that were sometimes taken out of context, all in an attempt to give more validity to what what was still just gossip, and as far as I'm concerned this tact only served to illuminate the questionable motives of the documentary makers. Following the airing, KLS and Marie Wallace took the mike to refute what was said and explain that they, along with John Karlen, had withdrawn their cooperation during the making of the documentary. Especially considering the large contingency of Fest newbies that were present, I'd call the decision to air the video in its entirety to be really horrid.
I'd guesstimate the weekend attendance at about 1200 fans. It was the smallest Fest I've been to but definitely the most intimate and least stressful. The stars were sparse in comparison to past Fests, and though I didn't stand in any autograph lines I also didn't hear the usual complaints about interminable lines. Oh, and what a fabulous group of volunteers there was this year! I tip my hat to all of you!!
The weather this weekend started out iffy but by Sunday it was sunny and warm. The hotel was only a short shuttle ride from Downtown Disney, Disneyland, and California Adventure. It was a pleasure seeing old friends again and I enjoyed meeting the new people too. Castlebee, you were sorely missed!!! I enjoyed the other reports and look forward to reading more of them, so I'll shut up now to give someone else a chance.
