| Current music: | Doctor Who - 'Fires of Pompeii' |
Allow me to geek out for a moment...
Well, I'm back. Back from the first science fiction con I've attended in a couple years - the old stalwart CoastCon, which is 31 years old and sinmply refuses to die. Despite Friday night's low turnout, Saturday showed signs of life, which means it'll probably also be the only game on the Gulf Coast next year as well.
C.O.G. performed at CoastCon in 2001, granting me a guest pass for life. That plus free time, an interesting guest list (more on that in a second) and a cameo invitation by Luke Ski, who was the musical guest this year, proved an irresistible to me and so I carpooled with my script editor Chris to the Gulf Coast Coliseum Friday afternoon (Jeannine was working all weekend and couldn't make it.) Real slow start; the biggest room in the con was the gaming area and it was pretty empty. Dealer room was fairly interesting for a small con, and included C.O.G. friend and fan Kris Overstreet of White Lightning Productions. It also included guest David Gerrold, who was selling scripts, novels, and of course tribbles (Mr. Gerrold actually wrote those lil' beasties into existence way back in 1967!) I looked around the dealer room, then jogged back to the car and fetched my long treasured nonfiction paperback he wrote about his experience writing for Star Trek, which I bought at my local K&B drugstore wayyyy back in 1976. In retrospect, that book was probably the first fannish purchase I ever made, back when Dr. Smerlington (who was back then just a kid next door named George) and I were practically wallowing in Star Trek reruns in syndication on a local UHF station. It was also my first glimpse of the world behind the curtain, as it were... I didn't understand everything I read in that book about the realities of television production at the time (c'mon, I was 8!), but I was FASCINATED, especially by the secrets behind the (then very) special effect illusions. I asked David Gerrold to sign my book, and he obliged. Strangely enough, I don't remember giving him my name, and my badge had only my Evil Alias written on it. But he signed my book and even spelled 'Lewis' correctly. Huh...?
That night I put in my in character appearance during Luke Ski's set, duetting with him on 'Brain Wrap.' Luke took great delight in channeling Filbert Snodgrass to a dazed looking audience of about 20 people. Like I said, light attendance. The sound was pretty horrible, but the concert was fun, and everybody had a good time. After that, I attended a panel by David Gerrold on his efforts on the upcoming Star Trek fanfilm 'Blood and Fire'. Those guys are really blurring the line between pro and fan efforts... (will people still be able to call them 'fan films' if more than 50% of the production team are pros?) The script is actually an unproduced holdover from the 'Next Generation' days. David showed some rough footage from the episode, and it was indeed quite rough, but promising. It didn't help, however, that the convention was unwilling or unable to dim the lights when showing the video, feh. (they claimed that the union would have charged them $600 to reach out and hit the light switch! I'm not lying!!!)
Afterwards, me and Chris drove Luke and Kris around the corner to a mexican restaurant called 'El Rancho' which was reasonably priced and really pretty good. Fun & ridiculously geeky conversation ensued, offending a family at a table next to us (hey, geeks will be geeks!) when the subject matter took a brief dip beyond 'Torchwood' through the hentai realm. We returned to the con to find it deader than before... people were actually calling it a night in the gaming area. The biggest crowd was in the LARP room nearby, where some kids had set up Rock Band and were competing in front of a decent little audience. Looks like another fan generation gap to me! It was encouraging to see that many young fen in attendance though. At midnight I exhibited our 'Rock City Morgus' episode to a handful of interested folks left in the video room, and then took off, having decided that commuting to and from New Orleans was cheaper than booking a hotel room.
Saturday, I was crestfallen to find out that Filbert wasn't going to be able to make the trip, as he was babysitting his nephew. Pity; I was on a con panel with Luke Ski at 4pm and had been looking forward to doing it in character, with Filbert as my foil. Ahhh well. I got some last minute office stuff done and we loaded up a couple needed things (like a loudspeaker) and drove to the con, making it there just in time to start the panel, which was on 'Funny Music'. Since Luke was the featured act and had to make his keep for the weekend, I stayed in my day-to-day duds and sort of moderated the panel by, in essence, interviewing Luke on the subject of funny music, Dr. Demento, and his comedy music web project, 'The Fump'. Luke played some very funny musical selections from some of his favorite artists on the (very) loudspeaker I brought, easily blasting away the noise from the panel next door. The small but appreciative audience, dotted with friendly faces, enjoyed the panel, and an hour wasn't enough time for all the great music Luke had brought.
After that, I spent some time just drifting around the con with my old fan circle The Anonymous. Saturday was a lot better attended than the previous day, and many people were taking the effort to costume. Nice! Chris and I took advantage of a special rate for Mobicon pre registration in group blocks, and I got Jeannine and I some memberships for that con. I bumped into a hell of a lot of people I hadn't seen in ages, especially with the dearth (death?) of New Orleans cons in the last decade. I had been interested in attending some room parties, but learned that the temp manager of the next door hotel had put down his jackboot on room parties the previous night, necessitating a change of venue for room parties from the hotel to the main con panel room, after the con dance. Unfortunately, I knew I'd probably be on the way home by then, having promised Jeannine not to slink in at 3AM like I did on Friday night!
There was one last event I wanted to see Saturday - a writers panel by David Gerrold on 'World Building.' The panel was fun and informative, but told me more about Mr. Gerrold's personal SF writing inclinations than it did about constructing a consistent universe when writing (as I had hoped.) He's quite good at spinning anecdotes after 40 years in the industry though, and an enjoyable hour was passed.
I was marginally interested in the costume contest, but it was packed - standing room only. My friends and I were shooting the breeze and passing the time, when another opportunity presented itself. While my friends and I were gabbing in the concourse, David Gerrold had plunked down at a table across the hall to catch up on his business via cel phone. When he was finished, me and C.O.G. script editor Chris went over to meet him. After some pleasantries, we got to ask him some questions about show bible writing and pitching, which is our ongoing concern these days. Mr. Gerrold gave us some fairly generalized advice, most of which was fairly familiar, until I asked him about what do to when confronted with a contract to sign. He reached into his pocket, withdrew his business card, and threw it my way. "When that happens, give me a call. I'll hook you up with a trustworthy entertainment lawyer who will insure you won't get screwed." Wow! A professional hookup with one of the first people in television production I was ever dimly aware of, back in my childhood. For me, that was the highlight of the entire weekend.
Now, off to watch some new Dr. Who...
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doctorpinkerton) wrote,
