SteamCon III - Eh, it was ok.

Well this is a short one. No T-Shirt, no volunteer credentials and no photos. Well two. But they are not really of the Con.

I like volunteering at these indy-cons. I have also never been to Steamcon so it would be a nice way to see what it is all about. So I sign up for a shift on Sat & Sun.

So I arrive and it seems that my volunteer application got sent into the ether and lost. But I am able to volunteer anyways, but it means no credentials. None at all. This makes getting around interesting as I have to keep explaining that I am a volunteer and not a gate crasher! Wow, did that get old after awhile...

For the first day I am assigned to take the AV gear of a screen, projector and laptop to the conference rooms where an AV setup has been requested by the panelists doing the panels.

Lots and lots of running around lugging heavy equipment. Not even much time to chat or meet people.

This particular con is 90% panel discussions and the rest is the dealer room, art room and various costume contests. Some other stuff too I suppose. I like the look of Steampunk, but just don't have the time or funds to really get into it.

There were lots of cool costumes, but I was too busy to take photos. Well that day sorta went by and my shift seemed to end even before it began.

The next day I was assigned to the art room. I was at coat and bag check. Lots of sitting around doing nothing. The best job there is! :-)

I took a break to go to the dealer room and see if there was any swag to buy. I bought this nifty ring.

It's an old Omega watch. It is pretty sweet! When I said I would take it, the artist who created it went "Yay!". People should say yay more often. It just sounds so happy :-)

Well after that I helped tear down the art room. After that I went back to the volunteer room and helped clean up.

That's about it really. Yeah, I said this was a short one. Nothing terribly earth shattering occurred. I didn't meet anyone famous, didn't run into any old nemesis's, witnessed no drama. Yeah, it was ok :-)

I also bought these...

Not the glasses, but rather the steamy looking loupes. They are not just costume props, they are real magnifiers. I actually needed these as I do fine work sometimes that they are needed for.

And they have a steampunkish look.

Fremont Oktoberfest. Let's drink!

 So I finally make it to Fremont Oktoberfest! I tried to do this last year, but factors conspired to make me not able to work it, so I was glad to finally make it to this one as I really enjoyed Kirkland Uncorked and these boozy events always prove interesting. As usual doing the Friday of a 3 day festival is not always an option, therefore I sign up for Saturday and Sunday shifts.


I arrive to the gates:

As the sign says, this is in reality a fundraiser for the Fremont area arts groups, schools and community events. This is why one would pay such high prices for beer. You are getting sloshed and doing good for the local arts community! But you do have to work at getting sloshed as this is the glass they give you:

"Bob" in his HotWheels 2011 Camero, the can of Windows 95 Sapporo Beer and Lego Lord Voldemort are in the shot to determine scale. As you can see this is no giant beer stein! In fact it is more of a shot glass than a beer mug. Although since it is a 5oz mug, that would be a pretty stiff triple shot! (A shot of booze is typically 1.5oz)


Those tokens that are pictured above are what is used as the currency for the event. Every beer being offered by the various breweries is 1 token to fill the little mug. That was a lot easier to deal with for both us volunteers and the public than it was with the wine festival as the token prices at that event (Kirkland Uncorked) was variable. For instance the less expensive wines were 1 token, but the spendier the wine got then the higher to token cost was. So trying to remember which were 1, 2 or 3 tokens can get tricky!


As you can see I never got around to using all of my tokens that were my volunteer reward. If I keep collecting them, then in a few years I can get pretty hammered at one of these events :-)


After arriving at volunteer check in, we (the beer pourers) are taken to the booth we will be working at. I was assigned to booth 2:

I was pulling at that middle station. For the life of me I cannot recall what the beer I was pulling was, but I can say it was a red beer and an IPA. Since this was a morning shift things were pretty mellow and although the stream of people was brisk, it never got really crazy.


Here are my fellow volunteers (Kimmy on the right an Aaron on the left) serving up some customers:

The way it works is that each brewery get to offer two different beers. Each station then has a cooler with two taps attached to it and the tap hoses go through the cooler (filled with ice) down below the table to where the kegs are. Kimmy and I were working the same station. She had the IPA on the left while I pulled the Red on the right. Yeah, one person could do both, but they usually overbook volunteers to buffer against the dreaded curse of the no-shows! So they had plenty of volunteers and therefore we each got our own tap to pull.


Here is an action shot of the crowd!

Of note you can see the scale of the little mug in the hands of the Lady in Red. Of note is the Lady in Red herself! Did I mention I volunteer at these things as the people watching is usually rather grand?


The taps up there are the ones Kimmy and I were pulling, but since the logo's do not go all the way front to back I can't remember who the brewery was.


Things were going along pretty well with only the occasional too drunk creep trying to come on to the attractive female beer pullers.  The far too drunk women coming on to me was ok though.


Things were going along ok enough with people liking the IPA and Red beer well enough until a guy comes up and tells us that we must have the taps reversed. He was a brew master and totally knows his stuff! Lo and behold someone did screw on the taps backwards! What we were pushing as an IPA was in fact the Red and vice versa! Goes to show just how much the public really knows beer! As we are working we were not allowed to take a taste, so I dunno if I would have figured this out or not. Well actually after that I did sneak a taste and discovered I didn't like either one!


My shift ended around 1pm rather uneventfully and I head home.


On the way back to the car I see this:

Cool!


Day 2 started much the same as day 1, being led to the station where we will be pulling.

That day I was pulling beer for the Silver City Brewery located across the Sound over in Silverdale.
They were offering "Oktoberfest", a seasonal wheaty flavored special, and "Ridgetop Red Ale", a red, obviously! The people in the above pic in the red jackets are agents for the Alchohol Control Board. They are featured in this tale near the end!


The red is my new most favoritest beer ever!

I snuck a taste or three of this stuff and loved it! Tisk tisk! You know you are not supposed to drink any while working! Well exactly how am I supposed to sell the shite if I have no freakin idea wtf it tastes like?!?! Therefore when both the supervisor and the jack booted members of the Alcohol Control Board were not paying attention I would pull a bit into my bottle of "Pomegranate Tea" that had long been emptied of said pomegranate tea.

So with confidence I could sell the red as being "As smooth as glass!" I did indeed move an awful lot of the red. In fact I have many repeat customers for the red. 3 in particular were my favorites, but taking a picture of them for whatever reason slipped my mind, so all I can do is describe them. They were rather beautiful. Ok there you go!

So this day I worked the booth until closing time as I did not have to rush back home and I had a good free parking spot. The day went by without incident and many nice interactions until closing time. The alcohol control board folks were very strict that no more token be redeemed at closing time, and that we unscrew the taps to show no more is to be had. Most patrons were a touch disappointed, but in general they got it. All except for the actual company rep of the beer at the far end of the booth.

I forget what company it was, but the rep was there at first in the morning to set things up, but soon after left to party with friends only returning to pour himself free beer. This alone was in violation of the ACB rulez. They did not care that the beer was from the company you work for, you still had to give up a token. Well he kept it on the down low. That is until he wanted to fill his large beer stein from his companies taps AFTER last call! He was pretty lit and that may be why he decided to get into a debate with the ACB lady about why he did not have to unscrew his taps and how he could pour himself all the beer he wanted. Bad idea! After a few minutes of arguing with him she calls her supervisor on her radio. Seeing this, he backs down and changes his tune saying that he will no longer make an issue about it and will unscrew the taps. Well this did not sit well with the supervisor who came by who wanted to know exactly why he made an issue of this in the first place. She demanded to know who he was. At this he just walks away. She asks us who he was and the shift supervisor ID'd him as the company rep for that brewery. Knowing he would have to return to gather his promotional materials, taps, and whatnot, I am guessing he ultimately would have to pay for his actions with the ACB reps. I did not hang around to see. I wonder if he still works for that brewery!

I checked out, went back to car stinking of beer (much splashes on you as you work) and went home with another T-Shirt to add to the collection :-)

Here Emily models the shirt. I think she makes a far better model than I do :-)

Bumbershoot 2011!

OK, so this time around I worked at Bumbershoot 2011 at the Seattle Center.

I had not originally planned to volunteer at this gig, but one of the few bands that I have an obsessive compulsion with , The Reverend Horton Heat, was going to perform on the last day of the event.

I could have simply worked the Friday and see the Rev., but I so enjoy doing these things.
I have never been to Bumbershoot either so it would be a nice way to scope out the event first hand, both front of house and back of house!

So they say they have a dire need for catering staff. A food handler licence is needed.
Well last I knew you needed to go take a class in person at a Gov'mt facility to get one.
Not so! You can get one online! So one short lesson later I take the test, get all but 1 right (you could miss 6 and still pass) and I can print out my own card.

It was mostly common sense, but I have seen the personal hygene habits of some people, so maybe it is not all that common after all.

So on Saturday I get up too late to take a bus (this theme will return) and have to drive into the city.
I pull into the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation parking garage (I want a whole Foundation!!) and pay a staggering $15 to park. Normally this lot is eight bucks on the weekends. No real surprise they they jacked up the rates for Bumbershoot. I would wager the city ordered them to do so. The parking lots and garages have to set the rates the city demands, they are not allowed to set the rates lower than what the city demands. They are free to go higher, and I am sure some do!

Of course the volunteer check-in is on the other side of the Seattle Center meaning I must walk all the way around! I check in and I get a shirt. At this point a size Large still fits OK. Thank goodness for that! One day a Medium will fit, but that is another blog for another time. They staff check me in and I get taken to my station in catering.

What we are to do is put together the platters of food that the VIPs and media guests and artists get to nosh on while in the green rooms. There was a choice of either meat, veggie or cheese. Some bands ordered all 3. Free food while working. The perks in the music biz never ends! :-)

I made this one (among others):

This one is notable as it was destined for the band The Butthole Surfers. A band name I simply cannot say enough times. This was the meat platter. It includes turkey, ham, salami, Swiss cheese & cheddar cheese and is finished with a garnish of cherry tomatoes (those are not grapes) and peppercinis. Lovely arrangement if I do say so myself. Not bad for a first ever attempt at such a thing.

We made up a few more then were tasked at making this behemoth:

4 of us worked on this guy! It easily weighed 8 or 9 pounds! It was for the VIPs, whoever those were. I theorized it was Paul Allen among others. That is not one layer of anything, each layer goes at least 4 deep.

We also had access to a lot of food for us staff to eat. One of the perks of working a catering gig. You will not go hungry! I tried my best to not pig out. I do not want to go back to XL t-shirts!

It was interesting to see how these things get put together. We were also tearing and washing the lettuce leaves for the base, slicing the cheese, rolling up the ham and turkey, etc. Carrot tops were used as garnish on some platters as a ring around the platter.

So once that was over I checked out and was free to roam around the festival.
There was this cute one:

An angel indeed! And that's about it for the pictures I took that day. I was really tired and there was nobody on the roster I wanted to see. Well Doug Benson, the comedian known for the movie 'Super High Me", was there, but his show was filled up. So I bought a strawberry cooler beverage and left.

On Sunday, day 2, I knew I wanted to be outside and be able to people watch so I signed up for a shift at the entrance/exit gate. While at the gate my friends Jim and Vonnie are entering. No time for anything but a quick hello/goodbye!

Entrance gate T1 was quite the hopping place to be! It was right next to the EMP that was blaring some cool music over the PA system. As there were plenty of staff members scanning people in, I was mainly there to act as an escort. If someone printed out their ticket on a printer with low ink and the QR code was too light, or unreadable due to a faulty ink nozzle that left blank lines, then the iPod Touch they were using to scan tickets in would not scan it. Yes they were using iPod Touch devices to scan. Of course this led to roughly every single person in line to say "Wow! You are using your iPhone?" "No, they are iPod Touch thingies and they were provided, it is not mine." For tickets that would not scan I would escort the customer over to customer service and then have them reprint the ticket. I did this about 2 dozen times! It's a good idea to refresh those ink cartridges from time to time folks! :-)

There was this weird dude dressed in a manner that would make those guys who stand on the side of the freeway off-ramps holding signs that say "Will work for food" say "Hey man, take some pride in your appearance!". He gave the coordinator some cock and bull story about meeting his friend there who had a job for him, but he could not recall the booth where he was at. So he gets pawned on me to take to the Center House reception area. I was told if they cannot help him I was to escort him to the exit. So on the way to the Center House the story changes to how his friend is working a film booth and wants him there to network with people in the film industry, but he cannot recall his friend's name or the name of the booth. Yeah, OK. I take him to the Center House reception and he gives them another story. He is wondering if there are any panels or booths that would allow someone to speak to movie industry types. Now understand as we get close to the Center House he says my presence there will make him nervous and if I cut him loose for 10 min. he promises to come right back. I pretend not to hear him. I fact I pretty much tuned him out 100% as he kept talking and talking and talking... So after being totally unable to articulate what he wants to the fellow at the reception desk (it took about 15 minutes!) I escort him back to the exit. Then on the way back he says "See, I told you with you there I could not say what I needed to say right!" and promptly asks if he can wander around the grounds now that the reason he came fell apart. I state I am to escort him to the exit and doing anything else will get me in trouble. I keep an eye on him as he keeps looking around, presumably for a chance to zip into the crowd, but there are cops and security everywhere. I take him to the exit and he says "Well I guess I just blew my wad." Having no idea what the fuck he meant by that I bid him a good day and point him to the exit. I then tell the coordinator that he was full of shite and probably was just trying to con his way in, or he is bat shite insane. Either way he is gone now, without incident I may add! Acting totally indifferent without being insulting is a skill!

The next escort was a band that was touring with the Butthole Surfers, but not performing at Bumbershoot. Bumbershoot is simply a stop on a tour for a lot of the acts, and as they play alone there is no need for the opening acts that they are having tour with them. So these guys were in Seattle along for the ride with the Surfers, but were not performing. As such they were listed as parts of the Butthole Surfers crew and had Artist passes. The gate I was at was the gate on Broad St. Will-call and Artist/"I'm on the list for such and such" check-in is at the will-call gate, clear on the other side of the Seattle Center on Mercer St. The unwashed public would be told to walk clear around the Center to Mercer, but VIP's, artists and entourage and press get escorted through the Center to will-call. These guys are pretty cool and the blond with them is pretty hot! As I am trying to get them to where they need to be there are lots of people just blocking the way standing there, or slowing down to a crawl for no reason. I state that we need to blast past all the human cholesterol. Then I state that maybe I should not refer to the customers as human cholesterol. The blond says it is an apt description and laughs. I think she liked me :-)

Back at the gate I need to escort this gal who is on the artist guest list to, you guessed it, will-call. OK, walk, walk, walk...She didn't say much, but she was pretty cute and smiled at me, so there was that.

This happened a few more times, so I sure got my walking in that day!

To prove that gate T1 is always an adventure we now get 4 people coming through and the guy in front is making a lot of noise! He is in a wheelchair being pushed by some other guy. Behind them are two people with them in those scooter type vehicles. The poor guy pushing the wheelchair gets his shins rammed by the gal behind him as she stopped too late! Ok so the rant went like this:

"The ADA bathrooms here are FILTHY and unfit for a human being and the ADA exit is doing double duty as an entrance aisle (for VIPs, media guests and Gold & Platinum ticket holders - the normal exit involved going up some stairs. 3 or 4 steps I think, a small one, but nevertheless not ADA friendly. Therefore the, usually clear, VIP line was used for strollers and wheelchairs and anything else that could not negotiate the steps. As they wanted to leave there were some folks getting in so they had to wait roughly 10 seconds before they could leave.) I AM GOING TO SUE BUMBERSHOOT, THE SEATTLE CENTER, ONE REEL PRODUCTIONS AND THE CITY OF SEATTLE!!!" His buddy then says "That is $2500 x 4 x 4." So $40,000 then.

I will make no commentary on the validity of his claims. Ahh fuck it, this is my blog. I will simply say that if the restrooms were not clean, then why not ask one of the many members of the Seattle Center crew to get someone in there to clean them? Why create such a fuss?? There should be some standard levels of dignified human behaviour! I ask too much. But then again, it is shite EXACTLY like this that I volunteer at these things for :-) It is people watching to the EXTREME!

I was standing there with another volunteer as the staff kept trying to talk to him with numerous "Sir? Sir? Sir?" but he would not stop ranting. I used this chance to drop one of my most favorite Homer Simpson lines to the other volunteer (quietly, of course!) "Just once I would like to be called "Sir" and not have them add "...you are causing a scene."!"
Well as soon as you know it my shift for the day is done. I walk back to volunteer HQ and check out. I flirt with the idea of wandering around the festival, but nothing was all that interesting and not being there with anyone makes walking around boring! So I leave. As I get on Mercer St. after leaving the parking garage I see some fool driving the wrong way down the 1-way street that is Mercer St.
Fool!

Monday, day 3! The day I was looking forward to the most as The Rev. Horton Heat is playing!!!
After check-in I am taken to a gate that is for cars, not people. Of course lots of people are coming that way and are wanting to get in. Since they were not busy they allowed it. Well there were 5 people at this gate. One guy is sleeping in a hammock! I suspect this gate is over-staffed. I tell them if they don't really need me that I can go back to HQ and get reassigned. They cut me loose and back at HQ I am sent back to gate T1!

More escorting! This time a member of the press who is late and needs to get to the press area NOW! Well by the grace of good luck I actually find the press area with my first try! Good thing they decided to put a big giant "PRESS ROOM" sign in the window! Whoever thought to do that is my most favorite person of the event! When I get back to the gate Dave, my supervisor, was very glad I was able to take care of her as it seems she was making quite the fuss and was being a touch pushy. She was running behind and was in a dire situation. So it seems a lack of planning on your part does indeed constitute an emergency on mine after all!

After that I was placed at the re-entry sticker booth. I don't want to be mean or anything, but the guy I was working the table with was pretty brain dead. Or something! He spoke in a dull monotone (when he spoke at all) and had a blank expression on his face. And he was kinda ugly to boot. Well I would call out "Re-entry stamp?" in a nice enthusiastic and upbeat tone, only to have this guy about a half second later bark "Re-entry stamp? Re-entry?" in his dull monotone to the exact same people I just asked! He did this every single time. It got old after the first time. Imagine after the 500th time...
And he seemed to get unnecessarily upset at either the stamp, the ink pad, the people or all of the above in an very odd way. Well it's always a crap shoot with these things. 99% of the time I am partnered at these events with a wonderful new person. It's that 1% that really bites!

Thankfully after awhile I got set over by the exit gate (right behind the hand-stamp tables) and was shown how to scan people out. So here is the deal with leaving Bumbershoot:

1. If you plan to return that day, get both your hand and the paper ticket stamped and the ticket scanned out.
2. If you think you might return that day, get both your hand and the paper ticket stamped and the ticket scanned out.
3. If you are certain that you will NOT be returning that day feel free to leave, no stamps or scanning out needed.

This went, mostly, well. Some folks were annoyed at having to do all this so we had to explain it was an anti-counterfeiting measure. In a nutshell this rigmarole prevents you from giving your ticket to someone else once you outside. If they try this then they will not have a hand stamp and they will not be let in. Unless of course said person decides to pitch a hissy fit at the gate and insist that the stamp crew never gave them one and they will let them in. It is an imperfect system :-)

Being at the exit gate I got to hear roughly 90% of the people who were leaving for day say as such in a nice upbeat, or exhausted, tone. They had smiles and thanked us on the way out noting that they had a great time, but are ready to go home! The other 10% or so were more interesting. "NO! I AM NEVER COMING BACK!!!" Why yell at me? Again, EXTREME PEOPLE WATCHING!!! So fun! :-) It can be difficult to remain professional in the face of outright hostility, but I manage and even the yellers got a friendly "Have a good night." That's why I do these things. The public can be delightful, but there will always be an element of rage directed at you at times. Never take it personally!

Ok, shift over! I head back to HQ and check out. I then go right over to the Fisher Stage (the biggest outdoor one) and plop my butt right at the front and center spot in front of the stage barrier. The performer who was on stage just finished up so the area was clear. Soon after fans of the next band to play start showing up. This band was called Urge Overkill:

That guy is one of the two founding members. I have no idea who he is, who this band is or what their music sounds like. Also note, I am right in front, those heads there are photographers who come out at the start of each bands set to take photos. After a few minutes they leave leaving only the security staff in that area between the lip of the stage and the short people barrier wall.

Yes, I sat through the whole set of a band I have no interest in just to be front and center for The Rev. Horton Heat. This was odd to a lot of the people around me who thought I was some super fan for Urge Overkill. They sure were. In fact one woman gave me the stinkeye when I said I have no idea who they are, don't want an autograph and am really here for The Rev.

For what it's worth, here is a shot of the other founder of this band:

They were ok. Decent southern style rock band. I guess they have a big following, but to me there were little more than the opening act for The Rev. Horton Heat, so I needed them to finish up their little set and make way. That is one of the security staff down low there. Both guys in front were huge Samoans!

So, UO, finally, stop and leave. Well they did only play for 1 hr, so it was not so bad :-)
Soon after we see The Rev. Horton Heat's gear being setup, when none other than Jimbo himself comes out to setup his bass!

Jimbo is the bass player for the band. As you can see he plays an upright bass. Those strings are really thick! Take a fair bit of strength to play I would assume. At this point I am wondering why there is not a bass tech doing this for him as there is a tech setting up Paul's drum kit and another setting up Jim Heath's guitar. Maybe there are short handed? Maybe Jimbo is a control freak and likes to do it himself. Either way, there he is, concentrating amidst all the shouts of JIMBO! JIMBO! and me screaming J-I-M-B-O! That's part of the Jimbo song, you shout J, I, M, B, O GO! in the chorus.
Well I had to be different from what everyone else was yelling eh? :-)

After awhile all is setup and they come out!

I cannot recall what they played. The Rev. (Jim Heath) announced that this is the 25th anniversary of the band, and for this tour they will play 1 or 2 songs from each album in the order of the album release. I will not bother to try and recall the set list, but needless to say I was looking forward to the song "One Time For Me" to be played. It is a heartfelt little ditty about a guy asking his wife/girlfriend to masturbate with a dildo while he watches. I am presuming he plans to watch and jerk-off, but that is not explicitly stated.

It is my favorite tune of theirs off of the album "Liquor in the front" subtitled "Poker in the rear". That is the 3rd album, so one they were done playing songs from the 1st and second album (Marijuana & I'm Mad from the 1st and Beer:30 and Nurture My Pig from the 2nd - looks like I am bothering to recall the set list anyways!), I was looking forward to One Time For Me. Nope. Instead they play Baddest Of The Bad and Cruisin' For A Bruisin'. Hmmm...Well still having a great time!

I forget what song it is, but here's a shot of The Rev. "surfing":

He stands on Jimbo's bass and plays. Traditionally when one senses Jimbo is about to lay down his bass to allow this to occur, the crowd will chant "SURF! SURF! SURF! SURF!". On this particular occasion it is just me chanting. Go figure.

At one point, I also forget which song, Jim and Jimbo trade off:

For a bass player Jimbo plays a pretty decent guitar!

Now they had performed songs from every album, including the Christmas album. Jim "The Rev." had said that they were not going to perform anything from the X-mas album as it is nowhere near Christmas, but then suddenly says "Fuck it!" and they fire off Run Rudolph Run!

So now after all that The Rev. states that they will take requests. The crowd starts screaming and it all sounds muddled when I see him look down at me so I say, from right below his feet, ONE TIME FOR ME!!! He looks up and says "Well since you have been down in front all night and I can actually hear you I guess we will play One Time For Me. At that point I turn into this:

This is Max. He is 3. He is wide eyed and likes silly things and loves to show off to friends his nice shiny new things. He often describes things in single words descriptions such as "Silly" & "Neat" & "Fucking sweet!". Wait, that last one is more how I like to describe things. He lives inside of me, but after 40 years I have learned in order to avoid ridicule it is best to keep him quiet for the most part, and only in extreme cases does he come out. On the Internet I have discovered the use of the phrase "Squeeeee!" in effect means they are having a Max moment. If you see me ginning like mad and clapping my hands with the hands pointed straight up (as in the classical praying position) in front of my chest then I am having a Max moment.

So The Rev. goes back and from what I could make out he was asking Paul, the drummer, if he was ok with the song. I am guessing they have not rehearsed it in some time, if at all with Paul, as he has only been with them since 2006. Paul nods acceptance and then Jimbo strums a single note "BOMP!" At this The Rev. states that Jimbo seems to at least know the first note! They then kick out the tune and finally after 17 years I get to hear it live!!!

After the show they do an autograph/meet n' greet with the fans. You had to buy something, but I buy a shirt at each show anyways so that was ok with me! I was so tired after the long day working and then standing for the whole show I was about to collapse! I was also a touch dehydrated as I did not drink anything from my water bottle to avoid needing to pee and abandon my post!

So I get to the booth and start shaking hands. Jimbo tells The Rev. "Rev, this guy was at the front for the whole show!" He noticed? Well shite!

So I give my camera phone (note I said camera phone and not camera. The failure to bring a real camera will come back to haunt me later) to the security guy who was taking photos. He seemed comfused by the Droid camera phone, but he claims he took a "perfect" shot! Good enough. I was too tired and mind-blown by the fact I am in the booth with the 3 guys surrounding me and Jimbo has given me a hug to even think to verify the photo. I get the guys to autograph my Bumbershoot volunteer t-shirt:

Another round of handshakes and I am done. I then say goodbye to Mary and Chris McDowell (Two Emerald City ComiCon Minons) who were working for FYE, the booth sponsors. I had run into them the first day. It is not uncommon to see the same folks at these things as often the same people work the volunteer circuit. In fact I had also run into a guy I worked with at Kirkland Uncorked as he also works the volunteer circuit.

I get to the parking garage and then take a look at the photos on the camera. Hmmm, all the shots I took are there, where is my group band photo? Not there, no, not there either. Say it with me friends:

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!

Oh bother! The guy didn't take the photo after all! I think he saw the auto focus still and was confused. Shit shit shit shit shit!!!

Lesson learned. Take a REAL camera!

I will be going to see them at El Corazon in late Dec. Maybe, just maybe, if Jimbo remembers me and takes pity, I can get a group photo again! Jimbo and Paul sign autographs and take photos after the gig, but The Rev. takes off for the back and that is why a group photo op is so rare and why I am so bummed.

Well I won't let that cast a pall on the weekend! It was pretty fun.

Next up is Fremont Oktoberfest. Drunks! Should prove interesting :-)

Burning Man 2008 - Washing the horde!

Burning Man 2008 was my first time at the event.
We built a big orange castle.

For those who care here is a detail of the coat of arms:

If you have not been, you should go.
Ok well looking for something to do I stumbled upon the human carcass wash at PolyParadise, a camp put on by a polyamory group of people.

If you have never been to Black Rock City then you have no idea how dusty things can get.
The soil there is as fine as talcum powder and has a high PH. It sticks to everything and gets everywhere!

It drys out your skin too and can leave you with an overall icky feeling. An easy remedy is a daily shower, but this is not the Waldorf-Astoria hotel here!

If you brought an RV with a shower then you are covered. Solar showers work too, but not everyone owns one or thinks to buy one. Also the use of a solar shower or watering can or whatever you use as a water delivery device involves catching the water somehow and then trucking this so-called "grey water" out of the area and dumping it off-site. Why? The order of the day is to "Leave No Trace!". Even water dumped on the playa can affect the land negatively. What's that you say? Does it not rain there you say? Sure it does. But rainwater is not contaminated with soap and body grime. Either way, it is part of Da Rulez of BRC LLC and dumping of water on the ground is verboten. So the simple act of taking a shower can be a somewhat complicated affair.

Well the PolyParadise camp has you covered! The Human Carcass wash! They have spray bottles of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps and a series of stations for washing you off. Notice I did not say washing YOURSELF off, rather washing you off. In other words you are washed. Think of the movie "Coming To America". "The royal penis is clean your highness." Well nobody is called your highness and the stations are shallow plastic wash tubs and not a huge bath tub like the movie, but the end result is similar, a clean bod!

So here is the spiel from the official site for the group:

First you become one with the Car/Cass Wash Machine (the outer two rows), then you go through the middle row and get washed. Start with final rinse in either outer row - when there is an opening (free clear water bottle from another rinser moving up). The rinser uses a clear water spray bottle and their hands as a squeegee to rinse soap off the washee.

Then you become a hands-on scrubber (honoring boundaries!), a soaper (soapy water spray bottle), and a pre-rinse wetter (clear water spray bottle). We pass back the tools of each station (water bottles mainly) when we move forward to the next - the tools stay in place while the people percolate up. Wetters then become washees (alternating lines) and go through the middle getting washed.

When we have lots of helpers, there may be multiple scrubbers or rinsers on each side; just percolate up to the head one step at a time anyway.

We ask about and honor boundaries all along the line. These could be about soap or water near the face, about temporary tattoos not to be damaged, or about sexual or body boundaries, etc.

Now this much needed cleansing is not free. Nothing is allowed to be sold for money at Burning Man so as it is noted in the blurb the payment is to work the thing and wash other people.

After 3 days of feeling like a mothball I went for it. Now I am an exhibitionist at heart, poly and have no taboos with being touched. Of course it depends on the situation. Bus stop gropes by a hobo are not welcome. But being washed by the bare hands of complete strangers? Well at Burning Man one usually discovers that the normal taboos are no trouble at all while on the playa!

BTW, there are no photographs of this. For obvious reasons there was no photography allowed at the wash as everyone there is naked as the day they were born and unsolicited photography is hardly appreciated.

So here is a photo of The Man:

So I got there at the start of that days shift. We were given the speech on how to handle the public once we all stripped down. We were told to be certain to ask what boundaries they had and to respect any listed.

Well the question "What are your limitations or boundaries?" was answered "None" 100% of the time. Now these are hardly a bunch of bohemian hippie types who dance naked in the forest every weekend. These were a pretty vanilla looking group of men and women of all ages and races.

Never one to pass up mundane conversation with naked people while naked myself I chatted several of them up. One lady was a grade school teacher. One guy was a stockbroker. Several were students, many were simple working stiffs, I.E. the backbone of this country! Lots of professional types and the occasional guy who got there with friends, has been unemployed for the past 5 years and living on said friend's couches being for all intents and purposes a professional sponge. The perfect job! The school teacher was powerfully cute! All my grade school teachers made the Wicked Witch of the West look like Uma Thurman.

With the danger of describing the act of washing total strangers in explicit detail being somewhat tacky, I will simply say for you to use your imagination. Of course this did allow me to ask questions that I have never asked before and never will again (not unless I do this again) such as "May I wash out your nipple piercings?". Again, feel free to use your imagination.

We must have washed over 200 people that day. All in all an interesting volunteer experience. And something I highly suggest others do. It will shatter about 1.2 million taboos you may have, and that is always a good thing :-)

No take-home swag from this experience, but one day if I return to Burning Man I would like to camp with PolyParadise so in the future I may score some swag from them.

Pouring wine at Kirkland Uncorked!

Kirkland Uncorked 2011. A wine festival at the marina waterfront in Kirkland.
I signed up to be a wine pourer. Sounded like fun. So I get there and get my fabulous salmon pink volunteer shirt!



So we are taken to one of the two large wine serving areas and I get to this one table and set it up as best as I can.



Well then the rep arrives and really tricks out the table.



But then he tells me that he'd rather work the table alone so I get sent to another table where the rep is out and about doing whatever and not manning the table.



The morning was gloomy as all hell, but when the gates opened the sun actually came out!

Well I am not able to drink any wine while on duty, so I have no idea what this wine tastes like. Therefore I had to grill the customers and ask them what it was like after they drank it. I discovered that the Riesling was very sweet, the Sauvignon Blanc is very light and the Cabernet Sauvignon is ...well it is red.

Selling something with any sort of passion if you have little idea what the heck it is like is difficult at best. But I managed to move a lot of it in the time I was there.

We were under a huge gazebo and there were food stations all around.





Every station barring two of them were pushing salmon based dishes.
And I don't really like salmon...
The station serving lamb and the desert station were my favorites!

So I pour and pour then I am off shift. I get 10 tasting tokens for my work.
Each token is worth a 1 ounce pour. Well some wines are 2 tokens for 1 ounce.
It depended on just how expensive the wine was.

I go to my former station and try the wines that I had been selling all day.
Indeed the Riesling was very sweet! The blanc was indeed blank. It was so light as to resemble white grape juice. You could probably give this stuff to a teetotaler and they would not know they were drinking wine! And the Cab was a pretty standard red.

So I burn through the rest of the tokens and wander a bit then take off.

The next day I am taken to the other drinking area and assigned to the Knipprath Cellars table. Christy the rep was there and she was a total sweetheart! She tries her best to school me on the wines and I try my best to remember.

Here is a shot of her on the Saturday with another volunteer. No I did not grow a foot taller and age so that is not me :-)



I took a pic of the table while I was manning it. It is from my perspective so everything is upside down.



The Touriga Nacional red was really good so I bought a bottle of it for myself. We have yet to break it, but we will soon enough.

Christy did most of the talking, but occasionally I had to as she was off somewhere. Trying to remember everything she told me proved to be a challenge, but I suppose I did good enough as people handed over tokens for wine.

After about 3 hours of pouring and chatting it was all over. It was to date one of the easiest volunteering jobs ever! Pour wine, chat, have fun. What more could one ask for?

Emerald City ComiCon 2011, or When The Shat hit the fan!

I heard that a few guys from ZombCon were also going to work Emerald City ComiCon so I looked into that. The ECCC volunteer Overlord leader Carly needed someone to co-moderate the Yahoo! board for ECCC volunteers and I signed up for that. My real life work does not give paid time off. Such is the life of the Microsoft vendor! As such I could not work Thursday or Friday.

On Saturday I got there so early that the garages did not have any parking deals so I just parked in the Convention Center garage knowing I’d pay a lot. But whatever! Sunday will be free parking so that will even things out. I got my beautiful green Minion (That is what the volunteers were called) T-Shirt and much desired Minion credential lanyard.



New Minions were taken on a tour ( some of us took it twice!) and I met many wonderful fellow Minions. We were having some great conversation fueled by the ThinkGeek caffeine filled treats when Canadian Jason came in and declared that he needed 20 Minions for the Media room. Count ‘em, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 ,19 and 20! He took us down to the Media room and we were given assignments. 4 of us were assigned to William Shatner’s line!

The Shat! Well his line was different from all the others in that you needed to first purchase a $70 ticket, then get back in line once you had your ticket. This meant there were two lines, side-by-side in the same snaking line barrier. His line was huge and I was at the front. No time to try to amuse the crowd as this one was all business! He had more staffers and helpers than any other media guest. The lovely Claire Kramer was right next door and let me just say she was a lot easier on the eyes than the Shat! He comes out to the roar of the crowd and starts to sign stuff. Not a lot of chatter with the fans, and no handshakes bar one guy who I saw that got one. It’s possible this was a staffer, but possibly a lucky fan! His line had a lot of strange folks in it. Many were totally silent, did not smile or give much eye contact. Kinda like Shatner himself! One fellow had 3 big boxes. He paid $210 for 3 autographs and what he had was a very nice looking brass and crystal 3D chess set from the original series, a die-cast large size model of the original Enterprise (I also own this it was a gift from my Mom years ago – it is from the Franklin Mint people), and a large model of the original Enterprise bridge set. I helped him unpack these and had to let others in line past him as he was taking forever! At one point Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes pop out from behind his curtain to say hi. This makes the crowd go insane! I was worried a riot would break out! A zillion pictures were taken of this and I assume they are now on the Internet.



All in all his line was fast and crazy! Just how I like it!

After Shatner I was noticed the Photo-op line was a touch out of control with Green Coats (Seattle Convention Center Staff) trying to manage it. A staffer asked me to take over wrangling it so I jumped in. Shannon, one of the ECCC staffers, was also busy trying to create order from chaos in that line and in the lines that lead to the photo-op room. She kept me abreast of who was currently in the room taking pictures so I could yell this info and bring anyone who wanted that photo-op to the front. This did not, surprisingly enough, create any angry people when they saw people being led to the front. It helped to explain that the photo-op they wanted was soon to expire so it was necessary to bring them up front. Of course this is rewarding lazy stragglers who didn’t bother to get in line until the last few minutes, but I didn’t point that out…

I was responsible for personally selling at least 1 $110 buffy triple shot. That sounds either like an expensive espresso or something rather pornographic involving Sarah Michelle Gellar! It was a picture with James Marsters, Clare Kramer & Nicholas Brendon. They were soon to start and Shannon told me to find anyone who wanted that shot. I went up and down yelling “Buffy triple shot! Anyone wanting the Buffy triple shot? Only $110!”. One teenage gal looked at her dad and asked if she could get that. He tells her that it would eat up the budget for just about everything else. She begged him and he relented. I took them to the front and that was one very happy teenage girl! I wish I could have seen her photo! Shannon and I wrangled those lines until the very last. I was also suggesting to people that if they wanted a ticket to the next Shatner signing, it would behoove them to do it now as there was no line.

After that I was tasked with guarding the entrance to the back area that leads to the autograph tables. This is where the celebs come and go, so it was important that no con goers wandered in there. I assumed this would be nice, quiet and dull, but no. Standing there I became an instant information booth to anyone wandering by. Where are the bathrooms? Where do I pickup my photo? Where are the panels? How do I get outside? Is Wil Wheaton coming back tomorrow? Where is the line for (whoever’s) photo-op? How much are autographs? Where is an ATM? Can I just go up to say hi? How do I get to be a volunteer next year? What are you doing just standing there? That was the most popular question.

I was having a peaceful zen like moment just standing there like one of those British guys in the tall furry hats who guard the palace when Shannon comes racing down and says “He’s coming!”. The Shat is about to exit the building! We stood there along with a fan who was hoping to snap a photo and then we were treated to the back of his head as he passed by, turned towards the freight elevator and disappeared! I believe there are several photos of the side or back of his head taken by Staff and Minions. Checking his Twitter feed there is no mention of the ECCC at all whatsoever. I will not speculate at all on what that may or may not mean.

Also whilst standing guard duty who comes by but none other than Clare Kramer and Nicholas Brendon. I don’t watch Buffy. I don’t know who they are. They are not wearing any credentials and I almost did the talk to the hand gesture! But at the last minute I recognized Clare so I didn’t! She is stunningly beautiful in real life and I was literally stunned for a few seconds just looking at her! Breaking up my dream-like state in which I was immersed in the gentle breeze of Clare's sizzling hot countenance Brendon looks at me and says “Sausage!” Perplexed I realized this was supposed to be a password. Not liking that one I suggested Snausage, the old dog treat. He laughs but continued to yell Sausage! each time he went by! I guess I get to claim that I had Nicholas Brendon offer me his sausage!

But even though The Shat had left the building, his legacy remained! Froggy (the picture guy) was only able to print out the photo’s so fast from the last photo-op Shatner had. Several people were not coming back the next day so returning Sunday for the photo was not an option. Some were leaving the country or the state so there would be no way at all to get the photo later. So that meant they had to hang around and wait for the picture. The 501′st Legion, the Star Wars costume guys who have the most excellent Empire costumes ever, were afraid to leave with regular people and kids still buzzing around. The armor and the fully working R2D2 is very expensive to just leave with con goers around. They wanted to know if someone could guard it until everyone left and I said I would. They were so grateful that they told me I could have any picture I wanted from them for free! I got a photo of myself with the best Darth Vader I have seen outside of the movies get me in a chokehold from Episode IV. Sweet!



We did not get the all-clear until around 10:15pm! Not sure when Carly and the office staff finally left, but it was late! I get to the parking garage and insert my ticket. It says I owe them $26! I felt violated and the thing did not even buy me dinner first! This got a laugh from the people behind me so it was worth it

On Sunday I was expecting it to be all mellow and quiet. Nope. Jason comes down and gets us media room Minions to come on down again. This time I am line wrangling for Jonathan Frakes and Minion Mike is right next door with Brent Spiner. The rules are gone over many, many times: $30, cash only. $30 per autograph. Posters are $50. No flash photography.



No photos taken past the white line. No photos at the table. Please have your item ready to be signed. Do not fondle Mr. Frakes’ beard. ATM is available behind you if needed. Please do not try to cut right over to Mr. Spiner’s line. Please exit this way.

I suppose I could have just stood there like a lump, but I decided to try and warm up the crowd instead. Now I am not a professional comedian or warm up guy, so it was a great compliment when one guy asked me “Is it your job to entertain us?” I said “If I am then yes. If I am not entertaining you then I am simply screwing around.” Frakes comes out and the crowd….does nothing. So I yell “Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Jonathan Frrrrraaaakkkkeeeessss!!!!!” and that gets the crowd going.

One highlight was a young lady who was simply trembling with anticipation. I told her to relax, it will be alright, but if I can tell you something…HE IS RIGHT THERE!!”. That actually made her laugh and calm down. She totally lost it though when actually face to face with Frakes. He offers her a tissue and as she is crying and telling him how big a fan she is she tells Frakes that Data was her favorite character. This makes Spiner, his line, both Mike and myself, the staffers for Frakes and Spiner and Frakes’ line erupt in howling laughter! Frakes breaks the rules and allows her to take a posed photo at the table. This would be the first time I had to give the “A dangerous precedent has been set people! Please do not expect a photo-op at the table based on this incident!” in the most droll Ben Stein-like manner that I can. When she makes it around to Spiner she is fully composed. Spiner then asks in an annoyed tone as to why exactly if he is her favorite he gets no tears but Johnny did. She promptly breaks down again and Spiner seemed a bit sorry and now he is offering her a tissue!

Another cool moment was a young woman who I saw had what appeared to be a school textbook in her hand. She told me how Star Trek TNG had inspired her to go to school to become an astrophysicist. Her story was detailed and told her to make sure to tell all of that to Jonathan. Well for Spiner she was joined by her friend from school. Brent asks them both “Are all astrophysicist students as hot as you two?” They reply “Yes!”. Somehow I doubt that.

Those two guys were like grade school kids constantly trying to one up each other and poke fun at each other. They were so loud in fact that John Noble, who was right next door to Spiner, seemed to take issue with this. When Noble had wrapped up and left, Frakes makes the comment mimicking Noble’s accent “Oh my those Star Trek boys are so loud it is hard to concentrate!” He then says, “Concentrate on what? Signing your name??”

Of course I feel for the Staffer who was with Frakes. She had to be the bad cop about photos, but it is no help when Frakes decides to allow it for this person or that. Well really only for the cute ones. Case in point, two 20-somethings dressed as superheroes whose power is to make you think “Holy shite!” sashay up to Jonathan. “Hell-o Superheroes!” he says. Of course they have a camera and they are now being offered a picture by Jonathan. Minion Mike is now taking a posed photo-op for them with Frakes. There is simply no controlling this guy, but of course we have to be the bad guys! I give the “A dangerous precedent is being set…” speech again. But one fellow moves up to me from the middle griping about why they get a picture at the table and they cannot. I tell him “Sir, neither of us are 20-something hotties dressed in skin-tight spandex. We do not get that sort of consideration.” His wife nearly falls over laughing and his annoyance is diffused. Whew! Possible ugly situation resolved.

Also interesting to note that Spiner does not like to shake hands. Instead whenever someone wanted to shake his hand he would offer up a fist (as in a fist-bump move) and say RESPECT! Then as you bumped fists with him he would say BOOM SHAKA LAKA!

At some point they both go off to do their panel. I saw some of it on YouTube. It was great. I wish I had been working it! Well after that they come down to do photo ops, the real ones, not the ones cute 20-somethings in spandex get at the autograph tables. I get in line to get my own photo with them. They told us to remove the volunteer shirt and credentials when doing personal things, but I wanted the shot in full gear!



As you can see I got it, but being in full gear meant I had to work the line while being in it! A tad surreal.

After Brent had left (he had to rush to catch a plane) Frakes was just about done as well. There was this one person left who was not so quick to leave. She was wearing a white wedding dress, a white spiky hair wig, and her face was painted half black half white. She was speaking out loud to herself in a very odd manner. So much so that it caught the attention of Frakes and I could hear that him and the staffer were discussing her and how she was not leaving the area. Suddenly she make a beeline towards Jonathan. Mike and I form a Minion shield blocking access to Frakes. She comes really close to us and continues ranting. After a few tense moments she starts to wander off. I make the blunder of saying “Thank you for coming” in an attempt to give a clue that it’s time to leave now! Well she turns and says “There is no thank you needed! What they have done for all of us is thanks enough and how can anyone like me even accept a thank you from the likes of them and really that would be very presumptuous of me and I won’t accept it…” I tuned her out as she finally made it out of earshot. I’m glad she was just weird and not violent as I really do not need any scratch marks on this face!

My final act as an ECCC Minion was to help Frakes’ manager pack up a bunch of artwork that was for sale. It was a gallery of lithographs and prints, some autographed, some as low as $10. It seems that celeb managers have their fingers in all sorts of pies! I helped crate up the art and then haul it over to the Sheraton hotel next door. Long walk that was! After I came back they cut me loose and the Minions went out for drinks!

ZombCon 2010! Or when I had a most surreal weekend!

I had met the Con founder Ryan Reiter on a few occasions during the Red, White and Dead zombie walks and at the yearly Revenant (Zombie) Film Festival at MoHI. He told me about the Con and was told if I wanted to volunteer that he needed all the help he could get as this was a 1st time Con.



My first duty was to take tickets at the midnight screening of A Clockwork Orange at the SIFF cinema. Two other volunteers were there and all 3 of us took tickets and herded the folks into the correct door. A few minutes before showtime Malcolm McDowell pops in with around 5 handlers! I had brought my copy of Caligula on Blu-Ray to see if I could get an autograph. Well a few minutes later the handlers all wander off leaving Mr. McDowell just standing there like an idiot! So I slide over with the artwork and Sharpie in hand and politely ask for an autograph. He was more than happy to oblige and the 3 of us volunteers got to chat with him while the staff figured out where they needed him. He gave the small crowd (maybe 30 people) a rousing speech about the film then left to his hotel room shortly after it started. I hung around for the whole film as I had never seen A Clockwork Orange on the big screen!



The next day started out like any other. I checked into the volunteer room to see where my assignment would be. Kimberly, the person in charge AKA Queen Zombie, was there and very busy! Of course she was being pestered by everyone wanting to know what to do as there were no other staffers in the room. At this she yelled “OK EVERYONE OUT!” (it was a pretty small room). I’ve been around long enough to know when the boss says to beat feet, don’t take it personally, just do it!

Outside I bumped into Rose, one of the staffers. She asked me and another volunteer if we were free. Yep we sure are, so she tells us to follow her. She leads us across the Con floor over to a back room. Who is sitting in there but none other than Bruce Campbell himself!



He had asked for 2 volunteers to come to him so he could train us to be his picture takers in his autograph line. He goes through the spiel with us and I tell him that we got this. After he did his panel on stage he went over to his autograph table and we were on! His rules were simple, no pictures taken at the table by the fans. That is what we were for. His theory was that this gives the maximum amount of time to chat with the fan as they are not fumbling with a camera trying to compose a shot.



He was also nice enough to autograph my Evil Dead DVD cover:



All was going smoothly when one woman who had this expensive camera rig refused to let me touch her camera. I made it clear that there would be no picture then and moved on to the next one in line. Well she takes one anyways in flagrant violation of my mandate not to! The nerve!!! Well this did not sit well with Mr. Campbell. The next thing I hear is “You! Come here! What the hell was that!” confused I quickly realized she had taken an arm’s-length photo. “I told him that she did not allow me to touch her camera, but he then said that I should not have left her to her own devices. “Yes Mr. Campbell sir! It will not happen again sir!”. I had to be all fascist and completely humorless about Da Rulez at that point! It did not happen again.

After that the Ladies of The Evil Dead (yes, that was their official title!), Betsy Baker, Ellen Sandweiss (Still a hottie after all these years!) and Sarah York were going to lunch.



They asked me to make sure their stuff was safe. Oh boy! Guard duty! Well the life of a volunteer is hardly all glamour, so I had no problem with this. At least it meant I could sit down! I heard via inter-volunteer hearsay that one of them was quite the demanding sort asking in a somewhat stern tone that the volunteer assigned to her fetch her a latte or a water or a snack, or to crawl under the table to plug-in her laptop, bring her a magazine, etc. etc. Well once again, what we sign up for is not all high fives and flirty looks from cute celebrities! Sometimes you are little more than unpaid, overworked and sometimes underappreciated labor.

After a thrilling ride sitting and guarding their photos and posters and stuff, succesful in resisting the urge to flip open Ellen Sandweiss’ phone to get Sam Rami’s personal phone number, they returned and I went over to the SIFF Cinema next door as I was told to hook up with Rose after Bruce came back from lunch and continue my duties.

To my surprise we (Rose, myself, Bruce’s manager and Bruce himself!) got into an SUV and we drove over to the EMP for the Evil Dead wedding Bruce was going to perform!



We arrive at the EMP and go via the Bat-Cave entrance into the innards of the EMP (the Seattle Experience Music Project) and make our way to the infamous Blue Room. Bruce was at the EMP to perform an actual wedding for a couple dressed as zombies. Ted Rami was the Emcee. I poured Mr. Campbell a drink and he signed about 100 posters “How many of these goddamned things are there?!” I have one! Anyways he was learning the vows the couple wrote, changed it up a bit and then the wedding party arrived.



He took pictures with them and then I left with all other staff and Minions to help set up the room for the wedding. For $100 a couple could come and be in the audience. You had to be a couple and both in costume.



After the wedding Bruce did a mass vow renewal for the crowd. Then he said that he would take a photo with everyone there! At first Ted Rami was taking cameras and taking pictures. I didn’t notice this and Rose then grabbed me and said “Don’t make him take the pictures!” Indeed! So I jump up and tell Ted that I can take the pictures and that for at least tonight he need not be Bruce’s slave anymore! Ok well maybe I left that last part out. I love Ted! He is so cool, and at Bruce’s panel they both hyped up the whole attitude that Ted is his Robin to Bruce’s Batman.



As these photos exist, I am pretty certain the whole experience was not a sleep deprived caffeine induced hallucination.

Sunday! Well the last day of the Con I first had to open up around 150 boxes of Magic card decks and set them up at the intro table. Doing this with me was a lovely volunteer and after that we were placed at will-call. Mostly the chatting was about Steampunk and LARP, two things she was very much into. Most people didn’t do will-call for Sunday so it was slow and pretty quiet.

At one point I noticed a very tall man with a grey ponytail and big glasses go past us to the outside. Yikes that was George Romero!



I quickly got out my Night Of The Living Dead DVD artwork out with a Sharpie. As he came back I put on the most pathetic look possible and said simply “Mr. Romero!” while holding up the DVD cover and the Sharpie. He thought about it for a second then said, and I quote, “What the hell”, and bent down to sign the cover. He is a giant! He asks me my name and at this point his handler must have noticed that she lost him. She pops over, sees him and says in a humorous manner that he is making her look bad! He tells us that he was guilty of giving his staffers the slip a lot to go out and smoke. I’ve heard he smokes like a chimney!



After will-call I am told that the volunteer helping at Malcolm McDowell’s table needs to leave. I take over and hang out with Malcolm at his table while he plays a game on his phone.



A few pictures were shot then he was needed for a panel. More guard duty as I guarded his photos and stuff. After that his manager comes over and asks me to help him in boxing up Malcolm’s stuff and Romero’s stuff.

This is where I learned that one should not give a celebrity a gift. I read on his Twitter page that Wil Wheaton kept a knit doll of him that a fan made for him. Ok so something unique and cool perhaps, but most stuff is going to be tossed. No celeb would have the room for everything given to them and unless you are really tight with said celeb I would think twice about spending money or working hard on a gift for them!

I was able to save a few books and things that were headed for the trash! After everything was boxed up Johnny Mischief-Cancer (he happened to be wandering by and was snagged by the manager) and I got to haul these rather heavy boxes, by hand mind you, across the street and up a block to the hotel. I am no cut Adonis of a guy and if Johnny was tired one can guess how dead I was at the end of that ride!

After that it was cleanup then the after party at the Red Door! Drinks and a screening of AMC’s The Walking Dead was sweet. Although you could not hear a word from the show as the ambient noise was so loud.



I look forward to ZombCon 2011! Sam Trammel from True Blood will be there!!!