LA Hercules/Xena Convention 97 Report Page3
January 10-13 Burbank Hilton Hotel, California
Con Diary - Burbank, CA 1/12-13/97
SUNDAY
Up at the crack of dawn again, to a dreary, rainy day. I made myself as presentable as possible and Marit and I went in search of caffeine. I can't remember much about the morning except I ended up in a booth with Starseeker, Marit, Lord Nelson and was it Lessa, Gazelle, Danae, Psam, Skeezix or MsMoo.. one of those .. I think??? The mind is a terrible thing to lose. Several cups of coffee later and I'm ready to face the sold out Xena day. I see so many Xenite friends, well all of them really, Athena, Lucia, Mystic Lady, MacGyver, Rudeboy, Dearcy, Heparin, Dark Muse, Quest, Xana, Kym, Paks, Gina and more. Tyldus and Maggie talking in the halls and Lucy and Renee fan club support team including Renee's lovely Mom, Mrs. Wilson.
Inside the auditorium there is nary a seat to be had. Starseeker and I 'fake it' sitting in unclaimed reserved seats and watch as our own Goddess Athena wins the Xena Trivia contest. Kudos to you, the questions were tricky, they were tough, they were obscure and one was actually wrong! But the Goddess prevailed!
Tyldus and Liz Freeman put on a delightful and informative talk about the writing and production of X:WP and H:TLJ. I got up to give my promised question. I started off by saying my favorite ep of Xena is "Hooves and Harlots" and asked which theirs was and asked both which episode was the most difficult. Tyldus made humble (cause he wrote H&H) and sincere and was so nice and personable everyone was entranced. Likewise Liz, she was wonderful and didn't flinch, well not much, even when Tyldus let her have it up the side of the head... okay he didn't really, it was an accident in the heat of a moment of expressive gesturing and he apologized sweetly! I could have listened to them discuss plots, characters and the intricacies of putting these shows together for days. But way too soon their time was over.
At that point I had to leave for meetings ( and finally had lunch) and missed the rest of the early talks, returning in time to catch the last bit of Avicus' presentation. I slipped into the VIP section with Starseeker and sat next to Maggie Hickerson who was relieved that Hudson would be appearing and not her as previously scheduled. She is a delight and handles almost everything over at the Pacific Renaissance office. She was scheduled to speak in the preliminary program as "Writers Panel", she is Script Coordinator. Darn I'm sorry I missed Avicus' presentation! The part I did catch was fascinating. Rob took the crowd through the multiple shots for the same scene, showing all the different angles, etc that went into making a complete scene of only a few minutes (Return of Callisto, when Callisto first sees Xena in the village). The crowd really enjoyed his presentation.
Hudson Leick was, well, floored by the initial response as she stepped onto the stage. She quickly recovered and was a delight to watch and hear. She was very naughty and nice, honest and direct. I was happy to see the crowd who just a few short months ago were bashing her and her shriek, turn and applaud her for the fine actress she is.
Next came the auction and the bidding was hot from the lowliest script to the grand finale, the Chakram. Unlike the HerK fans, these Xenites came with their check books or plastic in hand and by the end of the bidding those wallets were smoking! Scripts went for around $250 - $500, Cardboard Kiosk (full size standing figure) $500 (the bidding was so intense they gave the last two bidders each one rather than let it go any further) and the Chakram (with the promise of a photo op with the Warrior Princess herself) went for a cool $8,500.00. Sal_Fan, I was cheering for you bud!
Now I had been told that Ted Raimi was less than confident he would receive a warm welcome, having read posts on the forum and lists, but it took him one second to win over the audience. He peered from behind the curtain and promptly did a slap stick full face fall onto the stage floor, breaking the tension effectively and ready to present himself, Ted Raimi the actor who plays the character of Joxer. He was so entertaining and amusing, of course I'm biased as I've always loved Joxer and wore a name tag to prove it. Ted firstly explained that Joxer was a role he played and then gave some insight into why there is a Joxer. He chatted for a bit then took questions from the audience. Many of the questions dealt with his work in SeaQuest and films. It was so nice to see him start to relax and enjoy himself. I got up to ask him a question but first held up my name tag (about 4"x 8" that had a pix of Joxer, my name and netnick and I LOVE JOXER) so he could see it and said that he had many fans on the net too though the disgruntled were more vocal. He walked across the stage to get a better look at it and I was rewarded with the sweetest grin! I asked if he had plans to work this summer, any projects in the works? He explained what he would be working on and thanked me for my support.
Next came the costume competition and our net forums were very well represented. Though the contest was not orchestrated very smoothly, Quest and Xana were fantastic in the most beautiful costumes. It was LauraJ and Kimba that won the whole enchilada, including a backstage audience with Lucy and pictures too! LauraJ (yes I was part of her pre-performance dressing team of sorts, well actually gave her a bit of a tip regarding, well the presentation of various assets;) was approached all day for autographs, some believing she was actually Xena. Darrell/Kimba looked so much like Renee that Lucy remarked, when Kimba stepped up to the mike to ask her question, "I thought you couldn't make it?!" like she really was Renee!
The SWORDPLAY troop again took the stage and demonstrated their stuff. The crowd was pretty preoccupied with the upcoming guest and so were somewhat distracted, but the guys and Pat made all that clanging and clashing look real enough for those in front to duck again:)
Lucy came out and the auditorium went absolutely wild. She had fun and we loved it. She had us all repeating after her, Splendid and Excrement stand out in my mind;) She was gregarious and totally candid and BEAUTIFUL. Her enthusiasm burst forth. She made a serious case for the support of Joxer, seriously. She answered wild and weird questions, sang "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts", threw an aerobe to the back row of the huge room, gave an answer in support of men "they are half of the population" and charmed everyone. When it was time for autographs, I being in the "no class" section (general admission without a seat) left to go have a business dinner, feeling extremely sorry for myself and my poor hubby (who would have to settle for a beautiful color 8x10 glossy instead of her autograph) as there was no way in Hades I'd ever get to her. On returning to the bar after dinner I ran into Ceallach who had worked security that day at the con. She told Marit and I that Lucy, Ted and Hudson were STILL SIGNING. Now once again that jr high track training came in handy as we sprinted up to our room to grab the photos and over to the Auditorium. Lucy's line was still long so we went over to where Hudson and Ted were signing. I placed my photo in front of Hudson and thanked her for my being able to come to the con, explaining it was my husbands desire for me to get her and Lucy's autograph that got me here. She smiled a sly grin and slashed her autograph across the photo ... much like Callisto would have I'll bet;)
Ted was a sweetie and I reiterated that he had many supporters and fans, both of himself and of Joxer. I told him most of the HerKuleans loved Joxer. He was surprised and happy to see my name tag again and up close. I mentioned that Bruce had talked about him. He said it was nice cause they are good friends and I told him he should have heard what he said about him and he laughed out loud. I really enjoyed meeting him. Then we headed over to the Lucy line.
My short but meaningful relationship with the security guard paid off as we were allowed to enter the line for Lucy's autograph with less than 75 people left. I got to Lucy, handing my photo to the Creations personnel. Speaking quickly, so as to get the sentence out before I was scooted along, I said "Hi, I'm Apollena, Queen of the Amazons, you may have read some of my Xenaverse fan fiction while you were recuperating". She glanced up with a smile but caught sight of my name tag, I LOVE JOXER, and grabbed it with one hand and my hand with her other and pulled me across the table saying something akin to this: "This is wonderful, this is great. He's so good you know? Have you shown this to him? You must go over and have him sign this. This is really great" and she signed it with a big X! (Kiss) and gave me that dazzling smile. What a truly gracious Lady she is! Now what would you do if Xena ordered you to do something? I ran right back over to Ted and told him, showing him Lucy's signature, that she said he should sign it and he did, giggling and laughing as he did. I was glad to see him really enjoying himself although they all looked completely tuckered out by then.
We left and returned to the, just guess.... Amazon Memorial Wing of the Bar. MsMoo was making her final shoot on the Con video of Nuance~ singing her "Amazon Sunset" to the beat of many a cocktail table players. I hope you all get to hear this lovely song and Nuance~'s performance which was truly beautiful. We had already done the 'location shoot' up on the 3rd floor of the East tower where LauraJ, Kimba and the Queen and her Amazons attack the unsuspecting MsMoo. Many tearful goodbyes were shared, hugs and promises that we would get back together, maybe this summer at the super Fest in June in St. Louis. I can't remember anything else that happened but I did get to bed after 3, by this late date who needed sleep?
MONDAY
Well it was hard to say goodbye but we did after one last bar visit. (Where we had a continental breakfast;) My plane was at noon so we made our way to the car, Ceallach, Marit and Tyche gave Skeezix, Hebea and I a ride to the airport on their way to Hollywood to buy up all the Kevin photos. . . okay so Ceallach bought the Michael Hurst ones up too;) We were running late so I hugged Skeezix and Hebea good bye. Tears, promises and genuine affection was exchanged and I walked alone to my gate and flew home without complication.
Again I apologize for leaving out names, activities and other stuff. I didn't know how much I'd forgotten already or how much never got to my storage area, until I began to write this report. I hope it helps some of you who were unable to attend to get a feeling for our Con Experience, our close encounters and the fabulous time that was had.
Saroj Selvan
Apollena
~~Queen of the Amazons~~
~~Keeper of the Entertainments~~
ROTFWKS ..... really!!!
Forum Amazons Absentee Hug Receptacle and Beneficiary
HerKulean Hair Flipping Team - Founding Member - Captain
Keeper of the Mazola
Sorbonne Lace n'Leatherette
KSSS and so on and so forth....
Apollena, Keeper of the
Entertainments
These pictures were taken by IRCmommy, Ceallach, MsMoo, Robinsnest and Apollena a far as I know.
Last Update: July 24, 2001
Web Author: Vel Selvan