[urgeok2]

just for the hell of it : here's my blog from last year to whet your appetites (if anyone is on the fence about coming)

it should push you one way ot the other :)

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PART 1

Well, thats it for another year .. just returned from 3 days of walking around exhausted, sweating from the heat and all of the junk i was lugging around.
Standing in lines to stand in other lines ...missing meals, fretting over schedules, but having a blast none the less.

FRIDAY :
I arrived Friday afternoon for the early bird admittance. It was cool - for a few extra bucks you got a VIP pass and got to go into the con a few hours earlier than the rest of the ticket holders - which was great for taking advantage of the sales and orienting yourself before the hordes arrived. I spent a couple of hours walking down every row in the place. (and snapping the odd picture of the dressed up anime kids)

I won a T-Shirt for the new Clive Owen flick (Shoot 'em Up) by hitting pingpong balls through an opening in a little sign. Also got a couple of free t-shirts from the Anchor Bay booth. Picked up all the free movie posters i saw - got a few different promo posters for the upcoming Halloween film.

The 1st guest i went to see was H. G. Lewis. I met him about 15 years ago at the 1st con i'd ever been to and have been mourning it ever since as the picture i took with him at that time didnt work out due to a broken camera. So finally 15 years later not only do i get a picture with him - I get my old large box beta copy of 2000 Maniacs and the vinyl soundtrack album to blood feast/2000 maniacs signed. H.G is a really nice guy and it was a huge deal to me to meet him again.

Next was Greg Nicotero, FX wizard. I was going to get him to sign Land of the Dead when i notice a Day poster. I didn't realize he worked on that one and he tells me it was his first job - so I get that one signed instead. He's also signing and selling this amazing large hardcover Grindhouse book (a $40 book) for $20 so i grabbed it and got it signed too. Its a wicked book !.

From there I went to Adam West's line. met a fellow from chicago representing his/and his partners indie comics. I got Adam West to sign a very old batman cape I somehow managed to hang onto from my childhood (1966 - when the TV show was playing) He was the most expensive autograph at the show by far (50$)- but it was still cool to meet him.

Next i went to the long Malcolm McDowell line ... he turned out to be the biggest draw at the con bar none .. he should have been the guest of honor. his lines were always long and he took the time to chat with everyone ..A long wait but worth it. I got my DVD of Time After Time signed, and then bought a Halloween (rob zombie) movie poster that he signed as well. really nice man ...

After that .. oh my god ... Adrienne Barbeau. She's in her early 60's and still hot as hell. super sweet too.
This is somewhat embarrasing .. but i still had a copy of that famous bustier poster she did in the 70's ... i was pretty crazy about her when i was a young lad .. and always kept that poster. So now it's signed
She's tiny by the way. She has always had such a commanding presence in all of her films that i always pictured her to be of greature stature .... but she's teeny .. teeny and beautiful

I look over at the Rue Morge magazine booth - and sitting side by side - with NO-ONE waiting ... was Coralina Cataldi Tassoni (Demons 2, Opera, Phantom of the Opera, and the upcoming Mother of Tears) and Maurizio Guarini (Goblin). Typical Toronto 'fans' no one knows who these people are !
From Coralina I get my laserdisc of Demons 2 signed, buy her music CD (its good !) and a signed still. She is also very beautiful.
From Maurizio i get a cd called 'Back to the Goblin.'

I have time for one more guest before they clase down for the night (9:00pm) so i see Dwight Shultz. I've been lugging around a huge toy A-Team helicopter all day for him to sign - which he does. (its cool because the helicopter is labelled Howlin' Mad - his character from the show. yet another very nice guy.

That night - I have been invited to the private Rue Morgue party they have for any con guest of honour who wish to come - as well as the Rue Morgue staff and some people - like me - who have been fortunate enough to be added to the guest list.
I had to take the train home, get showered and drive back downtown. On the train i realize that in my mad dash to board it (lugging bags and a big case) I have lost my weekend pass including the big Dario Argento special event pass that I paid a lot of money for. so i'm not very happy - in a near panic. I'll have to find some way to deal with this in the morning.

so anyway - i get out of the train to get in my car for the ride home and it starts raining hard making me more miserable than i was before.

After showering, changing and spending a couple of minutes with my family, I head back downtown to the party where i only know a couple of people and cant talk to them anyways because i'm near deaf in any bar where music is playing. However i do end up at a table with a couple of other guys chatting with H.G. Lewis for an hour or so... which was extremely cool. this guy is very sharp - and very personable with a million stories.

Before long the music stops and Chris Alexander hops on the stage to introduce Maurizio Guarini and his band he put together for a special one night performance. I was blown right out of my shoes. In front of a screen continuously showing projected Argento posters and stills (as well as other horror related posters and stills) this band proceeded to play all of the best known Goblin soundtrack pieces. it was F***ing Amazing ! I had chills running down my spine. After a bit they bring out Coralina Cataldi Tassoni to perform a track (coincidently my favorite) off of the CD i just bought and listened to on the way to the party. She was great - very passionate and powerful. she followed this up by acompaning the band to the Suspiria main tune. Incredible ... an experience I'll never forget.

After that i wanted to get home because it was 1:30 and i had an hour drive to get back and would be driving right back down again in the morning with my family to attend the con with them. As i was leaving I saw Greg Nicotero at the pary as well as Angela Bettis (May/Sick Girl/Toolbox Murders) but i didnt go over because i'm kind of shy about walking up to people out of the blue. I did stop to tell Coralina and Maurizio that they blew my face right off with that performance, then i took off home for the night.

SATURDAY :

Saturday I get up after 3 hours sleep with a pounding headache. (lack of sleep gives me a sinus headache - i have no idea how the 2 are related). Aided no doubt by the stress of dealing with the unknown 'will hobbystar replace my argento ticket ??'

We head down early so I can deal with this. I have to do it fast because Veronica Taylor - the girl who does the voice of Ash in the english versions of Pokemon is signing at 10:30 - and my son is really pumped about this.
We get downtown before 10 and i went to a booth with my story and was directed to 'customer service'
The girl there wasnt empowered enough to help me but i remained cool and asked if i could speak to her manager (who was coming back in a few minutes) I speak to her manager - she wants to help but needs to speak to her manager (the guy who runs the entire show)
I speak to him and he has me follow him to the 1st booth ... has me wait.. comes back empty handed - but says 'we're gonna fix you up - come back in an hour.

Thank god I bought an unnessessary ticket for my kid because he was really free to get in so they told me to use his ticket to get inside so we could attend the show while we waited for them to get me the Argento pass.

This got us to the veronica Taylor line just in time. The people directly behind us in line became the cut off point for the last people to get to see her. (on the way we stopped at the anchor bay booth to see the woman who was really nice to my son the year before ... she remembered him and had a little chat before we hustled to the V. Taylor line.

V Taylor was taking a lot of time with each person.. and made no exception for my son. she was also very patient and responsive when he started asking a million questions about her (Ash's) pokemons evolving .. it was pretty cute

We were in the line for some time so i quickly ran upstairs immediately after to see about my Argento ticket .. they had it ready for me ... I was very grateful and will be sending them a note of thanks today.