Dragon*Con, part two

[dslartoo]

Part two of "What I Did at Dragon*Con 2004", stuck behind a cut-tag to keep your friends pages clear.



Saturday:
-- Arrived in time to see the annual Dragon*Con parade through downtown Atlanta. I parked myself on a wall outside the Hyatt's front entrance and watched the fun. Highlights included a sizeable COBRA contingent marching in lockstep, chaos in the LOTR group when Gollum started chasing Frodo around (with Samwise in pursuit), Klingons on tricked-out Harley hawgs and followed by a car modded to look like a Bird of Prey, a Spider-Man doing back handsprings and backflips, and a group of Space Marines from Starship Troopers who worked the crowd like veterans. One guy decided the applause wasn't loud enough, so he went to the side of the road, put his gun to a kid's head, and made it clear: more noise or the kid gets ventilated. :)
-- Ambushed (briefly) by relevantpink, who managed somehow to make zombie makeup look alluring. Great to finally meet you, Germaine. :)
-- Was heading to the dealer's room to kill time till an 11:30 panel when I was hailed by kellinator, with weaktwos looking on in amusement. I made a U-turn and talked with the ladies for a while until panel time, whereupon weaktwos and I both headed to the same destination...
-- The Dragonlance: 20th Anniversary panel. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Weis and Hickman's introduction of the Dragonlance universe, started with the novel Dragons of Autumn Twilight and snowballing over two decades to a huuuuuge juggernaut that now includes dozens of books, gaming guides, gaming systems, music, and lots more. Weis and Hickman were, as usual, in fine form (the two of them are always entertaining and engaging folk). The panel ended with Tracy and his wife singing selections (with musical accompaniment) from the Dragonlance Musical they had written as a gag for a previous con.
-- Back to the dealers' room area. Talked with Jeff Darlington, Pete Abrams, John "Gneech" Robey and Bill Holbrook about what's happenin' in their comics. Met Craig Parker (Haldir), Sala Baker (Sauron, numerous stunt roles) and Bruce Hopkins (Gamling) from the LOTR films, as well as Ray Park (Darth Maul), who seemed quite amused when I told him about my "D MAUL" license plate.
-- I'm so weak. I was going to avoid all spoilers about the extended edition version of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, but I just couldn't resist the panel discussing it. As with most big presentations by TORN, the Centennial Ballroom was packed full. Lots of speculation and some spoilers, all of which only served to whet my appetite for this most delectable of all DVD sets.
-- "Warren Ellis on Warren Ellis"! Warren (known here on Livejournal as mistersleepless) described this on DPH as sounding like him performing sex acts on himself. It was the first time I'd been able to catch up with him at the con, and I was soon pissed that I'd missed earlier stuff. The man's a phenomenal mind and his wit's a damn scalpel. Spent a bit of time talking with wyldkyss and wicked_wish before the panel started (they're rabid fans of Warren's just like meself) and got Cherie to autograph her Four and Twenty Blackbirds for me (which, by the way, is an excellent book and you NEED to pick it up when Tor rereleases it next year in its new revised and expanded edition). Anyway, Warren spent the panel doing question-and-answer, keeping us up-to-date with what he's doing. His new novel sounds pretty fucking cool and you should also keep an eye out for that, although there's no title for it as yet.
-- Stayed put for the Bruce Hopkins panel. Bruce is a very personable and friendly guy in person and very active, spending most of the time running back in forth in front of the tables, juggling stuff, even showing off dance moves, all the while keeping up a nonstop flow of chatter and answers to questions about his role as Gamling in the LOTR films. I gained even more respect for him when I learned about his work to promote literacy in the ghetto areas of California. Seems like a really cool guy.
-- Off to meet Jacqueline Carey and have her sign my copy of Kushiel's Dart, unfortunately the only one of her books I've read so far. I would have stayed for the panel too, but they started discussing stuff from the books I hadn't read yet, so I fled before I heard too much and went to get some dinner.
-- Killed time wandering around the Hyatt, people-watching from the second-floor balcony, watching some of the Dawn contest, and finally ventured up to vernard's party in the Marriott (which kellinator had invited me to). Let me tell you, vernard is one seriously excellent fellow who positively EXUDES style and cool. I didn't want to leave the party because I was having fun hanging with the aforementioned vernard, kellinator, weaktwos, ariedana and (I think) reannon), but the Chick Corea Elektric Band was going to be starting soon, so escorted three of the ladies to the Buffy Prom at the Hyatt and then went to see the concert...
-- Chick Corea's Elektric Band was performing "To The Stars", apparently inspired by the L. Ron Hubbard story of the same name. I didn't care about the Hubbard reference, but I was SERIOUSLY fucking glad I had come to watch the show. Corea is a legend in the jazz world and it's easy to see why. Effortless and intricate playing from him and the rest of his band. The man surrounds himself with incredibly high-caliber musicians; tonight's lineup included Frank Gambale on guitar, Dave Weckl on drums, and Ricc Fierabracci on bass, plus a saxophonist whose name I didn't catch (Steve Wilson?) and of course Chick himself on piano, Rhodes and keyboards. Amazing, amazing stuff, well worth the time. Bonus: I got there just in time to see them start so I didn't miss anything.
-- Returned to vernard's party and spent the rest of the evening there or hanging out with kellinator. Side note: the info kiosks in downtown Atlanta are FUCKING USELESS because they're out of date. I offered to walk kellinator back to her hotel room at the Best Western. Problem is, I remembered it as being in its previous location from a year ago, and the kiosks confirmed that, so despite kellinator's belief that it was "this way", I overruled her and wasted a good half hour or so wandering around downtown Atlanta before she recognized where she had parked that morning and we finally found where the Best Western was.....in the opposite direction from where we'd started off. Gahhhh.

More to come.


Currently playing: Loreena McKennitt -- The Visit. Even if this wasn't a fucking great album overall (which it is), it'd be worth picking up just for Loreena's rendition of "The Lady of Shalott". Breathtaking.

Comments

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

I was looking on in amusement? I think I was just waking up. But then again, I am often perpetually amused.

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

Well, it sounded better than "kellinator with weaktwos in tow", which was what I initially wrote. That sounded like you were her pet, or something. "Fuck that," I thought, and reparsed the sentence. :)

cheers,
Phil

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

That works. :-) Next year, I'll be sure to work on a unique facial expression for you to describe. ;-)

[relevantpink.livejournal.com]

It was great to meet you too, Phil! And I'm glad we could talk zombies ever so briefly. ~_^ I am lame and didn't make it to your second show as I had hoped, but I'm definitely going to make it to at least one come hell or high water next year!

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

Spiffing! We get lots of applause every year from big audiences, but somehow all my friends seem to miss the performances. So don't fret -- you've got lots of company. :)

Wish I'd had the chance to talk to you a bit more. I'm going to have to do some actual organizing before next year's con if I want to actually MEET people.

cheers,
Phil