Jacque's Place

James Marsters Talks to Wizard World

2011-11-07T12:33:00.001-06:00

My visit to NY Bellevue ER May. 22, 2011

2011-06-07T17:08:00.003-05:00

I tripped and fell flat on my face on the street in NY Sat while at NYCC and dislocated my right shoulder. Missed the Cocktail Party and had my party at Bellevue ER for the next 12 hours. If you must get injured in NY (and please avoid a dislocated shoulder at all costs, never had such pain in my life) Bellevue is the place to go. They took very good care of me, besides the Doctors very good looking. Took 3 tries to put my arm back in place. Last time I had to be put under as just could not stand the pain anymore, although they did give me Morphine (which I dislike a lot). Was released at 6am Sun morning still in groggy condition and walked a block to get a cab to the Con center where some of the girls were staying.

Called Colleen, my roommate, who bless her heart was with me when I fell and went way out of her way to help me. Wanted to go to ER with me, but I saw no reason for her to miss the Cocktail Party too. I also told her to go back to the hotel in NJ as I didn’t know when I would get out of the ER and I would take a cab there if I had to.

As it was, since it was 6am, I went to the Hotel where the Con was and called her from there to bring me at least a change of underwear and jeans, my medicine and toothbrush and paste. Could not even think of trying to change my shirt. I went to the little shop and got a coffee, which I could not drink much of, but hoped it would perk me up a little. Then sat in the lobby and slept until Colleen arrived. She walked to McDonald’s and got me something to eat as I hadn’t had anything since noon Sat and got me a bottle of water and helped me change clothes and freshen up a little. I was going to attend the Seminar and go on the NY tour, no matter what. I paid for them and was by god going. Still very doped up.

Colleen took a picture of me with arm in sling, waiting to board Tour Bus.

Enjoyed the Seminar very much, although I almost zonked out a couple of times. Damned drugs sure take a long time to go away. We had originally planned to go by Subway to the Tour location but took a Cab instead. Only cost $10. The Tour was very good, well worth the money but I never left the van at the stops. Had extremely interesting conversations with the driver, Tony, while everyone else was gone. About politics, news coverage, our lives, gay rights (we are both very liberal), I think that was probably better than seeing sites off the bus.

I had several interesting, intelligent conversations with various people while in NY (most were with black or gay or both guys). Worth the trip just for those times. I had a very long, interesting conversation with Steve in the Lobby while waiting for James. He is just such a super guy, love him a lot. James was really up this weekend, so must have been like herding cats for Steve. I like James no matter what mood he is in and have never had a bad time at any event I have attended.

By this time I had taken off the sling as I just could not function without my right arm. Lots of pain but I was really careful about using it. Cab to Penn Station and Train to Newark Airport, Airtrain to Shuttle pick-up. 10pm by time we got back to Hotel. Shuttle driver offered to drop us off at a nearby Diner and pick us up later since Perkins next door was closed but we decided to order Pizza delivered to room.

Got to bed at 12am and had to get up at 4am to catch plane. Asked for wheelchair service at Airport and sure glad I did. Would not have made it otherwise.

Since this is mostly about me, me, me, I will write a report about the Con later when I am feeling better and post what few picture I have.

Sure wish I had a Recliner now, as it is very hard and painful to get in and out of bed.

TSgt. Richard J. Reilly, Jr., Vietnam, Stinger AC119

2011-01-13T11:15:00.045-06:00

Nakom Phanom, Thailand - An 18th SOS aircraft maintenance crew looks over 37mm antiaircraft damage to a Stinger gunship's wing as Flight Engineer, TSgt Richard Riley, lower left, looks on. The aircraft was hit during a mission in Laos and recoverd at it's home base at NKP, Thailand.
(Photo courtesy of CMSgt Bill Petrie, USAF, Ret.)

I swiped this picture from the AC-119 site. After all it is a picture of my husband, so I hope I don't get in trouble for it.

Some of the following pictures are by and of Everett Sprous. Thank you, Everett. He did not know or serve with my husband, but did honorably serve on the Stinger AC119.

Dick Reilly in the middle
The Polish Bandits

Dick Reilly standing far right

at work at work2

at work3

at work4 at work5

at work6 checking damage

Anonymous said...
The AC119K flew low and slow so hits by small arms and AAA shrapnel was common.

Tech. Sgt. Dick Reilly, Flight Engineer

unknown group unknown group2

at work Dick Reilly at work

Dick Reilly Flight Engineer

I don't know Stinger?
Dick Reilly inspecting his plane

In the doorway Inspecting damage

damage

more damage

Ben Hai River Ready & waiting

armed & ready

As you can see, I have no idea what most of these pictures are. I hope you guys will respond with the right information.

I have been waiting for them to be posted to the AC-119 web page, but since I have this site, I decided to post them myself.

Jacque

James and Friends on the Queen Mary 2006

2011-01-12T11:21:00.025-06:00

As you can see, I think I have finally learned how to post on my Blog. It is pretty willy-nilly, but as I am probably the only one who looks at it, that's O.K.

Ah! James. The reason that I'm going. I was on board before the other guests were announced.

Well my employer finally got some money in and paid me. And I am blowing most of it on this trip. I am so excited!!

I am flying to LAX on Friday the 8th. I have a car and driver from Epic Limo picking me up and driving me to The Queen Mary Hotel. They will also drive me back to LAX on Monday the 11th. It is pricey but worth it.

I have booked my room at the Queen Mary for the 8th, 9th, and 10th. I found out that I would have money too late to get a Premium ticket - they sold out in an hour, so I won’t be going to the big Friday night formal dinner. They only offered 100 of those.

I will also have the chance to meet some of the other crazy people - James Marsters’ fans - that also belong to web fan groups.

This is the Queen Mary Hotel. What a great place to hold this event.

JAMES MARSTERS AND FRIENDS

James is putting on his tux for a once in a lifetime
event aboard the beautiful and historic Queen Mary
cruise ship.

This will be James' only convention appearance of
2006. James Marsters And Friends promises to be a
weekend to remember on one of the most romantic cruise
ships in the world.

Actors, writers and other production staff from a
range of James' previous television and film outings
will be offering a weekend of non-stop Q&A fun,
screenings, photograph opportunities, autograph
sessions, special prizes and lots of surprises. James
will also be performing live in concert including new
songs.

Presented by Himber Entertainment and JMLive.

DATES, TIMES, AND VENUE

Dates: Friday, September 8, 2006 - Sunday, September
10, 2006

Venue: Queen Mary, Long Beach, California, USA

Registration: Friday and Saturday, times to be
announced.

Event times: Times to be announced.

TICKET DETAILS

There are two types of tickets for James Marsters and
Friends - Premium and Gold.

EVENT DETAILS

There will an information desk available throughout
the event to assist with any queries.

All attendees will be given a wristband, marked with
their ticket number,that must be worn at all times. I
have Gold #194.

Seating will be by row. Your row allocation will be on
your wristband. Seats within the row will not be
assigned. You may choose your own seating within
your row for the weekend.

Photographs and signings will be called by row.

Assisted access: The Queen Mary assures us that their
venue is fully accessible for wheelchairs. However, if
you have any disability which requires support or
special seating (e.g. wheelchair, crutches) please
notify us in advance by email so that we can provide
appropriate support and seating. The Queen Mary only
has four wheelchair accessible bedrooms, which can be
let on a first come, first served basis.

SCHEDULE DETAILS

Himber Entertainment and JMLive reserve the right to
alter the event schedule at any time.

Full weekend schedules will be available in the
registration pack.

FRIDAY - 8 September 2006

PREMIUM TICKET HOLDERS

Formal drinks and dinner party with James for Premium
ticket holders. You will also have a chance to
pre-register and purchase tickets for the limited
optional guest autographs and photographs.

A chance to dress up in your finest for a private
drinks party. James will mingle with the guests and
you will have the chance to take photos for yourself.
Complimentary wine and soft drinks will be on offer on
entry.
Further drinks, including cocktails and spirits, will
be at own expense. You will need photographic proof of
age in order to obtain alcoholic drinks.
(The legal age in California is 21 and over).

Adjourn to the beautiful Royal Salon, once the
First-Class Smoking lounge, for a seated dinner with a
range of menu choices. James will be moving from table
to table during the dinner to talk to everyone.

Dinner will be followed by an exclusive acoustic
concert for Premium ticket holders by James in the
Royal Salon. After James leaves you will have the
chance to stay on, enjoy a late night drink and chat
with your friends.

GOLD TICKET HOLDERS
I have the Gold ticket, the premium sold out within
and hour.

You will be able to register for the event and buy
early tickets for the limited optional guest
autographs and photographs. There are plenty of
restaurants and bars on the Queen Mary for you to meet
up with your friends and enjoy the evening.

You can also try the entertainment on the Queen Mary
[not included in ticket price]
Comedy Club - Friday and Saturday nights
Dinner Cabaret - Friday night

SATURDAY - 9 September 2006

ALL TICKET HOLDERS

Registration and ticket sales for photographs and
autographs. Time to be announced.

Throughout the day there will ongoing autograph
signings, photograph opportunities, talks, screenings,
Q&A sessions and much more with a range of guests.

In the evening there will be a dinner in the Exhibit
Hall, included in the ticket price. Seating is
non-assigned. The menu choices will be announced
nearer the date.

Dinner will be followed by a concert by James,
featuring new and old songs.
Events will continue, with cash bar, into the late
evening. Star guests will be invited to attend the
fun, at their discretion.

SUNDAY - 10 September 2006

ALL TICKET HOLDERS

A further day of screenings, Q&A sessions,
photographs, autographs and surprises, ending with a
closing ceremony in the evening around 5.30pm.

GENERAL EVENT RULES

1. Absolutely no recording devices of any kind are
allowed throughout the weekend. The organizers reserve
the right to remove any person found using such a
device. Anyone asked to leave will not be entitled to
any refund of any kind. Mobile phones do not count as
a recording device.

2. James and convention guests reserve the right to
refuse to sign any materials that they may find
offensive (ie undergarments, nude or semi-nude
photographs etc).

3. Please do not ask guests for a hug or a kiss.

4. The organizers reserve the right to videotape
and photograph portions of the convention. All guests
waive any right in the use of their image in such
photographs or videotape footage.

5. Organizers reserve the right to bar any ticket
holder from attending the event if they display any
inappropriate behavior or conduct (i.e. public
intoxication, harassment of other ticket holders etc).
Anybody asked to leave will not be entitled to a
refund of any kind.

6. No one under the age of 18 years of age may
attend the event without the presence of a parent or
legal guardian.

7. All personal property is the sole responsibility
of the ticket holder. Any lost of stolen property
should be reported immediately. Himber Entertainment
and JM Live are in no way responsible for any lost or
stolen property.

8. All merchandise sales are final. There are no
refunds.

9. You must display your event wristband at all
times. Anyone without a wristband will not be allowed
access to any of the event areas. Wristbands are not
transferable.

10. Possession of alcoholic beverages by anyone
under the age of 21 is strictly forbidden and is
grounds for expulsion from the event without a refund.
Please carry some form of ID with you.

James Marsters
Actor, songwriter and musician. James joined TV series
Buffy The Vampire Slayer with Juliet Landau as British
vampires Spike and Drusilla. It was supposed to be a
short-lived role, but the character was so popular
that Spike became a regular on the program and went on
to appear in spin-off series Angel.

Tony Todd
Charismatic movie star Tony Todd terrified the life
out of cinema audiences all over the world as the
hook-handed killer in the classic Candyman horror
films.

Kevin Sorbo
The success of fantasy adventure series Hercules: The
Legendary Journeys brought Kevin Sorbo international
fame. He has gone on to star as Captain Dylan Hunt in
the science-fiction action series Gene Roddenberry's
Andromeda. James worked alongside Kevin in the TV
series playing his love rival Charlemagne Bolivar.

Jane Espenson
Top TV writer Jane Espenson worked on Buffy The
Vampire Slayer for five years and eventually became
co-executive producer. She wrote or co-wrote more than
20 episodes including favorites like "Band Candy",
"Earshot", "Superstar", "A New Man", "The
Replacement", "I Was Made To Love You", "Storyteller"
and "Harsh Light Of Day."

Post-Buffy, Jane has written for Gilmore Girls, Tru
Calling starring Buffy actress Eliza Dushku and Tim
Minear's The Inside. She is currently co-executive
producer of the comedy Jake In Progress on ABC.

Steve DeKnight
Steve DeKnight is a man who knows a lot of the secrets
behind the filming of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel
and Smallville. He's also responsible for writing some
of Spike's sexiest and silliest moments on television.

Michael Winnick
Award-winning writer and director Michael Winnick will
be making his convention debut at James Marsters &
Friends and will be talking about the making of
Shadow Puppets, revealing some behind-the-scenes
secrets of the eagerly-awaited movie and telling how
he came to write the thriller which stars James
Marsters, Tony Todd and Jolene Blalock.

Dee Dee Bradley
Leading casting director Dee Dee Bradley has worked on
many TV shows and movies including both Smallville and
Veronica Mars.

THE QUEEN MARY

The Queen Mary is one of the most famous cruise liners
in the world and is virtually unchanged from the days
when the rich and famous sailed in her across the
Atlantic. Many of the rooms contain original wooden
paneling and Art
Deco styling.

She was the first in the new generation of luxury
super-liners and set sail on her maiden voyage in
1936. The liner also saw service during World War II
and is now one of California's most famous landmarks
at her home at Long Beach. For details go to the Queen
Mary site.

The Queen Mary offers guests the following services:

- 24-hour front desk
- Room service
- Spa and fitness center
- Many on board restaurants and bars
- Non-smoking rooms
- Universal ATMs
- Entertainment
- Safe deposit box at front desk
- Business center
- On-site car rental company
- Laundry and valet service
- Gift shops

FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS

There are a number of restaurants, bars and snack
areas aboard the Queen Mary. Food will also be
available throughout the weekend in the Exhibit Hall
for those who don't want to miss a single minute of
the event. All tickets include dinner on Saturday
night and for Premium ticket holders a reception and
dinner on Friday night.

HOTEL QUEEN MARY
Guests of the Hotel Queen Mary are entitled to receive
a complimentary Self-Guided Shipwalk Tour. All rates
subject to change without notice. Rates include
admission to the Queen Mary Attraction.

AMENITIES

* Historic Shipwalk Tours
* On Board Shopping and Dining
* On Board Art Gallery
* Historic Charm and Art Deco Ambiance
* Business Center
* On Board Spa
* Room Service
* Ballrooms and Meeting Rooms
* Car Rental Service
* Fitness Room

The Queen Mary Exhibit Hall is a vast space comprising
five decks that once contained the #5 Boiler Room, the
Forward Engine Room, the ship's Hospital and the
Pantry for the Main Galley.

Today, the Exhibit Hall comprises three levels that can be used en suite or individually. The upper most level on D Deck is 13,000 square feet and can accommodate 400 guests. The middle level on E Deck is 12,000 square feet and can accommodate 380 guests. The lower level on F Deck can accommodate 600 guests and spans 14,000 square feet.

Exhibition Hall on the Queen Mary

Quoted from Patti's Report, because she says what I would say if I had the ability.

"The Queen Mary is an amazing venue! Whomever thought of it deserves a medal! You can feel the history of the ship all around you, and not just because it’s a museum. It’s almost like being there in its heyday, especially staying on the ship. It’s huge, and intimate all at once. I wandered all over the ship late at night after all the events were over for the day, and felt transported in time. You’re surrounded by the rich woods and slightly faded carpets of the original ship and the sounds and smells of the ocean. The posh stateroom we stayed in had all the original fittings working porthole windows, a full vanity area, cabinetry that was made to stay shut during sea voyages, a gold oscillating fan with the statement original air cooling system inoperable (LOL), and the most fun to me, a tub with taps for hot and cold fresh water AND hot and cold salt water! (and can I say eew to the thought of bathing in cold salt water? It has since been fitted for the comfort of modern folk as well, with A/C and a shower--thank goodness! Though I had toured the ship many years ago, I had forgotten mostly, and it was fun to wander around and see pictures of historic figures posing around the ship and learn again of its history, to feel a part of it. The ship is haunted I’ve heard some attendees had encounters-- and though we didn’t get a chance to take the ghost tour, every time we got on the elevator, it would stop at the 2nd floor, even if no one requested it!"

I am on the deck of the Queen Mary on Friday after Dawn and I finially got checked into our room. We got registered for the event. I got a set of Spike trading cards as my free gift. The we went exploring all over the ship. We went to the Pominade Cafe for dinner, and then her friends roped us into the Paranormal Tour. I think I'll find someone's report about the Paranormal tour, which will be so much better than mine and post it here.

This is DawnCC, my roommate on the QM. She came all the way from England. She made my weekend much more fun, and I met her great Brit friends. She came in to LA on Thur. to sight see. These are her pictures, that I loaded on my laptop. Here she is at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Here I am on Fri night, running around with the Brit's. We went on the Paranormal Tour while the lucky Premium Ticket holders spent the evening with James. That tour about killed me. Dawn and I had walked all over the ship that afternoon. The tour takes three hours and is up and down many, many stairs, and hallways into the bowles of the ship. I'm surprised my old legs held up.

Dawn's back on the far right, with tour group.

Dawn with her friends, drinking her champaigne and mine as I can't drink - knocks me right out. This tour cost $50, I sure didn't want that glass of champaigne going to waste.

Another picture of the haunted swimming pool area.

Here we are at the old swimming pool. It is supposed to be one of the most haunted places on the Queen Mary. If you look close, you can see me at the bottom far left. Everyone got quite spooked, when we went into the changing rooms without any lights.

Another tour pool area picture.
The Cargo hold area that is supposed to be very haunted. Later we learned that this area is off of the Exhibit Hall, which is also part of the cargo area of the ship. While we took hallways and many, many stairs to get here, the Exhibit Hall is reached by going outside and entering at the lower side of the ship.

Our Paranormal guide sitting on the rail. This area is just off the Exhibit Hall.

I really don't know where on the ship this is.

Monday 09/11/2006 Here we are having Starbuck's coffee on the deck of the Queen Mary. The convention finished up Sunday night and everyone is heading home. Molli and I will leave for LAX at 2:00 P

I will state again that most of the reports and pictures are not mine. I wish I could take pictures
this good. I will try to give credit where credit is due in future. I have no clue where these pictures came from.

Saturday concert.

James at Q&A on the Queen Mary.
Tony Todd and Michael Winnick
Tony Todd and James
James in tux - opening ceremony

Jane Espenson - writer, show runner. One of the guests at the event.

James and Kevin Sorbo.

Happy James just before Saturday night concert on the Queen Mary

Commentary. The audio/video system stopped for no reason that anyone could figure out then came back on. Must have been the Queen Mary ghosts.

DeNight and Efferson Q & A. Very interesting.

The Queen Mary in all her beauty.

Mercedes, her little dog and James doing a commentary.

Mercedes, James and little doggy again.
This may have been taken by Ravenu. Wonderful picture of James
James cuddling a heart pillow to be awarded as a price.
James and Steve doing a charity auction after the play.
Me trying to get out of the limo. Miss Graceful.
Professional tux shot of James
Sat. night concert. Lovely

Kevin Sorbo got up and gave me a hug when I told him that I was sure that I was the oldest person there at 70.

Kevin Sorbo Hercules and Andromada

Mercedes McNab. She was really sweet. A little shy when you meet her in person.

The back of the Famous Guitars T-shirt I gave James. I gave him this when I got my autograph. I gave him an autographed T-Shirt from our local Rock station KSHE95 (kind of ugly). And then I handed him this one and told him that this was a shirt that he might actually wear. He was so delighted to get it. He turned away to look at it and said "Oh, Bo Diddily" and then he looked back at me and said "Sorry". I said, "That's alright, I gave it to you to enjoy."

Another view of the Queen Mary.

Mercedes McNab and James
James doing commentary
James doing autographs
James jugging heart pillow before giving as prize

Quoted from LateStarter report

"Like everyone says, he was looking great and in fantastic shape. The CDS knickers that Molli prepared for the archive were clearly not his – you could fit two of James in them and still have room for Tony Todd.

And on the subject of the knickers and no joking here – Steve Himber was an absolute star the whole convention Always friendly and helpful, he bore with the horde of rampaging CDS’ers with the greatest good humour. And spent a really long time posing for our knickers shot without even a hint that he had a lot else to do."

This is on Sun. out side the Exhibition Hall, which is in the old cargo hold of the Queen Mary. A huge three story space. In the movie Shadow Puppets, the actors are in their underwear. James is in boxer shorts, not near as large as the one in this picture. The Cold Dead Seed group roped Steve Himber - James's manager - into holding them in our group picture. Molli got James to autograph them. He signed it right at the front flap, and we signed our posting names on the back. I'm 3rd from the left and Molli is 2nd from the right.

Well, here I am with the wonderful James Marsters, in all my finery. This took place Sat. morning. The pictures were finished in time for me to get it autographed on Sun.

I'll report what I can remember, because of James-fog and the fact that I have extremely bad memory anyway. don't expect too much.

James greeted me, and I said that I thought that I was the oldest person at the con at 70 years old. He stepped back and said "You look fantastic!" Well, what a sweetheart. He asked "How do you do it?" and I answered "Genetics", because I was so flabergasted and surprised at his response, and the photographer said something in agreement. Well, gee, maybe I don't look as old as I thought.

After the photographer took his two shots and I turned to leave, James said "You must get lots of sleep." and I answered "No, I don't sleep much." He said "Really". sort of surprised. But I really don't sleep much, six hours is a full night for me, and I don't nap.

I was so lucky to be healthy and energetic the entire trip.

Here is my roommate Dawn at the bathroom door in our room. The room was very nice. Original 1920-30s stateroom.

Here is Molli in the Limo that took us to LAX on Mon. afternoon. I expected the sedan that I had booked to pick me up, but a stretch limo came instead. The driver said that they ran out of small cars. Well, O.K. by me. Molli had asked me to hang out with her at the airport as she was leaving at 7pm and I was scheduled to leave at 5pm, so I suggested that she ride with me, because I already had a car and driver booked.

A get together for breadfast at the Pomenade Cafe
After their performance of "Teechers. So good to see James so joyful.
One of the decks of the Queen Mary. Lovely view and many shops to explore.
Another group shot. A get together for breakfast that I missed out on.

A Message I Sent James Marsters

2011-01-09T12:07:00.002-06:00

James,

Thank you for creating an atmosphere where your fans come together and make friends that support each other in ways beyond being your fans.

When you announced the Queen Mary event, I told my daughter that I wanted to go, and I am so glad I did. (Of course her response was “By yourself?!”) I got to travel to and see a place where I had never been before and meet lovely, smart and funny people.

So after that I went to as many events as I could afford – one or two a year – and have had a wonderful time at every one.

I have made friends that have supported me through hard times and we keep in touch other than your fan sites.

I have always found you to be real and generous to your fans and have always been pleased with the few minutes time spent talking to you. I know that there is no way that you can remember names and conversations, I know that I couldn’t, but that does not matter as everyone gets your full attention for that few minutes.

There have been times the ‘real life issues’ have been apparent in your attitude at these events, but to me that is a plus not a minus. I want to see as much real James as you want to show us, not robot James.

Your marvelous talent caused me to become your fan and the person you are (or the person you allow us to see) has caused me to remain a fan. I am in my seventies and you are the first person that I have ever been a ‘fan girl’ over. It has given me so much fun in my old age so thanks for that.

It makes me happy to see that your life is coming together for you, because a happy, joyful, smiling James is wonderful to see. May you have many, many years of happiness and work that you love.

Your ‘Old Lady’ fan,

My thoughts on being a James Marsters' fan

2010-12-05T14:30:00.001-06:00

You know we are fans of James because we choose to be. He does not owe us anything in return. We do it because we get something out of it, or we wouldn't do it. If he has issues or not, if he is an ass or a sweetheart, we really don't know. We don't know him. Bits and pieces of what he may have said and things pulled out of thin air do not and will not really show us who he is and how he really feels about anything. If he does not measure up to what we expect of him, that is not his problem, it is ours. It is up to us to decide if we still wish to be his fan or not. His life is his to live as he chooses. If he makes mistakes (perhaps in our opinion only) that is his problem to deal with, not ours. Our opinion does not count. I take James at face value. I do not have the time nor the ability to figure out what he is not showing us, nor is it any of my business. None of us are perfect and I for one know I would be really pissed if people were trying to tell me how to live my life. We all would be a lot happier if we just enjoyed what we get instead of bitching because things did not match up to our high expectations. Just my 2 cents.
.

Valentine's Day with James Marsters Feb. 2010

2010-12-05T09:11:00.021-06:00

Valentine’s Day Event in New Jersey February, 2010

Last February I went to New Jersey for a James Marsters’ Valentine’s Day Event. I arrived late Friday the 13th and left early on Sunday the 15th, so it really was a quick trip.

The South Orange Performance Center in New Jersey. A really nice venue close to lots of restaurants. A little far from the hotel and hard to find, but worth it when we got there.

Me at the hotel bar with my roommate and friends/fans. My plushy Spike joined in the fun.

It included a photo with James, a personalized autograph, a Question and Answer session and James explained and acted 30 of Shakespeare’s Sonnets and did a concert. Besides being a very talented actor, he is also a singer-song writer.

Steve trying to control the mob.

Waiting for our lovely man.

Me at the autograph table. I was almost late for our dinner reservation at the Mexican Restaurant, but thankfully the others waited for me.

My photo with James. A nice hug and he did look yummy in a suit.

James was bouncy and very happy. Excited about doing Shakespeare. I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful that was. He was actor, teacher and Shakespeare fan all rolled into one. A happy, excited James is a force of nature and so wonderful to see.

It was lots of fun to meet up with my online friends. We had a break between the afternoon events and the evening concert. So a group of us went to a nearby Mexican Restaurant and had dinner. The concert was open to the public so the room was full. James was in fine voice, so the concert was lovely.

At the Mexican Restaurant (whose name I can't remember). Really good food and not expensive. We were a roudy bunch but the staff took good care of us.

It is so nice to meet in person other fans and gossip and learn about their lives. James does have male fans also but I only know in person a couple of them. I now have friends in England, Germany, France, Russia, Australia, Italy, Canada, a lot of other countries that I can’t remember and all over the US.

Fangoria 2009 Report

2009-06-25T15:29:00.037-05:00

Jacque’s Fangoria Report
June 5-7, 2009

The Super Shuttle took longer to get me from LaGuardia to the GEM Midtown West than it took the flight from St. Louis to LaGuardia. The van was full and I got to have some interesting conversations and see sights out the windows, so all was good. It was raining and cool, so glad I brought my little jacket. I arrived at the hotel shortly before 3 pm and as Rosie had not arrived as yet had to leave a $50 deposit for incidentals to get into our room. Our room was nice, small but very clean and attractively decorated.

Two regular beds

Small desk and TV

Small wardrobe with complimentary robes.

Small but very clean bathroom

I decided to walk to some close by restaurants and grab a bite to eat, but when I got to the lobby there was Rosie checking in. Got my $50 back and we went up to the room. We called Kelly, Charity (marstersgirl78) and Amy Sue. Only got hold of Amy Sue and she and her mom and Kelly and Tyra (I think) were at the Russian Tea Room having lunch. Well Rosie and I wanted to go to the Russian Tea Room, gave Amy Sue a hard time about not waiting for us. Anyway, Rosie and I decided to just go ourselves and got the clerk to get us a cab, not knowing how to go out and wave one down for ourselves.

The Russian Tea Room is beautiful – very expensive – but well worth it. We arrived after lunch and before dinner so only High Tea was available, $50 each plus tax and tip. Tea, of course, with sugar and little sweet cherries available to sweeten if wanted. I like mine black, but did eat the little cherries, delicious. A variety of tiny tea sandwiches was the first course.

Curried chicken salad with raisins and pecans;
Shrimp salad with rémoulade;
Smoked Scottish salmon with chive cream cheese and cucumber;
Artichoke with red pepper and a sun-dried tomato goat cheese;
Smoked ham and turkey with truffle croque monsieur;
N.Y smoked sturgeon with dill and sour cream;
Roquefort bleu cheese and pear with walnuts;
A tasting of two American caviars on Blinis

Every one very good. Second and last course was assorted seasonal scones,cupcakes and petits fours with butter and assorted jams. It did not seem to be very much food, but I was so full that I could not finish everything.

Our tiny delicious dessert

Some of the beautiful restaurant

Rosie and I with our tea

The Russian Tea Room Postcard

It was still raining and cold and the doorman could not get us a cab. Every cab seemed to be off duty, even the buses said Out Of Service. The doorman finally flagged down a Town Car for us. We needed to go back to the hotel so Rosie could pick up her convention bag and then go to Javits to register. The driver gave a flat fee of $50 that included tip. Not too bad.

We got to the Javits only to find out that we could not register until the day of as we had day tickets, so Rosie bought some more photo ops and I bought another autograph ticket. We walked back to the hotel as it was only a block away and had stopped raining by then.

I recorded “High Plains Invaders” from On Demand and had made several DVDs. Since neither Rosie or I were going to the Cocktail Party, we went to our room and watched the movie on Rosie’s laptop.

I think it is a really good movie and bonus, lots of James. Rosie liked it very much too. I had brought several disks with me and gave them during the weekend to Rosie, Amy Sue, Kelly and Charity, on their promise to buy the DVD when it came out.

Saturday morning we woke very early, having not slept very well. We walked around the corner to McDonald’s and had breakfast and then headed back to the hotel to take care of our breakfast teeth and wait until time to head to Javits. The internet said that registration was to begin at 9am, but when we got there the ticket stands were not open and there was already a long line waiting.

Me in line

Rosie in line (or cue as she would say)

Funny story about Kelly. It turns out that she knows and lives in the same area as my former daughter-in-law. Talk about a small world. She had seen my son at hockey but had not met him.

Amy Sue and her mom, who’s name I have forgotten.

Rosie and Kelly.

Rosie, me and Kelly

In any case when the ticket stand finally opened it moved along very quickly. I decided to buy another photo op. I needed more than one hug from our boy. Don’t we all. We joined the already long line for photos and had fun gabbing with each other. James finally came in and as he was passing our line someone, I think Kelly told him he needed to change his shirt and he said “No, I don’t” and she said “Yes, you do.” Then he said “No, I don’t because I’m famous”. At least that is what I heard. I had a good laugh at that.

Rosie was in front of me when we got up to the front of the line. I saw Amy Sue and her mom doing the scolding James photo that I wanted to do, so I didn’t know whether I should go ahead and do it or not but decided to anyway. Rosie was up before me and had some really good poses in mind. After James did the pleading one he got up and said that that was hard for him. “You don’t know what is going on in my personal life.” I was so sorry to hear that and thought that James needed some affection and was sure we were all going to do that.

My turn – hug and then I told James that Amy Sue and her mom had stolen my idea. He said that years ago he had been told that if an idea is good steal it. So I said that I wanted the scolding pose. After it was taken he said “I can’t stay penitent for long.” I said “hug” meaning that I wanted my next photo to be a hug, but he misunderstood and gave me a big hug, which was fine with me I must say. Chris came up to ask what pose was next and I said that I wanted a huggy pose. That done I said “I love you” and left.

Me scolding James.

My hug picture. God he gives such good hugs.

The picture that Amy Sue and her mom did of her mom scolding James is a lot better than mine though.

There still was a long line waiting for photos so I looked for Rosie, Kelly, Amy Sue or anyone else I knew to hang with until time to line up for autographs. Everyone had disappeared, so I finally wandered over to the food court. I found some fans whose names I don’t know, since I’m not good with names or faces for that matter. It is not a senior thing, I have always been that way. I don’t know if that is a memory problem or not paying enough attention to others problem.

Had a good time gabbing and finally caught up with Rosie again.

We headed to the autograph line and were able to take pictures of James signing, which was neat.

While in line one of the helpers, whose name I should know but don’t came by with the neat photo below for sale. I bought two, one for me and one for my internet friend Melanie. Really cheap, five bucks each. I got mine signed on my second trip through the line.

I'm in the green blouse waiting in line for an autograph. This being the first time that I have tried to put a video in a report, I managed to download it twice, so it is also at the end. I don't know how to remove a photo or video once I have downloaded it.

When I got up to the table they were selling James’ buttons, a mirror with James’ picture on the back and a James’ Dog Tab for $10, so of course I bought the set. I saw that James was personalizing so instead of the coat picture of him I was going to get signed I pulled out the huggy picture from Valencon.

When I got to James I asked him how he was, if he was OK. He said that his kids were OK, so he was OK. I had printed out the lyrics to “One Love” by Bob Marley and said that I had noticed that he had been signing “One Love” on a lot on personalized autographs and was it from Bob Marley. He got very enthusiastic and said yes and proceeded tell me the meaning of the lyrics. Everyone would get together and fight a revolution and when they were done everyone would love one another and the world would be full of love. At least I think that is what he said. When I told my daughter she said that that is what the lyrics meant too. James was so passionate about it. I think he is a radical and I do love him for that.

Bob Marley - One Love Lyrics

One Love!
One Heart!
Let's get together and feel all right.
Hear the children cryin'
(One Love!);
Hear the children cryin'
(One Heart!),
Sayin': give thanks and praise
to the Lord and I will feel all right;
Sayin': let's get together
and feel all right.
Wo wo-wo wo-wo!

Let them all pass all their dirty
remarks (One Love!);
There is one question
I'd really love to ask (One Heart!):
Is there a place for the hopeless sinner,
Who has hurt all mankind just
to save his own beliefs?

One Love! What about the one heart?
One Heart!
What about?
Let's get together and feel all right
As it was in the beginning
(One Love!);
So shall it be in the end
(One Heart!),
All right!
Give thanks and praise to the Lord
and I will feel all right;
Let's get together
and feel all right.
One more thing!

Let's get together to fight
this Holy Armagiddyon (One Love!),
So when the Man comes there will be no,
no doom (One Song!).
Have pity on those whose
chances grows t'inner;
There ain't no hiding place
from the Father of Creation.

Sayin': One Love!
What about the One Heart?
(One Heart!)
What about the?
Let's get together and feel all right.
I'm pleadin' to mankind!
(One Love!);
Oh, Lord!
(One Heart)
Wo-ooh!

Give thanks and praise to the Lord
and I will feel all right;
Let's get together and feel all right.
Give thanks and praise to the Lord
and I will feel all right;
Let's get together and feel all right.

I told him at that point that the man that had killed my son was to go to trial in July and that I hoped he would serve a long prison sentence. He signed my picture and I said, “Thank you, dear.” and left to go back to the end of the line for my second autograph.

When I got to the table I told Steve that I didn’t need a personalized autograph. I got to James and said, “I have a rude question because I have a rude mind.” Then I explained how I noticed on the flight that the bathrooms were very small and wondered how it was possible for two people to join the Mile High Club in there unless they were really thin. And he said no they didn’t need to be thin. And I asked him to tell how. So James and I were really close face to face and he said that the girl needed to face the toilet and the guy was behind and that it helped if the girl put one foot up on the toilet. I was really, really interested in what he was telling me, but I could hear someone going lalalala and it was Steve who I saw out of the corner of my eyes with his hands over his ears.

I did not know that GraySunrise was next to me. When I posted about this incident on Cold Dead Seed she added this information.

“GraySunrise wrote:
Oh, my goodness...So that is what you two were talking about? I was right next after you, cooljacque, and so I was standing in front of Steve when suddenly he turned to give James a disbelieving look and then plugged his ears and started "lalalala" so as not to hear...I pretended to spot some flamingos flying overhead...I was clueless as to what was being discussed.”

Every time I think of this, I have to laugh. You would think Steve would know James well by now. And after all I did ask.

James and I continued our interesting little conversation. I told him that I was young in the late 50s and 60s and never had an opportunity to join the Mile High Club. He said that he only had one girl that would do that (and we all know who that was) and that it is was 70,000 feet over Afghanistan. I was so interested in that conversation that I forgot to tell him how much I had liked “High Plains Invaders”.

I took my signed picture and thanked him and left.

The Q&A would not take place until 5:30pm so I went to the Food Court to have something to eat and wait around until time. I got a grilled chicken sandwich and drink for $6.50. It was pretty cheap but not very good. I thought that I took some pictures of the fans I was sitting with and the Food Court area but I’m darned if I can find them, so I guess not.

While I was there talking with other fans this young woman started telling me some of her problems with her grandmother. It was not till later in the day that I realized that she had a serious drinking problem – lots of little bottles of alcohol in her big purse. I thought she was somewhat of a free spirit. We hung around together for quite a while, and she told me some interesting stories that may or may not be true. She gave me her Head Shot and Resume. I really did like her but wish she did not have a drinking problem, as she has such high hopes and dreams and I fear they will never come true if she does not quit drinking. I felt badly for her when she went up to the mic at the Q&A and rambled on. Everyone including James could tell that something was wrong with her. Oh, and also she was the girl who got up and sang “Summer Loving” with Steve at The Rift. She is a beautiful girl. It is just a shame.

I finally hooked up with Rosie and Kelly. We went in to check out our seats for the Q&A and concert. Rosie and I were clear over to the left facing the stage and Kelly was clear over on the right facing the stage. We did not know of anyone who had seats center stage. Turned out later to be a real problem for the concert and another ticket screw-up by Creation. You would think that as many cons as they run that they could get a handle on the basic ticket concept. It is really not that hard. In any case when the Q&A started we moved over to empty seats to be closer to James.

The questions asked were interesting and not the standard for a change and that gave James a chance to give thoughtful, interesting answers. At one point he said that he was screwing up his relationship. He had indicated with things he said throughout the day that their were some problems with his girlfriend. Now why he thought that he was the soul cause of those problems is beyond me. I guess the thought that she might be contributing to the problems is something he does not want to attribute to the perfect woman that he loves.

He said that when his kids are educated he would like to return to Chicago and real theatre. A New York guy took exception to that. But James explained that New York theatre is for profit while Chicago is for art and that makes it better. I got the feeling that he was hungering to get back on stage, and that the LA scene was starting to wear him down. The new song he wrote and some things he said this weekend it seemed to me that he was pulling himself up each day to take care of his kids. That is the most important thing for him now. I also think that interaction with his fans is important to him. The feeling of love in the room.

He was sweet, funny, interesting, patient and lovely, lovely.

After the Q&A, there was nearly an hour to wait for the concert. My water bottle being empty I asked a door attendant where the water fountains were as I hadn’t seen one anywhere. He told me that they were by the men’s room. Well since I had only gone to the lady’s room of course I hadn’t seen the water fountains, so headed there to find it. In that hall the lady’s room was on the far right and the men’s room was on the far left and quite a way beyond that was a drinking fountain. No wonder I couldn’t find it. Anyway with my water problem solved I headed to the Food Court and hooked up with other fans. I got some French Fries which were really good as did Rosie. The sandwich I had had earlier was still sitting heavy on my stomach, but the French Fries hit the spot. When it got close to time for the concert we headed over there.

We were all complaining about the ticket situation as it seemed that the center stage seat were going to be general admission while we were all stuck on the far right or far left. Creation finally decided to do something about it, which was sort of every man/women for themselves. In any case, I, Rosie and Kelly did get front row center. I believe that $50 ticket holders did manage to get good seats. No thanks to Creation. Believe me I let them know that I didn’t think their was much excuse for the screw-up.

James came out and had duct tape as a guitar strap as he had forgotten his. He has said before that he never leaves the house without forgetting something. He needs to make a list or have a personal assistant. At the Queen Mary event he forgot his tux which was one of the main parts of Fri. evening and the photo ops. Someone had to drive back to his house to bring it to him. He is such a guy.

In any case he sang the first song. A new one about getting up everyday and doing the best you can day in and day out. How true that is for all of us. At that point he looked out and said that we were too far away and to pull our chairs close to the stage, which we did. The chairs were hooked together so that was pretty much chaos. But as you can see in the picture we were close. And I thought, that will teach Creation as they will have to straighten out that mess before the next day’s events.

James started his next song and the speaker started making a god awful noise, so he stopped and the sound man came out to try and fix the problem. They unplugged James’ guitar but no help there. James came to the edge of the stage and continued without a mic and I thought that was just lovely. The sound man came out with another mic so James tried to use the mic again but the speaker still acted up so he went over and unplugged the speaker. I almost expected him to kick it off the stage. I wanted to by that time. He finished the concert completely bare, with no mic to hide behind and I think it was the best concert I’ve ever heard from him. It was not as long as he had planned because it had to end by a certain time as the place was closing.

Some people thought that he went back stage and ranted at the sound man, but one of James’ helpers said that it was Adam that was yelling back stage. I am sure that James was upset and disappointed that did not give the concert that he wanted to, but we were all very happy with his performance and did not feel cheated in anyway.

This is the email that I sent Steve Himber:
It was a truly wonderful and extraordinary experience. There is a saying "Music is what feelings sound like". Saturday's concert was an exceptional example of that. (I must confess that I stole the first sentence from someone, but I can’t remember who. It expresses so much better than I could what I wanted to say. The rest is all mine though.) I have been to many of James' concerts and while they are all wonderful, they tend to be interchangeable in memory. This concert will always be remembered for how true and full of feelings James' voice was. He was so brave with nothing to hide behind and handled a series of unfortunate events with class and grace. He rose to the occasion and gave us a beautiful experience that I for one will remember always. I would like to hear him - just his voice and guitar - again. It was just lovely. Much thanks James.

Jacqueline Reilly

After the concert a bunch of us headed to “Burgers & Cupcakes” which was only a few blocks away to get something to eat. That place was picked for the interesting name, and the food turned out to be darn good and not over priced. We got there just before they were getting ready to close the kitchen, so hurried to place our orders. The place was small and had round tables which we pulled close to each other. There must have been at least 20 of us and we really took over the place. The server took all our orders and made separate checks and the food was served really quick. I had a crispy chicken burger which was really, really good. I didn’t have enough appetite for a whole cupcake so I stole a bite of Kelly’s. The guy that served us must have made at least $60 in tips. A good night for him, even though we were noisy and rowdy and they probably thought we were a bunch of nuts.

A bunch of us at Burgers & Cupcakes

Sunday morning Rosie and I walked the half block to Dunkin’ Donut and got breakfast which we took back to the hotel and sat in the lobby to eat. Rosie was going back to the Convention Center and hook up with Jean, Charity and Val to stay with them Sun night, and I was flying home, so we were checking out. We told the desk clerks that I would be staying in the room until check out time and then would wait in the lobby for the shuttle. Talking to the clerk I told her that I was going to come to New York with my daughter in Oct., and she gave me a bunch of info that would be a big help to us with site seeing and transportation, etc. Really, Really nice people there.

Entrance to lobby

Street outside the hotel

I arrived at the St. Louis airport around 6:30pm and called my stepson to pick me up. By the time I walked the really long way to passenger pick-up I only had to wait a short time before he showed up. I have to tell you I was just exhausted. Did I mention that the same girls that sat next to me on the flight to New York were my seat mates on the flight home, so we continued the conversations that we had had on the way there. They told me about the wedding they had attended and I told them about my James event. When I got home I noticed that the deck sliding door blinds were open and I had closed them when I left so I told Rick “Someone has been in my apartment.” Then we found the note.

My dear daughter had come in on her 10th anniversary weekend and completely cleaned my apartment for me. I have the best daughter in the world.

I am not able to write reports as witty or interesting as Rosie or GreySunrise but I hope you found it interesting. At least when my memory of the trip fade I can read this and refresh that time in my mind.

2009-06-21T19:52:00.016-05:00

Your Funny Valentine 2009 Report

When I was getting ready to write my Fangoria report I discovered that I hadn’t posted a Valencon report of any kind. I guess my son’s memorial that took place a week later, and all the detail that arise after a sudden death just put that completely out of my mind. So, even though I have forgotten so much I will try to give some highlights of that wonderful weekend. Please forgive the things that I am sure to get wrong.

Flew into Newark airport Fri. the 14th and caught the free shuttle to the Holiday Airport Inn. I called Charity on my cell and she gave me our room number. She was resting as she is always wiped out after a flight.

Charity snoozing in our room.

Self portrait in room mirror

When she got up we explored the hotel. It was really nice. A restaurant, Bar and Grill, and snack bar. A exercise room, small computer nook and the rooms were really cheap - $56 + tax for the two of us. We met up with the rest of the group that evening to eat at the Bar and Grill because it was much, much cheaper than the restaurant.

Charity and Amy Sue in Bar and Grill. GraySunrise and Stephen at Holiday Inn Bar and Grill where a bunch of us got together and disrupted the place. It was so much fun gabbing with everyone.

The next morning we got together and boarded the two vans that we had arranged for the night before and headed to SOPAC. We talked to our drivers to arrange for pick after the concert.

It was a nice small venue with soft seats and not a bad one in the house. Steve came out and told us the schedule, which was pretty full. Our ticket entitled us to

- exclusive theatrical performance
- signed souvenir from Dragonball
- personalized autograph
- Q&A with James
- photo session (with professional event photographer)
- acoustic concert
- screenings
- free raffle for exclusive goods

So the plan was photo, autographs, the Q&A then a break before the play. After the play we could go and eat as we had an hour or so before the concert. He then introduced James. James came out dressed in dress shirt, jeans and black vest looking yummy. He was also wearing his Moonshot watch. He said Hi and then went up a short flight of stairs to the photo op area, and we started lining up by row as it was called.

James headed to the photo op area.

When it was my turn, I got to watch the great poses that others were doing before I got to James. I just remembered something that was so cute. With the taller ladies he went up on his toes to be taller. I don't think I've ever seen that before and it just tickled the heck out of me. I told him about my son being killed by a drunk driver the week before, but everyone had urged me to come to the event as it was all paid for and how glad I was that I had. He of course stepped back shocked and said how sorry he was. I told him I needed a hug, so that picture was a little subdued. I left and since Steve was selling another photo op, if we wanted, I got one. The second was a really, really good hug. He is such a sweetheart.

My somber photo after I told James about my son’ death.

My really good hug for second picture. I told James how wonderful his fans were and how supportive they had been been to me and he said “Yes, they are the best.”

James at the autograph table.

I had a small book of little known misc facts to give James. One of the facts that I called to his attention was about Shakespeare contributing many new words to the language. He was pleased about that and said that was one reason that he liked rap music because they made up new words. I had him personalize the picture that I had taken at the CD Launch Party in LA. It is always nice to have a little conversation with James.

The autographed Piccolo picture.

He was given some really nice gifts which pleased him very much. After all the autographs and James took his time and really talked to everyone it was time for the Q&A.

Me in line to ask my Jacuzzi question.

For the first time ever I asked a question. I asked, "You have said that you prefer a bath to a shower. Do you have a nice Jacuzzi tub in your house or a regular tub?" James said "I have one bathtub in my house that is shared by my nanny and my niece, so it is a shower for me." I said "You'll have to work extra hard and save money to put in a Jacuzzi tub for you."

Steve piped up to say "I do." And I said "Shut up Steve, nobody cares about you."

I told Steve later that everyone does care about him, that I was just being a smart ass. He said he just loves rubbing James nose in the fact that he has a Jacuzzi and James doesn’t.

I remember the Q&A as being very interesting, but can’t remember any questions or answers besides my own.

After the Q&A, we took a break until time for the play. It was James and an actress whose name I can’t remember doing “Love Letters” They were at a table acting with the scripts in front of them. It was excellent. Funny and sad. I teared up at the end.

Froggy and Rosie and others whose faces I know but
whose names I still can’t remember at SOPAC.

We were sent off to get something to eat before time for the concert. James was in fine form and was playing a guitar that he had named Chow. It turned out that squirl had given him that guitar and she was so pleased that he was using it. He said that Chow was an excellent concert guitar and traveled well. He said that luggage handlers had destroyed some of his guitars.

On the way out of the venue we collected our photo ops and Dragonball Evolution posters. Someone called the van drivers to pick us up and we waited around until they showed up and took us back to the hotel. Of course we were all still pumped up from the marvelous day we had had and headed for the Bar and Grill to have a snack and talk about our boy James.

Sunday morning we went to the restaurant because they had a breakfast buffet with a really good selection of food. I had to take the 11 am van to the airport and head for home. It was one of the best weekends I had ever had and just the medicine to buck me up for the coming weeks.

2009-06-20T08:28:00.006-05:00

Grand Slam 2008 Report

Sat. autograph with James. I had printed out the pictures of James
at 13 at the Theatre camp. I showed it to him and asked if that was
him. He said yes. He said, "I'm going to keep this because I don't
want you to have it." I said, "You can have it, I have it on my
computer." Then he looks at it some more and said, "Oh, this is at
Asilomar - I was happy there. I'd like to have this. "The way he
said it, you just knew that it was one of the few happy times in his
childhood. I just cannot imagine how unloved he felt as a child. (I
did not have the most stable of childhoods, but I always felt that
my family cared about me.)

Karl Anderson, Paul Marsters, Russell Denney, Lisa Dolit, Naomi Selig, Lisa Selig, Alisa Levy and Jim Marsters on the Pacific coast beach at Asilomar State Beach on Aug. 17, 1976.
From pip_r_lagenta http://pip-r-lagenta.livejournal.com/9796.html

He is burying Lisa Selig’s feet in the sand. (Aug. 17, 1976)

Then I gave him the 5 comic book set of Spike's Asylum. I asked if
he had them, and he said no. So I said "Now you do."

I also had watched on Wed a show about Randy Rausch and his book The
Last Lecture. He is a man in his forties who has terminal cancer
and his last lecture was funny and inspirational. I went the next
day and bought the book. When I gave it to James, I said, "I think
you will like this book, it is inspirational not religious." He
said, "I need a book to read. I was reading a Grishum book, but
left it behind at the airport."

Before I left I said that he seemed to have gotten a handle on his
hair as it looked really good and he said "Yeah, I just don't do
anything to it."

I had him autograph the `Like A Waterfall' Picture I got taken at
the CD Launch.

The photo op went really fast and James was sitting down. I did ask
him if he was ready for his concert that night and he said "Yes". I
also said "Will it be as good as San Diego?" and he said "You know
it".

Sat. concert. I had seat B20. Well, I thought I did anyway. We
were finially let in and when I got to my seat someone else was
sitting there. Their ticket said B20 also. I went out and saw
Steve Himber and told him the problem. He took me to a Creation
Entertainment person, who was not very helpful. She told me to take
whatever seat was vacant in that row. I told her that none were
vacant and I had paid $50 for that god dammed ticket (well actually
$57.25) and I should sit close to my scheduled seat. I told her
that a chair should be brought up to the front for me. She didn't
think that could be done. Steve was there trying to make this dumb
women understand the problem and he spoke up to say he would do it.
We went into the room, where James had already started performing,
and moved a chair up beside the first row for me. Bless his heart.
It really pissed me off that I missed part of the concert.

The next morning, I went and complained about the many screw ups by
Creation – my Silver ticket was confirmed by email as E8, then when
someone else had the same seat I was told E3 by phone. When my
ticket arrived it was E5. And then two tickets for the same concert
seat!!!! I mean how hard is it to write a seat number on a ticket
and cross it off a list??? Anyhow, I was given a $30 Creation
Entertainment Credit, and I got a lovely Tony Head autographed
picture for it. Maybe missing part of the concert was worth it.

I decided to buy another James' autograph. I had brought The JMlive
calendar that my daughter made for me and had him sign it. This
time I told him about my ticket hassle and how Steve helped. Steve
was standing there and smirked at me. James said "I saw you over
there". ( I guess so, with Steve bringing a chair up and putting it
by the first row at the left of the stage while James was singing) I
showed James the Tony Head picture I got and he said "Yeah he was
the best actor on the show." And I said that Tony was the reason
that I started watching Buffy.

I don't remember much about James' Q&A. I do remember the question
about would he give up the career he has and just have a mundane job
to have had a normal childhood. He said yes with no hesitation.
And then sort of quiet – to have a loving family – with so much
longing in his voice.

The other moment from Sun I must tell you what he said about over
sleeping. He said "The woman in my life - my niece - reprogrammed my
climent(spelling? ) control. I woke up at 3am, sweating and why is it
so hot in here." Then he said "She is so smart." with so much love
and pride in his voice. I just went aaww. God I just love that man.

I don't know who took the Hawaiian shirt pictures and I am sorry for swiping them but he just looks so delicious that I just had to.

And I loved James in that Hawaiian shirt - so cute. It took my
breath away when he walked out in it at Grand Slam.

Jacque

2009-04-17T10:22:00.002-05:00

Orlando radio station interview with James Marsters, from Civilized James site.

http://james.sky-skye.net/play_audio.php?audio=1

2009-04-14T10:38:00.002-05:00

A year after my husband died, I decided that I needed to get out and do some things and maybe make some friends. I joined the Hazelwood, MO Comunity Center. I saw that they had a trip planned to the Iron Mountain Train. That sounded like fun to me as I like trains.

We met at the Comunity Center to take a bus. No one sat with me or talked with me on the bus. We stopped for lunch and I asked two women at a table if I could sit with them, which was OK. But shortly after they got up and moved leaving all alone again. No one sat with me at lunch. I was starting to feel really depressed.

We arrived at the train and no one talked to me while we waited to board. When we boarded a man and wife finally asked me to sit with them. By that time I was nearly in tears. I am a friendly, outgoing person, but until then this was the rudest group of people I had ever had the misfortune to be in contact with.

So it was very nice of this couple to include me. The train trip itself was very nice. They had a Jessie James hold up. Of course I was all alone on the bus back home. I went to work the next day and told them that I wasn't going to try that again.

Me at the Iron Mountain Train in Missouri.

2009-04-14T09:44:00.003-05:00

Some memories of James Marsters' CD Launch Party.

Just a small report on my conversations - such as they were - with James. I didn't take very many pictures and what I did take didn't turn out very well. I had a wonderful time even with the sleeze couple there, trying to get in James' pants. Like he would even be interested in that sluty broad. He was so sweet and just gorgeous, and warm and friendly. His singing gets better and better.

At the 1st photo op, I told him I was the oldest in the room again and that my birthday was Tues the 30th and I would be 72 and I wanted a huggy picture. He said that when he goes on the set he is always the oldest there at 45, and I said that I have kids older than him and he said "REALLY!!" Froggy took the picture but I blinked so he wanted to take another one and I said "I get another hug." Afterwards I said "Thank you" and James said "You look good."

I have this internet friend who I have never met in person. She has Spina Biffida and is confined to a wheelchair. Anyway, I bought a CD so I could give her my autographed one, and I bought her a beautiful picture of James too. And when I was almost up to my turn for an autograph, I called her on my cell phone and asked James to talk to her. Which he did. Steve said " You know she is using your time with James, and I said, "Yes, I know, but you have to do something for others sometimes." Besides, I got to sit across from him at the autograph table and he used my cell phone.I have a cell phone that was used by James!!!

After that we could get another special photo op for $70, so I bought that. When I got into the hug this time, James said "I can really smile now that the set is done."I didn't fuck it up." Froggy took the picture and I told James "You were great" and he said "Thank you" . That ended the last personal encounter. I got to spend the whole afternoon and evening in the same room as James and it was worth every cent I spent. I had the best time ever. Even the jerk and his slut wife couldn't ruin that. The funny thing is, I took no pictures in the room except for two cell phone shots, the whole time. I met a lot of really great people whose names I can't remember. Its times like this that I wish I had a memory.

Second photo op with James

Jacque

James Marsters and me, taken at his CD Launch Party in Los Angeles.

2009-04-14T09:13:00.004-05:00

Me with the band '3rd Degree Blues'

"3rd Degree Blues" of Pekin, IL is the excellent band that played at my son Bill's "Celebration of Life" memorial. I took a video clip with my digital camera, so not the best.

2007-09-18T17:10:00.001-05:00

Video of Q&A at the Queen Mary event.

2006-10-11T16:08:00.000-05:00

I was not at the Writers panel, so am glad someone could write a report.

The Writers panel

The Writers panel included Jane Espenson, David Fury and Steven De Knight. It was great fun and the three had incredible rapport. Sadly I’m really struggling to recall all of it especially much of the banter. There was a running gag where David or Steve would name an episode they loved ask who wrote it and be amazed it was one of Jane’s episodes.

Q – About writers block

A – Both Fury and De Knight talked about how much they’d complain about how bad the scenes they’d written were and each writer would try and top the other in how badly they were feeling about their writing. In contrast Jane went for self praise so when she was uncertain about something she’d just tell everyone how great it was instead. As a rule though there wasn’t time for writer’s block the time pressure was such that they just had to get the script done no matter what.

Q – About co-writing episodes

A – Fury said he’d already answered this in his solo Q & A and I don’t recall Steve saying much. Jane said mostly it was done by dividing up the acts and that worked well because the writers would always have a very well worked out story line complete with act breaks before they went away to write. She did remember one time where she and Doug Petrie had tried a different collaborative style whereby they’d done alternate passes ie one of them wrote a draft and then the other re-wrote it. The problem was they tended just to cut out everything the other had done. David and Steve questioned why that had ever seemed like a good idea and Jane blamed it on Doug.

Q – About the Darla-Spike relationship

A – Fury felt Spike was too devoted to Dru to have been involved with Darla. There was some debate as to whether a relationship might have been possible later but as Fury kept pointing out Darla was dead by then. (Interestingly the question didn’t specify romance but that seemed to be how the writers took the question. Later another questioner filled them in that in fanfic Darla and Spike have a bad relationship because they both love Angelus. That seemed to surprise the writers.)

Q – Writing for dramas vs. writing for comedies

A – They all seemed to prefer writing alone and Jane said she can’t write with some one sitting next to her reading along and suggesting lines as some duos do. Jane talked about the way some comedies are written with all the writers sitting around throwing out lines and jokes and a script being put together that way with an assistant writing down the lines that were approved. This wasn’t a method she enjoyed and neither Steve nor Fury seemed to have worked that way.

Q – Other characters who they’d have liked to do backstory for

A – No one really seemed to have a good answer to this pointing out that Anya had been explored and as Jane pointed out a Jonathan backstory episode wouldn’t have been very interesting as it’d just be the home life of a nerd. I think Steve objected here that it would be his life story.

Q – Where would be their ideal place to live

A – Jane went first and said Sydney. Fury also said Australia and said he’d only been there last year with his family for a convention and loved it. He loved the people and the atmosphere and just about everything else he could think of. He said as a child his parents once told him they would be moving to Australia as a joke. However, he’d taken it seriously and was all excited to go. They also needed good TV writers. Steve asked if the pay was as good as in LA for writers and both Jane and Fury said no. Steve said he came from a small town in New Jersey and for him living in LA was his dream come true.

Q – About on line fan interactions with writers a good or bad thing. (I asked this question and aimed it primarily at Fury and De Knight which lead De Knight to ask if it was a penis related question)

A – Fury just loved mixing it up. He regarded it as an opportunity to get into bar fights and he’d be laughing about it all and not taking it seriously. Joss had introduced him to it on the Bronze and he thought it was great. They also discussed how Fury would be similar in the writers room and get into rows with other writers seemingly about nothing. They cited a row he had with Drew but I forget now what it was about but Fury just wouldn’t let it drop. He also recalled how he took to Steve because Steve would stir things up. Steve recalled an incident when Fury asked Drew for a pen and Steve turned to Drew and said “Are you going to take that!”Fury thought this marked him out as perfect for “Angel” and working with Tim Minnear.

Q – About which comic book character they’d like to bring to life

A – Steve talked about one he’d actually written (The Punisher?) which he’d pitched as very 1970s and dark but when he handed it in was told they couldn’t possibly make it like a 1970s movie and dark! Jane did answer but I’m blanking on her answer. Fury said “Little Dot”.

Q – Who should Joss cast as Wonder Woman

A – Fury suggested James, and was then interrupted by James asking what was going on from the upper balcony. There was discussion that he couldn’t cast a tiny woman for the role as Wonder Woman was an amazon. Someone in the audience I think suggested Gina Torres which Jane seemed to think was a decent idea.

Q – About the time scale from writing to an episode airing

A – Jane said it can be a long time citing how long it’s been since she wrote her Battlestar Galactica episode which is yet to air. However on Buffy and Angel it could be a few weeks if not days. She mentioned sometimes they’d be putting together the next days scenes for shooting and still not have a finished script. Steve mentioned how out of the blue Joss pitched them “Angel and Spike on a German submarine” with hardly any time to write the episode. They didn’t have time for any research so just took bits straight out of other films to give them background on German submarines.

Q – Complimenting on their use of Wicca on Buffy

A – None of them recalled doing any research and instead they’d just thrown it in because at some point it had been mentioned with regard to Willow and Tara. Mostly they just tried to bluff their way through and hope for the best.

Q – Did vampires change over the course of the show from simple monsters to something more complicated?

A – Fury didn’t think so; he just thought that in later seasons we got to know the vampires more but their basic nature was no different. Jane felt there had been a shift in tone from ‘monster of the week’ where the monsters were very clearly metaphors for teen age issues to more character driven episodes. She felt she was behind on that change as she was often pitching monster of the week episodes when Joss had really moved on.

Q – Was there something ‘racist’ to the idea that soulless demons should be killed while evil humans weren’t

A – Fury felt the soul was only really a big issue for vampires and they seemed to agree that other demons might well have souls. Fury’s idea was that a soul allowed a person the possibility for redemption which was not possible with a soulless vampire.

Q – About why Spike became increasingly naked as the show went on

A – Jane put it down to the increasing influence of Marti on the show. Fury commented that there was nothing wrong with naked Spike.

Q – How to deal with actors limitations – write round them or ignore them

A – Jane said on her current show they had an actor with a thick accent and were therefore writing to make sure he didn’t have any long lines to speak. However, if you had an actor who couldn’t express a range of emotions you probably needed another actor. Fury said that on Buffy one of the actresses who he would not name was unable to run so they’d use a stunt woman for any running scenes but when she did run on camera you had the funniest dailies ever. He then commented that the same actress was also unable to laugh.

Q – Something about writers’ importance

A – Steve said that writers had more power in television than they did in film and in television it was the directors who got treated like hired hands.

2006-10-09T21:39:00.000-05:00

This picture and report are not mine. I was there and enjoyed watching and hearing James in action, but my camera was not good enough to take pictures, and my mind is not good enough to remember the questions and answers. He was just delightful.

"The James Q&A

By the time we came back in from our hurried lunch there was already a line of people waiting to ask their questions. Since I usually waited until there were only a few people before getting in line I never did get to ask mine, nor did a few other people as quite a few people had lined up. It was a real exception over the weekend.

James bounded on stage announcing that he had just bought Darth Maul's light saber (I assume he was talking about getting one used in the film at auction?) He said it was really big but he could handle it. And with that entendre, we were off.

He was asked about the role he'd had in a stage play years ago (Scotland Row?) where he had grown a beard, and was asked how long it had taken. He said he'd been trying to look older, and the director had encouraged him to do it because it was something the character would do. It took him about a month to 6 weeks, but it was a goatee.

James was asked about his song lyric in "Up On Me" about why he was hopeless? He said the whole title was actually "You Can Give Up On Me" but when casting about for one he went with the shorter version and hadn't really considered the sexual overtone. His answer was that "I'm at a place in my life where I think I'm a real good lover but I don't have time to be."

I think he was asked about his response to the GotR video that had played over lunch and he said he had been asking people in the photo line to tell Himber to take the video off because listening to it made him cringe. He said one should never listen to a tape of live music, and that things were more forgiveable when heard live. Re: the recording he said "It sucks."

He was asked about his involvement with his friends' band the Vandals during high school and how the song "Button Down Vandals" had changed over the years since it was the first song he wrote. He said his friends would have him on stage with the band from time to time but he wasn't a member as he was off doing solo gigs at the time. He'd do a few solos on stage and then join in on a few songs. He said he thought he had done a Cars cover, and the band played a lot of Ramones and especially Clash. His friend Gordon wasn't in the band but co-wrote the song with him. They were all about 16 or 17, "We were all geeks who got a rock band together."

Yes, he believed in love at first sight, but also believes people spent the next 18 months figuring out if they'd got it right. He said nature gave people time to be friends as passion faded. I guess the questioner had been nervous because he then thanked everyone for having the balls to ask questions.

How would Spike have reacted if he had been the puppet rather than Angel? JM thought Spike would be more angry about it, would have sulked a lot, bit people, wouldn't have stuck to doing his job.

In what I thought was one of the more interesting comments that was never followed up on, JM was asked if Nina had been brought on the show as a love interest for Angel to distract him from Spike. JM replied that Jenny Mollen was Drew's girlfriend and was treated on the set "with a sexism that offended everybody." Unfortunately he didn't elaborate on what that treatment was, who was offended, and why nothing was done about it. Instead the conversation followed the whole Spike/Angel issue, and he said that when he did the "that one time" line he was pretty tired but knew as soon as he saw it that he was "going to hear about it." But clearly Spike would "try everything once in 120 years." He then asked if women liked watching gay guys the same way that men liked seeing lesbians. At the chorus of yes'es he nodded and said he had learned something new that day. (What? It's taken this long?)

He was next asked what women's parts in Shakespeare he would have enjoyed playing. He said Lady Anne, and Portia, and then went on about Shakespeare being a humanist and doing great parts for women. He added that the line "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" should also be "like a man scorned" as we should have both. He said Shakespeare wrote great female parts and then hired really good looking transvestites to play them. (I'm assuming he has no first hand knowledge of that).

Asked what would be an ideal romantic dinner he cited cornish game hen stuffed with apple, sausage and corn meal, a simple salad, and lots of fruit, sweet juice such as pasion fruit, but it couldn't be too heavy a meal. He said eclairs would be a last course, dessert would be much later in the evening.

What did he know now he wishes he had known at 25? That he was a good person and needed to accept himself more. "I was trying too hard for too long."

Asked about recurring dreams, he said he didn't remember them, and that he knew that if he didn't he must be repressing them, so he probably had very interesting dreams but didn't know about them. He asked how to change that. He then brought up a falling in water dream he'd had years ago, falling from a tower which was exploding and which had all his Julliard friends, but he was happy because he wasn't among them.

How does one conquer fears? Face them, they're never as bad as you think. He said that he suspected he had become quite fearless due to the bad leg injury he'd had as a child when he was told he wouldn't walk again, but he did. He said after that he felt he didn't have enough fear, and should have had better instincts to stay out of dangerous situations. His biggest fear is that he won't be able to provide long-term for his kids. He said he was excited because his son was doing well in school, getting all As "He's going to Harvard! ARGH!" He said as long as he could know for sure they'd be ok he could stop worrying.

If he could get three of his favorite artists in a room, what critique would he give them? George Bernard Shaw, Gertrude Stein, Hillary Clinton "Yeah, I think she's going to be President." But he needed to talk to her before she was spoiled by Washington, well, she already was. He wouldn't critique them thought because he couldn't think of telling Shaw anything he did wrong. Then he changed his list to include Gandhi or Martin Luther King, and Gloria Steinem. As the questioner walked off he changed his mind again and said "Georgia O'Keefe."

Why doesn't he tend to write bridges for his songs? Lack of experience.

Who should play him in a bio of his life? Someone who has a lot of excess energy, Joaquim Phoenix would be good.

What was his most challenging role? Challenging as in how? As in which one he sucked the most in? Toby Belch in 12th Night. He was 20 years old, in a fatsuit, playing a 60 year old alcoholic and looking 14. He was told later by a teacher at Julliard that he had been given the role because he would be bound to fail in it. He added that he questioned himself too much then, didn't trust his own acting instincts. He asked why college students were often given such weighty depressing material to play such as one by a Russian writer he also had to do at the time.

Asked what he would do and where he'd go if he had a month of completely free time, he seemed to have a hard time imagining it. He said he'd probably spend it with his kids, or on a desert island with nothing, just having time to be bored. Asked if he could have one other person with him what would he do he said it would be bliss for a while and then they would fight.

Asked what was the most foolish thing he ever did for a girl he loved he said he bought her a 65 Mustang and then didn't even take it back when they broke up. (And something about not having his boullaibaise appreciated, I missed something in my notes.)

Asked what were his favoite stunts that he'd done, he said doing the wire work in "Destiny", which was fast and smooth, and lighting himself on fire in "Lover's Walk." He liked being trusted to do stunts.

Asked what accent he was using for Braniac and whether or not we'd ever hear him using his own voice he had to ponder a moment what his own voice was and then decided "California relaxed." He thought Braniac seemed very stiff on the page and he wanted him to be more casual. He did a mid-Atlantic speech, which was what Julliard trained American actors to use when doing Shakespeare. When someone called out that he did his own voice in "Chance" he agreed and said it was because Simon was a goofy character, so that was probably when he'd use his own voice.

If he could talk to any actor, ever, who would it be. He said he'd like to talk to the Greek actors, though we only know the name of the playwrights from that time. He didn't want to ask them about acting so much as what it was like to be performing in front of a public which would be having what is similar to a church revival experience now. He also wanted to talk to Edmund "I have to get a shag on" Keane, whom he discussed a bit, but thought he'd probably bore Keane, who might say "Are you going to kiss me?" But he was apparently an actor with great depths of passion who was very inflammatory on stage.

Asked his views on Shakespeare adaptations he said there was nothing wrong with doing them as Shakespeare himself took material from other places, but he thought there should be a term that distinguished such works from plays more faithful to Shakespeare's writing and staging.

If he could rule the world for 24 hours what would he do? First, he'd create paper trails for voting machines. Second, he'd creat campaign finance reform so that all campaigns would be publicly financed and no on could spend more than the set amounts. "The person who was most creative in spendng the money would probably win," he shrugged but said at least it gave the public the chance to do the rest rather than having someone dictate what needed doing. Certain investigations would then start to happen and certain people would be in jail. He would also institute nationalized health care.

Asked what it was like to read a book to an audience he can't see he said it was pretty much like reading it to himself, that when recording a book on tape he wouldn't really read ahead but would discover it as he was reading it. Mistakes could always be re-recorded.

What would he want to ask Bobby Comfort, whom he played in "Cool Money"? He said he'd want to know more about his childhood which he felt was very glossed over in the (book?). "He got whupped by his Mom bad." Also knowing whatever was done with the money. He found the thefts a little romantic and noted that articles at the time mentioned rising violence for small sums but that in these major hauls of enormous sums no one was hurt. And someone on the crew of Buffy who was a Budhist had explained that it was a good thing to lose material objects(?) He was then reminded of another point for the King for a Day question, that "Everyone who has kids should love them."

He was asked why there was a double standard about women being criticized for liking Spike who was a killer and not a good person when men were never taken to task for being attracted to women such as Faith and Darla. He agreed this was a good point and said he wanted to be attractive because he wanted a career. He said a lot of women and men made the mistake of thinking that they can change someone and that if they pleased them that they can be loved in the right way. What bothered him about Spike was that the people on the show prided themselves on being subversive artists and he felt that the character of Spike was a cliche and not the truth, someone who was a vicious killer but who was always good to his girlfriend. But he could understand attraction, and mentioned that Harmony was bad in the best way, who wouldn't be attracted to her?

Asked if he'd ever go blond again he said it was possible. Thanks to Smallville he had gotten a high enough profile with dark hair that people realized he could play other parts than the ones he was typecast for while blond.

Asked at what age and with what play kids should be introduced to Shakespeare he said it had to be done by taking them to a really good performance, not reading it because the plays weren't meant to be read. They had to be absorbed in an easier manner, but paid attention to, the way one might watch "Law & Order." He suggested "A Midsummer's Night Dream" because kids would really enjoy the man turned into the donkey and it would be something for them to latch onto. He also said that Seuss was great, as it introduced them to language as more than just vocabulary, anything that used words that danced.

Asked if he was ticklish and where, he said yes, though he could pretend not to be if necessary. Locations were tummy, kneecaps and behind the ear. But he doesn't like to be tickled, especially when he's sleeping.

He was told the song he had played the night before, "Baby Blue" was one of the sweetest things the questioner had heard. He said he didn't write it, Keb Mo did but he wanted something that would be like a benediction at the end of the show.

How would he impress a girl, say, on a 5th date? He said he'd drive to Santa Barbara, have a good conversation in the car, have a picnic on the beach, stay at a nice hotel, have a shower, change for dinner, follow the wind for that, then dinner, then sex, then room service with pancakes at 2 AM, then sleep at dawn.

Asked about the "Dad" tattoo Katie had, and where it was. He said it was on the back of her neck, and she had a short bob haircut, and he'd see it standing in line for lunch. She told him he was apparently the only man who liked it.

Asked about his character in "Winding Roads" he said that he was a good, simple guy, not ambitious, probably would have been a great father but wouldn't make good conversation over dinner. But the movie was not his story. "But I was so cute and good in that!"

He overcomes writer's block by going and creating something else. He said he'd finished a song recently and knew it was because he was rehearsing a play. That everyone should have the moments of being really happy with their work "I'm a genius! I'm Tolstoy!" and then coming back to it the next day and realizing "I'm not Tolstoy!"

Asked again about the song "Button Down Vandals" he said that he and his friends weren't really vandals, because although they liked breaking into places they had a rule about not damaging anything or giving anyone any idea they'd ever been in there. They would break into churches, but just sit on the pews and talk and be respectful in it. They liked climbing down ropes from skylights into such places, thinking it was really cool. He added that one thing they did vandalize were their school walls, which were built in a way to beautify the school, the idea being to have wavy walls with rocks in them but there wasn't enough money for the rocks so there were just pockmarks in it. They'd spray paint quotes from Thoreau, the Dalai Lama, philosophers, and then make a big deal of being forced to paint over these words.

Asked if he liked to dance he said yes, he did but most people were afraid of looking goofy and alcohol helps you not think about that. He said he'd be doing some very goofy dancing in "Teechers" but he wouldn't be drinking this weekend.

Asked why he chose the play "Teechers", he said that among his ex-wife's many skils was finding plays. She would read plays and playwrights from many countries and then pass them on to him. She had difficulty with that one, because of the way the play was structured. "We were peeing in our pants in rehearsal." He said two plays he had done were sure-fire audience pleasers, festival plays, "Teechers" and "Kvetch" by Stephen Burkoff, the latter of which is about people sitting around talking at a dinner party and worrying about things. When the questioner thanked him and walked off while he was still discussing it he said "You can just say 'shut up', my friends tell me that all the time."

Asked why his middle name was Wesley he said it was because his mother wouldn't let his father name him completely after himself. Asked about his son's name, Sullivan, he said he wanted it to be John. Being born in 1962 he felt there were 7 names a boy could have and not be picked on and his wife was coming up with all sorts of weird and biblical names. Then they were watching Ken Burns' Civil War documentary and were struck by Sullivan Ballou who wrote wonderful romantic letters to his wife. But he thought John was a great name.

He was asked what was most frightening in a horror movie and he said it was when the audience didn't know what was going on.

Asked what was the best gift he could give to fans, he was somewhat stumped and said that the whole meeting experience was generally so rushed it was very difficult to do anything meaningful. He thought perhaps it was when people would bring their kids to see him, trusting that he would give them a good experience and not be "Oh yeah. Great to meet you" in an insincere way.

At this point the Q&A was brought to a close and Himber announced that there were a few items up for silent auction, a poster from "Shadow Puppets", a promo photo of James for Smallville (the pink shirt profile one) and one of Humber and James where James appeared to be "tweaking my nipple. That's not what he was doing but I was rather titillated." The auctions were for the Elizabeth Glaser Foundation and raised about $2K. Also at this time they brought up other con guests on stage, such as Kevin Sorbo who did photos and autographs but no Q&A at the con. He took the mic to say that the last time he was on the Queen Mary was as a teenager when he was doing a fashion show for Adrian Paul."

yourlibrarian ([info]yourlibrarian) wrote,
@ 2006-09-12 20:52:00

Happy James

2006-10-03T21:19:00.000-05:00

This is Yoga Lady Report. It fits so well with the Happy James picture. I can't begin to say how much I loved this whole experience. I met so many smart, funny, friendly people that were so kind to take me into their group. It meant the world to me.

Yoga Lady
Lollipop Licker
Posts: 324
(9/11/06 10:19 pm)
Reply New Post Re: QUEEN MARY CON REPORTS & PICS Hi all. After a two hour delay at Long Beach airport because of a bomb scare, I'm finally home. Since I've just got in and am a little tired, I'm not going to go into too much detail.

James looked AMAZING!!!! He was in great spirits, claimed to be having a wonderful time, and wished he could do it for two more days!

His hair is dyed and straightened per the advice of his stylist. LOL, James has a stylist!!!! Anyhoo, as James has said before, curly hair is not accepted in Hollywood if the actor is over age 30, so, for now, James is going to keep his hair straight. The dye job is to hide the gray hairs, according to James. It seemed obvious that James was having a lot of fun with straight hair that actually moved and fell to one side or another, as he moved.

His musical performance keeps getting better and better each time. While I thought he was at his best at Words & Music, now I think his performance at this event was his best. His voice is just beautiful, with no, I say NO, flat notes. His guitar work has also improved dramatically.

The play was very funny, although a little confusing, with only three actors playing multiple parts. In any case, if James (in character) grabbed his crotch one more time, I think I would faint.

I asked both James and Steve if James would continue to do events like this, and they both assured me that he would, although they didn't specify when or where. Steve did say that it's difficult to set James up at too many con appearances because he really wouldn't want to have to cancel, and, since James isn't in a regular series right now, he would have to be ready to work at a moments notice; thus making it difficult to figure out what would be the best times for him to do personal appearances.

2006-05-06T21:23:00.001-05:00

John, Bill and me

2006-05-06T21:23:00.000-05:00

John in my apartment

2006-05-06T21:22:00.001-05:00

Emily, John's daughter

2006-05-06T21:22:00.000-05:00

Music Man

2006-05-06T21:21:00.000-05:00

Mountain Man

2006-05-06T21:20:00.000-05:00

John at my husband grave at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetary

2006-05-06T21:18:00.000-05:00

John and Billy

2006-05-06T21:17:00.000-05:00

John at Steak n' shake

Article from Anna S.'s blog

2005-07-11T09:27:00.001-05:00

I was reading Anna S.'s blog. I wish I could write like her, funny, thoughtful and interesting. Anyway, she referred to this article about a bride calling off the wedding and instead having the party for the homeless. I guess I don't know how to Link, so I copied the article. I'll learn.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Canceled%20Wedding

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 · Last updated 4:37 a.m. PT

Bride calls off wedding, throws party for the homeless

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

EVERETT, Wash. -- A young woman decided to call off her wedding 12 days before the event and her parents knew they'd be stuck with the bill, so they decided to have a party anyway and invited the homeless.

Residents of the Interfaith Family Shelter, housed in a former convent across from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church where the wedding had been scheduled, attended the bash thrown by Katie Hosking, 22, a medical assistant at the Everett Clinic, and her parents, Bill and Susan Hosking of Lake Stevens.

"They had a DJ and really good music. It was a warm, friendly atmosphere. The food was delicious. It was a nice break with people not worrying about anything for one night," shelter manager Carol Oliva said. "Toward the end of the evening, they packed up all the leftover food and we got to bring it back to the shelter."

One homeless woman got her son out of a wheelchair, "took that child out on the dance floor and picked him up and danced with him. It was a beautiful sight. Our kids realized that even when something bad happens, somebody else has something worse," Susan Hosking said. "It was an eye-opener."

The almost-bride would not say what led to the breakup, only that it happened June 6, 12 days before the scheduled date of her wedding.

Planning a reception for 150 guests at the Echo Falls golf and country club, her parents had made a $2,500 down payment and written another check for the $6,200 balance. Club policy requires full payment for any event that is canceled less than 60 days before the scheduled date.

"Personally, it's a really hard time for a family," said Jessica Gamble, the club's catering sales manager. "It's a really awesome thing that they did. They made the best of it."

Susan Hosking said that once she and her husband "got past the panic," they took a suggestion from her brother-in -law in New York and decided to invite the staff and residents of the shelter operated by the Interfaith Association of Snohomish County to share in the evening.

More than 50 family members and close friends were joined by about 40 homeless people, shelter workers and volunteers. The shelter staff arranged rides to the club.

Instead of a wedding cake, chef Michael Greb produced strawberry shortcake to top off a menu that included baron of beef, salmon, shrimp cocktail, fettuccine and fruit.

"Oh my gosh, we had so much fun," Katie Hosking said.

Shelter residents, she said, "came up and thanked us several times - thank you, thank you, thank you. We all danced. I still got to dance with my dad."

Her mother said she was happy to demonstrate an alternative to the case of Jennifer Wilbanks, 32, who got cold feet and vanished shortly before a 600-guest wedding in Georgia. Wilbanks pleaded no contest this month to telling police a phony abduction story and was sentenced to probation and community service.

"That food would help feed people at the shelter for another three or four days," she said. "With the notoriety of the runaway bride, I would like people to know that these things do happen, and there is another outlet. The money is spent."

Laura Porter wedding 6-25-2005

2005-06-27T17:04:00.001-05:00

My brother Steve's daughter Laura was married to Josh on June 25, 2005, at my sister Pam's home in Des Moines, Iowa. I was going to go to Des Moines with my daughter Linda and son-in-law Mike and my son Bill, but came down with some bug or other the day before we were to leave.

My sister e-mailed me these pictures today. I am sorry that I missed it, but it is just as well, at my age in the heat.

2005-06-27T16:55:00.000-05:00

Laura & Josh

2005-06-27T16:54:00.000-05:00

Laura & Josh

2005-06-27T16:53:00.000-05:00

My brother Steve, father of the Bride

2005-06-27T16:51:00.000-05:00

My niece Laura & Josh's wedding June 25, 2005

2005-06-17T21:32:00.000-05:00

Pam

2005-04-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

Mike & Linda

E-mail from Charles Daenzet

2005-02-13T00:26:00.000-06:00

I got this e-mail about my husbands pictures, with some neat information. Thanks a bunch!

I was just looking at your photos on your web site. The photo "unknown group" was taken in the Life Support shop at Da Nang with 2 crew members checking out their gear before a flight, the guy in the white shirt is Joe Morrow the ncoic of the shop this must about the 1st flight of the day since Joe just worked the first part of the day and that would be late afternoon on Stinger time. Photo "unknown group #2" would again be at the life support shop at Da Nang standing outside and just starting to walk in. The Big 3 on the wall means that their is Flares and Munitions inside and the red barrel outside the door was to check that your gun was empty. I was in Life Support at Da Nang from 70-72, the faces look familiar and I have most of the names in my head but I have a hard time putting them together but I do remember your husband his nickname was Rex. I after said I wish that I would have Photo of all the crews and wrote the name on them, but when you are just 22 you have more thing to think about than photos and name and besides who would ever think in your 20s that in your 50s your mind would get fuzzy. I hope this helpful or interesting

Charles Daenzer

2005-02-08T21:25:00.000-06:00

Aria-isn't she a doll

Linda's party

2005-02-02T11:45:00.000-06:00

I finally figured out how to post pictures on my blog. Mike had a surprise party for Linda. He did not invite me, but we figured out that something was up. So I showed up anyway. Snapped pictures. As you can see, not the best photographer. I really went so I could have the great Flan they serve there, as I don't usually go out at night, and am not a party person.

Jacque

2005-02-01T18:02:00.000-06:00

Surprise!

2005-02-01T18:01:00.000-06:00

Happy

2005-02-01T17:59:00.000-06:00

Cake, flowers, gifts. Linda deserves it all.

2005-02-01T17:58:00.000-06:00

Good time had by all

2005-02-01T17:54:00.000-06:00

Randy's here

2005-02-01T17:53:00.000-06:00

Party harty

2005-02-01T17:52:00.000-06:00

Mike, Linda's great husband

2005-02-01T17:50:00.000-06:00

Queen Linda opening a gift

2005-02-01T17:49:00.000-06:00

Hi, Carol and Hi other Linda

2005-02-01T17:47:00.000-06:00

Lots of friends to meet and greet

2005-02-01T17:46:00.000-06:00

Good food

2005-02-01T17:39:00.000-06:00

Linda and friends

2005-02-01T17:37:00.000-06:00

Watress at Ruiz-Linda's party

Jacque's Place

2005-02-01T17:18:00.000-06:00

Jacque's Place
My first post. I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures from picasa. Everything is set up, I follow the directions and it says that they are posted and nothing is here. Darn! Darn! Darn! Try again.

Jacque