Fangoria 2009 Report

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. 
Not near as good as Amy Sue's was. I guess I'll just stick to hugs from now on.

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.

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 and 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 and 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 and 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 and 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 sole 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 theater. A New York guy took exception to that. But James explained that New York theater 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 and 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 and 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.

Jacque