~ Convention Report ~
by Erica (TalkAttack14)
My Con report below:
When I entered the convention center Friday night for the cabaret I was surprised at what a room w/ space for over 4,000 people look like... it was intense. Well, Bruce & Ted were doing this funny little routine that was just ridiculous yet cute. Hudson hosted the cabaret and did a fantastic job! Ebonie Smith, Adrienne Wilkinson, and Darian Tackle were beautiful singers. I went back to my hotel room singing 'Black Velvet'. So after the cabaret I hop on over the the one place that is filled w/ Xenites... the bar! Karl Urban was hanging out with everyone and posing for pics. Later Missy good made a small appearance. After the excitement died down we had to get some sleep.
Saturday was rather eventful in the respect that alot of things went on outside the Con. There was the Bard's Brunch and all those fan group meetings in the 'Little Theatre'. I was at the Xenaversity breakfast that morning though, Dawn from the charity t-shirt drive was there and for a brief moment Anita Ellis stopped in. It was the only decent meal I had all weekend, in fact, it was probably the only meal I had all weekend! When I got back I saw Missy Good hanging out in the Hotel lobby so I walked up to her and said hi. The music videos were very good intros to the guests that afternoon. Adrienne Wilkinson & William Gregory Lee were delightful speakers... there were alot of good questions asked and they were just wonderful to watch on stage. Tim Omundson was such a character; I have a new love for this man... he's such a doll! I missed the screening of the episode 'Last of the Centaurs' and the charity auction. Instead, I was hanging out w/ Steven Sears. We chatted for a while and walked around a bit, but then I had to be somewhere. Later I was hosting the Netforum meeting and met alot of new people there, my name was even on the schedule that everyone was carrying around. I cut that short and walked in when Claire Stansfield was on stage. I missed half of her appearance, but she was great! Alexandra Tydings was next, although I had met her before, she was cute as always. I met up with Katherine Fugate; I'm so glad I finally got to meet her, but I didn't say a whole lot... I just kinda hung out w/ em' when I had time. She's a very special person. Ok, I have seen Ted Raimi before so I knew what to expect! It was a pleasure seeing him and I had to smile when he tripped over things just to get a rise out of the audience.
I knew Saturday night's cabaret was going to be something spectacular and it was. Claire & Alex's 'Triple XXX review' was awesome, especially since they used one of CN Winters' stories and I had just met her that afternoon at the netforum meeting. It was single-handedly THE funniest thing ever. It was so witty, cleaver, cute, and yet they used what the fans themselves had written. Alex & Claire are geniuses for putting that together... I would've never thought of doing that! WOW, I could feel the floor shaking when Alex & Claire kissed. Anyways, so Tim, Karl, Ted, and Robert Trebor were singing that night. They were so good. I really enjoyed Tim though, he really grew on me that weekend!
The big day... Sunday! The Charity Breakfast was that morning... I walked past the doors to it and I saw & heard a bit of what was going on. Sounded like alotta fun! I went to the Adrienne Wilkinson fan club meeting... she made a 10min appearance which was very cool! Missy Good was the first guest... me being a pup I had to be there. Then I saw Ebonie Smith again... she was very sweet. I wanted to meet Tsianina Joelson ever since 'Coming Home' and I was so happy to see her finally!!! She was an AWESOME guest. During the auction I was chatting w/ Steven again by the stage. Then I had to go on stage for the Banner auction bit... it went for $13,000! It was amazing being up there... I loved looking out into the audience and seeing the thousands of people. What an incredible feeling! So now it's Darian Tackle's turn to be on stage. She was a lovely speaker too. Rob Field got up there for a lil' bit and showed the new bloopers and had another video to show us as a special intro to Lucy & Renee. What a treat! Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor were next. Renee was introduced and I'm sure everyone in California thought there was an earthquake, but really it was just 4,000 Xena fans. Then Lucy came out as they were singing 'Last Dance', I loved this part! They singing was such a wonderful addition! Sharon Delaney asked them questions for almost 2 hours... it was very cool! Then they broke out singing again, but suddenly Rob Tapert came out on stage and then all the stars that were there that day filled the stage too!!! What an amazing moment! The costume contest followed that. I was only there for when they announced the winners... the costumes were all really good though! Later that night, I walked through the dealer room as they were putting things away and one of the people gave me and my friend 3 free Xena posters. Then, I was going up to my room in the hotel and Darian Tackle got off the elevator as I was getting on it. All in all this was a spectacular weekend that I will never forget!!!
Through out the weekend I went to the Annex room to grab some photos of people that might've missed on stage as they were signing autographs and I got my pics developed, but all the pics are either dark or didn't even develop at all!!! What a bummer. However, I did buy 1 Xena shooter and the Con tumbler. Another big highlight was meeting a friend, Deborah Abbott. Her costumes brightened up my weekend. They were absolutely mesmerizing!!!
Throughout the weekend I walked up to strangers and shook their hand asking them how they were doing. I enjoyed meeting everyone. Thanx for an amazing weekend and the chance of a lifetime!
Erika AKA TalkAttack