Storyteller - Moonlight Rising 2003

Moonlight Rising
June 6-8th, 2003
Friar Tuck Inn - Catskills, NY

Guests

Christopher Golden - Novelist BtVS books

James C. Leary: Clem the loose skinned demon (BtVS)

Adam Busch: Warren Meers (BtVS)

Amber Benson: Tara Mclay (BtVS)

James Marsters: Spike (BtVS)

Anthony Stewart Head: Rupert Giles (BtVS)

Common Rotation in Concert

photos

This report was written about a week after attending the con - in three separate parts due to length. I have combined them here into one report. If you're looking for photos, please click on the above link.

For those who are looking for a transcription of all the Q&A's, believe me, they're out there so I'm not going to bother to add them here in my report. Enjoy!

Okay, this is one of those times where you sit in front of the computer and go..."Oh my god, where do I start???" There's just so much I want to say and share...but hard to pinpoint exactly where to begin. If this becomes a little too long, I may just split it into two separate posts because a lot went on and I really don't want to bore anyone with a long drawn out tale. So, anyway, I guess here goes...

For me, SpikeGirl02 and LittlePhillyGirl2003, the adventure started on Thursday as we drove up to the Catskills. We had decided to stay at a Howard Johnson's that night about 10 miles away from the Friar Tuck where the con was being held due to expensive cost of the rooms. Well, we had to pick up our other roommate at the hotel first before we settled in for the night. As we pulled in to the Friar Tuck, I believe the first words out of my mouth were "Oh...my...god." It was...how shall I put this...quaint. We went into the lobby to find Melissa and heard the horror stories of some of the people who had already checked in. The three of us looked at each other and wondered what it was that we had gotten ourselves into. I was beginning to think that all of the bad rumors that I had heard about this con were going to be true. After collecting Melissa we drove back to the HoJo's and found that our accommodations there were sort of, well, not optimal. That's when I decided that maybe it was just the area we were in.

Friday, June 6th:
After a good night's sleep, we packed up and headed back to the Friar Tuck at 9 am so that we could register. We ran into Theresa who told us that the hotel had lost her reservations but that Peaches had taken pity on her and let her share her room for the night. There was also something about one of the lights coming off the wall in their room too. Again, all we could think about was just how bad our room was going to be. After registration we went to the dealer's room which was just way too small for lots of people and the dealers. It gave new meaning to salmon spawning upstream. Anyway, we bought stuff for the guests to sign and then bought Common Rotation's cds because the very first event was an autograph signing with the band. So we trudged over to theater where they were doing the signing - I will tell you about the maze later - and we stood in line to meet the guys. As we're going through, Adam Busch is signing PhillyGirl's CD and then looks up, sticks out his hand and says "Hi, I'm Adam." Most normal people would respond with a handshake and then their own introduction but not Alli. She stands there, I believe hand on her hip, and says..."I know." Deadpan. The look on Adam's face was priceless. Poor guy. So I decided to step in and give them both a little hand. I put my arm around Alli and said..."This is the part where you say, 'Hi, I'm Alli, nice to meet you.'" It was all very cute and funny and poor Alli must have turned twenty shades of red. It was her first con so we shall forgive the poor girl for being a little taken aback. After that, it was an inside joke between Alli and Adam.

Once we were done in the autograph line, we meandered back to the lobby to see if we could check into the hotel. Thank goodness, we could. So we got back in our car to drive around to the other side of the hotel, found a parking space and then found our room in the maze. Imagine our surprise when we opened the door and found a room twice the size as everyone else's. It was wonderful. We had absolutely no complaints about the room at all - except for the maid service which I'll get into later. Thinking that since we now had this most wondrous room, it would be designated the party room. Ha! We scheduled a party each night but each night we had to cancel for various reasons - Alli's food poisoning being one of them.

Okay, so, we settled into our room and had time to kill between events. We went to dinner because dinner and breakfast were included in our room package. We wound up eating with Scarlett, SCC and her husband and we also met Liana and her daughter as well. At about 6 pm, we decided to head downstairs to wait in line for the concerts. Julie Caitlin Brown and Common Rotation were to perform on Friday night. The concert was general admission so in order to get good seats for Common Ro, you had to sit through Julie. I was not looking forward to that at all but I was pleasantly surprised when she sang. I wound up buying two of her CDs. She has a wonderful voice! During Julie's concert, she said that James Marsters might come out which sent a buzz through the theater, but it never happened. Once she was done, there was a short intermission before the guys came out. Now, keep in mind, before popping in their CD on the way to the CVS in Cairo, I had never heard this band. Well...I have to admit...they are totally AWESOME!!!! Adam Busch and Eric Kufs do most of the singing and you can just tell that they're a band and have been friends for a long time. The energy and timing the two of them have together is absolutely amazing!!! I can't wait until they come to New York City or Philly again. I just HAVE to see them. I'm telling you now, if you ever get the chance to get to one of their concerts...GO!!!! They are incredible.

So after the concert the band went to the back of the theater to sign autographs and sell merchandise so Alli headed up there while Linda, Melissa and I headed out. On our way out of the theater, we ran into James Leary who remembered all of us from Cleveland and gave us hugs. We talked for a little while and he introduced us to his wife. She's just adorable and very funny. They were holding hands like a couple of teens, it was so cute. After talking with the Learys I managed to walk right by Amber Benson and not even see her. She had gotten to the hotel later than she had planned because her and her mother had driven across country and while driving, they hit a deer. Whoops. During her Q&A on Saturday Amber told us the story and she was pretty upset by the whole thing. I'm just glad that both her and her mother were okay. Anyway, getting back to Friday night...after we left the theater, we figured we'd go back to our room and have the room party. Nope. We cancelled that because we were supposed to meet some of the band members at the lounge. We figured, party in the lounge, right? HAHAHAHA. Not! We got in there and there was this Elvis impersonator singing. We all looked at each other, looked at him and walked back out. Apparently, that's what everyone else did as well. So much for partying with the band. I know, I know...you're all disappointed with me since my last two con reports had me partying with celebrities the first night. Alas, I didn't party with any this time around but I still had a great time!

Saturday, June 7th:
Saturday morning, the Q&A's started at 9 AM with Christopher Golden. I had heard that he was not a Spike fan but had just shrugged it off. Well, let me tell you, I was about ready to get up and walk out of his session because of some of the things he said. I'm not going to do transcripts since I know they're out there on the web but I believe the one word that ticked me off most was him calling Spike a sociopath. Uh, yeah. So it's pretty much like David Fury telling us that those of us who love Spike should correspond with serial killers in prisons. I was not a happy camper. I understand he's entitled to his own opinions but uhm, hello, fans out there. After Golden, Adam Busch came out on stage. I thought Tom Lenk and Danny Strong were a hoot in Chicago but Adam was hilarious!! I think this was the first con he'd ever done so he was a little unsure of how to begin so he just jumped right into the questions. At one point, he left the stage for several minutes, came back out with a chair and a towel. I thought he had looked a little green around the edges before he left but when he came back out he looked absolutely pasty. Not good. He was a trooper though, finishing the Q&A while sitting down. Once Adam finished, James Leary came out. As always, Leary was very funny. After partying with this guy in Cleveland, it just seemed kinda strange to watch him up on stage. After he finished, he gave us a little wave (we were in the second row) which was cool. Really nice guy.

There was a lunch break between the morning Q&A's and the afternoon ones. So we went to the back of the theater for another autograph session with Common Ro. This time Julie had a table set up to sell and sign her CDs as well. After I got my picture with a very sick Adam (holding a stuffed eeyore), I went over to Julie's table and chatted with her for a while. She's a very interesting person and we seemed to hit it off pretty well. Don't get me wrong, I still think her con ethics suck with the way she treats the fans, but as a person...one on one...she was great. She had her 6 month old son with her and he is just the cutest thing so I cooed over him for a while. After that, we went back to our seats to wait for Amber Benson to come on. Amber did a wonderful job with the questions she was asked. She was very personable and even knew the names of a lot of the Amberholics. I was really impressed. I had heard wonderful things about her prior to this con...every bit of it is true. She talked about being killed off the show, her movie, what other projects she's going to be doing...the normal stuff. She's just so sweet!

Once Amber left the stage, James Marsters came on. YAY!! Mr. Marsters is looking quite yummy with dark roots showing more. I can just imagine what his hair will look like by the time Tampa rolls around *swoon*. I was a little upset with some of his comments about how he felt that Spike had come to terms with the fact that Buffy really loved Angel...that she didn't love Spike at all. I do know that on other boards, this has a lot of people up in arms, however, my take on this is this...every time he said that, it seemed a little...forced, like he was towing the party line. Seriously. That's how I took it. Something must be coming up on Angel that has him saying these things. Anyway, he did admit to the audience that he had been married to someone that didn't love him. It was the first time I had actually heard him speak freely about his marriage. Also, he said that he would love to move to NYC to do theater but that he was helping out his family and there were children involved so he wouldn't be able to think about doing that for another three or four years. He seemed very excited by the thought. What I did notice was that JM has become very serious while he does his Q&As...nothing like Shore Leave last year. I think he almost has to be now because of how Shore Leave went, ya know? He has to be careful how he interacts with his fans so that they don't get the wrong idea. It's a shame, but totally understandable.

Now, moving on to the last guest of the day, one Anthony Stewart Head. Can I just say...YUM!!!!!!!!! I was a big Giles fan but not a big Tony fan. That has completely changed. I am just totally in awe of him now. He came out on stage and I expected a stuffy Brit but what I got was a devilish comedian. He is high energy, sexy, funny, sexy, witty, sexy, talented, sexy, and oh, by the way, have I said how sexy this man is????? I was so impressed with him. Oh...and he has a potty mouth and a dirty mind which is also something we learned about Amber Benson as well. LOL There were times when you could see Giles lurking beneath the surface but then other times, when he did his Valley Guy impression, you just couldn't even imagine this guy being Giles at all!! At one point he sang Happy Birthday to a woman from England who was sitting in front of me. After he was finished, he hopped down off the stage and gave her a hug and kiss!! It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen. I am always amazed when celebrities show just how human they really are.

Now it was time for the autograph sessions. I had been a little ticked about how we paid all this money and we were only getting one autograph per guest, period. Sort of like Cashback weekend. I was told this was done so that we could spend more personal time with each guest as they signed our item. Right. I was curious to see how this was going to work. The announcement was made that badges 1-400 were to stay in the theater and that we would be called by rows to line up. I was badge #31 which meant I was really close to the front. So when our row was called, we got up and lined up in a nice little single file line to wait for us to be called one by one to the other line where we would wait to be released one at a time to go to the autograph table. It was sorta strange but it seemed to kinda work at first.

First up was James Leary. The line was a little backed up at JM who was at the third table, so I got a chance to chat with Leary and his wife. I gave him an 8x10 of me, Crystal, SpikeGirl02 and Nimue Tucker to sign that was taken at the Cleveland cocktail party and as a little gift I gave him a smaller copy of it with our names on the back. His wife thought it was really cool and by the time I moved on to Tony Head, I had her in tears from laughing so hard because I was giving Leary such a hard time about how he signed my pic. He had personalized SpikeGirl's but not mine so I was "whining" that he didn't do that for me. Leary being the good sport that he is, and knowing when he's met his match in the irony department, then personalized the pic and told me I was a trouble maker. Me??? A trouble maker??? Not me!!

Since the line was backed up at JM, Tony Head was listening in to my conversation with Leary and chuckling at me. Before I moved on to Tony, I talked to Regan, his handler, because she and I are Penn Staters and fellow Nittany Lions must always chat. She asked me how I was and I said that I was hanging in, tired. Well, Tony just HAD to comment. "What do you mean you're tired? What could you possibly be doing around here to make you tired?" So I tried to act all demure, batted my eyelashes and said..."Uhm...partying?" He acted all shocked that I would do such a thing. "Partying? Here? Why wasn't I invited?" We laughed about that a bit and then he signed my pic of him in his Rocky Horror get up. Of course he had to reiterate what Leary said and told me that I was a trouble maker but in a good way. I think I blushed. He's a very funny and sexy man...Did I mention the sexy part?

After a long few minutes, it was my turn to spend some time with JM. I had a few things to give him as gifts so I was carrying around this little bag shaped like a Hawaiian shirt that carried not only my gifts to him but also a t-shirt that I passed along from Evenstar and Karen. The t-shirt had Evenstar's artwork - a pic of JM as Harry Dresden - which was just absolutely beautiful. James was duly impressed. However, before we got into that, I gave him my gifts for which he was eternally grateful. Then the t-shirt. But of all things, he decided to start up a conversation with me about the bag that everything came in. He wanted to know if I made it myself because that was a Xander shirt. I laughed and told him no, that I had gotten it at the dollar store so he giggled at that - yes JM DOES giggle. Then he launched into this story about how he almost got fired because of the Xander shirt he had to wear in "Doomed". Apparently he complained about it to wardrobe and it got back to Joss who called him into the office to tell him that he would wear whatever Joss and wardrobe told him to wear. We chatted about that a little more and then I had to move on so that others behind me could have their time. So I guess I could say I spent about five minutes with him. It was pretty cool.

Next up was Christopher Golden. I passed right by him and waited patiently for my turn with Amber Benson. Once I was there she and I chatted for a while after she signed my item. I told her that I was really sad that Tara had been killed off because I really missed her character in s7. She was very touched that people still miss her so we talked a little bit about that and about the fact that we were all going to see "Chance" on Sunday night. She was really excited about showing her movie. When SpikeGirl came up behind me, she looked at her and then looked at me and said "I can see you two are trouble makers!" I started laughing because she was now the third one to say this in a matter of 15 minutes. I kept saying, no, no, not me. And then I told her that all the trouble would be in room 1020 after the VIP dance because at that point we were still planning on a having a party. She was genuinely touched that we invited her. We also invited Leary and his wife. We should have really invited Tony since he seemed to be the party animal. Anyway, they wouldn't let me and SpikeGirl wait for Alli and Melissa so we exited the theater and waited for them outside.

None of us were really feeling well after we had eaten both dinner and breakfast at the hotel so SpikeGirl and I were sent in search of edible food like substances. 15 mins away was a little town called Cairo. They had a CVS, a liquor store, a SMALL food store and a McDonalds. Thank goodness for the Micky D's!!!! We picked up dinner and then drove back to the hotel. Alli and I took a nap before the VIP dance because we were exhausted. Both of us woke up sick. I couldn't get warm and Alli wound up really sick...food poisoning. The two of us pushed ourselves to get dressed and cleaned up for the dance. We didn't plan on staying since we were all convinced that Julie wouldn't let JM out to play. We figured that Amber, Tony and Leary would be there though. So after much outfit changings and "do I look alright", we trudged off to the dance which was on the other side of the complex through a maze of underground passages. As Melissa kept saying, she expected insane Spike to jump out and ask for our hall passes. It was eerily similar to that of the Sunnydale High basement. I swear to you, the walls moved every time you thought you knew which way to go. Finally we reached our destination and there was Tony Head and James Leary. We found Peaches and Chris and while we were talking to them, I realized that JM was there too! Wow. I was impressed. Not everyone realized he was there at first, which was good for us and probably for him as well. Well, JM loves to talk and he is extremely intelligent so it shouldn't surprise anyone that when he gets started on a topic he just wants to keep going. It's just how he is...again...a celebrity showing how human they really are.

Anyway, the four of us waited patiently for the two groups who were in front of us. Security kept trying to tell the two girls in front of us that they were taking too much time but the girls ignored them and kept talking. It was really rude! At the same time though, I totally understood that they wanted their time with JM. So security got Julie involved and she ushered them out. First thing I did when JM turned to me was shake his hand and say hello. Then we got started on the gifts that I had given him and it just seemed to run from there. JM did tell me that he had started working out again because he was terrified that Joss was going to bring him back naked! What a horrid thought! NOT! So we talked about that for a bit. I kept trying to let security know that I knew I was taking up way too much time with him but JM just wouldn't let go of my hand. Tough thing to have happen, huh? So then security took our camera and told us it was time for the picture. I started to move away from JM so that Alli could get next to him...she hadn't had her picture taken with him before and I had one from Cleveland. However, JM just wouldn't let go of me so I figured I wasn't going to keep fighting it and since we had to get all 4 of us into the pic, I turned sideways and leaned into him with my head on his shoulder. (The pic is going to be posted in the photos section) It was just such a difficult thing to do but I suppose someone had to do it. Of course, even after the pic, JM wouldn't let go of my hand and security was getting a bit peeved. It wasn't until Alli asked for a pic with him that he finally let go and I took off. The last thing I wanted to do was to tick off security and have Julie breathing down my neck.

After JM, I moved to the back of the room to say hi to Leary and his wife. They were sitting in a roped off section taking a breather from all the excitement. Personally, I think they were sitting back there because it was safer. By safer I mean, every time people walked on or danced on the dance floor, the whole floor shook. I swore we were all going to fall through by the end of the night. It was scary. So after chatting with the Learys and giving them a glow bracelet, we waded over to Tony Head so that we could get our pics with him. I talked to Regan for a bit while I waited for Tony to finish up with another group. She is such a sweetheart!! Once he was finished, I asked him for a pic and he was extremely kind enough to oblige. I remember standing next to him, thanking him for doing this but that was the last coherent thought I had because his hand was placed at the small of my back, with fingers extending down. When we got the picture developed, his hand was on my shoulder. I have no idea when he moved it. All I could keep thinking was Tony Head's hand is on my lower back. I barely remember talking to him. I wasn't star struck...I don't get that way. I know I had a normal conversation with him like I did at the autograph table, but for the life of me I can't remember it!! Sigh. Sexy British man. Did I mention that he's very sexy?????

After our pics with Tony, we moved to the back of the room and found a table that was out of the way. I still wasn't feeling the greatest and Alli headed back to the room because she still couldn't keep anything down so SpikeGirl, Melissa and I sat at the table and talked. I'm not much of a dancer so it was a good place to relax while Melissa went to the dance floor. I guess it was about 11:45 when I noticed that the crowd around JM was starting to really press against him. That's when I saw Julie start scoping a path out of the room. She stood at the back by the exit and gave security the go ahead to yank JM. They brought him right by us. Melissa got a hug and we got a few more seconds with him. He said he was being told to go to bed. Of course, me being the "trouble maker" that I am, told him that he needed to do what he was told...sarcastically. And believe me, James caught that and gave me a squeeze on the shoulder as he passed. It was pretty cool. After that, we decided to head over to the bar to have a drink with Scarlett who didn't have a VIP pass and couldn't get into the dance. The Elvis impersonator was there (my poor ears and eyes) so we all had a drink hoping that it would help. It didn't. We stayed there a little while and then went back to the room. We told everyone that the party had been cancelled because Alli was sick. So was Amber so she never made it around to the events. The three of us stayed up and chatted until 3 AM while Alli slept. Poor girl.

Sunday, June 8th:
A/N: First off I'd like to thank all of you who have been emailing me on and off list about how much you're enjoying my con reports. I'm glad that you find them funny and refreshing. I was trying to go for candid and honest but, hey, I'll take funny. :) Also, before I go on...I must say this, JM was in no way, shape or form hitting on me at the VIP dance. I'm of average looks and know it. I think he was just comfortable with me because I wasn't groping, drooling or star struck. I was having a simple, normal conversation with him and I think it made him feel human. Okay, now that I've said that, let's move on to Sunday at MR.

Despite the food poisoning on Saturday, the four of us headed to the breakfast buffet at the hotel. We didn't have time to drive to Cairo to find something edible, especially since all we wanted to do was sleep. We had timed everything so that we would arrive down at the theater 15 minutes prior to James Leary's Q&A - yeah, we decided to skip Golden's talk. However, when we arrived at the theater, he and Golden were doing a Charity Auction for St. Jude's Children. I don't know how long this had been going on but I'm sorry I missed the beginning. The two of them during this auction - FOR THE CHILDREN as they kept saying - were just absolutely insane. I think the weekend finally caught up with them. Not only did they have themselves rolling around on the stage laughing, but they kept us in stitches. Anytime a Spike item was up for bid, they really talked it up - dirty minds here folks. For example...many of the Spike items were autographed by James Marsters, well, they would say things such as "James touched this so you'll be touching something that James had his hands on...and you can only imagine where James has had his hands". At one point, they were auctioning off a Spike calendar that JM signed and Leary did his best impression of the last moments between Buffy and Spike in "Chosen". We were dying!!! He used a high pitched voice for Buffy and a low pitched one for Spike. I truly wish I had this video tape. If I get motivated enough, I'll scan the pic of Leary laughing so hard he's laying on the stage. Tears...lots and lots of tears, they were just so damned funny!

So, as the auction - FOR THE CHILDREN- progressed, Golden stood up on the stage and bellowed to Tony Head who was signing autographs at the back of the theater..."Hey Tony!! Can we auction off your bum again?" Now, I'm thinking they're kidding around until the woman in front of me started getting excited. Apparently she had been the winning bidder at this other auction. She was the one that Tony sang happy birthday and gave a hug to the day before, plus she was British and part of the Tweety(?) or Tweedy(?) group that was there for ASH. Anyway, Tony comes running down the aisle and hops up on stage to show us his bum. Golden and Leary were laughing...we were laughing...it was hilarious! So after Leary and Golden finished with the other items, they began the bidding for Tony's bum. I don't remember where the bidding began but it ended at $2050. Tony was gracious enough to take the top two bidders so for $4050, two people were allowed to fondle Tony's bum. True to his word, once the bidding was over, Tony came running back down the aisle, hopped up on stage and waited for the first woman to begin her fondling. For a count of 10, done by Golden and Leary, the bidder was allowed to grope Tony's bum. Once she was done, Tony looked all embarrassed and said that it was probably the best fondling he'd ever had. We were in tears laughing so hard. Pictures? Did I get pictures? You bet I did!!! So then he took the second bidder...the woman in front of me...she and her friends had pooled their money so when it came time for her to go on stage, she gave up her chance to her friend. However, Tony thought that was so kind of her that he said it was okay for both of them to grope his bum. So, both women were brought up on stage, one on each cheek and for their count of 10, they had their fondling session. I'm sure these pictures are all over the net by now because there had to have been close to 100 people snapping their cameras during this time. If no one can find them, I'll scan a couple of what I have and post them. I think SpikeGirl02 has a few digital ones on her page.

After the auction, we had a lunch break. Linda and Alli headed outside and Melissa and I headed to the room. On our way to the room, the winning bum bidder was behind us. I stopped, looked at her and said..."I just have to know, was it good?" Her answer? "It was worth EVERY penny!!" She told us that her coworkers had been kidding around with her once they found out she was going to a Buffy Con and told her that she was going to have to grab ASH's butt because they all knew how much she liked ASH. Of course she told them that she wasn't just going to go around grabbing the butt's of celebrities if she wanted to stay at the con. Well, she could certainly go back to the office and tell them all she got to touch Tony's bum! Touch? More like fondled!! Anyway, after Alli and Linda got back to the room, we decided to take our film and head to the CVS in Cairo to get the pictures developed. We dropped our film off and then headed back to the hotel for the afternoon session which included Amber, JM and ASH. Oh...before I forget...I must send out kudos to the girl who did the interpreting for the hearing impaired. She was absolutely wonderful and such a good sport. The guests tried their best to stump her and embarrass her on stage while they did their Q&A's. She managed to get through it all with a smile and some blushing. Amber embarrassed her the most on Saturday but Tony Head topped that for her on Sunday with his "wood" comments...again folks...just open your dirty mind and let it all flow. So for Sunday, the con staff set up a microphone in the back so that the guests and fans could hear the questions instead of straining to hear like they did on Saturday. It was a great help! During the second day of Q&A's, Amber talked more about her movie "Chance" as well as about "Ghosts of Albion" which she and Golden did together. I'm not sure if it was on Sunday or not, but she did talk about how she felt about the people who said that Tara was fat. She hates that society is caught up in body image and wishes that people could be judged not for what they look like but for what's inside. I think we can all agree with her on that. When there was about 15-20 mins left in her Q&A, they did a charity auction. This was to be true of every Q&A. Not a problem since she was allowed to answer a few more questions afterwards.

Once Amber was done, JM took center stage...dressed in a red, tight fitting t-shirt and a jacket. Eventually he lost the jacket to the cheers of the audience. He talked about the movie he's going to be filming in September called "Italian Heat" - I think. Does anyone know the right name if I'm wrong? I know Heat is in the title. Anyway, I think he talked about this on Saturday in more detail. I'm sorry that I cannot remember everything that was said in the Q&A's...I go for more of the impression than what was really said, unless it stood out. Anyway, what I'm about to say isn't meant to embarrass the con staff in any way, it's meant to point out what NOT to do when your guest is on stage taking questions. During his Q&A, JM stopped, turned to the side of the stage where two con staff members were talking - near the speaker - and sorta...okay, yeah, not sorta, DID...yelled at them. Told them to take their conversation elsewhere because he was having a hard time hearing the questions. Now we couldn't hear the staff members, but I guess JM could and it was distracting. I was mortified for them. Really. I mean, to have JM yell at you in front of 800 people like that...yikes. But he never missed a beat and continued answering questions. When his Q&A was almost over, they had him do the auction. We all assumed that once that was done, he'd have a chance to answer more questions, like Amber did. Uh, nope. At this point, the other guests were brought out on stage and we were told to give them all a hand - except for Leary who was among the missing. Surprise. Once we all did that, the staff member took the microphone from JM and said that since it was 3 o'clock she was going to turn things over to the 3 o'clock person. The fans weren't happy and I really don't think I can say JM was either. He didn't get to say goodbye or take a couple more questions. Personally, I thought this was extremely rude. Why they didn't wait until Tony's Q&A was over to do this is beyond me. Sad really.

During Tony's Q&A, he was extremely silly...much more so than on Saturday and he kept us all laughing. At one point he stopped, borrowed JCB's guitar and sang two songs off his CD for us. They were absolutely amazing. I think I was just a puddle of goo in my chair after that. First to have hot, sexy British man talk to us and then to have him sing...OMG. It was wonderful. Then, happy day, he called Amber out on stage so that they could do their duet from OMWF for us. During Saturday's Q&A, someone asked him if he and Amber could perform it and he said he would look into doing that. Well, he kept his promise. Someone from the audience pointed out that there was indeed a piano on stage in the wings so they couldn't use the excuse that they didn't have one to get out of singing. So he stopped everything, went back to look at the piano and came back out front to say (close your eyes PJ...) "F*ck me! It's a baby grand!" So everyone scrambled to get this piano out and to find OMWF script books so that the woman from the audience could play and Tony and Amber could sing. I'm sorry to report, they didn't remember the lyrics but that's okay. After several false starts, they managed to belt out the duet and it was just absolutely beautiful. Amber and Tony have such great voices and when put together...incredible. It was a very special treat. After that, Tony did the auction and then answered a couple of questions.

As for those of us with badges 1-400, we were ushered out of the theater so that the autograph signing for badges 401-800 could commence. That meant we had about 4 hours until we had to be back at the theater. We drove to Cairo to the McDonalds and then picked up my pictures at the CVS. I opened one envelope and just about died. The pictures had turned out great! You see, I was a little worried because I borrowed my mom's 35 mm camera with the MEGA zoom lens. I'm not used to using anything but an idiot camera - one that autos everything for you so I was more than pleasantly surprised with how the pics turned out. So was everyone else. The envelope that I did manage to open...the first pic was JM and you should have heard the squeals that went through the CVS upon opening. I don't think Cairo will ever be the same again. Seriously.

Okay, so, now we're going to fast forward to 8 pm. We had bought tickets to see Amber's movie "Chance" which included "Ghosts of Albion" and Leary's mock-umentary "Stunt C*cks" so we headed to the theater to get seats. Well, it was general admission which meant there was a line a mile long that we had to stand in to get inside. We were not happy campers, add that to the fact that they started about 20 minutes late. Okay, so we get in and find seats behind Peaches, Scarlett and Chris. The movie screen is small but not too bad. First up was "Ghosts of Albion" which was very, very good. It's an animated tale that Amber and Golden did about a sister and brother who have been chosen to fight the evils that lurk in Victorian England. I think you can find it on BBC's website if I'm not mistaken. After the screening of that came the main feature, "Chance". Let me just say, this movie is absolutely brilliant!!!! It was funny and witty and just absolutely amazing. After the movie, Amber and JM did a brief Q&A and Amber stated that she was probably going to put the movie out herself. I'm telling you...you MUST buy this movie when it comes out. It's worth it just to see JM in a dress!! So please go to Amber's site or to the Amberholics site and let it be known that you're interested in "Chance". Amber is incredibly talented as an actress, writer and director. Some of the other familiar faces in it were Tressa Di Figlia (Nick Brendon's wife), Andy Hallett and David Fury (as the pizza delivery guy!!!). I just can't say enough good stuff about this movie.

After the movie, James Leary introduced his mock-umentary "Stunt C*cks" - details of which can be found at http://www.stuntcocks-themovie.com. It was only 8 minutes long but I'd have to say it was the most hilarious 8 minutes of my life. Even Lou Diamond Phillips was in it!! All I can say is this, go to the site and check it out. I cannot possibly do it justice by trying to describe it. There's also an "ewwww" and "ick" factor to it but that just adds to the fun. Afterwards, Leary did a very BRIEF Q&A and told us that if we wanted to see it out for public consumption to write/email whoever we could think of to let them know of its existence. So, what are you waiting for??? Get out there and start writing!!! LOL :)

Well gang, I have now come to the end of my Moonlight Rising con report. Thank you for sticking with me through the novella. I hope that you have enjoyed the last installment. Until next time...(Tampa's coming up!).

Brat :)