Storyteller - Vulkon Cleveland

Guests

Robin Atkins Downe: Machida - "Reptile Boy" (BtVS)

Iyari Limon: Slayer in training - Kennedy (BtVS)

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

Andy Hallett: Lorne - the host (AtS)

James Marsters: Spike (BtVS)

Friday was the best day by far. I got up at 6am (after about 3 hours of sleep, because I just had to stay up late and update my website before I left) and caught a plane from Newark to Cleveland. I was flying alone, but luckily I met up with Monduane (a woman I met at the Fangoria con in Brooklyn with Emma Caulfield) so we sat together and kept each other company. I got to the Cleveland hotel shortly before 1pm, and after a bit Elizabeth (elizard100) and Sharon arrived. We drove into the city (and got horribly lost) and went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Since we'd been so lost, we only had about 40 minutes to go through the whole museum, which Elizabeth, Monduane, and I did. We actually ended up separated, because I spent a good 20 minutes drooling over the early 90's Seattle music scene section. (They had the lyrics to Alice in Chains' "Hate to Feel"! Handwritten!!!!! Complete with a misspelling of the word "you're". And a set list from around 1992 with mostly songs from "Dirt" and a few from "Facelift"! And they had the dolls of the band members that were used in the "I Stay Away" video, and they had Jerry Cantrell's boots, Sean Kinney's pants ... it was cool. But by far the best thing was the lyrics to "Hate to Feel," because that's one of my favorite songs ever and it's from "Dirt" which is probably my favorite album of all time. I spent so many hours pouring over the typed versions of those lyrics, and to see them handwritten was just amazing). So after that I zoomed through the rest of the museum and managed to glance at just about everything.

Okay, so back to the Buffy stuff. At 3:30 we met up with the other con group who had been at the Hall of Fame, and we all headed back to the hotel. We ate (I'm so glad I brought my own food or I would have starved; there were no vegan options anywhere) and got ready for the Cocktail party (I wore a frilly bright red shirt, a short black skirt, silver glitter fishnets over black tights, big goth boots, and lots of makeup with my hair pulled back).

We also set up for the JMConAps/Troika party, which Elizabeth and Sharon were holding (and there was this big mix-up because the room got changed 3 times). So I helped them set up soda and chips, then I went to register. The cocktail party was supposed to start at 8, but registration only started at 7, and there was a HUGE line, so it was very stressful. They ended up taking the cocktail party people first so that we could register and then make it to the party in time. So we registered and then we headed to the cocktail party.

The cocktail party was incredibly cool. I'm going to three more conventions this summer, but I suspect that that night will be the highlight of them all. There were a hundred people (and the room was rather small) and drinks (although I didn't have anything because I don't drink) so we all hung out and chatted. James Leary, Iyari Limon, and Robin Atkin Downs came in and people started chatting with them and taking pictures and stuff. I spent most of my time hanging out and talking to Elizabeth though, since "the stars" had big crowds around them.

Then James Marsters came in and, of course, everyone wanted to get close to him. Luckily for me, Elizabeth and I were standing right at the front of the room where he came in, so when the crowd swarmed around him we got pushed to the side right near him. Iyari Limon also got pushed into that corner of the room with us (and when I say "pushed" I just mean that we were kind of herded into that direction; there was no mob scene or anything; most people were very well behaved and calm). So Elizabeth and I chatted with Iyari for a while. I cannot *stand* the character of Kennedy, but Iyari was absolutely awesome. She was completely down-to-earth, fun, and normal. We chatted about my boots (these big tall black boots that I got on sale for $2.00) and that this is her first con, etc. Oh, and she asked if Elizabeth was my mother, which embarrassed Elizabeth so badly (sorry Elizabeth!), and we explained that we're just friends who met online.

Since we were standing right there, we were able to watch James taking pictures with everyone (the people naturally formed a line and took their turns getting photos with him as he stood in front of the room). Elizabeth and I stood in front of the bar (she kept leaning into it and almost knocking it over) and watched, then as the line trailed down we got into it and got our photos with him too.

When I went up to get my photo with him, we leaned together and smiled and he took my hand (of his own volition, I swear! I didn't grab him!) and held it. I asked him if he's going to be on "Angel" next year, and he said maybe but he's not sure. I told him I've got my fingers crossed. Then, because I'm an idiot and sometimes I don't think before I talk, I asked him, if he's on "Angel," will be be human, vampire with a soul, or what? And he said he wasn't sure, in that tone of voice that made it clear that he knew, so I said "Oh, you know and you're just not telling me." And he said that yes, he knows, but he can't tell me because it would spoil the ending of the finale. And (oh god, I'm so stupid, I can't believe I said this) I said "Oh, I already know the ending. The script is online; everyone has read it." And he got all upset! (Shit, I'm sorry for saying this, really). And he was like "No! It's supposed to be a surprise!" And then I realized I was taking too much time so I got out of the way.

So then I wandered a bit (Robin Atkin Downs was singing) and I got a photo with James Leary (Clem). James Marsters finished taking pictures, so he crossed the room to talk to a woman in a wheelchair, then he crossed back and sat at a table. (Later, the con organizers explained to us that he was only contracted to stay for 90 minutes, but he volunteered to stay much later because he was enjoying himself and the atmosphere was so calm). Everyone was incredibly cool and well-behaved, btw; he did't get mobbed when he tried to move across the room or anything, and people were holding their own conversations and hanging out instead of just drooling over him.

So, he sat at a table and most of us gathered around it. He sat chatting with the people at the table while everyone else talked, and then it gradually developed into a rotating system where people would get 5 minutes in the chair next to the chair next to him, then five minutes next to him. I was standing right there, so I could hear most of what he was saying. I'm sure someone else has transcribed the whole thing already so I'm not going to get into extreme details. He talked about politics a lot (he's very pro-troops and patriotic, but very very anti-war). I agreed with a lot of what he said, but even if I hadn't I think I would have respected his opinions, because he's clearly very educated and he knows what he's talking about. For example, someone asked him something about American politics, and he responded by going back to Hamilton and Jefferson and talking about how we live in an industrial society instead of an agrarian society and going on about how the capitalist system is all about consumption and so it always has to expand and how that explains so many aspects of our society and political policies. He also talked about how the woman who played his mom in "Lies My Parents Told Me" flirted with him relentlessly and how embarrassed he was about it because she was playing his mom (which he also talked about at the Q&A on Sunday). Someone asked him what he would do after Buffy; would he do theater in New York or Chicago? He said that he's interested and has gotten offers, but he can't because he has family obligations in L.A. ("children are involved") and he can't be away from there. He could do a movie shoot for a month and a half, but not something long-term like a play.

Eventually I got my turn in the seat next to the seat next to him, where I just listened to him talk more about politics, then I ended up in the seat next to him (hehe, our legs were touching). I asked him what he thinks of Michael Moore, because their political views seem so similar (which was on my mind because my coworker worked on "Bowling for Columbine" so all we ever talk about at work is Michael Moore). He hesitated and said that yes, their beliefs are similar, but he's not sure what he thinks because he's afraid that Michael Moore is so confrontational that he alienates people. So I said (and I had to lean right into his ear and repeat it because he couldn't hear me the first time) that the right has so many loud, outspoken commentators like Rush Limbaugh, etc.; doesn't the left needs someone to counter that and be outspoken about our side? And he said yes, actually he agrees with me, and that's why he hesitated. Then he started talking to the woman next to me about North Korea, which I don't know anything about, so I just sat and listened. He also talked about how great Clinton was and wouldn't it be wonderful to go back to a time when the biggest thing we had to worry about was who the president was having sex with (instead of war and apocalypse and all that stuff). He sounded very fond of Clinton, and he emphasized how the president's sex life has nothing to do with his job as president (and there were also the requisite Clinton jokes, of course).

Eventually I had to get up (wah) and he kept talking, but I could hear everything. The crowd thinned and started quieting down, so the other conversations died down and it ended up with just James talking and everyone else listening/asking questions/commenting. The one thing I found most interesting was James talking about season six and how the way he found the place in himself where Spike could love Buffy was because of Buffy's stupid Doublemeat Palace cow hat. Here's a woman who just died to save the world, and instead of having the world bow down and thank her, she's forced to work at this miserable degrading job (and they didn't show it much after that because Sarah hated it so much). Then he talked about how Buffy's so pure and perfect, which the crowd disagreed with. Elizabeth and I both commented on "If she's so pure and perfect, why'd she beat Spike up and leave him in that alley in 'Dead Things'?" which James didn't seem to have a response to, and then the conversation changed. I think that the best thing he said all weekend was when people were asking about contract stipulations. He also was saying about how he had no warning about the "Seeing Red" scene; no one called him up to warn him, he just got the script and 3 days later he had to do it. Someone asked if he would put any stipulations into his contract if he were to appear on "Angel" and he said "Please don't make me rape David Boreanaz!" Of course the whole room cracked up. (Then he said that actors who insist on stipulations are less likely to get hired, so he probably wouldn't do something like that).

So, eventually James got tired and said he was going to go take a hot bath and go to bed, so he left. It was 11:15 by then; he stayed *much* later than he was supposed to. It was a really wonderful experience; very calm, intimate, and conversational. Those of us at the cocktail party were extremely lucky to have that kind of opportunity to hang out with James. I just can't get over how cool it was; how cool *he* was and how cool the *audience* was and how cool the con organizers were to let it happen to naturally.

So then Elizabeth, Sharon, and I gathered our party stuff up from the party room and headed up to our room, where we were having a room party. Groups of people came and left, and we were told that James Leary (and I think Iyari and Robin, too) was downstairs dancing. Then we heard that James Leary was in another room party and that they might bring him up to ours. Then they *did* bring him up to ours. So lots of people were making jokes like "Look, I've got James Leary's beer bottle!" and "*gasp* James Leary peed in our toilet!" He was fun and very drunk; these girls were giving him this weird purple concoction that they made. Eventually Sharon wanted to go to bed, so our party shut down and the group moved on to another (Elizabeth and I followed). We ended up in this room watching James get progressively more drunk; he sang us some Vanilla Ice and some 80's metal ("Every rose has it's thorn...") and talked about various stuff. Eventually James wanted to go to his room, so we all headed up there. After a short while in James' room, Elizabeth and I decided to leave, so we went to bed.

So, Saturday we got up around 10:30, got dressed (I wore a black shirt, glitter tights, and this obscenely short red school-girl skirt; I didn't realize until later that it was about 5 sizes too small for me, because it fit fine at the waist but I realized that it was way too short; plus, later, I discovered that some other girl was wearing almost the same outfit as me!) and headed downstairs. I realized that I didn't have anything for JM to sign, so I bought a 50 cent trading card with a pic of Spike & Dru from "Crush" (the scene in the Bronze ... awwww; they were such a cute couple). I don't know what I'm going to get signed at the next few conventions; someone give me ideas!

I walked in in the middle of James Leary's presentation. He was *so hungover*. It was pretty funny; James Leary's drunkenness and his hangover were a running joke all weekend. He talked about the obvious stuff; Clem's makeup, what's it like on the set, y'know. I had a great seat; C07, which is third row near the left. Then Iyari came on, and she did a fine job. She was very sweet and enthusiastic. Unfortunately this one jerk asked her this horrible question about whether the other cast members resented Sarah Michelle Gellar for leaving the show and causing it to end, and she had a hard time getting around it before finally answering that she didn't know. Otherwise the questions were pretty cool. Iyari and James Leary went long because Andy Hallett had missed his plane, so he didn't do a Q&A on Saturday. Then at 2:30 JM came on and talked. One thing that was cool: the Spike & Dru look-alikes were sitting right next to me. The boy dressed as Spike was just adorable.

I'm sure that there are a billion transcripts of JM's Q&A out there already so I'm not going into detail, but here are a few things that I noticed. James talked about how his final scenes were filmed separately on the second unit, while the Scooby gang's final scene was filmed together, apart from him. So all the emotional goodbyes happened there, and he wasn't a part of it; his final scene was just like any other day (but with a more expensive set). He said that he thought this was fitting because Spike was never a part of that group, and that's reflected in real life too; he wasn't a part of the group the same way as everyone else. He also was asked if he thought Spike's ending was satisfying, both for Spike as a character and for him as an actor, and he said yes to both. Someone asked him to do Shakespeare, so he did a bit from "The Tempest" instead of the Macbeth that he usually does. A girl also said that she has to write a paper on "Hamlet" so she asked him to explain it to her, and he got all excited about it and gave his whole interpretation of the play and how it should be performed (it's about growing up, so Hamlet's youth and vulnerability should be emphasized at the beginning, instead of the pompous way that actors usually do Hamlet). And he went on about how he wants Joss to do Hamlet because Joss gets that. He also said that he's considering doing "Angel," but if he does he wants to be a regular cast member, because it takes such a committment that he can't do other work (especially because it means he has to bleach his hair). It didn't sound all that promising to me; he didn't seem to think that they'd be willing to pay as much as he's asking. (Wah!) Someone asked him about who he would miss most from the Buffy cast, and he actually seemed to get a bit choked up (he was definitely very emotionally affected) when he said that he would miss *everyone*, because they had been through so much together that they were like family. Someone also asked him about how he managed to do the final scene of "Beneath You," and he said that it was very, very difficult (especially since they had to film it twice with the re-write) and it made him reconsider his view of method acting. It works for a film when you can immerse yourself and it's over, but it's maybe not a good idea on a long-running TV show when you have to immerse yourself in such intense emotions for such an extended period of time. It sounded like going into that place in himself (to play tortured, guilt-ridden, insane Spike) was very difficult and upsetting. Oh, and one very cool thing: someone told James about how Spike is such a popular character for fanfic and how so many people write stories about him, and asked what he thought of that. He said that he thinks it's wonderful, because art is about communication, and if people are so affected that they are writing their own stories about Spike, it means that he succeeded and was really able to communicate something meaningful to those people. (I want to get an exact quote of this and put it on my website).

After the Q&A they had the autograph sessions, which went *wonderfully*. The assigned seating was awesome, because it meant you didn't have to stand in line for a long time, and you could move around because you knew about when your row would be called. Every con should have assigned seats like that. I got my Spike & Dru card signed, and of course James recognized me from the cocktail party. And I felt weird being all fangirly, since we'd been talking casually the night before, so I just said "Hey, thanks for staying so long last night, we really enjoyed it" and he said something about he was embarrassed about making everyone listen to him ramble for so long, and I said no, we loved it.

After that, we ate and got ready for the banquet. (Elizabeth and Sharon were really lucky because one of them didn't have a banquet ticket and one didn't have a cocktail party ticket, but a group of people actually *cancelled* the con because they found out that people from Toronto were coming. Since Elizabeth and Sharon are from Toronto, they got the tickets from the people who cancelled. I love that irony.)

The banquet was pretty crappy; the line was huge and unorganized when we were going in, and then most of the tables were so far from the guests that you couldn't even see them. The food was horrible (although the only thing I could eat was the salad, anyway). Two people won a raffle to sit next to James, and the other two paid for it in the auction. One paid $6000 and the other paid $5000. To sit next to him at dinner. $6000 to sit next to him at dinner. (!!!)

So, from what we were told later, what happened was that James was contracted for 1 hour at the banquet, which the con people didn't realize at first. So he sat there and ate the crappy food for an hour, then he wanted to go. And they realized that he hadn't taken pictures with anyone, which is what we were promised, so they rushed him through really fast. Each table got one group photo. It was pretty clear that James just wanted to get out of there, which I really can't blame him for. He did what he was contracted to do, the food was horrible, the atmosphere was not intimate or comfortable, it was just weird. So most of us didn't get any interaction at the banquet, other than that quick group photo.

After the banquet, Andy Hallett (who had finally arrived around 5pm) did a small Q&A, then was joined by James Leary. They goofed off for a while, and eventually 10 people did karaoke and they judged. (It was cute how they took the judging really seriously and actually graded everybody and debated about who should win. And their choices were exactly what I would have chosen, too). They everyone begged Andy to sing, so they did a big group sing with Andy doing backup; he was clearly exhausted and not in the mood to really sing.

After the karaoke was a dance, which was boring, and eventually we went to bed. (It was funny when we went to bed, because I took a shower after Elizabeth and Sharon got into bed, then I crawled into bed afterwards and Elizabeth grabbed me and said she thought I was her cat being really heavy. Then in the morning she didn't remember that at all, and told me she had been talking in her sleep when she explained that she thought I was her cat).

So, Sunday we got up and headed downstairs. I decided that having James sign a 50 cent trading card was kinda crappy, so I decided to get something cooler. I also remembered when the original Spike action figures were being sold for $30, and now they're like $70-100. So I decided to splurge and buy one of the new Spike action figures now ($45, with a stupid blue overshirt and white undershirt) and have him sign that. I took it out of the box so that he could sign the actual figure (on the side of the coat).

I got there in time to see Robin Atkin Downs' presentation, which was actually quite entertaining. Then James Leary, who was feeling much better and who did a much better presentation since he wasn't so hung-over. Then Iyari, who did well but got crappy questions again (TWO people asked her whether she was uncomfortable replacing Tara! It was so incredibly rude; it's not her fault that Joss killed Tara or that Kennedy is irritating. I really can't believe that people asked her that, and that they wouldn't let it go and asked her *again*). She explained that Alyson Hannigan pulled her aside and explained to her that people were going to hate her because she was replacing Tara, but it's okay because everyone hated Oz for replacing Xander as Willow's love interest, then they hated Tara for replacing Oz, and now they hate Kennedy but they'll grow to love her. Then Andy Hallett came on and was absolutely hilarious; he was very goofy and silly and babbled a lot. Mainly he told a story about a bus that he had when he was 15 years old. Then JM came on and answered questions. One funny thing was when someone asked him what it felt like to know that someone paid $6000 to sit next to him at the banquet, and he said he was just shocked, and he asked "What could I possibly do to be worth $6000?" And then everyone cracked up laughing, thinking about what *exactly* he could do to be worth that much money. Oh, and someone else told him about Andy Hallett showing his ass at a con in Toronto (which Andy had been talking about in his Q&A, because someone actually had a photo. Apparently Andy had been trying to show his tattoo, but he was *really* drunk.) James got this really funny look on his face like "Oh my god, I can't believe Andy did that."

So, James finished talking and we went through to get autographs again. I got my Spike action figure autographed (he signed the side of the coat, in silver ink) and I said that it's great of him to go to so many conventions this year, and that he seems to enjoy it a lot. And he said that he does enjoy it, and he's doing it more this year just because he didn't have time to do so many in previous years. So I thanked him for doing them.

Then we went and got Andy Hallett's autograph; he was in another room and there was an insanely long line. Iyari and James Leary were signing in a room nearby, and Iyari came out when we walked by and chatted with us while we were in line. Did I mention that she's really cool? We just chatted about normal stuff, like how this is her first con and what she thought of it. She said that she was very nervous on Saturday but then she relaxed and enjoyed it. On Sunday she got progressively more nervous, though, because she felt that people were specifically asking her questions to trip her up. So we commiserated over how awful those pro-Tara/anti-Kennedy questions were. Then we talked about clothes (she said that her normal clothes are simlar to mine, but Joss wouldn't let her wear them because they made her look too similar to Faith--and she was really embarrassed when he told her that because at the time she didn't know who Faith was). And we talked about boots; she wants tall ones like mine. And hair; she said that she had parts of hers pink for a while, but now her agent says that she has to have it long and dark and "Latin" looking. I really liked her.

So, then we got Andy Hallett's autograph. Sharon gave him maple syrup candy from Canada, and he literally stopped signing, ripped open the package, and devoured two big pieces of the candy, all while thanking Sharon effusively. Then Elizabeth had him sign a trading card, but it got smeared, so he spit on the card, wiped off the first signature with a tissue, and then signed it again. It was cute.

Then we went back to the room with Iyari and James Leary and took photos with both of them and chatted a bit more. I had James Leary sign a photo of Clem for me, because, y'know, Clem. He's cool. I didn't buy a photo of Iyari, because that would have just been too weird; I liked her too much as a person to want an autographed photo of her. (It would have been like paying for an autographed photo of Elizabeth or Sharon).

Most everyone left Sunday evening, so there wasn't much to do Sunday night. We ended up in a room with the con organizers where we discussed all the aspects of the con, what we liked (cocktail party! and the quick autograph lines) and what we didn't like (lack of communication, time and room changes, slow registration, crappy banquet). I really, really like the attitudes of the con organizers. They were very respectful to us, and they really went out of their way to make it a good experience. They kept going out of their way to make sure *everyone* got their autographs and had a good time. I really liked the way they handled things, especially since they were so interested in getting our feedback and seeing how they could improve next time.

Oh, and this is funny. After one of the guys came back from taking James to the airport, he came into the room with us and showed us James' two room keys from the Hilton (nearby, where James was staying). He asked who wanted them, and everyone was like "me! me!" So he asked "Who do you like better, Tara or Kennedy?" and he gave them to the two girls who said Kennedy.

Then a group of us stayed up late talking and finally went to bed very late. We got up the next morning and hung out. Elizabeth and Sharon left, and I went to lunch with Monduane and a few other people. Then we finally went to the airport and caught our flights home.