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V:
The Convention Details
Click on pictures to enlarge. There are no earth or Sirian words to describe the excitement of the "V" Convention, held September 16-17, 2000 in Los Angeles, CA at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Thirteen "V" guests were booked, and a surprise guest showed up! Joe Harnell, the music composer for "V: The Original," decided to tag along with Ken Johnson! As if we could handle yet another treat! Since there are so many breathtaking things to tell, I'll start from the beginning and will continue updating regularly, so be sure to CHECK BACK every couple of days! Friday, September 15 L.A. decided to have heatwave weather the weekend of the convention, so you can just imagine how sticky and hot things were. I was travelling with my penpal, Theresa K. Since our plane flight was cancelled, we were late in getting to the Fan Gathering Friday night which was held at the hotel's lounge. But at last we arrived! After dumping our luggage off in our room, we ran down to the Lounge to meet up with everyone. It was great seeing old friends and penpals I haven't met yet! Some of the fans were in their "V" shirts and "V" caps, while others were dressed in regular garb. "V" was playing on all of the television screens in the bar. It was fun watching "regular hotel guests" come into the bar and feel totally out of place! They couldn't understand why there wasn't a sporting event on the TV, and why everyone in the lounge knew everyone else and why there was so much excitement going on! Saturday, September 16 The hotel was swarming with "V" fans. I woke up early, around 5am, because I couldn't sleep. Theresa and I got dressed and decided to explore the hotel to make sure we knew where to go when the convention opened at 10:30am. Much to our surprise, lots of "V" fans were already up and about, for the same reason as us. Who could sleep knowing that in just a few short hours, we would be at one of the "V" lifetime events?! Theresa and I decided to roam around L.A. for breakfast. The heat was horrible, and the streets were empty. It was very boring compared to New York. Theresa found this great Mexican cafeteria. Meanwhile, all we could think about was the convention. Still having plenty of time left, when we got back to the hotel, we went back down to the lower level where they were setting up for the convention. As we were heading down, we saw others coming up. They were being turned away, so we just all hung out in the hotel lobby until it was time to swarm the con. It was as if we were wearing signs on us that said "V Fans Here!" because others had no trouble spotting us, even in our regular clothes, and they just plopped down in the lounge with us. It was as if we made immediate new friends. There was just so much to talk about and everyone was so nice! Even though the convention started at 10:30, we couldn't help ourselves. At 10am we all headed downstairs to wait on line. As we're standing there, Mickey Jones was standing near the dealer's room. Turns out he brought his production crew with him to make a "V" Convention documentary! This will be available for sale through his website at http://www.mickeyjones.com . Mickey's crew did do a lot of taping, including some of the actors' speeches, but not all of them. Marc Singer didn't want to be videotaped.. Meanwhile, David Packer walked right by us! No one (but the very few!) even recognized him because he just slinked right past everyone, using the snake techniques he must've learned on "V"! David went over to the convention table and was looking at brochures and things where they were going to be selling T-Shirts. As the excitement was building, the convention line grew longer and longer. I walked back to introduce myself to the fans in case some of them were my penpals or email pals. And alas, the convention opened a few minutes after that! The dealers' room was the first thing everyone was led into. There was "V" stuff all over the place. Most people ran over to the table with the 8x10 pictures so they could have the actors autograph the pictures. Believe it or not, there was a picture there I didn't have of Jane Badler from Mission Impossible. How shocking is that?! There were people selling hand-made shuttles, "V" costumes, laser guns, and a bunch of other things. Finally, after 15 years of searching, I found the Vivitar camera case that goes on the belt of the Visitor uniform (I don't have a uniform myself, but I since Vivitar doesn't make that case/camera anymore, I figured this was my only opportunity to get one in case I do get a uniform down the line.)
First stop was Mickey Jones' table. This guy really loves his stuff. Sweet as can be, and cuddly too (I got a big hug & squeeze out of him!) he had stories upon stories to tell.
Next to David Packer was Blair Tefkin! Boy did she look great! Sweet and petite, Blair was making a documentary video which Theresa, David May, and I finagled our way into. Okay, we didn't finagle. I didn't even know about it till her rep asked us to sign release forms.
Frank Ashmore was also signing. This was the second time I had the pleasure of meeting him, and he was still the gentleman he was back at ShadowCon X. This man is one of the most delightful people on the planet.
Then over in the corner we heard little peeping sounds. It was Marin May! Katie Maxwell's now 23 years old! (as of convention date). Cute and bubbly, this girl has everything going for her.
Stay tuned for the continuation of "V": The Convention! More being posted soon!
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