Mad Monster Party 2013 Part Two!

Saturday – we woke up a little later than I’d planned – 9:20am - but the previous day had knocked us out. We walked out of the room about an hour later – showered and ready to mix it up with MMP again. I feared we’d missed breakfast – but thankfully the hotel restaurant’s breakfast buffet was still up – so, fortified with eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, coffee, and orange juice – we hit it again. I had thought about taking us to the day’s first panel – a tribute to Forrest J. Ackerman – legendary editor of Famous Monsters magazine from the 1950’s into the 1980’s – but our late breakfast precluded that.




While I got a bite after my bite...



Ray stalked Gary Busey a little more...



I kept dropping by the Rocky Horror table...



...while Ray checked out the celebrities.

Instead we went back to the convention and did more people watching and dealer room perusing. The crowd for Saturday was probably five times the crowd that was there Friday night. The joint was packed all day – you had to kind of slide through the crowd anywhere you went. A little daunting – but awesome for crowd watching! Our next event was Bruce Campbell – appearing only on Saturday with an iron clad non-negotiable schedule. Bruce was doing an hour of photo ops in front of a green screen, then a 45 minute presentation on stage, followed by three hours of autographing. His photo op and autograph were pre-sold – and sold out – but I worked with Bruce years ago and already have photos with him and autographs, so no loss there. Thankfully his chat was open to any – and our RIP tickets got us reserved seating up front in the room. We went in there about 1:40p and waited it out, again with plenty of people watching options to keep us entertained.

Two views of the crowd on hand to see Bruce Campbell.

Bruce had them run a lengthy (and really cool) trailer for the new Evil Dead movie before he took the stage at 2pm promptly – and as I predicted to Ray – the show was incredible. Bruce’s “persona” onstage is Ash-style smartassery to the nth degree. He chatted briefly about the new Evil Dead movie – then took questions from the audience. He gave everybody hell throughout whether for not being the person he pointed to for the next question to the questions themselves. Ray and I howled for 45 straight minutes.

Giving a fan her money back for her least favorite of his movies.
She said Army of Darkness. She was lucky to leave the room alive.

Bruce wrapped it up – and when he left the nearly full room emptied out by two thirds. Our next event was the Jaws panel – and I asked and found out it was in this same room. We got seats up front center for this, then held the seats and took turns running out for a quick restroom stop. The Jaws reunion consisted of Susan Backlinie – Chrissie - who swam naked in the opening moments and became the shark’s first victim; Carl Gottlieb – the film’s screenwriter - who also played the newspaper editor; Joe Alves – the film’s production designer and later director of Jaws 3-D; and Jeffrey Kramer – Deputy Hendricks, who loses his breakfast when he finds Chrissie’s remains on the shore. The panel was terrific, as these four took us on a very entertaining verbal history of the movie’s pre production, filming, and post-production, accompanied on the screen behind them with drawings and photos from Alves’ scrapbook. They were scheduled for an hour; went an hour and twenty minutes; could have obviously gone on another hour – and I wish they would and could have – it was amazing to be able to hear about this film from four of the people who were a part of it almost 40 years ago.

Susan Backlinie, Carl Gottlieb, Joe Alves, Jeffrey Kramer

After that panel, we were clear for about three hours, so it was back to people watching and dealer room perusing (there’s SO much stuff on sale you could spend a week and not see it all.) This time we were better prepared to get some dinner – so we chatted about taking a break and leaving the hotel for a big dinner, or grabbing something there. Thinking it over, I decided pulling the car out of its nestled spot, fighting traffic, finding parking, eating, paying, fighting traffic, and finding a new parking space at the hotel would be WAY too time consuming – so we went ahead and ate the buffet dinner at the hotel bar. It was fine – food was good, all you could eat. We wrapped up dinner in a third of the time it would have taken to leave and get something – spent about the same money, and got to stay and people watch. Win Win Win.

This young actress - Brandy Alyssa Young - is going places. I knew her when.

After dinner we headed back to the convention area, and came in a few minutes late to the costume contest, being held in the same ballroom as the Bruce Campbell and Jaws shows. We stood off to the side in the middle and watched. They brought up the costumed folk in groups of five – then had the audience applaud for their favorite. Each winner from each group of five stayed nearby, and eventually there was a group of seven or eight finalists. There were some AMAZING costumes there. Some faves – a really good Jason ala Richard Brooker from Part 3; a zombie stormtrooper; the Grady Twins from The Shining; three Ghostbusters.

The Grady Twins; Jason and his counselor victim; the Ghostbusters, Death trooper (zombie stormtrooper), and half
of the long lanky Avatar alien made up this group of five. Zombie stormtrooper went on to the next round.

But the one who stood out? A really nice looking Leatherface who completely differentiated himself by NEVER BREAKING CHARACTER. EVER. When the host wanted him to introduce himself – Leatherface handed him a slip of paper – which the host read – it was the correct info for the 2003 remake version – and written entirely straight. Then when the host wanted everyone to dance all of a sudden, Leatherface sunk and whacked his head with both hands – upset – then did the pelvic saw thrust from TCM 2 – PERFECT. And the absolute topper – there was a bright spotlight at the back of the room throwing light onto the stage, and putting large shadows on the screen behind them. The host suddenly required the contestants to do some shadow puppetry. The two remaining guys actually did some pretty impressive stuff with their hands – but again, totally not in character. Leatherface grabbed the host and stood before him – he then took his chainsaw and placed it beside his head – but in the shadow version is totally looked like the saw was IN the guy’s head – Leatherface then did some good saw shaking and acting – and the host totally got into it and did a terrific shake of death – the crowd went WILD. It was so cool. And, not to surprise anyone – but Leatherface took the top prize of $500 – and deservedly so. He then stayed up near the stage and allowed the crowd to photo op with him. You don’t think I missed my shot?

After this, the next event was the Miss Horrorlina (Carolina plus Horror) contest for the same room. For this one Ray and I got seats up front. It was a raucous event, with most of the women in very little clothing as they were introduced. Tats and piercings abounded – and the crowd was eating it up. I had hoped for some of the celebs to be the judges – but where I wanted guys like Tyler Mane, David Naughton, and Kane Hodder – we got the convention’s magician, somebody’s girlfriend, and Ogre – a celeb I only know from appearing in 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams. They were pretty disengaged – with supposedly edgy questions that were in fact fairly silly (“Your favorite Sesame Street character?” “If you ate hot dogs and drank purple Kool-Aid, then jumped on the bed, what would happen?”) so they added little to the proceedings.

The judges.

But the girls more than made up for it with scads of attitude and some of the funniest “talents” I’ve ever seen. Among the talents – shotgunning a beer; complimenting people; making a sandwich; singing; go-go dancing; and the showstopper – pulling off the electrical tape that made up her costume from one boob, then reapplying it in a new pattern. The show went R rated when that nipple hit air – and the crowd again ate it up with a spoon. This was taken even further when three additional contestants joined late in the pageant – they had been performing in the haunted mill attraction – and it was three young women in panties and body paint only – ARROOOOOOOO!!!!!

I did not pick the winner – the one who did win was cute but one of the least edgy in the group, so I never would have suspected she was going to take the crown.

The four finalists. The winner was the young lady on the far left in the skeleton teddy.

After the pageant we went for a beer at the bar and said hey to Crystal – who, by the way, was pulling major hours for this event – she was coming in mid morning and working until the wee hours in two different bars in the hotel – and she was just as sweet and funny at 2 am as she was at noon. Awesome woman. Thankfully she agreed to a photo op - one of my fave pics from the event, actually.

Then we decided to check out the haunted mill – which was really a small bit of spook house – made R rated by the inclusion of the three girls in body paint. But worth a few minutes walk through and all in good fun.

The show officially closed down around 10 or 11 – but the parties and fun and chatting and people watching went on almost until the sun came up.

So we moved in to Sunday with an earlier wakeup – we needed to get ready, eat breakfast, and move out of the room and check out of the room by around 11 am before moving on to the third and last day of the convention. So, running on the fumes of about 4 hours sleep we plunged in to the day with bellies full of the breakfast buffet again. This time I had the plan of getting the last autographs I wanted – and then I hoped to score some special video. This was also my day to pick up whatever dealer room items I could afford with my dwindling cash supply. The crowds had shrunk back to less than what had been there Friday night – which made the autograph procurement and video requests were much easier. As I made my pitch for the video clip – I realized later I didn’t explain the central conceit of the blog – that “Let’s Get Out of Here!” is spoken in nearly every movie – to anyone except one celeb – who threw back their head and laughed at the explanation. Wish I’d thought to share it with all of them! I only got turned down by one celeb – but that wasn’t unexpected either.

Howard Sherman

Linnea Quigley

R.A. Mihailoff

Sunday was also the day the convention gave us our “swag bag” – a collection of freebies given the RIP guests. I had no idea what to expect - but wow! What a haul! Posters; two t-shirts; a pint glass with the convention mascot on it; and copies of the three issues of Mad Monster Magazine! Awesome!

Vampirella

The Bloke - from Bloke's Tomb of Terror comics.

One last pass at the Rocky Horror table!

In the dealer room I picked up a couple of DVDs, and a special item – there was a shelf full of figures I’d been eyeing since first seeing them – small sculpted and cast figures about five or six inches tall – all representing characters from horror and sci-fi – done in a stylized, slightly cartoony style and amazingly cool. I had to have one – but my limited funds kept some of the more desirable figures (Ash from Army of Darkness, Dr. Herbert West) out of my price range. But I could afford one – the monster from the second Kolchak TV movie – Dr. Richard Malcolm – the Night Strangler! I was thrilled to get him – and found out I can get Kolchak and his first enemy – vampire Janos Skorzeny through mail order – if I ever have money again!







We had originally planned to stay through the tail end of the show – 5pm Sunday – and had even discussed staying in Charlotte after the MMP to attend the one night only screening of Compound Fracture that Tyler Mane was going to be hosting - but Ray needed to get back to Wilmington around 6 or so – and it was a four hour drive. So we had adjusted to leaving at 2pm and skipping Compound Fracture – but at 1:30pm I had literally ONE DOLLAR left in my wallet. (I will never say how many dollars were in there when I started). So, we packed it up and headed home.

This time we drove from A to B.

It was a HELL of a weekend – truly a blast and I definitely want to do it again next year! In the meantime - I might do a third post - and put up some more pictures of the swag and booty I brought home from the show - but that's going to have to wait a bit - as tomorrow begins my third annual April blogfest - the April 2013 A-Z Blogging Challenge!

I am going with a theme - which you can see tomorrow - and I'll be posting every day of the month except Sundays covering the 26 letters of the alphabet. All the regular departments are going on hold - and will resume in May! Wish me luck, and until tomorrow's inaugural post in the challenge - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Saturday Night at the Movies 3/30/13!

Who cares what picture we see?


Alan Tudyk could probably give a rat's tushie - but we're still going with this one tonight:

I had never even heard of this movie before one of my blog buddies reviewed it - Jude Felton over at Lair of Filth - but when he offered up some giveaway copies - I jumped in to that contest with both feet - and as a result now own a copy of the movie! And since I often feature movies that have some years on them with these SNatM posts - it's nice to be featuring a brand new flick in this regular department!



I kind of like animation stories like this - futuristic or fantasy - movies like Wizards and Heavy Metal are high on my list - so this looks like it might be pretty cool visually - and how wrong can you go having Tim Curry as the voice of your villain?


In any case - you could be joining me for my first ever viewing - and that could be happening as soon as...tonight...if you want to come over and join me, that is!




Until next post - which will wrap up the Mad Monster Party AND lead us into the April 2013 A-Z Blogging Challenge - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Mad Monster Party 2013 Part One!

 

I had eyeballed the 2012 edition of this horror convention taking place in Charlotte NC - about a four hour drive from here - back in the late months of 2011, but ended up not going as I instead went and hung out with Adrienne King at the Ghost Hunt on the Battleship since it was right in my backyard here.



But as 2012 was coming to a close - I was feeling an itch to "go among my people" again (as my wondrous wife puts it) and I started websurfing the Mad Monster Party 2013 site. I noticed one particular celebrity guest - none other than this blog's Good Luck Charm -

My movie buddy Ray is a HUGE Gary Busey fan - and when I mentioned the MMP to him - he literally seemed to take no time even considering. He answered yes so quickly I thought I had accidentally added a yes to the end of my sentence. Then I remembered I don't have a Boston accent.




From there we'll just jump ahead - we got the tickets - splurging on the VIP level - (called RIP smirk smirk) We also secured hotel rooms in the same hotel as the show. The show was scheduled for Friday March 22nd- Sunday March 24th.

The Blake Hotel, Charlotte NC

The last few days leading up to the show were murderously long - we were planning to leave mid morning Friday to arrive early to mid afternoon in Charlotte and check in to the hotel - with the convention then starting at 5pm that evening. Those last few days, however, I visited the show's website and got nervous at comments that the hotel had been overbooked.



Now, I'll just say here that Ray had never been to any kind of convention or show like this - so he totally left the planning and such up to me - so when I got nervous and wanted to get over to Charlotte earlier to make sure we got our room - Ray was all about it.

We went from B to A.

Accordingly, we hit the road Friday morning at a little after 8. The drive was actually fun and went by quick as we indulged in another unrecorded episode of the Craig and Ray show - where we talk nonstop about any ol' damn thing that comes in to our minds.



We got to the hotel around 12:00 noon; got parked and checked in no problem. We grabbed all the stuff out of the car and took it to the room - then headed out to get some lunch. When we got in the elevator going down from our tenth floor room - there's a VERY tall man already in there. Ray doesn't recognize him - but I do. It's Tyler Mane. We've been in the hotel 15 minutes and we've already run in to a celebrity.

Tyler Mane

I initiated a quick conversation with Mr. Mane mentioning that I wish he could bring the horror movie he's touring in exhibition around the country to Wilmington. Tyler grinned and asked if I was the guy who'd been requesting that online. I admitted that was me. Sadly, they are locked with the dates and places they already set up - and their publicist is out with a severe illness - so it looks like Compound Fracture won't be having a screening in Wilmington anytime soon. They were doing a screening Sunday night after the MMP 2013 was over - but Ray needed to get back to Wilmington relatively early for work Monday (I took another day off to decompress) so we weren't going to be able to stay for an 8pm movie Sunday night with a four hour drive home.



Digression - if you'd like to read my interview with actor Muse Watson (I Know What You Did Last Summer), that talks about his role in Compound Fracture as well as his long acting career - go HERE.



But it was a pleasant chat - and I told Tyler I'd be seeing him later as he went off to do publicity for both the convention and his movie's screening.

Ray was astounded - that we ran in to a celebrity in the elevator - no security or entourage - that I recognized him so quickly and easily - and that Mr. Mane and I had jumped right in to an easy conversation about his movie.


For lunch we went to the Charlotte version of one of our favorite hangouts -

After that it was back to the hotel - because even though the show wasn't officially starting until 6pm (5pm for RIP ticket holders) - the hotel was bustling with activity and was already a fun show to watch.

The show area was closed off until 5pm - so we moseyed around the lobby area and finally gravitated to the pool bar for a beer. The bartender - Crystal - was a sweetheart - gorgeous, funny, and terrific at her job. I ordered a citrus backed microbrew they had called Shock Top - and Ray got a pale amber beer. I wouldn't normally go in to detail about such things - but it will become important moments from now.



So we're chatting with a couple who have also come to the hotel for MMP - oh, how did I know? Here's how:

They were great fun - and they started us off on a great foot - as we discovered throughout the weekend - anyone in costume was always happy to pose for a photo op!





Then, things started to get really cool when we sit back down - and Kane Hodder walks in and takes a seat four down from me around the curve of the bar. He and a buddy are looking for a bite to eat and a brew. They ask what we have - and we identify our beers - or should I say - Ray identifies his beer - and I mistakenly call mine Shock Boy instead of Shock Top. Crystal corrects me to Mr. Hodder who is looking at me with that wicked gleam in his eye - and he then proceeds to do that time honored tradition between guys - he starts "busting my balls." "Oh, Shock Boy, is it? Guess we know what you have on your mind!" He then asks Ray if we're sharing a room and did Ray know I was planning to come out of the closet like this? I laugh - enjoying the interaction and the non-PC nature of it - it's part of the Guy Thing - and this exchange starts off a freewheeling conversation between Hodder, his guy, Ray, me, and another guy nearby. It was a hella good time - and Kane kept the insults coming at me once in a while - all in good fun - and always with that twinkle in his eye. At one point I threatened to get director John Buechler to drop another porch on him - as happened in Friday the 13th Part 7 - and he grinned at that.




Kane stepped out of the bar - and Ray followed - and snapped a pic with him - a rare occurrence for this show as there were pre-scheduled green screen photo ops set up with several of the celebs - for a charge of course - and some of the celebs consequently wouldn't pose for cell phone pics. But Ray caught Hodder at the right moment - far enough "off stage" that he said yes to the pic.

I didn't realize he'd gone to do that or I would have joined him - but Ray was worried Hodder might flip out on him and have him ejected from the show or something - so he didn't want to risk the same thing happening to me. Nice thought - but only one of us has a pic with the guy now. Thanks, Ray.






This insult war burned up some time – along with meeting more and more conventioneers coming in and out of the place. I suddenly noticed it was 5:30 – and we were running late! As RIP ticketholders we were allowed to pick up our tickets at 5:00pm, the regular crowd would start filtering in at 6:00pm. So we ran to get our tickets. Everything was coded with wristbands and buttons – they advised to keep the wristband for the weekend as the volunteer staffer – called “stiff” – hee hee - wrapped it around our wrists. I immediately asked about showering and was assured the band was waterproof. We headed up from the ticket area to the main floor of the show. Here’s the show layout. You generally entered right into the room where the DeLorean sat – with the main ballroom for panels on the right, the Haunted Mill straight ahead, and the screening room, reptile room, and RIP lounge all in this same room.

Off to the left was a hallway that came to stairs on the left (which is where you entered after picking up your tickets down those stairs) and then the celebrity room was straight ahead. Off to the right was the dealer room. There was one hallway with more dealer tables on one side of the dealer room, and the other hallway was the Jaws hallway – nicknamed "Amity Aisle" - where the display items from the movie and the celebs from that flick were staged.







So we plunged in to the celebrity room and made our way around in a scope out. Mark Torgl (The Toxic Avenger) was the first person you’d see – then if you went left it was Lita Ford, and if you went right it was Linnea Quigley. At the back of the room – Danny Glover, Gary Busey, and Jake Busey. When Ray saw Gary Busey his eyes went wide as saucers. I asked one of the Stiff members how we would get the free celebrity autograph that came with the RIP ticket, and was told that would start at 7pm. It was 6:15pm. I told Ray he’d need to wait forty five minutes as GB was the celebrity he’d chosen – and he looked at me with a flat stare. “I’ve been waiting more than thirty years to meet him. I can’t wait another forty five minutes!” Okay, I replied – jump in line with some cash – we’ll get you Gunnar Hansen free after 7pm. (Those were the only two celebs I knew he was getting autographs from). Ray waited dutifully. Let me just say that we had some beer with lunch – you might even say we had beer FOR lunch – then had a few more at the hotel bar with Kane Hodder. Ray can drink some beer – and he was averaging three for every one I had – so by the time he was in line at GB’s table – with no dinner in our bellies – he was three sheets to the wind. I was planning to get Busey’s autograph too – so Ray wanted me to go first so he could watch. I stepped up, got my Big Wednesday poster signed – and took a quick pic with the man.

He was so happy to finally meet me!

Then Ray got his Buddy Holly Story poster signed, and he got a picture with the slightly cranky but mostly affable actor. Ray finished getting his pic, and starts to step around the table – I start to walk towards the other row of celeb tables – and look back, expecting Ray to be a few feet behind me. No Ray. I look back – and he’s back in line for Gary Busey. I step over and tell him “Hey, you already met him and got your stuff.” Ray looks at me with a wild look – “He’s going to speak to my girlfriend Allison on the phone!” He intoned. “Uh, Ray, he may not WANT to talk to your girlfriend Allison on the phone.” “HE’S DOING IT.” At this point, I make a snap judgment – drunk pal, known crazy actor, phone. I’m out. “OK!” I stated and stepped away, wondering if I could sneak a picture or video of Busey coming across the table at Ray.

Finally!

Well, eventually Ray makes it to the front of the line again, carefully holding an open line to Allison on MY phone (long(er) story). Busey recognizes he’s already met him and turns to look at the person behind Ray. Ray steps to the side of the table and asks if Busey will talk to his girlfriend. Busey says no. Ray stays. The next person steps up, gets something signed, and steps away. As soon as that encounter finishes, Ray starts to hand the phone to Busey again with a “Please Mr. Busey.” Gary slaps the phone hand back and tells his assistant “Will you handle this?” The guy moves Ray back a bit as the next person gets their item signed – but then the assistant goes to take a pic of that person with Busey, so as soon as the pic is snapped and the fan moves away – while the assistant is still out in front – Ray goes in again, trying to hand the phone to Busey. Busey slaps at it again, then looks at his guy “Handle this!” The guy gets Ray moved back – and as Busey signs the next item he and the assistant have a quick conference. “Charge him.” Busey mutters. The assistant says it will be “…mmmm….$15.” Ray hands him a $20 bill and won’t take the change. Finally, the assistant tells GB he’s paid and Busey takes the phone. He promptly calls Allison April, and chats with her for about 7 seconds. He thrusts the phone back to Ray who takes it and bounces off like a little kid with an ice cream cone.



Thankfully, some snacks and time passing brought Ray back from this precipice as the evening wore on.



We stayed in the autograph area for the next hour and a half or so. I got some stuff signed, and I reconnected with Vic Armstrong – who had directed second unit on a movie I was on called Radioland Murders. I had served as his production assistant for the whole three weeks of his shoot – and I stepped up, mentioning my name and that I had worked for him on Radioland Murders. “Ah yes – you were a big Bond fan!” he stated – remembering me after nearly TWENTY years. I liked him back then – I really like him now. He’d actually just been back to Wilmington – meeting with a producer about a new project he might be directing. We chatted and caught up. His wife Wendy was supposed to be there – she was a stuntwoman of some renown and I had met her interestingly on Radioland Murders (but that story will not lengthen this one – I’ll post it in my RM post later). Wendy had to cancel her appearance – and I commiserated not getting to see her again. Vic signed my Never Say Never Again poster – he and Wendy did the horse jump into water – Vic doubling Connery and Wendy doubling Basinger. I hope to run in to Wendy next time and get her autograph on the other side of the poster.



I next went to Amity Aisle to meet Jeffrey Kramer. I said hello, and went digging in my bag for the item I wanted him to sign. I told him I hoped to surprise him with this one - and his eyes actually lit up when he saw the DVD for Hollywood Blvd - the co-directorial debut for directors Joe Dante and Allan Arkush under the auspices of producer Roger Corman. Kramer played the romantic lead in the movie - and got to schmooze romantically with the late great Candice Rialson. Mr. Kramer signed the DVD cover happily - and we spent a moment lamenting the passing of Ms. Rialson. Then, as he got up to take a picture with me - he said "You just made my weekend bringing this one in, kid!" Very cool!

Jeffrey Kramer and a guy in a cool T-shirt.

At about 7:45 we started working on getting Ray his free autograph from Gunnar Hansen. I will start this off by saying Hansen is not in any way unpleasant, but he’s also not someone who can be approached haphazardly. Unfortunately the Stiff we got to help us mishandled the approach, so we went in to a loooong holding pattern waiting on an MMP higher up to come smooth the situation over. This ended up taking about 25 minutes, which pushed us past the 8:00pm start time for a special preview screening of the remake of Maniac starring Elijah Wood. Dammit.







After giving up on Maniac I took a stroll through the dealer room – noting that Ron Chaney – grandson of Lon Jr. and great grandson of Lon Sr. – was set up just inside this room. He’s a very pleasant man and people enjoyed speaking to him – so it took a while to get to chat with him and not feel like I was interrupting a conversation. He’s very cool – keeping the family legacy alive and doing fun projects like House of the Wolfman – a small indie flick that is the spiritual child of the original Universal Studios Monster Movies. Great guy.

In addition to this kibitzing with the celebs – Ray and I both were having a grand ol’ time simply people watching our fellow MMP-ers. They were a wildly diverse and yes, wild gang – older professorial types in blazers and sweaters flanked by tiny little twenty something girls tattooed everywhere skin touched air – and that was a lot of skin touching air in some cases. There were also the guests in costume – like our bar zombie pals – and these ranged from street clothes and a little face paint to a guy in a full on seven foot tall Godzilla costume with tail. (!)

Ray and the Grady Twins from The Shining - contemplating some redrum...

A couple of lovelies, at least one of which was born the gender on display...

It's just a jump...to the left...

We hung around just taking it all in – and I noticed that while the show was supposed to close for the night at 11 – there were still celebs hanging out in that room until 11:30 or so. After that it was to the other hotel bar for some drinks and “Scare-e-oke.” Finally, at about 1am we realized we hadn’t eaten dinner and were starving, so we ordered a pizza and took it up to the room at about 1:30am where we wolfed down a couple of slices each and crashed.





Enjoying some "Scare-e-oke."

Excellent first day!







And I realized I nattered on enough about Ray’s drunken assault on Gary Busey that it might be a good idea to split this into a two parter – so this will end Part One – we’ll pick up with Part Two and Saturday morning's shenanigans very soon!







Until then, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!