DAY 1 -- THURSDAY Leaving Little Rock, Arkansas at 1:30 p.m., I got on a plane by myself for the first time since 1980... traveling with small children has its advantages (ie getting on board first) but it can’t beat traveling on your own.  After a layover in Dallas/Ft. Worth, I was finally on my way to Los Angeles.  So the audio for the movie didn't work; I listened to Jim Byrnes.  There was the usual wait for luggage, hassle with the shuttle bus, and checking in, and then... THE BAR. I knew the large group of rowdy women in the bar was the right group, and we proceeded to get acquainted and run up a bar bill approximating $500.   DAY 2 -- FRIDAY Work-out, breakfast, then hanging out and helping set up the con, and then... it was time.  We got our badges, signed our Raffle Tickets, and spent most of Friday evening watching video snippets of Stan’s appearances on various shows.  The most significant show was of course, RIDERS IN THE SKY (aka RITS).  Yes, I believe the buffalo is gay.  I will be haunted by images of bouncing heads for the rest of my natural life.  I will cringe at the idea of yodelling.  Then there was more time in the bar/lobby, and another humongous bar tab.  (At least WE pay our tab, Methos.) [Side-bar: family crisis telephone call in the middle of the night -- my oldest son (almost 20) was held up at gun-point as he closed at the Blockbuster where he and his girlfriend both work.  He wasn’t hurt, just shook up enough that he needed to talk to his mom.  Ahhh.]   DAY 3 -- SATURDAY This is the day.  We gathered in the con area for a morning with Maureen Russell (author of The Complete Watcher's Guide), Roberta Brown (sword mistress for Queen of Swords), and Andrew Helm (various positions in Highlander, The Raven, and Queen of Swords), armed with dailies, stories, and above all, THE SCRIPT.  Rescued from the official shredder, an authenticated copy of the first draft of ARCHANGEL (aka Hawk-Spit, the episode that never happened) was presented to the convention (bless you, Evil Kevin), to be auctioned on Sunday.  In this draft, by David Tynan, there are two endings offered.  In one (the better one, to be sure) NO ONE DIES. We watched dailies from Highlander, Highlander: The Raven, and Queen of Swords.  Maureen, Andrew (a con-virgin), and Roberta were all very friendly, very generous with information, and all-in-all delightful convention guests.  Stan and Liz arrived, and we were treated to more video clips, incredibly candid answers (and some questions for us!), and wonderful repartee between Stan and Liz.  Liz introduced herself as a member of Clan Denial, and Stan seemed very pleased to see so many of us in red.  (The con shirts were supposed to be printed on blue, but due to a cosmic screw-up at the printers, they were done on red, with the con logo on the back instead of the front.)  Yes, I wore red, for one of the few times in my life. All the guests were wonderful in the autograph session, chatting individually with each of us.  I brought a set of toy Arkansas license plates, one with ELIZABETH, the other with AMANDA, as a gift for Liz.  She was happy to meet another Arkansan.  During the photo session, she mentioned my lack of a Southern accent (I’m originally from Southern California, not Arkansas), and I slipped immediately into the accent I learned when I lived in her home town, Russellville.  I had wondered what it would take to bring back her accent; that was it. Then all too soon, they all left, with promises of more tomorrow.  We watched more of Stan’s appearances in shows, old and new, then adjourned to the bar to await midnight and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Nineteen of us piled into three cars and set out for the Nuart Theatre in Westwood.  JJ followed Mike, who followed Rowan.  We in JJ’s car were separated from the other two, but made our way though the wilds of residential Santa Monica and soon joined the remainder of the group, in plenty of time for the show.  We sacrificed 8 or 9 virgins, and a good time was had by all.   DAY 4 -- SUNDAY Sunday morning brought back Maureen Russell and more dailies, notably those from the Jimmy scene and the never-aired “Toga” scene from Comes a Horseman/Revelation 6:8.  Take after take of the Jimmy scene gave us new insights to the dynamics of the scene.  Maureen seemed surprised that we were so stongly interested in the Jimmy scene, then I told her about  acronym many of us use  -- YOY, meaning “Yes.  Oh, yes.” She seemed to understand us a little better after that.  Then, the Toga scenes, never aired scenes between Methos and Kronos.  They take place in Greece (they're actually wearing tunics, not togas) and explain how Methos left the Horsemen and what happened to Kronos during the ensuing two thousand years. We offered to buy her lunch if she stayed and showed us the dailies from the Double Quickening, and while we were watching Peter Wingfield as Methos undergo a Quickening (sans effects, of course), Stan arrived. Stan and Liz took turns auctioning off item after item, the “Stan-opoly” game, and the “Amanda-opoly” game among them.  While reading the properties in Amanda-opoly, he came across “Mac’s Barge” and “Methos’s Loft,” which led to the wonderful quotation:  “Richie couldn’t get into Mac’s barge,  so he’s hanging out at Methos’s loft.” There were four shirts to auction off, and it was mentioned that the shirt would be worth more if he modeled it...  At first Stan was somewhat recalcitrant to change shirts in front of everyone, but with Liz’s help (I think she was channelling Amanda) he doffed his dark blue shirt and modeled each of the auction items.  Widespread, significant drooling occurred.  Photos were taken, and will be posted on the photo pages of this site. The first draft script of ARCHANGEL was won at auction by none other than Kris, the Queen of Denial.  Duh.  Then there was only time for a few last autographs and good-byes, and ...     Let’s do this again next year!!!

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last updated
26 August 2001
 

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