Report and photos by TeriOT

What a weekend !

After an uneventful flight, I got off the plane in Baltimore and was actually greeted at the airport by my partner in crime (Terri), Jen and The Driver. Too Kewl. I've never had A Driver before. <g>

We thought we had a missing luggage situation for a few moments but it made an appearance and we were whisked away to the Sheraton. ....... I do mean "whisked". I seriously thought we were NOT going to make it. This guy clearly grew up in New York City and has waaaaaay too much faith in the power of car brakes. <scary stuff>

The Sheraton was lightyears away from the HoJo Hell we had experienced at the Atlanta con. But, amongst hotels the world over, there is one constant. Desk clerks are incapable of getting room reservations right. Despite numerous phone calls to reconfirm my confirmations, they still managed to get things all screwed up but, surprisingly, every one ended up with a bed and I didn't get any extra room bills I wasn't expecting ....... yet.

A chilly walk across the foot bridge and we were in the mall. Yiiiii HA !!! Good shopping and close by, what more could you ask for?

We then hung out in the lobby and found all our friends, old and new; went to change and then headed for Haussner's to eat.

ChezHey had organized limos for the event and we all piled in. Our limo driver was a hoot and we had a lot of fun explaining why we were in Baltimore (while trying not to actually tell him a darn thing). He was hysterically funny and determined to join our "sorority".

Haussner's simple has to be experienced to be believed. It's like eating in the middle of an art museum, and the food was fantastic....... not to mention the company. Unfortunately ................ I clearly ate the wrong thing. Someone else will have to tell you of the hilarity that was Friday night, because *I* spent the evening in the ER. {{{{Lindy}}}} drove me and patiently explained to the Receptionist-From-Hell that I was having an anaphylactic reaction and desperately needed some medical attention before I stopped breathing entirely. LONG story but I can't wait to write my letter of complaint. :::::Heavy sigh::::::: It wouldn't be a con if we didn't have a Teri/Terri in the emergency room.

Needless to say, I *did* recover and was pretty much back to normal by Saturday.

I'm not much of a "Dealer's Room" person but I did buy a beautiful print of Robert that I hadn't seen before and there were some hysterical bumber stickers. Other than that, it looked like a Dealer's Room.

Some of our group are "Commander" members. KQuire put together a wonderful display for the fan club and several other members contributed to it. It seemed to get a lot of attention and everyone agreed it was a terrific job.

We did the film fest/pizza party on Saturday night and some folks danced into the wee hours of the morning but not this girl. I was still a bit woozy all day from the drugs. All thanks to those who helped clean up.

The Main Event I (Saturday/Sunday combined as I have no memory)

Jennifer Hetrick (Vash) was the first guest. I liked her a lot. She's funny and kind of low key. She ran down to the back of the room so all the folks in the "cheap seats" could get some good pics. She laughs at herself and says she's pretty irreverant. She hasn't heard that they are planning to use her again anytime soon but she'd love to do it.

Incidentally, I suppose I've been living under a rock but, I didn't *know* that she'd had an affair with Patrick Stewart - d'uh!! And....... she has *got* to be older than she looks. She said she started out as a singer when she was about 13. She switched around through various styles of music and then turned to acting. She moved to New York to act about 20 years ago (and she was old enough to be living on her own).

The woman is also clearly bulimic ;->
She must wear a size ..... 2 and she says she spends all day shooting at the food table. She was wearing a mini skirt and funky high-heeled, knee-high boots.

Main Event II (Saturday/Sunday combined as I have no memory)

Robert. Yikes, the man gets more handsome every minute. I really *like* this guy. He is so completely himself on stage. He doesn't even *try* to give people the "right" answer. If you ask him a question, he'll tell you exactly what he thinks. If you don't like it - tough. Now, admittedly, that can get him in trouble and he admitted that it can get him in trouble because he doesn't go around smoothing the ruffled feathers of his detractors - and there seemed to be one or two of them at the con.

Some ........ gentleman....... asked him if, as an actor, he felt a sense of gratitude to TOS for creating the kind of roles that would allow him (as an Hispanic actor) to be on a TV show like Voyager.

OH MY OH MY OH MY.

WRONG question. I get a clear sense that "race" is this guy's "button" and it's very easy to push.

Mr B clearly feels that the fans of TOS have overstated it's importance in the grand scheme of things and while it contributed to changing the face of TV, it didn't change the world and he feels no need to bow at the alter.

He rattled off an impressive list of Hispanic actors who were doing their thing long before TOS came along and referred to something he had said previously about the 30th Anniversary (some interview?). Basically, he felt if the entire cast of Voyager was required to be there, why was 90% of the show about TOS. (Incidentally, I agree wholeheartedly). The person asking the question was not impressed by this answer and I've no doubt it will be all over the net in no time.

Other than that rather controversial moment, it was bascially a flirt-fest. About 800 attendees, mostly women, and waaaaaaaay too many hormones. There were more double-entendres and smart-ass comments than you could shake a stick at (oops - unintentional).

I continue to be impressed by the way he interacts with children. He obviously adores them and I'm guessing he's everybody's favorite uncle. There was one little girl who was just precious. She went up on stage with him and starting asking 20 questions. Mom eventually came along and (literally) dragged her off stage. Robert made Mom bring her back so that he could tell her that Roxann Dawson had named her daughter "Emma" (which was this girl's name) and he gave her a big hug before sending her on her way. Too Cute.

Lindy gave him our donation to his theatre company (about $750.00).

Some guy said that there was a lady in the audience who wanted to run her fingers through his hair ( *a* lady ? try 642 of them ). He pretended to get quite upset and said," How would you like it if I came to your home, took your car, raced it around at 90mph and wrapped it around a tree?". She stood up and yelled, "HE (her son) already *did* that". RB started laughing his head off, "You should be ashamed of yourself !!" Then he called Mom up to the stage.

She actually got to run her hands through his hair....... and then he ran his hands through her hair. Ever hear a collective sigh? (Incidentally, she said he has WONDERFUL hair and she nearly passed out when he reciprocated.)

Robert did make a point of saying that he is uncomfortable with really personal questions (like what kind of underwear does he wear?) and would we like it if he came around and asked each of us <rattled off list of intensely personal questions> .... and there were a couple of questions that he danced around without ever answering.

For a big time organizer, Joe Motes seems to forget some pretty obvious things. Like, there was no mike for the audience. So everyone with questions had to go up to the stage. ............ and of course, they all had to get a hug and a kiss. Then they found a mike and everyone lined up against the wall ........... but they still all wanted a hug and a kiss. (well there were a couple of guys who didn't feel the need <g>). One classy gal said she'd just be honoured to shake his hand and then everyone else seemed shamed into doing the same and things proceeded a bit more quickly.

He said he had just come from the cast party Friday night after they finished taping for the season. He thinks KJ and Chak are beyond hope. The writers have indicated to him that it's a dead horse and they aren't going there. <snicker> He started singing "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late". He kind of said that it's gotten ridiculous and it's time for Chak to move on. I can't remember the context but he absolutely *attacked* the KJ standup. Threw "her" to the floor and mauled "her" to death. Stripped off his jacket and hugged himself (you know, so it looks like *she's* hugging *him*).

Someone asked if he gets residuals from Chak action figures. He said, "Yes, thanks to Bob Picardo". He then did a killer impression of Bob (as the doctor) smuggly informing the cast that he had cut a deal on their behalf. ROTFLOL He also frequently breaks into his "Janeway" voice.

He admitted that Managua (his last flick) sucked and what he'd really like to do is have enough money (and clout) to be able to do small, independent films. He also admitted that shooting Voyager is frequently boring especially when you have "two women who don't need any help, thank you very much". He made *several* cracks about the fact that Kate and Jeri have been monopolizing the show this season. He is extremely sarcastic. If you don't *get* his sense of humour, god only knows *what* you'd think of him.

Someone asked if they do many practical jokes on the set and he said they don't but the guys have been perfecting their River Dance choreography during all their down time this season. I hope I got a decent picture of him striking "the pose". He should really switch to stand up - the guy is a scream.

He also said that during Hamlet, he had no idea that the rest of the cast had a little side bet going on. $5.00 to whoever could slip "the pose" (the Michael Flately pose on the cover of the video for River Dance) into the performance. So he said, he'd be there working his <blank> off and out of the corner of his eye see one of the other actors doing....... something....... and thinking, "It kinda works but it's ..... weird." HOWL !!!! Can you imagine it? How can people do something like that and not crack up?

Hmmmmm I'm missing tons of stuff but someone else will remember it so I'll cut it off here since I've already rambled to excess.

TeriOT

See also MergeZ's report of the con, with more pictures!

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