Thursday, May 30, 2013

Post-Alabama Phoenix Festival Re-Cap

Alabama Phoenix Festival recap... Dear sweet breastplace of Zeus, where do I even begin?

Friday kicked off with a slow start while we waited for our neighbors to arrive, but after a few well-attended panels that day, we settled into the main stage for a rousing game of Authors and Artists Whose Line Is It Anyway? Luckily, my amazing friends Bobby Nash, Michelle Brundage Weston, Allan Gilbreath, Kimberly Richardson, Van Allen Plexico and Allen Hammack are very forgiving and didn't mind me making all kinds of fun of them during the event, which apparently seems to have turned out to be quite a popular one at the con. Highlights included Kimberly as the superhero Princess Cupcake, Michelle and Allan G. doing a crime musical number, Van "blasting" around the stage as Fart Boy, Bobby's rousing turn as a damsel in distress who couldn't pronounce the letter 'S' (Ave me! Ave me!), and Allen H. making up an algebraic combination of binary code and gobbledeegook.

Saturday gave me lots of time to meet awesome folks and just hang out at my table until about 5:30 when my panel schedule began. But a highlight of the day would most definitely be the time spent with my booth Alices -- yes, two of them! -- Rachael Van Riper and her daughter. Thanks again so much for helping me by making the table sparkle with beauty. After that it was another great day of panels, closed out with the oh-so-much fun panel in which we reenacted the old X Minus One radio script "Student Body" featuring the dumbest space morons to ever undertake a serious mission and doom Earth in the process.

After all the panels I had a midnight breakfast with Daniel Emery Taylor and Jim O'Rear and their lovely wives, and got to hang out with other stars of their flick THE HOSPITAL (such as Scott Tepperman from GHI and the lovely and perky Robyn Shute). Of course, poor Evan, my son, who went with Charis and me this time, couldn't hang with the old pros and went night-night on the booth at IHOP.

Sunday came way too early in the morning, and it was off to the races for another day. Hands down, the highlight of the day was Josh Duke and Ali's wedding in front of the TARDIS. The poor guy didn't realize he was marrying Mae West (yes, that's how awesome the bride looked!). Another high spot though was when I played guitar over at Afua Richardson's table and we sang a bunch of songs together. And daaaaaaaaannnnngggg that girl can sing. Wow! I'm just glad she let me sing with her. Hopefully someone captured some footage and you can catch it on YouTube.

Well, that's it except for the long boring ride home and then passing out when I finally hit my own bed.
Special thanks go (as always) to Tim Stacks, Stan "Kingdom Comics" Daniels, and Steve Charleson for putting on one of the most fun cons of my "touring year" and certainly one of my hands-down favorites. You guys rock big-time!

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