Where to begin.....
A
while back, I had seen a posting on The
Force.Net from
someone saying that MTV was looking for adults who were really
into Star Wars and who had children that kinda wished the parent
would tone down their affection for Star Wars. So I emailed them
(subject: 40 year old Jedi Wanna-be) and told them "You're looking
for me and my 22 year old son".
I explained my affection for the movies, the
collection that I owned, this Website, my Lightsabers and how my
son just thought it was stupid. He didn't get the movie and he
really wished that "Dad wouldn't play with dolls".
I thought nothing more of it until I got a phone
call from Jessica at MTV. This is when things really got wild.
After several emails and phone calls between myself, my son
Charlie and the folks at MTV, it was decided that a 2 person crew
was going to come to my house and video tape us. "Cool", I said,
"We're going to be on MTV!!!". Then they asked if I was planning
on attending the Star Wars Celebration II in Indianapolis,
Indiana. "I thought about it, but haven't really made up my mind
yet" was my response. "If you go, would your son go with?" they
asked. "Nope" was my response. "Besides, I can't really afford to
pay for him to go", I said. "We'll pay his way" was MTV's
response. "We're Going!!!" was my response. Then I had to convince
my son to go, the weekend of the Convention was the same weekend
as "Music Midtown" a huge outdoor music festival in Atlanta that
Charlie has attended several times and had made plans to attend
this year.
After repeated conversations with Charlie, me and
the MTV folks, we finally were able to convince Charlie that being
on MTV and getting a free trip to Indianapolis was worth missing
the music festival. He had no idea what was in store for him, heck
neither did I.
Now, the concept of the MTV show is this: The show
is MTV True Life. The episode is about parents who embarrass their
kids. I was a little concerned when I had first heard this but
when I found out that the guys doing this were Star Wars fans
themselves, I at least new they wouldn't make me look like a fool.
I knew that I wasn't a fool and I hoped that after the weekend,
Charlie wouldn't think I was a fool either. That was the whole
idea with taking him to the Convention.
Two weeks later on Tuesday, the MTV guys, Norm
(Producer) and Scott (Co-Producer/Camera Man), show up at my
house. From Tuesday evening till Thursday night they videotaped
interviews with me, my wife and Charlie. They followed me around
town, they followed us around the house, from morning till night,
they were here.
Friday morning comes and we (Me, Charlie, Norm and
Scott) head to the airport to fly to Indy. Now Charlie is dying
because I'm going to the airport dressed up as a Jedi Knight
(packed my Lightsaber because I knew security would not approve).
Nobody hassled me about my outfit (we got nailed in security for
wearing microphones, we kinda expected that though), as a matter
of fact, a few people even wanted to have their picture taken with
a Jedi Knight.
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Arriving At The
Airport |
Taking
Pictures |
While
boarding the plane (finally, after delays) we met Dave
Hofmann a member the Mountain
Garrison of the 501st
Legion (these
are the guys that you see all over dressed as Storm Troopers).
This would be a good time to mention that since MTV made the
hotel reservations, we got into the same hotel that all the 501st
members were in (which was otherwise booked) and we got
PRESS PASSES to the convention!!! Anyway, Dave
explained to us the concept of the 501st Legion. Charlie now was
sure that I was one of many "crazy people that dress up as Star
Wars characters". Oh how he would eat those words.
We finally got to Indianapolis and got to our Hotel
about 3:30 in the afternoon where we met up with Drew the poor
intern that got to help schlep stuff around for the MTV guys. The
convention shuts down at 6:00 so we had very little time to get
there and do anything. We rush to our rooms, gather equipment
together and head for the convention.
We made it as far as the elevator when the door
opens up and inside is the big guy in Storm Trooper armor with his
helmet off. I walk in and say with a smile "Imperial Pig", he
smiles back and says "Rebel Scum". So we start talking to this guy
and he says "You should come up to my room and see all the stuff
we got". Then we mentioned that we were doing this thing with MTV
and he tells us "oh, well we're not really supposed to talk to you
guys". Huh? Well it seems that the 501st had heard about the MTV
special and were concerned that MTV was going to make them all
look like weirdo's or worse. I explained to this guy "that's not
what the show is about, it's about how my son feels about
something that I really enjoy, and we're here to try and change
his mind". That was good enough for him so off we went. We
get to his room which he is sharing with his brother and
Holy Smokes!!! These guys got Storm Trooper
armor, Snow Trooper Armor, Sand People outfits, Blasters with
sound effects and amplifiers and the works all over the room.
We get
to talking to these two guys, Scott and Rob Allen from the
New England
Garrison of the
501st. They were great hosts. The MTV guys start taping and Scott
and Rob start showing us all their armor and stuff. They explained
everything to Charlie, how they get the armor, how to assemble it
and put it on and once again, what the 501st is all
about.
Let me take a minute to tell those of you who are
not familiar with the 501st (pronounced five hundred first) what
they are all about. They are Star Wars fans (all over the world)
who dress in the attire of the Empire (Like in Episodes IV, V and
VI), Storm Troopers, Sand Troopers, Snow Troopers, Boba Fetts,
Vaders, Tie Fighter Pilots, AT-AT drivers, Imperial commanders and
officers, the works. They do it very professionally and they do it
for fun. They also do it for Charity. The 501st is well known for
going to children's hospitals and touching the lives of children.
If any of you went to Toys-R-Us at 12:01 on April 23rd, you
probably saw some folks dressed as Storm Troopers or other
Imperials acting as Security, they were most likely members of the
501st. Dressing as characters who were "Bad Guys" from the movies,
I would have to say they do a better job of promoting the goodness
of Star Wars better than anyone. They are my enemy in the Star
Wars world because I am a Jedi Knight and they are the bad guys,
but in real life they are heroes to me.
Ok, back to my story.
So we're all sitting in
this room and Scott is showing off his new Clone Trooper helmet
(very cool) when in walks this guy and plops down on the bed.
Scott says "This is Spat he made this helmet" and Spat responds
"No, I didn't, and I didn't make that Snow Trooper armor that Rob
is wearing and if you go to my Website, you'll see all the other
costumes I don't make". We all laugh and start talking about
the convention and stuff. After a few minutes the MTV guys stop
taping and Norm (the producer) leans over and asks Spat to sign a
release form for MTV, I thought Spat was going to choke! "What,
this is for MTV, if I'd known that, I would have plugged myself
better!". So anyway, Spat mentions that the 501st is having a
pizza party in one of the hotels convention rooms that evening. He
suggests that maybe we should come down later and film some shot's
there.
Now,
it's about 5:45pm, the Convention is just across the street from
us and most of it shuts down in 15 minutes. So we (Me, Charlie,
MTV-Scott, Norm, Scott and Rob) head over to the convention. We
had to walk across the street 4 times to get the camera shot they
wanted, we had to walk into the door a few times, we had
to....well you get the idea. Everything that we did, we had to get
multiple angles on. Hmmm, this is True Life? Well, that's ok. We
get over to the convention and sure enough, everything good is
closed up. But we meet up with the folks from Wizards of the
Coast who
helped MTV make this happen. For those of you that don't know,
Wizards of the Coast setup the convention. We walked around for a
few and decided to go back to the hotel and rest.
Charlie and I headed down to the hotel lobby to look
for some food. We found a nice little place named Charlie and
Barney's, sat down, ordered drinks and found out the kitchen was
closed. Luckily they still had some chili so we got a bowl of
chili and munched down. Now, this is the first thing we have had
to eat that day as we had left early to go to the airport, of
course the flight had no food, we didn't get lunch so, we were
more than happy with end of the day chili. As we're sitting there
enjoying life when Drew comes in and says "Come on, they want
you". Oh well, back to work.
We head up to the convention room where the 501st is
having their gathering. There were over 300 members of the 501st
in town for this convention so, it was pretty crowded up there.
When Charlie and I get up there, we find out that there is a
problem with us getting in. The 501st is still not happy about the
MTV thing and Norm and Spat are over talking to the head of the
501st trying to soothe things out. Now, I'm not sure why Spat
decided to get involved in this thing but, he did and I'm glad.
Charlie and I explained to Albin Johnson (he's the #1 dude in the
501st, he created it) what the MTV thing is all about. I
explained that MTV will not make the 501st look stupid or make fun
of it's members. We talked for a bit and Charlie even told Albin
that from what he had seen of the 501st so far, he was impressed,
maybe even not so embarrassed that his dad wanted to dress up like
a Jedi. Maybe there was a little more to this Star Wars Fan thing
than meets the eye. Well, I think that was enough for Albin, he
gave us his blessing and in we went. It was packed. There were
people in costume and people in street clothes. When Charlie asked
me why I wasn't wearing my Jedi Outfit I explained "1) I'm in
disguise and 2) I'm severely out numbered".
We had a great time. We got to shake the very huge
hand of Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and (thanks to
Spat) met with Richard LeParmentier (Admiral
Motti), Jerome Blake (Rune Haako, Mas Amedda, as
well as 5 other characters in Episode 1, and 2 characters in
Episode 2), and Michael Sheard (Admiral Ozzel).
Spat even got to interview them. After a while we decided that we
had enough footage and enough Star Wars for one day.
That's when fun begins. Spat mentions that
"Everyone" is going to meet at the Slippery Noodle, a Blues Bar a
few blocks down from the hotel. Norm heads off to bed and Charlie,
MTV-Scott and Me, we head to the Slippery Noodle. We wander
through this place (and let me tell you, it's a big place) and
can't find anyone. So we sit at the bar and order a round. No
sooner do we get our drinks and we see Rob (from the hotel room),
now this is kinda funny and I mean no wrong to Rob but, he's a
short guy, really short and to see this guy weaving his way
through this VERY VERY crowded bar was hysterical. He flags us
down and informs us that everyone is at the other end of this
place. Great, we just managed to push our way through this crowd
and now we have to push back. So off to the other end we go.
When we get there, we don't recognize anybody but
Rob and Spat but, then again, who would we recognize? We don't
know anyone. Anyway Spat introduces us to this other guy, his name
is Dennis. Now Dennis is an agent, he
represents a number of Sci-Fi actors (mostly the one liners but
hey, it's more than most of us have done). And we start
talking. After a few rounds, Spat announces that we're going to
another bar. I forget what it was but it doesn't matter cause we
didn't go there anyway.
Charlie, MTV-Scott and myself head to the Lotus,
it's a Sushi bar and Asian Deli. Ummm, Ok. At this point Alcohol
is Alcohol, I don't care where we go as long as they have Jack
Daniels. This is where we met Kimberly with the sexy glasses (AKA
Spat's future ex-wife #1) and Becca (AKA Spat's future
ex-wife #2) "We love you To Becca"...well, you had to be
there...anyway, after a shot of Yagermiester and more cocktails,
we were having a great time.
Then someone mentioned the upstairs, Huh? Upstairs?
So Charlie heads up to see what's going on up there. When he comes
back he has this huge smile on his face and says "Come'on Dad,
this is how I party" We head up the stairs and HOLY SMOKES, what a
difference. It was Techno-Rocking-Loud!!! They had a dance floor
with spot lights and mirrors and even steal cages raised up a few
feet and backed up against the wall that you could get in and
shake your groove thing. Well that's what we did till 3:00am,
that's when they told us to go home, closing time. I had lost
Charlie and MTV-Scott so Spat and I stopped to get a Hot Dog from
a street vendor, man that was a good doggy.
Somehow, Spat and I made it back to the Hotel and
shortly after in stumbled Charlie and MTV-Scott. We all made it to
our rooms and passed out at about 3:30-4:00
am.
Charlie and I pretty much lost the MTV guys in the
crowd and vice/versa. After watching the formation (and a trooper
marriage proposal), we decided to eat some breakfast. That just
made us sleepy. Back to the convention we went. We wandered
around for a little while filming this and that and then the MTV
Producer told us that we could wander around alone for awhile and
actually enjoy the show. Charlie and I took that as a good chance
to go back to the room and snooze for awhile, so that's what we
did.
Later we went back to the convention, met up with
the MTV guys and filmed a few more things. Then it was time for
dinner and, yep, back to the Lotus for more of the Indy Nightlife.
MTV-Scott was to pooped to party so Charlie and I went without
him, bad choice for MTV-Scott. As Charlie and I are sitting there
with Spat and Dennis, I realize that this absolutely knock-out
blonde has sat down next to me, then I realize who she is, she is
Michonne Bourriague better known to Star Wars
fans as Aurra Sing, the Bounty Hunter. Next thing I realized was
that she didn't have a drink, well we can't have that!! So I
bought her one. Then I realized that sitting across from her was
Alan Ruscoe aka Jedi Knight Plo-Koon and
Nemodian Daultay Dofine. So I bought hin a drink too. Wow, there I
was sitting in a bar, sitting at the same table as a Jedi Knight
and a Bounty Hunter!!!! What could be better? How about dancing
with a Bounty Hunter, OK!!!
Me and Michonne (Alan in back on
left)
Me and Alan
We drank, we danced, we drank and danced. It was
amazing. So Saturday night ends (at about 4:00am) after a Wild
Night and a Wild Idea from Spat. He wants to throw a bigger party
Sunday night. Invite everyone and just have a blast. But we need
some money. If we can come up with $1000, the Lotus will open it's
doors Sunday night and let us party. Once they make $1000, we get
the deposit back, Hmmmm, maybe MTV would help.
End of Day
Two
of the Star Wars Celebration
II
Day 3 starts early again. Today Charlie has had a
change of heart. He has decided that maybe dressing up in Star
Wars costume could be kinda fun. As a matter of fact, he decides
that he wants to try on some Storm Trooper armor and go back to
the the Con and see what it's like. So we go back to Scott and
Rob's room and Scott was nice enough to let Charlie wear some of
his. Of course I tried to convince him that a Jedi was the better
way to go but I knew I had lost him over to the Evil
Empire.
We just hit the lobby and
someone wanted our picture
Back to the Con for more MTV footage and
what-have-you. Charlie had a blast getting asked to have his
picture with kids and fans of all ages but was quite pleased to
get out of the armor at the end of the Con.
Has anyone noticed that most of this diatribe has
nothing to do with the actual convention itself. That's because
Charlie and I were so busy filming stuff when we were there, we
really never got to see to much. We had more fun outside of the
convention then we did in. That's not to say it wasn't fun. It was
just really, really crowded and the lines were really, really long
to see anything good. I talked to Norm about the chances of MTV
funding the party at the Lotus with exclusive video taping rights
but, Norm wasn't sure that he could pull it off (what Norm, you
can't hide $1000 on an expense report?) so I hunt down Spat and
give him the news about MTV not being able to back us on the
party. After much discussion and a little pleading on my part,
Spat decided that four of us would fund the party and just hope
for the best. I have to admit, I felt really funny trying to
convince some guy I had never met before in my life to take my
money. But that's one of the things that's cool about Spat. He was
really worried that if the party failed, he would have to figure
out how to get me my money back. I told him I was in and that was
that. If it failed, I would suffer with everyone else.
So I called my wife and tried to explain to her that
I was sucking some money out of the ATM and not to freak out. Well
she kinda did anyway but that's a different story. Off to
the ATM, out comes the cash, back to Spat, hand him the cash and
wait.
Ok, we finally give our final MTV interviews. Then
Charlie, Norm, Scott, Drew (production asst.) and I went to
Hooters for a final dinner. During dinner I scoot out and run down
the street to Lotus to see how things are going. There I find a
very nervous Spat pacing around. "I don't know Charles, I just
don't know" was all he could say. He tosses me a few Lotus
business cards and says, "go hand these out to people, we need
guests!!!". So I head back over to Hooters and pretty much invite
everyone in the restaurant to come to the "Big Party" tonight. Big
party, that's what we were hoping it would be.
So we get done with Dinner and it's about 7:45, the
party starts at 8:30 so I head back over to see if we are
ready.
As I round the corner I'm stopped by a sight that I had
not expected to see. There was a line of people not just 5 or 6,
but 40 to 50 people waiting to get in to our party!!
OH CRAP!! I go in and find a smiling Spat. This
just might work. Well we open the doors and the people start
coming in. Then the movie stars start showing up and they
autograph session gets going. We had Episode I on DVD playing on a
TV downstairs where people could sit in a quite area and the main
party was upstairs. It was INCREDIBLE. By 9:30 we had made our
money back and the part was in full swing. I was buying drinks for
everyone and everyone was buying drinks for me. I spent all the
money that I was getting back from the deposit and then some. But
it didn't matter to me (once again, the wife was not happy)
because I was elbow to elbow with Star Wars Stars!!!
Keith, Alex, Matt, Spat and Myself
Matt was the
Manager of Lotus
The other three were the other "Investors" in
what became known as "SpatCon"
I can't tell you what an honor it was to help pull
this thing off. Spat did all the hard work and had the most to
lose (a reputation that he didn't know he had).
Since then, the MTV episode has aired and I have
received literally hundreds of hundreds of emails about it. I had
no idea whatsoever that Charlie and I would touch the lives of so
many people. But we did. I'm not trying to boast but, we brought
families back together. I Got emails from kids who hated their
parents but said that after watching Charlie and I on MTV, they
decided to talk to their parents and work things out. I had people
find my phone number and call me just to say thanks for being so
open on TV. It was unreal. I had parents talk to me about how to
talk to their kids. People wrote to tell me I brought back good
memories of when they were kids and their moms and dads took them
to see Star Wars. It was an amazing experience that I will never
forget.
Thanks to MTV, especially Norm and Scott who are now
part of my family. Thanks to Spat for being such an Amazingly cool
guy who really knows how to throw a party. To Keith and Alex for
coming up with their share of the money for the party. To Scott
and Rob Allen, you are my brothers now. To Dave Hofmann for just
being a cool guy and the entire 501st legion for everything that
they did at Celebration II (and they did ALOT) and for being great
hosts to us. To the city of Indianapolis and Melissa Mann for
taking care of us while we were there. To my wife Ana for hurrying
to get my Jedi outfit finished in time to go to the convention and
dealing with a film crew doing their best to capture us in our
"True Life" while they are disrupting that same life. To my son
Josh who is a die hard Star Wars fan and was really, really bummed
that he didn't get to go. And lastly to Charlie, it was the first
time that it really paid of for him to disagree with me. Without
him the entire weekend would have had no purpose. We learned alot
about each other that weekend. It's ok to be different, that's
what makes us who we are. But if you just try a little, you can
find common ground. I love you son, thanks for hanging out with
the old man, I hope you had as much fun as I
did.
