Lucy at last makes it to London! She was joined by other Xena guests, Adrienne Wilkinson (Eve), Brittany Powell (Brunhilda), Paris Jefferson (Athena), Joseph LoDuca (Xena Writer/Composer) and Steven Sears (Ex-producer/Writer).
As a poor struggling actress
I couldn't afford the full weekend ticket or evening concerts so I can only report on the day I attended which was the Sunday. Friday evening see's the start of the weekends entertainment with the Evening Caberet with all the guests except Lucy and Joseph.
Saturday saw Adrienne, Brittany and Paris on stage with the usual Q & A sessions and this was followed by one of the highlights for Lucy fans, Lucy performing her musical concert at the Carling Academy. I was lucky to see her perform in one of her first performances at the Roxy on Sunset Blvd in LA last time I was in LA. Because of this and due to the cost I didn't attend the London ones. Shame but the tickets were even more than LA and I find the price a little bit steep! For those wanting to read about these concerts, I suggest you go to www.AUSXIP.com
where you will find further links and photo's.
The Sunday entertainment started with Joseph LoDuca on stage, I missed his appearance as I was changing into my Xena costume. It was a shame there was no costume contest at the event, it seems there were a few things lacking at this convention. It appeared Creation who run the convention seemed to rely on Lucy's appearance to carry the event, although the concerts go down well with the fans, I can't help but think it's a shame it splits the fans up in the evening. Those who only went to one of the concerts and not the other were left to hang around the hotel waiting until the rest of the fan's came back from the concert. The dealers room was sparce to say the least, I guess I miss the more intimate events we used to have where it felt the Xena fans took over the whole hotel for the weekend and everything was in one place.
I wore my costume more for prosperity than anything else. It was good to be at a Xena Convention in kit again.
Lucy was next on stage, she had a very warm reception from the fans but she looked a little tired, I guess the mixture of jet lag and performing her concert the night before took it's toll. She was very entertaining and spoke of some funny and interesting scenarios, answering the fans questions. I asked her a question about filming and what she looks for in a script when acting, she replied that it depends who is making/working on the film more than the content of the script. Once Lucy had finished and left the stage to huge rounds of applause, the rest of the afternoon seemed to fizzle out with most of the fans leaving early for the Lucy concert. For the remaining fans there was a charity auction and a music video. Steven Sears took it upon himself to go on stage and entertain the remaining fans which they seemed to appreciate.
On the whole the fans seemed very happy and raving about Lucy's concerts, not just what she was performing but what she was wearing got more of a buzz I think!
For me it was great to see so many friends from past Xena Conventions and to come across so many new fans that have never been to a Xena convention before. Whilst at the convention I was interview by New Zealand TV about Lucy too, check out the link Lucys Interview on NZ TV3
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( 3.1 / 162 )I travelled over to Los Angeles at the beginning of January for my annual trip to the Xena Warrior Princess convention which is held in Burbank. As well as the convention it is also an opportunity for me to catch up with some good friends of mine who I only ever get to see once a year.
The weather was good which was really nice coming from the chilly temperatures in the UK. As many of you know I am a member of the UK branch of the 501st Legion, I posted on the 501st forums that I was heading over to LA to see if the local garrison had any events on. The CO of the South California Garrison Cris, got in touch and invited me to a small event in aid of a childrens hospice as well as a garrison social get together. Sorted, so my first day after arriving in town saw me heading down to Anahiem with Cris and helping out at my first SCG event! After chatting with Cris on the journey down to the event I found a fellow Jeff Wayne The War of the Worlds fan which makes him a top bloke already! So my first day was a lot of fun and Cris was the perfect host and later that evening I had a meal with him and his lovely lady Kim.
The next thing I wanted to do was to visit my friends grave. My dear friend Aleida passed in October last year and I didn't get an opportunity to go to LA for her funeral, so this trip was a chance to pay my respects. I was taken to the cemetary by my friend Kelly who was one of Aleidas friends and was there when she passed. We spent a couple of hours sitting on the hillside where Aleida was buried and laughed and reminised about all the good times and it was a really nice time, no tears or sorrow.
The rest of the week saw me heading to my usual favourite haunts, Melrose, Venice, Santa Monica and Hollywood. No sooner had I arrived, the 12th Annual Xena Convention had arrived! 3 days of guests, music videos and an array of activites with the popular costume contest and the new talent contest! This conventions guests were headlined by the lady herself Lucy Lawless with Renee O Conner. Lucy's husband and series producer Robert Tapert also appeared along side the Co Exec Liz Friedman answering the fans many questions about the possibility of a Xena movie. Convention new comer, actress Brittany Powell (Brunhilda) went down a storm with the fans with her bubbly personality and on stage exploits! She was game enough to auction off her bra to help raise money for charity much to the delight of the fans! If I remember correctly it went for $1,100.00!! Claire Stansfield (Alti) made a welcome return to the convention after several years, her stories were very funny which ranged from her son, her t-shirt company and stories on the set of Xena. The ever popular Michael Hurst and his wife Jennifer were great and always have interesting stories to tell of new projects they are involved with. All the other guests Adrienne, Jay, Robert, Patrick and Mr Sears were popular as ever and entertained the fans with their usual flair. The other highlight of the convention weekend was the debut concert of Lucy Lawless at the Roxy on Sunset Blvd. Lucy showed her singing abilities on the US hit show Celebrity Duets where the stars were paired with famous singers and were voted by the public. Lucy came in at a very respectable second place and inspired her to have her own concert. The concert was held on the Saturday and Sunday evenings of the convention weekend, I attended the Sunday night and I must say it was great. To start off my friend Cat was the MC for the concert and it was great to see her on stage being really confident and professional, way to go Cat! Lucy seemed very comfortable on stage and was enjoying her time on stage. She sang a range of songs from tracks like, " Pull up to the Bumper" to "I'll Stand by You". Renee joined her on stage for one number which saw the two of them dancing together wearing short tassel go go style dresses. Lucy certainly put on a good show and I'm sure the concert will be available on dvd shortly.
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The costume contest was held on the Saturday of the convention because of Lucy was appearing on the Sunday afternoon. This year there was about ten entries with costumes spanning the seasons of the series. It was a great chance for me to wear one of my Xena costumes again as the opportunities are getting few and far between. I wore my favourite costume which is from the episode "The Debt". when Xena was a badass! Thanks to the support of the fans they voted me as the winner which is great as it shows people really appreciate the time and effort that goes into my costumes. Steven Sears took some excellent photos of the convention and Lucys concert, visit his site for further photos and his report on the convention.
Well another convention has been and gone, hard to believe they have been going for 12 years! The weather took a turn for the worst and was really cold, especially in the evenings dropping down below zero! Malibu had snow and I was in a hail storm, wierd or what? The temperature at home was warmer than in LA! The only good thing is I missed the scary high winds that hit Europe whilst I was away.
One of the other highlights of the trip was going to the SCG social gathering, a great chance to meet other 501st members and I was made to feel very welcome as was Carly who I was on hols with. The UKG was riding high from the impression they made at the Rose Parade a couple of weeks before with the SCG members, so several members were talking to me about the UKG guys they had met and what a great time they had spent with them. It was a lovely evening filled with good food, good drinks, good company and cool star gazing through a telescope a member had brought along. The South California Garrison, a great bunch of people!
As usual the weather started to pick up and got into the low 20's C just before I left, isn't it always the way?! So the last day of my trip saw me modelling for a promotional video for a wetsuit company called Excel. My friend who I was staying with has just gone into business with Malibu Surf Shack so decided to start some new marketing ideas. The day saw me struggling to get into several types of wetsuits, boy are they hard work! It went well though and will have to wait and see if anything comes from it, be interesting to see what the promo will look like. Just as well they didn't want footage of us surfing or should I re-word that and say just as well they didn't want footage of me surfing!
Well I'm back now and hoping I can get back over there sometime in the very near future!
Photos by Steven L Sears - Visit his site for more images of the convention and concert
http://www.pondalee.com/xena.htm
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Guest List: Renee O'Conner Hudson Leick Danielle Cormack Victoria Pratt Gina Torres Tim Omundson Adrienne Wilkinson Alison Bruce Charles Mesure Bobby Hosea Charles Keating Murray Keane Alison Wall Katharine Fugate (Surprise guest appearance Lucy Lawless)Being the annual Xena convention, there was no shortage of guests in the line up. With Renee headlining the event with a new performance, this sort of cushioned the loss of original line up guests Ted Raimi and Tony Todd.
During the course of the convention the usual photo sessions, autographs, auctions and music videos took place in between the guest talks. Hudson kicked things off on Friday being the first guest appearance. Wearing a beautiful 2-piece outfit, Hudson as usual pulled in the crowds. The rest of the day's appearances included Alison Bruce, Danielle Cormack and Adrienne Wilkinson.
With the early evening "Villainous Happy Hour" attended by Hudson and Charles Keating, this gave fans who paid the extra fee a chance to mingle with the actors.
"Merry Muses of Melodia" show was the evening event. Hosted by Hudson in a very short Chinese dress and black wig, she delighted fans with her typical off the wall, improv style. Adrienne, Danielle and Tim entertained the audience but it had a somewhat thrown together feel. Adrienne and Danielle sung 3 songs each, Adrienne being a last minute edition to the convention line up, managed to get through her songs with the aid of the words on a piece of paper. The fans acknowledged this with a warm reception after each song. Danielle sang "Tainted Love" followed by a soft ballad and finished off with "I will Survive", jumping around the stage like Tigger! Tim rounded the evening off with the usual Frank Sinatra style numbers, drinking JD and smoking a cigarette. Even though the actors performed well due to the circumstances, one can't help but feel a bit more variety was needed. The mixture of dance, comedy performances and singing like last years evening cabaret gave the audience a well thought out and all round evening of entertainment. This years just felt it was put together at the last moment.
Saturday's events started slightly different than usual with a writer's workshop with Steven Sears and Katharine Fugate. This was a limited intensive workshop for fans of the writings and fan fiction of the show.
First guest appearances of the day were Victoria Pratt shortly followed by Gina Torres. With Katharine Fugate guest talk fuelling the rumours of a Xena movie due to the fact she had been approached to write a story for it, fans were excited and eager for Renee's appearance.
Renee's "One Woman Theatrical Performance" opened with her walking on stage as an "old" Renee in Gabrielle costume donning a wig and glasses hobbling on stage like an old lady. She took a seat and reminisced about her time on set like a grandma talking to her grandchildren. One touching story was about a green stone that was given to her in a wooden box as a leaving present when the show finally finished. It was a piece of a larger stone that was broken down into smaller pieces and given to every member of the cast and crew. The rock symbolised the show and the pieces, the people who were a part of it .
Renee then proceeded to remove the Gabrielle costume to reveal another costume, but also put on a dressing gown and became an actress backstage applying her make up before a performance talking about old times and her experiences. She then changed into several other characters, changing items of clothing for each one, a rodeo rider, a religious snake handler, a woman caring for her mother and a woman who was abused by her boyfriend and scared from a knife attack. Renee used red lipstick to draw on her face to symbolise the disfigurement. She was also covered in tattoos, each one acting as a reminder of people who left their imprint on her life in some way.
Renee then stayed on stage for a Q and A session, which the fans were eager to participate. This session ended abruptly due to a certain fan in the audience turned out to be none other than Lucy Lawless in disguise. Renee was totally taken by surprise as it was kept from her that Lucy had managed to briefly attend the convention. Lucy still in character asked Renee what was it like to kiss Lucy Lawless, to which Renee promptly replied, "Come up here and I'll show you!" As you can imagine this went down well with the audience, and the fans were rewarded with Lucy's appearance after many rumours of her appearing were running wild around the convention all weekend.
It was left to Bobby Hosea and Charles Mesure to follow Lucy and Renee. They went on stage together and entertained the audience, which was warmly received. They ended the daytime events for Saturday.
Early evening saw another Happy Hour session, this one having an Amazon theme with Danielle, Alison Bruce and Victoria in attendance. For those with Gold tickets they also had the opportunity to attend the Dionysian Dessert Dance with guest drop ins, this wrapped up the Saturday events.
Sunday started as usual with the Charity Breakfast supported by Charles Keating, Murray Keane, Alison Wall, Alison Bruce and Hudson Leick sporting a pink suit.
Charles Keating was the first guest appearance of the day followed by the ever popular costume contest. This years was fairly well supported with a good selection of characters ranging from a well turned out Olivia to the Collector form the Xena episode of the Simpsons. Jo went dressed as Xena from the episode "When Fates Collide" and Carly went as Gabrielle from the episode "Who's Gurkan?". Jo took the honours, taking first place with the Collector being the runner up.
Murray Keane and Alison Wall took the stage together for their guest talk and chatted about their character relationship in the series. Their guest talk being the last event of the day wrapped things up and the convention came to its end. It's a shame there is no big event or party to finish the convention off on a high, it always feels it just fizzles out and everyone just drifts off. Maybe next years 10th Anniversary Convention will pull out all the stops! Let's hope so.
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On the weekend of 29th-31st August 2003, Creation held their first UK Xena Convention at the Hilton Metropole in London. This also introduced Renee O'Connor to her first UK Xena appearance. Oddly named "Strong Women of Sci-Fi", the convention also saw the appearance of Danielle Cormack, Paris Jefferson, Tim Omundson and several male Star Wars guests.
On Friday, Danielle Cormack gave an interesting, and amusing talk. Recounting her 'somewhat hazy' memories of herself and Kevin Smith getting drunk and swapping clothes in a bar, had the audience in tears of laughter. The fans warmly received her enthusiasm and bubbly personality. That evening, she took to the stage in a one-woman performance of "The Vagina Monologues". Danielle really embraces the characters in this moving, amusing and liberating show. Her energy, life and encompassing performance had the audience in fits of laughter, and tears of sadness. Her appearance was electrifying, as well as inspiring and thought provoking. A truly magnificent performance.
Saturday, firstly, saw Tim Omundson. He explained his 'new look' moustache, and entertained the audience with his usual comfortable style. With his "Matthew Perry" look, he chatted about his new series "Dead Wood" (reason for moustache), a western style drama.
A guest panel of 8 Star Wars actors then followed Tim; they recalled their experiences on the set of the Star Wars movies and also discussed about their current projects. Guests included the likes of Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), Warwick Davis (Wicket, Jawa) and Mike Carter (Bib Fortuna).
As an extra, special surprise, Renee O'Connor was given a half-hour Q&A session. As soon as she got on the stage, she jumped down to meet her fans. This was a great opportunity for the UK fans to get to ask their questions, and get a personal reply.It was unfortunate that Renee did not hold a separate autograph session- as much of the Q&A was taken up with this. However, she answered all questions with style, and grace. She appeared to genuinely enjoy the session. Unsurprisingly, the session over-ran, but left the fans wanting more. After a brief interlude, Renee and Tim then entered the stage to give a performance of "Love Letters". Although it was not their best performance it remained moving, and was warmly received.
Saturday evening also saw the Cocktail Party- given as an extra for the patrons of the Gold Seating tickets. Danielle Cormack and Tim Omundson, who mingled with each table, also attended this. Although it was a nice gesture, it did lack the informal, festive atmosphere of the Starfury Conventions. Both actors left early, but the party continued for a few hours afterwards. Sunday saw the appearance of Paris Jefferson. Charming, and elegant, she entertained the audience. She even asked them her own questions towards the end of her talk! She certainly has relaxed into appearing at conventions since her first ever appearance at the Starfury Xena convention a few years ago.
The costume contest followed, but was unfortunately very disappointingly attended. Jo and Carly were awarded joint-first place. Jo wore the Xena costume from "Friend in Need" and Carly wore Callisto's costume from the "Bitter Suite" with the runners up dressed as a TV film Crew.
Overall, the convention experienced a low attendance rate, probably due to the number of guests, and the high-ticket prices. Thankfully it didn’t detracted from the energy of the actors and the support of the fans.
Picture by CorXena
Everyone who did attend had a great time, and experienced a unique event.
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( 2.9 / 203 )
On Saturday 31st May the Southern Californian Firefighters Burn Relay took place in aid of the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation. The event consisted of a large parade of fire engines and vehicles starting from Santa Monica going down to Long Beach and back up to Monterey Park to the LAFDHQ. In support of this worthy cause, Renee O'Conner travelled the whole journey helping to raise money and collecting cheques from each fire station on the designated journey.I decided to travel down to the last but one station on the route, 'City of Monterey Park Station' on West Newmark Avenue. As soon as I pulled up outside the station I was confronted by 2 fantastically presented fire engines, highly waxed and polished and looking like they had never been used! They looked fantastic.
From arriving at the station I was made very welcome with a warm reception from the fire crew in duty whilst we waited for the cavalcade to arrive.
A wailing of many sirens marked the arrival of the parade with a trail of fire engines and support vehicles as far as the eye could see. As soon as the front tender pulled up outside the station Renee appeared looking radiant and seemed to be really enjoying the experience. I walked over to her to introduce myself and to say hello, she greeted me with a warm smile and commented how much I looked like Xena!! After a brief chat she graciously posed with me for a couple of photos and then she had a group shot with the fire crew with a cheque for monies raised for the charity. After making a donation to the charity I was waving them off, it seemed as soon as they had arrived they were jumping back on the fire engines and off to the final stop a couple of miles away. I'm sure they must have been glad to get to the final station as they had been going non stop since 6.30am!The day didn't end there for me as the fire crew then offered a full tour of the station which was really interesting and fun. To top it all as I was about to leave I was offered the opportunity to ride in one of the fire engines. Well who would turn down such an offer! They drove it around the block and even turned the sirens on, needless to say I had a grin from ear to ear whilst this was happening!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Fire Captain Rick Burroughs and all the crew on duty that day for taking time out to make me feel really welcome and to make the day really special. Meeting Renee O'Conner was a memorable experience but it was made even better when I picked the best fire station in LA to see her at! City of Monterey Park fire station rocks!
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