Leaning into the touchy-feely con

The biannual Chiller convention is great for meeting people we developed affection for in movies and TV shows we started loving at a young age. At the latest Chiller, it was repaid in kind in a very tangible way.

It started off with the first addition of the day to The X-Files Yearbook Project -- Don Gibb. He's probably known best to the world at large for Revenge of the Nerds, but to me, he's the crispy-eared Kip from the fourth episode of The X-Files.

Gibb was super-friendly from the get-go, he remembered flying into Vancouver to film his part of the episode in one day. He deemed it "super fun" to play the bartender with one ear. He joked about his photo not being part of The Complete X-Files book that I've been toting around for signatures for about five years. And I got a peck on the cheek after the photo op.

Right next to Gibb was Larry B. Scott, also from Revenge of the Nerds. I know him best as Rudy Tyler from SpaceCamp. I was really glad I stopped to talk with him, because it turns out he's as big a space geek as I am. I asked if they got to use the "Vomit Comet" to film without gravity, and he said the movie's budget wasn't big enough for that so they faked it with body movements. But they did get to watch a shuttle launch, visit NASA and meet some astronauts.

I recalled watching SpaceCamp a lot the summer I worked at a movie theater and bemoaned the fact that the Challenger disaster meant a lot of people who otherwise might have seen it that year didn't. They've been missing out on a nice family-friendly flick.  

When signing a picture from the movie, Scott had a technical malfunction with the silver marker. Instead of trying to make the best of it, he just discarded the photo and started over again. And then we started chatting about SpaceX, particularly how they land the booster back on the pad and how astonishing that is to see every single time there's a launch. "It's crazy!!" he said. We got so into it that I don't think either of us noticed the line for him developing behind us. 

Sis' big draw for the event was Robert Wuhl, first and foremost for Batman, but also for Bull Durham. Although Sestra knows not to ask the actors yes or no questions lest she get yes or no answers, she inquired whether he had any input into his lines as wisecracking reporter Alexander Knox in the 1989 film. Wuhl simply said yes. But she got a more playful affirmative after offering up his taxes quip -- "Commissioner Gordon, is there a 6-foot bat operating in Gotham City, and is he on the police payroll, and if so ... what's he pulling down ... after taxes?" and Robert added the wicker people line -- when looking at of Bruce Wayne's odd sculptures, Knox said, "Check this out! He must have been King of the Wicker People." 

As we took our photo, I mentioned running the social media channels for John Reilly, who played a competing sports agent in nine episodes of Wuhl's series Arli$$. Robert quickly brightened up and asked about him. "He's a good man ... I loved him," he said.

After Sestra met the equally photogenic Lochlyn Munro (Freddy vs. Jason) for her Nightmare on Elm Street collection, we went off to the Fame room and I met four of the actors I enjoyed so much from the TV series. Valerie Landsburg was sitting next to Carlo Imperato, and they were just chatting away and teasing each other. Valerie quipped, "I've had the same relationship with Carlo all these years." Then she whispered something I couldn't hear in the bustling room, so I leaned in, and she said, "He just might be the best person in the world."

I got some of the love too. When Landsburg came out from behind the table for our photo, I told her what an inspiration her portrayal of Doris had been to me and she gave me an impromptu "thank you so much" hug. (Props to Sestra for getting pictures of that, I thought she was looking elsewhere at the time.) 

I always try to find something different to tell the actor that he/she might not hear all weekend, but I had to admit The Wizard of Oz-inspired episode -- basically Doris' fantasy -- was my favorite. She said it was hers too. Before we moved on, she told me about her directorial effort, Love & Debt,  which stars Tom Cavanagh, Bellamy Young and Brynn Thayer. (It's on Amazon, Spectrum, Comcast and Cox Broadcasting platforms, so check it out!)

Then I talked with Imperato, delivering a similar spiel about my love for the show. But the signals might have gotten crossed somewhere between the part in which I had a crush on Carlo's character, Danny, and how uplifting Doris was to me. "Your first crush was Valerie?" Imperato said in good humor. That's when we discovered a fresh and exciting way of getting additional photos, Sestra showing us the photo she took while we still had our arms around each other. Bonus hugs!

Jesse Borrego got me to do something I never would have done under normal circumstances. After joking that our "I Want to Believe" shirts should say "I want to live forever," he started singing the title song ... and I actually picked up where he left off. That had to have offended his eardrums. Jesse also has a new movie -- Phoenix, Oregon -- with James Le Gros and Lisa Edelstein. 

After saying hello to Carol Mayo Jenkins, the last Fame cast member I met was Lee Curreri. I recognized those soulful eyes before I saw anything else. The only one of the foursome who also was in the original movie was really enjoying himself, remarking he had spent more time with Billy Hufsey the previous night than he ever got to on the set. Lee came out from behind the table for the photo and kept talking to us after it was taken. When we mentioned Sibling Cinema's 10-word movie reviews, he sheepishly brought up the 1986 film, Crystal Heart, with Tawny Kitaen. Neither Sestra nor I knew of it, but mark our words, we will hunt that one down and give it the 10-word treatment.

Next we made our way to Nancy Allen, who not only still is completely gorgeous (and blessed me for telling her so), but was also really sweet and accommodating. (Notch another one in the Blockbuster/X-Files t-shirt fan club.) We joked about how harsh the lighting is in the Hilton Parsippany -- "interrogation lighting" I do believe Sestra deemed it. 

After Sis pointed out that Allen's Robocop character, Anne Lewis, was a great role model of the time, Nancy told us a story about a fan from Mexico who had only seen Robocop 2. Lewis was her hero, and Allen was grateful to have been able to play a part like that.

I mentioned I had met Piper Laurie, Nancy's Carrie co-star, at the last Chiller. Allen said Laurie is so lovely, but she never really got to know her until after the movie wrapped and became a cult favorite. "We just had no idea it would be so big, and then it got even bigger," Nancy said.

Very happy to have gotten so much accomplished during the pre-show portion of the program, I got on the Richard Dean Anderson line so I could finally meet Dr. Jeff Webber/MacGyver. It probably helped that neighboring Tori Spelling took a break after an hour, which cut down the line a bit. Knowing he's a dog aficionado, I wanted to share with him a picture of our husky, Lady Cayenne. 

After Richard declared her to be beautiful, I mentioned we'd been fans since General Hospital -- "Oh, that goes way back" -- and that I run Sharon Wyatt's YouTube channel. He really just melted -- "She's so great, I adored her." He asked after Sharon, and I spent the rest of the minute or so we got with him talking about his GH co-star, which I really didn't mind all that much. Sestra made him jump, because she had been so quiet while I was rambling on and he didn't know she was there.

Sometime during dinner, a lightbulb went off and I realized that Krista Allen -- whose setup was adjoining the Anderson line -- had been on The X-Files. She was needed for the yearbook! Didn't really relish the idea of getting back on that long line that swings around again, but there was only one person at Krista's table, and so I was able to slip into that queue without offending anyone.

Allen recalled she was psyched to be on the show -- "Are you kidding, it was phenomenal!" was the exact quote. Then she told me how she pranked David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson by doing an NC-17 take on Sharon Stone's Basic Instinct leg crossing during their scene together. She even included that as part of her signature in the book, which she scrolled through to see all the signatures. Her memorable character(s) from "First Person Shooter" (Season 7, Episode 13) somehow also wasn't pictured in it.

Then we got on the line for Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield. Although, even though it looked like one line, it was actually two, so you went through past Busfield to get to Gilbert, and then we had to get back on it again to meet him. Fair enough, we did that (and Wuhl crossed our path sometime during the process), and I met another of my childhood favorites from Little House on the Prairie. That went pretty quickly. Basically I told her we had been fans forever and that their dog, Josephine -- in tow complete with little puppy bed -- was adorable and she thanked us while the camera clicked.

It was adorable to see Melissa and Timothy together. When Josephine wandered over to his table, Gilbert exclaimed, "Timmy!!" And then Busfield called her over to look at an unusual movie poster a fan had brought for him to sign. 

Meeting him went almost perfectly. "Hi, I'm Tim!" he said brightly when I introduced myself and Sestra. The fan before me picked out a photo from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip to be signed, but admitted he didn't know the show. So I said I did and I loved it. "Well, ya know, Sorkin," Busfield said. Then I asked him about his role in Field of Dreams, which starts as the bad guy and then becomes someone the audience laughs with at the end. He loved the question and even said as much. "I knew there was a turn, so I could work with it. I could be as big a dick as I wanted," he laughed, adding that he had another part locked up and turned it down to be in the movie. This would have been the perfect point for Sestra to chime in with her question about Tim's character walking right through the scene as one of the pitchers threw to home plate, but she couldn't hear what we'd been talking about at all. So we'll save that particular one for another con.

Smart man he is, Busfield recognized that our Blockbuster shirts were of The X-Files nature. And he started telling us a story about running into David Duchovny while he was with thirtysomething co-star Ken Olin at an audition. He tried to psych Duchovny out as the doors closed by calling the people he'd be meeting with assholes. At that moment, we were interrupted by a Soprano. And if there's one thing any self-respecting fan at Chiller in New Jersey knows, it's best not to interrupt someone from that show. It's all right, we were mostly done.

The last person I wanted to meet was Danielle Brisebois, who most might know from Archie Bunker's Place. But she's even better known to me as singer/keyboardist/percussionist for The New Radicals', who released one of my all-time favorite records -- Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too -- in 1998. I told her how much I loved it and that it was such a complete effort from the first song to the last. She thanked me profusely and belted out the first line on the album, "Make my nipples hard, let's go!" to liven up our photo op. I was so tickled that it gave me an incredible case of the giggles. She helped me deal with the "interrogation lighting" by offering to change sides.

That capped a fun night of huggy-kissy-hang-on-to-the-celeb-while-we-check-the-photo evening at Chiller. Our final image was of Busfield and Scott renewing ties near the former's table. No Soprano in sight.

Two halves of the same NYCC whole

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Time to break out the ol' yearbook

Monster-Mania in August afforded me one of the best opportunities this side of X-Fest to add to my ongoing quest to get as many of the cast and crew involved in the making of the show to sign my copy of The Complete X-Files. (The current tally sits at 47 autographs after four-plus years.)

The convention's biggest draw for me was Lance Henriksen and for far more than just Frank Black's wrap-up episode. I'm a big fan of the wild three-season ride of Millennium, but he was also in my all-time favorite movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Among the other favorites of mine are when he played Wally Schirra in The Right Stuff, and of course, Bishop in a couple of Alien sequels.

Henriksen's role in Close Encounters was pretty unique. He only speaks three words, but he was in a lot of the film as the bodyguard for Francois Truffaut. In fact, when I watch the movie, I was always add an extra line of dialogue on his behalf when the alien ships converge on Devils Tower -- "How the hell am I supposed to protect him from that?" Lance gamely paraphrased my words when he signed my lobby card and then told me how he lobbied to have director Steven Spielberg add another scene when the aliens come out of the mothership. "I told Steven I wanted to throw my jacket over one of the little ones and drag it into a Porta Pottie. He said, 'That's a different movie.'"

I also wanted to converse with him about Vilmos Zsigmond, the cinematographer who won an Oscar for his work on the film. When Mark and I ventured to Wyoming for my first long-awaited visit to DETO, we took some time out to try to recreate shots from the film and that's when I realized how much hard work went into Vilmos' vision and the overall look of the movie that I love so much. I showed him our side-by-side pictures of the Moorcroft horizon that Zsigmond took in 1977 and Mark took great pains to get in 2017. Henriksen said Vilmos was "brilliant" and he was lucky enough to work with him twice, but he couldn't recall the other project and I came up empty trying to figure that out on iMDb.

I had donned a Team Black shirt in support of the ongoing "Millennium after the Millennium" documentary and campaign. Lance pointed out the uroboros right away. "It's so cool you wore that," he said. And he got particularly animated when it came to The Right Stuff, telling me about his field day at NASA and the friendship he cultivated with original Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper. Henriksen added he made history by going along for the ride when Cooper first flew a plane fueled by methanol to Colorado.

We agreed that the X-Files episode "Millennium" (Season 7, Episode 4) didn't do the Frank Black character much justice. But I spent so much time talking about those other things that I forgot to even mention I have been a contributor to the studious Millennium podcast, "The Time Is Now," so I hope I get another chance to meet Lance in the future.

The next person I sought out was Shawnee Smith, and she perfectly summarized her character in "Firewalker" (S2E9) in just a few words. "Poor Jesse, she was such a tragic character," she said. Shawnee had very fond memories of her guest appearance on The X-Files, recalling that the episode's director David Nutter bought her very first Starbucks cappucino and she bonded with David Duchovny over tunes from the '90s. "He had great taste in music," Smith recalled.

Tony Todd had a pretty unique experience when he joined The X-Files for one of the stronger episodes that year -- "Sleepless" (S2E4). He had just finished an arc on Homicide: Life on the Street and he flew from that set on the East Coast to Vancouver to portray the deadly tortured soul and Vietnam veteran. Then it was on to New Orleans to reprise his role as the lead in the Candyman sequel. He enjoyed playing three totally different kinds of roles in such a short span.

Todd's eyes widened when I laid out the yearbook for him. I believe his exact words were, "All right! Something different!" He recalled his ep was one of the first helmed by Rob Bowman, who went on to become one of the show's most prolific directors as well as providing the introductions for Steven Williams and the character of Krycek (Nicholas Lea). Tony even knew Williams' informant, Mr. X, was originally supposed to be played by a woman, but that the concept hadn't panned out.

Before I got on the sizable line for James Hong, I stopped by Annabeth Gish's table to say hi and give her the secret X-Fest brunch hand gesture. She got up and gave me a big hug, then introduced me to Kate Siegel -- one of her "girls" from The Haunting of Hill House. Annabeth's sweet nature explains why anyone who meets her becomes a de facto Gishie for life.

Hong's line was pretty lengthy, there were a lot of Big Trouble in Little China and Kung Fu Panda fans queued up. They were thrilled that, every now and then, he got up to say a line or two from the films. He also really liked to dance with the ladies, myself included. Are we sure he's really 80? He had at least twice the energy I had that day.

Both of us tried ... and failed to remember his X-Files character's name from "Hell Money" (S3E19). Where are my X-Fest trivia buds when I need them? I felt less bad when I checked IMDb after and it said merely "Hard-Faced Man." But he did recall working with Lucy Liu, whom he considers supremely talented. "She's so good," he said, beaming, although he bemoaned the end of her series, Elementary. That makes one, I really tried to get into it, but just couldn't.

The last person I met that day was Elden Henson, and although he wasn't on The X-Files, he did have the opportunity to work with the show's other lead, Gillian Anderson, on a favorite under-the-radar film of mine from 1998 called The Mighty. He reminded me so much of the sweet, soft-spoken and misunderstood boy from the movie ... at least until he colorfully recalled working with the f'n "biggest movie star on the planet," Sharon Stone. Even though, he's far better known for Daredevil and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, I said I hoped he loved it as much as I do. I just wish the rest of the world knew about it too.

Regressing back to childhood

Chiller Theatre is great at bringing in faces who really impacted me in my formative years. The most recent April show seemed to place a premium on that. There was a Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew, one of Charlie's Angels, a Bosom Buddy and Angie. And that was just for starters.

Our first stop this year was Parker Stevenson. I met him seven years ago at one of the first ones I went to. In fact, it was so early in the tenure that it was before Sis started forsaking some of her shopping time to foster her own collection. As such, she's been waiting for another chance to get a picture with him for quite a while.

I mentioned the initial meeting to him, then asked how he's been in the seven years since. His answer was thoughtful and heartening. "Really good," Stevenson said. "There aren't many times in your life when everything is good. Something always happens."

The first time I met him, I brought my Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries Season 2 box set to be signed. I had Season 1 with me this time. I also took the other one, because Pamela Sue Martin had put her Pamela Sue Hancock on the inaugural season and I wanted to get her PSH on the second one. Problem was, I was so giddy that I gave him Season 2 ... again. He looked down at it, then up at me, then showed it to me with an "I already signed this" look. Quick rummage through my backpack required.

Lor got what I call the "O face" from him when she unveiled the photo she had brought to be autographed, from his 1993 TV movie, Official Denial. She also mentioned another favorite of both of ours, This House Possessed. "You really like the sci-fi stuff, don't you?" Parker asked. He hit the nail on the head.

Pamela Sue wasn't there yet, so we set out to look for more actors who were there for the early-bird session. With all different celebrities stretched out down hallways throughout the Hilton Parsippany, we meandered down corridors and went into a room with Piper Laurie. The three-time Oscar nominee looked lovely seated at her table, but it was tough for the soft-spoken actress to hear what I was saying with the hustling and bustling in the room.

Speaking of hustling, I mentioned one of my favorites of hers, The Hustler. She said she had gotten to see a beautiful remastered print not too long ago on the big screen where it belonged. I brought my Carrie Blu-ray to get signed and asked whether she had any inkling when they were making it that it would become a cult classic.

"I hadn't worked in 15 years," Laurie said. "I had no idea it would be so big. It was just a small (budget) movie that we did for a few weeks." I asked whether she kept her distance from Sissy Spacek to keep the tension between them and she told me a sweet story about the last day of shooting. "It wasn't that long of a shoot and we were focused on the work," she explained. "I went into her dressing room and she was playing her guitar. She played with my dog."

Faux pas, number two, I accidentally stepped on her leg when I went behind the table to have my picture taken with her. Can't take me anywhere. But it was a good thing I was around to help Sis when she met George Wyner (Spaceballs). The affable Colonel Sanderz mock-fired his handler twice while we were there. And the second time might have been warranted since the helper couldn't take a decent picture of Lor and George. I actually was able to help out on this occasion.

The person I was most looking forward to seeing was Peter Scolari, whose career I have followed since Bosom Buddies. I always rooted for Scolari's Henry, even over Tom Hanks' Kip. I'm glad they're still buddies. It was his first pop-culture convention and I made him giggle when I admitted I was a total "Henry-phile" who wanted his character to find true love. "Yes, he was a good guy," Peter said.

We talked about the high-school reunion episode from the second season. Henry had regrets about having forsaken a deaf girl to go to the prom with someone else. He meets up with Sheila again at the reunion and makes amends. It was a poignant episode for a show that started off in slapstick comedy territory. Scolari gave special praise to Nanci Kendall, the deaf actress whose work made it so great.

I have Peter's name in Tivo, and shows and movies of his are always popping up. I asked whether there are things on his filmography that he'd forgotten about ever making. "Definitely," he said. "There are things that are unavailable at all." God bless Tivo.

Scolari called me "sweet" for saying that I was most excited to see him. Personally, I think he was sweet himself for putting up with my fawning and rubbing my back while we were taking our picture.

There was a whole group of actors from Saturday Night Fever, including Karen Lynn Gorney. The one I was most excited to see was Donna Pescow. And not because of Saturday Night Fever. I loved her show, Angie, which only lasted two years on ABC.

Pescow admitted making the show -- with Robert Hays, Doris Roberts and Debralee Scott -- was so special and the cast stayed in touch long after it ended. We talked about a particular episode in which the families played each other on Family Feud. Then the cast of Angie went on the actual game show after that. "I remember that!" she exclaimed.

When we went back to Pamela Sue Martin, she told me about how she moved to Mexico because she couldn't handle Colorado winters any more. I mentioned we had already talked with Stevenson and how much fun that was and she said, "Parker is someone who makes everyone happy," Pamela Sue said. We talked about why the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries still hold up all these years later and Frank and Nancy's chaste romance. "There was an innocence about it. It was a different time," she said.

Even though she's retired from the business, Martin said she was asked to make an appearance in the pilot for the latest adaptation of Nancy Drew on the CW. "It's a little edgier ... they have dead bodies in theirs ... but I said, yeah sure. It's the one thing about the business that I look back fondly at." And I did hand her the right box set, at least.

I was with Sis at director Jack Sholder's table when another Oscar nominee (and winner!) got bumped by a Schector, but this one wasn't me. Lor was trying to take her backpack off, and in her defense, Lee Grant was far, far away from her own table in the middle of the room when it happened. I uttered a quick "Sorry, Lee!"

After sharing Martin-Landau-was-a-superior-human-being stories with Sholder, I went to get a selfie with Grant, still holding court away from her table. She misheard me when I said my name as "Peach," and then I quickly added. "I'll be a 'Peach' for you if you want!"

We talked for a bit about one of my favorites, Defending Your Life, which she described as "an incredible experience." Grant looked over at her table banner, with credits such as In the Heat of the Night, Voyage of the Damned, Mulholland Drive and her Academy Award-winning turn on Shampoo on it. "I was so lucky to be in this body of work," Lee said. I probably started shaking my head as soon as she did. "This is not just luck, this is you being talented," I replied.

Then it was time for me to go on the long lines -- first for Cheryl Ladd of Charlie's Angels. I had a special task in mind, getting an autograph for a good friend of mine. But the in-person photo would be all mine. After, ummm, let's say 90 minutes, I finally got up to her, only to find I didn't have enough dinero for the transaction. Luckily, my buddy Eric and his mom were not too far behind me and he spotted me the difference until I could hit the ATM.

Cheryl had an amazing setup -- she was seated behind a little table with a lighted mirror and her own photographer handling the picture-taking duties. I asked her how she was holding up, she said she was doing well and thanked me for waiting on the long line. She signed the photo I brought for my buddy, from "one of Normie's Angels." We took one picture and then both she and her camera man talked me into taking off my glasses for a second attempt. I grumbled something about the bags under my eyes, and she assured me the special magnifying light would take care of it. They were right, of course.

Since I had replenished the coffers, I jumped on to neighboring Jason Priestley's line. This was the most rushed I felt all night. He had a photo shoot scheduled in 15 minutes, but his handlers just kept taking money and items to be signed and shoveling them at the teen idol-turned-director. Priestley kept taking his time with the people he was talking with. I appreciate that, even though I was a wee bit concerned that the entourage would waltz off with my cash/DVD at any moment. (One of my favorite moments was when the guy who had taken the DVD came back a couple minutes later and asked what I wanted to have signed. The thing I just gave you, perhaps?)

But Jason seemingly was oblivious to it all. And when it was my turn and he looked down at my Cherish DVD cover, a smile crossed his face. "I don't see a lot of this one," he said. Priestley called the experience of being in the black comedy "super fun," adding that he filmed his portion during a week off from another movie and got to use his own dog for a montage in the film. Even though, he was pressed for time and was getting the move-along, I got an extra hand squeeze before I left.

And that's the way it went at this Chiller. Everyone was so nice. Not that they usually aren't, it's just that there's often an actor or two who seems like they're practicing their craft when making polite conversation (and taking money). But the conversations this time were much more casual and fun. So I'm definitely looking forward to the 30th anniversary shows coming up for the next two Chillers.

The curative powers of music

The Park Manor Vortex of Chaos suffered a crushing blow over the Thanksgiving weekend. Our beloved Cody Husky passed, and to say we felt out of sorts is a major understatement. Cody was the center of our universe. He was always with us on trips, from my dream vacation to Devils Tower to just running the mail to the post office. (The picture below just came up on my Facebook timeline today. He was always nearby, touching my table leg was just an extension of me.)

So it was with heavy hearts that Mark and I went to two shows that we already had tickets for in December. Where we once had been looking forward to them, now they were more of a chore. But we went, and we were glad for doing so both times, even though we still weren't exactly 100 percent into them.

The first was Lindsey Buckingham at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood, New Jersey, on Dec. 1, an intimate venue where we hadn't been to before. Our tickets included the meet-and-greet, and there probably weren't two sadder sacks on the line, but we were making the efforts.

After over three decades of fandom for me and one for Mark, it was really nice to meet the man behind the music. We're firmly #teamLindsey in the senseless Fleetwood Mac feud. A little back story for me, I first saw Fleetwood Mac in 1987 in the friendly confines of the University of South Florida Sun Dome right after Lindsey recorded the Tango in the Night album and left the group before the tour. Two guitarists can't cover the ground that he did, but eventually the Mac found their way back together again. The more recent split seems ridiculous to me in the extreme, but we will take a pair of tickets to see Lindsey over the current Fleetwood Mac cover band any and every day. I do recognize the group as being very malleable and open to change since its inception as a blues band, but I was hoping they again would work it out before they're not around to do so.



But back to the meet and greet. Lindsey was soft-spoken and kind when we stepped up to him. I showed him my Lindsey ring from the '70s -- frequent readers of the blog will recall that I have all five rings from that incarnation and I wear whichever one or ones of the members I'm going to see that particular day. I said something like, "I bet you haven't seen many of these. I wear it every time I see you." After watching him interested in what the people who had gone before us were saying and doing, I wasn't surprised he seemed genuinely touched at the sentiment.

I gave way to Mark, adding that I introduced him to Lindsey's music 10 years ago. "That's why I keep her around," Mark quipped. Lindsey put his hands together and said a profound "thank you" before we had our picture taken together. I don't recall anything else except that his jacket felt very soft.

Nothing is left to chance at a Lindsey show. He even picks the perfect opening act. J.S. Ondara, a singer/songwriter from Nairobi, kept the crowd engaged with lines like "Here's another song you don't know" while belting out a wide array of folk tunes and supplementing them perfectly with his guitar. The man who taught himself English by listening to Bob Dylan and Kurt Cobain is well worth your attention when he comes your way in support of his new album, Tales of America.

Setlist: Don't Look Down, Go Insane, Surrender the Rain, Not Too Late, Doing What I Can, Trouble, I Must Go, Street of Dreams, Shut Us Down, Never Going Back Again, Big Love, Slow Dancing, Soul Drifter, Holiday Road, Tusk, I'm So Afraid, Go Your Own Way. Encore: Turn It On, Down on Rodeo, Treason. Lindsey also was touring for a new release, the painstakingly crafted (seriously, would you expect anything else?) Solo Anthology. A lot of the songs in the show hadn't been in his arsenal in years -- aka "Holiday Road," which was so much fun, and "Soul Drifter" (my personal favorite) and some had never approached live (i.e. "Slow Dancing"). Lindsey told the audience he was surprised at his visceral reaction to putting together the anthology, and he found it cohered from the start of his solo career to where he was at that moment.



"I'm someone who likes to look ahead instead of behind me ... that served me well this year," he said. With Lindsey looking so comfortable in his own skin and with his own band (including our personal favorite, the versatile keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Brett Tuggle), I couldn't begrudge him wanting to avoid the soap opera and continue on in the same vein. So I really won't be heartbroken if Fleetwood Mac isn't reconstructed. (Although I could definitely take more of the Buckingham McVie project.) When Lindsey sang "I've been down one time ... I've been down two times ... I've been down three times ... I'm never going back again," that's kind of the way I wanted it to stay.

"Never Going Back Again" and the show-capping "Treason" were so emotional, working on so many different levels -- hearkening back to his early days while covering the sentiments that freshly arose from the break with Fleetwood Mac. There's no doubt, he's still got it.

Setlist: Set 1: Broke Down on the Brazos, Tributary Jam, Banks of the Deep End, Rocking Horse, Fool's Moon, Railroad Boy, When the World Gets Small, Bad Little Doggie, Blind Man in the Dark, Hear My Train a Comin', Bring on the Music. Set 2: Traveling Tune, Highway Star, Silver Train, Wiser Time, Two Trains, Trane, Tuesday's Gone/Auld Lang Syne, Casey Jones, Stop That Train, Runnin' Down a Dream, End of the Line, Seven Turns, Ramblin' Man, Locomotive Breath, Roadhouse Blues, Train Kept a-Rollin', Travelin' Man, Beautiful Loser. Encore: Crossroader, Drums, Freeway Jam, It Takes a Lot to Laugh It Takes a Train to Cry, Key to the Highway. We capped the month ... and the year at the annual Gov't Mule Beacon Theater residency. This year's theme for the second set was traveling songs (especially those of the train variety) and we got more than our money's worth as the tuneage continued long after the midnight countdown and the dropped balloons had been popped.



We were in the strangest collection of people about a dozen rows from the front door down the left side in the orchestra, anchored by a dinosaur in front of us who had a cane but seemed miraculously healed enough to do some scooting dance moves. One person in our row got nabbed for allegedly "firing up," but it was revealed at one intermission that the woman sitting directly in front of him was the real culprit. A man walked down the aisle to shake everyone's hands after midnight, and three different people around us lost things, using the light from their phones to try to find them at inconvenient times. And, of course, can't go to a Beacon show without having people behind you scream about sitting down. They weren't spring chickens, their last rock show might have been Woodstock. Although the man later was heard to say, "I've never seen so much hustle and bustle," so maybe he wasn't down on the Yasgur farm.

One thing I will never fault will be the concert goers getting up to dance, but even they were a little ... different in our surroundings. During one jam, a guy in front of us was doing some kind of variation on an "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" dance while the faux Moby next to me executed his impression of a boogeying grave digger.



But the music was right on, man. Even if we weren't standing and swaying the whole time like we usually do, it was washing over us in a good way. Particularly when the Allman Brothers' "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" was teased during "When the World Gets Small," and during the not-often-played Allmans gem "Seven Turns." I found the Allman's "End of the Line" a little jarring without the late, great Gregg Allman's vocals, but "Seven Turns" was near perfection.

The energy stayed up with a lot of first-time Gov't Mule offerings, including Jimi Hendrix's "Hear My Train A-Comin', Deep Purple's "Highway Star," The Rolling Stones' "Silver Train," The Black Crowes' "Wiser Time" (recalling my Black Crowes-obsessive days), Little Feat's "Two Trains," Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone," The Grateful Dead's "Casey Jones," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Runnin' Down a Dream," The Allmans' "Ramblin' Man," Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath" and Bob Seger's "Travelin' Man" and "Beautiful Loser."



For the encore, Corky Laing joined the fray and Warren Haynes cited the drummer's group, Mountain, as part of the initial inspiration for Gov't Mule. Laing's "Drums" and the 30-minute "Freeway Jam" seemed a little ill-advised at the end of a five-hour show, but it's a minor quibble from another show for the ages. One that we sorely needed.

Checking back into 'General Hospital'

Longtime General Hospital fans wish the network and its sponsors understood how important seeing veteran actors and familiar characters are to them. The actors seem to know, though. So the Nov. 10 GH Legends event at the FairBridge Hotel and Conference Center in East Hanover, New Jersey, was your basic lovefest. Fans got to fawn all over their favorites and the favorites showed how much the support from the fan base means to them to this day.

I hadn't been been to one of the GH Fantasy Events before, so I didn't know exactly what to expect. The first thing I found out was the actors don't mind parceling out hugs. And they're good huggers. Ian Buchanan (Duke) was my first. It might have helped a tad that Liz Reilly told me to say "hi" to one of her favorite men in the world, but I kinda think I would have gotten the hug anyway.

There was kind of a gameplan going in, though. I hoped to ask for some brief interviews with Ian, Tristan Rogers (Robert) and Emma Samms (Holly) to use on my podcast for Sean and Tiffany's 30th anniversary. Mind you, I didn't know how the event worked and it quickly became evident that I wouldn't be able to get that done -- especially since the Legends were booked somewhere else for the night after the afternoon event.

Ian, Tristan and Emma said they were on board for the podcast, although ultimately Tristan was the only one I was able to wrangle for it. (The holiday season is a pretty tough time of the year to try to get that done.) Still, it was particularly sweet that Emma made sure the business card I whipped up with all the information was tucked away with her belongings. Then I was free to talk with them about being a longtime fan of theirs. When Ian was signing a photo of him with Kimberly McCullough (Robin), Beulah Quo (Olin) and John Reilly (Sean), Tristan leaned over and asked what year it was from. I responded it was from the John's 1995 farewell luncheon.

Then Tristan perused the Complete General Hospital Scrapbook I brought to get signed by the attendees, and he told me a great (albeit painful) story about having a broken foot during one of the location shoots. The show painted his cast black and still had him scale a mountain for one scene.



After fawning all over Emma and thanking her for being part of the video get-well card the online community contributed to for Sharon Wyatt (Tiffany) a few years back, the two of us waited for Tristan to do a photo. He was reading a caption in the book and Emma leaned over and asked about it. The platinum ticket was good for three autographs and a picture with each actor (such a deal!), but I accidentally beat the system and wound up with four from Emma, because I later saw she signed that page of the book too. I think I made Tristan laugh by giddily quipping, "Robert and Holly! Suck it, Anna!" during our photo.

I talked with Emma about her very first scene on the show, when Holly was skinny dipping in a lake and Luke Spencer happened upon her. "It was freeeeezing and there were fish in there too," she recalled. I also had a scrapbook page with four of her Soap Opera Digest covers on it and when she pointed out her favorite, I asked her to sign that particular one.
Over on the other side of the room, Kin Shriner (Scott) was holding court, kind of a bit away from the actual signing table. He was talking with the mother and daughter ahead of me on line about how his trip to the event was massively delayed, but that the flight attendants all watched soaps and treated them very well.

One of the things I had for him to sign was my treasured photo of Kin with Sharon. They were both dressed to the nines. "Are we holding hands?" he asked. "We never dated. ... We were good buddies." I was rearranging my photos and preparing for the next actors, when I looked up, straight into the face of Jackie Zeman (Bobbie). "Sorry, Jackie, I didn't know you were there," I said shyly.

The next person in line was the only actor I had met before, Brad Maule (Tony). We talked about the General Hospital Fan Club luncheon he played guitar at in 1997 at the Sportsmen's Lodge.

And the last -- but certainly not least -- was Lynn Herring (Lucy). Mom and daughter were still ahead of me and having a really animated conversation with Lynn when they got the move-along. So they wrapped it up and Lynn and I talked about the pink dresses in the photo I had for her, and how Sharon wasn't dressed in pink. She laughed that Sharon always went her own way and was so much fun. I also had a photo of her with Kin looking sideways, and Lynn quipped that she looked like she always did around him, borderline exasperated, as if to say, "Kin, what did you do now?"

So she finished signing for me and looked around and asked where the photographer, adding "Don't we have to move this line along?" Lynn almost cackled with glee. "Yes, Paige, I love it, that's driving me crazy," she said, clearly unhappy that she didn't have enough time in the day to finish conversations with people she was having fun talking with. I told her I learned how to be sassy from her and Sharon. The handler might have gotten the last laugh, though. That was the one photo that I didn't double-check after it was taken, and it wound up being a blurry one.

After a break, Kin came on board to emcee the Q&A. "We got a lot of actors backstage," he said. "I don't really care for any of them." He brought out longtime buddy Billy Warlock (A.J.) and they told stories of being long-time neighbors. Billy often beat Kin at basketball and pool and Kin would come over like Seinfeld's Kramer and take things out of Billy's refrigerator.

Then he introduced Lynn -- "Costello to my Abbott." She apologized for anything he would say ahead of time. And they were about to continue the banter when Ian appeared from the back and told Kin to move it along, because all the other actors were freezing in the back. They came out en masse, with Tristan adding, "It was like waiting for the tide to come in."



Kin made Emma blush furiously by repeating something she told him in the '80s: "I wouldn't go near you or touch you if you were the last man in the world." And his humor was "Kin-tagious." Ian got a lot of laughs for quipping, "We don't look bad for being in our '80s."

Billy Warlock (A.J.), who works as a ski instructor in Telluride, Colorado, was asked whether he gets recognized. He told us how Jason Bateman -- someone he knew from the actor's earliest years on Silver Spoons -- was there with his kids and spent the whole day staring at him, even though he had a nametag on. Billy said eventually he just went up to him and said, "Yeah, it's me."

Brad impressed the assembled by revealing he's a lecturer at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nagodoches, Texas. "All they did (on GH) was try to kill me every year," he laughed, before telling us about one of his favorite moments. "I was in a coma ... like normal. Jack Wagner was behind me and had a whole monologue. But the whole time, he had his finger in my ear. The director comes out and was like, 'Jack, that was brilliant, it's like Tony's coming back to life.'"

I thought one of the better questions of the afternoon was when the panel was asked how their kids have responded to seeing their parents' work. But both Emma and Tristan said their children haven't been interested in any of that. "They've never watched me in anything I've ever done," Emma said. "I want them to see me just as a mum."

Speaking of the dynamic duo, would they ever consider going back to put a cap on the Robert and Holly story? Tristan didn't really seem in favor of that idea. "They're a bunch of hacks," he said. "They're going to screw it up. I'd rather let it hang."

Since the event, Tristan has been recalled to GH for more shows. When veteran actors return during the sweeps' rating period, Kin calls them "Pop-Tarts." Ian didn't seem so willing to go back again, adding he's already been through "three generations of young people behaving badly and being rewarded for it."

Jackie and Brad were rightfully praised for the amazing story of BJ's death back in 1994. Jackie explained how the actress, Brighton Hertford, had been the show since she was just weeks old and it was difficult to let her go. But everyone's melancholia turned to laughter when Jackie repeated what Brighton said after the director called "cut" for her last shot. "Thank goodness! Everyone's dripping on me and I'm all wet!"

And the kudos continued to be doled out for that storyline, specifically when Maxie got BJ's heart. Brad's still amazed that people at every event always bring that up.   

Speaking of such surprises, Emma didn't realize until much later that coming on as Luke's love interest could have been rough on her, particularly after attempts to pair him up with Demi Moore (Jackie) and Janine Turner (Laura) went up in smoke.  "Luckily the audience were kind to me and more accepting. I wasn't fully aware. I didn't know Luke and Laura were on the cover of Newsweek. I think that helped. ... But it wasn't until Robert and Holly got together that they really got behind the character." And then she added that she went through something similar on Dynasty after replacing Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon.

I wasn't going to ask a question, mainly because I hadn't slept the previous night before attending the event, but I wound up doing so anyway: "Was there anyone you wanted to work with more who you didn't?"

Tristan said no, adding Robert was getting Luke's castoffs and his job with Holly initially was to "keep her warm until Luke came back. We did something that hadn't been done in daytime before. They liked to be with each other, that's why the relationship turned out to be as interesting as it was. A lot of affection was added, it wasn't in the original script."

Ian didn't have trouble picking someone, going for three-time Emmy winner Maura West (Ava), and Kin heartily concurred.

If you know anything about Tristan beyond who he's portrayed on TV, you know he doesn't mince words -- whether or not he's on the show. He's mightily disappointed in how the show doesn't care about catering to the audience that spends money on what's being advertised. "The average age of people buying their product is 50. The sponsor doesn't understand that," he said. "I want the entire writing staff fired. We need a head writer ... who understands balance. The veterans laid the balance for the show and now we are flushed away, fuck that. ... As you can tell, I'm not looking for a job."

Times have certainly changed. According to Jackie, the show films two or three shows a day now. "It sounds like fun. I'm so sorry I'm not doing this anymore," Billy said sardonically. "Ten pounds of shit into a five-pound bag. In the '80s, we had proper rehearsal. It was the best time."

Speaking of that, what were the legends' favorite location shoots? Ian chose Mount Rushmore -- and in years of chatting with Liz Reilly, I've come to understand why. As fun as that one was, Tristan never understood why it was necessary. "In that era, about every month we did a location shoot," he said, adding that the fabled San Antonio locale was his favorite. "Tony Geary and I were at our best. We never could top that one in terms of outrageous behavior and pure fun." One night they did a rain dance at the piano in the hotel ... "and the next day, Gloria Monty stomps in and starts kicking me. 'You wanted rain? You and your fucking rain dance!'"

Not that fellow actors didn't try to top them in the ensuing years. Lynn said Sam Behrens (Jake) and Jack Wagner (Frisco) attempted to during her first location shoot. And Kin and Anders Hove (Faison), in turn, tried to give them a run for their money in the behavior department the night before Serena's birth was to be filmed.

Tristan admitted he passed on doing Dancing with the Stars because it was too much work. "I decided it wasn't for me," he added. Ian quickly chimed in, "I wasn't asked, but I also decided it wasn't for me."

When one admirer said those assembled on the stage are the show's constant, Emma responded the fans really are the constant. Before the cast took photos with the platinum and VIP ticket holders in attendance, they conducted an auction with all kinds of unique Legends opportunities. When the actors came back on for one last picture and Emmy took a picture of the crowd, I called up, "That's $200, Emma!" She pointed at me and chuckled with appreciation.



I waited for my turn for a picture with the cast, asked Emma if I could lock arms with her and then kidded Ian for not resting his hand on my shoulder as he had with many of the others. I was just teasing, but he stopped the proceedings and called for another photo to be taken in which he did leave his fingerprints on my person.

It may be many years since I've watched the current incarnation of General Hospital, but meeting these people from the good old days will always remind me of planting myself in front of the television set every weekday at 3 p.m. I could never have dreamed of spending quality time with them and having them be so wonderful to boot.