Dragon Con 2008 Excerpts from a trek into the belly of the beast pt. 1
September 2nd, 2008 by Chad Radford in Music newsThis is part one of a three-day journal that I kept while trying to make sense of Dragon*Con ‘08
Day 1
Sat., Aug. 30. 11:15 a.m. I had to work last nights so I didn’t make it to the opening night of Dragon*Con, and I can’t remember what time the Storm Trooper parade from 5 points to Peachtree Center starts today. I hope I didn’t miss it.
11:30 a.m. Damn. According to Dragon Con’s website the Storm Troopers started marching at 10 a.m. I missed it again.
12:30 p.m. The MARTA train ride went by faster than I had anticipated. All told the jog from Inman Park to 5 Points to Peachtree Center took about 20 minutes. Good timing, I guess.
The long, slow escalator ride from the train to the surface at Peachtree Center is a tough one, though. If I stare too long at the top of the escalator I start feeling woozy. The best thing to do is look at my shoes and dwell on existential dilemmas, such as why is a music journalist keeping a diary of Dragon*Con?
12:15 p.m. I was still a block away from the Hyatt when it hit me: This place is completely out of control. There are nerds everywhere and they’re mingling with beautiful women wearing costumes that conceal very little; and they’re all having the times of their lives.
The hotel staff looks worried.
A young woman wearing what appears to be a few pieces of toilet paper or very thin cloth of some sort wrapped around her naked body passed me on the right. On the left, a giant Gingerbread man is posing for pictures (NOTE: Remember to bring my real camera tomorrow, ‘cause this cell phone camera won’t do these people justice). Little Red Riding Hood, several Jokers and a gang of ninjas and Boba Fetts followed in their wake.
This must be something akin to the kind of fear and loathing that Hunter S. Thompson felt when he took those first, fateful steps into that hotel lobby in Las Vegas so many years ago, but I’m not on drugs. Not yet anyway.
12:45 p.m. After picking up my press pass I was about to attend a panel discussion titled “Zombies 101” when I discovered that the guys from The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) A.K.A. Sci Fi Channel’s Ghost Hunters are giving a talk about their methods and practices.
The line to get in is about 300 deep, but I decide to wait it out. This way I’ll have some time to read the rest of schedule and scope out what kind of music is going on here. I’m not into the wacky, gothy stuff like Crüxshadows and Mindless Self-Indulgence… There has to be something… Bingo! Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees is giving a talk right after the Ghost Hunters wrap up… But wait, what do Mickey Dolenz or the Monkees have to do with science fiction?
For the Ghost Hunters talk Grant and Tango discussed things like EVPs and the different kinds of cameras in response to a marathon of audience questions. Eventually the banter devolves into jokes about their day jobs as Roto-Rooter plumbers. Afterwards I high-tail it to the Marriott to catch up with Mickey Dolenz.
The room is filled with mostly middle-aged women. I eaves dropped on one conversation between two women in the row directly in front of me that went like this:
Red headed woman: “I haven’t seen Mickey in years, I wonder if he still looks as good as he used to…”
Blonde haired woman: “I don’t know, but I saw Davy Jones in Orlando last year and he still looks pretty good for how old he is…”
Dolenz entered the room to a roar of applause. The ladies in front of me gave each other sly and approving nods. He talked mostly about his life and times as a Monkee, hanging out with the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, and feeling no pain in the ‘60s. He gave a charming talk that lasted about an hour, a large part of which was focused on the divisions between the Monkees on the TV show and the Monkees in reality and how the two bands never met. He even described the TV Monkees as a garage punk band that was always desperate for gigs, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. But in the end it was all just another gig for the real life Mickey Dolenz; nothing more than business… Monkee business.
I spent the rest of the day people watching, but then something jumped out at me from Sunday’s schedule. A dark and magical word that would take me deeper into the verbotten realms of the sci-fi / fantasy world; surpassing even my own comfort level.
That word was “filk.”
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September 2nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Hey! MSI is not whacky OR gothy. Harumph.
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Ginger bread man > Cobra
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
get the real camera and take a gabazillion photos. this is better than going to the zoo.
oh, and i did see your mother the other night. she says ‘what? no beer tonight?’ i say ‘uh, it’s in the sack.’ she said ‘uh huh’, smiled, and walked away. :(