PWFC Road Trip: Reno
Let's start by saying that this weekend was a blast and everyone had a very good time. Peter and Jim were again in top form, giving the auction a good outcome, besides everything else coming out so good. I have to thank the con committee for such a thought out con, we actually had lunch and dinner breaks and even the autographs were done in such great fashion, no standing on line for an hour. The whole concept really was a good idea, not just getting to see Peter and Jim but friends getting to see each other and hang out, meeting new friends.
Friday
I understand that the scavenger hunt went really well and the people doing it had fun doing it. We had a good opening ceremony and then had a gathering were we played games to raise money for Project Edan and were able to just hang out together and got to see each other, old and new friends.
Saturday
The road trip continued with movies in the morning and then questions and answers with Peter about what he is doing and what he has done.
Peter and Jim also talked about Peter's work and we got to see a tape of Peter's that was used to show to casting agents, producers and directors. It had a little bit of a few things Peter has done and gives a good overview of all the emotions, expressions and actions he is able to do.
We had an autograph session with both Jim and Peter and instead of having a line, they had the first 50 people sit in order and then brought up 5 at a time to Jim's table. When they were finished at Jim's table, they moved to Peter's table and the next five people went to Jim's table. It was much easier and we did not have the long lines to wait in. Not only did you get up to two items autographed but you were able to talk a few minutes to them.
After that Jim was on stage talking about his music and what he is doing with it, taking questions from the members about various aspects of his music, who his influences were and what he is planning to do now and what he is trying to put together. I think everyone really enjoyed getting to talk with Jim about the music.
We had an auction with stuff both donated by various members and a few things coming from the stars themselves and I believe the production company may have sent a few things. One of the big items was a hat from X-Men 2 with most of the main stars having signed and with a promise from Peter to have Halle Berry sign it also, which ended up going for over $6,000. Two bears were donated by Vbear which both went for very good money, one representing Jim, as it was done up as a blues man complete with guitar and the other one done up as Dr. Helm from Queen of Swords which I took home. There were many other items both in the regular auction and the silent auction that netted Project Edan a large amount of money from this weekend alone.
That night we had a concert with Jim playing. But he had a surprise for us, because who joined him in the second act, but the man himself, Peter Wingfield. He has a decent voice and really seemed to enjoy singing with Jim.
Sunday
Again the morning started out with movies being shown, then a club meeting discussing the changes that are in the midst of occurring and the change over of President and Vice President but again Selkie and Sandy will still be very involved, just doing other jobs. Ree is the new President and Deb is the new Vice President. So of course in January we will also hopefully have a new Editor and Assistant Editor to the newsletter. We also now have a Treasurer to handle the books. Very good changes are going to occur.
Next we got together in regions so that we could actually meet not just our regional coordinator but also other members from our region. I think that went really well because now the members know who are near them.
Brunch, what can I say, a few lucky ones sat with Peter and Jim but even if you did not sit with them, we all had a really good time. Here the volunteers were thanked with not only being announced but with small tokens and big tokens of thanks. We had a group picture with the Dr. Helm Bear being held by Peter, then we had winners of the scavenger hunt get their photo taken with Peter and then the volunteers got their picture taken with him. It was really done very nicely and lunch was so good just being with friends and talking about anything and everything.
After a quick break to get back to our main room that we were using, we had the second group of members go for their autographs, again done exactly the same way and it again worked out well. Jim then showed his tape that is used for introducing himself to casting agents, producers and directors. He also included in his tape some of the video he did for That River, so it really gives them a true overview of the talents of Jim Byrnes. They discussed what he has done and what singing and acting means to Jim. I think it was a really good discussion. Something Peter said about Jim's work and Peter's work being therapeutic to others is very true, during my illness and recovery so far, I have listened to Jim's music and watched Peter's stuff on tape to help me just relax and deal with everything.
We ended the convention with a talk by Kelly, Peter's Assistant. She described what she does both for Peter and in her day job, working in an agent's office in England. She also told us how she became Peter's Personal Assistant but also how she ended up in the entertainment field in the first place. It was a very interesting discussion but also an interesting Q&A.
We ended the convention with the Dead Dog Party at one of the bars in the hotel. A very good party with a nice amount of members who had stayed that night.