WEEKEND IN SHERWOOD IX CON REPORT by Rache Weekend in Sherwood 9 (Herne protect us, this has been going on since 1992) has come and gone and seems like it was a blazing success. Thanks to Christine Alexander for running a fantastic event! For starters, it was a great hotel -- the Southgate Holiday Inn actually has sort of a tree theme, with carvings of leaves in the wooden doors of the function rooms :) I actually got in Wednesday evening dead tired (I'd had about seven hours of sleep total in the 72 hours leading up to getting on the airplane), so I took a nap for two hours, then went out for supper with Chris, her husband Todd and U.K. con attendees Nikke Allen and Alison in the hotel restaurant. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep after that due to my nap and the time zone change -- it was 10 PM in Detroit, but only 7 PM on the West Coast, where I'd just come from, but I was so tired, and it was so comfortable and cool in the room, that I went to bed and slept for nine hours. I got up in the morning, went to breakfast -- Nikke had eaten but kept me company -- then went back to my room. My con roommate Tara arrived around 11 AM. She was also suffering from sleep deprivation -- so we both decided that napping sounded like a brilliant idea. Don't worry, all this sleeping stops soon :) Chris came by around 1. We went to lunch and then Chris and I went out to her home to get together all the stuff that needed to be packed up and brought to the hotel for the con. Many of the big (and small) things used during the con are kept at Chris's home in the year or years between conventions, and it all needs to get from there to the hotel, which is quite the hassle -- Tara had in fact volunteered to come out and help, but the vehicles going back to the hotel were going to be so crammed that this was decided against, as there would be no way of getting an extra human back. Chris' husband Todd got home and then Joan Ludlow arrived with her van. Into the van went the art show flats, the TV, the DVD player, the big screen projector and the VCR, plus boxes of videotapes for the video room, the program books, Major Oaks props, etc., etc., etc. Chris and Todd took their car and I rode shotgun with Joan -- it was a nice chance to catch up, since we hadn't seen each other since Weekend 8 in 2003. By the time we got to the hotel, the joint was jumping with RoS fans. Friends were greeting each other in the lobby and the restaurant. We barged into the latter and shanghaied Rolf Granlund and Mick Spencer to help unload the heavier items from the van and the car. At this point, I remained at the hotel. Chris and husband Todd went out to the airport to pick up guest of honor Mark Ryan and his girlfriend Tamara (who, Mark explained at a panel, was one of the art department staff on "King Arthur," which is how they met). Congoers who were still up and about got to hang out with Mark, Tamara, Chris and Todd for awhile in the lobby. I have to say, the service I experienced was terrific. Mark and Tamara got in at about a quarter to 12 and the bar was closing up, but we (the congoers) felt it was only right they should get a drink after traveling in from Los Angeles, so I went into the bar and said I could see they were closing, but our guests of honor had just arrived and could we please, please purchase them something. The bartender very kindly took the liquor back out and made two drinks. I have seen a couple of complaints about the hotel. I have none. For starters, the temperature control was fantastic -- really comfortable, cool without being too cold -- you'd sure never know it was about 96 degrees outside all weekend unless you *went* outside. The cleaning staff were amazingly diligent -- they respected the "Do Not Disturb" sign, but if you didn't put it up, they cleaned the rooms what seemed like four times a day. I also usually got pretty quick service in the hotel restaurant -- Monday morning, when I was leaving to catch my plane home, I told the waitress I was in a hurry and I sat down, ordered, got my food, ate and was back out in 20 minutes flat. I loved the room fridge -- I'm a vegetarian, so it was great to be able to keep food in the room. Chris had very kindly taken me to a supermarket the day before the con, so I had an assortment of veggies, apples and veggie food that could be eaten cold (the room also had a microwave, but I left that alone) and it all seemed fine. Then it was time for the Great Pizza Adventure. Mark, Tamara and a number of other people out in the lobby had just arrived without having eaten for many hours. It was decided to call out for pizza. Unfortunately, by this time it was 12:30 AM and the local pizza places had all stopped delivering. An establishment called Downriver Pizza, found through the Yellow Pages, was open until 2 and would take our order if we'd pick it up. Annette Vogel very kindly consented to drive and I went with her. In fact, Downriver Pizza is only about 10-15 minutes from the hotel. However, during our ordering of the pizza, the establishment left out one little fact -- nowhere on the outside of the building does it *say* Downriver Pizza -- it says "Coney Island" something. So Annette and I sailed right past it and drove down a darkened road like something out of a "Twilight Zone" episode where an alien ship is about to land on the edge of the horizon. Finally, we called the pizza place and the very patient gentleman at the other end of the line talked us back around to the pizza joint -- if you've ever seen "Airport '75," with the control tower trying to help Karen Black land the airplane, it was kind of like that :) But we ultimately got the pizza, which was still hot, everybody had a great 2 AM chat in the lobby and it already felt like a convention. The convention officially started Friday morning with the opening of both Registration and the Dealers Room, where people could buy clothing, jewelry, zines, RoS photos, Tarot paraphernalia and tea. It certainly seemed like the "Tea Hags" (this is the name of the business, *not* a pejorative comment on the lovely proprietors!) did very well over the weekend, because they sold a distinctive, very comfortable type of blouse in jewel tones that I saw more and more people wearing over the weekend. (I wound up buying and wearing a dark blue one with black Celtic designs on it.) The art show, with some very beautiful pieces, was on display in the center of the room -- Barb Johnson (also a dealer who had some really cool stuff -- I bought a necklace) is in charge of the art show and the sale of the art pieces. People who wanted to volunteer to help out at the convention also checked in with "Da Mama" Lila Bess, who is in charge of the "gofers" and ran the gofer hole (which was a great place to get munchies or just hang out throughout the con). Master costumer Kitty Gamarra (who made a lot of the costumes attendees wore at the con) and Janet Van Meter -- both ladies costumed in various Marion outfits throughout much of the con -- were scheduled to do a 10 AM panel on costuming -- they were joined by Julianne Toomey-Kautz. Unfortunately, while this panel was occurring, our convention videographer, Lorraine Mumaw, had tripped and fallen -- not in the course of videotaping anything, as in fact Lorraine's sister/our other videographer Donnalyn Mumaw was just settling in to tape the costuming panel -- but simply as an unhappy accident. Lorraine had to go to the hospital (Donnalyn went with her), where it was discovered that her arm was broken in several places. When released from the hospital later in the day, Lorraine bravely returned to the con rather than heading home -- proving that Weekend is better than bedrest! :) At 11 AM, Laura Chevening, Helen Avry and Tara O'Shea headed up a panel on fan fiction in zines and on the Internet. At noon, pro novelist Diane Carey gave a talk on writing. At 1, it was time for opening ceremonies and a panel with Mark. As Mark gave several talks over the weekend, I cannot remember what was said at which panel, but some of the topics he covered included: the practical joke with gristle played on Jason Connery by Clive Mantle the famous bed out the fire escape story working with the horse Pringle Terry Walsh's stuntman walk Working on "King Arthur" Ioan Gruffudd realizing, some time in the middle of "King Arthur," that he was sort of playing Nasir, complete with two swords working on "Alias" (Mark's scene was mostly cut) RoS archery master Gabe Cronelly's poem about drinking (there's no point in my typing it here -- you have to hear Mark quoting it with his Gabe Cronelly imitation to get the effect) The elaborate measures taken by the entire RoS company to surprise one of the stuntmen on his birthday Around 3, there was a photograph/autograph session held, while we -- that is myself and the cast -- held our first rehearsal for the Major Oak Awards, known as the Oakies. These are awards for zine achievement -- the first ceremony was held at Herne's Con 2 and they've been held ever since at Weekend in Sherwood. As this was Weekend 9, these were the tenth (Herne protect us!) Major Oak Awards. Now, it might have seemed to anybody who was following this closely that there was a potential hiccup, in that while there are new zines *this* year -- 2005 (Albion 13 is out and Rolf Granlund and MaryAnn McKinnon are both bringing out new zines soon) -- there weren't any in 2003 or 2004. However, it was felt by a number of persons other than myself that there should *be* a Major Oak Awards, so after a lot of discussion, it was decided that we'd use this opportunity to retrospectively honor all of the zines that have come out in the fandom over the past 20 years. There are a *huge* amount of zines for such a relatively small fandom -- almost 100 anthologies and many more novels/novellas. The short stories run into the thousands and while I haven't counted, I wouldn't be surprised if the poems didn't number over ten thousand. RoS is a very prolific fandom in literary terms. We also added some Internet categories (website, story, poem and artwork) to this year's ballot, which was distributed via email to the Weekend in Sherwood attendees and both RoS email lists. Just listing all the zines and all the novels created a massive ballot. We also had a huge (for us) Oakie *cast* this year, with veteran performers Kitt y, Helen, Julianne and Rolf, returning performers Charley McKinnon (who had joined us last time as Huntingdon) and Mick Spencer (who has been in previous Oakie performances) and new performer Matt Whitney. One minor glitch here -- Mick had originally been drafted to run the photo/autograph session. He wound up setting it up with Annette Vogel, who then ran it on her own with volunteer help, while he was sequestered in Oakie rehearsals. When we broke, Kitty went to supervise the meeting of the entrants in the upcoming costume contest. Following this, Julianne ran pavane practice for an hour -- the pavane recreates the dance from "Herne's Son," which is performed during the Weekend banquet (both the banquet and the pavane are Weekend traditions), followed by a skit, which changes from year to year. The banquet is one of the convention highlights -- everybody is encouraged to come in garb and signs up for the table where they've signed up to sit -- the Loxley table, the Huntingdon table, the Marion table, etc. Normally, you can easily tell which table is which because there's a nice photo of the character sitting in the middle of the table, supported by a plastic frame. Chris painstakingly printed out photos of all of the relevant characters and put them in their frames on Thursday. Yours truly managed to misplace them -- I finally found them in my hotel room, where they were hidden by an outflung corner of bedspread -- which is why, if you were there and wondering about it, the photos appeared on the table *during* the meal instead of before. There was a lot of food that everybody seemed to enjoy and people moved from table to table, visiting with friends and our guests Mark and Tamara. When the meal concluded, the costume contest was held. All of the entrants had a little narrative, read by costume contest chief Kitty, as they displayed their outfits and performed a bit in the character that went with the costume. After some consultation and consideration, the winners were announced. When the banquet broke up, people did one of three things. They went to bed, they went into the bar or they came to filking. Filking consists of sitting around singing songs, mostly written by fans and mostly relating to Robin of Sherwood. Amy Fritsch, who couldn't attend the con this year, had nevertheless sent her huge compendium of filking sheets, which contain the lyrics to pretty much every song known to RoS fandom. Everybody attending the filking session gets a copy (which they have to return at the end of the session), so they can sing along and also figure out what songs they want to do -- we go around in a circle, so everybody gets the opportunity to perform and/or choose a song for the group in turn. Original and new songs are always welcome in addition to the ones in the compendium. After an hour or so of filking, I felt I had reached my energy limits on both guitar-playing (I accompany other singers on guitar if I know the music to their songs, as well as playing on my own stuff) and singing, so I put the guitar away and headed into the bar. This was a merry old time. There was an excellent live band, and pretty much everybody from our rather sizable group (including Mark and Tamara) got up at some point, dancing with each other and the locals. At 2 AM, I'm told some people stayed up and kept partying. I fell into my bed, asked the front desk for a 7:30 wakeup call and promptly went to sleep. I woke up Saturday morning at 7:30 AM, showered and got a quick breakfast. This made me far less industrious and helpful than the many con attendees who got up bright and early for Mary Bertke's "Sherwood Like to Be in Shape Again" workout session from 8 to 9. I congratulate all the healthy con attendees who were there. I was in rolling forward like a tank -- or, to be RoS-era about it, siege engine -- mode. Julianne and I briefly conferred about what the heck it was we were going to do at our 9 AM fan panel, entitled "Robin Hood and Minstrelsy." This panel was, I believe, originally proposed to a Robin Hood scholar, who was supposed to share his knowledge of the actual ancient ballads. Laura and Chris asked me to be on the panel due to my involvement with RoS filking (I am sorry to say I don't know that much about the old ballads, but I have some experience at least with the "minstrelsy" that's been inspired by RoS). Then the scholar wasn't able to attend the con and Julianne was asked to be on the panel. So far, so good -- except that between our other con responsibilities and our real-life responsibilities, both of us had somehow failed to think of what exactly we were going to do on this panel. Add to this the fact that we were both fairly groggy and Julianne was fending off something akin to stomach flu and you had the makings of possibly not the best organized fan panel that has ever occurred. Julianne and I thought that perhaps we could expound on the idea that perhaps one of the reasons Robin Hood (the legend, as opposed to "just" RoS) has survived all this time was because it started out being passed around in ballad form -- and perhaps that's one of the reasons the fandom seems to have inspired an unusual amount (especially given the size of the fandom) of original filks. We presented these theories to the panel attendees and a fun discussion ensued, proving that if you bring RoS up, you can get even a bunch of people who are half-asleep to wake up and talk about it. The next panel consisted of me and Helen talking about "All Things Gisburne," which of course included a lot of all of fond memories from ourselves and everyone present at the panel of the late Robert Addie, excellent Gisburne, wonderful actor and as everyone who was at Weekend 8 in 2003 will attest, extraordinary convention guest. Between 11 AM and noon, I dictatorially locked Kitty, Helen, Mick, Julianne, Rolf, Charlie and Matt in another Oakie rehearsal. I'm not sure what was going on in the rest of the con. At noon, it was time for another guest panel with Mark Ryan, with special guests by telephone Clive Mantle (from his home in England, with six-month-old son Harry nearby) and Ray Winstone (from Boston, where he's making the movie "The Departed" for director Martin Scorsese). Clive revealed that he's now writing a screenplay and a children's book, did the Hallmark production -- now scheduled to air on NBC -- of "The Poseidon Adventure," told his version of relentlessly teasing Jason Connery with a piece of gristle, talked about why he left "Casualty," talked about the joys of working with Clint Eastwood on "White Hunter, Black Heart" in Africa and about new fatherhood. Ray talked about working with Martin Scorsese -- who really impressed Ray with his modest, gentle demeanor at their first meeting -- his daughters (the eldest two, Lois and Jamie, are now actresses), about trying a North Country accent for his animated role as Soldier Sam in "The Magic Roundabout" only to be told he'd been hired for his normal speaking voice and said he was "gutted" not to be able to be at the convention with the rest of us. For the record -- the convention was trying to reach Richard Carpenter (this wasn't announced as Chris didn't want to disappoint anyone if it didn't work out), but as it turned out, we found out later that a storm had knocked out the phone lines in Kip's neighborhood and service was out for about a week, so there was no way this could have happened. Due to the generosity of Clive, Ray and Mark with their time, the guest panel scheduled until 1:30 lasted until almost 3. This meant that the fan panel scheduled for 2 PM, "Fellow Travelers in Sherwood" (about characters who help the outlaws), which was to have been chaired by Laura and Rolf, had to be cancelled. Ophelia and Jim Julien held their sword demo workshop. Then the archery tournament took place, run by Janet and Julianne. This consists of photos of the villains being shot with rubber arrows. Apparently the biggest casualty was Kevin Costner as Robin, a photo that went down multiple times. Then came another photograph/autograph session followed by Russ Herschler's chainmail demonstration. Next up was the medieval dance workshop, run by Janet (Julianne was scheduled to run it as well but had to rest due to the aforementioned unwellness). We then had another Oakie rehearsal, while Chris and Todd set up their bigscreen projector in the programming room. We ended the Oakie rehearsal and those of us still awake came in in the middle of "Lord of the Trees." This was followed by "Sheriff of Nottingham" (a big Nasir episode in honor of Mark) and finally the RoS outtake reel, which is hysterical -- probably one of the best and longest outtake reels ever at about 70 minutes. I don't know what anybody else did after the screening -- I went back to my room and promptly fell asleep. Sunday, I got up at 7 AM. The Oakie dress rehearsal started at 8 AM and went for two hours. I have to hand it to the wonderful and energetic cast -- they produced costume pieces and props from Herne-knows-where. We needed a wimple for Lady Margaret, a fright wig for Mad Mab and most of a costume for Robert of Huntingdon, and there they were. I have an anxiety about the Oakies that tends to be almost full-time. Basically, as soon as one Oakie performance ends, I start vaguely worrying about what we'll do next time, no matter how far away it is. This gets acute once we're within a year of the actual con. I have nightmares of the kind suffered by actors who dream of being on stage naked and not knowing their lines. This year, I had my favorite Oakie nightmare ever -- I dreamed I was at Weekend, it was Sunday morning, and not only had we not rehearsed, but -- in the dream -- there was no script, no award certificates and I hadn't compiled the ballot. In the dream, for some reason, this seemed to mean that I should take a rented car (I hadn't rented one in real life, because I never get to leave the hotel anyway during the con) and drive out to get breakfast. In the road, I encountered a pet supply shop, where the owner and four short-nosed aardvarks we re trying to solve the murder of the aardvarks' previous owner. I shared this with the Oakie cast, so if you heard them making a joke about aardvarks ... Then it was time to actually *do* the Oakies. This year's script was inspired by Chris telling me about a production she and Todd had seen which crammed the entire history of "Star Wars" into a low-budget show. The Oakies crammed a low-budget history of parts of RoS into the awards presentation. Btw, if you were there, while after years of trial and error, we now use the certificates in rehearsal so the presenters can practice saying the sometimes esoteric titles and names right, we use blank sheets of paper during practice for awards given to people who are performing in the Oakies, so they can be honestly surprised during the actual ceremony. Rolf as Loxley and Charley as Huntingdon came racing in, declaring it was time to present the Major Oak Awards. Kitty as Marion is fretting over the fact that as no new RoS zines have come out in 2003 and 2004, there can't be any Major Oak Awards -- but there can if we're honoring the last 20 years of RoS fanfic and artwork! Julilanne as Much (eventually doubling as Lady Margaret and Mad Mab), Helen as Herne, Mick as Scarlet and Nasir (his eyebrow dialogue was brilliant) and Matt as Tuck and Little John -- with both Rolf and Charley taking turns as Gisburne and Rolf also being Owen of Clun -- rounded out the characters. We also had the "rolling mist" for Herne's entrance -- consisting of Helen as Herne being pushed in on a luggage cart draped with a sheet adorned with a "Mist" sign -- a quarter-staff fight with paper towel rolls, a swordfight with rolls of silver wrapping paper and a change in Herne's antlers, which this year were played by a promotional baseball cap I had been sent with felt antlers attached to it. If this all sounds insane and cheesy beyond belief -- congratulations, you have grasped the spirit of the Major Oak Awards. The awards are, however, perfectly serious in their intention to honor RoS fan writers, artists and poets. Invariably, in trying to compile a ballot that honors everybody, some items were inadvertently left out. As ballot compiler, I apologize to the editors of Silver Arrow, Under the Greenwood Tree and the Alternative Robin of Sherwood Zine, and the prolific RoS illustrators. The Oakies seemed to go over well. Thanks again to Kitty, Helen, Julianne, Rolf, Mick, Charley and Matt for working like aardvarks and being very funny and patient. After this, it was time for the charity auction, which raised 1400 dollars (that's a lot for a small convention) for Cancer Hospice -- direct service and aid for people suffering from cancer. This was auctioneered by the ever-game and entertaining Mark Ryan, who then did more Q&A prior to closing ceremonies. Finally, it was time for the gofer party, which is a wind-down get-together for con staff and volunteers (gofers). Because a lot of attendees at Weekend volunteer to help out, the party includes a good-sized portion of the con. Mark and Tamara joined us for an event that wound up going from 5 PM to 4 AM. (I zoned out at about 3:30 but was told how late it went by survivors.) In the morning, it was time for fast breakfasts, fond farewells and treks back to the airport. Again, bless the hotel restaurant -- I sat down, said I had 20 minutes, and I ordered, got my food, ate and was ready to leave in 20 minutes. Chris is looking at June 2007 for Weekend in Sherwood 10. It's not over, it will never be over -- and we wouldn't want it any other way. Here's a great Internet cheer for Chris for making Weekend in Sherwood happen, year after year, as a convention like no other! Rache