WEEKEND IN SHERWOOD IX CON REPORT
                                by Robin

Here's a short version of some of the con highlights.

Dealer's room: Slow. Very, very slow. Barely any sales at all.  The only
things that really sold were cast photos at the Sprit of Sherwood booth. 
The ladies next to us sold some teas, and Barb's booth seed to sell a bit.
  All in all, it was just all around slow the whole weekend.

Early Friday morning, Loraine fell down the stairs and broke her arm in a
couple places. By late Friday, she'd rejoined us looking none the worse
for wear.
(Christine Haire: Lorraine didn't actually fall down the stairs--she tripped 
coming through a hotel entryway.  She was really a trooper and came back to 
the  convention from the hospital in a sling (which of course, Mark Ryan 
autographed for her---LOL) and she will be seeing an orthopedic doc and 
getting surgery once she is home in Cleveland.)

The banquet was a lot of fun, there were several stations around the room
with different dishes - one had little steaks on a stake, another had fish
(which was really tough I thought) and chips (fries), there were soups at
another station - though I never got to it. Dessert was a bread pudding,
which I'd never had before.  I tried it and loved it...really good stuff.

Rebekah and I got the pleasure of sitting at the head table with Mark and
Tamara, his girlfriend.  Tamara was beautiful, sweet and a sheer delight
to talk to.
For the ladies interested in that sort of thing - she wore a dark maroon
colored dress, floor length (Forgive me if my memory is a bit fuzzy -by
the time the dinner rolled around, Rebekah and I had both been up for over
24 hours - She worked all day Thursday, I worked around the house and
slept, then we literally drove all night to Southgate from Waukesha - west
of Milwaukee, did the con all day, and then the dinner), and I think the
dress had - I think they're called spaghetti straps. It had a sort of
color changing quality to it - it looked slightly different colors from
certain angles. I know there's a word for it, I just can't think of it.
The costume contest was held during or just after dinner (again, my brain
is not at full capacity yet - I think it still somewhere south of
Chicago).
I got the award for longest weapon - my broadsword that I brought, because
it was easier than keeping up with a longbow and quiver of arrows.

Saturday, Rebekah and I had breakfast with Mary Ann McKinnon and her son
Charles at the hotel restaurant. The service was awful.  Roughly a dozen
people and not one of them seemed to have their head out of their
posterior exteriors.  When we wanted a refill on our water glasses, I
finally had to go to the kitchen and strongly request a pitcher of water,
from which I refilled all the glasses at our table.  Charles' meal they
never seemed to get right, and the last part of it that he wanted - salsa
and avocado - they didn't bring until after he left to attend a rehearsal
for the Major Oaks skit. The food quality wasn't bad though.  Not great...

The highlight of the day for me was the Q and A with Mark and also the
phone chat with Clive Mantle (Little John).
Clive was busy feeding his son and I believe he said watching Wimbledon on
the telly...I don't remember his son's name now, but I'm sure there's
someone out there who can fill in the blanks.
(Christine Haire: Clive and Zoe Mantle's baby son is called Harry.)
Clive took a number of Q's from the room, via Mark.

He shared some stories from behind the scenes at RoS, that, to me, were
new. Including the gristle story.

Speaking of phones - I suppose I should relate the cell phone story to you...
So, its just about the end of the panel with Mark, on Saturday.  Rebekah's
manning our table in the dealer's room, while I'm two rooms over in the
discussion. Suddenly, my cell phone rings, reminding me I forgot to set it
to silent mode.  So I answered it, and it's Rebekah wanting to know how
long I'll be.  I'm just forming an answer when Mark, who had been
answering a question of mine, got up, went around the table, and walked
down the center aisle and insisted on taking my phone.  He then starts
talking to Rebekah.  She's confused because all of sudden my voice changed
from a slight Texas drawl to an English accent and dropped a couple of
octaves.  This had the entire room busting out laughing.

Mark was a terrific guest. Playful, charming, wacky...and completely
different than Nasir. Nasir is soft-spoken and seldom speaking and Mark is
talkative and vibrant. Mark was a delight to talk to. I enjoyed
speaking to him immensely.  I had him sign two postcards from the RoS vhs
set as well as my Green Arrow annual 4 that he co-wrote (I now have
autographs by Mike Grell and Mark Ryan on that book), as well as the
Greenwood Tarot book I had.  He was friendly and patient and talked to
fans as he signed stuff, sharing anecdotes about certain items.  I can't
remember when I asked him about the Green Arrow project, but he shared the
story about how the project came about.

Sunday, the skit for the Major Oaks was hilarious. The players all did a
great job. I'm not going to try and list all the winners, because I simply
don't remember, plus I'm sure that they'll get posted over at Spirit of
Sherwood soon anyway.

Mark ran the charity auction.  Bidding was slow there too.  The thing that
got the most bids was a second unit jacket from the movie King Arthur that
Mark donated.  The art auction only had a small number of pieces go up. 
None of mine even got any bids.
(Christine Haire: We actually collected over U$1400 for our charity, Cancer 
Hospice.  The storyboards from King Arthur also went for a lot of bucks.)

So...there you have a run down of the con...albeit rather muddled and what
have you... As I said before, I'm sure others can fill in the blanks and
elaborate.
-- 
Tejas,
Robin 
Desert Moon Art
http://www.desertmoonart.com