One of the best conventions that I've been invited to was the Days of the Dead Horror Convention in Indianapolis, In over the weekend of July 1st through the 3rd. My thanks to Adolfo and Erin Dorta for having me as a guest. I especially have to thank my friend Beth Wren for her efforts to petition Adolfo on my behalf to get me that invitation! It was a great weekend and an excuse for me to go back to the city where I grew up. And Adolfo was a great and accommodating host.
Conventions in Indianapolis are important to me. It not only affords me the opportunity to meet and network with new friends and fans but it also gives me a chance to see some family members and connect with old high school and college class mates. I am especially happy that friends Candy Mozingo and John Summers stopped by to visit on this trip (I hadn't seen either of them since 1972!). Also, my sister Mary was able to come by and get her picture taken with my friends, Michelle Leg and Ari Lehman.
Thanks to Adolfo's invitation to this convention, I was able to hang out with friends Reggie & GiGi Bannister and Ari Lehman on Thursday night and watched as Reggie played his guitar and sang at one of the local bars. Unfortunately, after the 16-hour drive to Indy, I was simply too tired to stay longer and see Ari's band, First Jason, perform.
My friend Beth Wren was at the convention to sell the ghost hunting film she appeared in and to promote her paranormal investigations group. It was her first convention behind a table. I was able to hang out with friends Dave & Lora Rhodes and Shannon & Michelle Feaster (parents of Prodigy Filmmaker, Dakota Meyer). It also was able to spend time with my almost-life-long friend, Jeani Mills Nolte, and my brother, Rick.
I met Kara Rountree (and her husband, "Shrub") in the hallway on Friday night They run a horror-review website, goblinhaus, that you should checkout and bookmark. Kara was so much fun and just kept giving me sh... (oops! Better leave it there). I also met Shawn "Cap" and Christie Keaton Brown while doing a little bit of my stand-up at one of the convention entrances (Cap is advocating for me to to wrangle me a guest spot at Scarefest in Lexington, Ky this September). I also got to know Dave Alusik and Lydia Burris (two great artists): Lydia gave me a badge that says "I'm very bad" that I wear on my Santa suit when I'm the Vampire Santa.
I met Fenriz Fatal and Captain Crypt (and their wives) at the Famous Monsters of Filmland convention last year when they invited me to celebrate the first anniversary of their company, Grossex Productions. I met Kitty Zom (the child-friendly zombie) at HorrorHound) earlier this year. It was great hanging out with them all again!
Days of the Dead will go down in my book as one of my favorite conventions and I hope to be included as a guest at more of Adolfo's future conventions (nudge, nudge). If you can check, check out Days of the Dead in Atlanta this March or back, again, in Indy in July. More info can be found on the Days of the Dead website.
This past weekend (June 3rd-5th), I had the pleasure of making a guest appearance at the first Pittsburgh Horror Film Festival. They also showed "Hillbilly Bob Zombie" (HBZ) -- the only movie where I was the lead character. As usual, I drove to the festival site by way of Ray Basham's to pick up some additional copies of HBZ to sell along with some of my other videos, t-shirts and photos. After departing my home in coastal New Hampshire at 9:30, Thursday night, I finally made it to the festival around 2:00PM on Friday. I was greeted by Jenn Thomas and shown to the exhibit area where I was given a choice of areas to set up. I wound up setting up near Fred Williamson, who I had previously met at another convention. After getting set up, I drove over to a local car wash and washed off the road dirt so that I could park my red HHR adjacent to the entrance to show "the Santa mobile" to those attending the convention. I then presented myself for post-movie Q&A to those who were present to watch HBZ.
The weather in Pittsburgh was wonderful that weekend: sunny, breezy, warm but not hot and I'm sure that the chance for outdoor activities kept away more than a few of the people who would have otherwise attended but there were enough to buy my stuff and share some fun with. Those who know me know what a flirt and a jokester I am and I was able to blissfully flirt and tell jokes throughout the weekend. I also dressed as "the Vampire Santa" on Saturday night and "photo bombed" a few people at the masquerade ball.
It was also a great weekend of networking for me. I saw fellow actors that I've met along the way: George Kosana, Bill Hinzman, William Forsythe and, the aforementioned Fred Williamson. And I met John Martino who played Paulie Gatto in "The Godfather". John was kind enough to sing to me, his song, "Santa's Little Boy" which he wrote and recorded. It was wonderful and can be heard here. I was thankful and gave him one of my Santa photos, which I personalized for him.
On Sunday, my first film "wife" Brenna Roth (the "seed" for the "I Slept With Sal Lizard" t-shirts stopped by to visit and pick up her copy of HBZ. She also modeled one of the t-shirts for me. (If you want to know more about her involvement with my most popular t-shirt read the blog, "I Slept with Brenna Roth" on this website.)
I also met several other filmmakers and hung out with Travis Bowen and Jessica over the weekend. Thomas Berdinski was there, too! That guy is *everywhere*!
In closing, I want thank Jenn Thomas and the organizers of the Pittsburgh Horror Film Festival. I hope that they invite me back in the future. I'd also like to thank Larry French, a fellow STARFLEET member and the CO of Pittsburgh chapter, the USS Inferno, for all of his help, too.
Next up: Days of the Dead Horror Convention in Indianapolis July 1-3.
