Cool Stuff At Anthro

[filkertom]

First and foremost: HUGE thanks to unclekage, giza, Uncle Vlad, and ever-damn-body else -- impossibly long list -- at AnthroCon. You were all great, and your friendliness and helpfulness and generosity and general wonderfulness will not be forgotten.

Abundant thanks also to the Dorsai -- scs11, blueeyedtigress, unkbar, Joanne, René, Karen, Becca and her girls, Halina, especially James and Kay, Kate, drzarron, Mark Osier, just all of you. You helped me when I needed help (my back was very bad this weekend, and the convention center was long and long), way, way above and beyond the call of duty, and I guess I must be kinda okay after all, to have such folks as you call me a friend. I am humbled by you, and eternally grateful to you and for you.

And, many, many thanks to dreamdancer85 and Robin and Carla, who helped so much on Saturday. (dreamdancer85 also got me a tremendously fun goodie -- a barbecue grill lighter styled after a sheep. So I've got a fire-breathing sheep. It's a Fenton action figure!)

My concert sets were fun. Small audiences -- less than three dozen people each -- but we all had a good time. Next time, I'll hype myself a bit more prominently (I already have a few ideas, hee hee). And, being an unknown quantity at a specialty con, I still had okay sales, and met a lot of very nice folks.

And now, Tales Of The Fanboy....

I found out Saturday that I did in fact have a dealer's table.

Right near Scott Shaw!

I went over and fanboy'd him. I admit it. I handed him a couple of CDs, and said, "Sir, I'm a big fan of yours from way back. I wish they'd just collect The Oz-Wonderland War." (Yes, I do know Carol Lay did the art for that. Doesn't matter. I want all the Captain Carrot collected.)

He said, "Oh, you're the music guy! Yeah, I read about you in Wired! Listen, where's your table?"

Agog, I pointed at it, just to the right.

He said, "Oh, we'll have to hang out."

It got better.

Sunday, an Asian gentleman came by the table, and looked at the CDs. He said, "I'm not familiar with your work."

I said, "Oh, I do music -- folk-rock com-" and then I stopped.

It was Stan Sakai.

Fanboy away. Pressing CDs into palm. "I'm a big fan of Usagi."

"Oh! Would you like a sketch?"

He drew me a sketch. Usagi and one of the little "eep!" lizards, in a lovely open landscape with mountains.

At this point, I was in Little Fanboy Heaven.

A few minutes later, I left for the restroom, and when I came back I saw Bill Holbrook's table, and I remembered that I had to get the new K&K book, Oh, The Humanity! (It has the secret origin of Lindesfarne.)

I'd given Mr. Holbrook a CD a few cons ago, and I came up and said, "Hi! I-"

I never got to the "-- don't know if you'd remember me" part. He said, "You! How are you? I've been lending your album to all my friends! The Illuminati Polka is a classic!"

While I was gaping, he asked me who my favorite K&K characters were. I said it was a toss-up between Fiona and Fenton. He sketched head shots of both of them when he signed the book.

Staggering back to my table, I found out that Mr. Sakai had come back and left me Usagi cloissone pins.

While my mind reeled from all this, Scott Shaw! came over and apologized for being too busy to come over and hang, and he gave me his card and said if I needed an album cover, or wanted to perhaps collaborate....

I am beyond happy. Some of the people I admire and respect most in comic art are talking to me as if I'm a colleague.

Guess I'll have to do some stuff to make it so. :)

Comments

[eagleronin.livejournal.com]

Dude you rawked at the concert. I tired to grab people to go see ya, but they failed to show unfortunately. Either way loved to hear you live and I must say it was an amazing experience. If you happened to see me I was the guy spazing out at the end of the second row. Still keep rawking and if you show up next year I'll chain people up and drag them in, that way they can't give any excuses. ^.^

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Very glad you enjoyed. :) Which set, Thursday or Saturday?

[eagleronin.livejournal.com]

I catched the saturday show

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

So ... it was a good con, then... :)

[eibii.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwwwwwwww!

[ericcoleman]

Some of the people I admire and respect most in comic art are talking to me as if I'm a colleague.

Well ... you are ... just a different art

[ladyskada.livejournal.com]

Wow. Very impressed! *g* I have to pick up more of your CDs, myself. Somehow, people hear them playnig in my car and then the CDs walk out of the car when my passenger does. Sad . . .

If you're a fan of Bill Holbrook. you might get a kick out of a local artist here and his strip "Something Positive (http://www.somethingpositive.net/)". Just thought I'd mention it.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, I've got my own very specific reason (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp08032005.shtml) to get a kick out of SP....

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

On my way back from working Mythic Journeys with the DI crew, I almost stopped in at the Henson Childhood Museum in Leland, MS to play them That Song.

Only my daughter Sharon begged me to stop some other trip when she wasn't around to embarass.

I just hope they're open on July 4, because I WILL be coming back solo from in-law visiting a little deeper in MS THAT day.

[sulinpanda.livejournal.com]

On that reference, I'd like to say that's got to be my favorite all-time filk (that doesn't reference something I experienced in person. Reference: Larry Dixon and the Moon Pie Masascre - I forget the name of the group who was there and wrote the song). A friend of mine (now deceased) put A Boy and His Frog on an ecclectic tape and sent it to me while she was working on her Literature doctorate. It took me 10 times listening to it before I didn't cry. I caught a concert of yours at an Oasis years ago, and it still can make me cry. It's a *beautiful* song, and a heartfelt tribute.

Thanks.

[the-dark-snack.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember being present during that. I can't remember the details either.

[sulinpanda.livejournal.com]

"Cracker Con" (2 or 3 I think), Jacksonville, FL, roughly 1992-4.

Larry Dixon refused to eat the Moon Pie that was given to all of the dinner guests, calling it the 'southern twinkie,' and promptly stabbed it with his fork.
A con staffer grabbed it up and ran off with it.
Sunday afternoon, after closing ceremonies, the con staff and friends marked to the restaurant (humming the 'Imperial March' from Star Wars...) where Mr. Dixon and wife Mercedes Lackey were having brunch and produced said Moon Pie (with the fork still in it) and pronounced their intent to fullfil Florida Fish & Wildlife law: You kill it, you eat it. Mr. Dixon said heck no, slap on the cuffs! We then all had a good laugh and let them get back to their meal 'cause we were darn tired.

A con staffer friend (who works in Hollywood as a model-maker) made a model of the Moon Pie, wrapped it in the cellophane of the one that was killed, used the same fork used to stab the original and the model was enshrined. It lives in *someone's* garage to this day...

The next year, the filkers who were present had 2 versions of a song about it. I wish I could remember who they were...

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear good things happened, Tom.
Good for you to focus on the positive.

And yes, Stan Sakai is EXTREMELY cool!

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Very little negative, Lump, and that was all could've-happened-at-any-con mechanical stuff, such as my back giving me trouble because I had to shlep stuff around a huge frickin' convention center with very badly planned parking, or that ditz at the Uno's, or the parking valet who gave me bad directions out of town.

[partiallyclips.livejournal.com]

Bill actually emailed me from AC and mentioned he was talking to you. Very cool.

So Tom...now you know approximately how I felt when I gave you a copy of my book collection at Penguicon 2.0. :D

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

That's too cool. :) Man, I really have trouble wrapping the concept of my own celebrity around my brain, y'know? I mean, I know me. And I know that, in the grand scheme of things, I'm a fat guy who's sold a few records. But unkbar and I were laughing this weekend about how, at one con a few years ago, I crashed in his and his wife's room, and we were both fanboying on each other, because he was Dorsai! and I was Tom Smith!

[partiallyclips.livejournal.com]

Celebrity of any kind is an odd phenomenon. What I've become really attuned to lately are the complimentary concepts of the power law distribution and the long tail. In order to act appropriately and to set appropriate expectations as I see my own little white dwarf star rising, getting a proper perspective on my place in the grand scheme of things is indispensable. How important are webcomics (and filk) within the popular culture? How is my brand doing for reach and depth within webcomics and filk? It's always inexact, but you can pick up an honest sense of it if you stay skeptical and honest with yourself.

What I find surprising with this sort of microcelebrity (which has only become possible with the new technologies of the past 15 years), is that people often don't differentiate very much between "real" celebs and long tail celebs. Meeting someone you've heard of and enjoyed their work is the thrill, whether that's Tom Smith with X number of fans worldwide or Paul McCartney with 500X fans. Here's a great example of what I mean, from the blog of a fan of my strip.

Each new con seems to bring more and more people who are seeking me out to say hi and tell me their favorite strip, or tell me a story about the one they put on their dorm door or cubicle wall. That's still a huge thrill for me, and yeah, still difficult to get my head around, even though I know the numbers that back it up.

[louisadkins.livejournal.com]

*cheers* Excellent! I am glad to hear it!

[braider.livejournal.com]

*Mary cackles in sympathetic glee*

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

How cool!

[hbruton.livejournal.com]

Thus, you have survived the AC experience. Glad you were there, sorry I had no time. Hope the drive home didn't kill you.

[hbruton.livejournal.com]

whoops this is Diana - Heather is logged in...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

And hugs to both of you! No, although there were a few rough spots (the most notable being that Pittsburgh apparently doesn't believe in actually telling anyone how to get out of town...).

[thdrgngrl.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I never got a chance to come back by your table- I'm gonna have to pick those CDs up ^.^ x.x I was swamped a bit with work over at my table

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, but that's a good thing. And you've just given me an idea.... :)

[austinwolfclaw.livejournal.com]

Glad you had a great time at AC.... Feel free to come by again next year!

[scs-11.livejournal.com]

We were so glad you could come by on Sunday night. Sorry we were so scattered; for some reason we were all tired and a bit punchy. :-)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

That was a wonderful par- er, security meeting. For all that we've known each other for a long time, I never seem to get enough time to just hang out with you all, an especially galling circumstance in your case, given that you live so close. So I really, really enjoyed it. Thank you so much, and we've gotta do it more frequently.