Celebration II
MTV
5/2/02 - 5/5/02
Page 1, 2, 3, 4
Let's see... Where did we leave off? OK, so everyone is talking about this 501st party that's happening Friday night, and how the actors are going to be there. I go around and ask them if they're coming, and half of them don't know anything about it, while the other half don't want to go because their hotel is 10 miles away, and they'd have to take a taxi there and back. I tell this to the guys from the 501st and make arrangements for Chris (huge THANK YOU going out to Chris for doing this, you saved everyone's ass this weekend!) to take his Suburban (which can fit 7 people) to the Hotel, pick up the actors and bring them to the party, as well as possibly bring them back. Did I do it because I'm a nice guy? Nah, I just wanted to get a free ticket to the party! (you thought I was going to say I did it because it's what I do, didn't you?)
With the arrangements set I wander over to Scott and Rob's room, and inside are a bunch of people I don't know and a guy with a video camera. As I walk in, Rob is wearing my Snowtrooper Armor and Rob is holding up my Clone Trooper Helmet. They see me and Scott says, "This is Spat, he's the guy that made this."
I quickly reply, "No I didn't. And I didn't make that Snowtrooper Suit that Rob is wearing either. And if you go to www.spatcave.com, you can see all the other costumes that I don't make!"
So we laugh and joke around, telling Con stories for a while, all the while Scott (not the same Scott as was holding the helmet, a different Scott who we'll call Scott2) is video taping. When they're done, one of the other guys, Norm, pulls out a piece of paper and says, "Now we need you to sign this release for MTV."
"Huh? This was for MTV?"
So they explain the situation. This is for a show called "True Life" on MTV. Norm and Scott2 are the Producers, and Scott2 is also the Camera man. The other 2 guys are Charles and Charlie. A father and son team who are the subjects of the show. What the show is about is a father who is a huge Star Wars fan, while his son is totally embarrassed by the whole thing.
So we talk some more, and I mention that the 501st is having a party tonight with some of the actors, and maybe they should come down and film it.
With that taken care of, I head over to my unofficial office, Chammps Sports Bar on the second floor of the Hyatt.
I sit down with Jeff, Jerry, Joe and Bob (NEG guys) and they start yelling asking me if I heard the news. What news?
"Scott and Rob had MTV in their room and were giving interviews."
"So?"
So they explain the story about how MTV had contacted Albin (the head of the 501st) to arrange something a while back. But Albin understood that MTV was looking to make fun of Star Wars fans and make us look like geeks. No offense to anyone, but we are geeks. Deal with it. But we're fun geeks, and that's all that counts!
So I tell them that I was also up in that room, and I also gave an interview to MTV. For some reason that made them all feel better. I explained what MTV told me about the show, and about how we really didn't discuss much more than the costuming aspect of it, and that made everyone feel better.
I go down to the party and finally meet Albin. I ask him about the actors and if they've arrived yet, and he said, no. I asked if he knew that most of them didn't even know about the party, and he assures me that they were told about it the night before.
"When they were told, was it in a room with a bar?" I ask.
"Yes."
"Then they just don't remember."
Either way, he's very thankful when I tell him that I arranged for them to come and for their transportation. I then ask about allowing Press into the party. He says, "Sure, as long as it's not MTV."
So he and I have a little talk about MTV, and I even bring over Norm to explain the show in person.
Five minutes later, it's all arranged, MTV can film, everything's set.
Richard finally arrives and of course goes straight for the lovely Lori in her Star Wars Toga.
Norm from MTV comes up to me, and asks what the chances are of them being able to interview some of the actors. So I ask around, and get Richard LeParmentier (Admiral Motti), Jerome Blake (Rune Haako, Mas Amedda, as well as 5 other characters in Episode 1, and 2 characters in Episode 2), and Michael Sheard (Admiral Ozzel) to do the interview.
As MTV is setting up, Norm comes up to me and asks if I would mind terribly if they had me conduct the interview since I knew these guys already.
Why the hell not?
So I start off by introducing Richard, telling who he played, and what other films he was in, and once the ball is rolling I step out and let him take it. Every so often feeding him a plug, mostly about his website (www.admiralmotti.com).
When he's finished, we move on to Jerome, and I basically did the same thing, introduced him, told about what other films he was in, then stepped out and let him take it.
By this time Michael had wandered off to try and sell more copies of his book.
Once finished, they hand Richard a release and a Sharpie. He can't find a place to sign, so he grabs me and bends me over.
And starts signing the release on me. Then someone yells, "Sign the back of Spat's neck!"
The bastard actually stopped and thought about it for a second!
After that was taken care of, Albin asked me to grab the guys so the 501st could give them an award and make them honorary members.
Then it was off to the bar that Rob and I had arranged that afternoon!
Sort of.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a bunch of actors, and a bunch of fans to all stand in one place together long enough so we can all leave in one group?
Well, it took a while. As we were trying to leave, the group just kept getting bigger and bigger. Kevin Rubio (creator of Troops) and Angus MacInnes (Gold Leader) also joined us, as did a lot of other people I don't even remember. It had been a long day.
We wandered over to the Slippery Noodle (a Blues Bar with 2 live bands and an owner that's a Star Wars fan!) and had a drink or two. By then most of the actors were exhausted from working all day at the Con and wanted to head home.
So the ones of us left (and I'll try and remember as best I can here), Jerry, Lynn, Eric, Hillary, Dennis, and a bunch of others that I don't know their names, head into the back room to see the other band. We started getting a little bored, so Dennis, another guy (whose name I forget) head over to this Irish Pub to have a drink. We tell everyone to meet us over there.
As we're leaving, we bump into these 3 very lovely, and very drunk girls who are heading to a place called Lotus. A really cool Sushi bar that I had looked into on Thursday, but didn't think it would be a really hopping place to bring everyone. They say they'll meet us there and we head out.
As we're walking up to Lotus, I see a very scary looking bouncer at the door and a cover that none of us want to pay. So I stop the guys about 20 feet from the door and Dennis takes out his cell phone. I walk up to the bouncer and ask him, "You know there's a Star Wars convention going on in town this week. Well, I have two of the actors from the film with me who would like to check out your club."
Of course, the rope comes down, and we're escorted in.
Inside we find Charles, Charlie (the father and son team from MTV), Scott2 (the Producer/Camera man from MTV), the three drunk hot girls and a Bachelorette party.
The Bachelorette had mints attached to her shirt, and for a dollar you could bite one off. And hell yeah we did!
A little "Self Shot" action!
Don't remember her name, but she was hot and wanted to be an actress.
Here are 2 of the 3 drunk girls that dragged us here. And here's Dennis trying to get them drunker!
Scott2 asked if I knew the girl in blue, and since he's a Producer, and she's a wanna-be actress, I thought it best if they meet. Hey, it's what I do.
Charlie expanding on the fine art of Boob Grabbing and extending it to Butt Grabbing. Way to go Charlie!!!
This girl stopped me outside and tried to fix my hair (which was all messed up and freaky looking by this hour of the night. She must have stopped me to do it like 3 or 4 times!
After an hour and a half at Lotus, someone asked if we wanted to go upstairs. Upstairs? What's upstairs?
Why a crazy huge bar with a dance floor, and people dancing with fire!
Not to mention cages for me and Charles to play in!
By 2 am, even a picture of a nipple is good enough for me.
Charles and Scott2. Great friends one minute...
Kicking ass the next! "Watch how Daddy does this, son!"
Drunk girl number 2, just a little drunker....
This is Kimberly, my future ex-wife. I just met her that night, but damn. Glasses, red hair, full lips, and a bottle opener hanging from her thong! What more can a man ask for?
Saturday night she was even flipping a flaming bottle and breathing fire! I think I'm in love.
This is Becca. Like the message she wrote on her shirt just for me? That's right, ex-wife number 2.
Whatever you say, Scott2. That night we found out that Scott2 lives a block away from my mom in Long Island City. How freaky is that??
After a night of drinking and partying like that, it's time for a bite to eat. And what's better than a hot-dog from a street vender? Nothing, if you ask Charles. But don't ask him while he's eating, he bites.
Mmm.... backless....
After all that time in jail in Istanbul, it just comes natural. Read it however you'd like...
Celebration 2 planned on about 25,000 people to show up. About 20,000 came on Friday, 52,000 on Saturday, and probably another 10,000 on Sunday. Needless to say, Saturday was a mad house.
While wandering around I bumped into DJ Flexx, or DJ Fett, or just Morgan.
He's a really nice guy, but didn't seem to appreciate me Boob Grabbing his woman!
Troopers get all the chicks. Photo courtesy of Frank
Jamm on, you crazy Imperial! And nice gray shoulder pauldron! Photo courtesy of Frank
Keith had to fly back to New York for a party that morning, but was flying back in that night to meet me for the concert.
I bumped into Lynn in her Biker Scout armor, and flipped up her helmet. Then I flipped it back down again. When the helmet came down, it banged her right on the bridge of her nose. She started screaming and yelling profanities pretty much immediately.
What made it funnier was the fact that she had a microphone right next to her mouth, and a really loud amplifier on her belt. So as she's yelling, "Mother fuck this and shit face bitch cock..." All the little kids in the hallway are looking over!
Way to make an impression, Lynn! Warp those young minds!
Albin flagged me down on Saturday and asked if I would help out giving out awards to the actors. I asked why, and he felt that since I knew most of them, it would be easier to get access to them if I helped. Fine. So we head to the autograph area.
On the way I bumped into AJ. A guy I went to College with who now works for Channel 12 in Connecticut. He was at C2 making a documentary, so I took him around and introduced him to some friends, and had him film while we gave out the awards. Be sure to check out page 4 for a lot of the award pics. The whole time we were doing this, Michonne kept looking over at us looking a little pissed off. I didn't know why, but read on to find out...
Here is AJ asking Richard what size underwear he has on, or something equally as silly.
Here's Richard giving away the T-shirt that the 501st so graciously gave to him. What a guy.
We took a break to head back and get some more plaques, and to arrange for a new camera man to help out taking the pictures. I called Scott and Rob and asked them to help out. While on the phone with them, Scott asked if Albin was mad at him. I asked why he would be mad, and Scott still wasn't sure if the whole MTV thing was fixed yet. I said I wasn't sure, but I'd find out.
I asked Albin, and he assured me that he wasn't upset at all about Scott and Rob giving an interview to MTV. So I asked Albin to help me out on a little game...
Albin and I walked up to Scott and Rob in the lobby of the hotel so we could go back and give out the plaques.
"Rob, Scott, this is Albin." I say.
Albin grabs Scott and says, "So you're Scott, You bastard, how dare you talk to MTV!"
Scott's face went white!
Then Albin apologized, hugged him, told him everything was OK with the MTV thing, and blamed the grabbing and yelling thing on me. Nice. Well, it was my idea... but still...
Rob with Bonnie Piesse (Beru Whitesun from Episode 2). We had no award for her, but Rob thought it would be nice if we gave her a hat! She's a really nice girl who wanted to come out with us on Sunday night, but she's only 19!
Again, to see more pics of the awards, hit page 4.
With my official duties as Liaison to the Stars finally over, I headed back to my office for a drink. There, I was talking to Jerry, and found out that Jeff had been Michonne's sponsor (turns out that members of the 501st had sponsored each of the actors and paid for their plaque to be made), and he wanted to give his to her personally. But he worked all day long in armor and couldn't get a break. I was pretty sure she got hers because I didn't see it in Albin's room with the others, so I called Albin and he said he had kept Michonne's on the side for Jeff. So that's why she looked so pissed!
I figure, no problem, we'll just do it tomorrow, but Jeff is leaving first thing in the morning and won't be around.
So I call Jeff and tell him to meet up with me later at Lotus because Michonne is going to be there, we'll have someone run back and get the plaque, he gives it to her, we take pics, someone runs the plaque back to the room, and we give it to her again tomorrow.
He declines and tells me to just give it to her tomorrow and tell her he said Hi! Whatever, I haven't got the time or the energy anymore for this, so I head off to the Symphony.
Lynn and Jerry looking exhausted after a long day working in costume.
Then it was off to the Symphony!
When I got there, a huge line had formed waiting to get in. I didn't feel like waiting, so I walked around the line and went down to the VIP entrance area. There I bumped into Cami, Cheralyn, Amy and Arnie (Troopers that I know who were working Security for the concert). I walked over to say hello, and Cami tells me, "I'm sorry, Spat, but you have to go over there and wait on that line, I'd love to help you, but I really can't."
I asked why I couldn't just walk through this door, and she told me that this was the VIP section, and you can't go in here unless you have a white ticket.
"Like this white ticket?" I asked as I pulled the ticket out of my pocket.
"How did you get a VIP ticket?"
"It's what I do."
Boob grabbing Arnie while waiting for Keith.
While waiting, I walked a bit inside the hall and talked to a few people I knew, some of the actors, some of my friends, always going back outside to look for Keith.
Me and Cami in a Self-Shot! Gotta love the pink hair!
Keith finally showed up, and Cami handed us off to the Staff guy who would take us to our seats. He sat us in the ass end of the VIP section all the way in the back. I looked at the guy and told him that these seats wouldn't do. I needed to sit closer.
He looked at me, then ran off to the front, came back a minute later and sat us in the fourth row. I think he moved someone for us.
The only people sitting in front of us were Ben Burt (sound designer for Lucas), Steve Sansweet (archivist for Lucas), Kevin Rubio (creator of Troops who now works with Lucas for something I can't remember), Jerome Blake and one other actor who I can't remember. But sitting behind us were all the rest of the actors. I turned around, said hi to everyone, and waited for the concert to start.
Anthony on stage. The show was actually really good. The stage show was awesome, they had the 501st come out during the Imperial March, R2 came out and danced for a while during another number, it was a great show.
Afterwards, we grabbed Kevin Rubio and Rachel Nacion (who writes a comic book called Shades of Blue) and headed to Lotus, got let in for free again, and met up with Michonne, Alan, Dennis, Charlie, Charles, Jerry, Bob, Alex, you name it, everyone was there!
Here's Michonne with Charles.
Michonne Bourriague (Aurra Sing) after she stole my rubber duckie beads!
I pulled her aside and told her about the Jeff thing. She remembered him (he drove her from Philly to Hershey PA!!), and was really sad that he wasn't going to present it himself! She also confirmed my suspicion that she was jealous that everyone else was getting a plaque and a hat except for her!
Me with Matt, the manager of the Lotus, and a Star Wars fan to boot!
I pulled him aside during the night and asked what the chances were of us holding a Star Wars After Party here tomorrow (Sunday) night. He said it sounded like a great idea, except for the fact that the place was closed on Sundays. My next question of course was, "What do I need to do to get the doors opened?"
He named me a price, I asked when I had to let him know by, assured him he'd have an answer by 1pm, and went right back to partying.
Dennis, some drunk girls and Alan Ruscoe (Plo Koon and Daultay Dofine from Episode 1 and 2).
After I showed Alan around the bar a bit, I pointed out the cages by the dance floor and informed him he would be dancing in them later tonight. He assured me I was wrong.
Kimberly........
Have Dildo, will travel. At least she knows she's getting some tonight!
Attacking and Boob Grabbing the Manager's girlfriend. Is this really smart?
Dennis and Alex. Alex is an Independent Filmmaker working on a Documentary (which I think I'll be in!), and he's also the owner of the blaster that Dennis is playing with. It has a green laser light that shoots out when you pull the trigger.
Unfortunately, this pic just looks like I'm drunk and silly, but actually, there's a laser in my crotch!
Michonne trying to look sexy even while Dennis is trying to get naughty with the laser. So I tried one without the flash on, and... well, it's a freaky pic, huh?
"Alan, why don't you go get in the cage and dance for us?"
"Not on your bloody life."
Sorry, she's hot, so we all wanted pics with her. Is that a bad thing?
So, after about 2 hours of me telling Alan to get in the cage, he finally says, "Look, I'm not getting into the cage. If you want me in the cage, you'll have to carry me kicking and screaming into it!"
So I looked over at Jerry sitting on the other side of Alan, we picked up Alan, and carried him kicking and screaming into the cage.
We put him in and he just started cursing at us, screaming at us, then the music took him over...
"Bomp Chiki-Waa-Waa!!"
We finally had to drag him out of the cage so I could get a turn!
No Turkish jail comments, please.
Look at me go! Photo courtesy of Bob
This is why you should never get too close to the monkey cage! Photo courtesy of Bob
Then Bob and Jerry joined me in the cage!
I think Jerry got claustrophobic and tried to chew his way out! I guess he didn't notice the big gap in the bars that we got in through!
Prisoners of love.
Triple Self-Shot! Me, Charles and Jerry!
Charles loves to make this face, huh? Photo courtesy of Bob
Look at Charlie. Such the perfect Southern Gentleman. Let's listen in and see if we can hear what he's saying to this fine, young filly...
"C'mon, let me just touch the right one. I'll even keep my eyes closed. Please...."
"LET HIM TOUCH THE RIGHT ONE!"
Do you get that they're trying to look scary? I'm not buying it. Photo courtesy of Bob
"So why do they call this a 'Flavor-Savor'?"
I know I've used the line already, but, "Bomp Chiki-Waa-Waa!!"
Need more Alky-Hall!! Photo courtesy of Bob
"I can see up your pants leg!" Photo courtesy of Bob
"If you're going to grind like that, I'm leaving" Photo courtesy of Bob
Drunken miscreants. Let's see if we can name them...
Starting from the left - Can't remember, Bob, Michonne, Spat (me!), Alan, Charles, Dennis, Jerry, and our bookend on the right, Can't remember. Photo courtesy of Bob
Yet again, we closed the place, and stumbled home. I think bob took the pics on the way home with his camera, and if these are just mine, I'm scared to see his... And here are 7 of Bob's pics from the walk home:
I just can't even comment on this one right now.
Insert Southern/Jail/Fraternity type joke here.
"Shhh, be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm hunting Wednecks!"
Ok, so it may seem gross that I'm on the floor during this, but look what Charles is doing, and what Jerry is letting him do!
I'm sure Bob, Charles and Jerry were hoping I would fall in. Now that would have made the night!
Hey, when you gotta go....
Spat need food, badly.
Well, I don't actually remember any of the above things happening, so I deny them all!! Back to my, NORMAL and non-embarrassing pics!
The Hot-Dog vender wasn't around, so I figured I'd bite myself off a chunk of Hot-Georgia-Ass!
"No, he's my Hot Georgian Love Slave!"
The next morning I was hanging out by the 501st table, when I saw Jeff saying good-bye to everyone. I asked if he had seen Michonne, and he said no. He really was about to just head home and have me give her the award.
I looked at the table, saw her award, grabbed it, a hat, and Jeff's collar and dragged him kicking and screaming to the Autograph area.
You're welcome, Jeff!
Now it's on to SpatCon 2002!!
Page 1, 2, 3, 4
If you have any questions, E-Mail me. Spat@spat-nospam-cave.com
