Up at 6 to get showered and get some chores done before heading off to Alan Biegel's home in Bayonne where I met up with Alan, Harris, and Harris' friend Sharon. Alan then drove us into the city from there.

The show was in a new location on Pier 94, but we first had to go to Pier 92 to register and then take an elevator and walk over to Pier 94. We saw Jane, Cordelia Chase Fan, and the rest of their regular group while we were checking in. As soon as we walked onto the covention floor, which was chockablock with activity, Harris announced he was hungry so we stopped at a concession stand where Harris had a fancy bowl of pasta and a brownie. As I didn't want Harris to have to eat all by himself, I opted for a hot dog. We finished up and it was off to the show floor.

We saw Brent Spiner for a short time at an autograph table, and then wandered down the aisles. Alan was looking over DVD's, and there was a fair amount of vendors selling them. Harris and I were on the lookout for cards, but it hard to find much, just a small offering of some older and uninspiring sets at a couple of tables. Comics were in abundance, so if you were comic shopping, you were probably happy.

We spent some time in Artist Alley, which was busy. We saw card artists Brian Kong, Dennis Budd, Scott Barnett, Allison Sohn, Ron Wilson, Ken Branch, and Dave Fox. Dave had prints available of an Enchantress sketch he had done for me and he gave me a signed print, which I appreciated. Dave was working on a convention sketch of Two-Face which Harris mentioned he was impressed with. Brian showed me some samples of football base cards he did for an upcoming Topps set, and the art was top notch.

We finally found a familiar face selling some cards, Derek Woywood was present and had some nice cards on display along with some unopened boxes. It was good to see some cards!

We then headed over for the real entertainment where most of the celebrity guests were, but not before Harris announced he was hungary again so we waited as he stopped for one of those giant pretzels. Harris said it was a really good pretzel. Among the celebrities we saw were Linda Hamilton, Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, Todd Bridges, Peter Mayhew, Billy Dee Williams, a female actor from "Twilight" who I did not know, Tom Wopat, John Schnieder Loretta Swit, and Julie Newmar, just that I can recall off-hand. The "memorable moment" of this show was Loretta Swit yelling at Harris for trying to take her picture, which was "not free" according to Loretta. Keep in mind that Harris had been taking a lot of pictures during the entire show of a lot of the celebrities and no one complained, so it really made her look bad, and he is a member of the press, I saw the credentials myself. However, Harris would put up with none of this tomfoolery and positioned himself for another photo of the vile wench and was able to get a shot, although blurry, he got the shot nonetheless!

We also embarked on another fun activity, but this is being keep under double secret probabtion for possible future use.

That was about it and we had covered the entire show floor, we went back to check on a couple of people we missed the first time, and decided to make some purchases, but Alan went back to get a DVD he wanted only to find out it was gone. Harris purchased a shirt, and I went back to see Derek and purchased a Women of Marvel box.

We proceeded to head back to where we parked Alan's car as it was near Ruby Foo's, where we were eating dinner, which is right in Times Square. We met back up with Sharon, who had been visiting the Museum of Art, among other places while we were at the show. Alan stopped and got tickets to a performance of Jersey Guys, and we visited an interesting music shop, where they actually had some non-sport cards, although at a tad more than most collectors would expect to pay.

Off to Ruby Foo's, had a nice dinner, Harris could not finish his dinner and got the rest to go, go figure! We headed back to Bayonne, but not before we encountered a bizarre parking garage clerk. Alan had a coupon for discount parking, but when it came time to pay the clerk asked if we wanted to use the coupon and pay $20, or just pay the regular non-coupon rate of $17. After careful consideration, we opted for the regualr rate of $17. It was a good day, but everyone seemed tired and I think we were all ready to relax.

The show location was much better than the old location, and it had more to offer, and even the weather held up well for our New York adventure. I did pick up a few obscure promo type cards, some of which may not be new, but I will post images here in a bit. I think that about covers everything, but if I missed something or got the details screwed up, Alan and Harris can clear things up. Harris took a lot of pictures which I think he plans to post shortly. Like when he gets home tonight!

Glad you all had a good time Batman. As it turned out I coulda/shoulda gone because the weather held out anyway, but the subways are still all screwed up, so its just as well.

Someone I know who went said that several of the big name autograph guests were late cancellations and that caused some problems with collectors who had come just to see them. I was wondering if you noticed anything like that happening?

That bit about Loretta Swit is funny, she should be happy that anyone still wants to take her picture.

The 501st legion had a number of cards available at their table, we could only get one each. Jim Salicrup had a promo card based on Marvel Universe II, and he signed it on the back for us. The Intrepid had a table at the show and gave out these Top Trumps promos, a set could be purchased aboard the Intrepid or on-line. The three other cards are promos for "Blue Shift" which may be a game? The three cards are unnumbered.

Yes, there was a board when you went to registartion that had a number of cancellations on it, which included guest and panel cancellations.

I agree, the Loretta Swit encounter was enjoyable. She looked awful, and her disposition even worse. Actually, now that I think of it, it's kind of sad, but still funny! Can she be that hard up for money?

Thanks for the report! Loretta Swift must have gone to the June Lockhart school of how celebrities should NOT act at these types of things.

I had a friend that went and he had a good time. He was able to get a really nice picture taken with the Warehouse 13 cast.

I can't wait until Harris posts some pictures.

Hi All:

Thanks for that VERY THOROUGH report Batman. I hadn't realized the day's events were being recording so thoroughly. Myself, I'm way too chockablock to post anything like that. That's why I take da pictures!

Speaking of which, I'll post some in a bit.

I would have been on here last night to post but I was way too tired (you know, from all that eating and such!). Seems like the weather was the worst in PA and cleared up in NJ and NY. Same thing when we went home -- got really crummy when we got back to town (hmmmm....).

All in all though, it was a fun day with many interesting things to see, even if there weren't so many card things at the show. Enjoyed walking around with Batman and Alan "Willy Nilly" Biegel), even if they do make fun of me all day long. It was good to see Jeri, Monica, John, Val, and Derek (managed to find them twice, even). Too bad we missed you Raven. I enjoyed being yelled at by Hot Lips. Kinda funny. Artist alley was good too -- nice to meat Allison Sohn and some of the others and talk with Brian Kong. I'm trying to convince Brian to go over to the U.K. for one of the shows -- he says "maybe" next year. I liked the celebrity area too though it would have been cool to see William Shatner -- we never did get to see him, though we did see Brent Spiner twice.

Anyway, pictures in a bit....And I appoligize for posting these before the pictures from the Philly Show....I just don't have those yet but I will post those too once I get 'em.

Funny, I don't recall making fun of you at all, Harris. It must have been Alan! I shall try to keep my reports shorter in the future!

quote:

Originally posted by Batman:
I shall try to keep my reports shorter in the future!

No, don't do that. I enjoyed it. I just will try and behave better next time....And eat less.

OK, here goes with the pictures......

First up are a bunch taken by Alan Biegel.


Billy Dee Williams


Lou Ferrigno

Check out this Alex Ross on display....


Here's the chalk artist we keep running into at the NYC shows.

Back to the Future DeLorean


And it's license plate

Julie Newmar -- sorry, not the best picture

OK, these rest of these are my pictures, save for one more at the very end from Alan.


Alan, Batman, and myself with some guy that made a movie about a shark or something?


The first (ever!) Micky Mouse drawing

Check out how many artists are in Artist Alley!


Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers)

Erin Gray


Kathy Najimy -- she called me sweetheart

Nichelle Nichols being interviewed


Rekha Sharma

Luciana Carro


Peter Mayhew

Camden Toy


Miracle Laurie

Dukes of Hazzard


John Schneider


Tom Wopat (sorry this one's kind of lousy)

Warehouse 13


Eddie McClintock


Saul Rubinek


Joanne Kelly