After a very exciting day, and a night of well deserved rest I was ready to finish up my booth for the first day of Wizard World Cleveland!!!
While it was chilly out that Friday, it was only a short walk from the hotel I was staying at to the convention hall. The first corner I stop at, I hear the Jackson 5 on blast. I look around and notice that the Rock and Roll Hall of fame was down the street. I don’t know if it had any correlation to that, or if someone really liked the Jackson 5.
While walking I notice the area blocked off with police cars and traffic being diverted. I was curious as to what was going on since the comic convention wasn’t going to start for hours.
Turns out new police recruits in Cleveland participate in a parade! I thought that was so cool. I really don’t know if other cities do this, but they should!
I walk through the hall in amazement! When I was last here, trucks were still inside, vendors were unloading, long story short it was chaos. When I come in the next day, it actually looks like they’re ready to put a show on!
I get to The Bluesmobile to finalize the booth set up. I set up some props / posters, got my display table ready, I think I was good to go!
My first guest was Sunshine (real name!) She’s a vendor under the name of GinGee Girls Art. She sells a variety of sandblasted glassware with your favorite movie/character images. I suggest you check out some of her wares and upcoming convention appearances at https://facebook.com/pages/GinGee-Girls.
Sunshine was very nice and spoke to me about some of the in and outs of conventions. It seemed like when the women vendors found out it was my first time doing a convention their nurturing side came out and wanted to help me. I really appreciated all of the advise Sunshine and the others gave me throughout the weekend.
Friday nights are like a soft opening. While there is traffic, it’s not like a Saturday or Sunday can be. Friday is more like 5 hours of hurry up and figure out what you are doing!
NEVER SAY NEVER: When I first built the car and started to drive it around, I was asked if I was going to dress up. I flat out said no. Not because I had anything against dressing in character, it is just not my style normally. Heck, my wife can barely get me to dress up on Halloween, let alone when I drive The Bluesmobile. But little by little last year I incorporated elements. Always wore the sunglasses, then I added the hat. Then I added the shirt and tie, while having shorts on because it was hot! Then finally in the fall I had the suit coat on, leaving my street clothes on my lower half.
Since comic cons are all about celebrating your particular fandom, this was where I finally went all in! I have to say, while I was nervous at first, it’s totally a look I can pull off without making it look like a caricature. I’m glad I’ve liberated myself.
The first real highlight of Friday evening came when I was interviewed by Fox8 Cleveland’s Suzanne Stratford. It’s the first time I’ve ever been miked and interviewed like that. It was a really cool process, and I had to do multiple takes of certain actions so they got what they needed! Very cool that they spent so much time with me and coaching.
You can find a link to their video here https://fox8.com/2018/03/02/wizard-world-comic-con-in-cleveland-superheroes-sci-fi-creatures-and-more/
Obviously being from Chicago, I don’t pick up on people having a “Chicago” accent, let alone my own. But when I heard myself on this video, I said to myself “OMG, I sound like your stereotypical Chicagoan!” I sound like I belong on a SNL Chicago Superfans skit!
To make it worse, fans repeatedly said that I sounded like Dan Aykroyd, which mean’s I have a Canadian-Chicago hybrid accent going on!
It was a whirlwind first night let me tell you! But near the very end was the highlight of the night! The Bluesmobile (not me) received a special visitor, actor Thomas Ian Nicholas! Thomas starred in the classic Chicago based movie Rookie of the Year, along with A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, before moving onto the American Pie series, and many many other great roles.
Tom relayed a great story about when he and his brother were younger, the would dj events and they put together a Blues Brothers show as part of it since they were both fans. I told him that he was going to make his brother very jealous tonight!!!
It was awesome to meet Tom. Great guy, very nice to talk to. I hope to see him at future events to catch up.
That’s it for Part 2. Look out for Part 3 very soon!
