by Bette&TinaForever

Day 1 Report

Day 1 of the Convention began, as usual, with registration and sign-up for the photo sessions with the guest stars for the next day. Later, we were expecting to have an Opening Ceremony and Uh Huh Her concert in the main hall, meant to replace the usual Meet&Greet. Those fans that bought the first 130 tickets had the privilege of sitting in the rows closest to the stage. The rest of us had to run and even fight for the best rows further away. As it turned out, there was no Opening Ceremony because all of the guests’ flights were delayed and thus, arrived late.

Only Leisha made it on time so we could still have Uh Huh Her concert that night. The concert was as wonderful as the one in LA. The hall was much bigger and fit almost a thousand fans and, although, I didn’t really like the acoustics, it was still great because nothing can compare to a live concert.

At first the fans were only allowed to sit a few feet away from the stage, though some tried to get closer. Finally, Leisha said that since they don’t have a drummer right now, they needed someone to come up and play air drums for their next song. This is when the craziness began.

A lot of eager fans rushed to the stage, overthrowing a few people who were a little too slow and even mindless of the disabled fans. Sorry to disappoint but I wasn’t one of them…I mean the eager fan.

Some of you probably already heard the witness stories about the notorious air drummer turned dancer turned stripper. Honestly, I didn’t pay much attention to her because I was there for Leisha and Cam and I wanted to see them and hear their music. Some people enjoyed the striptease; some were annoyed and disgusted by it. All in all, the concert was fun and after it was over we all waited for some time for Uh Huh Her to return for an encore but it didn’t happen.

The main hall was getting prepared for the disco party later that night and my friends and I went in search of decent food. Whatever we found was barely edible but then again, who could think about such mundane things as food when you’re at The L Word Convention, in England, with your friends and about to see the cast members up-close and personal? Not I.

Day 2 Report

Saturday morning began with the usual photo session, and I had my picture taken with Erin Daniels. Great way to start the day! It was really interesting to see her blonde because she wasn’t blonde at the LA Convention, and that was just last month. I was surprised and asked about it; Erin replied that this was for her new work project. I compared the pictures from LA and Blackpool later, and the contrast was amazing. When Erin is a brunette, she is so Dana, but as a blonde, she is just Erin if you know what I mean.

I didn’t have any photos taken with Kate and Leisha this time because I had just seen them in LA. I couldn’t pass on a photo with Laurel since she is playing my favorite character on the show. [For those of you who don’t know, yes, you do pay to have your picture taken with them – 12 pounds in England and 30 dollars in LA].

I was wearing my favorite TiBette red shirt that says, Bette and Tina: I want to believe. It was the same shirt that I was wearing to a photo shoot with Laurel last year. I was one of the first in the line, and we were waiting for the photographer to finish setting everything up. Laurel was already there, and when she saw me in line, she waved and said Hi to me. Yes, my heart skipped a beat…

I pointed at my shirt and said, “I still believe.” Laurel smiled and said, “I can tell you that you will be happy this season.” When I asked if she meant I’ll be happy because Bette and Tina will get back together, Laurel shrugged and said, “That’s all I can say, but you’ll be happy.”

One of my friends was behind me, and she was wearing an I see you red shirt, the same one that Laurel was wearing during her podcast with Ilene on OurChart. Laurel noticed that shirt too and said excitedly that she has the same one. We began talking about that podcast and Laurel said that it was edited a lot and it looked like she was interrupting Ilene all the time, but it wasn’t like that at all. They had a normal conversation that was just edited to save time. I basically told her that I was glad it was edited because I was more interested in what she had to say anyway.

By the way, every time I see Laurel she looks more amazing and more gorgeous than at the previous event. She was wearing a familiar leather jacket, jeans and her hair was longer; she was simply stunning.

The photo shoot went really fast because with all those people waiting in line it would take hours if everyone chatted with the cast members. Right in the beginning, we were warned again that due to last year’s Convention unpleasant experience (when one of Laurel’s so-called fans grabbed her behind even after she was told by Laurel not to do it), there was no hugging or arms around Laurel during the photo shoot.

My picture with Eric Mabius was next, and because there were not so many fans in line, Eric took his time to say a few words of greetings to everyone. He is such a genuinely nice and sweet guy--truly a gentleman. He recognized me from the first L1 Convention, which was a surprise. He put his arm around me, and it turned out to be one of the best photos from the convention, in spite of the cold sore that I’d gotten on my arrival in sunny England. Yes, I am kidding.

The Q&A sessions were scheduled next. First, we were greeted by Adrienne Wilkinson, who was again the MC for this Convention. She told us stories, let us hear a song that she recorded for one of her projects and was wonderful as usual.

The Q&A parts of the convention were actually really hard to follow because, like I mentioned before, the acoustics in the main hall weren’t that great, and even the guests couldn’t understand half of the questions asked because of the sound, as well as the many different accents of the attendees.

Because of that, my Q&A reports will be coming separately for each cast member and will be done not in my usual way of posting the question and then their answers. I will try to summarize everything that they shared with us so that everything makes sense. So stay tuned for the upcoming Q&A reports.

On Saturday, we first heard from Leisha and Cam, who joined her on stage so she wouldn’t be lonely. Then we had Kate and Erin. Laurel and Eric went last. In spite of the awful sound, the Q&A sessions were entertaining and informative.

As soon as this part was over, two big suites were prepared for the autograph sessions and all the attendees were split into two groups. The numbers from 1 to 1,000 were getting autographs from Kate, Leisha, and Erin, and the numbers from 1,000 to the last were standing in line to get Laurel and Eric’s autographs.

I was in the first group and got my autographs with Kate, Erin, and Leisha. Leisha’s band mate, Cam, was also there, and I was told that I could come back and bring Uh Huh Her’s CD that they were selling at the convention and they would both sign it. I did just that, and now I’m the owner of an Uh Huh Her CD with two cute autographs. I thought it was nice of Cam to spend some time with the fans, as well. I didn’t want her to feel bad when some of the fans would only care for Leisha and not give Cam the time of the day. She is a part of Leisha’s band, she’s really nice, and she has a very beautiful voice. One of the songs she sang during the concert wasn’t on their CD, and it was a very beautiful ballad.

I asked them if the band will be touring more cities in the United States soon and Cam said that they have it in their plans. I’m going to start checking their website more often. Who knows, maybe one day they will stop in my neck of the woods.

After the autograph session was over, we again went in search of food and after eating and checking my emails, my friends and I went to the disco party. The music was much better than at the LA Convention so Saturday ended on a very exciting note, especially when I found out that on Sunday I would have a chance to interview Laurel Holloman, my favorite TLW actress.

Day 3 Report

 

Day 3 of the event began really early for me, or should I say, it was a continuation of Day 2 because I hardly slept the night before. But, in spite of lack of sleep, I had to be ready for my photoshoot with Laurel at 9 am sharp so I wanted to look at least half way normal. All the guests were a little late, and we were standing in line and chatting with the Starfury staff members. I actually would like to point out that it was amazing that the staff members and volunteer stewards were able to run this event as smoothly as they did.

It could have been completely crazy with so many attendees, but it wasn’t.

Finally, Laurel arrived and the photoshoot began. It was even faster than the previous day because Laurel didn’t even stop to chat but went directly to the mark to take the photos. I had mine taken and went to the main hall to take my seat for the Q&A.

Laurel and Eric’s Q&A was first. Eric was mostly asked about Ugly Betty and Resident Evil. He was very nice, charming, and a true gentleman. He was speaking in a very soft, quiet voice, and he mentioned his family and his son, Max, who likes to play with Laurel’s and Jennifer’s daughters. Eric and Jennifer Beals are really good friends as well, ever since the first season.

Eric was asked if Jenny annoyed him as much as she annoyed the fans, and Eric’s reply was that he was supposed to be passionately in love with Jenny, so he wasn’t annoyed with her. He also talked about his work on Ugly Betty with Salma Hayek and America Ferrera and that it was great to work with another cast that was mostly women, like The L Word.

By the way, an Ugly Betty Convention was announced by Starfury and it will be held in July 2008. More information will be available on the Starfury forum as soon as the exact time and location are established.

After the Q&A sessions were over, we all went to the last autograph session, and I was waiting until the end because I heard that the night before Laurel did some personalizing for the people at the end of the line.

I asked Laurel to sign my photo with her from the last year when I was wearing my special Bette and Tina shirt. On this shirt it is written Bette and Tina: First, last, forever – I want to believe. I asked if Laurel could write, I believe too and she replied, “Sure, I will.” After she wrote it, Laurel smiled and said, “How about I will do this,” and she wrote Bette & Tina Forever and drew a heart around it.

I was almost speechless for a moment imagine that…and then I said, “Oh my God, this is my name on our website.” After that I invited her to come to the website and check out the photos and reports from the convention and other events. Laurel said she would. I hope she does.

After I got Eric’s autograph, I waited a few more minutes for everyone to finish the autographs and was finally called to have my long anticipated interview. For those who haven’t read it yet, the full interview is posted on the website already. Here I’m only going to repeat that Laurel was amazing. She was tired from the whole day of events and interaction with hundreds of fans. She only had a few minutes before her car would be there to take her to the airport because she had to go back to LA to finish editing. Yet she still found the time to sit down with me and talk. I repeat, this woman is amazing and kind and is very passionate about the show and her character. When the interview was over with the arrival of Laurel’s car; she left the room with her assistant, and I stayed there alone for a few moments to reflect on the interview before finding my friends in the main hall. Twenty minutes with Laurel flew by so fast and I couldn’t believe that the convention was almost over. The Closing Ceremony was pretty fast. All the guests, except for Laurel, arrived and were sitting at the table

while Sean announced the end of the convention and thanked stewards, staff members, assistants, technical support guys and everyone who made this event happen. Then Sean again introduced each cast member and they said their parting words.

They all thanked the fans for their devotion and how happy they were to be at the convention. Eric mentioned that he will be glad to participate in the Ugly Betty Convention. Leisha thanked everyone for listening to her band, and Kate said that they will see us at the next convention.

After that, they all left and the evening continued with the raffle prizes and another disco party. And then it was all over. Another convention went by too fast. However, this is not the end. Sean Harry and the Starfury had already announced the L4 Convention in London in March 2008 and it has been mentioned that the L5 Convention will take place sometime in November or December of 2008. Since Sean posted that Leisha and Kate both loved Blackpool and requested next convention to be held there again, I’m assuming this is where we’ll have L5 Convention and we can expect Leisha’s performance and Kate’s appearance. As soon as I find out more about it, the news will be posted on the Forums.

Stay tuned for the Q&A reports from L3 Convention…coming soon.