Chiller Theatre, Spring 2008

Well, another Spring, another Chiller, another half-assed lazy post from me.

For a Spring Chiller, this year's guest list was surprisingly large, with a lot of great first-time guests. I was kind of exhausted at this one, because we had my daughter's birthday party the day before, and spending the day wrangling a bunch of 2-5 year-olds can take a lot out of you.

Still, I got some good signatures. Plus, I decided to spend some time combing the dealer room, and got three great DVDs, all of which will be making appearances in my soon-to-be-revived "Convention Find" series. But for that to happen, I'll need a little free time to actually watch the movies.

Until then, though, enjoy my shots-



First up, we had appearances from a few of the stars of one of my favorite comedies ever, Clerks. At the top are Brian O'Halloran and Marilyn Ghigliotti, aka Dante Hicks and Veronica "37" Loughran.



Next, looking not a bit like his alter-ego, we have Jason Mewes, aka Jay.



Everyone's favorite TV Mom, Katie Sagal made an appearance, too.



Here we have Armin Shimerman, of "Star Trek: Deep Space 9", and, more importantly, weasely Principal Snyder from "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer."

Chiller Theatre- October 2007

My- it's been quite a while since my last post. How have you been? You look good- lost a little weight, I see. I've been exercising a little, watching the baby, just trying to enjoy life. I really have been meaning to add some more posts to this blog, but you know how it is.

I see I've had over 1000 visitors in the interim- most of them here because of Rocky LaPorte. Who knew the guy was so popular? I guess everyone wants to know more about that mystery man. So do I, and I have some ideas, but that's for another post. What really brought you here is the fact that it's October, so that means that it's Chiller Theatre Time!

This year's convention was a little earlier than normal- usually it's the last weekend in October, but with the new hotel, I guess, they had to use a different time. No complaints here, for the most part- the new hotel is nicer and bigger than the previous ones, although, for this show, at least, there were a few glitches.

The hotel's undergoing some renovations, which, unfortunately, meant that ventilation in the main areas was poor. A lot of the lines and rooms got very hot and humid. Coupled with the unseasonably warm day, it meant a pretty tropical experience. Unfortunately, I suffer from migraines, which are triggered by heat and humidity, so I was not feeling up to par as the day went on.

Because of that, I really wasn't in the mood to stand in a crowd or wait in line for autographs. I only ended up getting two:

Here is Marcia Wallace- she was great a Carol on the original Bob Newhart show, and is currently the voice of Mrs. Krabapple on The Simpsons. Surprisingly, even though I've been to quite a few conventions, and The Simpsons is one of my favorite shows, she's the first cast member whose autograph I've gotten.


Next up is Lisa Marie- star of many Tim Burton films.

And that's it for my autographs this time.

However, there was one star whose appearance convinced the lovely Pilar to come with me. My lovely wife doesn't like these shows, and I've long given up on having her come with me, but when I saw that this guest was going to be there, I was able to talk her into joining me. He's been her favorite actor for as long as I've known her, and since her birthday was only a couple of days before, I figured this would be a good present for her- a chance to meet Mr. Val Kilmer himself:

So, there you have it- the latest Chiller pix. Hopefully things will be ironed out better for the April show and my head won't feel like it's exploding.

Rememberance of Chillers Past- The Other Movie Stars

Hmm- only about 4 weeks since the last post. If I don't start picking up the pace, you may accuse me of being a slacker or something. Well, since I don't want that, I'll continue with the series that had you coming back for more- previous Chiller encounters. This post will finish off the (more or less) mainstream stars, as well as two surprise musical guests.

First off, a couple of Sopranos alumni:



Joe Pantoliano and Frank Vincent (and the lovely Pilar).

For those of you Stripes and/or Rock and Roll High School fans, PJ Soles:


Or, if Sheena is more your speed, here's Tanya Roberts:


My favorite Lois Lane, Margot Kidder:


My favorite Indiana Jones girlfriend (and someone who's always reminded of being Margot Kidder's spunky younger sister), Karen Allen:


Star of some great Hitchcock films, Tippi Hedren:


Here's Karen Black, who was great in Nashville, and whose TV movie Trilogy of Terror scared the pants off my mother back in the day:


And, our musical guests-

First up, she really, really wanted Candy, Anabela Lwin from Bow Wow Wow:


And, finally, the drummer from one of my all time favorite groups ever, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd:

Rememberance of Chillers Past- The Horror, The Horror

Man- life sure has a way of getting in the way of doing stupid stuff. I purposely chose an easy task for the next several blog posts, and I still can't manage more than one post every couple of weeks. At this rate, I'll be done right around the October Chiller.

So, without any further ado, let's take a look at some of the people who starred in those scaaaarry movies, OK?

First up, the American Werewolf, and quite a Pepper, David Naughton:


Not really a scream queen, but she did kick a lot of monster butt in her prime, Sybil Danning:


Looking a lot different without all that scary black hair in front of her face, The Ring's own Samara (and the voice of Chihiro in the American version of one of my wife's favorite movies, Spirited Away)- Daveigh Chase:


The voice of Chucky, Brad Dourif (who was also great as Billy Bibbit):


The Re-Animator himself, Jeffrey Combs:


You may not recognize her without the black wig and extreme cleavage, but that Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira:


The Ladies of the Evil Dead:


And what would an Evil Dead autograph collection be without Bruce Campbell? (Actually, this is kind of a cheat- I didn't get his autograph at Chiller, it was at a signing for one of his books.)


Here's someone who should be immediately recognizable, Linda Blair:


Finally, two signatures from the stars of one of my favorite scary/funny movies, Phantasm. Angus Scrimm (The Tall Man), and Reggie Bannister:

Remembrance of Chillers Past

Not really having a lot to write about right now, my mind wanders back to the plaintive comment left by The Edward: "Where are the Biffs?"

Yes, where are the Biffs? Well, sir, there is at least one Biff in my archive, so I've decided to revisit past Chillers- for the next several days, I will be posting pictures from Chillers prior to my starting this blog. I am going to arrange the pictures thematically, with tonight's topic being "Television."

Let's start, shall we?

First off, let's begin with the Biffmeister himself, although I'm including him in "TV" because he was also Coach Fredericks in one of my all-time favorite shows, Freaks and Geeks. Say hello to Tom Wilson:



Let's move on to another cool show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I've already posted Juliet Landau (Drusilla), but here are Julie Benz (Darla) and Mark Metcalf (The Master- Buffy's best "Big Bad.")




Seinfeld gave us Morty and Helen Seinfeld, Poppy, and The Soup Nazi:







The show I have the most signatures from is Batman- representing the good guys are Adam West, Burt Ward, and Yvonne Craig:





We get the bad guys in the personae of Julie (Rowr!!!) Newmar and the late Frank Gorshin:




Finally, last but not least- Carol Cleveland of Monty Python fame, Peter Tork of the Monkees, and David "Bud Bundy" Faustino:





Within the next day or two, I'll post another batch under a different theme.

Smell ya later!

Chiller Theatre- April 2007

Wow! It's certainly been a while, hasn't it? Nearly two whole months without a peep from me. How did any of you ever make it?

A lot has happened, but I've been too durn busy to really write any of it down- I've got quite a few posts in me that I hope to put up soon.

For now, though, I just want to post the pictures from the latest Chiller Show. This one was at a new hotel, which was much nicer than the the one the previous two shows were at. It was a smaller show, too, with maybe only about half the guests as usual. Which meant I actually went home with money in my pocket.

Here's my latest autograph round up:

Let's start off with a Playmate- Miss July, 1959, Yvette Vickers. You may also remember her from Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman and MST3K fodder, The Giant Leeches.


Next is Eric Roberts. I was surprised to see him at one of these shows, and even more surprised to find out he was a really nice guy. Very friendly with everyone.


You may not recognize his face, but I'm sure you'd recognize his voice(s)- Billy West from the Howard Stern Show, and the voice of Stimpy, Fry, Dr. Zoidberg, the green M&M, the Honeynut Cheerios Bee, and many, many more:


(BTW- true story- once, while listening to Stern on the way to work, Billy had me laughing so hard I nearly got into an accident. I had to pull the car over.)

Anybody who had a TV in the 70s has seen at least one of Mason Reese's commercials- he did tons. Remember his commercials for Underwood Deviled Ham? Do you remember the word "borgasmord"?


Finally, here's local horror host and living legend, Zacherley:

Chiller Theatre- October 2006

Well, it's the weekend before Halloween, which can only mean one thing- Chiller Theatre! I look forward to this event every year (actually every 6 months- they do a slightly smaller show in April)- I'm a geek, and I guess collecting autographs is my geeky hobby.

This year's show was a little chaotic. They had about twice as many guests as normal- most were to be in the hotel, the rest were set to be in a large tent outside. Unfortunately, torrential rains and 60mph winds made the tent a no-go, so everyone was crowded into the hotel. I spent the first half of the day just trying to get from room to room to see who was where. It wasn't until late in the afternoon that the crowds thinned out enough to give some breathing room. Hopefully, with subsequent shows, the weather will cooperate.

Anyway- here are my prizes from this year's show:

First up- Juliet Landau (Dru from Buffy the Vampire Slayer):

Next is Coleen Grey, who starred in one of my all-time favorite movies, Nightmare Alley. She also had the distinction of starring in two movies that were slammed on Mystery Science Theatre 3000- The Leech Woman and Phantom Planet.

And what would Chiller be without some Playboy Playmates?
First, DeDe Lind (Miss August, 1967)


Next- Tiffany Taylor (Miss November, 1998)


Not a Playmate, but could definitely have been one- Aria Giovanni:


Finally, the coolest reason to see the show this year- The Warriors came out to play!!

First up- Brian Tyler (Snow)

Next- David Harris (Cochise)

Terry Michos (Vermin)

Roger Hill (Cyrus- Can you dig it?)

Deborah Van Valkenberg (Mercy)

And, last but not least, Michael Beck, aka Swan:

The Warriors reunion was definitely cool, and caused me to part with a large part of my cash. The only disappointment was PeeWee Herman- he had a huge line that stretched outside. I stood in it for an hour without moving too far. The winds were horrendous, and you can see I was not dressed for cold weather. At 4, he came out and apologized to everyone, and said he was going to eat dinner. I decided to cut my losses and go back inside- I got a chance to see the man up close, even if I didn't get his autograph. Maybe if I wish real hard, he'll be at another show.