Torchsong - Dead Man Walking
I really need a Torchwood icon or two. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of my Tenth Doctor icons, and he wasn't even involved in the con, except in cardboard form.
I was just going to update my previous Torchsong entry, but this is easier. So here it is, the second half of my Torchsong recap, so named because I spent much of the con worrying about Gareth being a marked man, since everyone else had been struck down. Or maybe it refers to me and the migraine from hell I had. Whatever; here's the rest of the Con That Wasn't To Be.
I left off at the panels, leading up to the cabaret, so I'll continue from there.
SATURDAY- Continued
Sometime during the panels, it was announced that Tom Price had decided to leave a day early, but that he wouldn’t go without making certain everyone received the autographs and photo-ops they’d paid for (like I said, a class act!) Except for the ops and the autograph line, there wasn’t anything scheduled until the evening, so I had plenty of time go back to the dealer’s room and ogle the goods before the photo op and autograph sessions. My mind had been made up about some items I’d been eyeing since that morning: some prints by artist Tommy Lee Edwards of Jack in front of the Face of Boe and another of the Tenth Doctor entering the TARDIS. I’d been debating about getting them, but it was decided for me when two people walked past with prints, and one of them mentioned that there was only one of the Jack prints left. Nothing like scarcity to make me want something even more… Tommy Lee actually wasn’t at the booth when I arrived, so I ended up guarding the print until he returned. My looming over it may have scared his poor son, who’d been left alone at the table. I managed to secure the last Jack/Face of Bo pic, so I was happy. I also bought Barrowman’s book, Anything Goes. I somehow managed to not buy any photos to get autographed. A brilliant move, especially since they were mostly sold out when I went back later. It ended up being a moot point, anyway…
We weren’t allowed to touch Tom during the photo op because he was hurting everywhere (later, we learned the break was bad enough to require surgery). He did well during the session though; originally, I think he was going to be sitting down at a table with his arm resting atop it, but he was actually sitting on the table and letting us sit close next to him. Yeah, no touching, but I appreciate the effort.
Next was the marathon autograph session. I opted to just get Tom’s, then get everyone else’s on Sunday, since I hadn’t bought photos. Bad decision, it turns out… But I did get a good picture for Tom to sign; they were being sold at his table.
Afterwards, it was time to relax before the cabaret. The dinner was good, and the table conversation was even better. I’ve never been to a fancy-ish dinner where we discussed science fiction. I was in heaven… I really need to surround myself with other fans more often.
Then we all headed to the cabaret, unsure of what to expect since the main attraction was injured. We were treated to another Skychat session with John, Carole, and Gareth, and what began as everyone showing off their biceps led to us being treated to a sight that George Bush shall never see! Mmm… he does have a rather nice ass. No wonder he likes to show it off. This was followed by another Q&A session, with my favorite question being one addressed to Carole, something like “Was John really such a horror as a child?” John and I both misheard horror as whore, and he was a little dumbstruck by the question as Carole answered it by mentioning that John screamed a lot. John acted a little hurt by this and defended himself, saying that just means he was a screamer, not that he was a whore! I think Carole was amused by the misunderstanding. So was he, once he realized his mistake. Ah, John… maybe it means his mind is always in the gutter? Wonder what that says about me, since I heard the same thing. After a bit, Gareth jokingly told John to clear off, that this was HIS show now, and then John sang us a quick song before saying goodbye for the night. Even unaccompanied and at what was around 3-4 am for him, he has a beautiful voice. Ah, to have heard it in a cabaret setting…
Then Gareth took control, introducing us to his invisible band (the actual music was provided courtesy of an attendee who’d had all of Gareth’s albums downloaded, since he obviously hadn’t brought his band with him or expected to need them.) I wasn’t expecting his style of singing; he’s a screamer. Gareth is soooo not Ianto… It’s not my favorite style of music, but he has a good voice. He sang a song called ‘Bam Bam’, which reminded me of Captain Jack in a way. He also sang something he wrote when he was fourteen, and accompanied it with the piano. The piano gave the song class, made it sound romantic, even. If you ignore the fact that it was called ‘Take it Like a Bitch.’ It was hysterical, especially when Gareth modified the lyrics to make them about Captain Jack. Gareth’s last contribution to the evening was another song I don’t know the name of, but I liked the beat of it at the end. Anyone know what it was called?
The other contributor to the cabaret was Peter Wingfield on guitar. Peter admitted that he’d only been playing the guitar for a year, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. He was a pleasant surprise, however; he didn’t use any elaborate chords or anything, but he put what he knew to excellent use. And he has a nice voice, too. So, more kudos to Peter for doing so much on such short notice.
All in all, I did enjoy the evening. I wouldn’t have paid the price I did for it, but at least everyone made an effort.
SUNDAY
Sadly, I didn’t get the chance to do much on Sunday. Oh, it started off well enough, with me heading off to the dealer’s room, trying to ignore the glare of Angry Cardboard!Doctor (he was right by the door! I couldn’t not see him!) I searched for a photo for Gareth to sign, but they’d already been snapped up by people who were actually on the ball. Oops… Looked like I was going to have to use what the convention provided, what shall be known as The Ugly Picture ™. I did walk out of the dealer’s room with another Doctor Who book, because I couldn’t resist.
This was followed by a whirlwind photo-op session. I got another photo with Gareth (darn it, if he was going to be my first/only Doctor Who actor, then I was going to get as much out of him as I could! And he feels nice.) We were hurried through the lines, with no chance to even sit down and relax. This turned out to be a bad thing; by this point, I was developing a rather lovely please-let-me-die migraine. Despite having taken something for it, I began to seriously consider actually leaving that day instead of on Monday. I decided to wait and see. The actors were gracious, Gareth called me ‘Sweetheart’, and Mark Sheppard won me over when he called me tall. Many of the women ahead of me were short, and he was ducking down to accommodate them. He was happy he didn’t have to do that with me. It made me feel good, and I told him as much. Me are intelligent conversationalist.
During the break before the next panel, I wandered around, debating my choice. My migraine had dulled, but I knew it would come back. Medicine doesn’t hold them for long. So, after a brief interlude in which I forgot all pain because they played the David Tennant/Catherine Tate Comic Relieve sketch on a big screen (note to self: DT=temporary pain relief), I decided to go home. It mean I would miss the final John Barrowman/Gareth David-Lloyd panel, and all of the autographs I’d missed the previous day, but I knew I’d be in agony soon. So, much as it pained me (especially considering how much I’d paid for those autographs), I left. Fortunately, I didn’t miss anything really earth-shaking, like a special preview of Torchwood: Children of Earth, or surprise guests.
All in all, I did have a good time. I wouldn’t have paid what I did for this particular experience, but I don’t have this driving need to sue or demand my money back or anything. And it seems by leaving early, I missed out on the final curse: the con plague. Something spread through there, making a lot of people sick - including, it seems, our last man standing. Apparently, he couldn’t attend the premiere of TW:CoE because he was ill.
I’m actually rather impressed I got out of there alive.
.
I was just going to update my previous Torchsong entry, but this is easier. So here it is, the second half of my Torchsong recap, so named because I spent much of the con worrying about Gareth being a marked man, since everyone else had been struck down. Or maybe it refers to me and the migraine from hell I had. Whatever; here's the rest of the Con That Wasn't To Be.
I left off at the panels, leading up to the cabaret, so I'll continue from there.
SATURDAY- Continued
Sometime during the panels, it was announced that Tom Price had decided to leave a day early, but that he wouldn’t go without making certain everyone received the autographs and photo-ops they’d paid for (like I said, a class act!) Except for the ops and the autograph line, there wasn’t anything scheduled until the evening, so I had plenty of time go back to the dealer’s room and ogle the goods before the photo op and autograph sessions. My mind had been made up about some items I’d been eyeing since that morning: some prints by artist Tommy Lee Edwards of Jack in front of the Face of Boe and another of the Tenth Doctor entering the TARDIS. I’d been debating about getting them, but it was decided for me when two people walked past with prints, and one of them mentioned that there was only one of the Jack prints left. Nothing like scarcity to make me want something even more… Tommy Lee actually wasn’t at the booth when I arrived, so I ended up guarding the print until he returned. My looming over it may have scared his poor son, who’d been left alone at the table. I managed to secure the last Jack/Face of Bo pic, so I was happy. I also bought Barrowman’s book, Anything Goes. I somehow managed to not buy any photos to get autographed. A brilliant move, especially since they were mostly sold out when I went back later. It ended up being a moot point, anyway…
We weren’t allowed to touch Tom during the photo op because he was hurting everywhere (later, we learned the break was bad enough to require surgery). He did well during the session though; originally, I think he was going to be sitting down at a table with his arm resting atop it, but he was actually sitting on the table and letting us sit close next to him. Yeah, no touching, but I appreciate the effort.
Next was the marathon autograph session. I opted to just get Tom’s, then get everyone else’s on Sunday, since I hadn’t bought photos. Bad decision, it turns out… But I did get a good picture for Tom to sign; they were being sold at his table.
Afterwards, it was time to relax before the cabaret. The dinner was good, and the table conversation was even better. I’ve never been to a fancy-ish dinner where we discussed science fiction. I was in heaven… I really need to surround myself with other fans more often.
Then we all headed to the cabaret, unsure of what to expect since the main attraction was injured. We were treated to another Skychat session with John, Carole, and Gareth, and what began as everyone showing off their biceps led to us being treated to a sight that George Bush shall never see! Mmm… he does have a rather nice ass. No wonder he likes to show it off. This was followed by another Q&A session, with my favorite question being one addressed to Carole, something like “Was John really such a horror as a child?” John and I both misheard horror as whore, and he was a little dumbstruck by the question as Carole answered it by mentioning that John screamed a lot. John acted a little hurt by this and defended himself, saying that just means he was a screamer, not that he was a whore! I think Carole was amused by the misunderstanding. So was he, once he realized his mistake. Ah, John… maybe it means his mind is always in the gutter? Wonder what that says about me, since I heard the same thing. After a bit, Gareth jokingly told John to clear off, that this was HIS show now, and then John sang us a quick song before saying goodbye for the night. Even unaccompanied and at what was around 3-4 am for him, he has a beautiful voice. Ah, to have heard it in a cabaret setting…
Then Gareth took control, introducing us to his invisible band (the actual music was provided courtesy of an attendee who’d had all of Gareth’s albums downloaded, since he obviously hadn’t brought his band with him or expected to need them.) I wasn’t expecting his style of singing; he’s a screamer. Gareth is soooo not Ianto… It’s not my favorite style of music, but he has a good voice. He sang a song called ‘Bam Bam’, which reminded me of Captain Jack in a way. He also sang something he wrote when he was fourteen, and accompanied it with the piano. The piano gave the song class, made it sound romantic, even. If you ignore the fact that it was called ‘Take it Like a Bitch.’ It was hysterical, especially when Gareth modified the lyrics to make them about Captain Jack. Gareth’s last contribution to the evening was another song I don’t know the name of, but I liked the beat of it at the end. Anyone know what it was called?
The other contributor to the cabaret was Peter Wingfield on guitar. Peter admitted that he’d only been playing the guitar for a year, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. He was a pleasant surprise, however; he didn’t use any elaborate chords or anything, but he put what he knew to excellent use. And he has a nice voice, too. So, more kudos to Peter for doing so much on such short notice.
All in all, I did enjoy the evening. I wouldn’t have paid the price I did for it, but at least everyone made an effort.
SUNDAY
Sadly, I didn’t get the chance to do much on Sunday. Oh, it started off well enough, with me heading off to the dealer’s room, trying to ignore the glare of Angry Cardboard!Doctor (he was right by the door! I couldn’t not see him!) I searched for a photo for Gareth to sign, but they’d already been snapped up by people who were actually on the ball. Oops… Looked like I was going to have to use what the convention provided, what shall be known as The Ugly Picture ™. I did walk out of the dealer’s room with another Doctor Who book, because I couldn’t resist.
This was followed by a whirlwind photo-op session. I got another photo with Gareth (darn it, if he was going to be my first/only Doctor Who actor, then I was going to get as much out of him as I could! And he feels nice.) We were hurried through the lines, with no chance to even sit down and relax. This turned out to be a bad thing; by this point, I was developing a rather lovely please-let-me-die migraine. Despite having taken something for it, I began to seriously consider actually leaving that day instead of on Monday. I decided to wait and see. The actors were gracious, Gareth called me ‘Sweetheart’, and Mark Sheppard won me over when he called me tall. Many of the women ahead of me were short, and he was ducking down to accommodate them. He was happy he didn’t have to do that with me. It made me feel good, and I told him as much. Me are intelligent conversationalist.
During the break before the next panel, I wandered around, debating my choice. My migraine had dulled, but I knew it would come back. Medicine doesn’t hold them for long. So, after a brief interlude in which I forgot all pain because they played the David Tennant/Catherine Tate Comic Relieve sketch on a big screen (note to self: DT=temporary pain relief), I decided to go home. It mean I would miss the final John Barrowman/Gareth David-Lloyd panel, and all of the autographs I’d missed the previous day, but I knew I’d be in agony soon. So, much as it pained me (especially considering how much I’d paid for those autographs), I left. Fortunately, I didn’t miss anything really earth-shaking, like a special preview of Torchwood: Children of Earth, or surprise guests.
All in all, I did have a good time. I wouldn’t have paid what I did for this particular experience, but I don’t have this driving need to sue or demand my money back or anything. And it seems by leaving early, I missed out on the final curse: the con plague. Something spread through there, making a lot of people sick - including, it seems, our last man standing. Apparently, he couldn’t attend the premiere of TW:CoE because he was ill.
I’m actually rather impressed I got out of there alive.
.