The Queer As Folk Convention - Part 1
I came back home from the Queer As Folk Convention on Monday evening and now, after one day of rest and of trying to make sense of everything that happened, I’m ready to share. This was one of the most beautiful and fulfilling experiences of my life. And to those who might think “it’s just a convention for a TV show”, I can only say that Queer As Folk isn’t just “some” show. It’s so much more than that. Queer As Folk is a TV show but it also stands for fighting for what’s right; hoping for a better world for everyone; being worthy no matter who you are and what you do and what you love.
I’ve met celebrities in the past, I’ve followed TV shows, I’ve met fans. But never before I’ve felt like I belonged as I did during this weekend.
All the pictures are clickable for larger.
The Waiting
The QAF convention adventure didn’t begin for me this past weekend. It started instead a long while ago, last summer I think it was, when word first came out of someone who was trying to make a QAF convention happen. I remember the skepticism, the doubts, the feeling of “it’ll never happen”. But plans went forward and back in December 2011 I bought my tickets for the convention and all the activities I wanted to do during its course. This is what I ended up buying and doing:
Diner’s Ticket (autographs included)+ Meet&Greet and City Walk with GaleSharon&Randy + Meet&Greets with Thea&Michelle, Robert&Hal&Harris, Scott&Peter + photo with GaleScott&Peter + photo with GaleSharon&Randy + photo with Randy + photo with cast.
I spent a lot of money on this convention, as you can guess from all that. But it was damn worth it. I was lucky that my family helped. Since the convention was announced a long while ago, I was able to ask for my family to give me things convention-related for Christmas and my birthday, which helped a lot making all this possible for me.
Getting to Cologne
I left for Cologne on Thursday the 7th, one day before the convention started. I slept one night there alone in a very nice apartament that was found and booked by my dear friend Pamela. When the convention was announced, I was afraid I’d have to go alone and that thought scared me a lot. I’m a very shy person, so the thought of being among so many people on my own and doing everything by myself was worrisome. But here comes Pamela. I had been knowing her for a while on LJ but we had never met. She was kind enough to let me join her and a friend of hers, Elisa, so that I wouldn’t be alone. At first I was a little scared about meeting them: I was afraid they wouldn’t like me, they would find me annoying or boring or both. But my worries were useless: both Pam and Elisa were amazing, really great girls that made me feel at ease since the very first moment we spent together. And later, our little group was also joined by Steffi, whom I’ve known for years through a QAF forum, and a friend of hers, Susie. The 5 of us spent most of the convention together and being with them, talking about QAF, sharing our passion for this or that character, our love for this or that fiction, was as much a big part of the convention as meeting the actors.
Accreditation
On Friday there was the first appointment with convention’s events: the accreditation of our tickets. It was supposed to be from 1:00 pm to 18:00 pm. Before hand, I really thought we’d get there very soon and be done with it very fast. Boy, was I wrong! It seems there were problems with the stystem and all the changes that had to be done about activies with Gale made it so that the accreditation process lasted way too long! We were in line for hours and it was too hot in there and it was frustrating, but it was also when I met Steffi for the first time and talked with people that I didn’t even know and realized that in spite of my being super shy, being among the QAF fans wasn’t hard at all.
The result of the long accreditation process was that we had very little time to get ready for the Rise’n Shine party that took place Friday night. That would be the first time we’d meet the actors, so I guess in one way, the fact we were in line for so long to be accredited didn’t give me the chance to think about it too much and to get overwhelmed at the mere thought.
The Rise’nShine party at Vanity Pub
The party on Friday took place at a pub called Vanity. It wasn’t very big and there weren’t many seats, even though my Diner’s ticket actually said I’d have preferred seating that night. In truth, there were many seats for 10 people in total! It sucked, but I got over it quickly, especially when the actors started coming! Thanks to the Diner’s Ticket being the second more expensive, I got to spend the night in a section of the pub right next to the VIP one, where the actors were. When they started coming into the pub, one at a time, I was right at the entrance of the VIP section, so I had perfect view of all of them. It was surreal to see them so close to me! The first to arrive was Hal, I’m pretty sure. Now Hal has never been my favorite and I’ve never found him more than cute. But boy, my first reaction was “HOT!”. I’m not kidding. He had on black sunglasses and he looked very cool. After him, one by one all actors came and when it was time for Randy, it was the high point of the night for me. Gale’s always been my favorite among the cast, but Randy is a close second. Seeing him upclose was special. He’s beautiful, as you can imagine. Even more than on TV or pictures. He has a fantastic smile that only gains points when seen so damn close. Once all the actors were in their VIP section, we realized that they were going to be a little far away from us, because their seats and the stage for performances were on the other side of the pub. That sucked but only for a short while, because soon all of them came to our side to greet us and spend a few minutes with us. They danced in front of us, let some fans hug them, pose for pictures. Robert and Peter especially kept dancing and being all crazy, while Scott soaked up the love of the fans and kept letting them put their hands on him, kissing him and hugging him. Thea and Michelle came together and danced a little, as you can see from the photos below. They’re both so damn beautiful! Randy was more “calm”. He came and sat there for a little while and I managed to take a picture of him with his legs under him that I’m proud of :P
For being the first meeting with all of them, it was fantastic. I managed to see them all up close and to take several pics. The first to leave was Sharon, I think, while the last two were Randy and Harris, who we renamed party boys because of that ;)
Autographs, Photo Session and Panels
On Saturday, Pam, Elisa and I woke up very early, 6:30 am, because we had a date with Steffi and Susi to have breakfast together at 7:30. As I said, being with friends was as much a part of the convention as the rest, and this little ritual of having breakfast together (we did it on Sunday too) was really nice for me.
After that, we went to the Hotel where the convention took place. We were there before the time it was supposed to start, because if there was any line, we wanted to be in the front. Here there were more problems with the organization, I think, because we were let inside the conference room late, after another long wait and line. And then it was finally time to see the actors all together on stage! The first to be introduced was Scott, who was recognized as the one that helped made the convention possible. Then Peter and all the others, with Randy and Sharon for last. I was lucky that Randy was on the side of the room in which I was sitting. I was in the 4th row, I think, so I had a great view of him and took several pictures. I think at this point there was maybe a Q&A? Sorry, details are getting confused between the days!
Anyway, after this introduction, it was time for the authograph session, which was very long. You’d think it wouldn’t take a lot of time to sign a piece of paper and I would agree with you, but the fact is that the actors were really awesome and spent a few minutes with all of us, asking where we were from and thanking us and things like that, while signing photos for us. It was really really nice. It’s also the first time I got to see them in no hurry and in a calm setting. I thanked all of them for coming. I told Thea how much I love her and that I think she’s very classy and elegant and graceful and she was really nice in thanking me. I made sure to tell Scott he’s not just a great actor but a wonderful man too and I thanked him for making the convention possible. I told Peter he’s a fantastic dancer and he said he’s proud of it. Michelle told me I have a nice name and asked him which part of Italy I come from. I said not far from Rome, because I doubt she’d know my town. She said she was there once and it’s a romantic town to which I asked her if she’s been in Venice, which is even more romantic. She said all of Italy is romantic lol I was a little tongue tied with Randy and Sharon, because I have so much respect for them. I was really in awe, being so close. Randy signed the photos for me and see those little sticks? He started doing those and then it seemed like he didn’t know anymore what to do with them! It was quite funny for me to see.
After we were done with the autographs, a bunch of us went to have lunch together at a nice restaurant.
Later it was time for the panels and photo session to begin. The first to take photos was Randy and I had one with him so to get in line for it I lost the first two panels: Scott&Peter and Hal&Robert&Harris. I was pissed about that, because before the convention we were told that even during the photo sessions we would have been able to at least listen to the panels. But it wasn’t so. But at least I got my photo with Randy! He was really nice when it was my turn, said hello and I think he passed my bag to the guy in charge of keeping bags while we fans took the pics. Randy was beautiful as the sun, of course. Somehow though, my photo with Randy was missing when I went to collect it with the others. But they said they’ll send it to me so I’m gonna have to wait!
After that, I went back to the conference room to follow the panels. The first I could watch was the Homophobia one. Peter, Michelle and Robert were present. It was really interesting to listen to the things they had to say. Michelle and Peter in particular talked about their own experiences in fighting for gay rights and against homophobia. Robert shared a story from his own experience in coming out, which was very touching to hear. He told us of when he came out to his mother and she said something among the lines it would have been better if he’d taken a rifle to his head” or her head. I’m sorry I couldn’t understand exactly. But anyway, the point is that it seems his mother’s first reaction wasn’t good at all. That was really touching to hear from him and I was really sorry for him. Michelle got chocked up more than once during the panel and really, she cried several times during the convention, whenever we talked about gay rights and equality. She’s really a remarkable woman.
After the panel about homophobia, it was the time for a panel with Thea and Michelle. They talked about their characters and again about the fight for equality.
After them, it was time for the last panel of the day, the one with Randy&Sharon. This is when Gale’s name was mentioned for the first time. I’ve already dedicated an entry to him, so I won’t repeat myself too much. Sharon started with a joke about being Gale Harold, which made everyone laugh and I think also cut the tension. It seemed like up until she spoke his name, everyone, hosts, actors, fans, were scared of even mentioning him. But we know Sharon has bigger balls than everyone else ;)
Then they talked about their characters. Sharon told us about how she imagined that Debbie used to be a girl that always wanted to have her own beauty salon but had to give that dream up because she got pregnant and had to work to support herself and Michael, with no help from anyone.
Randy was asked how he sees Justin today. He said he sees him still in NYC and that as a consequence of that the relationship with Brian would have changed. Of course, that caused some noise in the room lol but he repeated “changed” and not over. He said he likes to think Justin is still in NYC because being an artist himself, he likes to think Justin is still following that dream and using his talent.
After this last panel, the first day was over and it was time for the Babylon party!
The Babylon Party at Gallery
The party on Saturday night took place in a club called Gallery. From the photos I had seen on the official site (see below), it seemed nice and big. According to my Diner’s ticket, I had “guaranteed seating and entering the VIP section”. But here’s when the organization failed again. When we got inside (after some polemics with the people in charge outside because they were letting people with less expensive tickets get inside first), I went to this supposed section for my ticket and found out that it was very small and with just 3 or 4 seats! And it was not the VIP section. Anger came out here. I tried to talk with one of the organizers but I soon realized he didn’t have any idea of what the place looked like before getting there that night, because he tried to bring me to the place where I should have been seating and when he saw what it looked like, he put his hands in his hair!
As beginning of the night, it really wasn’t that good! You have to keep in mind that among lines and walks, I was already pretty tired and not having the chance to seat comfortable sucked big times. Fortunately, I could find a seat in the “common” section. The place was really small. It was on multiple floors, but the dancing small wasn’t big enough for all the people there. Things got a lot better when the actors arrived. Sharon, Thea and Hal were missing, but all the others were there. And 4 of them in particular, Robert, Michelle, Scott and Peter, saved the night for everyone. They came out of the VIP section and danced where we could all see them! It was fantastic! Robert, Michelle and Peter are all amazing dancers and it was a joy to see them. Scott is a funny dancer, but he was there and that’s what counted. I took a lot of photos there. I hoped Randy would come out and dance too, but the day after he said it was too chaotic.
I danced too, with Pam and the other friends. One moment I was resting a little, sitting on the side, but then Proud started and I immediately ran to dance with everyone else. It was surreal to be dancing on QAF music.
I think we left around 1 am, after the actors had gone already.
to be continued...
READ PART 2 HERE
I’ve met celebrities in the past, I’ve followed TV shows, I’ve met fans. But never before I’ve felt like I belonged as I did during this weekend.
All the pictures are clickable for larger.
The Waiting
The QAF convention adventure didn’t begin for me this past weekend. It started instead a long while ago, last summer I think it was, when word first came out of someone who was trying to make a QAF convention happen. I remember the skepticism, the doubts, the feeling of “it’ll never happen”. But plans went forward and back in December 2011 I bought my tickets for the convention and all the activities I wanted to do during its course. This is what I ended up buying and doing:
Diner’s Ticket (autographs included)+ Meet&Greet and City Walk with GaleSharon&Randy + Meet&Greets with Thea&Michelle, Robert&Hal&Harris, Scott&Peter + photo with GaleScott&Peter + photo with GaleSharon&Randy + photo with Randy + photo with cast.
I spent a lot of money on this convention, as you can guess from all that. But it was damn worth it. I was lucky that my family helped. Since the convention was announced a long while ago, I was able to ask for my family to give me things convention-related for Christmas and my birthday, which helped a lot making all this possible for me.
Getting to Cologne
I left for Cologne on Thursday the 7th, one day before the convention started. I slept one night there alone in a very nice apartament that was found and booked by my dear friend Pamela. When the convention was announced, I was afraid I’d have to go alone and that thought scared me a lot. I’m a very shy person, so the thought of being among so many people on my own and doing everything by myself was worrisome. But here comes Pamela. I had been knowing her for a while on LJ but we had never met. She was kind enough to let me join her and a friend of hers, Elisa, so that I wouldn’t be alone. At first I was a little scared about meeting them: I was afraid they wouldn’t like me, they would find me annoying or boring or both. But my worries were useless: both Pam and Elisa were amazing, really great girls that made me feel at ease since the very first moment we spent together. And later, our little group was also joined by Steffi, whom I’ve known for years through a QAF forum, and a friend of hers, Susie. The 5 of us spent most of the convention together and being with them, talking about QAF, sharing our passion for this or that character, our love for this or that fiction, was as much a big part of the convention as meeting the actors.
Accreditation
On Friday there was the first appointment with convention’s events: the accreditation of our tickets. It was supposed to be from 1:00 pm to 18:00 pm. Before hand, I really thought we’d get there very soon and be done with it very fast. Boy, was I wrong! It seems there were problems with the stystem and all the changes that had to be done about activies with Gale made it so that the accreditation process lasted way too long! We were in line for hours and it was too hot in there and it was frustrating, but it was also when I met Steffi for the first time and talked with people that I didn’t even know and realized that in spite of my being super shy, being among the QAF fans wasn’t hard at all.
The result of the long accreditation process was that we had very little time to get ready for the Rise’n Shine party that took place Friday night. That would be the first time we’d meet the actors, so I guess in one way, the fact we were in line for so long to be accredited didn’t give me the chance to think about it too much and to get overwhelmed at the mere thought.
The Rise’nShine party at Vanity Pub
The party on Friday took place at a pub called Vanity. It wasn’t very big and there weren’t many seats, even though my Diner’s ticket actually said I’d have preferred seating that night. In truth, there were many seats for 10 people in total! It sucked, but I got over it quickly, especially when the actors started coming! Thanks to the Diner’s Ticket being the second more expensive, I got to spend the night in a section of the pub right next to the VIP one, where the actors were. When they started coming into the pub, one at a time, I was right at the entrance of the VIP section, so I had perfect view of all of them. It was surreal to see them so close to me! The first to arrive was Hal, I’m pretty sure. Now Hal has never been my favorite and I’ve never found him more than cute. But boy, my first reaction was “HOT!”. I’m not kidding. He had on black sunglasses and he looked very cool. After him, one by one all actors came and when it was time for Randy, it was the high point of the night for me. Gale’s always been my favorite among the cast, but Randy is a close second. Seeing him upclose was special. He’s beautiful, as you can imagine. Even more than on TV or pictures. He has a fantastic smile that only gains points when seen so damn close. Once all the actors were in their VIP section, we realized that they were going to be a little far away from us, because their seats and the stage for performances were on the other side of the pub. That sucked but only for a short while, because soon all of them came to our side to greet us and spend a few minutes with us. They danced in front of us, let some fans hug them, pose for pictures. Robert and Peter especially kept dancing and being all crazy, while Scott soaked up the love of the fans and kept letting them put their hands on him, kissing him and hugging him. Thea and Michelle came together and danced a little, as you can see from the photos below. They’re both so damn beautiful! Randy was more “calm”. He came and sat there for a little while and I managed to take a picture of him with his legs under him that I’m proud of :P
For being the first meeting with all of them, it was fantastic. I managed to see them all up close and to take several pics. The first to leave was Sharon, I think, while the last two were Randy and Harris, who we renamed party boys because of that ;)
Autographs, Photo Session and Panels
On Saturday, Pam, Elisa and I woke up very early, 6:30 am, because we had a date with Steffi and Susi to have breakfast together at 7:30. As I said, being with friends was as much a part of the convention as the rest, and this little ritual of having breakfast together (we did it on Sunday too) was really nice for me.
After that, we went to the Hotel where the convention took place. We were there before the time it was supposed to start, because if there was any line, we wanted to be in the front. Here there were more problems with the organization, I think, because we were let inside the conference room late, after another long wait and line. And then it was finally time to see the actors all together on stage! The first to be introduced was Scott, who was recognized as the one that helped made the convention possible. Then Peter and all the others, with Randy and Sharon for last. I was lucky that Randy was on the side of the room in which I was sitting. I was in the 4th row, I think, so I had a great view of him and took several pictures. I think at this point there was maybe a Q&A? Sorry, details are getting confused between the days!
Anyway, after this introduction, it was time for the authograph session, which was very long. You’d think it wouldn’t take a lot of time to sign a piece of paper and I would agree with you, but the fact is that the actors were really awesome and spent a few minutes with all of us, asking where we were from and thanking us and things like that, while signing photos for us. It was really really nice. It’s also the first time I got to see them in no hurry and in a calm setting. I thanked all of them for coming. I told Thea how much I love her and that I think she’s very classy and elegant and graceful and she was really nice in thanking me. I made sure to tell Scott he’s not just a great actor but a wonderful man too and I thanked him for making the convention possible. I told Peter he’s a fantastic dancer and he said he’s proud of it. Michelle told me I have a nice name and asked him which part of Italy I come from. I said not far from Rome, because I doubt she’d know my town. She said she was there once and it’s a romantic town to which I asked her if she’s been in Venice, which is even more romantic. She said all of Italy is romantic lol I was a little tongue tied with Randy and Sharon, because I have so much respect for them. I was really in awe, being so close. Randy signed the photos for me and see those little sticks? He started doing those and then it seemed like he didn’t know anymore what to do with them! It was quite funny for me to see.
After we were done with the autographs, a bunch of us went to have lunch together at a nice restaurant.
Later it was time for the panels and photo session to begin. The first to take photos was Randy and I had one with him so to get in line for it I lost the first two panels: Scott&Peter and Hal&Robert&Harris. I was pissed about that, because before the convention we were told that even during the photo sessions we would have been able to at least listen to the panels. But it wasn’t so. But at least I got my photo with Randy! He was really nice when it was my turn, said hello and I think he passed my bag to the guy in charge of keeping bags while we fans took the pics. Randy was beautiful as the sun, of course. Somehow though, my photo with Randy was missing when I went to collect it with the others. But they said they’ll send it to me so I’m gonna have to wait!
After that, I went back to the conference room to follow the panels. The first I could watch was the Homophobia one. Peter, Michelle and Robert were present. It was really interesting to listen to the things they had to say. Michelle and Peter in particular talked about their own experiences in fighting for gay rights and against homophobia. Robert shared a story from his own experience in coming out, which was very touching to hear. He told us of when he came out to his mother and she said something among the lines it would have been better if he’d taken a rifle to his head” or her head. I’m sorry I couldn’t understand exactly. But anyway, the point is that it seems his mother’s first reaction wasn’t good at all. That was really touching to hear from him and I was really sorry for him. Michelle got chocked up more than once during the panel and really, she cried several times during the convention, whenever we talked about gay rights and equality. She’s really a remarkable woman.
After the panel about homophobia, it was the time for a panel with Thea and Michelle. They talked about their characters and again about the fight for equality.
After them, it was time for the last panel of the day, the one with Randy&Sharon. This is when Gale’s name was mentioned for the first time. I’ve already dedicated an entry to him, so I won’t repeat myself too much. Sharon started with a joke about being Gale Harold, which made everyone laugh and I think also cut the tension. It seemed like up until she spoke his name, everyone, hosts, actors, fans, were scared of even mentioning him. But we know Sharon has bigger balls than everyone else ;)
Then they talked about their characters. Sharon told us about how she imagined that Debbie used to be a girl that always wanted to have her own beauty salon but had to give that dream up because she got pregnant and had to work to support herself and Michael, with no help from anyone.
Randy was asked how he sees Justin today. He said he sees him still in NYC and that as a consequence of that the relationship with Brian would have changed. Of course, that caused some noise in the room lol but he repeated “changed” and not over. He said he likes to think Justin is still in NYC because being an artist himself, he likes to think Justin is still following that dream and using his talent.
After this last panel, the first day was over and it was time for the Babylon party!
The Babylon Party at Gallery
The party on Saturday night took place in a club called Gallery. From the photos I had seen on the official site (see below), it seemed nice and big. According to my Diner’s ticket, I had “guaranteed seating and entering the VIP section”. But here’s when the organization failed again. When we got inside (after some polemics with the people in charge outside because they were letting people with less expensive tickets get inside first), I went to this supposed section for my ticket and found out that it was very small and with just 3 or 4 seats! And it was not the VIP section. Anger came out here. I tried to talk with one of the organizers but I soon realized he didn’t have any idea of what the place looked like before getting there that night, because he tried to bring me to the place where I should have been seating and when he saw what it looked like, he put his hands in his hair!
As beginning of the night, it really wasn’t that good! You have to keep in mind that among lines and walks, I was already pretty tired and not having the chance to seat comfortable sucked big times. Fortunately, I could find a seat in the “common” section. The place was really small. It was on multiple floors, but the dancing small wasn’t big enough for all the people there. Things got a lot better when the actors arrived. Sharon, Thea and Hal were missing, but all the others were there. And 4 of them in particular, Robert, Michelle, Scott and Peter, saved the night for everyone. They came out of the VIP section and danced where we could all see them! It was fantastic! Robert, Michelle and Peter are all amazing dancers and it was a joy to see them. Scott is a funny dancer, but he was there and that’s what counted. I took a lot of photos there. I hoped Randy would come out and dance too, but the day after he said it was too chaotic.
I danced too, with Pam and the other friends. One moment I was resting a little, sitting on the side, but then Proud started and I immediately ran to dance with everyone else. It was surreal to be dancing on QAF music.
I think we left around 1 am, after the actors had gone already.
to be continued...
READ PART 2 HERE