At long last it can be told: Whither Withering Westercon?

[randy_byers]

It was an uncanny feeling which was to haunt him through all his hours here -- the knowledge that what he looked upon was unreal, the wonder as to what was actually taking place behind the mask of humanity that only he could see. (CL Moore, "The Bright Illusion")
Due to a booking error by my secretary (yes, that would be me) I arrived in Sacramento

Comments

[holyoutlaw]

It sounds like you had a good time. Something to do is very helpful, I think, that's why I always wind up working on stuff.

The Phenomenauts came to a Seattle Art Car Blowout several years ago, and were kind of fun, but not overwhelming. The thing I found most amusing was the toilet paper blower -- toilet paper held in front of a leaf blower so that the leaf blower propelled it in a big streamer over the crowd.

I'm listening to Unwoman now. Kind of interesting, and I can hear the Kate Bush influence occasionally. It's not knocking me out.

[surliminal]

I agree. Im fishing to have something to do with the fan salon or whatever its called at Loncon because i really do like to have a Role to fall back on at Worldcons.

[randy_byers]

The Phenomenauts had the TP-blaster at Westercon too. They had a good presentation in general. Good branding, good stage presence.

Unwoman's album Casualties is free to download if you sign up for her mailing list. It's growing on me. Her live performance was great.

[surliminal]

Interesting - you sounded on FB like you had had a really good time the whole time, with out a hint of inner turmoil- shows how different social media show different sides of things..
I.ve heard the 3 Who Rule podcast! Guess that makes or shows or equals or something the point about how gen interest cons are good for cross pollination. I think this is why i generally nowadays find Eastercons more stimulating than things like Corflu which are very much about gathering of the tribe to tell each other shared war stories. i can have enough of that. I like some of it but too much bores me. And "our" fandom is increasingly a very small pond in which to fish.

[randy_byers]

Corflu is definitely a small pond. I feel comfortable there, but it's good for me to get out of my comfort zone once in a while, even at the cost of a bit of inner turmoil.

[kevin_standlee]

I think a similar argument could be made for Worldcon parallel to Westercon: Worldcon attendance peaked at over 8000 and now is more stable at around 5000. Mind you, to a depressingly large number of people, neither number is relevant, since unless you draw 50,000 or 100,000 people to your show, you're irrelevant. Heck, Comicon is getting mentions on sports-talk shows, with the show hosts assuming (probably rightly) that their audience knows what the event is and not needing to explain.

I'm sorry you missed out on our Match Game SF show after the Masquerade; it was a lot more fun than the Business Meeting. After the Smofpocolypse of two years ago, the past two years' meetings have been effectively pro forma events, which makes things much easier for me presiding but not all that interesting for spectators.

Mind you, if nobody launches a bid for the 2016 Westercon (to be selected next year in Salt Lake City), the Business Meeting is apt to be distressingly interesting again.

[randy_byers]

Has Westercon ever needed a rescue bid before? Well, maybe this Reno idea will come to fruition.

[kevin_standlee]

Or you could bid for somewhere in the PNW....

[randy_byers]

I was just thinking that somebody should hold a Westercon in Victoria BC, but it ain't gonna be me. No, no, I'm bidding for Nome!

[kalimac]

Your mental history of Westercon doesn't quite mesh up with mine, but geographic differences may explain this. I gradually lost interest in Westercon in the later 80s and 90s, as it began to be taken over by fan groups I didn't know - nothing wrong with that; the result just didn't interest me - and as it began being held more and more often in Arizona, a state I never wish to visit in the summer again. And it became less important in the calendar as other local cons arose in California, which we hadn't had much of before - unlike the NW, which had long had more local cons and fewer Westercons. But Westercon never became, in my perception of my peers' judgment, a con actively to avoid, as "we don't do that any more" Norwescon did. I haven't disliked any of the few Westercons I've attended in recent years, though the fall of this once-mighty regional into a tiny boutique con, almost like Midwestcon, is kind of disconcerting.

[randy_byers]

It was kind of fascinating to study the list of past Westercons in the program book. It was very much a California con for the first couple of decades, but then it started moving around outside of California more. I think Boise has only had it once. Next year may be the first time in Salt Lake City, I'm not sure.

[voidampersand]

Every Westercon I've been to (not that I've been to that many of them) has been crazy in some way. It seems to be more chaotic than the average con. This one was nice. I'm glad you were there.

[randy_byers]

Many thanks for asking me to join the news team. That really made the convention for me.