Well, no podcast today, but I do have some exciting news! Well exciting to me anyway. Last night I got the opportunity to meet one of my favorite actors, Bruce Campbell and it was AWESOME. He is a hysterical speaker and also seemed very down to earth and real, lacking the typical Hollywood ego that many describe when meeting celebrities.

I arrived at approx 7PM and had missed the initial Q&A which I was not happy about, but this is what happens when you go with other people who aren’t ready on time. Oh well.

Once there I happily handed over my 15 Buck-A-Roos in exchange for my groovy bracelet and numbered sticker assigning my place in line to be called up with the other shuffling fans.

Once inside I was directed to the signing rules. In order to see Bruce you must buy one of his books at the Merch table, place your name inside on a sticky note and he will sign only the book and one additional item. (Understandable considering the number of people)

So I make my way into the actual auditorium area of the theater. There he is, sitting down front at a table, a small line of fans I think they were numbered up to 40 or so stood off to the side and waited their chance to meet “The King”, while the rest of the horde filled the theater seating waiting for their numbered grouping to be called forward for their chance. After chatting with a couple folks I took my place among the seating.

… Time Passes

Its now 9:30 and they are moving Bruce out to the Ticket area to continue signing while they start the Army of Darkness movie and ask if Bruce will introduce the movie. He graciously walks onto the stage, mic in hand and starts talking about AoD and fielding questions from the audience. This is where I get to see how Funny of a speaker he is. Absolutely hysterical listening to his banter about Universal studio and the rating process.

Anyway, my arse begins to hurt from sitting in those uncomfortable theater seats and finally at about 10:40 (very close to the end of AoD) My number group gets called.

And as cheezy as it is, I got a little nervous…

In anycase I go to the lobby and take my place in line, I’m not sure if I walked faster than usual or if others just went slow but I ended up being just 5 people from bruce in line. A couple kids ahead of me start talking to me, and I thought they asked if they could borrow my camera. I was like “Um, what do you need?” They apparently had gotten to bruce, had him sign their things and then when the time came for the photo, their batteries died. (What luck is that!) So they wanted to borrow my camera batteries in exchange for going ahead of them in line. Now, honestly I would have let them borrow the batteried anyway, but hell, why not move up in line. So I finally got to Bruce.

He asked how I was, and I said, good and asked how he was and how his @$$ was holding up from sitting there all night. He told me he was hangin in there, and then told me how most people were coming up and saying “I’ve been waiting 4 hours to see you” to which he would reply “What do you think I’ve been doing? Sleeping!” We laugh and I have him Sign my copy of Bubba Ho-Tep and my book, and thank him for his time and wish him a safe trip home. To which he reply’s, yea I’ll get there eventually.

I then lend my batteries to the two (I would guess 15 year old) kids and they get their pictures taken. They couldn’t stop thanking me for lending them the batteries and I asked them “No one else in line would lend you the batteries when you were up there and yours died?” THey said, “Nope, told us tough luck”. Now my question to that is Whats wrong with people. These kids really reminded me of me at that age. They were so star struck, you could tell they were huge fans of Mr Campbell, they were just grinning from ear to ear, even before I lent them my Batteries. Just so happy to be in his presence, sharing space with the man. Hell, here I am almost 30 years old and I was still nervous and excited to meet the man.

Anyway, they thanked me profussly and then went on their way. I made my way back to my seat and watched the first 30 minutes of Evil Dead and then decided to call it a night and headed home.

I got home at 1AM and the wife was still waiting up for me. So before I scuttled off to bed I shared my stories and complained about how mean people are (the whole batteries thing) and then showed her my pictures from the evening.

So when all was said and done I spent about 60 bucks for the mans signature and a minute of his time… 15 admission, 15 for the book, 20 for gas and then some soda’s for the wait. All in all I think it was worth it.

But the Battery thing really bothers me, that people can be like that. I can only hope that when my kids are that age, going to things like this that if it had happened to them someone would do the same for them. Thats all I could think when they were telling me their story, if these were my kids I would want someone to lend them the batteries for 2 minutes so they didn’t miss out on the whole experience and have some memorabialia. Oh well.

Actually, funny thing. While I was typing this post my wife called me at work and told me she showed my kids the picture of Mr Campbell with Daddy and they knew who he was (My kids are twin boys and 4 years old) They recognized him as Sonic Boom from Sky High. They asked if Daddy got to see his super powers and now they are running around the house yelling “Hero” or “Sidekick”. They also told her that next time I go they want to go to meet him too. Sorry, I thought that was too cute and had to share.

- Fickle Frank