Yesterday I went to the Palms Casino for the Trinity of Terror Convention, hosted by Fangoria Magazine. It was basically a bunch of people who've been in horror movies sitting at tables, charging insane amounts of money for their autograph (Bruce Campbell - $30, Malcolm McDowell - $40, The Mom from E.T. - $60!!!). Normally I wouldn't go near something like that, but my friend Amber had sent me a link to the site because it said JOHN WATERS was going to be there, performing his one man show, This Filthy World. I looked into it and found out that a day pass to the convention was $20, and that included Waters' show. Of course, I jumped at the chance.
John Waters has been a hero of mine since I was about 14 years old. I own all of his films, I've read his three books numerous times, I consider the man a genius. For a short time in the early 2000s, my friend Rachael and I tried to form a band called John Waters' Mustache. I also used that as my screenname on message boards and chat rooms for years and years. It's still my eBay username, actually. So yeah, the chance to see the guy up close and in person was not even in question. I was going to be there.
We arrived at the hotel at around one, and walked around looking at the booths and celebrities. Here's a list of who we saw (I did not take any of these pictures).
Michael Berryman, from Weird Science, etc.
Bruce Campbell
Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake (I totally had this toy when I was little)
Corben Bernsen. He was sitting at his little booth all alone and looked miserable. On the third time we passed him, I said , "Cheer up, Corben!" He gave me a dirty look, but then started laughing. I just kept on walking.
Dee Wallace Stone. The Mom from E.T. and Cujo. She was also sitting all alone at her booth. Probably because she was charging an INSANE amount of money for an autograph. Also, she did not age well. She looked really haggard.
William Forsythe. He's the guy that isn't John Goodman in this picture. He was in Raising Arizona, Cloak & Dagger, Dick Tracy, and more recently, a bunch of really terrible horror movies. He now has snowy white hair and beard. He sort of looked like Kenny Rogers.
Courtney Gains, from Children of the Corn, The Burbs, and Can't Buy Me Love. He was sitting right next to that other kid from Children of the Corn, who is, I guess, a little person. I was going to yell to him "You threw shit at my house!" but he looked miserable, so I didn't. In fact, almost all of these people looked like they'd rather be dead than be at this thing.
Malcolm McDowell. He had the biggest line for autographs of anyone there. I only saw him from about 50 feet away.
David Naughton, from American Werewolf in London. He now looks like he could be his own grandfather. He looked more miserable than anyone besides Corben Bernsen.
Richard Christy, from the Howard Stern show. I actually saw him in the hotel's cafe. I said hello to him, he was a nice guy.
Tom Savini. Aside from being in From Dusk Til Dawn and Planet Terror, this guy has done the makeup for a ridiculous amount of horror movies, including the original Dawn of the Dead. He practically invented Zombie makeup. We saw him in a panel discussion where, out of three people onstage, he was the only one with a working microphone. I have no idea what the other two guys were saying.
Tony Todd. - First of all, the internet reported that Mr. Todd died a few years ago, so obviously that wasn't true. He was in Candyman, The Crow, and the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead. He totally looked like he wished he was dead.
Kristy Swanson. We saw her in line at the McDonald's in the food court. She blew up her lips, Octomom style. Not a good look, Kristy. You may remember her as the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or the nerdy girl Duckie settles for at the end of Pretty in Pink, or a whole bunch of terrible 90s movies that no one likes but me (The Chase, etc).
But obviously, the main event was seeing John Waters perform his one man show. We got second row seats! He talked for an hour, about his movies, his childhood, his inspirations, and just pop culture in general. it was hilarious, and I loved it. I just wish I knew how to take a picture in low light.
And then, of course, I was lucky enough to catch him as he was leaving. I said "John, can I get a quick picture?" he said "Sure but we have to hurry, because once this starts, it never ends." My sister took the picture, I shook his hand and thanked him profusely, and then I blinked and he was GONE. But it was still completely amazing and kind of the realization of a dream. I can't tell you how great it was for me. And how glad I was that he said yes to the pic.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=88.8){kind=small}
bored
cheerful
stressed
