Thursday, July 17, 2014

2015 Clallam Bay Comicon Panels and Events


2015 COMICON Panels & Events
Sale tables in Lion's Club Hall * Gaming on the porch* Panel on round tables.
Events are 50 minutes unless otherwise specified. Cooperate like Woodstock!

SATURDAY, July 11, 10 am - 5 pm

9 am-10 am: Show set-up

10 am: Show officially opens

10 am: Fun Days Parade Lineup. Those who wish to participate in the Fun Days parade, assemble at Weel Road Deli/Shell parking lot. Be fabulous.

11 am-12 Noon: Fun Days Parade.

Noon-1: Lunch break. Find Fun Days goodies, including the Lion's Club barbecue, and frybread and Indian Tacos in the bus barn. We have a kitchen. Potlucks and shairsies welcome.

1-1:50: How to Self-Pub Your Manuscript
You've written a book! Yay! Now what? If you want to go the indie route rather than traditional publishing, you have options. Author Angela Highland (_Rebels of Adalonia_ trilogy, _Free Court of Seattle_ series) shares her path to independent publishing, and what has and has not worked for her. Bring your questions and any experience you have to share!

2-2:50 pm: How To Draw A Horse Right, Damnit. Donna Barr reprises a classic from San Diego Comicon. Bring paper and pencil or tablets so you can follow along. Will give instructions upon request, so if you want to know about centaurs and ponies, just ask. The more drawings she does, the more she'll have to hand out at the end of the panel. Nonsense will abound. This will be filmed and posted on YouTube. Linda Medley says she's going to lead off with How To Draw A Horse Badly, dedicated to Josh Whedon. Not that I believe she can.

3-3:50 pm: How To Draw Cats Roberta Gregory shows everyone how to draw our favorite house tigers, as featured in her True Cat Toons book (available at her table).

4-4:50: Concert With Crime and the Forces of Evil

5 pm: Show closes for the evening; hall locks up.

7-11:00 pm (with break for fireworks): *Clallam Bay Comicon Eigenbrötler Film Festival in the con suite (Winter/Summer Inn) Strange, unusual, unique media.

Dusk: Fireworks in Sekiu. BURN BAN ELSEWHERE DEADLY SERIOUS!

SUNDAY 10 am - 5 pm

10 am: Show opens.

Noon-1: Lunch break. What did you all bring?

1-1:50 pm: Beautiful Tools: Linda Medley, author of Castle Waiting, demonstrates inking and pen care - and shows off her fabulous pens.

2-2:50: Building a Geekmusic Festival
A talk and conversation with Dara Korra'ti about nwc MUSIC, the geekmusic festival she started at Norwescon. How did it get started, and given that she's just handed it off to a new generation of event runners, where is it going? And how would someone else go about building a similar event?

4-4:50: Supervillain Songwriting Workshop
Want to write a song? Ever wanted to write a song? Got a song started and not sure where to go next? Bring your idea, or even idea about an idea, to the Supervillain Songwriting Workshop, and we'll bang on it and see if we can't get you moving. Solarbird the Lightbringer of Crime and the Forces of Evil will also give a short talk at the beginning about music theory, physics, and neurology, because that's just how she rolls.

5:00 pm: ARGGGHHH! Swab-The-Decks Event. Show closes, ALL participants heave to and make the Lion's Club ship sparkle! Pirate hats optional. Jerry Our Guy loves us for this part.

7:00-11:00 pm: Dead Dog Party in the con suite.

Monday:
Caravan Road Trip: Highway 112 back through Port Angeles. Drive safe!

2015 Clallam Bay Comicon

Stickers will again be available. Only a dollar -
Dealers and Panel participants get one for free.
EVERYONE WELCOME. If you make or enjoy any sort of books - including comics - movies, music, poetry, cosplay, Steampunk, gallery art, jewelry, paint cars, bake pies, sing, do stand-up, sculpture, hip-hop, light shows, make frybread, whatever - bring it. Everybody welcome for the 10:00 am Saturday parade starting from the Weel Road Deli (Shell parking lot). 

Note: "We" = Donna Barr. Please everybody hit the bottom of this page for the - ahem - contractual agreements. No way we're mailing out stupid paper contracts for everybody.

First, con reports:
Former year Facebook pages: Construct search as: (Year) Clallam Bay Comicon. IE: 2013 Clallam Bay Comicon, etc.

Now - the 2015 information: 

OFFICIAL 2015 Charity: Western Wildlife Outreach. 

PROFESSIONAL GUESTS link for 2015

FACEBOOK LINK (If you want to keep up with ongoing discussions, ask questions, organize a sales rep or living space or panels, yada yada).

July 11-12: During and after Clallam Bay/Sekiu Fun Days 10:00 am - 5 pm Both Saturday and Sunday. 

ADMISSION for public: free. "We don't need no stinkin' badges." You're all special guests to us. And don't have to prove you're pros or amateurs.

BOOTH FEES: $25 ($27.00 Paypal).  CONTACT for payment instructions. You're just renting space, so share if you want. Shipping Over Canadian Border: Shipit2PA 

EXHIBITORS at the convention for 2015:

1: Donna Barr's A Fine Line Press AND Clallam Bay Comicon Central.

(Table 2 in 2016: Page Birmingham is unable to attend, but her payment will be moved forward for next year.)

2. Roberta Gregory - don't miss the Cat Toons books! Sharing her table will be Magic Realism Writer Bruce Taylor, with his books.

3. Charcoal Brown - Illustrator of "Pirates Dream of Me." Writer and illustrator of "Picnicker." 

4. Crime and the Forces of Evil - Swag Table for the Band.

5. Linda Medley, author of "Castle Waiting."

The newly renovated building - nice job, Lions!
WHERE:
90 Bogachiel Street
Clallam Bay, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, United States (Take Highway 112 through Clallam Bay. After the hard left, look for liqour store on the right; Bogachiel Street is the next left). Hall, table space, toilet, kitchen, outside lawn, parking.

I am NOT renting the attached fire hall. If YOU want to for events, studios, or Evil Lair, contact me for Lion's Club hookups. DEADLINE for contacting me for all building, etc: February 11, 2015. GAMES: You want games? Find a Gamesmaster and contact us to be put in the Panel schedule. Bring a large roll of plastic sheeting.

MINIONS: If you want to do something at the show, go ahead. Our official movie is "Despicable Me," My official title is "Gru," and if you get yourself hurt or arrested, we'll just laugh and point.

PANELS and EVENTS Link First come, first gets to have their say!

GUESTS: We have no badge fees to deduct, and the tables are cheap, and in our eyes, everybody is special but equal. We're so "ridiculously fun" - and, as we grow, profitable - that everybody's going to show up anyway, just to say they did. Cheap darn housing, too.

AWARDS: Who are we to judge? If your fans love you and buy stuff, you win. If they don't, start marketing your ass better. Watch and learn.

ACCOMADATIONS AND HOUSING OFFICIAL CONVENTION HOTEL: Winter-Summer Inn Bed and Breakfast 360 963 2264 Sold Out - BUT - We don't have a "party floor." Torsten Adair has taken the suite, and is looking for shares - at $30 a night! Contact him on our Facebook page (above), or contact me to help with connections. Large suite, central fire dome, kitchen, seven beds. 
Andre's Court Motel: nice rooms, local. Limited space. 
Sam's RV Resort has camping, $15 a night. Includes laundromat, near upper shopping area; Phone: 360 963 2402 
MORE places. But you'll need a car for most of them.
And More Places!

FOOD AROUND TOWN

COMICON EATS: We have a NICE kitchen available, so if you want to bring and sell food, take care of your own licensing or whatever. Or, if you're a participant, and just want to cook - we have a 'fridge and ovens and coffee pots. Potlucks and Sharesies welcome.

HOW TO GET HERE: Take a flight to Port Angeles on Kenmore Air, then take the Forks bus to the the Clallam Bay connection at Sappho; Bus details at Clallam Transit. Or take Olympic Bus Lines from Seattle. Best drive from Seattle: come in on 101, go out on 112 for all the views and fun. Coming from Portland, or other points south? Take the WEST side of the Olympic Peninsula, Highway 101, up through Forks; recommended to Twilight fans. Note: some folks may be planning a bus rock road trip, or a caravan. Go to the Facebook Page to start contacting and planning.

BUSSES IN-COUNTY: $3.00 passes for all-day, hop-on, hop-off service in Clallam County. Lots of routes and scheduling. Schedules, etc.

WI-FI is 24/7 at the library, right around the corner, also at various businesses and the Visitors' Center.

FIRE DISPLAYS: If you want to play Burning Man, contact the District Five Fire Department

LAST-MINUTE PRINTING: Already on the peninsula and forgot something? Need a large print order at the last minute? Olympic Printers are the guys.

CHILDREN: watch your own. Parents, please see * below. 

TRASH: Container in Lion's Club kitchen. SEPARATE THE CANS.

FACILITY CARE: No tape of any sort on the wall. Respect the Lion's Club's wall displays. We all chip in to clean up at the end of the show. It don't take long.

Don't set yourself on fire.

*On-Line Contract: If you attend as a dealer or performer, we'll assume you've read this page's information, and will use it to make your life easier - and it CAN change, up to the start of the show, and possibly afterwards, if we need to. No whining if you don't know the schedule; if we get no notification, we'll just replace you on the spot. Life goes on. Parents, please note your obligations as breeding units.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

2014 Clallam Bay Comicon Fun Commences

The gang's arriving!
The fun has started. First on Friday, with folks showing up and setting up the Lion's Club hall. 

A few of us were in the Fun Days parade on Saturday. But the real fun started that evening at the Fun Days fireworks. What the heck - we decided these were the opening ceremonies!  

Fun Days Parade!
The fog was so thick that we couldn't see the high, traditional blasts, but the fireworkers did themselves proud with ground work, including waves of red flame blasting up out the bay, reflected in the water below. 

Cookout, loads of beach fireworks everybody got half price at the Nations. Too damn' much fun.

Panelists, dealers, musicians and fans. And cordite smoke.
No, wait... people are already talking about "Next year?" Oh. Hell.

Roberta Gregory and I hit the Zombie Challenge, and you'll see the two posts - two very frightened kids - at these two posts:

Roberta: "Here?"

Me: "Good and Bad Shit" 

We have lots of fun panels, and we find ourselves with allies and converts. Scared, bullied nerds stand up straight and can't wait until next year. Fishermen bring their kids and get on board for the environment. A bad old-style logger tries his stuff on us - and it does not work.

My panel, on how to run a Comicon, takes 15 minutes, including questions: "Find a dry, secure space with a bathroom and look at the Comicon link at donnabarr.com" This is why I'll never get hired as a teacher - I figure out the basics really fast, and then just get out of the way.

As usual, I had to show off my Ka-Blam Shirt.















Dara, and Kitting out a Sound Studio Cheap.

And whether I like it or not, I suddenly find myself with minions, all of them wanting to do cool things for next year's Comicon. So.... I guess we're doing it in 2015. Oy. Just call me Gru - and all these people "Jerry" and "Dave." What up?j



At this point, the post-con report becomes mostly a photo blog. 

Are we a music festival, yet?












Dara manages to meet up with Jerry of the Lion's Club after the concert, and scopes out the old fire hall for future use as a - recording studio? Concert Hall? Evil Lair? 



Next Year's Evil Lair?


The hall at con's end - cleaner than when we started.













We nailed the WHOLE Winter-Summer's Inn for 2015!
We lock down the entire Winter-Summer Inn, gorgeous upper studio and views and kitchen and all, and Sandy, the owner, is so happy. Yes, next year, she wants to come to the post-con horror movie party, to kick off the Hallowe'en season. Because Hallowe'en can't start too early up here.


Roberta and I and what are left of the gang are driving back to Port Angeles for breakfast, then they go on to Seattle, and I get some apples for Dan and come back on the bus.
Joyce Store has everything!

Last day: After we hit the Joyce store on Highway 112, and I play native guide all the way down (pointing out log cabins and rivers and bits of local gossip and such), we go to the CornerHouse in Port Angeles for a fabulous breakfast. We're talking omelets full of green onions if you want 'em, and a bottomless coffee pot. 

We get the Class Weirdo in the form of a very fun waitress, who makes sure we know all about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus (those 50-pounders are especially dangerous), and definitely wants to be mentioned for the 2015 show.

Torsten and the Older Than You 'fridge
After Roberta and Torsten Adair (Barnes and Noble) take off for Seattle, me and Linden Cook, of Project Wonderful, do a quick walking tour of downtown Port Angeles. She gets her very first Dairy Queen Dilly Bar (mint-chocolate). Cultural experiences.

After she leaves on the Vancouver Ferry, I to Safeway to get Dan his apples. Then I face the bus ride to the library and then all the way home. 

Last Selfie of the Con
But I can't really face the library run. So, I drop in to the Lost Moon Pub. Where I say that I am exhausted, dizzy and sick to my stomach. We're talking post-con tired. What do they have?

Of their array of locally-brewed artisan beers, Marie the bar-keep gives me a taste of "Fiddler's Green" - light ale, with green tea and jasmine. My whole body says, "Yes!" So the Lost Moon will have to be added to favorite Comicon places to hit. 

"Comicon...." Hmmm.... we have to come up with a new name for this show. Because it's so much more. 

Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
There. Con report done. Next: setting up the show for 2015.

And don't ask me what's going to be in it - Gru does not know what the minions are up to.

But they left grinning....






Life-Saver!