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Lucy Festival 2011 - Comments, Photos, etc.


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I'll have more comments tonight but I just wanted to check in here as we just got to the hotel!

 

The place is jam-packed with people this year -- probably double the attendance of the last two festivals, which is VERY encouraging! Hopefully the powers that be here are asking patrons whether they are here for Lucy or here for the comedy, because things seem definitely tilted in Lucy's favour! The first thing I did was pick up the tickets at the old gift shop building, where they are also holding the silent auction. There are some interesting items in there, such as three pairs of Lucy's shoes, an ashtray from her collection, a painting of Lucy by Red Skelton (opening bid: $15,000!), some tiles from Roxbury and a few items from Jess Oppenheimer's estate. There is also a daily silent auction of less unique Lucy memorabelia. Tom Watson might be glad to know that a very beat up version of ILL: The Classic moments -- complete with chunks taken out of the front cover and without a dust jacket is currently going for a very healthy $15!

 

The first event I went to was the Trivia Contest hosted by Michael Stern, which was very entertaining. I wonder where Trivia Contest veteran John Schillner is this year. He pops in here from time to time. The event was attended from people as far afield as Toronto, Hawaii, Australia, and there was even a British media presence!

 

Next up is the Lucy & Joan Rivers Do Jury Duty dinner and the woman herself at 8:00! :lucywow:

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I'll have more comments tonight but I just wanted to check in here as we just got to the hotel!

 

The place is jam-packed with people this year -- probably double the attendance of the last two festivals, which is VERY encouraging! Hopefully the powers that be here are asking patrons whether they are here for Lucy or here for the comedy, because things seem definitely tilted in Lucy's favour! The first thing I did was pick up the tickets at the old gift shop building, where they are also holding the silent auction. There are some interesting items in there, such as three pairs of Lucy's shoes, an ashtray from her collection, a painting of Lucy by Red Skelton (opening bid: $15,000!), some tiles from Roxbury and a few items from Jess Oppenheimer's estate. There is also a daily silent auction of less unique Lucy memorabelia. Tom Watson might be glad to know that a very beat up version of ILL: The Classic moments -- complete with chunks taken out of the front cover and without a dust jacket is currently going for a very healthy $15!

 

The first event I went to was the Trivia Contest hosted by Michael Stern, which was very entertaining. I wonder where Trivia Contest veteran John Schillner is this year. He pops in here from time to time. The event was attended from people as far afield as Toronto, Hawaii, Australia, and there was even a British media presence!

 

Next up is the Lucy & Joan Rivers Do Jury Duty dinner and the woman herself at 8:00! :lucywow:

I would have killed to be at Joan's great show, but cover your ears, things are bound to get raunchy, LOL!

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Before I tell you about the two Joan Rivers events, let me go back a moment to tell you about entering the Twilight Zone here at the Best Western. My mom checked in while I was at the Trivia Contest and I arrived about an hour later. Anyway, I get into the hotel room (NOT the room we reserved a year ago), set up my computer and discover the internet connection doesn’t work even though there is a sign saying it should in the room. We phone down stairs and the woman at the desk says they have been aware there was no internet in the room for quite some time and didn’t offer to do anything about it. When asked if we could switch rooms, the woman asks, ‘Well, have you used the toilet?’ What the hell difference does it make? The room is defective. ‘Have you used anything in the room?’ she continues. Yeah, we picked up the mattresses and box springs and built a fort. Then she asked, ‘Have you sat on the bed?’ WTF! After insisting that the room was booked solid, after what seemed to her to be back-breaking toil she found a suitable alternative – right across the bloody hall!

 

Anyway, with the internet in place across the hall, I hammered out an update and headed out for Joan.

 

The first event was a screening of Lucy & Joan Rivers Do Jury Duty in the Tropicana Room. The room was jam packed. Again, a good sign. After they took our ticket stubs for a raffle to be held during the event, I went upstairs and found that someone had reserved a seat for me (thanks, Steve!), and then we went up to get our dinner. I could actually identify what it was this time and wasn’t half bad – barbecued chicken, rolls, garden salad, potato salad, brownies and chocolate marshmallow squares – and a choice of iced tea or lemonade. When everybody had settled in, Michael Stern did a bit of an intro to the show, provided a great plug for the Lucy Lounge (thanks, Michael!), and held a raffle for a personalized autographed picture of Lucy and Joan. The picture went to Steve. As we tucked into our dinner, the episode played and everybody had a great time. Most people filed out after the episode, but some of us lingered to chat a while as they set up for an event later tonight. And then they hustled us out. LOL

 

As we made our way down 3rd Street, crowds had already gathered out front of the Reg Lenna Civic Centre for Joan’s show. After they let us in – and the orchestra section looked pretty well sold out! – the evening began with an address from the new ED Journey Gunderson, who introduced a video message from Whoopi Goldberg singing Lucy’s praises. After that was finished, Journey announced that Whoopi would be on hand for next year’s Lucy fest. This was followed by an audio message from Lucie talking about the new structure of the Centre and the focus on comedy. A moment later Joan’s voice started booming throughout the auditorium asking where the hell she was.

 

“So it has come to this! We could have been in Falconer. FALCONER!!!!”

 

Then her opening act came out – a very funny guy. I need to double check his name, but he was a riot! Joan then came out and all hell broke loose, of course. But she was very funny and spent the first few minutes talking about Lucy’s legacy and the hoops she allegedly had to get through to get to Jamestown, including the “fact” that she had to pay all her own expenses and to pay for her 12 piece orchestra (“six guys and a couple of mirrors”).

 

“If they wanted somebody to come for free, they could have gotten Lucie Arnaz!!!”

 

Joan took on every possible subject under the sun and I have never heard the Reg Lenna roar so much as tonight.

 

Afterwards about 12 of us loitered by the stage door near Joan’s limo and the strange people at the door insisted they wouldn’t “let the talent out until you are at least three posts down” about 75 metres from the door. After we moved as far as the other side of her limo, they finally released Joan and she couldn’t have been nicer! She was actually much more pleasant than I expected and took the time to speak to every single person outside the stage door and posed for pictures with everyone. I don’t know what the guards were being so fussy about but she couldn’t have been nicer!

 

Her documentary and Jamestown appearance have certainly turned around my opinion of her! And her features are certainly more human-like upclose!

 

That concludes day two of the festival and day one for me. Now I just need to upload the photos and re-charge my batteries for tomorrow morning!

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Absolutely beautiful pictures, making us feel we were there with you. Thanks so much for posting those. Working in the hotel industry, i understand why they asked you those questions, wanting to know if they had to REDO the room for the next people occupying it. We have the same problem with Wi Fi, some rooms get great reception, others dun't. Joan looks incredible, i assume people always look more normal after it's been a while and the face gets back to normal. Why on earth would they have HER on the 4th but Paula on the 6th, a Saturday, when most people would be there and everything, i assume it was because Joan was easier to book on a Thursday. She made the same jokes about paying for her own SPENSES at a London show, maybe that's part of her regular routine. At least they landed ONE B I G name for this year's festival, how appropriate it being Lucy's 100th. I'm also glad you finally found the food good in Jamestown. What the hell is it with YOU and red eye on pics?

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Is there anybody there at all from Lucy's era, connected with her greatest shows? Wasn't D Cahn scheduled to be there?

 

Nope! He was here in Hollywood with us! "Greg in Hollywood" (whom I got to meet at the event last night) posted some wonderful pics from the event and I'll add my own -- at least the few which hopefully came out okay! -- over the weekend.

 

It was a blast! :D

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Nope! He was here in Hollywood with us! "Greg in Hollywood" (whom I got to meet at the event last night) posted some wonderful pics from the event and I'll add my own -- at least the few which hopefully came out okay! -- over the weekend.

 

It was a blast! :D

Awwwww, that's nice, Greg in Hollywood is such a great site, always paying tribute to Lucy, not just on her 100th, nice you got to meet HIM, he's terrific, seems very nice also.

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Looking good so far. Those black and white Lucy and Ricky with Joan had me take a double take. Those are a little scarry. I liked the internet story. We had that same problem at the Holiday Inn last time. Room was too far from the wireless acess point. I'm walking down the hall with the laptop in hand until I get a signal. Now Charlie would figure this out after I get half the suitcase unpacked. We did move rooms to the other end of the hotel and were good.

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Never mind the orchestra seats, how full was the entire theater for Joan's show? Didn't you go to the meet and greet with her?

 

I couldn't see the crowds in the balcony but I gather from others that it was pretty much sold out with the odd individual seat in the balcony here and there. No, I didn't go to the actual meet and greet for Joan, just hung around the stage door. The Meet and Greet was only for those donating $1,000 (NOT a typo) to the museum.

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What the hell is it with YOU and red eye on pics?

 

I always have abnormally large pupils, so that's the problem. LOL

 

 

Is there anybody there at all from Lucy's era, connected with her greatest shows? Wasn't D Cahn scheduled to be there?

 

The only people here with an obvious Lucy connection are Joan, Gregg, and Michael. Lucy's childhood acquaintance Lloyd Faulkner is supposed to be here somewhere but I haven't spotted him yet.

 

Nope! He was here in Hollywood with us! "Greg in Hollywood" (whom I got to meet at the event last night) posted some wonderful pics from the event and I'll add my own -- at least the few which hopefully came out okay! -- over the weekend.

 

 

Can you post the link? I'd love to see both of your pics!

 

 

Looking good so far. Those black and white Lucy and Ricky with Joan had me take a double take. Those are a little scarry. I liked the internet story. We had that same problem at the Holiday Inn last time. Room was too far from the wireless acess point. I'm walking down the hall with the laptop in hand until I get a signal. Now Charlie would figure this out after I get half the suitcase unpacked. We did move rooms to the other end of the hotel and were good.

 

The Best Western doesn't even have WiFi but an ethernet cord dangling out of the wall. The funny thing is I can pick up the WiFi signal all the way from the Clarion Hotel (formerly the Holiday Inn). If only I had a proper user name and password for it I'd be in business! :marionstrong:

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