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Meeting of August 8, 1980. Tom Schaad presiding.
IN ATTENDANCE (at Olivers')
Marianne Petrino (Sec.), Bob Oliver (Treas.), Bill Berg (Trust.), Rosa
Oliver, Joseph Mayhew, Beverly Brandt, Bob MacIntosh, Jane Wagner,
Lisa Peoples, Bill Quick, Steve Smith, Jack Heneghan, Steve Stiles,
Ellen Caswell, Jeff Schalles, Kent Bloom, Joanne Dionne, Wayne Dionne,
Marjorie Fritts, Troy Farwell, Mark Owings, Somtow Sucharitkul, Lee
Smoire, Newton Ewell, Avedon Carol, and Pat Kelly. (27)
The meeting was called to order at 9:21 P.M. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved. The treasury stood at $4,347.48.
COMMITTEES
MEMBERSHIP: Five new members were taken in as listed in the August WSFA Journal.
ENTERTAINMENT: Zippo, but Tom Schaad reported that although the Navy helped in the production of the SF movie on the Nimitz, several sailors had to leave the filming of a scene due to their laughing at the inane dialogue. (The film: The Final Countdown)
DISCLAVE 1981: Zippo!
PUBLICATIONS: Marianne Petrino distributed the August WSFA Journal.
OLD BUSINESS:
NEW BUSINESS:
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The meeting adjourned at 10:05 P.M.
Meeting of August 15, 1980. Tom Schaad presiding.
IN ATTENDANCE (at Kent Bloom's): Alexis Gilliland (V.P.), Marianne Petrino (Sec.), Regina Cohen (Trust.), Jane Wagner, Barry Newton, Avedon Carol, Linda Melnick, Charles Gilliland, Douglas Lewis, Mike Tuchman, Kent Bloom, Craig Stanfill (Boris), Susan Applegate, Lisa Peoples, Steve Smith, Mary Morman, John Sapienza, Jerry S. Moore, Laura Williams, Wayne Dionne, Joanne Dionne, Martin Wooster, Tom Sweeting, Jack Chalker, Eva Whitley, Mike Walsh, Suzi Koon, David J. Hastie and Joe Mayhew. (30)
The meeting was called to order at 9:15 P.M. The minutes were read and approved. The treasury stood at $4,330.40.
COMMITTEES
MEMBERSHIP: The following person has joined WSFA:
John Rubins
[censored]
Suitland, Md. 20023
(301) 568-6416
PUBLICATIONS: The secretary mailed out 47 August WSFA Journals. The next journal will be out at the first meeting in September.
DISCLAVE 1981: ZIP!!!
ENTERTAINMENT: ZIP!!!
OLD BUSINESS: Just a reminder that the 5th Friday in August party at WorldCon at the Sheraton-Boston will be in John Sapienza's suite.
NEW BUSINESS:
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The meeting adjourned at 9:40 P.M. (25 minutes)
Janet Lynch (6/4) Ralph Roland (7/20)
Jane Wagner (9/12) Steve Dolan (9/18)
Abraham Friedman (9/20) Alan Huff (9/29)
The Baltimore in '83 group was out in full strength at EmpiriCon II, both partywise and the infamous "Backrubs for Baltimore" team. A small cluster of fans gathered in the hall and had the difficult choice of feeding their faces or indulging in some nefarious body stimulation that seemed to be going on in the mysteriously blue-lit room directly opposite the party room that was conveniently located at the end of the hall.
Friday night seemed to be the most popular one for partaking of the events in the two rooms as the party room ran out of "munchies" around 2:00 A.M. while the backrubbers gallantly carried on until around 4:30 A.M. at which time all proceedings were abruptly halted and those fans that were still trickling in were politely - but firmly - asked to leave "but DO come back tomorrow night; thank you." Due to the fact that the two rooms had not been opened until 12:00 midnight yet were constantly being besieged by party-looking fans before that, it was decided between Walter Miles (head of the party room) and myself (leading the backrubbers) that we should start earlier Saturday night which was later carried out. However, upon opening said rooms at 10:00 P.M. it was quickly discovered that not that many fans were party-minded. It was later revealed that the musical events (featuring Light and The Bermuda Triangle) and that night's movies (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Alien and CE3K) were the reasons for the absences. The backrubbing team managed to ignore the hunger pangs for RHPS (I was having withdrawal symptoms) but threw in the massage oils, closed shop and flew down to view Alien (we all have our weaknesses!). All in all, we sold a grand total of 26 back massages - not bad for 3 girls on Friday and only 2 on Saturday. The party seemed to be a hit - the only complaints heard were: "There's no more food?" and "Will you be open tomorrow night?"
Thanks go to Randy Brunk and his brother for allowing us to throw the party in their room, Lee Smoire for bringing the drinks for Saturday's party, and especially Bianca Cepeda-Sanchez and Laura Logan for backing me up in the Back Massage Room and performing miracles. Honorable Mention to Geoffrey Gould for supervising and maintaining the peace. Thanks again.
There were 393 items exhibited by 63 artists in this year's UniCon 6 Art Show. Forty of the 63 artists made sales. Of the items for sale, 129 pieces of art were sold for a grand total of $2,951.00. Nothing was stolen, mutilated or damaged. Harold Jig drew top money of $210 for his painting, "The Meeting." Only five artists made more than $100 in total sales; they were: 1) V.M. Wyman at $457, 2) Mark Rogers at $425, 3) Carl Kocich at $328, 4) Harold Jig at $210 and 5) Bonnie Dalzell at $160. Sales went for the low prices in general. The show was run almost entirely by WSFA. Supporting staff consisted of Bob Oliver, Walter Miles, Randy Brunk, V.M. Wyman, Marty Gear, Rosa Oliver, Martin Deutsch, Shirley Avery, Marianne Petrino, Bill Quick and others too numerous to mention. My thanks to all for an excellently run art show.
I Lost It at Disclave '80
(Well, it's about Time!)
"Stars Wars" Sequel:
"Revenge of the Fleet Admirals"
If Darth Vader was a female dog ......
That means Luke would be a Son of a Bitch.
God, How Profound!!!!
The preceding have been provided from the DISCLAVE 1980 wall graffiti from the archives of Beverly Brandt. Responsible replies are welcome. --Ed.
(This interview was taken during the annual Kubla Khanate convention held in Nashville, Tenn. on May 2 - 4, 1980.)
BB) I wanted to ask you; I have some artist friends at home and a lot of these people seem to think that attending an art school impairs a lot of your own inspiration and imagination. Do you think it's good for the self-discipline if for nothing else?
BV) I actually think that there is definitely a value in studying art at an art school. I myself went to an art school for five years and I have to confess that I don't use, right now, any of the things that I supposedly learned while I was there; if I learned anything at all. I was very arrogant and I didn't feel that I should be studious because I felt that I knew more than they did. Of course that wasn't really true; but I definitely think that discipline is really necessary, absolutely necessary. You can not do what you want to do unless you know the correct technique. The only other way you can learn how to do it is by doing it yourself, which would take twice as long than if you went to school. Actually, I do think that school gives you some shortcuts. I think it's an excellent idea to go to school.
BB) Of all the fields that you've done art in, the hard science fiction - as in "Gateway", the gothics, the regency romantics, as well as the fantasy and the swashbucklers, which is your personal favorite?
BV) I would say that fantasy, as opposed to science fiction or the romantics; it's definitely fantasy. Why? I'd say because I don't have to do research, as in science fiction, and make a certain amount of sense in what one is doing. You can't do a machine without knowing something about how it's going to work. As for the romantics, the costumes bored me and I don't enjoy doing period clothes.
BB) What artists do you feel have inspired you the most?
BV) There have been many different artists that have been inspirational. I suppose the question is directed to what was the reason why I went into fantasy illustration. Primarily it was the work of Frank Frazetta; there's no question about it. I was very impressed by his work at the time when I started. There have been other artists that I have really admired earlier in my career, Estaban Moroto; Sanjulian is another one, and others too numerous to mention.
BB) How did you become connected with Marvel Comics?
BV) There was a man by the name of Chuck McNaughton who was working for Jim Warren of Warren publications at the time that I brought over my first oil painting to that company. Later he went to work at Skywald Magazines who was publishing a magazine called Nightmares and he called me to that company. The art director there, Sol Brodsky, subsequently went from Skywald to Marvel and he called me from there. So that's how I went.
BB) Was there an artist before you that used your technique of using the washy acrylic and then concentrating basically on your prime figures in oils or did you start this yourself?
BV) As far as I know, I started it. There's the possibility of someone doing it before me, but I personally didn't know it; then or now. So, as far as I am concerned, I originated it.
BB) Why do you concentrate more on oils than on acrylics as most of today's artists seem to favor?
BV) I find that acrylics dry very fast - which is supposed to be its charm; however, I find that because of that quality they don't blend as nicely as the oils. The oils, for one thing, are softer and more flexible than the acrylics. Also, the colors are brighter with oils.
BB) If a writer wanted you to illustrate his book (Note: I was thinking of Somtow at this point), how would he get in touch with you to do it?
BV) They should call me up and tell me that they would like me to do a particular job for them; then we'd discuss the price and so on and that would just about be it.
BB) You don't work with an agent then; you do it personally?
BV) For a commissioned work, no I don't.
BB) In the artbook it mentions that your women seemed to have a wider spectrum than your men do; why?
BV) I don't know; I couldn't say anything really in that direction because this is the first time I've heard of it. It may be because I prefer women to men. (Laughter)
BB) Well, that's understandable! (More laughter) You did the cover for the third issue of Future magazine, "Reaching For the Stars"; what inspired you for that particular cover?
BV) I had a discussion with the editor of the magazine and he said that he wanted to have a painting that would represent mankind - mankind meaning, of course, a man and a woman. We discussed the whole thing, I did some sketches and we came up with the drawing that culminated in that painting. So it was a combined effort of myself and the editor.
It was held in Silver Spring, Md. Little did I know how nice it was going to be. What am I talking about? UniCon 6, of course. For those of you who didn't attend, you blew it! It was definitely one of the better local cons this year. Although the Sheraton Inn did have its minor drawbacks (non-functioning ice machines and air-conditioning that was faulty at best) it was an excellent locale. It was close to Metrorail, the Silver Theatre (showing "The Empire Strikes Back") was just down the street, the hotel staff was very cooperative, and the facility space was superb.
The Dealers' Room was extremely nice and had a large selection of whatever a fan's heart desired. It consisted of two rooms, both of which were spacious which eliminated the "Excuse me, watch out for the feet!" - type atmosphere that's typical of huckster rooms.
The Art Show (headed by our own Joe Mayhew) was fabulous. (Ed. Note: See Joe Mayhew's version elsewhere in this issue.) Two rooms were set aside for it which allowed for a great deal of hanging space. All of the artwork was wonderful, however, my favorite piece was "The Secret of the Empire Revealed" by John Ellis.
There should be some mention of the Film Program. Although I didn't get a chance to view any of the films shown, I understand that most of them managed to tickle people's funnybones. Unfortunately, the scheduled showing of the "Saturn Voyager Fly-by Films" didn't make an appearance which caused some disappointment.
Costumed people were in abundance throughout the con's duration but especially at the Costume Party held Friday night in the El Fontenal room. Also, there was some fantastic musical entertainment performed by the group, Bazilisk. I hope they make another appearance at some future SF con.
The hotel's swimming pool also boasted its fair share of con attendees and was very popular.
Last, but not least, I finally get to our favorite meeting place, the Con Suite. It was, as always, crowded, although there was a good supply of bheer and soft drinks for those of us who don't partake of alcoholic beverages. Pretzels, popcorn and crackers made up the bulk of the food available but at least there was plenty of it.
So ends UniCon 6. Will there be another one next year? That is the question.
Editor's Note: Due to the terrible heat problem, UniCon 6 has now been renamed and will go down in SF fandom history as "MeltiCon."
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The WSFA Journal is the newsletter of the Washington Science Fiction Association. Editor-in-Chief: Marianne G. Petrino, [censored], Arlington, Va. 22204. Assistant Editors: Beverly L. Brandt and Joseph Mayhew.
The effort was valiant and there were successes, but EmpiriCon II suffered from inefficiency and disorganization. Accommodations, function space and parties determine the success of a con. The Prince Georges hotel on the lower east side had neither decent rooms nor adequate function space. The hucksters inhabited one small area on the ground floor and a second room on the second floor that I never found. And except for that delightful badge artist, Michael Braun (and one or two others), I found the offerings both boring and tedious.
The art show featured several excellent artists, but again, it too suffered from a dearth of space. Lighting was poor and the art was hung too close together. (Ed. Note: Joe Mayhew, where are you when SF fans/artists need you?)
Movies were one highlight of the con. They included Phantom of the Paradise, Alien and CE3K. I didn't see any of them. Comments ranged from "Great?" to "The scheduling was lousy." Take your pick.
The usual panels and talks convened. Bright spots included a free-wheeling session with Alfred Bester and the appearance of the ever-engaging Isaac Asimov on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday con members were treated to the sight and sound of Harlan Ellison introducing Asimov. (As an example of a typical con problem, Ellison was supposed to be a secret from Asimov, not successfully kept, however.) Asimov received the Empire Award from the con staff (Ed. Note: The first one ever given.); a large plaque with Dr. A's profile etched into the metal. Highlights of the acceptance speech included the singing of "Clone, Clone of My Own" by the award winner.
Up to now I have managed to avoid mentioning parties or the con suite. Truth to tell, the only parties worth talking about were one or two private affairs that can't be talked about. As for the con suite, it was undermanaged, opened Thursday night, stayed open during the day Friday and ran out of beer, ice and soda before Saturday night.
New York City has great public transportation, marvelous and cheap eating places and the potential to be a great con city. With two cons behind them now, the EmpiriCon staff should learn from its mistakes. Choose a hotel that's big enough, run a tighter ship and enjoy all the benefits that a New York City con can bestow.