This year was already a great convention year. Starting with a very good Further Confusion in January, continued by the small Herbstcon Sproing! (Herbstcon Spring Edition) meeting, followed by a very relaxing Mephit Mini Con and my first Anthrocon. The latter was unique, due to being able to build a bridge between the business atmosphere of most large fantasy conventions and the laid-back atmosphere of a furry convention. It was really, really hard to top all these excellent moments I had so far.
Eurofurence did. It was lots of work for me, being involved in two stage events, having two SIGs and doing press relations. I spent most of the time at con ops, but every time I walked into the foyer I was captured by the busy but very relaxed atmosphere. All staff worked hard to provide the best conditions for our attendees, but it was them, the attendees, who made this convention so special and warm.
I arrived on Tuesday afternoon, with lots of the decoration already setup. The stage was almost ready, except for wiring the lights and the directors' desk. I tried to help here and there, but ended up at the bar during the Fauna Project rehearsals. Several fursuiters had already arrived and were entertaining the normal (non-attendee) guests of the hotel which were still present. It is always fun to observe how quickly children accept these characters, and how differently adults react.
On Wednesday, we mainly prepared ourselves for the pawpet show rehearsal. Some props had to be finished or fixed and we applied the hangers for the backdrop panels. Right after me in the queue for registration was Goldie LeSuere of Anshe Chung Studios, who's a very nice guy to chat with. The rehearsal of the pawpet show was okay, only very few timing issues left. Went to bed at 5:30 in the morning...
...and got up at 10:00 AM on Thursday. For some reason I couldn't sleep properly during the convention. Only few people joined my CAcert BoF, but that was okay. Afterwards, I lead the lady who's doing public relations for the hotel around and talked to her for about two hours. She was very interested and will write a nice article for the hotel newspaper. The highlight of the day was the concert of Fauna Project with special guest Alexander James "if you've seen this guy before you might be right" Adams. So far the concert of the year. I cannot describe how the band rocks. The performance was really great and I'd really like to see the guys perform more often. Alec was playing and singing some of his own songs as well as accompany the others during the Fauna songs. And how could I ever forget the pirate song and Lori's guest appearance? Excellent musicians, great band, I want a CD!
I skipped the furdance afterwards, as the dance floor was too crowded and had a couple of beers and some excellent conversations at the bar that night, sitting there with Alec and the band. Went to bed at half past three...
...and got up at 8:40 on Friday morning, jumping into the shower in panic, putting my clothes, collected my press material as the local press was coming at 9:30. We sat down in the small lounge near the entrance of the hotel for a round table talk. It went very well, though it is a bit tricky to handle three reporters and two photographers at the same time. Luckily, I had some support. First, Alec showed up and told them how great the convention and how creative everyone is. Then, Uncle Kage who explained that while he's running the largest furry convention, Eurofurence was the best. And finally Lance Ikegawa, this year's guest of honour, who brought some fursuit heads. One of the reporters even tried one on. The result were three very favourable articles in two regional newspapers. I want to thank Alec, Kage and Lance for the help, they made it much easier to bring across what furry and Eurofurence is about.
Later that day I held the "Furries in the Press" SIG, which was again very well received. And at night, of course, I watched Uncle Kage's Story Hour and 2 the Ranting Gryphon on stage. Hilarious as ever, those two are the masters of comedy. The 2 vs. Kage improv was again quite silly and become quite surreal after a while thanks to a gift basket full of strange props and pawpet support from YappyFox and, who else was it? Herbie? I don't remember... Anyway, the Funday Pawpet Show guys are the masters of pawpet improv, there is no doubt about it.
After the show, I went to the bar and finally met The Utlah outside the costume. He has a very cute weasel fursuit now and performs very well. A very nice chap to chat with. Went to bed at 4:00 AM...
...and got up at 11:00 on Saturday, after sleeping quite badly. Alec's solo concert was really great. It takes a while to get used to his voice which is four notes down from Heather's, but especially the new songs work perfectly that way. What a great musician and what great songs he writes!
Afterwards, Zefiro and I were helping Mystifur for the costume show, named "Stage Fever" this year. Quite some fun, but harder work than it seems. Directly afterwards we started setting up our pawpet show. It went very smoothly, we made our audience laugh and cry and got an overwhelming amount of applause. Four script writing events for Cheetah and Eisfuchs, three weekends of rehearsals for the whole team, countless hours of prop and stage building, and every single second worth it. It is really a great feeling to stand on the stage at the curtain call and see all those happy faces. And I'd really like to thank everyone for their praise, but also for constructive criticism. And of course our team, it is a great honour for me to be part of such a great crew.
After the show I tried to attend the Big Blue Dance, however the stage was too crowded. So I ended up at the bar, again, had some pleasant conversations and what to bed at 5:00 AM...
...and got up at 10:00 AM again on Sunday. We broke down the stage and cleaned up everything and I packed most of my car. And then we drove down to the Crazy Horse steak house and ate all the meat they had left... They ran out of filet beef the day before already, but we finished off the rest that day. We should warn them ahead next year, as their food is really good. But then again, we did warn them ahead this year already, but they didn't believe us... ;-) Also, we managed to drink all beverages of the hotel bar — twice. A big thank you to the bar crew, they did a tremendous job and I don't want to know how much overtime they worked just for us.
Finally, we drove back to the hotel and had the dead dog party. A very, very cool party. The fursuiters discovered the bowling alley, and Fluke as Vincent danced through the night. What a sight! I went to bed at 4:30...
...to get up at 9:30 AM in the morning. I packed the rest of my stuff, said goodbye to everyone still there and drove back to Nürnberg. Terribly tired, but happy. What a week! Many thanks to the whole team and our guests for such a great convention!
Comments
utlah74.livejournal.com 17 years, 3 months ago
It was great to finally meet you after all these years and put a face to the name. :) I look forward to meeting up with you again at future cons! :)
Link | Replyzefirodragon.livejournal.com 17 years, 3 months ago
You could see all those happy faces after the pawpet show? Actually I couldn't... I saw the first line, some faces from the second line, and that was it - 'Blinded by the lights'.
And I noticed (in the conbook credits) you got promoted to Pawpeteer :)
Lucky you, not finding any sleep. I need my sleep and thus missed quite some of the events. Some I don't mind, others I was quite unlucky that I missed them :(
Link | Replystickmaker.livejournal.com 17 years, 3 months ago
Werewolf wants photos!
Online!!! ;-)
Link | Replywoelfisch.livejournal.com 17 years, 3 months ago
Oh, we have lots of photos! Good ones, bad ones, mediocre ones. Some have more resolution, some have less resolution. Could be a tad more specific?¹
Anyway, I haven't sorted my own few photographs yet, but there is a huge amount of pictures by others at the furcon.de gallery. Also, check Thalian's Gallery for higher quality photos as well.
¹ Who let the panda guy² in?
Link | Reply² See EF X Phantom of the Pawpet Show DVD for explanation
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