Grand Slam: The Singing Trekkie-Deckies

Friday at the Grand Slam is mostly a blur at this point. I remember driving in, waiting for Ricky to arrive, and then checking in, which is always a brief uncomplicated moment. Then dealer-shopping.

The Burbank convention center is pretty small, and there are never too many dealers crammed into their hallways. I recognized Marilee and Sean at their respective booths, and promised myself I'd buy some stuff later. As it turns out, they had more merchandise out on Saturday, so I'm glad I waited. And glad I hit them early in the day before all of it was gone.

Friday's attendance was pitiful. There were 3 of us in our row. Two or four more would show up occasionally, and then disappear again. That's kind of how it goes, though, for these new conventions. People buy photo op and autograph tickets, and they're forever in lines. However, that still doesn't explain why many of the gold ticket seats were empty. Many of these seats were bought some 15 years ago, and the same people show up to claim them every year.

While the highlight of the day would turn out to be the concert that night, there was one interesting moment on Friday. Tom Lenk, who played on Buffy and Angel, came out and, while I don't know who he is, some young actor trying to make his mark, he did say that he went to an acting class of Salome Jens, and she told him to come back to class when he learned how to act. Salome, who played the female shapeshifter on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, appeared on stage just an hour later.

The "celebrity cabaret" featured Nichelle Nichols, but also had Tim Russ and his band, Vaughn Armstrong and Max Grodenchik. Creation has done this for years, giving a forum to actors who would like to do other things that they don't normally do on stage, like sing or play an instrument or give a reading. In all cases tonight, they sang. Tim's band is very good, very tight for a trio, and they play very pleasant blues-edged songs, not too loudly (important to this aging crowd). Max is always funny, as he sings parodies of real songs, providing his own Ferengi-based lyrics. Vaughn Armstrong is hilarious as he plays the ukelele -- gosh, you don't hear that much any more, thank goodness -- and sings songs he wrote. One song stuck in my head all night, and I found that I woke up with it in my head at 6 am the next morning.

On the Trekkie-deckie with a bottle of Dos Equis, on the beach at Waikiki...

Nichelle Nichols is gorgeous at hmmmm-something, and although confident, not arrogant. That's always wonderful. She sang some songs from her new independent film, Lady Magdeline's, where she plays the owner of a brothel.

But before Nichelle came on, an unusual event happened. Adam, who co-owns Creation Entertainment and who was our host, came on, sat down at the piano, and asked if anyone thought they could sing Bohemian Rhapsody -- you know, the old Queen version. So, 3 brave souls went on stage, including the person who was sitting to my right. And they sang. Without lyric sheets. It was great! One of the guys remembered most of the lyrics, the woman in our row was trying to harmonize, and the older guy on the left would come out with a note from time to time, mostly loud and off-key.

When the woman sat down again, I told her I'd send her some photos in email, so she wrote down her email address and her first name: Cynthia. Cynthia was a hit.

Friday's talent was brief during the day, but plentiful at night. And with visions of Trekkie-deckies in Waikiki in my head, I finally made it to sleep.