Sons of the Desert conventions in the past had usually begun in the evening with a mixer and little else following a day of registration. Therefore, I had assumed that the Seattle convention in 2000 would be the same. Only Denise and I travelled to this convention. Lisa had decided not to go for some reason that I do not recall. We left on the afternoon of Thursday, July 20 – and not terribly early.
Denise and I stayed at Aaron’s house the night before we left – she had just begun dating him at the time. I figured that getting there in the late afternoon would give us enough time to register and get ready for the opening cocktail soiree. Unfortunately, for one, our flight was delayed in whatever town it was that we were laid over. And secondly, activities had been going on all day. And we missed them all.
Bob and me at the ice-cream social
Yes, we did have lots of fun on the flight, shining our watches on the ceiling of the plane and ‘fighting’ one another with the light beams. It became even more humorous when a third unidentified party joined in with his watch. But anyway, when we arrived late, I was a bit miffed about missing so many of the proceedings of that day – namely a “Meet the Stars” session with Edith Fellows and my pal Bob’s seminar entitled “In Search of the Lost L&H Co-Stars.” But it was great to be back in the presence of so many of my Sons friends as we enjoyed the cocktail party and the evening’s buffet.
My previous posting (an article I wrote after the convention) amply covers the various activities of the convention. So here are some of my personal disjointed memories:
The new Advisory Commitee meets for the first time
**Getting elected to the Sons of the Desert Advisory Committee along with Bob, Henry Sorenson, and Rose Lahiff. The overseas delegates were voted at an overseas gathering: Wolfgang Gunther, Del Kempster, and Eric Woods. This was an extreme honor at the time, as we were presented with the challenge of bringing the Intra-Tent Journal out of its financial hole. Bob subsequently donated a large batch of autographed photos which I sold on eBay enabling me to personally write a check to the printer to whom the editors owed money. The publication then resumed. However, a later attempt for a ‘quorum’ of members – not including three of us, me being one – to abolish “The Fixer-Upper” meeting suggestion report (a previous gathering of delegates who came up with ideas to iron out issues in the club) left a sour note in everyone’s mouth and the advisory council was thereafter abolished. This, among other things, eventually made me turn my back on all Sons politics.
Another famous meeting of our friends, behind closed-doors…in smoke-filled rooms…Denise, Janet, Kris, Big Jimmy, John, David, Bob, Me
**I brought along my video of Now I’ll Tell One – a rare joint appearance of Laurel and Hardy – but it was never shown. But the episode of “Perfect Strangers” in which Larry and Balki attempt to carry a piano up a flight of stairs was shown in one of the two cinemas. (The Hal Roach All-Stars Cinema was being run by our pal, official projectionist Ed Greim).
**Having lots of fun with Jimmy. Although we had certainly known one another from earlier convention encounters (particularly during the Way Out West Anniversary banquet and tour of 1997), 
I think our minds really met in Seattle as we created all sort of havoc with our infantile antics and silly video projects. (At right, Denise and Jimmy wait for us to finish the second meeting of the AC). My good friend David was at this convention as well, but for some reason we rarely hung out together until the Columbus convention in 2004, although we had known one another for many years. Also, my pal Rich Finegan was there and we talked into the wee hours of the night. Jimmy and Denise gave up on me and each retired to their quarters, leaving me to babble on with Richard, while chain smoking cigarettes.
Bob and Me: Antics in the hall
**The unending chants of “we want the flory-dories” at the Pantages Theater during the show’s down-time. All the while Denise continued to get hit on by a certain crotchety old white man.
I had John pose this way to give the illusion that he was overly excited to begin the trivia contest. I still love this photo.
**A return to the Trivia Contest. Having been a single contestant in 1988 (where one of my opponents was David), this was the first team trivia challenge ever…and the first time I got back into it. Jimmy and John were my partners and we did fairly well, placing third out of six teams. This was where I really began to appreciate John’s humor, too. When one team was asked “what did Oliver Hardy do with the cake in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, John leaned over and whispered to me “he lit it on fire and shoved it up his ass,” to which I laughed for the rest of the contest.
**Leaving early. This sucked but was unavoidable in order to find the flight that we needed. We had to skip the Sunday morning brunch to catch our flight, because we had to be back to Dayton to catch yet another flight to Myrtle Beach the next morning. We flew into Columbus and then drove back to Dayton on Sunday, July 23rd. I remember that Christi came over and visited me that night. In the morning I drove to Mom’s (where Denise was living at the time) and my cousin Cathy picked us up and took us to the airport.
This convention felt exceptionally short – mostly because of the shaved-off beginning and end – so unfortunately, we saw very little of Seattle, a city I’d like to re-visit sometime. Several years later, Jimmy would complete a DVD of his trip with his parents and Bob, as they travelled from California to Washington (for them the convention was only a stop amidst a much longer trip). The frame grabs are from his DVD.
Up next: The celebs of Sea-Tac 2000…
Bypass the celebs and continue on with 2000…
We were laid over for several hours in the bustling Minneapolis airport. We spent much of our time there hanging out in the food court area where we proceeded to make fun of the other weary travelers.
Ahhh…nothing much has changed…
Denise
April 6th, 2007