October 25, 2004
Kazren's Report on DeppCon 2004
Well the first ever convention held for Johnny Depp fans has come and gone, and it was a huge success. I had the opportunity to mingled, giggled, and really connect with so many great people all weekend long, What a fabulous time! Many people remembered their cameras (unlike me) and will be sending in photos and their impressions on the convention, and Oh Johnny! has this page (and as many as it takes) to share their memories.
But wait, I need to go back to the beginning.
Thursday October 21st the Viper Room opened just for us and the convention-goers
were allowed into the private lounge downstairs to sit where Johnny has
sat, to meet one another, and to buy Viper Room products. For those
of you who could not go, you can go to http://www.viperroom.com/merch.html.
Thursday night several of the con members went out on the town, but
by Friday we were back at the Hyatt on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood with
the opening of our Con Suite. New arrivals got to meet and mingle
and we had a running show of incredible interviews with Johnny courtesy
of Char, Belinda and Anon in LA(our behind the scenes angel).
Friday evening was our Pirates of the Caribbean Interactive. We had the top floor of the hotel decorated in a Pirate's theme, complete with skulls and pirate 'effects.' The entrance of Captain Jack Sparrow in person was a surprise for everyone and he posed for pictures with us after the event. .
Saturday we had a full day of panels scheduled and a room of vendors eager to help us with all our Johnny needs. We also had auctions for wonderful Johnny goodies and a silent auction for one of Deppography's wonderful had made purses, Shadow's Jack doll, a special bobble-head POTC doll donated by Disney and a DVD collection of rare Johnny Depp interviews going back to his first one with Jay Leno.
Our panels started with "doitforjohnny.com's" entire production team showing up to tell us about their documentary and the movie it is all about. Scott Baxendale showed us the guitar that has been hand-made for Johnny and Haylar Garcia told us about the "search for Johnny" that is an on-going part of this documentary.
We had a workshop on making the decoupage purses, presented by Kat and Michael Lambi of No Quarter Given, a Pirate-re-enactor, told us about his experiences as an extra on various films such as "Hook."
We also had a panel on the Depp Effect and it was great getting to meet
in person some of the people who had sent in their Depp Effect letters
to Oh Johnny! and hear new stories. There were some really wonderful
younger fans, too, who really brightened up our convention.
The magnificent DeppMobile took us to the Ojai Film Festival for a screening of Finding Neverland. Unless you've spent time on a beautiful coach with a coach filled with Depp fans all singing along to "Don Juan De Marco's" theme song as the movie ends, or saying the lines with "Benny & Joon," you haven't really experienced the full effects of being a Johnny Depp fan with other fans. And, of course, "Finding Neverland" was so moving and beautiful, and Johnny gave an absolute sterling performance.
Sunday morning we gathered for brunch in the hotel's dining facility
and then many of us went off to see more of LA's sites, while a small band
of us gathered on the roof to look at the lovely view of the West Hollywood
hillside (forget the panorama of the entire LA basin spread out on the
other side - wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more). A bnad of hearty
convention goers then boarded a bus for a special screening of "Ed Wood"
held at USC and hosted by the film's screenwriters, Larry Karaszewski and
Scott Alexander who had a Q&A after the screening. Another little
van of fans were given a special tour of the Viper Room.
So a lovely time was had by all who attended, and I hope next year even
more of you will make it. Plans are already in the works and even
though it's Top Secret at the moment, expect to hear more details after
January. And save some vacation time for the week of July 15, 2005!
Aobve Photos from Sharon Ney
Please do
not Hot-link
