What a grand time we had at DeppCon 2005! The hotel was
great and the weather in Anaheim could not have been better. Thursday
evening we met in the hotel lobby to kick off the convention. This
was the time to renew old acquaintances and meet new friends. T-shirts
and tote bags along with the convention folder were given out. We
talked, laughed, reminisced and just generally had a fun time. We
were so pleased to have TWO people from England attending our convention
this year, so the first plaque for coming the greatest distance was presented
at the Mixer.
Friday was they day for the Johnny Depp Bus Tour and what a tour
it was! We made a stop at the Bonaventure Hotel where "Nick of Time"
was filmed in 1995 and went inside to take pictures. We saw so many
Johnny related places on the tour that it's hard to remember them all.
Another stop was on Vine Street where we got off the bus to take a picture
of Marlon Brando's star. We rode along Hollywood Boulevard and saw
the area where Tom Petty's Playback video featuring "The Great Wide Open"
was filmed and we were able to identify a lot of the scenes in the video.
We also saw the three apartment buildings where Johnny lived along with
the check cashing store where Johnny went to cash the Mexican money he
"borrowed" from Nicholas Cage. We stopped at Hollywood and Highland
in the heart of Hollywood and everyone scattered to do her own thing.
Of course people went to see Johnny's star; some took a backstage tour
of the Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards were held; others went shopping
for Johnny photos and still others made a raid on Hot Topic.
One funny incident happened at Hot Topic. The sales clerk brought
out an armful of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" folders and was attempting
to put them in a display rack . . . she never made it as the folders were
scooped up before she even had a chance to put them out. The DeppCon
group pretty well wiped out Hot Topic's C&TCF inventory. Grauman's
Chinese Theater is also located in this area along with a gigantic advertisement
for C&TCF on the side of a building - it's absolutely huge! One
of the most fun stops was at Sunset Strip Tattoo where Johnny got his Winona
tattoo. Mike Messina, the tattoo artist who did the tattoo, came
in specially to talk to the tour group and spent quite a long time answering
questions. He was full of information and was a lot of fun to talk
to. Of course we saw Chateau Marmont where Johnny has done so many
interviews and The Viper Room.
Then it was time for lunch at the New York Deli in Century City.
We had phoned in to make a reservation for our group so we were seated
immediately. The order was really pretty simple . . . the Johnny
Depp Sandwich . . . the Johnny Depp Sandwich . . . The Johnny Depp Sandwich
. . . pretty soon the waiter was just making a "ditto mark".
After lunch a few of us spotted a book store featuring C&TCF items
and the word spread. Well, there went that store's inventory!
Then it was back on the bus.
Just a mention of a few other places we saw -- the place where Johnny
gave the homeless man $50, the building where the party after the C&TCF
premiere was held, the silent theater where Johnny took Vanessa on their
special date, the Ivy restaurant, the TikiTi where Johnny has been known
to have a drink (it's just a tiny place), the Capitol Records Building,
the ArcLight Cinemas Complex, and so many more.
Friday evening was set aside as free time for people to do what ever
they wanted. Quite a few decided what they wanted to do was see C&TCF
as a lot of us just couldn't wait another day. Well, of course, the
movie was fantastic and there was the added attraction of "The Corpse Bride"
trailer. A lot of screaming for Johnny going on in that theater!
The audience clapped when the film ended - good sign.
Saturday the actual program for the convention kicked off. We
had such wonderful vendors again this year. Kathy Erickson was there
with her beautiful art prints of Johnny, along with stickers and handmade
purses. Michael Lampi was there again from No Quarter Given with
his fabulous pirate items. Thomas Grace and Jerry Snapp were also
selling beautiful pirate jewelry and pirate plaques and our own Kat was
there with her purses and treasure boxes. The attendees lived up
to the "shop until you drop" directive and came away with some great treasures.
JoBlo, who is a big supporter of DeppCon, sent a video welcoming everyone
to the convention and expressing his admiration for Johnny. Lots
and lots of rare video clips of Johnny from 1984 on ( P live in Austin,
Texas, Johnny's first Tonight Show and Letterman appearances ( etc
) were shown along with the scenes featuring Johnny from the French movie
"Happily Ever After". A Trivia Bee was held and it took two rounds
to finally declare a winner. The second plaque for coming the greatest
distance was presented to our other visitor from England. The winners
of the silent auction items, which included an "Ed Wood" DVD signed by
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (the writers), the book "A Long Way
Down" autographed by the author Nick Hornby, an autosigned poster of Johnny
as Willy Wonka, a DVD of many rare videos of Johnny's appearances and a
"Cry Baby" DVD signed by John Waters were announced. The lucky winners
of the raffle, which included posters and C&TCF trading cards (a really
hot item!) were announced. There was also a free raffle and almost
everyone won something. Karen from Johnny Depp Reads gave a presentation
about "A Kids Book Project" honoring Johnny Depp and there was a presentation
of The Depp Effect where individuals expressed why Johnny means so much
to them and how he changed their life..
Then came a surprise visit from Edward Scissorhands and just as everyone
was calming down after meeting Edward, Captain Jack Sparrow blew in the
door and took over the ship! The whole thing was hilarious and everyone
had to have their picture taken with Edward and Captain Jack. Edward
did a few haircuts and Captain Jack pinched a few wenches. Both Edward
and Captain Jack talked about Johnny and the impact he had on them, plus
Richard (Captain Jack) worked on "The Brave" and told us about his experiences.
Later Saturday evening it was time to go to Downtown Disney to see
C&TCF. We whooped and cheered for Willy and had a marvelous time.
The movie is just so great! And again, the audience clapped when
it was over. After the movie everyone scattered to do their own thing.
Some went to the House of Blues for dinner and that was really fun - loud,
but fun!
Sunday morning arrived and we gathered in the hotel restaurant for
our Farewell Brunch. Names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses
were exchanged along with the hope of meeting up again next year.
If you attended this year's Convention, we are so glad that you came,
and if you didn't make it, we missed you!
DeppCon 2005 Committee
Some
of us met up at Disneyland's Blue Bayou on Thursday
Including
Cesar'sGirl and her Johnny Bear
Jack
Sparrow showed up at the convention and was flirthing (as always)
And
Edward Sissorhands showed up to give some a new hair cut 
Con
Comittee person Colleen and Linda 
Con
attendee Scott and Babs
and
Betty
who
claims to be the oldest Depp Fan at 81 years young!
