Secrets of the Palladium Open House 2007

[Kevin]

Secrets of the Palladium Open House

Freelancer Thursday -- Private

What the public doesn’t know (till now), is I’m having a private meeting with most of the freelance artists and writers coming in, on Thursday.

Last year I did not get the chance to speak with or hang with most of my artists and writers for more than 1-5 minutes. I don’t think most fans understand that “freelancers” are not employees, but basically subcontractors. Most (as in 90%) live and work out of state. That means we really only get together once in a while at conventions and sometimes in-between. Communication is done via telephone and e-mail. For example, I haven’t seen Jazzy Johnny Z in 9-10 years, though we talk regularly. I literally said, “Hi, good to meet you in person.” to Nick Bradshaw and never saw him again the entire weekend! Until last year, I had NEVER met Kent Burles (or his lovely wife) and I have worked with him for 15 years! We shared a whole 15 minutes the entire Open House in 2006. Which sucked.

So this year, I’ve convinced 20-25 of "the guys" to come on down a day in advance so we can spend the afternoon and evening just chatting, sharing ideas and meeting each other. Nice. I’ll bring in some chow and we’ll have fun talking business, art and writing.

Poor schmoes, little do they suspect that this is all part of a diabolical plan to trick them into setting up the tables and other last minute chores Thursday night and Friday morning. Bwah, ha, ha! Pretty clever, eh?

Hmmm, Johnny Z and Scott Johnson are excellent artists, so they should be good at cleaning the bathrooms. Mike Mumah should make signs, Carl Gleba can haul out trash, the rest can help us ship RMD and do grunt work. Mark Dudley is a big guy, so I’ll make him the supervisor putting the other artists to work. That’ll work until they figure out he’s a pussycat. Yep, it’s all coming together.

Sorry, this event is not open to the public. We’ll be working.

Rifts® Machinations of Doom

Rifts® Machinations of Doom should arrive from the printer Thursday or Friday of the Open House event! How's that for hot off the presses? We hope to ship out all online and mail order copies that afternoon, but distributor orders will have to wait until Tuesday. This book is hot and Ramon Perez and the rest of us will be available to sign autographs.

Costume Contest – Saturday Evening

It sounds like a lot of people plan to come in costume Saturday and Sunday (and VIP Friday?), so bring your digital cameras and camera phones ready for photo ops.

Wear costumes in the afternoon (all day if you'd like) and be around for the judging at 7:00 PM.

Costume Contest – probably be early evening (7:00 or 8:00 PM?); we’ll have to see what works best for our contestants –

We’ll have ribbons and certificates for the best costumes in the categories of . . .
Best of Show
Best Science Fiction
Best Fantasy
Best Contemporary/Horror
Plus runners up.

Costume Prizes will include the choice of Special books (like a couple Rifts Ultimate Gold, a Heroes Unlimited Gold and other collectibles and surprises) or cash.

This will be fun.

Secret Gaming Rooms at the Hotel

Palladium will have at least ONE (maybe two) Presidential suites (can easily accommodate 3-4 games or a couple big ones) for gaming at the Hotel. Those of you looking to game ALL night, or who don’t have VIP tickets but are arriving on Friday, contact us to make arrangements to game till you drop. PLEASE BE COURTEOUS & QUIET for the people trying to sleep nearby.

Silent Auction

There will be a silent auction Saturday and Sunday. This is where items are up for sale and you write in your name and the amount you are bidding. High bid wins. If you have to leave before the auction ends, leave us your name, address, telephone number and credit card info and we'll ship it to you if you're the winner.

Bids end at 7:00 or 8:00 PM on Saturday.
Bids end at 3:00 on Sunday.

Items for auction include:
- Heroes Unlimited Gold #7
- Robotech Video Tapes
- Nightspawn #2, the 1970's Fanzine.
- Uncut sheets of the Rifts CCG.
- Various out of print books (some used).
- Artwork
- Posters and limited edition prints.

Original Art for Sale

- The many artists will be selling original artwork.
- John Zeleznik will be bringing prints, paintings and black and white art.
- The original Kevin Long painting from Southern Cross is going up for sale.
- Plus I’ll be selling some odds and ends from my collection.

V.I.P. Friday – 4:00 PM till 11:00 PM

The Palladium Crew is there for you. All the artists, writers, Palladium staff and I will be available to chat and sign autographs the entire night.

First crack at making purchases of new and old books, collectibles in limited numbers, artwork, etc.

Buffet style dinner will be served around 5:30 or 6:00 pm and is available till gone. There will be food suitable for vegetarians as well as us meat eaters. Kathy is catering the affair so DO NOT eat dinner before you come.

Q & A. I’ll introduce everyone in a brief open talk and conduct a Questions and Answers session for an hour or two. This went over well last year and time flew.

Afterward, the Palladium creators, staff and I will be around to chat one on one and in small groups till 11:00 PM – or you can game with some of the creators!

V.I.P. Gaming. Last year, it was clear some of you wanted to play games, so there will be enough celebrity G.M.s to run about half the people attending. I forget who all is running, but Erick Wujcik, Julius Rosenstein and Jason Marker are three of them. Jason Richards and Carl Gleba may be among the others. I will not be.

Saturday – 9:30 A.M. till Midnight

Maybe longer if someone responsible like Erick Wujcik or Wayne Smith are willing to stay late and lock up. I’ll be gone by Midnight so I’m fresh for Sunday.

Note: All events are free on a first come first served basis. In addition to close to 60 game events there will be panel talks and an anime viewing area.

Sunday – 9:30 A.M till 6:00 PM

John Zeleznik has to leave by 2:00 P.M. Some other guests may also have to leave between 2-4:00 P.M. Sunday, so get those autographs and make art purchases early.

Erick Wujcik, the Palladium Crew and other guests will be available till closing.

Then it’s farewell till next time.

See ya NEXT WEEK!!!!! I can hardly wait.

Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, President, Writer, Artist, Convention Host and Fan Boy
© Copyright April 28, 2007