Jo’s Quantum Cafe

We arrived on Thursday, March 26th, 4 people from different parts of the United States - Sharon, Jenna, Karen and I. Through lots of emails prior to the trip, we managed to coordinate our arrival times so no one was waiting long. Then we picked up the rental car, found a restaurant after much driving, and checked into the Beverly Garland Hotel near Universal Studios. By the time we ate dinner and relaxed a bit, we were all ready for bed although it was only 8:30. We just about slept the clock round.

Friday morning we checked into the con and received our packets. They came in beautiful convention bags, black with pockets and zippers and the convention logo on the front. Messenger size. Inside were our badges and seat designations, my “press” badge, a pen and marker combo, stickies (for marking pages for autographing), and a beautiful program book filled with new stories, photos from QL that had never been published before, and pictures of all the guests. It was a fair sized booklet and a wonderful keepsake.

Details of the convention will appear in the May 2009 issue of The Observer. But here are some of the highlights.

Over 50 guests came to this convention, including Scott Bakula, Don Bellisario, and Deborah Pratt. Dean Stockwell was also invited, but couldn’t make it. He generously phoned in during Scott and Don’s time on stage. Dean was up in snow country, which lead to a rather hilarious discussion about the properties of snow. At one point, during this exchange, Don became aware of the fact that he and Scott had turned to face the direction of the disembodied voice, and Don told Dean he was now turning his back on Dean. The call lasted about 5 minutes and was all in good fun.

Friday and Saturday were devoted to guest panels. Some of the guests were Natasha Pavlovich, John D’Aquino, Rich Whiteside, James Harper, Donna Magnani and Richard Herd. These were actors I personally knew and/or had met at the 94-96 Leapcons. New to me were K Callan (The Americanization of Machiko), and DeLane Mathews (Roberto!), who were utter delights. Vaughn Armstrong (Donald Trump’s father in It’s a Wonderful Leap) turned out to be someone who loves giving hugs as much as I do. We posed for a photo op hugging each other. On Saturday night, he and the Enterprise Blues Band entertained. That group included Ethan Phillips (Nelix from Voyager), who was playing the sax for the first time in public. Claudia Christian (Play It Again, Seymour), Susan Griffiths (Goodbye Norma Jean), Michael Gregory (Star-Crossed), Holly Fields (Camakazi Kid), David Newsom (The Leap Home Part I and II), and Fabiana Udenio (Leaping in Without a Net) all made lasting impressions on me. All of the actors took time to talk to the fans as they came through the autograph line, just as interested in each person they spoke to as the fans were in speaking with them. Of course, this slowed down the autograph process, to the undoing of harried volunteers, but it’s what sets QL fandom apart from Trekdom (especially as run by Creation. ed). The personal touch is what makes QL so special.

Sunday was primarily devoted to Scott Bakula, the Scott and Jay Trivia contest, and Scott and Donald Bellisario. Scott came on stage to a packed auditorium. He spent a couple of minutes saying hi, then introduced Velton Ray Bunch. Velton didn’t speak but acknowledged the audience, then took a seat at a keyboard that was on stage. Scott, with sheet music in hand, sang “Somewhere in the Night,” to the delight and thrill of all. When Ray Bunch left the stage, Scott had to “stretch” as they weren’t quite ready for the trivia contest. Scott had no difficulty at all. At one point, a technician came on stage to mic Scott with a lob. Up until that point, he had been using the stand mic into which he sang. “In public?” Scott asked the tech. “You’re going to mic me in public?” The tech didn’t answer. He just went about his business of attaching the lob to Scott’s jacket and the amp to the back of his trousers. Normally, the wire is run under clothing. The tech just left the wire on the outside.

Next up was the Scott and Jay Trivia contest. I think the convention organizers had planned it to be a true contest, but that’s not the way it turned out. Any time Scott knew an answer, he threw hints to Jay, trying to get Jay to say the answer. Several times Jay called for the MC, Marc B. Lee, to ask Scott the name of the episode. Jay pulled out his reference book to look up information. In the end, Jay won by two points. Both men were awarded beautiful glass statues. Jay’s read, “Mr. Know It All.” Scott’s read, “I let him win.” Guess the organizers knew how it would go all along.

This was the first time I’d ever met Don Bellisario. My first QL con was in 1994, which was the first fan-run convention. Don had attended the Creation cons that ran while the series was still on the air. I found him to be different from what I had pictured. Not in looks. I knew what Don Bellisario looked like. When Karen and I went through the autograph line, I was surprised that he took a personal interest in us. He asked Karen when she became a Quantum Leap fan. As she was searching for an answer, I piped up, “Since the beginning.” I told Don I was her mother. Don wrote in Karen’s book “Thanks for being a QL fan all these years.” In my book, he wrote , “Thanks for educating your daughter on QL.”

I have a dear friend who is losing her battle with cancer. When I came up to Scott, I decided in advance that I would have him autograph a picture to my friend. I have many Scott autographs. I treasure them all, but I didn’t need another one and the con rule was one autograph per person. I handed Scott a photo collage I did using a family grouping from Papa’s Angels against an autumn backdrop. Scott loved the collage. I told him about my friend. Scott remembered her and was saddened about her state. He wrote her a very special note. I handed my camera over for a photo and Scott and I posed across the autograph table. As I was starting to leave, Scott pulled my program book from my hands, flipped to the photo of himself (it was still on Don’s picture and page), and wrote, “Jo, Thanks as Always.” How special.

It was a wonderful convention and I have a lot of warm and wonderful new memories.