We are now back home after a mammoth five week trip to the US
taking in Detroit and Disneyworld.
We left home back in May and traveled to Detroit for
Motorcity Con. It had been a couple of years since our last
visit and we were looking forward to seeing everyone again. The
show took place in a new venue 'The Rock Financial Showplace'.
The Great Lakes 501st Garrison and the Rebel Legion were in full
force and I was completely taken aback when I was presented with
this wonderful customised hockey shirt, designed by Scott
Withers – amazing.
The Star Wars guests were Ray Park, Daniel Logan, Anthony
Forrest and myself. It was a very busy show hence not a lot of
time for photos apart from these three.
Thanks to the Goldman family for a great show with a special
mention for Marilyn and her team who produced delicious food
every day for lunch.
After Detroit our next stop was Disneyworld in Orlando. I
have been lucky to have been invited to attend Star Wars
Weekends almost every year as a guest, but this time I was
honoured to be upgraded to host - and about time too:-) It was
like being back in the theatre with scripts to learn and moves
to remember.
We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn which is our favourite place
with dramatic skies and wonderful views.
All our friends in the concierge lounge at the Boardwalk made
us very welcome - it was like coming home again, and this little
plate certainly whetted our appetite!
The first weekend kicked off with a true 'Fett Fest'. Temuera,
Daniel and myself had a great time during the stage show. Daniel
of course is always very ebullient and Tem amused us with his
tales of the many films he has appeared in. The Hollywood
Studios were bursting at the seams this first weekend as you can
see from the motorcade and I have never seen so much Boba Fett
merchandise in one place. This was a good start to SWW. Along
with guests Daniel and Tem was the talented Dee Bradley Baker
who voiced the entire clone army in Star Wars, The Clone Wars.
He kept us amused with the most extraordinary sounds!
I was also introducing Ashley Eickstein for her Behind the
Force ‘Clone Wars show. She is quite delightful and is designing
her own range of Star Wars clothing and jewellry for the ladies.
The following weekend introduced us to the technical and
artistic guys. Lorne Peterson who worked on all six Star Wars
films helped to create some of the most iconic elements in the
entire saga including my very own Slave One. Matthew Wood who
everyone associates with the voice of General Grevious is also
sound supervising editor at Skywalker sound and gave us some
wonderful renditions of his voice work along with the bizarre
story of how he got the part! The start of my talk show had
quite an explosive beginning..............with Boba blasting a
stormtrooper into bits - Disney certainly love their
pyrotechnics! Both Lorne and Matt had wonderful tales to tell
and the audience were enthralled - the only hiccup was the
Mickey Mouse farewell song - nobody including me could get it
right and we ended up in fits of laughter. Tom Kane who voiced
Yoda quite brilliantly in The Clone Wars also joined us this
weekend.
Time was flying by quickly and we were now into the third
weekend which gave us Billy Dee Williams, Ray Park and director
David Filoni as guests.. A nice touch to the show every weekend
were the filmed messages shown on a big screen from Irvin
Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan, John Williams and of course George
himself wishing us all the best for the 30th anniversary of
'Empire'.
Interviewing Billy Dee was hilarious and one never knew quite
what he might say next, but the audience loved him and he was
great guest. It was also a chance for us to see some of his
artwork. Like the previous two weekends we still had problems
with the Mickey song with Billy Dee asking me what the next line
was!
After three busy weekends it was time to relax a bit and on
Sunday evening we went out with some friends to one of our
favourite restaurants 'Artist Point'
We enjoyed the meal so much we went back the following
evening with my VIP Tour Guide - Alison - it was her favourite
restaurant also.
Ray Park as everyone knows is a master of martial arts and
apart from the stage talk show we were treated to a display of
his talent in ‘A Visit to the Maul’ on the final two weekends.
This involved a full repertoire of sword play, longfist, wushu
and also some pretty nifty work with a lightsabre. The show
culminated with him getting twenty or so young padawans on stage
for a lesson in the discipline in martial arts.
The final weekends guests were the prancing Ray who for
whatever reason decided to make an entrance on a bicycle! and
also the return of my friend the popular Wookie - Peter Mayhew.
When Peter walks on stage he always gets a great rapturous
applause from the audience. Making up the three was James Arnold
Taylor who voiced Obi-Wan Kenobi on Clone Wars.
In between all this hilarity I found time for one autograph
session a day and boy was it hot. The fans were very patient
waiting in line and this little person stood out as a potential
future Boba
and if I thought it was hot then I take my hat (or helmet)
off to these characters who look so cool and wonderful in their
costume whatever the weather.
As all good times have to end, so did our wonderful stay at
Disney, and on the final show I was very honoured to be
presented with a wonderful painting by the artist Darren Wilson.
And we actually got the song right on the night YEAH - three
cheers for Mickey...............
Special thanks to Sharon, Mark, Tony, Jason, Alisa and all
the backstage crew who were so professional. Also thanks to
Alison, my VIP tour guide for being so patient when I lost my,
hat, suncream, glasses, sunglasses, pens etc. etc. she knew
where everything was!
Farewell everyone and speak soon.
Hi there everyone
It has been sometime since I last updated the website but we
have had a whirlwind few months. After our trip to Megacon in
February we were invited to go to the Monster Company store in
Nottingham for a signing. David who owns the shop has many
authentic props from films and TV. He and his wife and friends
took us for dinner to the unique pub 'The Hand and Heart' which
is set into a sandstone cave - highly recommended.

We returned to Sweden - this time to Malmö which I last
visited around 10 years ago. Organiser Jesper always puts on a
good event and this was no exception. It was very nice to meet
up with Andrew Sachs who everyone knows as Manuel from 'Fawlty
Towers' and also Robert Englund. Charlie Bewley from the
'Twilight' series was another guest. By coincidence we found
ourselves taken to a restaurant which was also in a cave.

Near to the convention centre was a quite an incredible building
- The Turning Torso - it was designed by the Spanish architect
Santiago Calatrava and is the tallest residential building in
the E.U. - I bet none of you knew that!

From Sweden to Ireland for Martin Ryans first extravaganza in
Dublin. Martin's passion for all things 'Star Wars' was evident
at this show. He brought down from Belfast all his full size
models that children and adults loved. The show which took place
at the City West conference centre was very well attended over
the three day Easter weekend. Kenny Baker. Caroline Blakiston
and Dermot Crowley were fellow guests. Thanks to Martin and his
team for a wonderful atmospheric event.

From Dublin to Mâcon in France. We always love visiting
France and the Mâcon area is famous for its vineyards and fine
wines. We had time to drive around the beautiful countryside and
visited the Roche de Solutré - a limestone escarpment that the
late President Mitterand had a penchant for climbing for
relaxation.

We also had time to to explore the historic Mâcon and its
churches.

It was now time for the event. Organiser Laurent had worked
really hard to make the show a success - he seemed to change
costume every hour and was never far away from the microphone.

As always in France the wine flowed and the food was
delicious. Thanks to Sandrine & Ronnie who looked after us and
translated, and to Aurelien for organising our trip, and finally
congratulations to Laurent for putting on such a lively and fun
show. Our last evening was spent at the Au Feu de Bois
restaurant with our host and friends.

Three days after our return home the dreaded 'Volcanic Ash'
descended upon the UK. How lucky we were not to be flying
anywhere the following weekend.
We were told to watch out for beautiful sunsets, and this is the
best we could manage in London.

Thankfully our next few trips were all the in UK. First up
was Family Fun Day in Corsham. Organised by Matt Booker with
Debbie Watling, Frazer Hines, Paul Blake, Richard LeParmentier,
artist Mike Collins plus my good self as guests it was very well
attended and managed to raise a great deal of money for three
charities. Well done Matt. We were also lucky enough to stay at
the lovely Rudloe Hall Hotel which has magnificent views.

The following weekend involved two events. The first show was
the 'Bond Weekend' which was taking place close to home at the
Movieum, County Hall on the Thames. The views were magnificent
as was the guest line-up - too many to mention here. I was
wearing my 'Bond' hat instead of my 'Boba' hat.

Straight after the show it was the long drive to Wrexham in
North Wales for 'The Wales Comic Con 2010'. Apart from playing
soccer in Wrexham many years ago this was my first visit to the
area. Jaime Milner put on a real fun day with a nice mix of
guests and many costumed characters. I think a lot of people
appreciate shows that take place outside London and the major
cities.

Last weekend also took in two events at either ends of the
country. First of all we headed down southwest to
Weston-super-Mare for 'Stars of Time'. We met up again with some
of the Bond girls we had seen the previous weekend. David
Burrows had worked hard and brought together Bond, Dr. Who and
Star Wars. He was thrilled with the amount of fans that came
along.

Next morning we jumped in the car and headed north to Burnley
for the 'Starwars Fan Funday' which was held at the Burnley
Football club. On our arrival organisers Neil and Paul took us
all out for a sumptious Chinese meal which was very welcome
after our long drive. Great costumes were the order of the day.
Again like a lot of promoters Neil and Paul worked hard to make
the show a hit with guests and fans alike. Well done.

All these smaller events are great fun and one has time to
talk to all the fans and get to see some of the beautiful
countryside in the UK.
Speak soon and thanks for following my travels.
Jeremy
|
UPDATE: FEBRUARY 21, 2010 |
New appearance dates:
14th - 16th May 2010
Motor City Comic Con
Rock Financial Showplace
46100 Grand River Avenue
Novi
MI 48374
www.motorcityconventions.com
21st - 23rd May 2010
28th - 30th May 2010
4th - 6th June 2010
11th - 13th June 2010
Star Wars Weekends
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Orlando
FL 32836
Hi Everyone
After our visit to Spain it was off to another Spanish
speaking country - Mexico. We flew to Guadalajara and were met
at the airport by old and new friends - Alex and co. from
Guadalajara who were our hosts two years ago and Lalo and
Barrato from Morelia. It was a good three hour drive from the
airport to Morelia and Barrato did a great job in navigating and
Lalo in driving. The hotel we were staying in was in the Santa
Maria Hills and had beautiful gardens and a spectacular view
over the city.

In the evening we were taken to a rather unusual restaurant
called San Miguelito. It was unusual in having a unique room
where unmarried ladies (and gentleman) could come along to
solicit help from San Antonio - 'the patron saint of the
unmarried'. Surrounding the tables are more than 500 statues of
the saint, some as small as a thumbnail some as tall as a fully
grown man. To motivate San Antonio to work his miracles he is
turned upside down! - don't ask me why? The food is excellent
too.

Morelia was declared a World Heritage site in 1991 for its
well preserved colonial buildings and as Friday was a free day
we had plenty of time to explore the old historic city with Lalo.
Our first visit was to the church of San Diego now known as the
Santuario de Guadalupe. Founded in the early 1700's the church
was built in stages through the mid-18th century. Its main
attraction is the fantastic interior. It was remodelled in 1915
by Joaquin Orta, and recalls the Moorish palaces of North Africa
and Andalusia. The Cathedral was also well worth the visit.

A colonial aqueduct runs for almost a mile across the city
and is quite majestic both by day and night.

Another famous landmark of Morelia is the Tarascan Fountain.

We stopped for refreshments and I had hardly sat down when I
was approached by a smiley shoe-shine guy. It's difficult to say
no and I ended up with the shiniest shoes in Mexico..........

After lunch we visited the Museo Michoacano de las Artesanias
which was very interesting and showed many works from different
areas.

I was presented with a personalised polo shirt by the 'Dark
Empire' Star Wars fanclub of Morelia. Maureen was given a very
lovely woven shawl which came in very handy as the evenings were
pretty chilly for time of year.

Now for the event. I was led in by 'Stormtroopers etc. to be
introduced. The show was very busy, but one thing I found
difficult was the fact that they held a 'screaming contest' just
behind me on stage - it was won by the person who could scream
the longest and loudest. When I went on stage for my Q & A I
decided to give my rendition of a scream, and amazingly came
pretty close to the winner.

Lalo foxed us all by appearing as Yoda.

A big thank you to Charlie from Guadalajara for giving me the
cartoon of Boba - it was great you could all make it to the
event on Saturday and thanks also for the wonderul wrestling
mask - I have managed to frighten a few people already. Thanks
to the talented sculptor who gave me these two busts.

A very lovely weekend, with lovely people - we were made to
feel very welcome and many thanks to all those involved in
organising our trip.
Adios Amigos.

Guess where this exotic shot was taken, no not our garden,
not Mexico, but Orlando airport where we stayed overnight before
taking a short break in Florida.
We were driving down to the Gulf coast to take in the Florida
sunshine - it was pretty windy and not so warm.

Despite the inclement weather we had a good time and a
relaxing break before heading back to Orlando for Megacon.
We had never attended Megacon before and were looking forward
to seeing everyone again in Orlando. Before the show started we
had time to meet up with a couple of junior Mandalorians. Which
one is the dummy?

I say this every time, but costumes get better and better and
thanks to the Mad Hatters for my hat.

The weekend was fast and furious and the attendance was so
high that the doors had to be closed for a while on Saturday
afternoon.

Is it a bird? is it a plane? is it Slave 1? - yeaah
After last years presentation of the wonderful Boba Fett cake
I thought nothing could surprise me, but they have done it again
with a Slave 1 cake. We had been taken for the evening to
Bogards by the 501st garrison which was great fun and it was
good to see lots of old friends again. Suddenly out of the blue
this cake arrived.

Great evening guys and gals. Many thanks.
Last but not least thanks to Hoyt Dingus of the Stormfront
Jedi Temple for printing this T-shirt and making me a gift of
one.

After a hectic weekend it was nice to wind down with friends
for a quiet meal at the Wilderness Lodge before our flight home
to London.

Many thanks to Beth Widera and her team for making our first
visit to Megacon such a great experience, and thanks also to all
the 501st.
Speak to you soon.
Jeremy
PS - Great news I have been invited to host the Star Wars
Weekends at the Hollywood Studios, Disney Orlando so hope to see
lots of you there.
New appearance dates:
17th April 2010
Corsham Sci-Fi (Family Funday)
Corsham Community Centre
Beechfield Road
Corsham
Wiltshire
SN13 9DN
10.00am - 4.00pm
www.corshamscifi.co.uk
24th April 2010
Bond Weekend
London Film Museum
County Hall Riverside Building
Southbank
London
SE1 7PB
25th April 2010
Wales Comic Con 2010
Glyndwr University
Mold Road
Wrexham
LL11 2AW
Wales
10.00am - 5.00p.m.
www.walescomiccon.co.uk
1st May 2010
Stars of Time
The Winter Gardens
Weston-Super-Mare
Somerset
BS23 1AQ
10.30am - 5.00pm
www.toymachine.co.uk
3rd May 2010
Starwars Fan Fun Day
Burnley Football Club
Harry Potts Way
Burnley
Lancashire
BB10 4BX
10.30am - 4.00pm
Hi Everyone
The weather here in the UK is still pretty cold so its been
log fires every night since Christmas - oh for some sunshine and
warmth.
I have signed some pretty cool items over the years , but
this one made me want to rush out and buy a Harley Davidson! Jay
Carter from C41 Corporate Branding does some really fancy work
as you can see.

Whilst on the subject of helmets the 501st TK project are
organising a charity event for 'Make a Wish' and are sending out
Stormtrooper helmets to be customised by artists and actors
which will be auctioned later this year. Here is my contribution
- what else could I do but Boba?

Our first invitation for 2010 was from Vicente Estrelles from
the Fricomic shop in Valencia. He invited me to attend the Japan
Weekend in Madrid. This worked out perfectly as Robbie our son
lives in Madrid and it was our grandson Ned's 7th birthday and a
day later my ???th birthday.
Surprisingly Madrid was also freezing cold and we even saw
some snow. The event was very busy with many people dressed in
fun costumes.

In the evenings we were taken to typical Spanish restaurants
with Vicente and his colleagues - two big surprises one evening
were a gigantic birthday cake, and a brilliant cartoon by artist
Victor G. Prats which was in a beautifully carved frame made by
Vicente's father-in-law Jose.

Sitting at our table was writer/cartoonist Maria Parra who
did a cute drawing of Maureen & myself. Also on our booth was
Victor who did cartoons of Ned & Joss just from photos on our
camera.

The Rebel Legion Spanish base were a great help throughout
the weekend and presented me with an honorary membership.

On the last evening of the show we went to eat at the
Príncipe Pío railway station where the whole upper floor was
taken up with restaurants. What was bizarre is that we went to a
German restaurant, had an Italian meal and we were in Spain -
that's what's great about Europe.

Thanks to Vicente and all his friends for a wonderful
weekend, and last but not least thanks to my very good
interpreter Tate who despite being an Atlético de Madrid
supporter did a great job!
On Monday Robbie came to collect us from our hotel to spend a
few days with the family. When we arrived at his house he showed
us into the boys playroom and to our great surprise 6
grandchildren leapt out from behind chairs, sofas to wish me
Happy Birthday. Jamie had flown out with his family without
giving any hint at all. It was very overwhelming but great to
see them all together. As it was Ned's birthday too it was a
double celebration.
We took a trip to Segovia some 50 miles from Madrid. Its
famous aqueduct was built by the Romans 2000 years ago and is
most impressive. The Cathedral is also quite amazing - it was
begun in the 16th century and not finished until 1768. It was
the last gothic cathedral to be built in Spain. We also visited
the Alcazar (Castle/Palace) Its construction was started in the
latter part of the 11th century. Unfortunately it was devastated
by fire in 1862 and rebuilt in 1882 using sketches of the
interior before the fire. The ceilings are quite breathtaking.

Back in Madrid there was just time to visit one more museum -
the Caixa Foundation. Outside was an amusing statue of an
elephant balancing on his trunk.

On our last evening my sons Jamie & Robbie took us out to the
wonderful La Favorita Restaurante where the waiters burst into
song. Their repertoire includes many arias from famous operas -
quite an experience and the foods is excellent too.
(Unfortunately Maureen dropped our camera - so no photos.)
That's all from Spain - next trip Mexico - my Spanish should
be really good!
Thanks for reading and speak soon.
Jeremy
New appearance dates:
27th/28th March 2010
The Scandinavian Sci-Film Games & Film Convention
MalmöMässan
Large Varvsg. 15
Malmö
Sweden
www.scifiworld.se
3rd/4th April 2010
'Emerald Garrison" Invasion Dublin
City West Hotel
Saggart
Dublin
Eire
www.invasiondublin.com
10th/11th April 2010
Salon Collexion
Parc des expositions
Avenue Pierre Bérégovoy
71000 MÂCON
France
http://saloncollexion.free.fr
Hi Everyone
Snow is fast disappearing, but still very chilly here in the
UK. Here is the very belated update from the end of last year.
Following on from our trip to Brazil we travelled to Utrecht for
what is possibly the largest toy and antique fair in Europe.
Myself and Kenny Baker were invited over by our friend Pieter
Soet. I have never seen so many wonderful stands selling
absolutely everything imaginable. Holland is well known for its
bicycle use, but even so we were amazed at how many there were.
Kenny even thought he might like to borrow one!

The event was very enjoyable and as always costumes seem to
get more elaborate.

On my return I was invited to the Forbidden Planet in London
for the long awaited release of 'StarHyke'

Next visit was to the mediaeval city of Braunschweig in
Germany. When we arrived we were thrilled to find a Christmas
market right below our hotel window. There is something magical
about German Christmas markets and we spent our first evening
sampling all the delights.

The following day a stretch limo arrived to take the guests
to the show. At the Stadhalle we were greeted by lots of
television cameras and press which was great as it was the first
time this event had taken place. It was an impressive line-up of
guests including Richard Kiel from the Bond films, Richard
Brooker, Dick Wieand from the 'Friday the 13th' films and
Marshall Bell. My favourite character was of course the giant
Wampa!

A fun show and the weekend was rounded up with a typical
German meal where we ended up playing air guitars with whatever
was at hand.

The next weekend was a trip to Stockholm which I hadn't
visited for quite some time. It was nice to be back as the
Swedish fans are very welcoming. The other guests were great
fun, and it was amusing to be sitting next to Edi Gathedi from
the Twilight saga who attracted every teenage girl within a 100
mile radius!!. Equally amusing was chatting to Michael Ironside
who has appeared in so many great films.

The show was very busy and my book 'Flying Solo' was
literally flying off the table! Many thanks to Jesper for
organising the show and also the Nordic Garrison for their
support.

The last weekend before Christmas took us to Southampton and
Newport. Also at these events were the team from StarHyke who
were promoting sales of the DVD series.

Many thanks to David Tarrant for organising this one day
event. It was then an early morning drive on Sunday to Newport
in Wales for Steve's Sci-Fi Collectors Fair. Fellow guests were
the lovely Femi Taylor and 'I shot first' Paul Blake. A
whistle-stop weekend.

Finally it was time for Christmas and guess what Ned & Jossie
got for Christmas?

Thanks for visiting the website, and hope to see some of you
in 2010, in the meantime take care.
Jeremy
Hi Everyone
Hope you all had a great Christmas and I would like to wish
you all a very Happy New Year. Apologies for not updating the
website before Christmas but we were very busy with shows and
trying to get the house organised before all our family arrived.
We will be working on an update of the shows in
November/December and hopefully have it posted as soon as
possible.
We are having great fun here in the UK trying to cope with
the snow and freezing conditions.
Take care
Jeremy
13th/14th February 2010
II Japan Weekend Madrid
Pabellón de Convenciones de la Casa de Campo
Avenida Portugal
28011 Madrid
Spain
http://www.japanweekendmadrid.net/
(I will be at the FICROMIC booth)
27th/28th February 2010
Tour ConComics 2010
Dark Empire Michoacan Fan club
Centro de Convenciones de Morelia - CECONEXPO
Morelia
Mexico
11:30 - 20:30 hrs
12th/13th/14th March
Megacon
Orange County Convention Center - Hall D-9899
International Drive
Orlando
FL 32819
www.megaconvention.com
2009 news archive >