On Feb 25, 4:35 am, m...@corestore.org wrote:
> Same con was where I 'met' JMS informally for the first time... he was
> in front of me in the queue, lining up for a plate of chips (fries)
> like any other mensch. Didn't say anything as he didn't look exactly
> happy; hardly surprising as the whole Claudia thing was in full swing.
> Was nice that the (typically polite) British fans gave him his space
> and didn't hassle him, I thought.
>

I actually remember that day. I'd flown into London the day before
going to Blackpool, was jet lagged and didn't get any sleep...came to
Blackpool, figured I'd get some sleep that night only to discover a
fax from Doug with the article in Variety saying that Claudia was
leaving the show, which was the first we'd heard of it. So there was
no sleep THAT night either...also was on the phone through the day and
evening and found there was little to no room service.

So the next day, with 3 days of no sleep and 24 hours with no food, I
had to skip breakfast to keep dealing with the Claudia situation, then
when I went to get lunch there was a situation in the dealer's room
with some counterfeit merchandise, and I had one shot for food, my
first in almost two days...just half an hour between panels.

I first went into the restaurant and told the waitresst that I had
just half an hour and needed food desperately, I was shaking and faint
from lack of food. She said she could rustle up a hamburger fast. I
said fine, that and a salad. 20 minutes goes by. No food. She
forgot to put the order in. I tell her to cancel the hamburger, just
bring me a bowl of soup, anything to keep from falling over. Ten more
minutes go by and now, just as I have to leave, she finally comes over
with a half-cooked hamburger that was still cold inside, having
decided that I should have that instead of the soup without even
checking back. Meaning that I got nothing. I was furious, said some
unhappy things, shoved it back and walked out...going over to the line
to get some fish and chips to eat as I walked to the panel.

So yeah, I'm not at all surprised I looked rather unhappy at that
moment.

jms