Chris Conrad Ryan Gosling Dean O'Gorman
A convention report excerpt by Valerie C. Noble. All photographs ©1999 VCN and may not be used without permission.
[prelude] [on stage 01.23.99] [the autograph line 01.23.99] [autographs in the lobby 01.24.99]
I have to say, Chris Conrad (Jason on "Young Hercules") was one of the main reasons I decided to buy tickets for the Santa Monica convention. So, you'll understand that I was a bit ticked on Thursday night when I saw the he was not going to be at the convention. Not that I didn't want to see Dean O'Gorman, mind you, but I really really wanted to see Chris. But I soon resigned myself to only seeing Ryan Gosling and Dean O'Gorman. Besides, by then, I was just looking forward to seeing my friends and hanging out. The guests were incidental to my fun.
Or so I thought...
Saturday, 01.23.99
(Time for the Young Hercules Fellows on Stage!)
I made my way up the aisle to go around for the line of question for the Young Hercules fellows. As I passed Rachel, she stopped me and told me that Chris was indeed going to be there! I was happy! Now I could ask him and Ryan my Erik Thomson question. Most cool!
Ryan had a video camera in his hand as they walked out. He handed the camera to Apollena, who ended up video taping the boys as they wowed the crowd. Chris wore jeans and a t-shirt, Dean had a leather jacket on and jeans, and Ryan had a black shirt and tan pants. Something like that.
Those boys were GREAT! I was waiting in line, so I didn't catch a lot of the stuff. I was too busy drooling. <G> And Ryan, by the gods! He was working that auditorium. They were so silly on stage! Let's see, they answered the age question (Ryan is 18, Dean is 22, and Chris is 28). Chris added, in a kind of afterthought, "and married." All three would go to that part of the stage where the question was being asked, so I hopefully got some good pictures of the three of them.
I kept thinking I was making eye contact with one of the three. Was it Dean? Or Chris? I really really wanted to ask my question!
They had a butt contest! <G> Twas between Chris and Dean. (Ryan, "I don't have a butt.") Although I think that Chris has the better butt, Dean won. He basically bribed everyone. <BEG>
At one point, Chris jumped off the stage to give a little girl a hug. It was so cute! I was stunned because it was on my side! He helped the girl up onto stage, then stayed on the floor. The girl behind me asked him for a hug, which he gladly gave. It looked like a big, tight hug. Not to be deprived, but not wanting to be too greedy, I asked if I could shake his hand. He smiled and said yes, but then the crowd control lady tried to get in our way. He gave her a weird look, then walked around her and took my hand. Nice, firm handshake! He said it was great to meet me (or did I say that?) and I was in some kind of heaven. A few moments later, he was back on stage with his cohorts.
Well, I finally got up to the microphone. That's when they had to stop answering questions. I WAS SO BUMMED! I went back to my seat, quite dejected, not realizing that I could have stayed in line to ask a question from Kevin Sorbo, who was up right after the fellows. Oh well!
To occupy us during the rather long autograph line, Creation showed us the week's episodes of Hercules and Xena. The orchestra pit went down and the actors came out to sign. Twas Chris, Dean, Joel, Ryan, Gina, and Alexandra. In that order, at least when I finally got there.
Now, we had tickets in section B, row 10, so you would think we wouldn't have to wait so long. Well, we were way into Xena by the time I got to the table. Or was it finished? Anyhoo, I got to Chris first. I dropped my picture in front of him. He smiled and signed it. As he was doing that, I said, "Well, since I didn't get to ask my question, let me ask it now." I kinda sighed, knowing that I was being totally silly, but I went ahead and asked, "What color are Erik Thomson's eyes?" Chris looked a bit thoughtful, then replied, "Blue." I sort of groaned, then he stopped me with, "Wait, I think they're brown or hazel." He turned to Dean. "Hey, what color are Erik Thomson's eyes?" Dean's turn to look thoughtful, then he answered, without much conviction, "I think they're brown." I rolled my eyes and smiled, knowing I'm just crazy. Then I remembered that I had one of my cards for Chris. I slipped my hand into my shirt and drew out the card and handed it to him, telling him that I had a webpage on him. He grinned and was like, "Hey, that's really cool! Thanks." He held his hand out and we shook hands once more.
I didn't realize that when I took that card out of its place, Dean had been watching me and reacted to my little antic. He was all smiles when as I handed him my picture. I also took his picture then went on to Joel. I smiled at Strifey pooh, very glad that he didn't sing, as I didn't really want to kneel at his feet. I think I asked him how he was enjoying things or something.
[Joel Tobeck smiling for me during Satuday's autograph
line]
Ahh, Ryan. He smiled, said hello. I smiled, then asked, "Since I asked those two over there, I might as well ask you. What color are Erik Thomson's eyes?" He looked at me, then said, "Erik Thomson?" I hope he didn't think I was rude when I said, "Hades!" He gave a sheepish smile, then answered, "I think they're light brown. I don't know." I just shook my head, then asked to take his picture. As I bent down to take his picture, he mimicked my movement and lowered his head. I laughed and took the picture. He just looked so adorable! That must have been the moment he hooked me. <BEG>
Sunday, 01.24.99
We got in line early to get autographs from the Young Hercules guys. We just weren't sure which guys were signing! We were pretty sure that it would be Dean O'Gorman (after all, he was originally scheduled to do the lobby autographing) and we were almost certain that Ryan Gosling would join him. But no one was sure if it would be Joel Tobeck or Chris Conrad as the third. As Rachel's ConRadar predicted, it wasn't Chris. That made Paula happy, as it meant that the roses in her hand would go to Joel, as she intended.
Those in line with me at the time (Tracie, Kym, Rachel, Lisa, Paula) threatened to do a chorus of "Ohhhh Ryan" when I was up. I wanted a picture with him, but didn't think it would happen. I was right. It didn't happen that time!
I had the fellows sign the promo Young Hercules poster. I didn't really know what to say to Joel, so I just smiled and said hello, how are you doing? I think. Then it was Ryan's turn. I said hello, took his picture. He asked me my name. I told him, "Valerie." He replied, "Hi Valerie, I'm Ryan." I just smiled at him as he signed the poster, then said thank you. Then onward to Dean. Gads, I really don't know if I said anything to him!
We stood around and took pictures from behind the rope as the fellows continued to sign away. At one point, we got Dean's attention and told him about Karl and the Urban Cowboy. We told him to ask Karl about it. Dean kept repeating, "Urban Cowboy?" Finally, he took his Sharpie and wrote Urban Cowboy on his hand, with a smiley face beneath it. Too cute!
Tracie and I decided to head back to the room and put our posters away. Tracie was supposed to man the KSOFC table, so when we got back to the Civic, she headed there. I went back to the autograph table, just to gaze. <BEG> Tracie came back and said that she wasn't needed. When we saw that the fellows were taking pictures with the fans, we decided to head back into the line!
We were joined by Rachel, Paula, Kristen, and someone else (gads, I'm getting bad with the names). We all wanted pictures with the guys and Rachel wanted her rose tattoo signed. They once again threatened to do the chorus and even though I told them that I didn't think they would, I knew deep down that they would. I dreaded it, yet was strangely excited too.
Rachel asked the producer, who was sitting at the autograph table, if it would be all right for the fellows to sign her tattoo. Cynthia said sure, then got up to ask the guys. They all agreed, although they did not exactly know where her tattoo was.
Joel signed first. He was quite casual about it and posed good-naturedly for pictures of him signing her waist. When Ryan saw where her tattoo was, he did a double take. Rachel walked over to him and noted his rather surprised face. "You don't have to sign it if you don't want to," she laughed. Ryan grinned and shook his head. "Oh no, I'll sign it." As his Sharpie was poised at her waist, he said, "You are aware I'm about to sign your waist?" She laughed again. "I feel like we're dating. Are you going to call me after this?" He asked. Absolutely priceless! Cynthia had her assistant (?) also take pictures. And unbeknownst to Rachel, a couple of promo cameras took pictures too. Gads!
Everyone took their pictures and I was last in our group. Ryan was about to sit down when I said that I wanted a picture with all of them as well. He said sure. As I happily made my way to stand beside them, I told them, "They're going to embarrass me!" Ryan looked down at me a bit quizzically, "What?" "Oh, they're just going to embarrass me," I repeated. The four of us (Joel was on Ryan's other side and I was between Ryan and Dean) posed for our picture (Ryan had his arm around me), then Dean and Joel went back to their seats. I asked Ryan if I could take one with just him and he smiled and agreed. I could hear someone (was it Tracie?) say, "She's going to take one with just him!" and I knew I was in trouble. Ryan had his arms around me, but Dean was in front of me. Ryan swatted at Dean to have him sit down so that we could take our picture. My friends laughed at Dean's reaction.
[Dean, Me, Ryan, & Joel... needless to say, my most favorite
pic!]
I can still see the cameras pointed at us. I can still feel Ryan's arms around me. "One. Two. Three." Flashes, then in those sweet, sighing voices, "Ohhhhhh Ryan." I burst out laughing and I bent down at the waist, totally disbelieving. According to the gals, Dean grinned and had a look that said, "Hah, you're getting it later."
[the reaction shot!]
I turned around one last time as we were walking away to say good bye and thank you to Ryan. Then I was off with my friends to enjoy the rest of the convention.
Think we made an impression?
Valerie C. Noble
02.01.99
To see more photos, go to The Fellows of Young Hercules or Me and the Boys, take 2
Santa Monica Convention 1999 / Conventions / Kiari's Corner
E-mail me at Thomsonian@kiari.com
©1999 Kiari/VCN