Friday: The TorchSong Curse?

The Stephens Convention Center



Overnight, most of us have reconciled and accepted the fact that John is not going to be here and are determined to have a good time despite his absence. Last night, I didn't sleep well. I woke up at 2:30 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. Those hours alone in the dark gave me plenty of time to contemplate the ironies of life. It occurred to me how important good health is to a performer, especially one like John Barrowman. When I am sick and miss a day of class, my students are like "Yay! Let's hit the beach!" At worst, we get a day or so behind in the lesson plans, which I can usually make up at another time during the semester. But for a performer, the implications are so much more consequential. John must be worried not only about future gigs but how complete will his recovery be? John is a mover; not being able to dance would alter the direction of his career. Then there are the implications for the audience. For someone with John's work ethic and concern for his audience, the feelings of guilt must be monumental. However, it has become clear that the core group of JB fans care more about his health and well-being than they do about their disappointment. Instead we are grateful for his efforts to join us, even if remotely, and don't want him to feel guilty but to focus on getting well.


Today turned out to be lovely. We started with breakfast in the hotel's bistro, and then we headed out to the Art Institute of Chicago, which is a wonderful museum. We opted to take the Blue Line train after learning that a cab ride would cost $40-50 one-way. The train station is about four blocks from the hotel, but it was on the other side of a very busy street. We ran into Donna and Jamie, who were fellow TorchSong attendees. Donna was using a wheelchair to save wear and tear on her knees, and Jamie was pushing her. Since they were going to the train station, too, we ended up collaborating on directions. We could see the train station across the street, but the problem was, we couldn't find a place that was safe to cross because there were no marked crosswalks, even where there were traffic signals. After walking past our destination to the next signal, we passed a fire station. A returning fire truck was just pulling into the parking lot. Jamie walked up to the driver and asked for directions on how to cross the street. The fireman told her that we needed to backtrack to the previous signal. However, once we started to retrace our steps, he called us back. Two gallant firemen then proceeded to halt traffic and escort the four of us across the street. (see photo) We really like Chicago!



The train ride back and forth between the hotel and downtown Chicago took about a half-hour, and the museum was located about a ten-minute walk from the train. We spent a few hours in in the museum, focusing mostly on the impressionists, especially VanGogh and Seurat exhibits (Pat is a VanGogh expert). I also got in a few Caravaggios, one of which was The Resurrection, which was about eight feet tall and absolutely magnificent. We eventually lost each other in the maze of gallery rooms, but we reconnected after about an hour of wandering from room to room. The museum itself is located at the end of Adams Street (see the various perspectives of the city from the front entrance).

The cocktail party started at 6PM, and the premiere attendees had to register. The registration area was near the elevators, and the numbers of people lined up soon became unmanageable. We stood in line for nearly an hour before getting all of our convention materials, including our choice of signed John Barrowman photos to make up for our lack of photo opportunities with him. Then we adjourned to the cocktail area. Gareth David-Lloyd showed up, and after a few disappearances, started to schmooze with the crowd, which mostly consisted of women. Pat and I took our wine over to a couch and mostly sat and observed the scene. It was an impressive crowd. Gareth finally was headed in our direction, and we gave him our best smiles. He came over to our table, shook hands with us, and just as we thought he was about to walk off, he turned and came back and started to talk to us. We ended up having a nice chat about the events of the day. He was delightful.



The party: If you look closely, you can see Gareth talking to some women in the middle of the shot. Carole and Clare eventually arrived with Tommy Lee Edwards, the illustrator for John and Carole's new comic series. They were immediately surrounded by a crowd, and we were never able to get close to them.

We were soon to learn that John's wasn't the only mishap of the convention. Kai Owen had cancelled because of a serious personal crisis, and Tom Price showed up with his arm in a cast. It seems he was hit by a wayward bicycle just as he stepped out of his hotel today. He fell and suffered a serious frature. Clearly, he was in considerable discomfort, but he did his best to be cheerful and chat with folks. After hearing about these additional casualties, some of the group began to talk about the "TorchSong Curse." We kept a close eye on Gareth after that.

After about a couple of hours, the party was still going strong. Pat and I were afraid to drink any more wine on empty stomachs, so we left to go to dinner. We ate at a famous steak restaurant that is adjacent to the hotel, Gibson's. Our waiter was this very hot, vivacious young man with an ironic sense of humor and loads of teasing personality. We ended up having an amazing dinner and more food than we could consume. Our waiter, Eric, was such a good salesman that he talked us into ordering the homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was enormous. He served a healthy portion to each of us, but there was still a ton of it left. The couple at the table next to us were salivating over it, so we gave the rest of it to them. Before the evening was over, we learned that Eric's day job was as a financial planner, so we got our portfolios sorted out as well.

It was pretty late by the time we got back to our hotel room, but we felt like we had enjoyed a very pleasant day and met many very nice people in the process. We are looking forward to the panels, the dinner, and finally seeing John tomorrow.