September 20, 2014 Meeting of the NJ/NY Costumers’ Guild (aka, the Sick Pups)

Hosted by Byron & Tina @ Whippany, NJ

Meeting Minutes presented by Tina Connell

Attendees: Byron & Tina, Diane, Rich & Stephanie, Susan, Marcy, Kathy

The meeting was called to (dis)order by Byron at 2:45, following a brief Alternatives to Sewing “workshop.”

Official Stuph:

Review of Minutes: Minutes from the July 19^th meeting were approved, with two typos noted and fixed.

Treasurer: Marcy reported that as of the July statement the treasury was (still) at $376.13. A check has been given to Kathy for meeting mailing expenses, but hadn’t cleared yet.

President’s Report: Since Byron & Tina just spent three weeks out of the country, there isn’t a lot to report.

ICG activities: The Marty Gear Memorial Fund has received its first application for a grant; it is still under review. The deadline for the next issue of the ICG Newsletter is mid-October. Tina will be writing an article for a future edition of the newsletter, about the garments preserved on the (ship) Mary Rose.

Sasquan is looking for ideas for costume programming (contact Carole Parker). Byron noted that in addition to the con hotels, there are two other hotels quite close to the convention center, a Courtyard and a Fairfield Inn. There will be a shuttle to/from the farthest con hotel. He reminded us that the con will run from Wednesday through Sunday, not the usual Thursday-Monday schedule. Therefore, the Masquerade will be on Friday, and the Hugos on Saturday. The Masquerade will not be held in the convention center, but will be in a theater across the street. Jill and Sharon will be seeing it next month, and Byron expects to see it when he attends the all-staff meeting next May. He has one den mom volunteer already. The Masquerade staff is largely from the East Coast. Sasquan is doing well on memberships. At this point in the usual cycle, they have surpassed Reno and LoneStarCon, and are closing in on LonCon numbers.

WorldCon Bids:

Kansas City won the bid for 2016 (over Beijing); it will be called MidAmeriCon II, and run from 8/17-21.

Bids for 2017 are Japan, Montreal, Helsinki, and Washington DC (which Byron leans toward - it’s a nice costumer-friendly hotel, with good food options very close; site of Anime USA). For 2018, the bids are New Orleans and San Jose (Kevin & Andy). For 2019, Dublin is bidding – ShamrockCon was a dry run for them. In 2020, New Zealand is bidding. Diane said it would probably be in either Auckland or Wellington. Fort Worth is bidding for 2021, Chicago for 2022, none yet for 2023 or 2024, and Australia will be bidding for 2025.

Website: We only got three responses from 36 members. Byron and Tina are willing to pick up the cost of keeping our site; they will make a donation to the Pups when it comes due. Susan asked for help in identifying photos in the Gallery.

Shore Leave (Hunt Valley, MD, 8/1-3): Rich and Stephanie attended. It’s still at the Hunt Valley, which is now in the process of becoming a Wyndham. It’s under renovation, with over 100 rooms out of service. They stayed at the Embassy Suites, nearby. The con charged extra for separate tickets for special guests. There was a Skype connection to Nimoy, who can no longer travel, due to his COPD. There was poor connection – they could see him, but he couldn’t see them.

LonCon 3: (WorldCon, London) (8/14-18): Byron & Tina went, and brought pocket program, program book and the con’s artists’ showcase book for show-and-tell. Other Pups who crossed The Pond were Toni Lay, and Debi Chowdhury, who was busy non-stop helping on bid committees. The exhibits area was spectacular. More scientific and academic exhibits that at any recent WorldCon – their exhibits person is a respected local academic, so had better connections with universities, etc. for soliciting exhibitors The dealers room was pretty much as usual, and the art show was OK, but not great. There were no hotel parties. Instead the large con suite area on the ground floor of the convention center hosted all of the parties. All of the concessions stayed open, so there was a good selection of food and beverages for party-goers. The masquerade had 29 entries and 2 scratches. Tina was able to get photos of some of the entries from the audience. She also photographed the large costume exhibit, which was in the exhibits area. Kevin & Andy shipped the Tiki Dalek to the con; it was in the costume exhibit area also. Byron noted that there were some hall costumes each day. A lot of those were Dr. Who related.

Shamrockcon / EuroCon: (Dublin, 8/22-24): Byron & Tina also attended the Dublin Eurocon, as did Debi (why fly all that way, and miss it?). It was held at the DoubleTree hotel in southern Dublin. Byron said that their pocket program was the best one he’s seen in years. It was extremely well organized and should be used as a model for other cons. The program itself was much more fun and interesting than WorldCon’s. One very interesting item was a video tour of a restored 19^th century Irish monorail. There was an art show, but no art auction. Only a few pieces were available for sale. There were some hall costumes – a large group of reenactors came in Star Wars armour.

DragonCon: (Labor Day weekend, 8/29-9/1): Diane and Laura went. Last year they had abour 42,000; this year it was close to 60,000! Halls were too crowded to move; Diane went outside to get from hotel to hotel. She got to see most of the cast of Once Upon A Time, and the costumer for the last three episodes of Dr. Who; he brought folders for designs he has done. She went to the Star Wars masquerade. Laura went to the main masquerade. The con was being nasty to the contestants again. About 1/4 of the people there were in hall costumes. The Parade was HUGE! The art show and exhibits had very long lines. William Shatner and Terry Gilliam were there. Hotels are already selling out for next year.

Long Island Dr. Who Convention: (Ronkonkoma, 11/7-9): Diane, Kathy and Susan plan to attend.

Philcon: (11/21-23): Philcon now has guests! (Finally!) Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (Liaden Universe series) will be the Principal Speakers, and Bob Eggleton will be Art GOH, which means a good art show. Lisa Adler-Golden will be running the costume programming track, but there has been no announcement yet of a Masquerade Director. Byron & Tina, Diane and Marcy are planning to attend.

Arisia: (1/16-19/15): Byron & Tina won’t be attending this year; their guest GOHs aren’t interesting enough to warrant an expensive three night stay in mid-winter. Diane won’t be there either; she’ll have just gotten back from a trip to SE Asia, and it’s too close.

Lunacon: no word yet as to whether there will be one. They’re broke. Susan commented that there may be a couple of cons moving to the Meadowlands.

Albacon 14.5: (5/8-10/15) Will be held at the Best Western Airport Hotel (on Wolf Road, Albany). Waiting for additional information.

Costume-Con 33: (5/15-18/2015): They don’t have a tech director yet.

Sasquan (WorldCon Spokane, WA, 8/19-23/15): (See various comments above, under Prez Report)

World Fantasy Con: (Saratoga Springs, NY, 11/5-8/15) Chelsea Quinn Yarbro GOH. Also David Drake and Glen Cook. Will probably be at the Saratoga Hilton.

Museum Exhibitions: Byron said that the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) has an exhibit of Hollywood Glamour - Fashion and Jewelry from the Silver Screen, which will run from 9/9/14 - 3/8/15. The museum will also shortly be opening a major exhibition of Goya’s artworks. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) will be opening Death Becomes Her, an exhibit of mourning dress, in the Costume Institute. Runs from 10/21/14-2/1/15. The museum also has a kimono exhibit.

The Brooklyn Museum just opened an exhibition of Killer Heels: The Art the High-Heeled Shoe, running from 9/10/14-2/15/15.

General Discussion:

Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) will be appearing in It’s Only a Play! on Broadway, opening sometime in October, and running through January 4^th, 2015. Play will have a star studded cast.

November 15^th: at Diane’s. Workshop will be Fabric Folding Origami; Diane will demonstrate. Supplies list will follow.

The next meeting date was set for January 24, 2015. As that is also Tina’s birthday, she volunteered to bring cake. Workshop will be “Where to find historical fabric” – Marcy volunteered to research the topic.

Meeting was adjourned at 5:23 pm.