November 12, 13, 14 1999.

From Bette on November 16, 1999

Vulkon report

     I'm still on cloud nine.  Drove down with Azhreia and her college roomie, Kris.  We left at 6am and got there 9 hrs later at exactly 4pm.  Traffic was pretty good, 70 all the way.  Checked in and our other two roomies, Wendy and Suzanne came around the corner and we all introduced ourselves.  Then we got a bellman to unload the car and we followed him to the elevator.  Picture this. Bellman with cart in front, I'm about 6 feet behind him thinking of kicking of my shoes and flopping on the bed, the 4 other ladies are about 10 feet behind me, talking about David.  A man is walking from the elevator.  It was just as we came level that I realized it was David himself.  I nearly fainted.  I turned just in time to see the ladies also realize it was David and to burst into giggles.  Apparently one of them said "speak of the devil" when she saw him, and he heard it.  But we went on and he went to the front desk.

     Saturday morning I went down at about 10:30 to get the AgamemCon flyers out of the car.  I noticed there were people gathered outside a door.  I put the flyers on a table of other flyers, Kailin, they went pretty well, then went back to see what was going on.  Turns out this was the autograph room.  They did the set up very well, I thought.  The first room was rectanglar with the door in one of the short sides.  Then there was another room at the other end perpendicular to the first.  There were 5 celebs in the first room, David, then Peter, Carrie's husband Mark, Carrie, Robert Krimmer, and sometimes Scarlett Pomers. In the other room was Andreas, who we thought was only going to sign on Sunday but he was signing on Sat, and Alan Mark Sheppard (Morn of DS9).  Scarlett and Alan changed places on Sunday.  The "guards" only let in a few people at a time so it was never crowded and you had time to speak to the celebs.

     I got in and there was David.  Gorgeous.  I told him we wanted to send him a birthday card so needed to know the date.  Jan 9th.  Regarding sending a list card, I know there isn't enough time to send a card around to everyone to sign and get it to him by his birthday.  So my idea is for everyone who wants to send him a card send it to me and I'll send a package of cards to him.  He gave me the name of his new agent and a partial address.  I'm going to get the rest of it and send a test letter to make sure he receives his mail.  Towards the middle of December I'll offer my address in private email to anyone who wants me to forward on a card.  David is a very soft spoken man, terribly loverly too.  He's very precise in his signing, and he signed "David Brooks".

     I went back to the room to put away the picture and informed everyone that the signing had begun.  Then I wandered around, went through the dealer's rooms. Two of those but both rather small.  After a while I wandered back to the main lobby where the autograph room was and found Suzanne in line.  This was her first con and she was very nervous to be in front of David and Peter and Carrie. So I stayed with her and told her she had to ask them a question. What question? "Boxers or briefs?" I suggested.  She laughed but she did it.  David's reply with "None" after a brief smile and hesitation.  Peter asked did she really want to know and then told us none as well.  At that point we asked them to stand up and prove it.  They laughed but declined.  We took some pictures while waiting to see Carrie.  Peter did stand up and come around the table and we asked him to raise his shirt which was not tucked in but he didn't.  David stood up and we took his picture.  He turned to talk to someone and I took a pic of his back. He was wearing black track pants, hard to tell if he'd been honest.  :)

     After leaving the room, Suzanne and I hung around, snapping pictures of David over the shoulders of people in line.  Then when there was no one around we'd call to him and snap his pic again.  Then we went in and both had our pics taken with Peter and David.  I asked David if we bothered him and he said no. So we stayed around the door. :D

     I felt so sorry for them.  They didn't leave that room between 10am and 6pm except for bathroom breaks, a half hour lunch and the hour presentation.  Wow, I admire their stamina.

     Sunday was much the same.  Suzanne and I hung out outside the room, stealing bits of talk now and then.  Suzanne used to live in Cheyanne, MO and was frequent attendee to the rodeo there.  She talked to him about his rodeo days.  Seems he had read A Sun Aso Rises by Hemingway and since he couldn't go to a bullfight he went to ride bulls instead.  He never joined the major circuit, just the amateur one for a couple of years.  But he still has his cowboy hat.

     We asked about his one man show and he said it's almost done, he's not sure if he'll get it produced, but if he does he'll video tape it and see that we get a copy.  He writes poetry and he self-published some of it years ago.

     The man is just too gorgeous.  At times I was less than a foot from him. Drool.  He's very sweet and patient and takes a LOT of ribbing from Peter, a bit less from Carrie.  At one point someone had brought a B5 poster into the room which had the entire cast with their autographs.  I asked David whether there was going to be a Crusade poster out with the cast.  He said he didn't think so. I said they should, to which he replied that we don't live in a world of shoulds.  Then Peter pointed out a flyer which had the only poster so far for Crusade, the one with Carrie, Peter and Gary Cole's faces on it.  Peter said "This is the only one."  I said "But David isn't on it."  David begain shaking Peter's arm, saying "See, see!"  And Peter said  he was't supposed to be on it. Then David tapped Gary's face and said he was on it he just looked like Gary Cole.  I said "No, you're better looking than Gary."  David smiled.  "You're better looking than Peter"  and he smiled wider.  Oh sigh.

     We all got a group picture with David, Peter, and Carrie before the end of the day.  It was funny because David and Peter were up to pose with us but Carrie hadn't gotten up.  So David, who's on the other side of the table from her, does a "Yo, bitch!" and then a funky walk to get her attention.  It was a prize!!

     Oh I hated the weekend to be over.  We left a bit after 7, after we goaded and helped Wendy color her hair to blond.

Another tidbit from Bette ...

One question asked of the Crusade 3 was about web pages.  Peter rattled off his and Carrie hers but David said no.  Then I piped up and said "But you have two fan pages"  "I do?"  Yes I nodded and gave him the thumbs up.  Later I told him about both pages and their urls.  I asked him whether he had considered a web page and he said he had but decided against it for now, he wants to maintain his privacy.   I don't know if he has a computer but he sounded knowledgable enough to ask me where the fan pages were.

The Q&A as reported by Bette to the Galactic Core Mailing List ...

As I sit here typing this up, I'm disappointed in myself for not taking better notes for you all.  David is a very articulate man and many of his answers to questions such as "where was your character going?" and "what roles do you want to play?" were very long and quite involved.  He definitely likes doing roles that change/grow/develop over the course of time.

Is he net savvy?
     As I said in the con report, he knows enough about the net to ask me where his two fan pages are.  And he has thought about an official web page but has decided not to do one just now, he wants to maintain his privacy.

Has he seen the fan web pages?
     No, he was truely surprised that he had two fan pages, and flattered I think.

David's birthday?
     January 9th

Conventions?
     He will be attending cons on weekends as possible for the next 6-8 months at least.

His rodeo days was explained in the con report.

I asked about the Young and the Restless.
     The actor who originated the role of Keith Dennison, Granville Van Dussen, is coming back to play the role so David is out.  Boooooooo!!!

First acting role?
     A wine commercial.

Most embarrassing moment  of his career?
     Doing the Normal Heart on stage with Brad Davis.  It was a Sunday afternoon matinee, the audience filled with blue hairs.  He was doing a long speech to Davis. Suddenly he notices the audience and he totally loses the speech and has no idea what to say.  So he starts pacing back and forth just saying anything hoping he'll pick up the thread of the speech.  After a few moments it comes back to him and he manages to complete the scene.  Backstage Davis comes up to him and says "What the hell was that?" and David apologies profusely.

His favorite ep?
     The Rules of the Game.

I wish I'd had a video camera.  For those of you wondering where Peter's responses are, I don't have them.  My eyes and ears were only for David, Petah and Carrie were blurs.  :)    Ah, Peter did demostrate the humping of the Excaliber by the space amobea, I wish David had joined him.  Someone did ask David and Carrie to dance, to which he declined. But he went on to say that he'd been VERY nervous, had gone to a dance studio to learn not the tango but the cha cha cha.  Carrie said that whenever they took a break they'd look around for David and see him in a corner practicing his dancing.

Thanks for the great info Bette you lucky thing you!!

See some pictures from the con!!