Special Report - ConCarolinas 2009
(source: ConCarolinas 2009, 06-01-09)

Well, friends, ConCarolinas 2009 is over. As is our tradition, we now present a post-con report on our "home con." (Be aware that the convention was plenty hectic again this year, and this report is written by Fanworks founder/operator Nathan P. Butler includes his point of view. Other participants in CC '09 are invited to submit their own post-con reports. Just send them along.)

ConCarolinas was held at the Hilton Charlotte University Place (a new hotel for the con) in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 29 - 31 this year. For fans of Star Wars fan audio, this year marked: the return (after a year's absence) of Nathan P. Butler and Jim Perry; the first Fanworks con appearance of Joe Harrison, Andrew Gilbertson, and Sarah Gilbertson; and the usual yearly return of Rich Sigfrit (who is rarely involved in Star Wars fan audio anymore but a mainstay at the convention).

This year's con featued Writer Guest of Honor Katherine Kurtz, Artist Guest of Honor Alan Welch, Music Guest of Honor Kathy Mar, Special Writer Guest Travis S. Taylor (AKA "Doc Travis"), and three Special Media Guests: Brandon Stacy and Charles Root of Star Trek: Phase II and ANH actor Anthony "Fixer" Forrest.

Friday began with Nathan and Rich in attendance, both joining Gail Martin for a panel entitled Fan Media in All Its Forms. A few hours later, Rich and Nathan teamed up again (this time with Stephen Euin Cobb) for Podcasting 101.

By Saturday morning, Jim, Joe, Andrew, and Sarah had arrived and were present (as was previous ChronoRadio guest James Kruczek) in the audience for the For the Love of Star Wars panel, featuring seven panelists (including Anthony Forrest and Nathan again). This busy day continued at noon with Rich and Nathan joining Stephen Euin Cobb, Gail Martin, and Stuart Jaffe for Promoting Your Podacst (again with Jim, Joe, Andrew, and Sarah in attendance). At that point, our group split, as Nathan went off to a Battlestar Galactica panel and the others joined Rich for a live performance of Mister Adventure.

Officially, that marked the end of scheduled Fanworks participation, but Saturday continued with a live recording of a Star Wars: Saga Edition Trivial Pursuit match between Nathan, Jim, Joe, Andrew, and Sarah, which in turn was followed later by Andrew and Jim joining members of the Geek Comedy Tour on the sci-fi version of Whose Line is it Anyway?, hosted by Rich. Later, Rich performed "Rocket Man" as William Shatner for Klingon Karaoke, followed by Rich and Jim capping off the night by performing a duet for Klingon Karaoke, in which Rich sang as Christopher Walken and Jim performed as Sean Connery.

Overall, it was another great convention this year, better than the previous years for Fanworks participants.

You'll be able to hear several recordings from the convention, including four special episodes of The Butlerniverse.