acsgjjp@sunybcs.UUCP (Jim Poltrone) (10/01/85)
[My other car is a TARDIS] (Sorry for the second posting in a row; we're receiving news via tape and US-Snail now. It will probably be that way for a while.) On Saturday, I was talking with someone in charge of Who-Fest, who told me some bad news: Janet Fielding and JNT will not be able to attend because of a contractual obligation with Norman Rubenstein's Spirit of Light convention (i.e. the BIG one in Chicago). The contracts have a stipulation that the guests may not attend another convention held within thirty days of the Chicago con. Mr. Rubenstein is able to pay the stars "the rate that they charge". As far as I know, no efforts are made to negotiate with the agents in order to charge a smaller fee. He just throws money at them. This cuts into organizers of smaller conventions. Those that have conventions for the sake of the fans, and not for their own personal wealth, lose out, because they would be unable to compete with the prices paid by the large conventions. I realize that most stars charge a lesser rate for smaller conventions. But because of the contractual stipulation, the stars are unable to attend such conventions held between late October and Thanksgiving. Who-Fest falls into this category. Last year, it was held two weeks before TARDIS 21. This year, it's three weeks. Since then, Buffalo has not moved any closer to Chicago. Had the organizers been told of the stipulation, we would have moved Who-Fest to an earlier date. But according to the organizers, they had not been told. And Mr. Rubenstein insists that they had been warned. There are a lot of fans out there who simply cannot afford to pay $75 a ticket, not to mention the hotel fare, the transportation, and other expenditures (food, for example). Those that can't usually go to the smaller cons, where almost everything is cheaper. I highly doubt that a significant number of fans can spend the time (and money) to go to both a small convention and the Monstercon in Chicago. That brings me to another point: merchandise. Some of it is outrageously priced. Jelly babies are a prime example. What we buy for $3-5 can easily be bought in England for much less (Nyssa, what are the latest prices for 1 kilogram of jelly babies (Bassett's)? I heard it was in the neighborhood of 50p.) $10 for a Doctor Who T-shirt is a bit much, but $18 for a Sonic Screwdriver?? (Someone's getting screwed, and it's not the merchant.) The solution is simple: don't buy it. If you believe the price of a piece of merchandise is too high, or that you won't be getting your money's worth, pass it up. If we don't feed the big fish, the little fish won't starve. -- ____ ^ ____ |_ _|/ \|_ _| Jim Poltrone (a/k/a Poltr1, \ \/ \/ / the Last of the Raster Blasters) \/ ^ \/ / / \ \ uucp: [decvax,watmath,rocksvax]!sunybcs!acsgjjp / /___\ \ ARPAnet: acsgjjp%buffalo@CSNET-RELAY /___________\ csnet: acsgjjp@BUFFALO _/ /_ _\ \_ BITNET: ACSGJJP@SUNYBCS, ACSGJJP@SUNYABVA |_____| |_____|