XPost: comp.sys.cbm, rec.games.video.classic   
   From: rbernardo@iglou.com   
      
   Bill autographs C64 DTVs!   
      
   [Here is my article delayed for a year, because I was waiting for the   
   club organizers below to publish their article and photos of the event.   
   They never did.  Now on the eve of this year's William Shatner Weekend,   
   I've decided to release my article of recollections.  Just remember...   
   the events below happened in 2005.]   
      
   Not Bill Gates!  I'm talking about William Shatner, Captain Kirk of "Star   
   Trek", Denny Crane of "Boston Legal", and star of other movies and   
   television shows.  Once again we club members of Shatner & Friends,   
     International (the official William Shatner Fan Club) had our annual   
   get-together in the Los Angeles area.   
      
   In 2002 Bill signed my Commodore 1581 disk drive; in 2003 he autographed   
   my VIC-20 -- the computer he advertised in the early 1980's; in 2004 he   
   signed a Commodore telephone.  This year, after gathering ideas from   
   friends and from the members of the #c64friends chat, I decided to bring   
   two C64 DTV joysticks for him to autograph.   
      
   On Friday, April 29, after a fine breakfast at a trendy restaurant, we   
   went to Raleigh Studios, where Boston Legal is filmed.  Unfortunately,   
   Boston Legal had wrapped early for the season.  The sets were quiet;   
   nobody was around; we couldn't see Bill Shatner in action.  As we walked   
   around the stage, we marvelled at the realism of the sets for the   
   fictional law offices, courtrooms, and restaurants.  Of course, the   
   best were the office of Denny Crane and the balcony where Denny Crane   
   and Alan Shore (actor James Spader) have the final scene of each episode.   
   The entire landscape of Boston, which the faux balcony overlooks, was   
   really a giant photograph on a curtain backdrop.  If a scene called for   
   day, the curtain for daytime Boston was rolled in; for night, the   
   curtain for nighttime Boston took its place.   
      
   Afterwards, we fought through the L.A. traffic to get to Burbank and   
   to the Mexican restaurant next to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.   
   Late, we rushed into the restaurant to find Bill Shatner, his wife   
   Elizabeth, and his daughter Elizabeth waiting for us.  Bill assured us   
   that they had only been waiting a short time, and we ordered our food.   
      
   I sat right across from the Shatners, and while I ate my shrimp fajitas,   
   Bill described his current projects, especially the Invasion Iowa   
   reality show he produced for Spike TV and which aired during April Fool's   
   weekend.   
      
   After lunch, we followed Bill to the Equestrian Center, where he met his   
   horse trainer and got ready to practice on his horses.  He also met with   
   the TV Land video crew who were filming his activities for a future   
   television special (I tentatively called it, "A Day in the Life of   
   William Shatner").   
      
   As he got ready, our organizers Jane and Sandy, thought it would   
   be best to go for the autographs and photo ops with him before he   
   became any busier.  Though Bill had been a bit reserved in past WS   
   Weekends, he was more open to us this time, especially with that video   
   crew watching everything.  First up, there was a one-to-one sitdown with   
   Bill; each member would sit next to him while photos were taken.   
      
   This was a first; this had never happened before in any previous weekend.   
   Trying not to be too nervous, I sat down next to him when my turn came.   
   He shook my hand, and we exchanged small talk.   
      
   "Where are you from?" he questioned me with a smile.   
      
   "Visalia."   
      
   His eyes lit up, "That's near Hanford."   
      
   "Yes, you had your ranch in Three Rivers." (near Hanford)   
      
   He pointed to the USB pen drive hanging from my neck, "What's that?"   
      
   "Oh, it's a drive for a computer.  In it are photos... Commodore files..."   
      
   He nodded.  With that, my brief chat with him ended.   
      
   After the one-to-one meetings, it was time for group photos with Bill, and   
   after that, autographs.  We stood in line with our various goodies for him   
   to sign, me with my DTVs.  However, the other members kept telling me to   
   hold their cameras and take pictures of them with Bill as he signed.   
   Soon, I found myself last and alone, with Bill already walking away with   
   his people.  Wait!  My turn for autographs!  I bothered Jane, who realized   
   what had happened, and she interrupted Bill.  He gave me a look, but he   
   signed the DTVs' packaging.  Whew!   
      
   We watched Bill as he rode his horse around the corral, the video crew   
   filming his moves and filming us, too.  Every so often, Bill would stop   
   his horse in front of the crew and answer questions from the producer.  In   
   another surprise, Bill later came down from the horse and gathered us   
   in the patio next to the corral.  As we sat there, he talked about his   
   current television and book projects, the video crew filming all this,   
   too.  Yeah, we had to sign release forms, just in case our faces showed   
   up on this future t.v. special.   
      
   That night we members were on our own, and we walked around trendy   
   downtown Burbank, looking for a dinner place.  Edwin, Dick, his wife,   
   Vickie; and I decided on a retro 1950's-style restaurant for burgers   
   and fries.  It was only later that we found out that there was a great   
   East Indian restaurant a few doors down.  Darn!  Another time.   
      
   Saturday was the William Shatner/Wells Fargo Hollywood Charity Horseshow,   
   and we spent all day at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.  Bill   
   introduced the show by driving into the arena in a convertible Aston   
   Martin.  However, unlike the previous year, he did not narrate the entire   
   show; he only spoke at the beginning and at the end.  No matter... the   
   sound system was on the fritz, and it was difficult to hear anyone who   
   used it.  The actual one-hour show had a medieval theme this year with   
   lots of knights in armor riding around.   
      
   I did not recognize anyone famous in the crowd this year; perhaps they   
   were more well-hidden this time.   
      
   After the show, we participated in the silent auction and the banquet.   
   We even had our own table - "reserved for Shatner & Friends".  I did   
   feel a bit out of place.  The people at the banquet were high-powered,   
   well-to-do, and I was... well... ordinary.  However, I did not dwell   
   too much on it and enjoyed the food and the main entertainment provided   
   by Ben Folks and his band.  Even Bill got up on stage to sing!!!   
      
   Sunday was a quieter day.  We went off to the very modern Museum of   
   Television and Radio in Beverly Hills.  Our mission - to see the   
   video tribute celebrating William Shatner's career.  After that, we   
   paid our regular visit to see the sidewalk stars in front   
   of Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.  The day was capped off by   
   our buying a fine dinner for Jane and Sandy when we returned to   
   Burbank.  Then we said our good-byes, though Klaus, who had come all the   
   way from Germany just for the WS Weekend, Gus, and I stayed a bit longer   
   in the hotel bar and had some drinks.   
      
   To Jane Singer and Sandy Moruzzi, the leaders of Shatner &   
   Friends, International, a big thank you for another big weekend of   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)