Convention Roll Call (was "gauging commitment")

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Hey folks.

The time is rapidly approaching where I have to know how many people are firmly committed to attending a finale event and, indeed, whether it's enough to make a go of it. I have job offers (one day video shoots) for the first couple of weekends of June that I have to accept or reject very soon. (If the series does indeed begin April 8th and takes a week off between the next to last and last episodes, as reported, the finale would air Sunday, June 10th.) More importantly, I need to have adequate time to plan and create the other itenerary for the gathering, and I face the approaching urgencies of reserving size-appropriate facilities and getting a firm commitment from Chase and/or other guests.

I'm keen to the fact that when this whole thing originated in chat last year, there was likely a pre-"season finale" chat room euphoria in the air that made most people insouciently pledge everything from strong interest to guarantees of attendance. Faced now with the impending date and the financial and other practical considerations involved in being in NJ for a weekend, I understand completely that the expressions of commitment last June may have been overly optimistic, unrealistic, or have become so in view of intervening events. Consequently, I understand that I might have seriously misjudged the percentage of the forum at large that would be interested in getting together for the finale.

So what I need now is for everyone who is firmly committed to attending, assuming Chase or some other major creative figure is a guest and regardless of the number of other Lounge members attending beyond, say, a minimum of 5, to sign into this thread and let that fact be known. Please do not post in this thread if you are merely expressing interest or wishes that you could attend or regret that you won't be able to. This is solely to allow an easy and accurate count of people who can unequivocally represent they will be there.

Thanks.

Re: Need to Gauge Commitment for Finale Gathering

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Fly- if in fact such an event occurs, you can certainly count me in. I think you have hit it on the head in terms of why interest may not be there now as it was some months ago. And unfortunately, it may be too late to try and coordinate such once activity picks up once more when the new shows start up again. The email to members was a good idea. I wonder if you might also think about making this thread a "forum" of it's own for now so that it remains visable to the members as they log in.

Good luck and thanks for working on the planning. Let me know if you need any assistance.

Edited 2/16/07 by FOMW: DH, I'm editing your post just so I don't have to add another post to the count. Glad to hear you're in. Will you be bringing any guests?

I may very well take your suggestion to heart re a new forum. Will see what the options are for that later tonight when I have more time. Thanks!
"Leave the gun...take the cannoli." - Clemenza

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Re: Convention Roll Call (was "gauging commitment")

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At present, it would just be the Detective. ::sigh:: Such is life.:rolleyes: But regardless, I am certainly on board. I only waited to say anything just to see what other desire there was for such a thing. As fun and rewarding this experience might be, it is hardly worth it for you or anyone to put forth the effort for just six or seven folks. A crew it might make, but not enough to lure the big fish, if you know what I mean. :icon_wink: And certainly not large enough to begin renting facilities and such.

It's a tough time, to be sure. The reason I suggested another forum was simply to place it front and center as threads can easily become lost in the mass of the forum. In fact, I was wondering if we might not want to start a "popular thread" queue that stood on it's own to help newer members find the active threads. But that's a different thought from this initiative.

Anyway, press onwards and upwards - "to the toppermost of the poppermost" as the Beatles used to say. Like I said, let me know if there's anything you need me to do, Fly. I am at your disposal.
"Leave the gun...take the cannoli." - Clemenza

Think Tony Died? Consider this...

Visit my Blog at Hear the Hurd

Re: Convention Roll Call (was "gauging commitment")

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Detective Hunt wrote:As fun and rewarding this experience might be, it is hardly worth it for you or anyone to put forth the effort for just six or seven folks. A crew it might make, but not enough to lure the big fish, if you know what I mean. :icon_wink: And certainly not large enough to begin renting facilities and such.

Well, that was certainly my initial thought. But after pondering it a while, I began to see a small number of folks as offering, perhaps, a couple of advantages.

First off, I think I mentioned that the guy I "know" offered to me over the telephone last April to "come out and watch some of the filming". It was a completely unexpected yet exciting offer, which I declined largely because part of me thought that it might in some way diminish the thrill of watching the show, would take me out of my complete immersion and belief in the fantasy of it. But, as a gesture, it suggested to me the willingness of this guy to share the Sopranos "experience", for lack of a better term, on a fairly personal level with highly passionate and analytical viewers.

Since he was a location manager for 4 seasons and the direct assistant to Chase for the last 5 years, he would be an ideal "guide" to visit some of the more salient locations used in the series and share some of what must be many production anecdotes, something that he obviously would be much less inclined to do if it was a huge affair with 50 people traveling by bus. But if everyone were to go in one or two cars, he might be interested or willing to participate.

Also, if the "sitdown" with Chase were to take place in front of a lot of people, we would have to do it in some kind of convention facility or hotel conference room, and it would naturally take on much more of a public performance or stagey quality. If it's basically a single banquet table full of folks, it opens up as many possibilities as it closes, like, for instance, having a much more intimate, informal get together at Chase's favorite NJ resaurant, perhaps in a private room normally reserved for private parties, rehearsal dinners, etc. He could bring his wife (who probably has some interesting anecdotes of her own to share, and who I am dying to hear speak since I have hypothesized that hers was the voice of Carm on the phone in the coma dream). We could turn the event into more like a 2 - 3 hour affair instead of a 1 to 2 hour one, the first hour being an informal discussion over dinner with more reflective, prepared questions consuming the latter portion.

It seems to me that this kind of event would be much more rewarding and that every person there would be guaranteed a feeling of having spent time with the guy on a very intimate, personal level. Francis Ford Coppola once said that he always had his cast, and particluarly for the Godfather movies, gather for dinners before shooting because he felt that whenever you had a very sensual experience with other people (like eating or listening to music together), you are in fact fostering and hastening personal connections, a feeling of "family".

How cool would it be to actually sit down to dinner with Chase and share opinions on everything from how to make great pasta sauce to favorite films to how we should resolve the war in Iraq? I hate to say it, but the more I think about it, the more I actually hope the number committed stays very small.

Naturally I have to ascertain that David would still do it on this small scale basis, but I have a gut feeling that he will. We've still got a significant number of people coming from across the country to shake his hand, express their thanks and admiration for his work, and celebrate the climax of what will surely go down as his greatest professional endeavor. If he indeed has not scheduled his return to Europe before that weekend, I think he would do it.
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