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This General Hospital Fan Weekend was an entirely different experience for me. Several factors played into making the experience different; some personal, some not. I’ve been trying to decide how I feel about the event but honestly, I can’t quite put emotions to it. Funny, I can’t seem to put emotions to much of anything these days. I’m completely emotionally tapped out. Nothing can take an ounce of emotion out of me these days, so it’s no reflection on the event whatsoever. I’ve been experiencing so major back problems and because of that, I wasn’t functioning at full capacity. Unfortunately this impacted my enjoyment of the event more than I thought it would. I didn’t get to run my ass off as much as I would have liked. Everyone attended several events, except me. I went to the pre-party, the luncheon and about 20 minutes of Ted King’s event. The rest of my time I spent nursing my darn back. I’ll start with the pre-party event because truly, it was the most entertaining for me. There was a big push this year regarding Night Shift. The show debuted the night of the party and ABC made sure the attendees didn’t miss it. Big screens showed the premiere and a few of the actors showed up. I think. I’m not really sure because I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to them at the time. Actually, I didn’t even see the premiere. I didn’t last the whole party. There’s a three hour time difference between Atlanta and Studio City and at 9PM Pacific Time my body decided it was done. I’ve learned to listen to my body. Several actors showed up for the party and though I didn’t get to see all of them, I did have the opportunity to talk to a few (and check out a few others). Here’s what my thoughts: Sebastian Roche (Mr. Craig/Jerry Jax) showed up, almost hand in hand with Annie Wersching. My first thought was “Hmm…looks like they’re a couple.” Katrina noticed the same thing but I never received any confirmation so for now, it’s just a thought. What I did notice was how these two looked. TV does absolutely nothing for either of them. Sebastian Roche was truly ‘hot’. Not ‘attractive’, not ‘good looking’ but ‘hot’. His gait, his posture and basically everything else about him all balled up into one amazing piece of work. I’m not the only one who thought that either. Upon their arrival the guy was sucked up into the crowd and I didn’t see him until the next day. Annie Wersching is absolutely adorable. My TV doesn’t do anything for her. The show doesn’t either. Her character is supposed to be nasty so I imagine they try to down play her looks but in person she’s really just stunning. Great hair and a beautiful smile. Of course she’s a stick but not so much that she looks aneroxic. She really brightened the room when she walked in. I lost track of her quickly also but I think she was carried along with the Sebastian Roche crowd. The funniest part of the night was when Josh Duhon (Logan Hayes) walked in. He came right through the main entrance and was immediately surrounded by at least 30 fans. Sucked right up into a circle of sweaty, excited women (and maybe a few men, too). I ran in to grab him and pulled him over toward a table (so he could stand behind it and not be consumed by the ravaging fan herd). I made sure to tell him, “You can’t just come walking in the main entrance!” and his totally stunned, totally overwhelmed reply was, “I didn’t know! I didn’t know!” He looked like a deer about to be sent flying off the road by a MAC truck. Poor guy. Jim Warren quickly scooped him up from me and deposited him safely behind a table. Yes, I was a bit peeved. It’s not often I get to drag a younger man around by his arm and Jim blew the flame off of my match quickly. Shortly after that I was directed by someone to take another newbie to a table and stand guard. Darn it. I hate having to pay attention to cute, young men. This time I was Jason Gehardt’s body guard. Ha. That’s funny! Poor guy had the same expression on his face as Josh Duhon. I’ve never seen the whites of someone’s eyes as clearly as I did that night! Of course I’m not really a body guard. I like to call myself a “line nazi”. My job was to make sure the line moved quickly and no one stepped out of line (figuratively and literally). Jason, being new to the whole fan experience, was as gracious as they come; taking time with each fan for autographs, conversation and multiple pictures. I tried to explain to him to move quickly; say hello, scrawl his name on some paper and pose quickly for the camera. About fifteen minutes into the line, I think he started to get the picture. Fans continued to take longer and longer with him, some having to pause mid-sentence to wipe the drool off of their chin. Pictures went from one or two to five, six and one girl even ten! Fans referred to him as “Coop” and “Cooper” and several let him know they didn’t want him wasting his time on that slut, Maxie. I continued to tell him not to talk too much because honestly, some of the fans can get a bit over-excited and forget he’s actually NOT Cooper Barrett and Maxie isn’t really his girlfriend. He figured that out soon enough. The whole time he referred to “Cooper” in conversation such as, “I don’t know why Cooper’s still with Maxie but I’m not the one writing the story, so I just have to do what I’m told.” Some got it, some didn’t. I tried to drive the point home and continued to suggest he make it brief but friendly. I know he didn’t want to appear rude and was genuinely appreciative of the fan response but honestly, I was getting frustrated. His line was huge and I was missing out on a whole lot of partying! Eventually he was approached by a fan that was a bit off kilter and he finally realized this Carolyn chick might be right. I tried to get him to put that in writing so I could show everyone who thinks I’m wrong all the time (mostly my family) but he was just too busy. He thanked me over and over and I got all big ego’ed and proud of myself. I admit it, I was quite proud to be able to fill in a newbie on the ways of life as an actor. Mr. Death played M C all night and did his best to sing but the poor guy was sicker than a dog. I’m talking about Ignacio here in case you don’t get the “Mr. Death” reference. He’s got a full time gig on Ghost Whisperer this fall as Melinda’s brother. You know, the one she never knew she had. Very soapy storyline! Ignacio (or Nacho as most called him) is still genuine and just nice as can be. I give him a lot of credit for standing up in front of the fans and singing his heart out when his voice wasn’t interested in participating. I caught a quick glimpse of Lindze Letherman (who I’m almost certain has made a few additions to her figure) and Scott Clifton (his band performed and for the few minutes I heard, sounded great). Other than them, I’m not sure who else showed up. I ended up heading back to the room and it was lights out within minutes. Kathy came in and we chatted briefly and then it was lights out again. Of course I didn’t take a camera to CA so I have absolutely no pictures of anyone but Starr and Kathy took tons and are far better at that than I, so look for their pictures on the site. I’ll fill you in on the next few days soon. I have a few more tidbits from the GHFCW to share so instead of wasting anymore of your time, let’s just get right to it. Two lunches with at least ten of the actors were auctioned off at the event for $12,000. The cash went to actor-supported charities. I’d tell which charities and which actors but I can’t remember. Ask Kathy or Katrina. They’ve got better memories than I do! Rick Hearst is a good eater. While hanging out with my new best friend Paula, (I absolutely L-O-V-E love this woman!) he had a really disgusting looking snack of something healthy like cottage cheese and yogurt. I’m not sure what it was but I know I wouldn’t eat it! Good for him. Must be how he keeps his svelte shape. Biggest line of the event award goes to this guy, Bradford Anderson. Chicks really dig this guy. By the way, he’s currently filming “American Pie Presents: Beta House”. I bet that’s a lot of fun! Check him out here in a picture from his other movie, “Carts”.
Tamara Braun showed up for a quick hello at Ted King’s event. I didn’t see her but I hear she looks great. Dylan Cash plays Pokemon on his Nintendo every second he’s got free. Debbie Morris (the GHFC president) has lost weight the tried and true way and looks great. Especially in her tiara. Kent Masters King has a really nice ‘male friend’. He was quite shocked at the fan response to the actors. Dating a soap actor is a lot different than being a soap fan, that’s for sure! Kimberly McCullough is so much prettier in real life than on TV. I’m not sure if the show down plays her looks (like they seem to do with a few other characters) but TV really just doesn’t do her any justice. Her hair is second to Laura Wright in my book. The vets who attended the event all seemed to be happy to see the fans and enjoyed their time with them. John York, (I consider him a vet but others may not) was just as nice as always and I swear, if I didn’t see him with several fans, one would think he’s totally enamored with each person who came to his table. He just has that kind charisma going on, you know? He probably eats just like Rick Hearst because I don’t think there’s an ounce of fat on that guy whatsoever. And go figure, he looks great with that salt and pepper hair. Oh, to be his wife… Rebecca Herbst has been doing this so long she’s in tune with her fans. She called several fans in her line by name, asked them about specific things in their lives and was genuinely happy to see them. Heck, I can’t even remember my neighbor’s names half the time, let alone a bunch of people I rarely see! John Ingle is set for live in the good health wishes department. Everyone was glad to see he’s okay and his incident at the Emmy’s wasn’t too serious. Whether the incident was serious or not, Mr. Ingle responded graciously and treated it like it wasn’t even an issue. Between you and me, I think Ignacio wanted to keep the tiara. (wink!)
That’s all for now. I’ll follow up with more later! Have a great week!
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