On the Beat at Flashback Weekend

Chicago IL

31 July, 2021

7:28 PM

Description

I spent most of the day having a blast at Flashback Weekend at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare Chicago in Rosemont. It was the first major celebrity convention in Chicago in almost two years and was so much fun meeting celebrities and catching up with friends. The highlight had to be Meatloaf, but not just meeting Meatloaf, but having a cool moment with the legendary singer. Convention promoter Mia Kerz, her cousin Chuck Gekas and I started talking to Meatloaf and Mia mentioned Chuck singing his songs back in the day. Meatloaf immediately asked to hear Chuck and he bravely complied, belting out a few lines. Seeing my buddy Chuck singing with (or to) Meatloaf will rank as one of the all time great convention moments for me. As awesome as that was, there were a lot of other great moments for me. I interviewed Mike Carey and Chris Margetis about their movie "The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre." Check back here for that full story soon and look out for the movie. It promises to be highly entertaining. I finally got my copy of "I'd Rather Talk to Dead People" signed by author Kitsie Duncan. A long time fan of Kitsie, I learned she has a lot going on right now and she promised me an update interview in the near future. Of course, Svengoolie is always a wonderful part of Flashback Weekend. The man is a legend and truly one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He is all over the place making appearances and there is always a lengthy line of fans wanting to meet him. Thanks to Rich Koz and Jim Roche for facilitating my meeting with the icon. I met actor and mixed martial artist legend Randy Couture. I also met singer and actress Carla Harvey. It was great catching up with creator friends including author John Everson, Chad Savage of Sinister Visions, James Azrael of the Horror & SciFi Prop Preservation Association and artist Kurt Dinse. They are all so talented in different ways, but even better, they are great friends. Speaking of friends, it was wonderful seeing all of my usual convention friends. Having not seen them in almost two years, it felt like a real reunion. I missed them as much as I missed conventions. There are too many others to list. This convention is stacked with interesting celebrities, creator folks and vendors. Chicago's longest running horror con is even better than usual in its new venue, too! There is still more fun to be had though. Flashback Weekend continues tomorrow.