Oh. Dear.

[fangrrl_squees]

When Torchsong Chicago was first announced, I honestly thought pretty hard about finding the dosh for going. But I already one have one Chicago convention and financies have, in my house, collapsed even further so it became a moot point.

I hate to say it, but I'm kinda relieved that I didn't go the trouble. The con is not cheap and hearing that the GOH - John Barrowman - can't make it over there in person breaks my heart for the folks who have paid through the nose to attend.

Yes, I know he's going to teleconference in, and the other guests will still be appearing, but Barrowman was definitely the star attraction.

Ah well, maybe next year.

I just hope the con-chair had some sort of event insurance...

Comments

[kshandra]

Having been through a similar last-second disaster, I have a lot of empathy for the organizers, and will keep my fingers crossed that they have as much luck as BayCon did; I was prepared for near-riots when Registration opened on Friday, but we had all of TWO people ask for their money back because Misty & Larry weren't there.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

There's a big difference.

Baycon is a SF convention where a pair of authors had to cancel. They were GoH's, but they're not the whole convention.

Torchsong is a John Barrowman con. It runs on a Creation-style model. I saw TV ads on SpikeTV promoting this as "Barrowman's only North American appearance" last week. People paid $150 for a cabaret ticket on top of their event pass (if they didn't buy the $500 premium ticket that included the cabaret). And then there were the "auction seats" that sold for somewhere in the neighborhood of $1k.

Now people are being told that they can't get refunds. I forsee a lot of credit card disputes.

[kshandra]

Ugh. Yeah, that does make things considerably different.

(The last time I attended a Creation Entertainment "event" was during the second season of The X-Files, and I left before the speaker ever took the stage...I guess I just don't get the appeal.)

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Word is that the con organizers aren't/won't refund the premiums they charged for the photo-op/autograph sessions, which I think is a bad move on their part - a whole lotta bad feeling is going to result, even among those attendees who understand the occasional risk involved in buying a con ticket...

Yes, I'm sure the committee is having the usual pre-con cash-flow crunch and might not even HAVE the funds to release at this point, but those photo-ops/autographs can't be replaced by a video conference (as is apparently being done at Torchsong, a la BayCon) and, yeah, the con charged a LOT for those perks. Even a promise to attempt to refund a portion of those fees after the con would earn the committee a bit of good karma...

I must admit, when I got the flier for the event, I was shocked at how much they were charging and thought to myself "Who are they? Creation?" - although I can't imagine that an appearance by Barrowman is precisely *cheap*, these days...

[kshandra]

...and now I'm hearing that Kai Owen had to cancel, as well? Oh, dear gods.

A gold star to Peter Wingfield for agreeing to come at the last second, and I'd love to see him at a con at some point, but Methos The Freshmaker is a poor, poor substitute.

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh no, he didn't?

Christ, that con's going to be gloomy...

[kshandra]

Second item in the Latest News sidebar on his website - for the ever-nebulous "personal reasons."

I'm rather glad I'm two time-zones away, y'know?

[fangrrl-squees.livejournal.com]

As I just posted, if there's NOT a riot at the reg desk, I'll be surprised...

[peterfairchild.livejournal.com]

I swear, the con is cursed.

*Kai had to cancel. Poor dear, his girlfriend had a miscarriage.

*John had to cancel, as you know.

*Tom was walking out of his hotel and twittered that he was hit by a car and broke his arm.


You know, I'm really torn. I am not there, so I don't know what's going on, but I know how it feels to be screwed. I was one of the many that lost lots of money during the Firefly Flanvention II debacle. It sucks when something doesn't go your way, especially in this economy, but I would suggest everyone try to stay calm. That's just my opinion. The organizers found out John was canceling literally the day before the event. That's really got to be hell for a convention organizer, to have to scramble like that.

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

*nod* it is, pretty much, every con committee's nightmare.

I just hope they had insurance.