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

[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...