By David W. Crenshaw

Nashville is known for a lot of things, mostly country music. But Halloween weekend 2003, Nashville became known for it’s demonic resonance as approximately 3,500 Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fans converged at the Sheraton Downtown Nashville for the Vulkon 2003 BuffyCon. The convention featured nine guests from both shows, who each spent the weekend signing autographs and answering questions from the fans.

Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris) – Nick Brendon was easily the most anticipated guest at the convention. Nick told the crowd that since Sunnydale became a big crater, his biggest project was a pilot for a comedy series; however, the series wasn’t picked up. He also explained that, while he’s great friends with David Boreanaz and James Marsters, since Xander wasn’t really ever friends with Angel, he doesn’t expect Xander to be invited to pay a visit to Wolfram & Hart anytime soon. He also joked a lot about the amount of slash fiction out there regarding Xander and Spike as homosexual lovers, and noted that he always believed that, while they may have bickered constantly, he felt that Spike and Xander always liked each other – if you don’t like each other, he said, you don’t talk, you don’t bicker, you don’t bother. He also told stories about what it was like having to wear the eye-patch at the end of the series, although what he really hated was the "turban", the bandage that was on his head for the hospital scenes – he kept walking into things because without the second eye, his depth perception was completely messed up. The highlight of Nick’s presentation was, believe or not, a quick rendition of the now famous Snoopy Dance for the audience.

Julie Benz (Darla) – While Nick might have been the most anticipated guest, Julie Benz was easily the belle of the ball. This was only Julie’s second convention within the states, but she was sweet and wonderfully warm with the whole crowd present. Julie spoke candidly about how surprised she was when she got asked back to do Angel, considering they dusted her character, and expressed how lucky she felt to have been involved in such compelling storylines as Darla’s struggle with being human again, and sacrificing herself to save Connor. One conference goer asked about the Darla apparition, whether it truly was the ghost of Darla or if it was the First Evil or some other entity impersonating Darla; Julie expressed that she always believed it truly was Darla, however, she did note that the writers often leave storylines open to interpretation so they can revisit it later and take it in a new direction (like the dramatic turn in the Skip storyline). Julie also spoke of how surprised she was when her agent called to tell her that Steven Spielberg was calling, interested in Julie for a project. Julie said that working for Spielberg had always been a running joke for her, as it is for many people in Hollywood – "Sure I’ll come to your wedding, but if Spielberg calls …." Spielberg called, and Julie couldn’t believe it; she thought it was her manager playing a cruel joke on her, and was even in tears on the phone. The project was Minority Report, but because of another commitment, Julie actually had to decline. Steven didn’t give up on her – his next project was Taken for the Sci-Fi Channel, and she didn’t turn him down the second time. Julie also told the audience that she really loves doing genre-type shows and movies, because, as she expressed, "They don’t have conventions for Dawson’s Creek." Her most recent project, however, is the Disney film George of the Jungle 2. And she didn’t even blink when asked if she would be willing to do Angel again – she would sign in a heartbeat.

Juliet Landau (Drusilla) – Juliet Landau also expressed that she hasn’t done a lot of conventions, and so she was quite nervous during the Q&A’s, but she took on every question asked, and even let slip a few spoilers for the upcoming season of Angel, which are published in the spoilers section. Juliet has been quite busy, having recently done another film with her father, Martin Landau (they were both in Ed Wood as well), although she said the only scene she had with her "father" was with a remarkably realistic-looking corpse mock-up during a funeral scene. Juliet was also in a stage play with her mother, Barbara Bain, where she got rave reviews for her performance; in the last scene, Juliet’s character attempts suicide and has a breakdown – she expressed how sweet it was that her mother was always waiting in the wings with Kleenex for her when she came off.

Robia LaMorte (Jenny Calendar) – Robia spent most of her time in the dealer’s room, signing autographs and posing for photographs with guests. She expressed that her favorite episode was "Once More With Feeling" until she saw it 487 times in the dealers room where they’re trying to sell DVDs of it ("Can’t we watch ‘Hush’, please!?"); she also said that "I Robot, You Jane" was her favorite that she was in because she really enjoyed the banter between Jenny and Giles. She expressed how much she enjoyed working on BtVS, and noted how ironic she thought the casting of her and Tony Head was for their respective parts. Robia expressed that she is extremely conservative, nothing like Jenny; Tony, on the other hand, is the one with the wild streak who, off camera, would often make Robia blush with some of the statements he would make. Robia described how, now that she’s a born-again Christian, she has discomfort playing darker roles, and had much difficulty with playing the First Evil pretending to be Jenny in "Amends". As she described it, she feels that it’s her responsibility to pick and choose her roles in such a manner that she doesn’t pick any that glorify that which she’s opposed to, such as the occult or witchcraft. When asked if she thought Giles and Jenny had ever slept together, she jokingly noted that, "I’m a good Christian girl, so I don’t think so. Giles had to save all of that up and use it on Mrs. Summers. But he never got over me, never found anyone else who measured up. So take note girls – don’t give it away. Wait for the carats." Since leaving BtVS, Robia’s focus has been on her ministry, serving as a counselor. She said she loves acting still, but doesn’t believe it’s what God made her to do; leading someone to the Lord is what motivates her the most these days. Yet except for the specific elements such as the glorification of witchcraft that she’s opposed to, Robia had nothing but positive things to say about her experience on BtVS; she even noted that she’s passed up several comedy pilots because she thought the humor was sophomoric and she really would prefer to do something more "dramady", along the lines of BtVS.

The Latex Triplets – That’s my nickname for George Hertzberg (Adam), James C. Cleary (Clem) and Robin Atkin-Downes (Machida), because the whole weekend the three were inseparable, and each one’s time on BtVS required many, many hours in the makeup chair applying latex (except for George’s one scene in "Restless"). The three seemed to take it upon themselves to personally ensure everyone at the conference had a great time. More so than any other guest, the Latex Triplets were at nearly every event during the weekend, including drunken karaoke, which proved to be quite the discussion topic amongst guests. These were the only folks to give two presentations, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, and both times it was a riot. They play very well off of each other, and enjoy improvisational humor as well as picking on each other. George kept getting fun poked at him for his height (6’4"), and Robin was described several times as an escapee from the cover of a romance novel, for example. All three are quickly becoming convention favorites, and have already signed on to the Slayer Cruise 2005 (along with Julie Benz and Andy Hallett).

The Troika – Danny Strong (Jonathan Levenson) and Adam Busch (Warren Meers) did their best to keep pace with the Latex Triplets, and kept the audience in stitches during their session on Saturday. Both were very warm toward the fans the whole weekend, not so surprising for Danny, but completely the opposite of his character for Adam. Adam made a point of shaking hands with every guest, and both he and Danny came around the table several times for personal photos with the guests during the autograph time (even though guests were supposed to have gotten those types of photos during a separate time for a separate fee). Adam has been busy touring with his band, Common Rotation, who also performed a concert during the weekend. Danny’s a recurring character on Gilmore Girls this season, and he’s also working hard to raise money for AIDS research by training for the New Orleans Marathon under the tutelage of the AIDS Marathon Program; his personal goal was to earn $5,000, which was exceeded by donations from the fans this weekend and at other conferences; If you would like to donate to the cause and support Danny, the website is http://www.aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=LA-6097&year=2003.

Amber Benson’s Chance – The other highlight of the weekend was the chance to get a sneak peek at Amber Benson’s film project, Chance, which she wrote, produced and starred in with James Marsters and Andy Hallett. It’s a bizarre film with a very film-school feel to it, but she does display a lot of talent behind the camera in putting it together. The girl is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years for Hollywood. Oh, and by watching Chance, you get to see James Marsters in a dress, something you don’t see every day.

The weekend was a lot of fun. Vulkon put on a great event, and everyone, especially the celebrities, seemed to have a blast. I took along my best friend, Geri, who wasn’t a BtVS fan prior to the weekend. She liked the movie, but for whatever reason, never saw an episode of the show. After keeping up with all the questions during the Q&A’s, and also getting a peek at "Once More With Feeling" and "Hush" may have very well got her hooked. I also got to meet fellow S’cubie Sue, who spent Saturday evening playing tour guide to Gerri and me, showing us the sights of Nashville. After this weekend, I’m looking forward to the next convention (and possibly the Slayer Cruise), and the chance to meet even more of my S’cubie buddies, like at Spring’s shindig next Summer.

James C. Leary signs autographs.

The author with S’cubie Sue. (R) The author with Robia LaMorte.