Richmond, VA – The first look into GalaxyCon Richmond needs to be some of the discussions I had with some of the celebs in attendance… and the celeb interactions with the fans in general. If you love pop culture, past or present, and whether it’s sci-fi, comedy, drama, blockbuster hits, streaming favorites, A-list stars, indie gems, or cult classics, GalaxyCon Richmond offered a little bit for the geek in all of us.
My first interactions were right after the ribbon cutting. I spoke briefly with The Flash, John Wesley Shipp, before he was called away to do a formal interview. I was intrigued by Terry Farrell and as fate would have it, she was my first interview. You may know her as the actress who played Lt. Cmdr. Dax on Star Trek Deep Space 9. I had not planned this, it was somewhat off the cuff, but it was wonderful! I cannot really explain how it came to be, I will just say it must have been a Wisconsin, Midwest, Back-to-School thing.
I asked Terry about the impact her going to Cons has had on her life and her perception of her DS9 character. What impact has she felt she has had on the fans, and what impact her fans have had on her.
You could feel her passion for the topic as she talked about playing a pansexual character before the word even existed. The program addressed gender, sexuality, etc. in a way that was very accepting. She talked about the fans that had shown appreciation for Farrell and her character.
“So those are the kinds of things that make me feel super blessed… that I can stand there and be supportive; or they think of me as being supportive without ever meeting me before because of the character I played.”
She said it gave her goosebumps as she continued…
“Every time I think of it, I am so grateful that Rick Berrman, Michael Piller and Junie Lowry decided to cast me as Dax because I don’t think, even of they cast me as something else amazing, it would never have the same impact my character has had… on generations of people who have felt ‘othered’”.
Of course, this triggered the music mind in me and I brought up a great song about being othered… “We Are the Others” by Delain.
There was so much more in this short seven minute interview… the Star Trek brand had been known for making powerful statements in a way that was not political.
The biggest surprise, on the spot interview came with Muppeteer extraordinaire, Steve Whitmire. As he was at his booth, we started chatting it up a bit. I mentioned that my all time fave Muppet Show episode was that with my idol, Alice Cooper. Steve’s eyes lit up as he told me that was his very first episode with the Muppets. Let me get out the camera and let’s talk!
Steve told me:
“Music was always such a huge part of everything the Muppets ever did from the very beginning. When Jim started out with the Muppets back in like the 50s and 60s, he would take people’s recorded music and mime Muppets to it. You can’t do that now because people would sue you, but you could do that back then.”
“I’ve had a couple kids come up to me… and when I say kids I mean young adults, and tell me they learned to sing from the Muppets and I always say, I am really sorry to hear that… <laugh> I know our Muppet voices… maybe you don’t want to learn to sing from them <another smile>”
It was about the influence with older music it had on them.
Music and Muppets were his passion growing up. One of Hensen’s early characters played the banjo, which influenced Steve, at a young age, to pick up the banjo. He says he was never good at it, but he learned to play. He recalled at an early age seeing a (non-Muppet) the silent Phantom of the Opera and recalling the powerful organ music. As a result he learned to play keys.
“Music is such an influential thing in people’s lives… I hope it still is!”
“The Alice Cooper Muppet Show was my first job with the Muppets. Jim hired me in 1978 to be part of the Muppet Show. I went to London to do the show. I was a 19 year old kid… HUGE Alice Cooper fan… we used to play his music in my little rock band. Alice Cooper was the guest star.”
He then added a little story…
“Pre-Muppets I had built a puppet of Alice Cooper… his skeleton body, eyes and stuff. Jim told me I should bring that puppet to London and get a photo with Alice. And Alice was happy to do it, so I am a 19 year old kid with a puppet with Alice… jump forward 40 years to 2018, I am at a GalaxyCon show, we rekindle that relationship, and we did that same photo again!”
After my brief talk with Steve, it was clear that music can bring people together. This was a great story to hear. I am glad he shared it with us.
The final interview, and the only planned one, was with Alan Lee, the voice actor behind the Mystery Saja in K-pop Demon Hunters. I was introduced to this movie while with my family, visiting my in-laws and other friends, in Korea. It was amazing to experience this movie from a Korean perspective. I loved the story, but also loved the power of the music. Frankly, while I have enjoyed the K-pop genre from time to time, it was this movie, tying a story to the music, that showed me the cultural and even emotional significance of the music and the movie.
We first started talking about how this movie change Alan’s career with a little before and after.
“Life before, like any other actor, I was just hustling for my next gig, scrambling paycheck to paycheck because LA is expensive. I was doing a lot of live action dubbing for Amazon and Netflix and Apple… and now because of ‘K-pop Demon Hunters’ I do conventions a lot more and as a result I have had to shift my whole income makeup I guess”
He told me he has a bit more time, thanks to this, to get more training, to expand his ability and venture out and do other things.
When asked if he has noticed a shift in the popularity of K-pop in the US since the movie…
“Yeah, I’d say there are a lot more people who have explored the realm of K-pop in our reality… checking out more groups. I know people who have never touched K-pop or ever thought about touching K-pop but after the movie came out, they checked it out and really liked it. I have friends that are now part of fandoms that I thought they would never be part of.”
“It is bizarre and wild because as a Korean person it is weird to see (large groups) of American people… ‘let’s go listen to BTS or Black Pink’… it’s trippy. It is also trippy to hear K-pop on the radio”
“As someone who has been keeping his eye on the pulse of K-pop, I have felt that K-pop has always had roots in America, I feel that there is something rumbling underneath that is way larger than most of us expect.”
He spoke of PSY with the influence of “Gangnam Style” and various boy and girl bands have moments of influence in American pop culture. He mentioned bands like Big Bang, Girl’s Generation, Black Pink as all having on influence on American pop culture.
“They are getting larger with each generation. It has been bubbling and K-pop Demon Hunters was that drill to hit the sweet spot and bank on it all.”
I also attended the K-pop Q and A also, which was quite insightful. The other Demon Hunters voice actress, May Hong (Mira) and Alan had a blast talking with fans about the movies and the impact it has had on their lives. It was interesting to hear the differences in rituals they had preparing for their roles. One thing that I did not realize was that often the parts are recorded without interactions with others. I find that amazing but I guess, in hindsight, it was not all that surprising.
The one question that seemed to get an emotional response was in regard to the Oscars’ team cutting off the cast during their reception of the award. You could tell May was not too pleased with the Oscar team, as they cut off the mic prematurely and rushed them off stage in the middle of such an awesome event.
While I did not get to interview him, I did get to sit in on the William Shatner Q and A. He told many stories about his space endeavors and interactions with fans. I was so happy when someone asked about his upcoming metal album! As I have seen in most press releases, there seems to be a focus on the covers he is doing. I loved this session because it gave him the opportunity to talk about the original pieces.
He talked about the song HE wanted to write, talking to the producer,
“The songs I want to write are personal to me… song that I… left home when I was graduated from University and I had a little $400 car” “I piled all my belongings into this $400 beat up little English car and I left home.”
He talks about the bridge of the St. Lawrence, with the car and his belongings, nearly being pushed over the side by a speeding semi… he thought if he had ended up being pushed over the side of the bridge, it would have been like he had never been born. He thought about the fragility of life… and they wrote a song about it. “Crossing Over the Bridge”
“We’ve written 5 albums of songs like that.”
When it was suggested he do a heavy metal album…
“I don’t know anything about heavy metal!”
He mentioned a Q and A he had where he asked if anyone knew anything about heavy metal. Two people, with differing views of the genre come down, start talking about it, ‘banging into each other’ and he thought,
“I don’t want to write heavy metal, that’s ugly!”
“Then I hear “Patience” by Guns and Roses. A guitar! And I thought, that’s heavy metal? So we write a song, in answer to Patience, the name of the Guns and Roses song, and we write, “Impatience””.
He discussed his come to meet metal journey (too much to put in). He thought metal was angry and then he realized…
“So heavy metal comes in different versions… so we wrote songs about I’m sick of what we are doing to the planet, I’m tired of getting old! I’m impatient! All those angry emotional songs that I thought ‘that’s heavy metal’. Well apparently heavy metal has several different degrees ending up with a guitar solo”
In this album, he says he tried to cover all things heavy metal. I can hardly wait to hear it. This Q and A definitely piqued my interest.
Of course, there were a lot more celebs and their interactions with fans were all unique. While I did not get to interact with them all (a sad reality), check out the images below for examples of some of the celebs in action at GalaxyCon.
GalaxyCon Richmond Celeb Gallery
Website l Facebook l Instagram l YouTube
For a list of other GalaxyCon live events, go HERE.
Stay tuned for the next GalaxyCon story, where there will be a deeper dive into the world of cosplay. In a time increasingly shaped by AI, it’s refreshing to see a creative space where human craftsmanship and originality still take center stage.
