FRIDAY: Sitting at LAX, Nichelle did an interview with Mancow (a big Chicago-based morning DJ) and I discovered we’ll be the cover story on a UK trade mag called FutureMedia. Our flight into Chicago hit some SEVERE turbulence; the plane lurched then dropped, a woman screamed, and my iPod fell to the floor, just out of my reach. That meant that I was possibly going to die while listening to Sting (it was on shuffle). Not good. Fortunately, the turbulence stopped and I retrieved the iPod and hit next. But the scars are still there…
After checking in to the hotel, we went down for the cocktail part of the evening and hooked up with Erin Gray & Gil Gerard (and his lovely wife Janet). We all had quite the blast and kept each other in stitches. I tried to talk Gil into getting a Twitter account but he seemed reluctant. I also got to meet comic book artist/uber-talent Mark Millar who I’m a huge fan of. Was there anything else? Mmmm… Oh yeah; Gil & Erin both want to do an episode of The Cabonauts together!
SATURDAY: We set up Nichelle’s table and a line of fans appeared - that never let up. It was magical to see their faces and hear their stories of how Nichelle had affected their lives. I kept myself busy passing out Cabonauts postcards. At 1pm, we made our way over to the panel and premiered the pilot of The Cabonauts to a healthy crowd of people. It went down rather well, despite the sound system in the room that had clearly been blown out years ago. We got some feedback from the crowd and over 95% liked it rather a lot. We asked which character they liked best, and over all the responses everything seemed to come back even.
We went back to the autograph signing table for the rest of the afternoon then headed back to the airport just a few hours later. I’m happy to say we got back to LA without too much more turbulence.
All in all it was a whirlwind but also a great time and we met some lovely people. I also read the BEST book I’ve read in years and recommend that you go out and buy it THIS SECOND. It’s called “The End Of Mr. Y” by Scarlett Thomas, an English author who’s put together a 400 page book that’s both unputdownable and mind-blowing. Ostensibly, it’s about a book from the late 1800s that has a curse - anyone who reads it dies. But it’s SO much more and touches upon quantum physics, religion, thought memes, Einstein, etc, etc - and presents tons of amazing ideas. It also talks about a place called “Mindspace” which is very similar to the “Brainspace” that Cyril and Harry use in their off time in the series. Please go buy it - you can thank me later! 
PS - I woke up Sunday morning to find a twitter from Gil. So go add him and tell him who sent ya - @gil_gerard !!!
