Burbank 2008 - Convention 25-27/1/2008

MARIOT HOTEL -L.A. - CALIFORNIA

25 January 2008

For the ones who do not know what a Xena con is all about. Well, all Xenafans around the world come together to meet, see, talk, taking photo ops, getting autographs of the stars that appeared on the Xena TV-show. Beside that you can by a lot of goodies.
During the convention each celebrity comes on stage, talks about their experiences on the show, or about the new project they are working on and reply to questions posed by fans. It is quite interesting as you get to know behind-the-camera info and background info aswell which makes the series more interesting as it already was.

Lucy at the Convention - 26/01/2008
She is very funny when she comes out to the full crowed auditorium. When she makes her appearance everybody is there.
Lucy was wearing a rich, vibrant blue um, outfit. Really dressed up, all in blue. Blond curly hair, blue eyes, blue dress, what more to say! She immediately starts joking (she is really a funny and spring-in-the-field joyfull woman).

She came out and I think she may have rubbed her teeth as she said, "I have spinach in my teeth. Renee sabotaged me-she fed me salad". Then she looked around the audience and said, "Lot ‘o men. We’re growing. Twelve years later and we’re growing."
Yeah, if you know that almost nothing then women are there. He he he!

She asked for the ones who already went to her concert last night (25/1/2008) if it was much revealing. But furher she didn't want to make more spoilers for the people to go on 26/1/2008.

When someone asked about BSG, she replied : "I don’t give spoilers".

She told a story she told at the concert.25/1/2008 "A deer committed suicide in front of my Prius." She had been driving around in a hilly area. ThePrius runs so quietly that the deer probably didn’t hear it. The deer fell off the cliff right in front of her car. She said l that having a Prius smash into you is like smashing into a giant cake. After she hit the deer, she tried to inch forward (and she made a grating, squishing sound with her mouth). So then she backed up. "The Deer Squad eventually showed up". While her car car was in the shop, they gave her a loaner. And what they gave her was a monster truck. "Prius-monster truck." And Lucy told us she got that sort of embarrassment that riding in monster trucks gives a Prius owner. A fan yelled out, "Did you get the deer?" Lucy said, "Yeah-I took my monster truck and picked up the road kill."

As somebody tried to get a hug/kiss by telling how much she change his life Lucy respectfully replied that she doesn’t like to give in to emotional blackmail in regard to all the people who were asking for hugs and/or hijacking Lucy’s time on stage by spending it on telling her and the crowd how Lucy has changed their lives.

A magazine of Nz with Lucy in the early years was shown to her, people asked about Kevin Smith. Lucy also told that there was huge pressure in Hollywood to look fancy. And in my opinion i think that is one of the reasons Lucy doesn"t want to be a A-celebrity. She wants to keep her private life private. And I just can agree with that. Another question was "If you were offered an A movie-would you take it?" Lucy: "Oh yeah-I HATE A movies. I’ve turned them down before." And Roc replied , "You put an enchanting spell on everyone you meet."

Lucy told us that the Roxy Theatre loves the Xena fans as they are a real good group to have .

In the meanwhile Renée joined Lucy on stage. You need to know that each guest only got 30 minutes on stage. Pressure!!!!!

The next fan has some question about Lucy’s hair. The person who mentioned it didn’t like one look, blackout for me. Hey I was at the 23rd row so I needed huge ears from time to time. . Lucy replied "I was so different when I was dark." On which Renee added "I like both. I don’t think Lucy can do anything wrong." (Even in real life Renée is like a Gabrielle to Lucy.).
Lucy replied to the fan, "I’m not just my hair darling, I’m not just my hair."

It was almost my turn to ask a question. The guy before me told Lucy that she used to baby sit his kids. She was quiet and just looked at him for a moment. she began to reach inside her memory bank for the kids’ names, "Jake-Jacob…" She was very close and he filled in the names and he showed her a picture of her with the kids. She came off stage and kissed him. Renee asked her how old she was then. "14-15. I baby sat a lot.". It's always nice to see Luce or Roc in this way. They enjoy when something like that comes onto the surface. And as we always say : It is a small world.

Somebody asked if she hurt somebody during the filming as it appeared that Kevin Sorbo was the victim at a time and that he needed about 12 stitched in his head.

Lucy talked also about the propylene (resin) swords. I have one at home, directly from the set, bought in NZ and I can assure you that thing looks real. Lucy told us that LOTR new from then how to make swords. Hey XWP made a base for all other shows to come, so LOTR really had a good example there.

Then it was my turn. I met Lucy’s private driver from New Zealand (John Bethell) and I passed on the hello to Lucy. Lucy as a bid surprised and declared, "I never had a private driver!" Then she realized i was talking about on the job -the driver who took her to the set. Renee laughed and said, "Lucy-this is your life!" (Old TV show ) Renee’s wit always cracks me up. For me, Lucy covered very well what I was talking about. I got the impression that in the US, the best thing to do is to keep such things at low voice. So no offense taken my dear!

An every handing question "What’s it like to kiss Renee." Renee redirected it to Lucy: "Yes, Lucy." Then Renee added, "Very nice, very nice." Lucy said, "It’s hard to describe." Renee added, "’Cause it’s so amazing."

Lucy wanted to talk about the worst kiss she’d ever experienced. Her Auntie was in a nursing home and by kissing her , some of her rheumy eye fluid had dripped down her face and dripped onto Lucy’s mouth. Awfull she told us . Renee looked at her and replied, "Thanks." Lucy on her turn : "I got a lot of those stories."

Funny to hear was Lucy telling us how her kids had been watching (Fins, Fems and Gems) where Ted was Atticus. They'd had been rolling on the floor from laughter. Ted's scenes has to be rewinded over and over again , but Renée's had to be fast forwarded.

Then somebody asked them to describe themselves in six words. Lucy started by uncurling her fingers one by one as she said, "I-am-a. . ." "I’m-prepared-some-spontaneous. . ." Lucy said, "Fly by the seat of my pants. . ." (7 words.) She added, "I can’t speak in six words. I need 6 paragraphs". That question did amuse them a lot, they had a lot of fun with it. In everyone of us, the child is still there.

A request to do the war cry was respectfully detoured by Lucy. Seems Lucy is not doing that cry anylonger in public. So ROC did it for her; although in a higher tone, I think ROC did it very well. Another reason my be that Roc wanted Lucy to protect her voice for the concert.

Then we came to the Coffee Talk, it has been on the internet aswell. The funny and naughty part is when Renee said that she didn’t know her sexuality until she met Lucy. Lucy gave her that typically look although we already knew her hilarious reaction from the DVD. So Lucy looked again to Renée and asked "You did?" Then Roc replied something like in the DVD that Lucy was obviously so comfortable in her sexuality. Why? Perhaps the outfit? Lucy asked. ON which Roc confirmed that she was so comfortable looking in that. "What makes you think that I was so comfortable in that outfit? I was so embarrassed when I first started to wear it". Seems it t was hard for the first few weeks or so and afterwards she she got used to it. Lucy said something like being a stripper. ‘Oh yeah-I can go to the bank in this g-string’". Not easy to follow those things when you are far behind in the audiance.

As everybody we are curious if they did keep anything form the show. Seems Ted still has his hat. Funniest was ROC's remark with a very innocent face : I kept nothing. Everybody bursted into laughter because Renée always appears in a Gabrielle outfit for her photo ops.

Yet another test with a fixed number of words : "Describe each other in three words."
Lucy starts , "Ren has balls the size of America. Keep on trucking.""Renee is so courageous. And such a fighter for going after what she wants.", "That’s just two."

Renee said, "Lucy is gracious. And authentic."

Twice 30 minutes over and they had to go. That kind of time limitation gives some stress with the stars and you can feel it very well.

In London May 2008 it was a big difference. Go see that page to discover another Lucy at the Con and Concert.

28/12/2008 Martine De Grauw