Rock & Shock recap

 Rock & Shock recap.

So as I sit here drinking tea and listening to the Waxwork commentary I decided to whip up a quick post recapping this past weekend. Rock & Shock was my first horror convention ever way back in 2006. Little did I know that ten years later I would be dying laughing, vending, and spending a few days with some of the best people in the world. Rock & Shock is a fun little show, that I first happened upon years ago and ended up completely loving, which began my love for attending these shows. It's 45 mins away, and really the only local convention in MA. I haven't attended every single show, but the ones I have were always a good time. Just last year I decided to say YOLO and start vending selling some of my artwork. After getting a taste for how things worked on the other side of the show we decide to come back and vend again this time under the new name of Amity Antiques. 

Vending only Saturday and Sunday, I arrived early with my friend Nate and set up. The best of course was how one end of our table collapsed and just like in Titanic the table slowly sank down to one side as I stood there in complete silence watching everything spill everywhere. F.M.L

After the table was fixed, we waited before our friends Jeanette and Casey came to help vend driving up all the way from New York. The doors opened and the whole first day was highly successful. My coffins sold out almost right away. Everyone loved playing the game "Who's got a brain?" I was also selling magazines, artwork, and of course a stunning framed Hateful Eight Mondo print. The foot traffic wasn't as busy as last year, but all of us did very well and of course loved people watching. 

One thing I began noticing as more friends continued to show up at the table to say hi was if I had seen the Zach Galligan panel the night before? I of course hadn't seen it since I was working but everyone kept saying how Zach mentioned me during it. Instantly I became curious, and tried my hardest to find out what he said. As we all know I'm a massive Galligan fan and even more massive Waxwork and Waxwork II fan. For years I have been trying to rally different studios to re-buy the rights to these movies and get them the treatment they deserve on blu-ray, even starting a Facebook page trying to show the support people had for this happening. Well thanks to friends Heather and Michael, the movies were FINALLY officially released due to a wonderful retro series by Vestron video with such titles like Blood Dinner, and Chopping Mall. Waxwork and Waxwork II got the treatment and I couldn't be happier. Thrilled, I was waiting to finally experience these movies in stunning HD. Well, I guess Friday night Zach mentioned me and how I was such a huge fan trying to get these movies released and told the audience that he would be giving me tomorrow his OWN personal copy of the two movies. 

HOLY SHIT!!!

Well, it all made sense since nearly everyone knew about this surprise so when I finally was able to get away from my table I had some friends following me. When I went up to Galligan he surprised me with the movies and signed it for me and really said something heartfelt. He expressed how I was one of the main reasons why this movie got released. Which I honestly don't think, this was other people's effort, I was just supporting it since I loved it so much. Still, hearing one of my all time favorite actors who played my favorite character in my favorite movie saying this meant the world. I legit acted like a complete mess. I couldn't talk, couldn't speak, was in a daze and afterwards ugly cried, or as Zach now says Blair Witch cried afterwards. Beyond humbling. Thank you Zach, seriously my all time favorite item in my collection. 

The rest of the day I mostly stayed by my table (received a killer Gremlins laserdisc by my friend Chris.) and continued saying hi to tons of people, still in complete awe over what I had received earlier. I then ran upstairs to catch Zach's movie The Chair. That movie was...interesting. After packing up and heading home we partied some more before getting a total of 3 hours of sleep.

The next morning we headed off early, got to see Galligan again, and set up. I continued selling next to Jeanette and got a chance to walk around. I was able to see my friend and tattoo artist Shane Murphy who was tattooing and selling his AMAZING artwork and pins by his company Theater Of Creeps where I got some killer stuff. I went to RatKnife, another great company selling pins, saw my buddies Sean and George at VHSPS which is my favorite vendor at any show. Thanks for all the movies Sean, all ready digging into them and LOVING them! Went to a few more booths, but mostly hung at my table, still seeing friends. My favorite of course being Chris and Courtney at London 1888 where they gifted me with AN AMAZING The Mutilator original poster signed by the director and cast. I seriously asked Jeanette at one point if I was dying since I was receiving so many amazing gifts. Just another reason why my friends are amazing and why I love them so much.

Thanks to Courtney I met Jeff Daniels Philips from Lords Of Salem and 31. I love him from this commercial where he asks an old lady for her social security number to order a pizza. We had a good laugh over that and Twisted Sundays, and of course how I have Zach tattooed on my leg in which he insisted we walked over to Zach. As always Galligan was amazing and we took some photos and remarked about Galligangiving!

The day ended with lots of laughs, hugs, and seeing many ICP kids. I hated leaving, but had a great time! This one was for the books and makes me look forward to next year even more!