Meeting my two convention unicorns!

 Meeting my two convention unicorns!

I honestly know if I don't start writing this down now, I'm definitely going to lose details in these next days following my trip to Chicago. So basically this is just me rambling about how I was able to meet Sam and Ted Raimi this past weekend. I figured get the details straight before everything gets swallowed up in the fog. I honestly hardly never get starstruck anymore. After working and attending conventions for over thirteen years you slowly start to become unphased by celebrity guests. I remember the early days of when I first started going to shows, and how much of a mess I would feel meeting these actors, artists, writers, and directors that played such a huge role in my childhood. As time passed, the list of people I really cared about meeting at these shows became smaller and smaller. I've had great experiences 98% of the time, and as a huge collector really love occasionally attending these events. I've met so many friends over the years going to these things, as well as having millions of great memories! The two actors that were truly left on my list of people that I knew for certain I would completely lose it over if I was ever lucky enough to meet were just two men, in fact...they were brothers.

Sam and Ted Raimi.

I feel like I knocked out the really big ones that meant a lot to be growing up. (Zach Galligan, Michael Biehn, Robert Englund, Corey Haim/Feldman, Joe Bob Briggs etc) Sure there are big ones that are actually amazing me as I see them start to appear at certain shows over the world, but my top ten list of to die for meetings wasn't very big. Sure Oliver Parker (Nightbreed) and John D LeMay (Friday the 13th the series) are still on it, but Sam and Ted were always at the top. I've been a massive Raimi fan for years. Like most I was raised on the Evil Dead trilogy. It wasn't until roughly 2011 when a friend talked me into buying Intruder on the newly released blu-ray that I realized how much I loved these guys. It may sound strange, but I love Sam's acting. Don't get me wrong, he is an AMAZING writer and director. His style is iconic and forever will be looked up too. This is a man who never swayed from his vision and has made countless classics (Evil Dead trilogy, Darkman, The Quick And The Dead, The Gift, Drag Me to Hell, etc) I'm not even counting ALL of his movies which are all actually decent (dare I admit I even like Spiderman 3? Yeah I know!) But what interested me was Sam's brief dabble in acting. He usually appeared in cameos or brief roles as favors to his fellow friends who were also in the business. I LOVED his part in the 1989 supermarket slasher Intruder! He played Randy the butcher, who was seriously adorable and suffered one of the top deaths in the entire movie. I oddly found this film very comforting, and was blown away that I had slept on such a classic that featured such a packed cast, as well as having some of the best KNB makeup I've ever seen! I became obsessed. I began to draw, paint, and airbrush Sam as different characters he played. I drew him as Randy hanging on the meathook, even sculpted him from it! I looked up his other little parts (Indian summer, Spies Like Us, Innocent Blood, etc) I died anytime I caught him appearing in something and it suddenly clicked I had been watching Sam long before I discovered the movies he wrote and directed. I completely forgot he appeared in The Stand mini series, a staple in my household growing up! 2012 I truly couldn't get enough. I found fellow friends who were truly die hard Raimi fans. I watched his behind the scenes footage, listened to his commentaries, and watched everything he was involved in. I even was lucky enough to have spoken to people who had worked with him and always heard nothing but good things! In 2014 my friend and tattoo artist even tattooed Sam from Intruder on me. I knew I needed this, and it still after all these years is one of my favorites.

I continued rooting for team Raimi all these years later, everyone knowing he was my favorite director. I'm even one of the few lucky people out there to actually own a Fright Rags Raimi Brothers hoodie that was only released to 2 other people! I continued collecting, watching, and researching, loving every project he did (Yep, I even saw Oz The Great And The Powerful!) So many people see him as just the dude who directed Spiderman, I saw him as the crazy lovable genius who loved to torture his little brother Ted and best friend Bruce!

A few years later I was offered to work Sam's younger brother Ted's table at HorrorHound in 2014. I remember how pumped I was. I equally (maybe even love more) Ted than Sam. Ted is the man we constantly see. He isn't behind the camera often, and is a stable in Sam's film world (I'm still bitter he didn't have a cameo in The Quick And The Dead!) He was forever in my eyes the character actor who in the early 90's always wore glasses, and more than often got killed. I still remember how huge The Grudge remake was when I was in high school and what a kick I got out of it when he was killed off! Sadly at HorrorHound he got sick and had to cancel, still I knew someday I would meet this handsome funny Raimi brother who appeared in such classics like Shocker, The Evil Dead trilogy, Skinner, Lunatics A Love Story, Blood Rage, Darkman, TWIN PEAKS, Candyman, Wishmaster, Sea Quest, Xena, The Grudge, and even the Spiderman movies. I really love Ted's late 80's to mid 90's work. He's seriously has been in so many movies! I know a lot of people zone him into Sam's films, but he's worked in so much stuff I actually believe he has 99 credits to his name on IMDB!

He was a guest at a local convention in Mass called Rock & Shock. I was pumped to meet him, but as fate would have it I got extremely sick and was unable to meet him! (I KNOW!) I was able to sit through his Q&A which I found him absolutely hilarious as well as charming. Legit I could listen to this man speak for hours. His stories were the best! I got so upset in the weeks following that I was too sick to meet him and might have missed my chance. I began the Ash Vs Evil Dead series (I know, better late than never) and knew I needed to pay tribute to this Raimi brother as well! That December I had Shane tattoo Ted from Darkman, and a few months later actually at the beginning of this summer I had him ink Ted from the cover of Skinner (My favorite Ted Raimi movie which got a KILLER blu-ray release this past winter) I began watching everything Ted, and even had my good friend Travis (designer of Chip our blog's mascot) to make a piece based off of Ted as Pac-Man from Wes Craven's Shocker (one of the first Ted movies I ever saw) I think anyone who knows me, or follows this blog/my social media knows what a massive Ted fan I am. I knew I NEEDED to meet him. Luckly this winter I truly think was a sign of fate since it was announced Ted AND Sam were going to appear at a convention in Chicago, where one of my best friends Melissa lives. I instantly said "Fuck it!" and ordered tickets. Now you know this is a BIG deal if I travel (I hate traveling let alone have to deal with airports.) But I vowed I wouldn't miss my chance again, and could finally meet my top of the list...aka my convention unicorns. I was told once Sam would NEVER do a horror convention because he was too "big" Man, little did I know! So Friday I flew out, meeting up with my friends Melissa and Brandon and on Saturday we ventured to the show.

I have to be completely honest, a lot of it was a blur. It's been YEARS since I've been this nervous about meeting a guest. I knew I needed to just knock Ted off the list since he was my #1 pick of meeting since we missed the chance twice before. Mellissa went with me, and I was a wreck (props to Melissa for holding my stuff and helping, if I was alone it would have been a total train wreck.) I remember right before we walked over to him I turned toward Melissa in awe.

I was about to meet Ted Raimi.

I walked over, feeling nervous as Hell, but introduced myself. I right away told him how I was from Boston, and since I was too sick to meet him there, as soon as I heard he was going to be in Chicago, I wanted to meet him. I then told him first I wanted to show him my tattoos. I walked around to the side and showed him the Darkman and Skinner one. He seemed pretty impressed saying "Oh man! That's awesome!" I laughed nervously saying I was clearly a huge fan, and wanted to give him something (mind you I felt like this was all happening within seconds) I gave him the Shocker print by Travis and he was floored over it. He couldn't believe that the clipboard actually said what it did in the movie. He asked me who did it and legit like an idiot I blanked on Travis' name. He asked if I could write it on the back of the print as long as it didn't bleed through. This was when I knew I was complete jello. I wrote Travis' IG handle sooooo messy on the back of his print. Ted asked if that was it? I nodded and said I would tag him (Could you fucking die?) I then handed him my two top items. One was my Lunatics A Love Story VHS (Which he snapped a pic of on his phone) The other is this great 8X10 photo of him from the 90's that I often use whenever I'm snapping staged photos of my Skinner VHS. He asked me where I found this (I answered eBay) and he laughed telling me and Melissa that the car behind him as actually is own car that he loved. A late 60's Cadillac I believe. He signed the items and we posed for two photos (a selfie and a posed) I was so nervous, legit shaking. Before I left I turned and looked him in the eye. I shook his hand and told him what an honor it was to meet him as well as have him tattooed on me since he's my favorite actor. Ted smiled and told me the ink was totally awesome and said his thanks. In a complete cloud I floated away.

Ted was so much fun to meet. I mean I'm sure that was super fucking weird to have somebody come up to you with your face tattooed TWICE on you. Instead he was just very laid back, very chill, and very funny. Before we walked away Melissa said he looked very dapper in his suit and he grinned thanking us. = Could. You. Die?

Later Melissa and I went for our Sam photo op where we ran into so many buddies of ours. Legit favorite part of going to these things are meeting up with friends you usually don't see. A few of them thought it was super funny since I never seem to leave the East Coast, and of course it would take the Raimi to get my ass on a plane!

Melissa and I agreed on two different poses since we had two photo ops. One would be a usual silly pose. Melissa always gives the thumbs up, I always wear my sunglasses and do duck lips like an asshole. After that we decided on an awkward prom photo. SO HAPPY we decided with that one. Classic! Right as the photographer called us over, I really didn't know if I wanted to stay until 3 to get his autograph, so I decided to say YOLO and just point out my tattoo of him on the meathook to him as I walked over. I smiled and said "Hi Sam!" He smiled, shook my hand before I pointed down to my leg and said "Look Sam." I swear to God I've never seen somebody react like he did. His jaw dropped, he leaned down, looked at it and screamed "OH NO! OH MY GOD!" The photographer was losing her shit we were holding everything up but clearly we all didn't care. Sam couldn't stop laughing. We took our poses, before he turned towards me and said "Thank you SO much for honoring me like that! I can't believe it!" I smiled, gave him the devil horn sign (smooth Stacy) and thanked him. After that I knew I needed his autograph. We hung around for a bit before Melissa and I went in line for his autograph. I gotta hand it to Flashback, these people know exactly what they are doing and seem to go the extra smile for the guests. The line wait was super quick, and I decided for Sam to sign my wrinkled old Intruder blu-ray ad from 2011 (first thing I ever saw him in since the Stand where he acted in years) and later based off for my tattoo. We walked over, we introduced ourselves, and I asked if he remembered me as I laid down the print of him, telling him I had this tattooed on me. He said of course he did, he would never forget that. He stared at me dead in the eye and was SO adorable. He seemed so sincere. (You can tell he's new to this, and probably this was his first time meeting somebody who had something as big as a tattoo of HIS face as well as wanted to talk about something he acted in vs. directed.) He told me he thought it was (and I swear to God he said this, Melissa is my witness) that it was super "Sexy and amazing" that I would have him as a tattoo and honor him. Yep, I died. I laughed and said the ad was beaten up but much loved since it inspired me to get my tattoo, and maybe my next one should be him from Indian summer staring at a moose. I didn't catch it, but once I said that he drew a moose on my autograph. COULD. YOU. DIE? We laughed for a second, before he just stared at my boobs and said how much he loved my shirt (I was wearing a Deadite Cavity Colors Cellar Dweller ad shirt.) I told him the company was called Cavitycolors. He repeated the name asking what that was? I told him a cool T-shirt company. He stared at it for another few seconds and said he loved it since it looked like an old TV ad. He finished signing my ad, before I thanked him. He said he would never forget me and thanked me again for honoring him. I decided to say fuck it and blew him a kiss as I walked away. He blushed and blew one back (Melissa and several other friends in line witnessed this) As I walked away, feeling like a complete nerd, I had to smile.

I just flew all the way to Chicago and seriously had the best interactions with Sam and Ted Raimi. These are two men I have tattooed on my body several times, men that I constantly watch their work, talk, write, draw, and post about. They very much could have been complete assholes. Instead Ted was the calm cool sweet con vet, and Sam was the funny overjoyed new guest that I think was seeing how much his fans really love him.

It was seriously a trip for the memory books.

Best. Summer. Ever.

I know if I ever get the chance again, I'll meet the two of them again in a heartbeat. I can't tell people enough if you haven't met them and get the chance, RUN do not walk! Ted and Sam were the coolest and sweetest guys I could have ever talked to. These autographs, photos, and memories are something I'll cherish for the rest of my life.

I'm sure I'm rambling like a loser, but I'm sure fellow fans of anything get it. They understand there are just certain people that mean a lot, and when you actually get to have cool interactions/meetings like that, it's something you'll remember forever.

Sam and Ted...my unicorns.

1000 stars on this weekend, seriously guys...I'm still in awe.

Thank you for being awesome Sam and Ted. It meant a lot to this blogger from Boston. She'll never forget it for the rest of her life!