Loadstar 245/245.d81/t.bill

Text File | 2004-01-01 | 6.9 KB | 240 lines

u
          Heeeeeere's BILL!
          by Robert Bernardo

    Not Bill Gates! I'm talking about
William Shatner, Captain Kirk of "Star
Trek", Denny Crane of "Boston Legal",
and star of other movies and
television shows. Once again we club
members of Shatner & Friends,
International (the official William
Shatner Fan Club) had our annual
get-together in the Los Angeles area.

    In 2002 Bill signed my Commodore
1581 disk drive; in 2003 he
autographed my VIC-20 -- the computer
he advertised in the early 1980's; in
2004 he signed a Commodore telephone.
This year, after gathering ideas from
friends and from the members of the
#c64friends chat, I decided to bring
two C64 DTV joysticks for him to
autograph.

    On Friday, April 29, after a fine
breakfast at a trendy restaurant, we
went to Raleigh Studios, where Boston
Legal is filmed. Unfortunately, Boston
Legal had wrapped early for the
season. The sets were quiet; nobody
was around; we couldn't see Bill
Shatner in action. As we walked around
the stage, we marvelled at the realism
of the sets for the fictional law
offices, courtrooms, and restaurants.
Of course, the best were the office of
Denny Crane and the balcony where
Denny Crane and Alan Shore (actor
James Spader) have the final scene of
each episode.

    The entire landscape of Boston,
which the faux balcony overlooks, was
really a giant photograph on a curtain
backdrop. If a scene called for day,
the curtain for daytime Boston was
rolled in; for night, the curtain for
nighttime Boston took its place.

    Afterwards, we fought through the
L.A. traffic to get to Burbank and to
the Mexican restaurant next to the Los
Angeles Equestrian Center. Late, we
rushed into the restaurant to find
Bill Shatner, his wife Elizabeth, and
his daughter Elizabeth waiting for us.
Bill assured us that they had only
been waiting a short time, and we
ordered our food.

    I sat right across from the
Shatners, and while I ate my shrimp
fajitas, Bill described his current
projects, especially the Invasion Iowa
reality show he produced for Spike TV
and which aired during April Fool's
weekend.

    After lunch, we followed Bill to
the Equestrian Center, where he met
his horse trainer and got ready to
practice on his horses. He also met
with the TV Land video crew who were
filming his activities for a future
television special (I tentatively
called it, "A Day in the Life of
William Shatner").

    As he got ready, our organizers
Jane and Sandy, thought it would be
best to go for the autographs and
photo ops with him before he became
any busier. Though Bill had been a bit
reserved in past WS Weekends, he was
more open to us this time, especially
with that video crew watching
everything. First up, there was a
one-to-one sitdown with Bill; each
member would sit next to him while
photos were taken.

    This was a first; this had never
happened before in any previous
weekend. Trying not to be too nervous,
I sat down next to him when my turn
came. He shook my hand, and we
exchanged small talk.

    "Where are you from?" he
questioned me with a smile.

    "Visalia."

    His eyes lit up, "That's near
Hanford."

    "Yes, you had your ranch in Three
Rivers." (near Hanford)

    He pointed to the USB pen drive
hanging from my neck, "What's that?"

    "Oh, it's a drive for a computer.
In it are photos... Commodore
files..."

    He nodded. With that, my brief
chat with him ended.

    After the one-to-one meetings, it
was time for group photos with Bill,
and after that, autographs. We stood
in line with our various goodies for
him to sign, me with my DTVs. However,
the other members kept telling me to
hold their cameras and take pictures
of them with Bill as he signed. Soon,
I found myself last and alone, with
Bill already walking away with his
people. Wait! My turn for autographs!
I bothered Jane, who realized what had
happened, and she interrupted Bill. He
gave me a look, but he signed the
DTVs' packaging. Whew!

    We watched Bill as he rode his
horse around the corral, the video
crew filming his moves and filming us,
too. Every so often, Bill would stop
his horse in front of the crew and
answer questions from the producer. In
another surprise, Bill later came down
from the horse and gathered us in the
patio next to the corral. As we sat
there, he talked about his current
television and book projects, the
video crew filming all this, too.
Yeah, we had to sign release forms,
just in case our faces showed up on
this future t.v. special.

    That night we members were on our
own, and we walked around trendy
downtown Burbank, looking for a dinner
place. Edwin, Dick, his wife, Vickie;
and I decided on a retro 1950's-style
restaurant for burgers and fries. It
was only later that we found out that
there was a great East Indian
restaurant a few doors down. Darn!
Another time.

    Saturday was the William Shatner/
Wells Fargo Hollywood Charity
Horseshow, and we spent all day at the
Los Angeles Equestrian Center. Bill
introduced the show by driving into
the arena in a convertible Aston
Martin. However, unlike the previous
year, he did not narrate the entire
show; he only spoke at the beginning
and at the end. No matter... The sound
system was on the fritz, and it was
difficult to hear anyone who used it.
The actual one-hour show had a
medieval theme this year with lots of
knights in armor riding around.

    I did not recognize anyone famous
in the crowd this year; perhaps they
were more well-hidden this time.

    After the show, we participated in
the silent auction and the banquet. We
even had our own table - "reserved for
Shatner & Friends." I did feel a bit
out of place. The people at the
banquet were high-powered, well-to-do,
and I was... well... ordinary.
However, I did not dwell too much on
it and enjoyed the food and the main
entertainment provided by Ben Folks
and his band. Even Bill got up on
stage to sing!!!

    Sunday was a quieter day. We went
off to the very modern Museum of
Television and Radio in Beverly Hills.
Our mission -- to see the video
tribute celebrating William Shatner's
career. After that, we paid our
regular visit to see the sidewalk
stars in front of Mann's Chinese
Theatre in Hollywood. The day was
capped off by our buying a fine dinner
for Jane and Sandy when we returned to
Burbank. Then we said our good-byes,
though Klaus, who had come all the way
from Germany just for the WS Weekend,
Gus, and I stayed a bit longer in the
hotel bar and had some drinks.

    To Jane Singer and Sandy Moruzzi,
the leaders of Shatner & Friends,
International, a big thank you for
another big weekend of Shatner
goodness. More information about SFI
can be found at

    http://www.williamshatner.com

The Hollywood Charity Horse Show
(http://www.horseshow.org) is a fine
organization which raises money to
help handicapped children ride horses.

    I look forward to another WS
Weekend. My only problem - what
Commodore item can Bill Shatner sign
next year?


   Truly,

   Robert Bernardo
   Fresno Commodore User Group