Subject: Sixth Ever XenaFest in Hawaii

Aroo,

Just a short report on the "Sixth Ever XenaFest" held Sunday, May 7, 2000 at the University of Hawaii, Manoa Campus.

Jackie Young, Hawaiian Xenite Extraordinaire and her gang hosted this fest on a sometimes annual / semi-annual basis. Would you believe she never heard of Merpups?

Anyway, Jackie started with a short report on the Pasadena Con and Lucy's baby and segued into a demonstration by the Gee Yung Int'l Martial Arts Assn of various forms of armed and unarmed combat. Of interest was a section on the use of the staff; longer and thinner than a GabWhacker, it incorporates a wider variety of moves than Gab's. However they did not demo the Spinning Russian Dance technique so masterully executed by Gab in "The Quill..".

The second demo was presented by the Kingdom of the Western Seas members of the Society of Creative Anachronism. First came the use of the Rapier and Main Gauche in a Musketeer style of combat. Then came the full on Broadsword and Shield melee in metal and chainmail armor. Surprisingly four of the six participants were women in armor. (Go, Grrls!). It was a great spectacle.

Door prizes and two auctions followed: the first benefited Sword and Staff's choice of Child and Family Services. Top dollar went to an autographed photo of Ephiny.

The second auction of donated Xenabilia benefited the XenaFest group; hopefully to fund the next one.

The Costume Contest with turned out not to be a bust because the only contestant was Bob in a Xena outfit (not a "bust"...::groan::). Actually, his femme friend dressed as an Amazon. Both won prizes as the best costume .

A short interlude of "Late Night with Conan", "Entertainment Tonight" Lucy interviews and music videos led to the Main Event.

Bob Weisbrot, author of "The Official Guide to the Xenaverse" flew in from NY to be our featured speaker. He presented over an hour of insight and hilarity describing how the book evolved and overran his life. He shared anecdotes about the cast and backstage antics along with wonderful glimpses into the personalities of Lucy, Renee, Kevin, Danielle and others. It just kept us glued to the edges of our seats. We were *so* furtunate to have him as the Main Attraction. Kudos to Jackie for getting him.

(One question that came up was how Missy got the job of writing a Xena episode..I gave a mumbling, stumbling red-eared adhoc account of RT and Steve and Missy and hoped I remembered all things correctly; so much for the suave, sophisticated MerPup Image ::wagging tail sheepishly::)

Answer and I had a chance to meet MerPup Ursmilin (aka Celeste) who confesses she hasn't posted yet. What was surprising to me is when a Xenite came to me at the end and asked what fanfic was. ::shock::.

Anyway, it was fun meeting with 40+ Xenites even though only three were pups. v See the photos: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=229465

Eagerly waiting for next year.......

FuzzyButt the Cub Reporter