Updating Baron Dave's legacy

[dreamshark]

I was contacted by Mark Olson, a Boston-area fan who does a lot of things related to fannish history, re Dave Romm's legacy of fannish photos. Mark oversees the Fancyclopedia 3, which is just what it sounds like, and would like to use some of Dave's photos. Of course I told him yes, and am working with DDB and others to get him access to something better than the puny little versions of the photos on Facebook. 

Mark would also like some help updating Fancy3's pathetically incomplete entry on Dave. Yes, I would say that it does need some work. I started out by sending him Dave's full name and dates, and I see that he has already updated the entry with that info. I'm trying to get together some further notes on Dave's fannish career, but could use a little help. I have a pretty good idea of what he did for Minicon through the years, but I'm a little fuzzy on the dates. And I have only a vague idea of other cons he worked on. I know he did a lot with Marscon and Convergence and I think he played an important role in a few Worldcons, but I'm vague on the details. Here's what I've got so far, in no particular order. Dates may be a little off, but should be close.

• Moved to Minneapolis - 1979, I think. I don't believe he actually lived in the Bozo Bus Building, but was definitely Bozo Bus Adjacent.
• Hosted Shockwave Radio Show (originally co-hosting with Jerry Stearns, then solo)  1981-2009
• Co-inventor of microprogramming at Minicon 15 (1979) 
• Master of Ceremonies for Minicon from about 1981 - 2015   
• Presented Shockwave Live at Minicon Opening Ceremonies 1981-1999   
• Fan GoH at Minicon 25 (1990)
• Fan GoH at Marscon 2004
• Co-editor of the revived Bozo Bus Tribune (1993-1999) with intermittent reappearances thereafter.
• Helped run many fallcons, sometimes as official chair or co-chair, sometimes behind the scenes (e.g., Conscription). It's kind of pathetic that I have only a vague idea of which fallcons these were, especially considering that we ran many of them together. I'm pretty sure they included Flashback (1998) and the Millennium Fallcon (1999). One or more of the NotAnokons? Maybe some Maxicons? Wait, didn't Dave, Rick Gellman, and I START the run of Maxicons? Man, I have a terrible memory. 
• Coedited the Minicon Moderator Tipsheet, Minicon 25 (1990). With me. That one I remember.

Comments

[quadong]

I can probably help. More when I'm not in a meeting. For now, remember that I have at least a little information online for all the fallcons: http://mnstf.org/fallcon/

[dreamshark]

Yes, and it's very welcome. Unfortunately who actually ran the various Minnstf-related conventions does not seem to be part of the information that people thought was worth preserving.

[quadong]

I have many more materials on paper than are on the web. In nearly all cases, I should be able to tell you who ran things.

[dreamshark]

Yeah, I took a deeper dive into the website and discovered that when I followed the links I got to pages that provided more details, in many cases including who ran things. I was wrong about Maxicon - it looks like the con run by me, Dave, and Rick Gellman was Flashback (1998). I'm pretty sure that I co-chaired the Millenium (sic) Fallcon with Karen, but maybe I just ran programming or something. I know I was involved at a fairly high level. Not sure about Dave.

I note that the informational pages for Conscription and Flashback have gotten munged together somehow. A lot of what is on the Conscription page belongs on the Flashback page instead, starting with 'Karen goes on to say "It was at the crazy hotel with all the themed suites on 494 in Bloomington. Maybe... Nate was hotel? or something? Sharon and Elise did programming? I don't remember any more.' The Con reports at the bottom of the Conscription page are clearly about Flashback, although Dave's starts with an allusion (or... flashback) to Flashback when he talks about conscripting Corwin to be the titular head. Really, Dave and I ran Flashback. Richard was GoH. It was at the Bradbury Suites.

minor addition to Confection. The cover illo on the program book is by Loren Botner.

[quadong]

Let's see. The quote from Karen is on the Consensus* page. I found the e-mail she said that in, and she was definitely talking about Consensus*, which isn't to say that she couldn't have misremembered.

You're right, the quote from the Flashback report went on past the relevant point. I've corrected that.

But I'm not convinced that Flashback was at the Bradbury Suites with Richard as GoH. That seems to be Conscription. If you look at the flyer on the website, it matches those. The original Flashback website says it's at the Best Western Northwest Inn with GoH Steven Brust.

I've added the artist info for Confection.



* With Don Abstaining

[dreamshark]

Right. Isn't that what I said? I guess there is some spell cast on those cons that makes comments about any of them all run together. Conscription was the one at the Bradbury Suites (the hotel with the funny themed suites). Richard was GoH, I ran Programming, and Corwin was the official Chair.

Flashback was the one at the Northwest Inn that was run by me, Dave, and Rick Gellman.

[quadong]

Well, you said "Really, Dave and I ran Flashback. Richard was GoH. It was at the Bradbury Suites." Maybe some sentences were meant to refer to some other sentences in ways that I didn't correctly match. :-)

Since I wasn't at *any* fallcons until Consume/Relaxacon, they certainly do all run together for *me*. Well, for me, they are distinguished by their publications, or lack thereof. And I know that the look-and-feel of publications have almost nothing to do with the look-and-feel of the con itself, but that's all I've got.

[dreamshark]

I just said "Flashback" when I meant Conscription.
That's the problem with naming your con "Flashback" - it distorts your perceptions and leads to reality skips.

[netmouse]

I would note here that if people can dig up program books they might be eminently helpful and also that fanac.org is interested in receiving electronic con pubs as well.

When I was head of publications for minicon in the late 1990s the person who had the final layout files and sent them to the printer was Jeff Schalles, who also worked on the Bozo Bus Tribune. So if you can reach out to Jeff he might still have files and/or printer proofs that are easier to scan than bound copies.

[quadong]

He and Jeanne Mealy did Runes 76-79.