The madness started at Lurid.com. It's the hub of 7 websites and a discussion board headed by filmmaker Wayne Alan Harold. Other members of Lurid are artists P. Craig Russell, Jay Geldhof, Robert Ullman, Mark Ricketts, writer Will Pfeifer, and Toby Radloff, Genuine Nerd.

I've been at their discussion board for a few years now and have seen some of their work from their sites, the comics they worked in, and film reviews that Will writes for Rockford Register Star. But I'd never seen any of Wayne's films or met any of them. The opportunity arose with Frightvision 2004, a horror convention in Cleveland, Ohio where Wayne and Toby would be present for Wayne's new documentary Genuine Nerd. Such a cultural experience should be shared, so I invited my good friend and talented artist, James Anderson (creator of the online comic Bungo and Rusti), to join me.

We drove to Cleveland and realized we had to get into the proper state to meet such talented folk, so we took in a few hours at the Cleveland Museum of Art. After getting some sensory overload from viewing their masterworks, we both agreed our favorite piece was an oil painting by the Austrian artist, Friedrich Amerling (1803-1887), of a girl dressed in Turkish attire called The Young Eastern Woman. The image posted here doesn't do it justice. In person, the way the artist shined the light on the book and her breast, allowing it to reflect on her face come across gorgeously. I went to view it a couple times.

With our weary eyes, we went to check into the hotel where Frightvision took place and proceeded to go straight to the bar to meet Wayne. He was even friendlier than he was by e-mail and on the boards and quickly introduced us to his friend, independent B-movie producer, Allen Richards of B-Independent.com. A round of drinks was then brought about and soon yet another. The banter was lively. However, Wayne had some bad news. He would not be able to sit on a discussion panel the next day. Immediately, the idea was arranged for Jim and I to take his place and pretend we were filmmakers. I balked at that since I didn't know if I could pull it off, but the enthusiasm of the other 3, especially Jim, pulled me into their nefarious plot. This would be hilarious!

Soon, Jim and I met the star of the documentary, Mr. Radloff himself. Being a teetotaler, he was immediately set up with a Diet Coke. Toby and Wayne are the best of friends and make an interesting pair. Where Wayne is extremely outgoing and talks nonstop, Toby is more quiet and reserved around strangers. He doesn't take his celebrity status too seriously and seems amused by it.

Since Jim and I were with Wayne and Allen, we were able to enter the convention free. Why not? We were filmmakers now, right? We all headed up to the viewing room where the first feature started. It was a horror movie starring Sherry Thurig. When it ended, Sherry and the director were on hand to answer questions from the audience. Then Wayne's film Genuine Nerd was shown. Toby sat near the front to watch. It was surreal to sit a row back and a few seats to right watching Toby watch Toby on the screen. The movie was funny and definitely conveyed Toby's personality more, although I'd have liked to have learned more about what he was like growing up. Again, the time after the movie was spent on questions.

After this, we checked out more of the convention where we met actresses Robyn Griggs, Amy Lynn Best, and Kelly Ray. Although the 3 may best be known for their work in independent B-horror movies, Robyn has also had lead roles in the TV soap operas One Life To Live and Another World. Her boyfriend, Keith, is a screenwriter too, although I forgot if they've worked together on a movie.

I also stopped by the Tempe Films booth to pick up Wayne's last movie Townies on DVD. The cover is by Jay Geldhof, and it stars him and a few of the other guys from Lurid. Loosely based on people Wayne has actually met, it has a few storylines including Toby as a man who picks through dumpsters and falls in love with a dead girl he finds in one of them. As you can tell from the description, you won't find Townies a wholseome family movie. It's dark, but it's also pretty funny.

The whole gang went back to the lounge where more good drink was consumed -- and then some more. Wayne and Toby autographed my jacket to the Townies DVD. Robyn joked with Jim and me about how she was going to star in the movie we made up to talk about in the next day's discussion panel. Robyn would be on the panel too, along with Allen, Jim, and me.

Jim and I were coming up with the beginnings of a great bizarre plotline. Well, Jim was coming up with most of it. Sometimes I keep forgetting how bizarrely creative he can be. We came up with a storyline that was David Lynch-like and Tod Browning-esque. In fact, the more we talked about it, the more we actually liked it. The night ended with the two of us at Denny's arguing points of the movie and figuring out what we'd actually say on the panel.

The next day at the convention was more anti-climatic. Wayne wasn't around with his enthusiasm, it was too early to drink, and we found out that the panel was canceled because the people running the convention didn't know about it and started filling the room with vendors. I met actress Sybil Danning, saw Tom Savini read a magazine sitting in his booth, and Jim and I talked with Allen, Robyn, and Sherry some more.

We were tired though from staying up too late and waking up too early and figured it was time to head back home. We continued hashing out the plotline and decided that we would write the screenplay for it after all. Maybe Wayne or one of the other filmmakers we met over the weekend would film it and we could get one of the actresses we met to star in it. Perhaps my non-realized dream of stepping into Martin Scorsese's footsteps could be realized! We knew we'd have to start working hard on it and maybe it would be far enough along by September to show it at the convention in Akron. The car ride back home ended up not being as quiet as I thought!

Since we had to head through Toledo, we knew the trip would not be complete without a trip to Tony Packo's for a coney combo. A couple or so hours after that, I dropped Jim off and I found myself crashing in my own bed for a nap. No doubt I was dreaming of the movie Jim and I have to make.

Jim took lots of photos, mostly from Friday night. Click on any thumbnail and a smaller window will open up with a larger and uncropped version of the photo.

Thanks a lot, Jim, for sharing the photos so I could post them. And thanks for hanging out with me that weekend. It was a blast.