Special friends and great times

On Thursday, I started hearing a rumor about some special surprise planned for Sunday (the last day of the convention). Earlier, I had thought that wow... Joseph LoDuca and Rob Tapert appearing at the convention... there was no mention of a "Legend of the Seeker" panel (though I suspected as much). Once I got the schedule, I realized that there was indeed an "LotS" panel--so that shot down a very unlikely (yet, plausible theory) of a word on a "Xena" movie.

Sunday rolls around and Lucy is on stage. She's talking about stuff and mentions that she has an special friend she'd like to introduce...

None other than Claire Stansfield. I can't remember the last convention she's been too. I know the last time I saw her was in January 2002 at the Chicago "Strong Women of Sci-Fi" Convention in which Claire and Alex Tydings appeared.

It was truly a special treat. Claire just simple rocks on stage and I wish she'd appear more. I dont' know why she wasn't asked. (There was a mention about not knowing her phone number or something... I don't know.) Claire called up Creation and asked to appear.

Doesn't matter that she took some of Lucy's stage time... it was just AWESOME seeing Claire on stage. (Yes, she did the Alti voice.)


Claire gave us a rundown on what she has been doing since she last time she 'saw us.'

(She was originally scheduled for the 2005 convention, but had to pull out at the last moment because of a business matter relating to her company. I don't recall who exactly replaced her, I want to say Bruce Hopkins (Hoskins?) who was a good friend of Kevin Smith's and also appeared on several episodes of "Xena" and "Hercules".)

She had a company called C & C that made designer t-shirts, but she has since sold that company. The company really took off after Oprah featured the shirts as part of her "favorite things" episode a few years ago. Claire is no a consultant for Oprah's "favorite things."

Seeing Claire and Lucy on stage provided me with some of the best shots that I took at the convention. There's also a couple of really good shots of Lucy and Renee on stage as well.

(A caption to the photo on the left would be... quick, they have cameras let's get a goofy expression!)

Claire didn't mention whether or not she's working as an actor anymore. (Or if she did, I don't remember.) Anyways, it was definitely a surprise and one that tops Lucy and Renee popping out of the stage cake at the 2005 Convention.

Check out More of Sunday's Photos from the Convention