Just wanted to drop everyone a note regarding the possible conventions this year. Honestly, I'm truly hoping (but not absolutely positive) that we will be able to hold a successful Fan Club convention this year. We have 2 great opportunities to hold conventions...a 3 night stand in LA and a 4 night stand in Saratoga. There are pluses and minuses to both, however, its the minuses that could end up sinking the events. We will likely need to make a MAJOR decision to put all of our eggs into one basket and see if a convention is truly possible this year. One thing that we can't do is rush into this...these conventions take a great deal of time to plan, coordinate, and execute...a rushed convention idea will lead to a convention that will quickly fade from our memories. Los Angeles HOB Pluses 1) $35.00 tickets in a block that the public can't touch for a period of time. 2) First shot at the floor when doors open Minuses 1) Tickets would go on-sale in less than 72 hours and we don't know how long we can hold them before the block is turned over to the public. 2) We haven't been there before and have no hotel contacts... 3) Fan Club members outside the listserve (3000 or so) will only find out about this hours before tickets would go on sale. Saratoga Pluses: 1) Been there, done that, know everybody, hotels and convention site would be easy to arrange. Minuses: 1) New venue, not the Winery. We don't know that we'll even be able to purchase tickets since this is a "Members" venue. This is a very sticky situation and it is very tenuous at best for a successful convention in either city at this time. Please understand that we are working every angle to pull this off however there is still a great deal of work to do. Do we do a rush job for LA and possibly hold a sub-par convention because many fans were unable to make proper plans to attend or do we bet all of our chips on Saratoga and run the risk of Villa Montalvo saying "Sorry, but there is nothing we can do to help you...". Believe me when I say it has kept me up for more than a couple of nights this week. Laurin _________________________ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe doobiefans-list" in the body.
