|
Interview with Ken Kish of Cinema Wasteland
Page 2
For those not as
knowledgeable as Ken, I asked him to talk a little about some of this year's
lesser know guests. "I go out of my way every year to find somebody
who’s never done a show. This year I found a couple," he states
proudly. "Connie Mason has never done a movie show. Roger
Watkins, who directed ‘Last House on Dead End Street’, hasn’t done a show,
either. Watkins also
worked in the adult industry, so whenever you get any of those guys they
always have the greatest stories to tell. I’m sure Connie will be a trip to
most people, she makes me laugh with some of the stuff she says. She’ll
probably have a crowd of 200 erupting in laughter. I think Don Pedro Coley
who was in ‘Beneath the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Black Caesar’ with Fred
Williamson should be very interesting, also."
Better known personalities
(if you're a horror fan, anyway) include director Ted V. Mikels ('Astro
Zombies', 'The Corpse Grinders') making his second Wasteland appearance.
Also Reggie Bannister from the
Phantasm films ("Always a good guest, very fan-friendly," says Ken),
Michael Berryman ('The Hills Have Eyes') David Hess ('Last House on
the Left') Yvonne Monlaur (Hammer films scream queen best know for 'Brides
of Dracula') Bill Moesly ('Texas Chainsaw Massacre II') and special
effects maestro Tom Savini ('Dawn of the Dead', also a veteran of past
Wasteland shows) will be on hand.
As for the guest of honor, H.G. Lewis,
Ken says, "He does
so few appearances that we’ve got a lot of people coming in from all over to
see him. When he's at other shows they
usually plop him on stage for 30 or 40 minutes and he tells the same
stories I could tell because I’ve heard them so many times, or he introduces
a movie and then that’s his weekend. He’s looking forward to doing
something different at the Wasteland show. We’ve got
a few surprises worked out for everybody, me and Herschel. I
just think of the basic things I want to do for these guests, and then I get them
there and parade a whole bunch of happy fans in front of them and ply them
with liquor you don’t know what I’ll get out of them. You’ve been there,
you know there are surprises. It’s my chance to be the ultimate geeky fan
boy and run a show for other geeky fan boys."
And there's still more.
The staff of 'From Parts Unknown', a magazine dedicated to masked wrestlers,
have been at all 3 Wasteland cons and this year they'll be hosting a showing
of 'Santo vs. the Martians' starring Mexico's best known grappler/monster
busting superhero. And it wouldn't be a Wasteland without 'Evil Dead'
props and special effects man Tom Sullivan. "I met him in the early
90’s doing artwork for collectible card games like ‘Call of Cthulu’ and we got to be
friends," Ken says. "I told him if someday I started a convention, he was going to be
my first guest. And he was my first guest. We give him the room
to bring his props and his ‘Evil Dead’ display that he doesn’t always get at
other shows. He's like family."
In closing, Ken had this to
say: "I just hope everybody
can get there. I hope those who can’t get there will give us a little bit
of thought and check out the website in the future. Maybe we’ll get some
guests next time that will draw you here. I always encourage fans to let me
know what they like and don’t like about the show, who they want to see in
the future. I just signed a 3 year extension, so you’ll see another 3 years of
Wasteland shows. I’m also going to be starting a spring show in April
of 2004. I’ll continue to do my best and promise not to get complacent. Everybody wish me luck, and we’ll be
doing this for years to come."
More Cinema Wasteland on Utter Trash:
Pictures: A couple
pages of shots from the October 2002 Cinema Wasteland Convention.
|
