'Lost': Revisiting Zap2Locke Con, Part 2

So stop me if you've heard this one: two Boston transplants walk into a bar in Chicago to host a "Lost" meet-up. You haven't? Oh goodie. Then I won't bore you with the tale of what went down at Zap2Locke Con itself.

Yesterday I went into detail about its planning, but today I'm going to discuss the actual event. To be honest, I had no expectations. Or, to put it more accurately, I didn't possess the capabilities to properly apply expectations to it. It's weird to try and prognosticate an event when half of your selling point in getting people to attend is the chance to meet yourself. Maybe there will come a day when this seems like a perfectly awesome reason for people to show up, but trust me: I'm not there yet.

All I had going into the event was my wife, a host of print materials obtained that afternoon from Kinkos, and reader mri, who soldiered all the way from nowhere near Chicago to attend. I knew she was flying in for the event, which meant that I could be assured that at least one person would attend. Win! But since neither of the other two co-hosts could arrive until a little later, it was up to us to set things up.

Now, what you must know about The Dark Horse: it's a Steelers bar. As in, the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, in the essential shadow of Wrigley Field lies a bar whose primary constituents are die-hard, displaced Steelers fans. To say the owner of the bar was "confused" when we first pitched our meet-up idea was an understatement. But that confusion was nothing compared to the 10-12 Steelers fans already perched out in the beer garden when we arrived on the scene.

It was bad enough that we arrived without wearing Ben Roethlisberger jerseys. But on top of that transgression, we waded through a crowd of people already pre-partying for that Sunday's Steelers-Bears throwdown bearing various print materials with "Lost" iconography. This would simply not stand for certain imbibers. Most people treated us with enough cold derision to send me straight back to my high school drama club days, but one guy decided he would get his Steel City version of "Braveheart" on and rally the locals against us.

Bearing, for no worldly reason, a single leaf across his half-bald head, he proceeded to try and start a series of cheers that inevitably commented on our status as either possessing the physical properties of a working vacuum cleaner or bearing a striking resemblance to enormous felines. Luckily, he was the bad seed and quickly policed by the crowd themselves, who wanted nothing more to simply pretend we didn't exist. More like high school by the moment!

Going into this event, we'd told people to show up around 7 pm, assuming that we would be fighting for space/tables with the regulars. We learned on-site that we'd actually get the space to ourselves at 7:30 pm, but couldn't set up early lest we give the other customers a heaping host of nerd cooties. OK, the bartender didn't literally say "nerd cooties," but she sure seemed to say it with her eyes. At this point I realized that I didn't know if anyone coming knew what the hell I looked like, and without the ability to hang Dharma logos up, people entering early might not find us. I felt like the anti-Ben Linus at this point in terms of planning and preparation.

Luckily, none of my fears actually came true. People started trickling in around six, and by the actual starting time, we had about 50 people show up for the Con. I made sure to meet as many as possible upon walking in, seeing as how I was co-host and all. Unfortunately, when put into social situations in which I feel vaguely uncomfortable (i.e., most of them), my voice goes up an octave or eight, meaning that many people now have the incorrect notion that I look like Anthony Edwards' stunt double but in fact do voice work for Minnie Mouse. Not cool.

Before the crowd got to its maximum, Zap2it's Andy Grieser and Long Live Locke's Erika Olson joined the fray and did their part in order to make everyone feel welcome as fellow co-hosts. I can only liken the experience of constantly moving from table to table in order to greet people to my wedding day, where I spent my entire night talking to people yet feeling like I had ignored everyone. It was a really weird sensation, and my Hello Kitty journal heard all about it later that night. But essentially, the four co-hosts spent all night orbiting each other in order to keep the guests happy. Andy might have juggled at one point. It's unclear. Part of "circling the room all night" included "not eating anything despite constantly drinking" which led to me seeing Yemi in the corner making a batch of Wrecks on the Beach for the masses.

Since it was a meet-up for both this blog and Long Live Locke, not everyone in attendance knew about both blogs. This led to a series of fantastically awkward conversations in which people had to admit they didn't read us both, as if either Erika or I would have cared in the least. Honestly, we were thrilled anyone showed up for any reason, even it was for the $3 drink specials. That's a pretty good reason, if you ask me. Way better than listening to Minnie Mouse McGee break glass with the sound of his voice.

About two hours in, we held a raffle to award prizes. While Erika and Andy both brought swag from their respective sites, ABC also donated a few Blu-Ray season sets for the event as well. Also, we gave away a date with Elizabeth Mitchell. (Damnit, that was another alcohol-induced hallucination.) So three lucky Zap2Locke Con attendees won copies of both Season 1 and Season 2 on Blu-Ray, a pretty sweet prize if I may say so myself.

Above all, I got to meet some great people I would never have met otherwise. While "Lost" blogs were the conduit by which everyone gathered, I'm happy to report that people found more to talk about than simply the show. Sure, we got our theorizing on something fierce at times, but mostly I just enjoyed learning about those that made the effort to show up. You can see a host of great photos from the event over at the Facebook page for the event, which give a pretty great flavor of what the night was all about.

So, mad props to Andy, Erika, and my wife Diana for helping me to organize this event. Mad props to all of you that attended. And mad props to all of you that have read the blog despite being sick of all the Zap2Locke Con mentions over the past few weeks. Nuttin' but luv for y'all.

Tomorrow: the return of Unappreciated "Lost" Theatre!

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group.