GOH: Harlan Ellison
Fan GOH: Bill Bowers
European GOH: Josef Nesvadba
Toastmaster: F.M. Busby
Attendance: 4700
Phoenix, Arizona, is bloody hot in the summer.
Don flew to Phoenix, took a taxi to the hotel, and stayed inside
almost the entire con. It was over 1000° out there!
Don stayed in room 2110 of the Hyatt. It was the first time
he had seen one of the "new" Hyatt hotels -- the towering
lobby, the balconies looking so science-fictional -- and he fell
in love with it.
On Friday night Don found a note stuck under his door: "Meet
me tonight at Hugo's between 6:00 and 8:00!" (Hugo's was
one of the bars in the hotel.) Well, he went down there -- to
find a dozen or so fans who had done the same. A cheap trick by
the hotel -- but Don managed to make a few temporary friendships,
and since one of them was a woman in charge of gophers,
he wound up being a security gopher
for a couple hours on Saturday and Sunday. He watched the Art Show, verified badges of
people entering, that sort of thing.
As far as programming
goes, Don remembers only two events: The Saturday midnight premeire
of Watership Down, and Robert Forward's talk on "Life
on a Neutron Star."
The IguanaCon had a post office there in the hotel, so that
they could cancel mail with a special Worldcon
postmark.
Boston won the 1980 Worldcon; Don
can't say he was sorry. He just didn't think Baltimore had the
facilities. Since this was pre-Convention Center, I think he was
right.
The "In Memoriam" page of the program
book lists Raymond A. Palmer, Tom Reamy, Leigh Brackett and
J. Francis McComas.
The Hyatt had one of those revolving restaurants on the roof;
one fan had tacked a postcard view of the hotel to the bulletin
board along with a note: "The Phoenix Hyatt Regency, with
the New Childproof Cap."
Another bulletin board posting touched us all: "To the Staff and Members of IguanaCon, I want to thank you all, particularly Mr. Ellison, for providing me with an incredibly far-out birthday party. What a way to turn 21! (As of Aug. 31). /signed/ Anonymous (I don't want to be spanked 21 x 6000 times) neo-fan from Colorado."
Janice Gelb's Iguanacon Report
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