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All things Buffy LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- "Sheee -- had to leave (bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp!) -- Los Angeles!"
Fans of the Vampire Slayer travel to
LA to party with cast, crew and devoteesBy Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.comFans surrounding stars from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" didn't get the hint.
As the clock struck midnight in the American Legion Hall south of the Hollywood Bowl on Feb. 16, the tech guy working the "Buffy" Posting Board party, short of yelling at people to leave, was hoping that blasting those lyrics would get people to go home so he could too.
"She had to GET OUT! (get out!) GET OUT! (get out!) ..."
The song "Los Angeles" tells a tale of shattered dreams, the star-making promise of the City of Angels left unfulfilled. But for about 300 fans of the cult supernatural TV drama -- a select gathering of the series' Web site's chat mates included, this year, a small group of current and former Honolulu residents, and their hopes and dreams remained intact as they mingled with invited cast and crew members that night, all to benefit the city's Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Jeff Lam and Collin Chang left Hawaii for L.A. to find what thousands of other people before and after them tirelessly work for -- to be an actor, a screenwriter and, maybe, just maybe, a STAR. The friends they left back home, Joe Lui-Kwan, Shawna Cutter and Lance Koyanagi, joined them the weekend of the party in anticipation of meeting, if only briefly, creator Joss Whedon and some of the cast members who breathe life into their favorite characters.
In a just world, a quality "dramedy" like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (now in its fifth season on UPN, the last four on The WB) would garner a slew of Emmy nominations and awards like clockwork. It hasn't, to the chagrin of fans and TV critics, but it's that smirk-inducing title and supernatural story line that keep viewers hungry for more.
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Ironically, if the show were as big as "Friends," or even "Star Trek" and "The X-Files," fans wouldn't have the kind of access to the stars that they enjoy at these annual parties (albeit at the cost of $75 per attendee).The relationship between celebrities and their fans is a curious one. While celebrities thrive on the attention of the public and a voracious media, it's best experienced behind the shield of publicists and handlers. Doing the occasional grip-and-grin with fans is OK, but god forbid one of those stalker types finds out where you live or comes to know your daily routine. So a carefully regulated function like this party is the best of both worlds; fans can chat and pose for photos with their favorite actors, and stars can make themselves available without feeling unsafe. Besides, if they get overwhelmed, they can always retire to that special sanctuary known as "the VIP room" to relax with their own kind.
BEFORE LEAVING for Los Angeles, Lui-Kwan, Cutter and Koyanagi met in Lui-Kwan's apartment to talk about the trip.
The messy kitchen and living room-slash-bedroom is furnished with all the charm of a college dorm room. A large-screen television, covered with comic book and movie fantasy figures, dominates the room. One of the figures is of the pert vampire slayer herself, at the ready with wooden stake in hand.
Lui-Kwan is the most avid "Buffy" fan of the three. He was the one who stays in contact via e-mail with PrezBlade (a k a Bryan Bonner, the party committee's VP of public relations and marketing) and, in a month, was able to get himself and his friends coveted spots on the party's guest list.
"Getting on the list is first come, first served," he said. "And after we registered as soon as the invitation opened up on the party's Web site, we got the word of acceptance three days later."
They didn't know who would show up from the cast of "Buffy" and its offshoot drama "Angel," but the three knew who they wanted to see. Lui-Kwan opted for "Buffy" cast member James Marsters, who was scheduled to sing with rock band Four Star Mary at the party. Cutter and Koyanagi wanted to meet two of "Angel's" main stars, David Boreanaz and Charisma Carpenter, respectively.
Lui-Kwan's passion was such that he admitted to going over to his ex-girlfriend's place to watch "Buffy" when it was only available on the WGN/Chicago signal offered by her cable service. When that station was dropped, Lui-Kwan and his band of fellow fans (including Lam and Chang) scraped together money to pay for a satellite TV hookup at Jose's Mexican Restaurant in Kaimuki, just to get their weekly "Buffy" fix.
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"The show's story line and recurring cast of characters rewards longtime viewers with references to older episodes," Lui-Kwan said."It also has a sense of humor, and the chicks ..." Koyanagi said, "every woman is pretty bad! Even Buffy's mom!"
Lui-Kwan said: "Jeff was the first person from Hawaii who ever attended a party, but this is the first time a small group from Hawaii is flying over. I want to get a picture with me and James smoking (like Marsters' "bad-boy" vampire character Spike is wont to do) and also meet and thank Joss Whedon for what he's created."
There was also talk that if the circumstances played out that night, they might be able "to do the hang, if possible" with one or two of the cast members at a nearby bar, like their friend Jeff did after last year's party.
BOTH JEFF Lam and Collin Chang have been spurred on, careerwise, by all things "Buffy." Through them, their Hawaii friends have vicariously experienced "Buffy" cast sightings in L.A.
Chang (who with Lui-Kwan is the oldest of the group, both in their early 30s), was doing free-lance ad copy-writing in L.A., but, at the time of the party, was on the verge of closing a six-figure deal with Atlas Entertainment with a script of his that he describes as "a psychological thriller with a strong female lead in the vein of 'The Sixth Sense.'"
With the deal closing the day before the Saturday party, "I can now tell people, without having to wince inside, that I am now an official screenwriter," he said.
But even more exciting than the deal, he enthusiastically relates his "Buffy" moments since his arrival three years ago.
"After being in L.A. for just two months, a black sports car cut me off while I was driving late one night. So at the next red light, I pulled up right behind the car and flipped the driver off." Seeing what looked like a dangerous, bald-headed Asian-American thug, "the driver pulled around to my side, wound down the window and apologized. It was Charisma Carpenter!"
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on KFVE, with reruns of the past four seasons' shows playing both on the cable-only FX and late weekend nights on KHON. "Angel" airs at midnight Mondays on KFVE. The "Buffy" Web site is www.buffyupn.com. The "Buffy" chat site is www.bronzebeta.com. THE SHOW
Chang would later meet other cast members like Alyson Hannigan and Anthony Stewart Head at a signing at a Santa Barbara comic store. "I gave Alyson a dolphin pendant that I, Joe and Lance bought in Hawaii, as a token of thanks for bringing (her character of) Willow to life. She was so sweet! She gave full-body hugs -- not those leaning, pat-on-the-back kind -- and 'ASH' was the nicest guy I'd ever met. I gave him an aloha shirt-shaped greeting card, and he thanked me by name! He didn't have to do that, since I was already identified as No. 406 in the long line."
But the ultimate was when he met the show's star, Sarah Michelle Gellar, at a bookstore Chang worked at. "I was behind the register at the time, and when I saw her in the store, I immediately called Joe in Hawaii and said, 'Guess who's just 30 feet away from me?' She ended buying a bunch of travel books from me for $230, cash only. She looks tiny in real life!"
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Now he and his friends were about to join the chosen few of "Buffy" fandom. "I feel much more happy for Joe and Lance," Chang said. "It's going to be like Shangri-La for Joe, who's the biggest fan of 'Buffy' that I know."AS THE fan base for the show has grown, so has the party, from an intimate club setting to the cavernous American Legion Hall. Surprisingly, the place is not festooned in gothic decorations the night of the party. Instead, just two amber stage lights illuminate the sides of the arched hall, with a concert stage at its end.
Just to the side of the lobby, with its portable bars and generous appetizer area, four computers are set up in a room filled with special items to be auctioned off and raffled. Some fans were logged on to the Bronze: Beta Web site, chatting with those unfortunates who couldn't be there.
This is the third consecutive party for fledgling actor Jeff Lam. Surveying the large, basically normal-looking gathering of fans from the United States, Canada, Germany, England and Japan, he said: "This one looks like a lot younger crowd, a face lift for the 'Buffy' party -- either that or I've gotten older! I do consider myself now a veteran, like an upperclassman in high school. I'm not as nervous as I used to be." (Although, truth be told, he was hoping that cast member Emma Caulfield would show up; he was clutching a photograph he had taken with her at the 2000 party and wanted it autographed. Caulfield never showed up.)
"The show turned my attitude around," he said. "Ever since I've been watching the show, I've envied anybody who's gotten a role on 'Buffy.'" Even though Lam auditions for anything remotely promising, "I still want to be on the show, whether as an extra or even getting a small speaking part.
"Coming here really jump-started my life," he said. "Anything was better than the $5-an-hour job I had back home! It's like what the Make-A-Wish Foundation does for the kids. I want my own dream to come true."
Lam then points out a diminutive and chatty young woman in the crowd who he recognizes as one of the show's more active fans. Nineteen-year-old Allie Costa is known as "Little Willow" on the posting board and coordinator of her own "Slayground" Web site. She's also a professional Web designer and publicist for author Christopher Golden, who has written several "Buffy" novel and comic book stories, as well as scripts for a couple of the show's supporting cast.
"I've been posting since '97, a Bronze vet," Costa said amiably. "This is the one time of the year when we get together with friends we've met through the posting board in one room, from places like Germany and New York." With everyone wearing laminated Internet-name tags, "it's a nice way to place the name with a face."
Costa's life has been closely tied with the series since the start. "It's the kind of drama that builds slowly; it was originally a midseason replacement for the WB. While most people laugh at the show's title, they don't realize how strong a drama it is. And it can turn comedic in the blink of an eye.
"While the show's demons and vampires can be looked at as metaphors of self-image, the human characters themselves are realistic, drawn with a lot of heart and soul," she said. "There's the group of outsiders that are friends of Buffy -- the geeky girl and the Britisher dressed in tweed, looking like a fish out of water -- and Buffy herself is both blessed and cursed as a vampire slayer. The show's a combination of genres, with brilliant acting, and the music and the town setting of Sunnydale, Calif., is just as much a character of the show.
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"The show's growth has paralleled my own life since I was a sophomore in high school. It's an adult-type show for teens, not an issue-of-the-week show, but a character-driven one."BEFORE HE was emboldened to join the crush of fans around their favorite stars, Lance Koyanagi nursed a beer, sitting in one of the rows of chairs that bordered the dance floor. "It's all a little overwhelming," he said. "I hope Charisma shows up!" (She didn't, and neither did Boreanaz.)
Meanwhile, Chang was enjoying it all. In keeping with his gift-giving demeanor, he presented show creator Whedon with a framed still from "Phantom of the Paradise."
"It's in honor of the successful musical episode he and the cast did this season," he said, "and I addressed it 'to the artist formerly known as Joss,' to christen his career as a composer. After meeting him, if I had to only use one word to describe him, that word would be 'sincere.' I get a warm feeling from how the cast members are connecting with the fans."
As Adam Busch, one of the supporting cast members, sings with his band onstage, a small retinue of paparazzi are anticipating the arrival of "Buffy" and "Angel" stars about to enter the room through the hall's side entrance.
Making good use of my media pass, though "armed" only with a friend's portable 35 mm camera, Lam and I hunkered down next to the photographers, watching the slow, steady procession of stars. As each are assaulted by a steady stream of blinding flashes, each slips easily into that well-practiced star turn-and-pose.
Unfortunately, we couldn't finagle entry to the VIP room. "I wish my friend Leonard Roberts had come," Lam said. "He would've helped us get in!" Roberts had a minor recurring role in an earlier season of "Buffy," and can currently be seen playing a young Joe Louis in the Starz! cable movie "Joe and Max" this month. A dinner the Hawaii gang had scheduled with Roberts the next evening fell through as he was tied up with other projects.
"This is crazy, man! All the seasons are coming!" said a disbelieving Lam, meaning that actors from throughout "Buffy's" run were showing up. Any kind of sighting, including those of minor actors, was still enough to get fans a-running, and those actors ate up the attention. Some female fans placed their hands over their mouths or bit down on their knuckles to repress squeals in the presence of gorgeous men.
The actors soon gathered on the concert stage to pose with an oversize $20,000 check made out to the city's Make-A-Wish Foundation. As fans screamed and stars beamed, it was a moment to be savored, the perfect Hollywood public collaboration.
Even someone like Joe Ramirez, a stocky, friendly former Texan, enjoyed the evening in his official capacity as the VIP room's front-line security, part of, as his business card read, Threat Management and Protection Inc. The 11-year veteran said, while occasionally keeping in contact with the 14 other guys working the party via a small lapel mic and earphone, his firm "is hired for parties like this, looking for anyone suspicious, watching for anyone who could get out of hand."
"What we do depends on the crowd, and, I gotta say, this is a nice crowd, cooperative, respectful of the stars, no trouble at all. In some ways we have to use our own PR; while we have to respect people, if one of them gets rowdy, it all changes and then we have to be in control of the situation, you know what I'm saying?"
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His co-workers kept a careful eye on those fans still remaining in the hall that surrounded actors J. August Richards and Amber Benson as the party was winding down.Shelley Ginsburg, director of public relations and communications with the Los Angeles Make-A-Wish Foundation, spoke of her organization's relationship with the annual party. "The BPB party committee originally approached us, helping us with our fund raising by working with the celebrities," she said. "We've made a special connection with the 'Buffy' and 'Angel' shows and are pleased to get their support. Especially after Sept. 11, we've bounced back, as people kept us and the children in their thoughts."
And there were smiles all around in the Hawaii group as well, even though there would be no after-party hang with a star or two. And James Marsters didn't show up for his expected performance, either. But Lui-Kwan wasn't disappointed.
Like he said, "There's always next year's party!"
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