Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor top of page | cover page

Welcome to Pezhead Monthly!

Last month I went to Stamford, Connecticut for the 13th Northeast Pez Convention, and had a real blast. And, as is customary whenever I attend a Pez convention, I have returned with a comprehensive recap, right here on the pages of Pezhead Monthly. Read on for a whole load of words and pictures detailing my adventures in Connecticut. There's also a royal cover image, some Pez Poetry, and the Pez Almost-Quote of the Month.

And remember, next month is the 2011 Pez Poetry Slam! Deadline for submissions has been extended to Friday, June 3. Submit today! Click here for details.

Take care and keep on Pezzin'!

Joe Durrant
Editor, Pezhead Monthly
joe@pezheadmonthly.com

13th Northeast Pez Convention: Luck Be a Pezhead Tonight top of page | cover page

The Northeast Pez convention took place on May 7-9, 2011, and I was there to experience it all. This marked the 13th year for the event, but for me, it was the first time around. I had a great time, and it is extremely likely that I'll be back as early as next year.

Up to this point, most of my pilgrimages to Pez conventions have been relatively close to home. Pezamania, which I've attended every year since 2001, is in Cleveland Ohio. I've also been to the St. Louis Pez convention once, and may go back there again soon. When I hopped on the flight for the Minnesota PezCon five years ago, I thought that would be the farthest I'd go for a Pez convention. But I eventually began to dream bigger. This year, I had planned to fly all the way out to the west coast for the Los Angeles Pez convention in February, but those plans fell through due to a lack of funds in the post-holiday weeks, as well as unpredictable weather (one of these years I WILL make it to that convention!). So I looked on the calendar for the next convention, and realized that the Northeast Pez convention in Stamford was just a couple of months away! So I booked the flight and the hotel room, and immediately began saving up for my latest Pez adventure.

About a week before the convention, I got a surprise e-mail from one of the convention hosts, Mary (Mary and Richie host both the Connecticut and Myrtle Beach Pez conventions). She asked permission to print out the Black Cat interview on a poster at the convention. Of course, I told her this was fine, and that I looked forward to seeing it when I got there.

After picking up my Pez luggage-tagged suitcase and rental car, flipping on the GPS, and driving through some neat small towns, I finally arrived at the hotel late in the afternoon on Thursday. Usually at Pez conventions, my room is away from all of the action, on a different floor even. This is fine with me, because I know that the hallways can get quite loud at times. But this time, I didn't think to specify a separate floor, and was placed right in the middle of it all: virtually across from the welcome room, and surrounded on all sides by dealers. And I have to say, I liked it. It wasn't that loud at all for the most part, and due to the smaller size of this convention compared to Cleveland, it had a closer, more intimate, more casual feel. Don't get me wrong, at Pezamania, I will still try to get a room away from the main action, but if (correction- when) I go to a smaller convention like Northeast one, I'm pretty sure it won't matter where my room is.

I headed down to the hotel lobby, where there was a welcome reception for convention registrants in the hotel lobby. I met up with Richie and Mary, the convention hosts. I had previously met them at Pezamania. They're nice, fun people, and were very welcoming. For those of you who don't know Richie, he also runs Pez Collector's News, which has been THE essential Pez newsletter since 1995. Sure, Pezhead Monthly has been gleefully riding the Pez train for 10 years now, but if you've had even a brief glance at the archive, you'll see that this is really more of a literary publication than one that delivers hard news about the hobby. Pez Collector's News is the best source for information on new and upcoming Pez releases, and also has ads, checklists, collector profiles, and more. I confess that, although I have subscribed to PCN in the past, I've since let my subscription lapse. However, as of the time of this writing, I am pleased to report that I am once again an active subscriber. And you should be too!

Along with Richie and Mary, I also met up with other Pezheads at the welcome reception. By now I knew many of these folks- dealers, collectors, and everyone in between- from all of the conventions we've been to together. It was great to see them again, and to meet a few others too. We caught up while enjoying good food and drink. Mary handed out welcome items for us, including a canister of jelly beans with the convention's theme (“Lucky 13”- complete with a pair of Black Cat Pez dispensers!), along with a pretty cool shot glass that I will have to use on a special occasion, for example, on a day that ends in “Y.”

After the reception, I headed to the hospitality room and picked up my welcome packet. Every convention has one of these packets. It usually includes the convention badge, an agenda, a t-shirt, perhaps a special convention dispenser, information on local attractions, and other assorted good stuff. Among the goodies in the Northeast Pez packet was a special whistle dispenser packaged exclusively by Pez, Inc. for 2011 conventions. There was also, may I say, pretty much the coolest Pez convention t-shirt I've ever seen. Made of thin, breathable fabric, the t-shirt is black. It had the same logo that was on the jelly bean canister. At first it looks like something you'd see at a biker bar (although I have yet to personally test this theory)- lots of flames, a couple of devious looking cats, and a big number 13- but then, on a closer look, you'll see that the cats are attached to Pez dispensers. Very cool! I mean, check this t-shirt out and just try your best to argue that it's not b-b-b-b-bad to the bone!

(click for a larger version)

Oh, and of course, I began room hopping almost right away. It didn't take long for me to pick up my first scores of the convention- the Hello Kitty crystal skulls set- from Ron, a dealer whose room was actually right next to mine (Ron had some great stuff, as always, and in fact most of my Pez money went to him this time around). I had heard about the Hello Kitty crsytal skulls set before I went to the convention and they were at the top of my list, for newer dispensers anyway. And may I say, they pair quite well with the new t-shirt!

Outside of some more room hopping, the other big highlight of Thursday had to have been the swap party. It took place in the hospitality room. Because I flew to the convention instead of driving there, I only had a couple of things to sell or trade. So I only sold 2 or 3 dispensers, but that also made room for a few more to bring home, so it's all good.

But at the swap party, there was something else that was quite cool: A display case with many of the upcoming Pez releases for 2011 and 2012! I spent a lot of time staring at that case, and being amazed at all of the great new Pez coming out soon. Among the new releases were a set of US Presidents, a new Justice League set (Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern), a Lord of the Rings collector's box set, some new holiday, baseball, and NCAA football dispensers, and more. It was quite thrilling to see all of these new Pez items, and to know that at some point, most if not all of them would be on my Pez shelf.

Here are pictures of some of what was on display. (Note that the actual Pez dispensers for Lord of the Rings were not available yet.)

(click for larger versions)

Also at the swap party, the Black Cat Pezhead Monthly interview was on display, as promised by Mary:

After some more room hopping on Thursday evening and Friday morning, I headed off for a non-Pez adventure on Friday afternoon. I won't get into the bloody details here, but to make a long story short, I was this close to being an audience member for “The Maury Povich Show,” which happens to film in Stamford (along with “The Steve Wilkos Show” and, oh yes, “The Jerry Springer Show”). Although it ultimately did not work out, it was still quite the adventure. If you're interested in hearing more about it... well, I'll be in Cleveland for Pezamania in July, so you can ask me there!

Stamford, by the way, is a great little town to visit. Lots of neat little shops and restaurants. I ate at some great places, including Bradford's Grill (fantastic chicken wings!!), Bedford Street Diner (I ate there twice; their chicken fingers were out of this world), and Remo's Pizzeria (outstanding pizza). I also caught a movie at the Bow Tie Cinemas Majestic 6, which was a neat little theater that was a throwback to the pre-multiplex, pre-stadium seat places we're spoiled by these days, complete with retro concession ads before the movie. We need more movie theaters like this!

So anyway, back to the Pez...

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