REPORT: Trekkies invade Las Vegas for ‘Star Trek’ con

Hundreds of people lined up for autographs throughout the weekend. The prices ranged from $20 to $90 for the big three: Patrick Stewart, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Despite the sometimes steep asking prices, the autograph tickets flew off the shelves. Stewart and Shatner each signed more than 600 items for the fans.

Several attendees also paid $99 for celebrity breakfasts with the talent on hand.

Saturday saw Leonard Nimoy’s second-to-last convention appearance. After Creation Entertainment’s upcoming Chicago convention, Nimoy is retiring from the public spotlight. For Mr. Spock’s appearance in Las Vegas, the auditorium was packed to the gills. The actor rightfully received a standing ovation when he came on stage.

Nimoy talked mostly about his career as an aspiring actor and how he traveled from Boston to Hollywood at a young age. He had fond memories of his time on Star Trek: The Original Series and the subsequent films. A large portion of his talk was devoted to his love for photography and some of his latest projects.

He finished with a heartfelt thank you to Star Trek fans. Fighting back tears, the actor expressed gratitude for the years of fan support for both himself and his family. Offering a Vulcan goodbye with his right hand, the man who brought Mr. Spock to life exited the stage to thunderous applause.

As to be expected, autographs and photo ops with Nimoy sold out quickly.

Source: Hollywood Soapbox

Leonard Nimoy says goodbye forever at Star Trek convention

Las Vegas - Saturday brought out the biggest crowd in recent memory in anticipation of Leonard Nimoy retiring from doing fan conventions.

Costume day is always a big day at the Official Las Vegas Star Trek Convention. And when historical Trek moments happen the fans always show up in big numbers. All there were anticipating the afternoon with Leonard Nimoy and the costume friendly fans came out by the hundreds.

(...)

After a lunch intermission the afternoon belonged to Leonard Nimoy appearing for his second to last time ever at a convention with his retirement announcement. He came well prepared to provide closure for fans and himself.

He stood at the podium and took the fans through his history through story, poetry, and photos. His opening was great, playing the video he did with Bruno Mars, it could not have been more appropriate.

From his childhood, to train he took to Hollywood, selling insurance, to cleaning fish tanks, and driving a cab in LA were he had JFK as passenger who left Nimoy with a bit of wisdom "there is always room for one more good one."

He stayed on format covering stories from his first films, television jobs, and theater experiences. Then he spoke about highlights from Star Trek and the remainder of his career.

Lenard Nimoy bids a teary farewell as he is retiring from the convention circuit with second to last appearance in Las Vegas.

He told the fans the origin of the Vulcan hand sign came from his Jewish childhood. Then the story of having to evacuate one convention with the help of the fire department and a story of mysterious phone calls to him while on a college speaking engagement in Wyoming.

Having gone to UCLA to study photography he spoke at length about this passion which has lead to three photo books, pictures hanging in museums, and a few stories relating to them.

He came upon the end of his time wrapping up with his later directorial and acting career, he also took a moment to reflect on Deforest Kelly, William Shatner, and James Dohan.

As he attempted to say a final farewell his voice cracked and the tears came. The last words he said was "live long and prosper." It became evident at the end that Leonard Nimoy had chosen to bow out while still on top and a desire to do so honorably and selflessly by sharing the moment with fans.

Source: Digital Journal

Recapping Lenord Nemoy [sic.] Live Streaming From Las Vegas 2011

What a wonderful treat this one was. And what a wonderful actor and human being Leonard Nimoy is. This being his last Las Vegas Star trek Convention for reasons he only knows and we as fans should respect and not speculate was one of those magical moments that I wished I would have been there in person.
The show started with an film intro of Leonard Nimoy in a bath robe in a comical theatric short music video set to the music by Bruno Mars “The Lazy Song”(Video embedded below). Actually its the official alternate song if you want to get technical in which Leonard Nimoy goes about his life in his robe without a care in the world and looking more like Walter Matthau in the old Odd Couple movie then what we think of when we think of Leonard Nimoy. A great humorous way to start the event and a great way to let people know that he has a lighter side.

He received a thunderous ovation when his name was announced as he walked on stage to the music of Star Trek the Motion Picture. He opens by saying . “How did I get involved with Bruno Mars ? “ Long story short his stepson Aaron Bay-Schuck, the Atlantic Records executive who signed Bruno Mars to the label asked him to do a cameo. Leonard went on to say “The next thing I knew I was in whole damn thing”.
He then turned to his life . How his parents were Russian immigrants at the turn of the 19th/ 20th century . He joked about how his parents were aliens (from Russia) “went to Boston and became citizens , I was born in Boston a citizen and went to Hollywood and became an alien”.

(...)

The stories that stood out the most was his time as an actor from his beginnings to now. The showed his career arc that started with him staring in his first movie Zombies of the Stratosphere
in which he said “that great experience was followed by another great movie called Attack of the Brain Eaters”. This was his way of saying that his career started off to a bumpy start to say the least and how he had to do odd jobs like fish tank cleaning and such to live.

(...)

The show ended with him tearfully announcing that this was the last show he would be doing and bowing to the audience as they errupted in aplause. A fitting salute to a great actor . He indeed has done honor to his craft. If you are a fan and are interested in seeing this presentation please go to TVOOP . It is a pay to view feature of 7 dollars but its worth it.

Source: Scifiology.com

STAR TREK LAS VEGAS CON – SATURDAY

Leonard Nimoy Bids Farewell To Las Vegas Con

The highlight of Saturday at the Star Trek Con in Las Vegas was an appearance by Leonard Nimoy. The original Spock came with an elaborate presentation taking the audience on a journey through his life from before, during and after Star Trek. This was the same presentation he gave earlier this year at Phoenix Comic Con, and video of that is available on YouTube.

What was different this time, was how Nimoy concluded his time. He became emotional, even tearing up as he haltingly said:

"Friends, this is a very special event for me. I am saying goodbye to this event – I have been here every year for many years and I am filled with gratitude. To you, and to Star Trek, for what it has done for me – the opportunities it has given, my family, all of us. I thank you so much. May you all live long and prosper."

Source: Trek Movie

Creation's Las Vegas Trek Convention, DAY 3 Recap

At 2:35, Leonard Nimoy greeted a full house -- at least 5,800 people, after a screening of the hysterical Bruno Mars video in which he recently appeared. Sporting a LLAP t-shirt, Nimoy shared stories about his youth, his move into acting, the odd jobs he did (cleaning fish tanks, for example) and his time in the Army. He illustrated the conversation with a slide show, by the way. And then, of course, he got into Star Trek. One memorable story: the origins of the Vulcan split-fingered gesture. He saw the rabbis at his temple do it years earlier, with both hands. "I never knew it would come in handy," he said to laughter and applause. He then guided the crowd through the rest of his career, including other acting projects and directing films. And then he talked about how Trek and Spock rose from the ashes. Finally, he discussed his work as a photographer. And then, on the verge of tears and with his voice cracking, Nimoy acknowledged what fans already knew, that this would be his final Vegas convention. He thanked everyone and closed, appropriately, by saying, "May you all live long and prosper." After a brief curtain call, the legend departed the stage to a standing ovation.

Source: Star Trek.com

Beyond Spock

Nimoy acknowledges that he and everyone associated with Alien Voices was worried about the possibility that today's consumer — so spoiled by high-tech products, so used to mind-boggling special effects in feature films — might not be open to the audio dramatisation concept. Fortunately, Nimoy notes, those concerns proved prettymuchunfounded. "I am finding the audience open to us,very much so," he remarks. "The job is to draw people's attention. Once they become aware of what we're doing and begin to listen,there's a great sense of enjoyment. We get wonderful feedback about the productions we've done so far and we're told that we're getting better and better at them. The trick, really, is to get the audience to try it that very first time."

When gearing up to tape a production, Nimoy and de Lancie co-ordinate with Nat Segaloff, the writer who adapts the selected science fiction novel into a radio play script. Once that's done, after several weeks, a cast must be put together, as well as recording technicians and the like. A rehearsal, often held in the basement of Nimoy's house, follows. Then, on the appointed day, everyone gathers for a taping session. It requires a lot of work, Nimoy stresses, to sound so improvised. "It's a rather meticulous preparation process we go through each time," he says. "These are adaptations we're doing, but it's not like we're pulling a book off the shelf and going into a recording studio. The script has to be right. We decide who will do what in the rehearsal process, and in some cases an actor will play more than one role. Also, during the rehearsal stage, we figure out what music and sound effects will be needed. It's only then that we go into a studio and record it."

(...)

Nimoy also enjoyed himself on the set of Brave New World, a made-for-television movie that aired in April on America's top-rated network, NBC. Nimoy starred as Mustapha Mond in the two-hour film based on Aldous Huxley's controversial 1932 novel about a futuristic world which embraces happy pills, peace, free sex, genetic engineering and the like, while keeping under wraps 'uncivilised' sorts who lead a 20th Century-like existence replete with love, natural parenthood and, for better or worse, genuine emotion. Mond served Brave New World as something of a benevolent dictator. When would-be lovers Bernard (Peter Gallagher) and Lenina (Rya Kihlstedt) decide they're miserable in Brave New World's supposed paradise, they visit a reservation full of savages, bringing two back to civilisation, an action that leaves the brave new world at the brink of anarchy.

"Brave New World is incredibly timely," Nimoy notes, referring in particular to how the story's depiction of government propaganda so remarkably echoes the reality of the United States being spoon-fed 'news' about President Clinton's purported affair with a White House intern, with the 'facts' delivered in the light most favourable to the information's source. "The whole idea of spin-doctoring, for example, has become part of our language today. We hear from the media that 'The Kenneth Starr spin on this is...' or 'The White House spin on this is...' or 'Lewinsky's lawyer's spin on this is...' They're all but telling us how we should think about something, how we should feel. We get everyone's spin and are left to figure out where the truth is and whether there's truth in any of it. It's all about mind control. And after all the spinning is done, out come the polls. From that, the spinners figure out who's winning the battle for people's minds. In that sense, we've already got a Brave New World."

Nimoy describes Mond, officially titled 'The Controller', as the perfect politico, the utmost pragmatist. "He's a guy who recognises where the parade is going and knows how to get out in front and retain his place as leader," Nimoy explains. "He has his own interests, but he never lets thern interfere with his politics, his control of the game. He takes no stand based on his needs or desires. He separates, totally, his individual self from the job. Therefore, the job isn't contaminated by anything he cares about. In this way, he's the ultimate politician who can switch to any side of an issue depending on which way the power is going."

(...)

Another special television event unfolded in June, when the US Sci-Fi Channel broadcast repeats of the original Star Trek series, each hosted by Nimoy. To prepare for this new assignment, Nimoy sat down, watched the episodes, scribbled notes and memories, and prepared to tape wrap-around commentary. "That was a unique experience," he says. "It was remarkable. I saw episodes I'd never seen before.

"I did not get to see every one of the 79 episodes when they first aired. I think it's still a very interesting body of work. Most of the shows hold up very, very well. Some of the thematic ideas that were so powerful in the earlier episodes still ring true, still hold weight and still merit attention. I was very impressed. I must also say we had a lot of turkeys, episodes that were just filling time. I remembered how hard it was to maintain that intense proliferation of ideas. It wasn't easy to do a weekly series. But when we hit the ball, we hit it pretty well.

"Yes, it was strange to sit there and look at something we did 30 years ago, but I'm glad I did it. For me, personally, I felt a great sense of satisfaction watching the shows. My goal, since I started in this business, has been to try to make my living as an actor. To see that perhaps my best-known work was in a show that was as ambitious and as frequently successful and as thought-provoking as Star Trek gives me a great sense of satisfaction."

(...)

"I enjoyed doing Vulcan's Forge a lot," Nimoy enthuses. "I liked the book and doing the audio book version was fun because I got to do some interesting characterisations. I did about three or four character voices in the piece. That was a good challenge for me. As for the animation work, or the narrating of documentaries that I so often do, that's always a pleasure. I can run into a studio, say a few lines and go onto something else. None of those projects takes very long and sometimes they are very entertaining. As the days go by, I go and do whatever comes in that's interesting."

Although he still attends the occasional Star Trek convention and partakes of assorted ventures that either tap into his days as Spock or find him standing beside actors from the current Star Trek series, Nimoy asserts that he keeps, at best, 'marginal' tabs on the world of Star Trek. "I'm aware of the Star Trek: The Next Generation films and of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. I know that Star Trek: The Experience opened at the Las Vegas Hilton and I understand that it has been very successful," he explains. "I walked through Star Trek: The Experience before it opened. I was in Vegas for another reason and went over to the Hilton. I thought it was a very good exhibit. I felt a sense of connection to it, actually, because I directed a show called Body Wars for the Epcot exhibition centre at Disney World in Florida."

Dear Friends and Fans,

So many have asked about our AlienVoices productions that we've decide to offer them to you as a direct download for $9.99 each.

Our website is growing and in the very near future we will also be offering videos of some of our other titles: Canterville Ghost, Cask of Amontillado, Mark of the Beast, First Men in the Moon and The Lost World.

We had a great time making these shows and we hope you enjoy them - be sure to tell us what you think.

Best, Leonard and John

Beaming up: Leonard Nimoy
by Ruth Berman

The two small rooms* of Leonard Nimoy's office are piled high with papers -- books, scripts, magazines, letters. The walls are covered with a variety of appropriate pictures -- a caricature of Spock as a boy drawn to illustrate an article called "My Son the Vulcan," photos of Nimoy's family ...even the bathroom door is decorated with a poster of Nimoy in costume as Kreton from Visit to a Small Planet.

"You've managed to take part in a great number of activities outside Star Trek," I said. "Why do you do them all?"

"A lot of reasons," Nimoy answered. Exposure helps an actor's career. Some of them interest me very much in themselves. Singing, for instance, [sic.] Making records -- putting the whole thing over in the voice instead of having the whole body to work with -- that's challenging. And you take those same songs and perform them in a visual situation -- on variety shows or during personal appearances at fairs, and so on -- and that calls for new techniques again. Sometimes you get disappointed, though. I subbed for Joe Pyne, a couple of times, and I was looking forward to talking to people with unusual, even crackpot ideas, seeing what made them hold such extremes of opinion. I was scheduled to interview two men who'd written a book about flying saucers, and I thought "Great!" -- but then they turned out to be so cautious that they didn't really say anything. They hadn't seen UFO's themselves. They could only talk about other people who'd seen UFO's, people they'd described in their book, and they had to leave out names, dates, places. Now if the show had brought on people who actually thought they'd seen a flying saucer, that would have been interesting."

"If you worry about getting typecast as Spock, I suppose the outside activities are one way to remind people that you can do more."

"Yeah," he said, "yeah, that's true. I don't worry about it -- I'm too busy doing the best job I can playing Spock to waste time in what he'd call an illogical emotion. But I'm aware of the possibility. I don't make personal appearances as Spock; I go as myself. And you remember my first record from Dot was Leonard Nimoy Presents MR. SPOCK'S MUSIC FROM OUTER SPACE. Emphasis on Spock. But the second one was Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy, and the third is The Way I Feel -- and that's all myself. So I don't really worry about it." He smiled. "Besides, as a professional actor of several year's standing, I have quite a back-log of other roles showing up on re-runs no matter what I do."

"Television doesn't show Deathwatch or The Balcony," I commented.

"No," he said, "They show up in movie houses occasionally, but they're probably too grim for home viewing. The Balcony not so much. That was a comedy -- very funny, in a grim way."

"Perfect example of 'black comedy'."

"Yeah, I suppose so," he said reluctantly, looking as if he was bored by the cliched phrase. "I'm glad to have been in both films," he went on. "Deathwatch is closer to me. I was co-producer on it, along with Vic Morrow, and before that we'd done it on stage. Jean Genet is a great writer, a profound writer. He forces you to think."

Nimoy pushed up the sleeve of his uniform, revealing, rather incongruously, a wrist-watch underneath. "I'm afraid I'm due back at the set," he said. As he rose, his face and back straightened into Spock's formality of bearing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

* Footnote from Teresa Victor: 'Oh, come on, they're not that small

overhaul/undertow (blog)
January 28, 2007
By Lucinda Michele

 

Schooled By Spock
A Lesson In Humility

Leonard Nimoy has two faces.

The self-portrait is in black and white, taken with a two-second exposure. Stepping into the frame as the shutter clicks open, he turns his face to the side, inscribing a blur as his face moves from confronting the lens directly to looking askance, into the white glare of a solitary incandescent bulb.

The shutter clicks closed, leaving the two-faced image recorded for perpetuity.

When I arrive at Nimoy’s elegantly restrained Bel-Air modernist home, his assistant scoops up a yappy little white terrier and ushers me in kindly. She offers me coffee and the restroom. In there I notice the hand towels provided to guests are made of fabric, monogrammed with a single gold “N”—and disposable. Feeling suddenly very gauche, awkward and déclassé, I reluctantly drop my used towel into the trash.

I am a young woman unused to moving in the circles of the extraordinarily affluent. I’m most comfortable among the underground artists and musicians of Los Angeles, smoking cheap cigarettes on Silverlake patios. I can slum with the cool kids at magazine-launch parties or hip art openings; I can muster up the appropriate amount of snarl and attitude to scoot me in most doors and across the majority of elite thresholds—I did get in here, after all. But when faced with the uppermost echelons of wealth and power, I begin to choke. This is my acid test. Nimoy had an upcoming discussion at LACMA as part of the events surrounding their exhibit Masquerade: Role Playing in Self-Portraiture — Photographs from the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection. Curated by their daughter, Deborah Irmas, the show featured self-portraits featuring themes of masquerade by photographers from Cindy Sherman to Yasumasa Morimura. Deborah had drawn him into the discussion based on his own experience, as an actor, with role-playing, and his work as a photographer; when the press release came across my desk I’d considered it worth a shot and jumped at the chance for an interview.

I hadn’t actually thought I’d get it.

I usually wing my way through interviews on a combo of moxie, charm and verbal acuity, and I’d always found that interviewees responded positively. I knew this would likely be the same situation. I’d done my homework, had my questions planned, and had even ditched my crappy old tape recorder for a new digital one. Friends who had worked with Nimoy in the past—as stage managers or propmasters—assured me he was a wonderful guy, kind and not the least bit unpleasant. I was looking forward to this. The assistant guided me into Nimoy’s study, and the man himself regarded me around the corner of the flatscreen of his Mac.

An eyebrow arched for the briefest of seconds as he assessed me.

This was not an open, accessible or gregarious actor I encountered. This was an irritable man, querulous when cornered by my photographer, annoyed to have me there, a young woman looking all of 18 (I’m twenty-nine) and who hadn’t even seen the LACMA photography show yet. (Full disclosure: After working there for two years, I developed a slightly bitter taste in my mouth when the subject of LACMA came up, and I often tend to just not find the time to get over there these days…a combination of bureaucratic inter-office Gordian messes and pricey “blockbuster” exhibitions had put the bloom off the rose for this starry-eyed Art History grad.)

“I’m curious what affinity you had for the subject of masquerade,” I begin.

“Masquerade is about people changing identities,” he intoned gravely. His voice seems to reverberate off the white walls of the room. I feel utterly squashed by the density in the air. “Have you seen the show?” he asks.

I cannot tell a lie. “I haven’t had a chance to get down there yet,” I confess. Something in me senses impending doom.

Spock stared at me coldly across the burnished expanse of his work desk.

“This is not good. For you to come here to talk about masquerade, and you haven’t seen it…” He shakes his head and turns away from me, back to his computer. “That’s not professional.”

I am rendered completely speechless.

A small voice in my head says, This is the lowest moment of your career. Walk out now before he asks you to leave.