1991 - 07/1991 Meeting

Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/27/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 01/24/08.

ROMAS

The artist has two websites:

1. Illustration: http://www.romas.biz/illustration_site/home_illustration.html

2. Fine Art: http://www.romas.biz/

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: July 13, 1991.

Meeting Site: Peking Duck House, Closter, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 30.

Meeting Program: Slide show and talk by science fiction artist.

Notes:

Use of the Peking Duck House was suggested by member Roy Greenberg, whose Ping Pong club had held dinners there.

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

The July 13, 1991 meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held at the Peking Duck House in Closter, New Jersey. There were thirty-five adults and two children present. As we needed to have at least thirty dinners for the use of the room, members were encouraged to bring friends with them for dinner. These people were neither charged for nor counted in the attendance figures.

Dinner was ordered off the restaurant's regular menu, with drinks off the cash bar. We got off to a late start, but that was really more our fault (over a dozen of us were more than a half hour late) than the restaurant's. I do not recollect any complaints about the food, although there were some with the service. There was basically one waiter assigned to our group. He tried hard, but it was a case of not enough help. Things got a little better when I pitched in and began distributing the white rice, tea, water, but the lack of these basics was shocking for an establishment of this sort.

Although the service was not sterling, it was not the outright disaster which we had in our last trip to Stanton's or to our only visit to Nickle's Alley. Unless there is a sudden groundswell of discontent, we will probably meet there again next July.

My table consisted of Mark Blackman, Mercades de la Reza, Philip De Parto, Romas, Peter Rowe (a friend of Romas), Denis Verdecia (a friend of Laina's), and Laina Walden. Ironically, Denis--who is a musician who does not read sf--wound up in the longest conversation with our guest on the subject of computers and art.

Our table settled the bill one-two-three. We simply ordered in common and divvied the bill up. It was only after we paid up that I realized that the waiter had put everyone else on separate checks and now had to figure 27 separate bills. Next year there will be at least four per check.

It was probably just as well that Romas had only about two dozen slides in his show as we were running late. Peter Rowe manned a print table for him which sold a half-dozen or so prints, not at all bad for an audience this size. He also had about five originals on display.

I found his overall production uneven, but was impressed with his work for the Wizenbeak books by Alexis Gilliland. He was more a show them than them explain to them guest. I personally prefer artists who are a bit more technical about how they design and execute a work, but others in our group tend to find that sort of stuff tedious. You can't please them all.

After the meeting was over, there were about 15 of us who headed over to the Westwood Diner. This was a trip down memory lane for me because this used to be the after-meeting spot of the Bergen County science fiction group. You see, what is now the New Jersey Science Fiction Society used to be the Bergen County Science Fiction Society. For a period of about five years, the group met in adjacent Emerson. More often than not we would head out to this diner, which was then called the Red Coach Diner. The other group eventually relocated to Passaic County. In time, I started up a new group in Bergen County.

Some members felt that it was unfair to charge for both a dinner and a regular meeting fee. My response is that people who didn't want dinner could attend the meeting only and be charged the standard rates. We did have to pay for the use of the space to the restaurant. Maybe we can work out a better deal next year.

The two nicest surprises of the night were that only one person got lost on his way to the restaurant and that Charlene Collins and Ky Khieu showed up, courtesy of Jackie and Mark Hecht's telephone call.

The S. F. A. B. C. welcomes newcomer Beth Grout to the organization.