IDICon

Convention
Name:	IDICon
Dates:	1984-1986, 1988
Frequency:	yearly
Location:	Houston, TX (USA)
Type:	fan con
Focus:	slash, Kirk/Spock (TOS),Star Trek: The Original Series
Organization:
Founder:	W.H.I.P.S., ("sponsored by Tex-Zines, Obsession, Unrepressed Press, Atavachron Press and Only Trek" -- an ad in Not Tonight, Spock! #1)
Founding Date:	1984
URL:
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"Remember IDICon and twenty-six women in a hot tub?"

front cover of the 1984 program book

some con buttons

IDICon was the first convention created specifically and purposefully as a slash con.

It was founded by members of W.H.I.P.S., and located in Houston, TX, where it grew out of local house parties.

This con was begun, in part, due to the restrictions imposed at Tulsa Star Trek, Shore Leave, and other cons on adult/explicit art and zines. See: Banned from Tulsa.

There were four IDICons each held a year apart EXCEPT for a gap in 1987. This gap was filled by 4-Play & Beyond.

The first year's con had about 70-80 attendees, with attendance growing to 130-140 in subsequent years. Con programming included panels, vid viewing and duping, convention skits, and filking. The IDICon Song Book was published to assist filking at IDICon. The con was also very important to attendees as a place to obtain zines, which were the main medium of fic exchange. At least 4 conventions were organized under the name.

In the past there was some confusion over whether the con sponsored merit awards, which were called the K/Star Awards. No record of such sponsorship has been found and in 2018, one of the convention organizers confirmed that they had not sponsored the awards.

This is the con where the orphan zine table was invented.

IDICon 4 was the first slash convention to attract the attention of academic scholars Constance Penley and Henry Jenkins.

This con was succeeded by Koon-ut-Cali-Con.

See Fanlore Live/J notes.

On the Origins

Shortly thereafter Shore Leave that year, Pam Rose and Lezlie attended Tulsa Star Trek, a convention in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They brought some of their K/S zines and had to hide them under the table whenever security walked through the Dealer’s Room. See Banned from Tulsa.

It was then that they decided they needed a convention of their own.

In the 2007 project, Legacy, some fans recorded a series of memories about the convention:

IDICon was hosted by K/S fans from Texas, and boy, did they know how to throw a hoedown. A great hotel, K/S panels, a trip to see strippers, art work you didn’t have to hide from meddlesome eyes, and a stage performance that stopped the show. We were all in the thrall of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, and emotional. Of course, two six-foot-tall dancing penises (pink and green respectively) made the audience run for Depends. IDICon being one of the first totally K/S conventions, it remains a favorite memory to this day. I remember there were at least three 3 IDICons and a possible fourth. The third IDICon was memorable as it offered the K/Star Awards, which was a reflection of our irritation at Shore Leave (a very large fan-run Star Trek convention in Maryland) not allowing “explicit male art,” when artwork displaying female breasts was definitely allowed. Ah, well, at any rate, each and every IDICon was a K/Ser’s wet dream.

Kathy Resch remembers:

...they created [a] little room out of bedsheets in the art show….You had to go inside this bedsheet room to see the adult artwork.

Also from Kathy Resch:

And there was the first slash convention, IDICon, in Houston in the 80s. I'll never forget the time a hotel employee came in during the art show to do something with the air conditioning. The auctioneer flung her body in front of the explicit art being auctioned, and "filibustered" until the guy left. Then there were the pink and green penis-shaped piiiatas (ouch!), the "dancing cocks", the creatively- named alcoholic beverages. I still don't know what was in the drink called "green Vulcan cum", but it sure was good!

Marnie S. described this con in a 2012 interview:

We knew the pitfalls! But what happened was, in the interim then after this monstrous mess, the following year... various members had gone to other conventions. We'd gone to Shore Leave. Where, which was it? You know, it was open to the public, and the art show had some slashy or explicit art, but of course they had to mask the naughty bits, as they said. They covered them with cardboard. Or, cordon off an area for adults only, because you had a lot of little kids running around. Then the final straw was the convention up in Tulsa, where they had been invited by the Great Broads to come on up. And Pam and Lezlie had just put out Out of Bounds and took it up there, with Mary and Katherine who had a print shop, and they had printed it up. We'd had huge collating parties and — Those were nice. Lezlie would read us bedtime stories, while we were collating. To make us feel good. And (laugh) anyway, they went up there, but all the K/S, you're talking Tulsa, Oklahoma, headquarters of the Bible Belt. And everything had to be under the table, and somebody had called the police, and, yeah. It was a real mess. The Great Broads kind of rescued them, and anyway. When they came back, it was January I guess, of '83, the end of January or beginning of February, and Pam — I think the original idea was Pam. I'm not sure, but she's the first one who spoke, when we all got — the WHIPS all got together. We used to get together for birthday celebrations, and more or less once a month. And she came, y'know, "Let's all put on a show! Let's all put on a con! We can do a better job than this!" And! We were going to do a con that was specifically slash. Where it could be explicit. It was a K/S con. No young kids. Everybody had to be of age, and know what they were getting into. But we were gonna do it. And of course Houston was not fertile ground for a con. They'd never had a big con. The only attempt at a big con was the Ultimate Fiasco. We were used to the little cons in the empty grocery stores, with a hundred people. Where, y'know, you knew everybody who was coming, pretty much. But, we all did it. Everybody thought it was a great idea, we were all crazy, and just jumped in. I mean, fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Everybody just kind of— Okay, Lezlie said, "All right. I will work on writing some, y'know, doing some entertainment." And Terry said, "Okay, I can write filk lyrics. And Cynthia said, "I will help you." And I said, "Okay, I can— Most of us sang, so we said, "Okay, we can do this." We had been playing around with singing, and the Great Broads were filkers and we'd had association with them. We said, "We'll do it!" And then we came up with the idea of the orphan zine table, because at that time the mail was iffy. There was no internet, there was a lot of problems with censorship. Zines were being confiscated going in or out of Great Britain, Canada, whatever — That's where things like "In a Plain Brown Wrapper" came up, because they couldn't show any explicit art. There was a lot that you had to deal with. So we — I think the idea may have been mine. To offer an orphan zine table, because I got stuck with it. That was my, that and registration, were my two biggest responsibilities, and coordinating. Since I was the only one who wasn't working, I was home with two young kids, I was the communications person. My husband brought me this enormous long cord, because our cord had gotten so stretched out. You had no cordless phones. (laugh) So in the kitchen, it was everywhere. I would be on the phone [laughter] - until my ear was ready to fall off. We also had a computer, because my husband was an engineer, and we had prototypes at home, before the PC was even developed. So, I wound up putting out a lot of the communications, because I could print out, and our little dot-matrix printer would be chugging away for two to three hours with a progress report, chunking it out. Ba-fala-bum, ba-fala-bum, ba-fala-bum. And there's be a pile of stuff this high, and I would put notes on everything and send 'em all off to people.

You Mean There Will Be Women? Doing What? (The Gender Gap)

IDICon logo for the second convention combining the IDIC symbol with the great state of Texas

One of the issues the convention organizers faced was explaining to the hotel that, as a women run convention catering exclusively to women, there needed to be additional security, more restaurant staff and non-smoking rooms. Marnie S explains: "They were used to things like oil company conventions and electronic shows. And they figured the men go to their conventions during the day and they take their rental cars and go out on the town at night. They’re not there. And we kept on saying, no, the women will stay in the hotel."

The disconnect between hotel staff and the convention continued after the convention began: "... the hotel staff just did not know what to make of us. At all. We’re trying to put on the entertainment and we look at the back of the room and there’s half the staff watching. There had been raids on the Chippendales type of clubs, so there was a very strong worry that we could be raided. The Houston police were notorious at the time. They were very straitlaced."

Jade Pagodas, Piñatas, and Dancing Penises

The convention was also a place to celebrate and embrace all aspects of the Kirk/Spock relationship which led to multiple forms of artistic expression.

For example, at the first IDICon, Marnie S. created napkin rings that showcased the various shapes and sizes of Spock's penis: "... the Kraith, the tendrils, the spike, the pagodas, the whole nine yards." Later, she designed penis shaped piñatas that were auctioned off.

inally, Kandy Fong and her friends staged a dance skit to show their appreciation for the IDICon organizers: the Dancing Penises. As Kandy Fong explains: "None of us were very good singers, and heaven forbid, we couldn’t dance, so we sat around drinking this bottle of really bad wine, and I said, why don’t we reduce it to the basic elements, just two penises, right?"

Delicate Vocabulary

Kandy Fong and Marnie S talked about the delicate translations they had to make regarding interested fans and content/vocabulary:

KF: Because I was doing registration, I had to get across the message that this was... At the time, there was not even a name for slash. People didn't even call it slash. It was K/S, because there was no other slash fandom, per se. And, trying to get this idea across to people who wanted to attend was not the easiest thing, and that fell to me, to tell the little fourteen-year-old or fifteen-year-old boy that this was not a con that he could attend. Or to tell the little... Not everybody was a little old lady like [R B] or [D O], let's face it.

KF: Who were about twenty years older than most of us.

MS: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, [R B] was older than my mother. So, yes, definitely. But they were most, definitely, perfectly comfortable with it, but a lot of people had no idea. They just heard, Star Trek, and the names Kirk and Spock, and then, "Oh." Or, "What is K/S?" And you have to explain what K/S is....It was a delicate matter, and trying to... And then you get some really strange letters from people that you just knew, this was not a person you really, really wanted to let in to your more private entertainments. Ahhh. There were some very weird people out there. Very weird.

KF: Yes. Even before the days of the internet there were weird people.

MS: There were plenty of weird people. But there were a lot of people whose eyes were opened and who— The thing was that we reached out. Because the core group was relatively small and most people in the WHIPS were really busy with other things, so they had very little time to devote. We did reach out to other members of Starbase Houston, who were cool with the idea of slash. They might not be slash fans themselves, like [P]. But they were willing— Or [C], who was not particularly a slash fan. Mostly she was into Star Wars rather than Star Trek. Who were willing to help because they were science fiction fans, because they enjoyed, and they wanted to see it succeed and they knew us personally.

A Fan Who Was There "By Accident"

In 1987, a fan wrote about ending up at IDICon without full consent of it's focus:

I didn't even realize I was going to a con. A friend, you know, now that I think about it, it was Bev Lorenstein who invited me. Anyway, we had been corresponding about a Star Wars zine she was doing, and she told me she was meeting some friends who were into SW in Houston, and could I come too. I had never been to a media con before, and had never even heard of "/", so you can imagine my surprise when I walked into the the hallway where registration was going on and saw that "thing", or rather, "those things" hanging over the signup table.

Two Fans Remember These Cons

Kandy Fong and Marnie S talked about this con in a 2012 interview:

KF: And since a couple of my, ah, shows, had a little bit of a slash point of view — of course I had it subtle because I was showing it at mixed media, y'know, all kinds of fan conventions. I started talking to them and they started telling me about this convention. And I thought, "Really? A convention that we could go to and really talk about slash? Really!" So I decided I was gonna go. And, I wrote — they had a little flyer there, and I wrote to the flyer and they wrote back —

MS: I brought it to the next group meeting of everybody, and, "There's the woman, named Kandy Fong, who has a Trek slide show that she wants to come bring with, and y'know," ta da da da. They said, "Well, sure. We can use some entertainment. That's fine. We'll give her a slot. No problem. I don't remember, you asked if in return for registration. We said, "Well, we can't do that, we have to pay our own registrations. This was a completely. We had no kitty to start out with. We were starting from nothing. In fact, those of us who had houses, which was primarily me, were on the line. We were on the bank account, we had to get a DBA, which is when we actually came out as the WHIPS. Women of— We had to come up with some kind of a excuse for the acronym, which wasn't— We couldn't tell 'em whips and chains....

KF: Well, I remember walking into the dealers' room. The first thing. First you have to go run to the dealers' room and it's immediately, I call it, fanzine Pon Farr. I mean, just, y'know, fanzine. Oh my god, there's fanzines! And, oh my goodness, look at— Oh oh! Oooh, art, art, art! And it was so, so freeing.

MS: Not censored. Not censored. It was all zines.

KF: And, you actually had a room set up with a few of these very precious and few video machines. Where we could pick a copy of something.

MS: The very first IDICon, each of us brought our VCR to the con. In fact, we brought them in the day before. And unfortunately, we had help from the staff. We put them all in the room. The next morning they had been stolen. In fact, most of the equipment had been stolen. And that all came off of our insur— our own pockets. My brand-new Beta! The best Beta I ever had. Was stolen. So that meant we had to scramble for second back-ups, so the quality and the number was not there. But that was also something which was brand new. People could sign up for slots, to copy or watch tapes. And there were people in that room round the clock for the entire range of the convention.

KF: Back when you're young, you go, "Oh, boy, I got the room from four to six a.m."

MS: The first IDICon I got a grand total of two hours of sleep the entire weekend. That was it. And I didn't see a single panel. Because I was so busy. There weren't that many of us, and we were all extremely busy. That was also the year we were in the hotel, and there was a Houston thunderstorm. We thought—

KF: And some of the rooms leaked.

MS: More than that, the air conditioning unit on the roof was hit by lightning. And so the air went out in the middle of the con, and everybody was laughing that it was the Wrath of God coming down upon us! (laughter)

MS: We were also scared because we had male strippers, and we were showing all this stuff in the open. This was Houston. They were raiding Chippendales at that time, and hauling the dancers off in handcuffs. So, it was, actually, there was a real possibility that we could have been raided. But, it was very interesting. The hotel staff was extremely interested. (laughter)

MS: Many of them showed up especially for the entertainment. You looked up, if you were in the front of the room and looked out, the back of the room was filled with staff, watching. Especially the female staff.

KF: Oh, yeah.

MS: They really, really enjoyed that. That was a lot of fun. And they were like, "Woah!"... I 'member, it was four to a room, in a hotel room. You brought a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and jelly, so you'd have something to eat for the weekend. I mean, when I was saying, "Hey, if give you two hours worth of entertainment, can I get a free membership?" it wasn't because I was being cheap or anything, it's because—

MS: Nobody had any money!

KF: —I didn't have any money.

MS: Nobody had any money. It was really tight. And the thing was that we, well we decided, okay, we're gonna do con survival kits. We got together goodie bags.

KF: Yes. MS: And I remember everybody— We scrounged for months, whatever we could get, to put in the goodie bags. There were Band-aids and there were aspirin, and there were tea bags —

KF: Little notebooks, little golf pencils—

MS: —and sugar and notebooks, pencils. All the things that you might need at the last minute or that might help you get through the con. Some candy, whatever, for energy, cough drops. We had these, one whole night, one of our group gatherings, we just went around, and round and round and round the room, dumping stuff in every bag. And got those. The t-shirts that were— We had all kinds of help from people and everything was voluntary and everything was yanked in there and it went off quite well.

A Review of The Convention Tape 5 Years Later

In 1994, Sandy Herrold posted a review of the 1988 IDICon convention tape to the Virgule-L mailing list. Convention tapes, unlike songvid tapes contained more than just the vid show - fans also recorded the convention skit and plays and other fannish entertainment. The review is reposted here with permission:

After watching the Revelcon songtape, we found a con tape from Idicon '88 - -not a songtape, but a contape, something slashcons no longer do. There was a beautiful play (probably by our own Lezlie), memorializing the beginning of Micheal Praed/Robert Plant fandom...! among other travesties. Famous quotes "I write with a view, and mine is 'let them screw.'" and later, "IDIC sure covers a lot of territory." "But these stories aren't even well written." "People are going through fandoms like toliet paper..." Still in the play, someone asks Pam Rose (more or less playing herself) why she's been into so many different shows ..."It's not my fault I keep changing fandoms; it's my name: Pam doesn't stick to anything." Also a beautiful sales pitch for the "Search and Destroy Word Processor" that allows changing your story to fit other fandoms, 'and for you Beauty and the Beast fans, there's even a pronoun switcher.

IDICon 1 (1984)

IDICon 1 was held April 6-8, 1984 in Houston, Texas.

front cover of the 1984 program book

The 16-page program book has cartoons by Ioba.

From the program book:

So you made it to IDICon (or IDIOTcon as we often call it). I guess you're all wondering why we called you all here. Well there's an object fast approaching Earth... we launch in two hours (that's launch, Barb, not haunch, not raunch...)

You'll have to forgive us, we're all a bit buggy by now. [...] has a nice padded room all picked out for her as soon as the con is over. The rest of us are taking up basket-weaving and collecting glass door knobs.

IDICon is intended as a very low-key, relaxed convention. A place to do the things we like to do best -- buy zines, read zines, talk about zines, look at art, buy art, talk about art... and, of course, talk about naughty bits of our favorite men. In other words, we decided to take the smut out of the hallways and room parties and put it right out in the meeting rooms for public drooling. It's a messy business, but it needed to be done sooner or later. That's why it's adult, and that's why we're aboard her!

We wanted to keep the gathering small enough so that by the end of the convention everyone will have a pretty good idea who everyone else is. We've all made some of our best friends in fandom, and this is a terrific opportunity to make some more.

To further this end, we are having a get-together on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. on the terrace outside the Registration area. Effryvon vill attend, yes? Of course, yes!

ENJOY!

This convention year was filmed by one of the attendees or a member of the concom. The videotape shows fans socializing, the dealer's room, the art show, the meet and greet buffet, parlor games in which fans were divided into "The Kirks" and "The Sluts", a pinata in the shape of Spock's "Green Pagoda", a male stripper, a presentation by Lezlie reading an article about Kirk/Spock that appeared in an article in a Baltimore newspaper. "Under The Counter Magazines Presents Alternative Treks" Wiley Hall III. Other fans also talked about upcoming fan events, their collections they were selling, the singing of a filk song, Banned from Tulsa with the refrain "Roger Elwood Go To Hell" and an announcement about upcoming Kamp Khan.

The skit portrayed Roger Elwood (Disney publicity person who'd made all the trouble at Tulsa Star Trek and was the subject of Banned from Tulsa) and David Gerrold (out-spoken anti-slash agitator) . In the play, the Gerrold and Elwood fell in love and became a slash pair.

IDICon 1 (1984): Programming

• Games: "Fandom Feud" & Charades
• Slide Show: Rocky Horror, Trek, and others
• Panel Discussion: "K/S and other "/" Fandoms How are they different?"
• Panel Discussion: "Zine Eds - The Villains of Fandom!"
• "Let Us Entertain You! The W.H.I.P.s make fools of themselves - don't miss it!"
• Filkalong
• Art Auction
• many Star Trek episodes and other television shows and movies starring Nimoy and Shatner

From the program book:

We have arranged a cash bar for the get-together on Friday night. In other words, we pay for the bartender, you pay for the booze.

From the program book:

There will be an age statement contest. Check in the con suite for the nominated entries. A ballot is included in your membership survival packet. Please vote and turn your ballot in at the con suite before 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. A grand prize will be awarded at the Entertainment on Saturday night.

The same goes for the Caption Contest. Ballots are also included in the survival packet, and deadline for voting is 5:00 p.m. on Saturday.

If you wish to order a transcribed copy of the Story Collaboration, (entitled, "THE FINAL SLASH"), there will be blank envelopes provided in the con suite for you t o self address. One dollar will get you the final version within a couple of weeks.

From the program book:

For your convenience, we are furnishing the services of an elite and secret core of assassins (who have been watching too many PROFESSIONALS episodes). For the amazingly low price of one (yes, one) dollar, you may put out a contract on a dear friend. For five dollars you can purchase a hit on a member of the con committee--that's anybody wearing a badge, folks. (And you thought we were cheap broads!) The hit will be given with a water pistol, naturally, since we have no place to conceal the bodies. No one is safe from a contract if someone else has the desire to blow a buck--or five bucks. The only safe place from a hit is the Dealers Room/Art Show. The contracts will be carefully controlled (with a limited number of assassins from the con committee). All rules are arbitrary and will probably be thought up in the heat of the moment. However, if you really, truly, nastily object to being a target, you can state so...and we'll just think you're a bad sport. (The con committee was forced to place a higher bounty on themselves in order to avoid being dripping wet by Sunday evening.) All monies gained in this ill-gotten manner will go to defray any extra con expenses. Any money over that will be given to charity. Watch your asses!

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  from the 1984 program book

IDICon 2 (1985)

IDICon 2 was held on April 19-21, 1985 in Houston, Texas. It was subtitled "Sloppy Seconds."

cover of the 1985 program book

flyer for the second IDICon in 1985 (from the letterzine Between Friends #3

from the 1985 program book

from the 1985 program book

The staff -- The Whips: Barb Lewis (con coordinator), Kris Brown (security), Elaine Hauptman (t-shirts, awards), Cynthia Lockwood (hotel liaison), Terry Martin (programming), Kathy New (security), Candy Pulleine (art room and auction), Paula Seals (assistant orphan zines), Lezlie Shell (entertainment), Marnie Strom (registration, assistant orphan zine table).

The assistants - The Chains: Beth Arganbright, Diana Barbour, Jan Beckworth, Polly Bevil, K.T. FitzSimmons, Pam Poole, Astra Thibodeaux, Jackie Williams and Katherine Scarrett.

From an ad in Datazine #32: "We're gonna do it again... Once again, it will be a ADULTS ONLY convention because / fandoms will be out of the closet (zines too!)."

The con skit was Journey to Georgia by Pamela Rose.

Portions of the convention were videotaped by an attendee or a member of the concom. It shows the dealer's room, the art show, the convention skit, the Dancing Penises, filk singing, male strippers, and fans playing Star Trek Jeopardy.

This was the first IDICon where music vids were shown.:

Mary Van Deusen brought a bunch, and we began showing videos I think at the second IDICon... Yeah. I think it started with the second, and those, when you look back now, of course, the technical quality is like totally, totally different. But, yes. They began. They were starting right then and there. Yeah. It was the second IDICon.

IDICon 2 (1985): Programming

One of the panels was titled: "Sex in K/S Fandom: Are Plots Necessary?".

IDICon 3 (1986)

IDICon 3 was held on April 11-13, 1986, in Houston, Texas. It was subtitled "Conage A Trois, or "Who Came First?"

cover of the third con's program book, the art is not credited.

From an ad in Not Tonight Spock! #11 "A personal fan convention, it stresses Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. ST & media fans welcome. Membership by preregistration, adults only, limited to 250."

Lezlie Shell created the program book.

from the program book

from the program book

from the program book

About the con skit: "There's no escaping it! Yes, they've taken the beloved musical (Ok, the almost well known musical) 1776 and turned it into a lurid, fan-infested, smutty travesty of the original. See the musical that opened on Broadway (so, it was the corner of Broadway and 4th St. here it Houston). It was a blockbuster."

Portions of the convention were videotaped by an attendee or a member of the concom. It shows the fan skit "1776", the Dancing Penises (or as it was sometimes called "The Dueling Pensises"), crowd scenes, the art show, and filking by the "VVV".

The con committee was Cynthia Lockwood, Beth Arganbright, Kathy New, Marnie Strom, Astra Thibodeaux, Terry Martin, Candace Pulleine, Paula Seals, Barb Lewis, Lezlie Shell, and Polly Bevil.

a notice about photocopying

One notice from the convention program book:

Copies! Copies! Copies! Enough about unimportant things like where to find lifesaving drugs. It's time to talk about the necessities of life. Of course, I'm talking about where to copy those all those stories that will hopefully be floating around the convention. In the under ground ALPHAGRAPHICS is the only choice. They are normally closed on Saturdays, but they will open especially for us from around Noon till two. They charge 10 cents per, but you can take home your very own copy and not wait for lazy, shiftless friends to mail them to you. If you have, a car, there is a KINKO's just down the freeway.

IDICon 3 (1986): Programming

• Gay Lifestyles Panel: "The Gay Lifestyles Panel has been expanded. Dan will be joined by two other gentlemen. Both are living a different type of life than Dan. It is now "Gay Lifestyles — Other Points of view". If you have questions, don't be shy."
• To Zine or Not to Zine Panel: "For the Professionals fans, there will be a panel called, "To Zine or Not to zine. Are zines crushing the free wheeling spirit of B/D writing, dooming it to the mediocrity that has ruined other fandoms? Or are zines opening up the fandom to all who are interested and providing much needed editorial attention? Come and join the fight...umm... discussion. LONG LIVE THE CIRCUIT. (Just a little opening salvo.)"

• S & H Ten Years Later Panel: "So, are the guys getting older or getting better? Where has S&H (and S/H) fandom come from and where is it going? Panelists will discuss this question and pose many more. Come join the discussion. Emily Post says that tin or aluminum is the proper gift for 10th anniversaries. So bring Starsky and Hutch a prezzie when you come to the panel."
• "And now for something completely different! How about a brisk early morning Fencing Panel? There will be demonstrations and explanations."
• Obligatory Editors' Panel: "Come and see why these zine editors believe that not only is a zine editor's panel obligatory, but that editing zines should be, too."
• "The con committee was asked to provide panel time to address a specific topic haying to do with "Courts of Honor", we don't want to be mysterious about this, but anyone who has ordered this novel and has not yet received it should attend this panel."
• John's Panel: "Bio Forcefields...Bodywork and Beyond." Want to know just how John does that great body massage? Want to learn how to do it to someone else? Here's your chance to learn about energy flow, good vibes and some technique. Who knows, maybe John will let you practice on him? "
• Carolyn Cooper's Drawing Class: "We are running poor John ragged. Guess who will be the guest model for the life drawing class? You guessed it. Join Carolyn Cooper as she explains that art can be learned by anyone. Personally, I'm grabbing the stationary from the hotel and a number 2 pencil and heading for this panel. Drawing might be beyond me, but looking sure isn't."
• Filking: "In February we were wondering who we could get to lead the filking. You see, Marnie's family on|y let her come to the con if she promised to come home with a voice. Thankfully Colette Mak succumbed to some really pathetic pleading and decided to make the trip and help us out. The main filk will be Saturday night after the Entertainment (Which you will attend!). For you really anxious filkers there will be a Filk For Those who Can't Wait on Friday."
• Making Songtapes: "So, you love watching songtapes and you want to make your own, but you can't figure out just how to get the action in time with the music? Learn how from some of the best songtape specialists in fandom."
• Roddenberry Star Ceremony: "Kandy Fong was there, and she's brought us the tape, complete with dialogue and inserts. Come see the Great Bird finally get his!"

• "Art...Sigh. The art show will open on Friday. Check your Program schedule for hours, etc. The auction will be Sunday morning. By the way, there will be no Bodie and Doo-Doo comments this year. Barb has passed the gavel on to someone who is busily trying to think of something nice to say about Husky and Starch, or was it Stupid and Hatch?"
• The Cala Lingerie Fashion Show: "Are you skinny and short? Are you not so skinny and not so short? Cala is the answer! Sizes available range from petite, extra short to Queen 3X, extra, extra tall, and every combination in between. All garments are made to order to your size. Come see if Barb, Kathy and Marnie can model without tripping."
• Reception: "The WHIPS cordially invite you to attend our opening night reception, this time with no wind and a gorgeous view. We'll have the usual cash bar (soft drinks available, too), and goodies to snack on. So, put on something wild & wonderful and come meet everybody. See ya'll there (that Texan, folks!)."
• Explorers' Theatre: This is a 16mm presentation courtesy of the Houston Public Library. Starring Martin Shaw as yet another unsuccessful explorer, Burke, of "Burke It Wills Ten Who Dared." Bring water, you'll get thirsty watching the little baby angel killer faun waste away."
• The Dead, Dead Dog Party: "The party's over, call it a day at the WHIP's Dead, Dead Dog Party. We may start in the Con Suite, but we'll probably wind up with John in the Hot Tub. Care to join us?"
• Art Auction: "Lezlie Shell, this year's auctioneer, invites you to come, bid and spend outrageous amounts of money on this year's crop of delectable art. Sunday,10:00 am. 'til it's all gone."
• WHIPS Entertainment and Other Surprises: "Come see the WHIPS make fools of themselves with another play. See a reprise of the Phoenix group's award winning skit from last year. See other surprises worth seeing. Bring $$$ bills!"
• Kandy Fong's Slideshows: "All new, specially for this year's IDICon. Star Trek, Starsky & Hutch, Simon & Simon. Something for everyone. Come and see."
• Song Tape Premier: "The premier showing of all songtapes entered in the IDICon Songtape Contest. These are all brand new, never before seen at a convention offerings. See if you agree with the WHIP's choices for winners."
• Tarot: "See Mari with that one question you just have to have the answer for, it may be in the cards."
• Make-Up by Dianne: "Dianne is a state-licensed cosmetologist who will be doing make up and make-overs. Come and let her make you beautiful!"

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  programming schedule for Friday

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  programming schedule for Saturday

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  programming schedule for Sunday

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  some programming

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  some programming

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  some programming

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  some programming

IDICon 3 (1986): Con Reports

For those who did not attend Idicon, Pat F. had two masterpieces in the art show, respectively entitled "Kirk's Glory" and "Spock's Glory." The pictures in question were rear views of the torsos of K and S, attired above the waist in uniform shirts and below the waist in nothing whatsoever--revealing precisely what were the glories Pat had in mind. And amazingly glorious they were, too—though perhaps a trifle too perfect, too spherical for entire verisimilitude. (Here, of course, you will understand that I have not had the benefit of--ahem—firsthand inspection of the topography involved, so I only suggest that it--or should I say they?—might be a trifle less glorious in reality. But we can always dream, can't we?)

IDICON was fun I met a lot of my favorite zine editors and just generally mooched around. Programing was sparse but the good company made up for that. There were however some panel discussions I would have liked to suggest. Also some speakers such as Fish: How to run a filk when no one can sing; John: How to turn a decent dress into sleazy; Jatona: What the necklace really means; Pat F.: How to find good buns; Noel: How to choose your roommates, or who to sleep with; Alta: Swimsuit creation; Pat D.: How to estimate how many women can fit in a hot tub; I would also like to suggest some panels: Dealing with subnormal front desk personnel; How to repack when you've bought everything in sight; What to do with a wet swimsuit the last day; How to locate the words to obscure filk songs; How to eat a balanced diet on a sandwich budget; How to get eight hours of sleep in two; How to finance twelve trips through the dealers room; How to spot bad cheques; What to do if your roommate snores; What to divide a shower 4 ways at 8am.

Summer is here and that means cons and more cons. IDICON has come and gone. I anticipated having a good time and I did. Those Texas ladies really know how to be hospitable and to make you feel at home. Since this was my first IDICON, I can't really compare this hotel to the other sites used, but Stouffers sure is a beautiful place to have a convention. I liked the fact that the parking was under the hotel. Also on the lower level is an arcade which has all kinds of shops, (e.g. a deli, florist, drugstore, restaurants). There is even a three screen theater and a post office.

As expected, the dealers', room was heavy on zines, primarily Trek, though the other fandoms were well represented. The art show was good. Lots of work by good people, though it seemed the paintings with Trek themes seem to sell best. Whoever arranged the dealers' room, put all the California dealers together. I spent a lot of time behind the table helping Noel and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was a great place to talk to and laugh with some of the people I'd wanted to get to know better for a long time. This was also a good place to see almost everyone who came to the convention. This is what I enjoyed most about the convention in general-- the chance to talk & talk, (at dinner, at the bar, in rooms). I did see many of our APA members there, so now I have more faces to go with the names and I am slowly reaching my goal of meeting everyone.

There was a skit about a fan "Congress", based on the musical "1776", that , was priceless. It would be a kindness if the people who wrote it, would provide a copy of the script which could be printed in a zine. That way, those who were not able to be there could still enjoy it.

The image of the "true fan", (literature vs media), was worth the price of admission, though I don't know why I'm laughing sine I have a foot in each of the camps. I suspect most of us do.

One of my most vivid memories of this convention was watching 16(?) young ladies pretend to be sardines and pack themselves into the hotel hot tub. Truly a remarkable sight.

IDICon 4 (1988)

program cover for 1988

the 1988 t-shirt, artist was Dani Lane

flyer for the 1988 t-shirt

IDICon 4 was held on October 28-30, 1988 in Houston, Texas at the Sheraton Crown Hotel. It was subtitled: "The Forbidden Fruits."

from the second progress report for 1988

The con committee was Cynthia Lockwood (chair), Astra Thibadeaux (concierge), Kathy New (registration and operations), Lezlie Shell (wrote the script), Barb Lewis (misc), Paul Cooper (dealer's room), Kris Brown (song tape presentation and contest), and Polly Bevil (registration). Other helpers were Carolyn Cooper, Katherine Scarritt, Mary Lowe, Candy Pulleine, Laurie Keeper, and Jennifer Payne.

Portions of the convention were videotaped by an attendee or a member of the concom. It shows the fan skit "Print Your Fanzine" which was based on the musical "Paint Your Wagon" and was written by Lezlie Shell. Another skit featured an exotic dance routine with whips while psychedelic colors were projected against a screen set to the tune of "Let It All Hang Out." The video also shows the masquerade and the dealer's room.

flyer for IDICon #4

flyer for IDICon #4

IDICon 4 (1988): Programming

FRIDAY NIGHT MASQUERADE FIESTA: You might guess from the title that we had a problem agreeing on a theme. Originally it was the Friday Night Masquerade. Cowboy Toga Fiesta Sock Hop. Consider yourself lucky. This year, the reception will be on the main ballroom on the first floor in Salon D. There will be a Mexican buffet. Festivities begin at 8:00. Costumes are optional.

VIDEO CONTEST: The video contest will follow the reception. We plan to begin around 10:15. The show wil1 be in the amphitheater. A big screen TV was rented for the occasion, so there is no such thing as a bad seat. Bring your libation from the reception, sink into the comfy theater-style seats, and enjoy the show.

SATURDAY NIGHT COMATOSE: The feast of questionable entertainment is scheduled for 8:00 Saturday night in the auditorium. Hint: start humming songs from "Paint Your Wagon". The IDICon chorale (corral is more appropriate) needs al1 the help it can get.

AUTHOR'S DISCLAIMER: Lezlie would like it known that Cynthia Lockwood wrote her own song. Lezlie is much too sweet a person to write such disgusting filth. Special thanks to Jack Bevil, our piano player and musical guide. Jack had the horrific task of trying to figure out what key we sang in. He's still looking.

THE HOSPITALITY SUITE: the focal point for activities is on the eighth floor. This year we are fortunate to have Mary Lowe coordinating the room. She has baked and shopped her fingers to the bone to provide tasty snacks. Coffee, tea & punch will also be available. But more important than food -- on second thought, nothing is more important than food -- is the opportunity to meet your fellow fans. You should leave every con with one new friend. This d is a good place to sit around and chat. The Hospitality Suite is for you, our guests. We hope that everyone will stop-in in during the course of the weekend.

TAROT READER: Bring your questions to the eight floor and consult a tarot a reader. Barry Kristen Brice will be available Friday afternoon (and possibly Saturday) to help you find the answers you seek. Barry will charge $5.00 for a 15 minute session. Longer sessions are available upon request. Check for the price on the sign-up sheet in the Hospitality Suite.

MASSEUR: [...]

PAST LIFE REGRESSION/FUTURE LIFE PROGRESSION: [...]

ART AUCTION & CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST: The art auction will be Sunday morning in the Amphitheater at 10:00. You may pay for your purchases either during or immediately following the auction. Back by popular demand for the auctioneering duties is Barb Lewis. And now for something completely different breakfast at the art auction. Getting up early enough to eat and bid is a problem for a lot of us. so save time (and preserve valuable sack time) by buying breakfast at the auction. A continental breakfast consisting of sweet rolls, muffins, croissants, fresh fruit, and coffee or tea, will be available.

VIDEO DUPING ROOM: The duping room is located beside the Hospitality Suite on the 8th floor. The hours are: Friday 12:00 to 11:30 PM, Sat. 9:00 to 11:30, and Sunday 9:00 to 4:00. After hours duping will be done by video room staff, Laurie Keeper & Jennifer Payne. All requests and paperwork must be completed by 11:30 Friday & Saturday. Stop-by and ask for the necessary forms.

from the program book

from the program book

from the program book

from the program book

WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT - A BEAUTY & THE BEAST PANEL: Question: Does the relationship of Vincent & Katherine [sic] lend itself more to romantic or platonic love?

ON ITS OWN -- STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION: Question: If there had never been an original Trek, would you be a New Generation fan? Judged on its own merits, is ST:TNG a good show? Are the detractors too picky, or are the fans not picky enough?

SONG TAPES FOR THE MASSES: Two VCRs, a duping cable, and a little night music. Yes, it is possible to make good song tapes without buying expensive special equipment. Let Linda Brandt and Katharine Scarritt show you their tricks of the trade.

MONEY MANAGEMENT FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN'T AFFORD TO BE IN THE DEALERS' ROOM: Question: Why don't fans and money mix? Let Jill Jacobs give you some tips on getting your financial life in order.

MY CHILDHOOD WAS WORSE THAN YOUR CHILDHOOD: There are a surprising number of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACAs) and other survivors of dysfunctional families in fandom. If you feel 1ike sharing or just listening, join us for a discussion group.

OBLIGATORY EDITOR'S PANEL: What are the trends in zine publishing? Here it from the source -- the editors.

SLASH IN THE PAN: Questions: Are we recycling the same stories using different media bodies? Slash randoms are proliferating at a bewildering rate. Are we creating generic slash, or do each of the randoms have their unique attributes?

K/S FANDOM: WHERE IT'S BEEN, WHERE IT'S GOING: Question: What are the trends in K/S writing? Believe it or not, K/S is over 10 years old. How does current K/S differ from the early stories? Is K/S better than ever? Stuck in neutral?

PRESERVATION OF ZINES: Back by popular demand. Carolyn Cooper will show us how to protect our most valuable assets.

HOW A STORY WORKS: You know a good story when you read it, but how does the author do it? Lois Welling and Katharine Scarritt will analyze a short story, examining, among other things, structure and writing techniques.

IF YOUR EGO CAN STAND IT: Are you tired of asking for constructive criticism on your writing and getting back bland platitudes. Bring three pages of a work in progress and get feedback from your fellow writers. Only those bringing work may attend.

WHAT IF?: This one is for all of you who enjoy mixing your universes. Put on your thinking caps.. What if Robert Lansing's Star Trek character, Gary Seven, is also Control on The Equalizer? How many can you come up with?

IDICon 4 (1988): Con Reports

We found a con tape from Idicon '88 - - not a songtape, but a contape, something slashcons no longer do. There was a beautiful play (probably by our own Lezlie), memorializing the beginning of Micheal Praed/Robert Plant fandom...! among other travesties. Famous quotes "I write with a view, and mine is 'let them screw.'" and later, "IDIC sure covers a lot of territory." "But these stories aren't even well written." "People are going through fandoms like toilet paper..." Still in the play, someone asks Pam Rose (more or less playing herself) why she's been into so many different shows … "It's not my fault I keep changing fandoms; it's my name: Pam doesn't stick to anything." Also a beautiful sales pitch for the "Search and Destroy Word Processor" that allows changing your story to fit other fandoms, 'and for you Beauty and the Beast fans, there's even a pronoun switcher.'

We also watched, (with open mouthed amazement and enjoyment) the con tape for Idicon  ? in 1988. People were already complaining about fandom swapping, and au's from hell, and any two guys, and such subjects 6 years ago. Fandom Most Easy to Make Fun Of at the time was definitely Beauty and the Beast. (I don't know what it is now: Kung Fu, perhaps?) Good tape: I don't know if it is still available, but it is well worth a watch if you come across a copy, mostly for Lezlie's play.