P3D Richmond NSA '98

[Bill Davis <bd3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

And so it's over for another year.  

Another great gathering of stereo-minded people has come to a close,
everyone dispersing to their respective corners of the globe.

Here's my report:

I arrived in Richmond Wednesday night, the hotel already showing signs of
the stereo infestation to come.   I checked in, made a few trips back and
forth from the car to bring all my junk to the room, then hung around the
main floor of the hotel, getting the lay of the land, watching all the
comings and goings.

As I slouched in an easy chair in the lobby, I heard my name called.
Looked up to see Ron Labbe  accompanied by Alex Klein and Bob Aldridge.
Flattered that some of the stereo greats knew my name and deigned to speak
with me, I stammered my way through a few minutes of conversation and then
they were on their way. (BTW Ron, is your last name pronounced lab, lob,
labby or lobby?  I'm sure I heard all four versions, sometimes over the PA,
sometimes different versions from the same people)

Thursday I spent the morning helping set up the Stereo Theater. Met Boris
Starosta, who was very busy with projector placement for his exceptional
vertical-format figure study show "Contemporary & Fine Art Nudes".  

Room hopped awhile Thursday afternoon.  I got to visit all too briefly with
Dalia. Did enjoy seeing her newly-acquired Hawk Stereo Projector, as well
as all the neat Dukes projects she and Andrew were displaying.  Managed to
swing through Harry Richards' room briefly, then visited with Jon Golden
and the charming Jan and saw even more extraordinary viewers.  

Caught the Photo-3D meeting, recognizing some familiar faces and learning
some new ones.  Even met a few Photo-3D lurkers there.

Thursday night I sat in on a preview of Dave Combs' new "Roses" video. Some
excellent use of Pulfrich in this well-made promo/souvenir tape for the
Reynolda Gardens.

I spent most of Friday and Saturday in the Theatre, where I saw a whole
bunch of great stereo shows, including all five of the Koehlers' widescreen
productions!  I hadn't had a good stereo widescreen fix since Atlanta in
'95!  Now I'll be set for another year at least.

This year NSA had 14 hours of stereo to show, so there were no repeats on
Friday or Saturday. (By comparison, Rochester had about 6 or 7 hours of
shows available, so several shows repeated.)  

Sat through a few sessions of the stereo theater next to DrT, with our
weapons respectfully out of sight, his in a camera bag, mine under my
chair.  Got to show him the new Stereo World, which seems to mention my
name in about a half-dozen places.

My brother Dan arrived Saturday morning after an overnight drive from
Atlanta.  We watched the Titanic video at 9 then he crashed till
mid-afternoon while I went back to the Theatre. 

Both of my Saturday workshops went well.  A late change put the Case
Restitching on at Noon Saturday, so I might have lost some attendance to
hunger. After that talk, I got to swap stitching pointers with Alex Klein,
Eric Goldstein and Bob Aldridge, who had just performed a top-notch
re-stitch on a Belplasca case during his flight over from the U.K.   

The workshop on Shoestring Stereo projects was also well-received.
(Sitting up front was Gabriel Jacob, who had recognized me from Rochester
and introduced himself on Thursday.)  My Miser Panorama, TDC projector
View-Master adapter and power focus unit seemed to be the most popular of
these projects, judging by audience reaction.  I enjoyed myself thoroughly
and enjoyed talking to all the like-minded hobbyists during the discussion
period after my talk.

Somehow my P3D shootout challenge to DrT ("High noon Friday at the corrall,
OK?") had been echoed by a young stranger in red ("Cinnamon Slim" I think
he was called), and his was the challenge DrT had accepted.  Apparently DrT
felt there would be little sport going up against an old filmslinger like
me. :--)

I did show up to watch the action, though.  When I arrived they were
discussing the rules of the contest.  Something like "We'll each load, then
shoot shoot a full roll, then ...", which made me laugh.  "George," I said
"You won't need a whole roll for this. It'll be all over by the time three
shots are done." I then demonstrated a click and advance on my Kodak, which
with my feeble old fingers took nearly two seconds. "Oh!" said he,
realizing that the much younger "Crimson Kid" would no doubt be even
faster. "Let's go watch some more slide shows."   Sorry.  I didn't mean to
spoil the shootout.  Thank God no one was hurt.

Saturday night I skipped the Banquet and Speaker to spend some time with my
brother. We came back from dinner with plans to go out to shoot some night
scenes around the city but ended up shooting the bull instead.  Met Alex
Klein at the elevators, who invited us up to his room to help finish off
his beer.  Fine by me.  We spent the next few hours chatting about
everything from international banking to software to denture-wearing fans
to vacation allowances to big band music with Alex and Bob "Radio Guy"
Stern, who dropped in soon after Dan and I showed up.

We even discussed a few things stereo, like Alex's excellent treasure trove
of stereo goodies he had acquired during his trip. He showed us pristine
examples of many beautiful cameras, a delightful Taylor tabletop viewer
that looked brand new and a Compco projector that *was* brand new, with
warranty tag still attached.  I'm salivating as I write this, just thinking
about all those toys! 

Had a great time.  Met and re-met lots of people.  Am ready to do it again.  

PLEASE HELP DEPT.: only marginally related to 3D (I was listening in
stereo, does that count?):

As I was sitting in my car in the Richmond Marriott parking lot Sunday
afternoon, preparing to boogie on back north 500 hot miles to Webster, NY a
local radio station played a cover of "House of the Rising Sun" that I have
never heard before, sounding a bit like Blue Cheer on "Summertime Blues".
The DJ said the group's name too fast for me to catch, but it sounded
something like "Tupelo Pink" (?) and he implied that it was from the late
60's.  Anybody know of this one or know where to find out?   Please respond
off-list.  





Best regards,
Bill Davis

mailto:bd3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx



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