Thursday, November 1, 2007

Fear Fest 2 sneak preview and ringmaster interview

In which John Z. Gray tells us his secret name.

By John P. Meyer

Photo by John P. Meyer

John A. Gray - the real guy

Fear Fest 2 - which happens over the weekend of March 7 - 9, 2008 - seems a long way off, until you consider that it's November already. Plus, with Halloween just over, I'm still finding myself in fright-or-flight mode. So why not invite the Fear Fest ringmaster over to PegNews World Headquarters for a little distant early warning pre-convention conversation?

John Gray is a complex sort of fellow. He's certainly nice enough in person, as you can plainly see from the pictures (each of which are worth 1,000 maudlin descriptive adjectives - which is pretty much why I took them); but underneath the easy-going facade is a man who spends his daylight hours as a... well, you'll have to hear for yourself, but it's a shocking revelation, as evidenced by the s-word it elicited from my lily-white mild-mannered interviewer lips. (And for which I apologize in advance.)

Photo by John P. Meyer

John Z. Gray - Fear Fest ringmaster

Featured in the audio interview are the following revelations:

* what he did for Halloween

* details of his own filmmaking activities (yep, he's a filmmaker in addition to being a convention organizer - along with that other thing he does)

* Black Devil Doll - alluded to by one of the respondents to our creepy movie survey - will be making its world premiere at Fear Fest 2, on a 40 x 40 ft. inflatable screen with outdoor surround sound

* the convention will include a concert night featuring local bands, with a special appearance by a big national act that I can't yet name (so we'll refer to them as "they who shall not be named" - sounds ominous, right?)

* there will be a charity auction benefitting St. Jude's Hospital - "anything for children," says John, the father of two

Interview with John Gray

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* "The Bible is one of the scariest books you can possibly read," he declares

* he proclaims in no uncertain terms that he himself is categorically NOT an axe murderer

(Doth he protest too much? Listen and judge for thyself...)

Related stories

• Texas Fear Fest 2 comes to Dallas (March 6, 2008)

See more stories in:

• Arts > Movies / Film

Comments

James Scott Verified

great interview...looking forward to it!

1 year, 8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )