![[IMAGE: Kubla Khan Census Logo]](hbpg083.gif)
[Believe it or not, this actually has been pared down a bit, by TKFW.]
NASHVILLE FANDOM PRE-HISTORY
1950s - Ken Moore, Ray Jones, and John Hollis meet at the
Nashville Model Airplane Assoc.
1961 - Ken visits a friend at work and meets Dan Caldwell. Dan tells him about something called a worldcon. Ken immediately remarks "wouldn't it be nice to have one here in Nashville."
1962 - Dan drags Ken to Chicon III via an overnight bus ride to Chicago. Both have a great time. Ken swears off ever riding on a bus again.
1963-70 - In various combinations John, Ken & Dan go to worldcons in DC (1963), Cleveland (1966), St. Louis (1969), New York (1970) and Boston (1971). The trio start going to MidwestCon every year and to the Atlanta DSCs.
THE NASHVILLE SCIENCE FICTION CLUB
1971 - In the spring, John receives a flyer from Meade Frierson
promoting the newly founded (by Meade) SFC. It contains a list of
all known fans in the south. This inspires John to start a local
S.F. club with a mass mailing based on Meade's list. The club
meets in an upstairs storeroom of the Green Hills Theatre, which
is managed by Richard Cornwall, a friend of Ken's. The meeting
room boasts 2 metal chairs, a broken couch, a large pile of bags
of pre-popped popcorn and one bare light bulb dangling on a
frayed cord from the ceiling.
In May Dan returns from graduate school for the 2nd meeting of the club, at which John is elected President, Dan is elected Secretary/Treasurer. Eric Jamborsky, who is also a movie buff, provided occasional programming by showing 8mm movies in his collection on a borrowed projector. Other members from this period include Alan Luck and Brandy Brandon.
After-the-meeting meetings immediately start at Joe's Village Inn located 2 blocks away. Dan & John go to their 2nd MidwestCon. Each thinks the other brought the flyer with the map. Arriving in Cincinatti, Dan immediately takes the wrong interstate. "This does not look at all like the road we used last year," he says. Now it is discovered there is no flyer (or map). Dan gets a wild idea, rolls down the car window and sticks his head outside. "Con, Bheer, con suite," he mutters, as he sniffs the air. The sniffing is entirely symbolic, as Dan has no sense of smell at all. Dan then navigates entirely by instinct and soon arrives at the con motel. Later, looking at a map, it is discovered that he took the most direct possible route to the motel. This ceremony is used again several times over the years, always with the same positive results.
Ken and John go to the first ChambanaCon. Dan will go next year. This becomes an annual pilgrimage, like MidwestCon.
1972 - The club attendance stabilizes at around 12 people per meeting, but the mailing list grows to 120 people. The club gets stuck with the next Upper South Clave (Kubla Khan I). Irvin Koch becomes a regular attendee, along with his infamous "Black Box," a small trunk filled with those fanzines he wants to get rid of. Irv usually sells about half of them at every meeting. Irv, unlike most fans, is NOT infected with pack-rat syndrome.
Sometime that year, Dan, who is writing the monthly flyer (on a post card to save postage--remember the 120-person mailing list) decides the club would retain more members if we moved to a better location. More than one light bulb would help. The first Club Palace Coup is organized and Dan becomes club president. It is unclear who became Secretary-Treasurer.
The club starts meeting at Ken's house, with bheer available in the fridge. Club attendance quickly grows to around 25-35.
1973 - The club grows due to an influx of fans, such as Dick & Carol Stafford, from the first Kubla Khan in May. By the fall, the club and Kubla are being "run" by a fairly tight, self-appointed oligarchy of Ken Moore, John Hollis, Dan Caldwell, Eric Jamborsky, Dick & Carol Stafford, and Brandy Brandon. They irreverently refer to themselves as "The SMOF," because they aren't secret and can't manage anything. Sometime in the fall, The Smof begin a winter of non-stop partying. They meet at someone's house during weeknights and on weekends hold 48 hour non-stop sessions at Dan's place--actually it belongs to his mother and Dan is basically housesitting--the rent is cheap. It is a largish 2 story, full attic, full basement, 4 bedroom monster with 3 double beds, 2 single beds, and 2 couches. Everyone has at least part of a mattress to sleep on. Several of these follow NSFC meetings, with out-of-town fans, and resemble small relaxacons.
NSFC meetings will no longer fit into Ken's house, so sometime during the year, Ken finds us another meeting place in the club room of the Melrose First American Bank. Bheer & ice procurement, (and keeper of the Bheer monies) becomes an important official position. Allen Steele, age 15 (now world famous S.F. writer) is appointed Official Juvenile Delinquent. Attendance swells to 35-45 fans per meeting. Eric Jamborsky shows films almost every month, as this is the most popular programming item, and keeps the maximum number of members (mostly) quiet during the meeting. About 1/2 to 1/3 of the attendees congregate in the parking lot to discuss other things.
The club has active members in Louisville, Milan TN & Chattanooga. Fans from Knoxville, Memphis, Atlanta and Huntsville occasionally visit. Meeting attendance peaks at 55, with fans present from all the above locations except Atlanta. The mailing list keeps trying to top 200, and is kept in check only by culling every 3 months or so. Irvin announces that the Nashville club has the largest active membership of any SF club between the east and west coasts. Eventually, many of these out-of-town members will start clubs and/or conventions in their hometowns and stop coming to NSFC meetings.
Sometime in 1973 Dan meets Fran Bray while collecting dues at a club meeting. Dan has been sending flyers to both her mother, Mary Bray (who can get to meetings only occasionally) and to a Courtenay Bray. Dan looks at Fran and says "Why you must be Courtenay's sister." Wrong!! Fran is Courtenay. One thing leads to another and, in the fall of 1975, Dan and Fran Bray take up residence together. This will last through various moves until 1982. In 1994, fate arranges for Fran to become Dan's landlady.
1974-9 In Nov. 1973, Dan resigns as club president because of job schedule conflicts. Eric Jamborsky takes over in 2nd Club Palace Coup. Eric resigns in summer 1974. Ken becomes Club President-for-life, or at least until 1990 or so.
The club grows again due to a large influx of fans from Kubla II. At some point the Melrose Bank closes its meeting room. The club moves to a similar meeting room at the Fidelity Federal bank on Nolensville Road.
At some point, Ken becomes Khen, a spelling based on the tendency of the club flyer and Kubla Khan program book editors (usually the same people) of putting extra h's hinto heverything.
Sometime in 1974 or 75, Khen married Lou Hangel, which lasted until sometime in 1982.
Khen proposes that we have a chili bash at one of the winter club meetings. This activity becomes one of the club's most popular events (feed the starving fen and they will crawl out of the woodwork). It is usually the largest meeting of the year. In Feb. 1977, attendance reaches an all time high, when 60+ fans attend the club chili bash that month.
The last meeting at the Fidelity Federal is in August because the bank wants its meeting room back. In September the club meets at Ken's house. In October the club moves to the Cumberland Science Museum, where it still meets today (1996).
1985
About 1985, the NSFC Christmas and Chili bash parties were so
large that we could not fit them into the regular meeting space
or a members house. So they were moved to the former Days Inn
motel on Murfreesboro Road. The motel is known to fans as the
"Blue Bag Inn" because the new owners dealt with the old Days Inn
sign by simply putting a large blue "bag" over it.
The motel had a large number of small suites with a sitting room, sleeping room and a small kitchen. It was a great place for parties that lasted all night, as many fans could sleep over. And no one had a house to clean the next day. The NSFC had its Chili Bash and Christmas Party there for several years.
1986
In 1986, 80+ fans attend the NSFC club Christmas party at the
Blue Bag Inn. Rickey Sheppard brings a seafood gumbo concoction
named Khen's Horror because it consists of seafood, rice, toadies
(mushrooms) and cottage cheese, all of which Khen loathes.
AULD BLADDERBURST
Strange things used to happen at Joe's. Both Kubla I and a bheer
were planned there. One night several fan were sitting in a booth
and John was staring at a sign of a pleasant wilderness scene
with a waterfall. John suddenly realized that it would look great
as a label for a bottle of bheer. The other fans started thinking
up advertising slogans, and even a name for the brew. Thus was
born AULD BLADDER-BURST, "The Father of Waters," "the Bheer that
made Milwaukee run."
John decided that a bottle with such a fine label really deserved some contents worthy of the name. Eric Jamborsky had given John a beer-making kit, which John had already successfully used, so opening a micro-brewery was mostly a matter of expanding existing production.
A few months later John took a sample of the new product to a club meeting. Reaction was...mixed. There were these strange brown bottles, each with a handmade Bladderburst label, containing a strange tasting, thick brown liquid. It was not a "clear" bheer, John explained, because he had to use the natural carbonation process, by adding more yeast just before he bottled it. The yeast produced CO2 and died off, leaving a thick sludge in the bottom of the bottle. On the other hand, the stuff was as high a proof as a bheer could get without freezing it.
On the other other hand, this meant that the bheer was under considerable pressure. Unfortunately, John's capping machine was barely adequate and top were prone to burst off at odd and unpredictable moments. Like the time John was taking a new batch to Eric Jamborsky. The jostling of the car only increased the pressure, tops flew, and bheer spewed over the car interior and John. John arrived at his destination, wet, but grateful for not having come to the attention of the fuzz and trying to explain that he had not had a drink...honest.
John made a batch every so often with varied results. Some batches were almost undrinkable and others very good indeed. The problem was that John did not have the equipment to maintain the yeast strains and had to start with a new packet of yeast each time.
Of course, Auld Bladderburst was in the Kubla bathtub that year. Some fans drank several bottles of it, others took one sip, looked at the contents, put the bottle down and walked quietly away. Still other were inspired to concoct new slogans for the Bladderburst advertising campaign and tape them to the bathtub wall. Like "At last a bheer you can chew on," and "Not a bheer to be drunk early in the evening."
John's enthusiasm waned as the problem of flavor quality remained unsolved. Eventually, the giant crock in which Bladderburst was brewed was broken and never replaced. Auld Bladderburst is now but a fannish memory. Besides, now we have Swill.
THE INVENTION OF SWILL
About 1983, maybe earlier, a new drink is invented at a NSFC
party. It consists of vodka, with orange and grape juice which
supply vitamins that the alcohol kills off in the body. It is
actually good for you...well, less bad for you than
straight booze. A contest develops for a name for this
concoction. Dan suggests Nashville Kikapoo Joy Juice --but no one
recognizes the reference. Dan then suggests SWILL, a name which
seems to describe the product, especially as real swill
is always made in trash cans (for the flavor). The drink has been
prominently featured at Nashville room parties ever since. "The
roar of the blender, the smell of the Swill."
![[IMAGE: Swill Recipe]](hbpg084.gif)
SERCON
In 1979, an alternate club Sercon was formed. As the name
suggests it was to be devoted to "serious" discussions of almost
anything. The members were all drawn from the NSFC. Meetings were
held at various members' houses, including Barbara Harmon's and
Dan & Fran's. Meetings lasted about 6 months, but the club
never caught on and eventually died.
BEMS
In 1980, Dan and Fran returned from their short stay in
Louisville and Ft. Wayne. Dan felt that club programming got in
the way of what everyone really wanted to do--talk non-stop.
During a club meeting everyone would be happily chatting away
when they had to be stopped (sometimes forcibly) for
announcements and what programming was scheduled for that
evening. So in Oct. 1980 Dan started BEMS, a separate club, which
met in the duplex apartment on Caylor Drive that he and Fran
shared.
BEMS was composed mostly of fans from the NSFC, with a few others who had dropped out of the club. Attendance averaged between 20-30 fans. Late in 1982, when Dan & Fran split up, BEMS moved to Castle Chaos on Compton Ave. inhabited by Fran Bray, Maurice Lewis, Melissa Walker and Sharon Roberson. Dan still ran the club until the fall, when he moved to Atlanta for 7 years. Fran then took over as the head of BEMS. In Feb. 1984, Fran moved out of Castle Chaos and BEMS met in various houses for the rest of the year.
In 1985, BEMS moved to the "Blue Bag Inn" on Murfreesboro Road. The site was chosen because the NSFC had just had a great Christmas party there.
In 1986, we used the same suite for BEMS on Friday night and a NSFC club party on Saturday night. Several people including Steve and Sue Francis came in from out of town. A lot of people slept over both nights. On Saturday night, around 4 am, a very brazen and quiet burglar came in through an unlocked sliding door into a suite where at least a dozen people were sleeping (ok, some were passed out). Dan woke up when he heard the door slide shut. Eventually, everyone was awake and checking his/her belongings. A few had purses rifled or wallets lifted, but Rocky Halleron had lost his pants.
For some reason, no one wanted to go back to that motel, so in 1987, BEMS and various NSFC parties moved to another motel further down Murfreesboro Road. It sported a variety of names, over the years and was last known as Travel Lodge South. This motel was even better, because it had a pool we could use during the summer months.
In 1992, Fran went into gafia and gave up control of BEMS. It met for a while at Rick Dunnings' apartment and then quietly died. There was a hiatus of several months until Dan moved back from Atlanta and revived BEMS, again at Travel Lodge South. In 1994 we started having trouble with our reservations there and moved everything to the houses of individual fans. BEMS currently rotates between the homes of Dan Caldwell (summer only), James Fulkerson, Tom & Lee Billings and occasionally others.
MTSFA
While BEMS was started by those who felt the NSFC had too much
programming others felt that the NSFC was not serious enough, and
had too little programming. In July 1986 a group led by Nancy
Holland, Barbara Harmon and Beth Gwinn split off from the NSFC to
start MTSFA (The Middle Tennessee Science Fiction Association).
MTSFA also took up residence at the Cumberland Science Museum,
meeting on a different night from the NSFC. Although there is a
considerable overlap in membership, about half of the MTSFA
members dropped out of the NSFC meetings.
NASHVILLE CLUBS THROUGH THE '80S & '90S
All 3 clubs had a large overlap in membership. Both BEMS and
MTSFAs had memberships almost as large as
NSFC for many years. But in the '90s they all dwindled
considerably. Many of the younger members went off to college, to
new jobs or just drifted away. Although individual members of the
various clubs tried to recruit new members, the intake of new
fans was never able to keep up with membership losses.
THE NEW YEAR'S PARTIES AT KEN'S PLACE
In 1973 Ken threw a New Year's party. A lot of people came, some
from out-of-town. The next year even more people came. Things
went on like this for several years. It mostly resembled a room
party totally out of control or a small relaxacon. Eventually,
several people began to set up huckster tables and any difference
from a con vanished.
Usually most of the attendees slept in the living room and den, completely covering the floor (thin rug, no pad) in the best sardine-can style. One year, Koch even brought a small portable bed, which many people were deeply envious of.
In 1982, Ken and Lou split up. The New Year's party moved to Charlie & Anita Williams apartment. But it was never the same, perhaps because the apartment was smaller and had less crash space.
THE NSFC SUMMER BHEER BUST AND BASH
Shortly after the NSFC was founded, Ken decided that a summer
party around the 4th of July would be a good idea, especially if
we held it at the lake where we could go swimming. Ken said he
had a great spot in mind and would draw a map for the flyer.
About half the attendees got lost, because Ken had left an
important left turn off the map. When his error was pointed out,
Ken justified his map by claiming that "everybody knows you are
supposed to turn left there." The club unanimously voted to
remove Ken from map duties forever. Several people came from out
of town, including andy offutt, and all had a good time.
Thereafter, the summer Bheer bash was held at Khen's place and someone else drew the maps. In the early 1990s we had the bash at the Travel Lodge South for a couple of years, where we had air conditioning and a pool. In 1994 the bash was held at Dan's house (see below) and, in 1995, at the Kubla motel, so we could use its swimming pool.
EXCESS FIREWOOD REMOVAL PARTIES AT DAN'S COZY COTTAGE IN THE
URBAN BOONIES
In 1993 Dan rented a small house from Fran. Although only 5 miles
from downtown Nashville, it sat on several acres of fields and
woods. The house was over 100 yards back from the street, where
it seemed like you were 50 miles out in the country. In 1993, the
NSFC summer Bheer Bash and Bust was held there. At dusk we saw 2
deer on the opposite side of the field. The party started on Sat.
afternoon, lasted all night and most of the fans came back on
Sunday to do it again.
It was so popular that in the fall Dan held 2 more "Dheer Watchings," both of which lasted all weekend. By then it was cool enough to have a bonfire at night. Mostly everyone sat around outdoors by the fires and talked all night.
That was the winter of the Great Ice Storm, during which nine, repeat 9, trees came down in Dan's yard. So in the spring of 1994 Dan held the 1st Excess Fire Wood Removal Party, for the purpose of using up as many tree parts as possible. The all-weekend parties were so popular that they took place almost every dry weekend in the spring and fall of that year and again in 1995.
TALES FROM THE SARDINE CAN
Nashville fandom did a lot of things as a group. We ran a club,
put on a con, went to other cons, and partied together between
cons. The Nashville style of con-going mostly resembled a
portable slan shack. We were all low on funds, so we shared a
single room to save money. Before Kubla I, it involved only a few
people and easily fit into a single room.
Then there was Torcon, the Toronto worldcon (still one of the best ever). Ken reserved a single room. In the south this meant a regular room with two beds and only one registered occupant (and only one key). But in Toronto, this meant a small room with a couch that folded out into a bed. As Ken was on his way to the room, he met friends looking for crash space, and he told them they could stay in "his" room. We ended up with 13 male fans, 1 femfan, no privacy, and a permanent line into the facility. At night, the floor resembled a sardine can, hence the name.
Unfortunately, as Nashville fandom grew, we kept going to cons as a group. It was common to have 10 or 12 people in the room. Then it grew to 2 rooms, with one for the Kubla party, the other for those who went to bed early (like 3 am). Still 10-12 fans per room. On the other hand, we were never robbed, because the room(s) were never empty. We also had an official guard dog. Mel Clark & Dave Roble had a German shepherd named Bojay. They would get him a con badge, and he would stay in the room throught the con (except for facility breaks). Bojay knew all the Nashville fans and growled loudly when strangers (especially hotel security) appeared in the door.
Then there was the Nashville "hot bunk" system. Some fans went to bed early, others not until dawn, and a lot of the group took naps at various times. Since beds were prime sleeping spots, they were rarely empty. You could go to sleep next to a good-looking person of the opposite sex, and wake up to find someone/thing totally different in that spot.
This led to creative solutions to finding a space of your own. It was desirable to find a spot out of the traffic pattern so you did not get stepped on in the dark. Joe Celko liked the closet floor, others tried sleeping under the table (and cursed when they forgot and sat...well tried to sit up, in the morning). Allen Steele even tried the bathtub once. Maybe it was the only horizontal space left. Then Khen came in at dawn, and without looking (nobody sleeps in bathtubs...right) reached in through the bath curtains and turned on the shower. Of course the water started out ice cold, and the resulting yell woke the entire sardine can. Needless to say, the bathtub remained unpopulated thereafter as crash space.
All too often, Ken would arise early (circa 7-8 am) and want company for breakfast, while some of us had just gotten in at 6 am. Ken would throw back the curtains and yell "SQUEET" (let's go eat). Many people had the urge to kill, but no one had the energy.
Khen and John are still noted for the fact that once asleep they might as well be in a coma. Only mother nature can rouse them from their slumbers. A group of Nashvile fen were at Rok-Kon I in Little Rock. It was near dawn and all the sardines were asleep or some facsimile thereof. The spring night was warm and the room window was wide open as a thunderstorm erupted over the hotel. This bothered no one at all until a lightening bolt struck a power transformer on a pole about ten feet from the window. The blast was as much felt as heard, and the light made people think of H-bombs at ground zero. The Vietnam vets were already under the beds yelling "INCOMING!!!," while others levitated several feet in the air from a horizontal position. Even Khen and John woke up. When we looked out the window to see what had happened, the transformer was smoking and the window panes were still shaking. Khen, like most of us, never did get back to sleep, but John, being made of sterner stuff, went right back to sleep.
Sometimes it was the trip that was memorable. Arthur Townsend's car was so unreliable that he carried a large box of spare parts with him, so the car could be fixed when it broke down. From which come several tales of roadside repairs at odd hours of the night. Or stopping to fix a flat and discovering that a dead skunk lay only a few feet from the car. We set a world's record for the time to unload a station wagon to get to the spare tire. Or discovering Khen's car broken down in the middle of nowhere and trying to find a tow truck or garage on Sunday afternoon.
Or the wreck of the Wolf wagon on the way to DISCON II. It was a new VW van that Larry Wolfe had just bought. The 5 am accident destroyed the motor but Larry did not have the money to replace it, and had to sell the body (still in good shape) for about 1/4 of the van's value. The van's inhabitants had to collect all their schtuff (one was on his way to the Pensic Wars and had all of his SCA gear with him) and wait all day by the side of the road in the nearest (small) town for the ONE bus that made a stop there--at sundown. We called the Nashville sardine can at the con but no one was willing to drive 100 miles to pick us up. We tried to pass the time with an impromptu fighter practice, but had to give this up as it excited the local fuzz way too much (don't you-all know duelin's illegal?).
Eventually, most of us got better jobs and could afford to share a room with less than a small army. Now at cons, Nashville fandom has several rooms, each with only 4 or 5 people in them.
KUBLA KHAN
1972 - November - Khen & John go to Irvin Koch's Upper South
Clave in Johnson City, TN, way up in the northeast corner of the
state. Irvin (easily) persuades Ken to have the next one in
Nashville in 1973. Dan, John and Ken hold a war council at Joe's
Village Inn after the club meeting. John and Dan decide that
since Ken got us into this, he can get us out. Ken is elected con
chairman by a vote of 2 to 1. Dan & John want to hold the con
in the fall of 1973 to give us time to get some publicity out.
Ken can't wait and insists on having it in May.
ChambanaCon was coming up and it was one of the few places we could put out a flyer in those days. But to have a flyer the con needed a name. After AthenaParthaCon, AutoClave, and Ghengis Khan were rejected, Dan came up with Kubla Khan and wrote a flyer draft based on the Coleridge's poem "Xanadu."
KUBLA I - 1973
The program "book" consists of a paper bag containing a small
sheet with the 1/2-track of
programing. Meade Frierson holds forth
in the con suite. Everybody has a good time.
The con is mostly remembered for the infamous "banquet." The motel had lost money on a banquet for another group on Friday night and tried to save money by cutting back on the Kubla banquet. The GoH Fred Pohl, MC Andy Offutt and Ken stayed in the bar too long and got in at the tail end of the buffet banquet line. Dan, sensing a problem, was near the head of the line and got a full plate of the banquet menu. But the buffet soon ran dry and the motel kitchen substituted instant mashed potatoes. By the time Ken, Fred and Andy got served that's all there was. At the podium, Andy(?) leaned into the microphone and said "I've never had $4.95 of mashed potatoes before."
Then the motel food manager (?), dressed in bright red, came in during the middle of the banquet to present the bill. As she left she turned the air conditioning off. Later that evening, Ken took the pros out to a real restaurant for steaks.
The con attracted a lot of local fans who had not heard about the club. Most of them became part of the local fan group centered around the club and Kubla.
KUBLA II - 1974
We moved to a Holiday Inn near the airport. Con attendance went
up. Everyone had a good time. The banquet had real food and was
pronounced a success, as was the entire con. (Can you tell the
author does not remember a thing? Did I have a good time ???).
This Khan was the source of even more new club members than Kubla
I had been.
It was shortly after this Kubla that Carol Stafford wrote the following parody of "The Raven."
|
EL KHANDOR PASA As I pondered, spent and surly, Over many a quaint and curious custom Of the Khans before, Suddenly there came a pecking, As of someone gently yecching, Yecching at my chamber door. "A Khanmitteeman," I muttered, "pecking At my chamber door-- Only this and nothing more."
Looking slightly stoned and logy,
With his eyes so wild and rheumy, |
The poem led to the Khan bird symbol. John remembered a cartoon by a friend of his from college, Jim Jeter. It bore a remarkable resemblance to the description in the poem. It even had a mixed number of toes, four on one foot, five on the other.
John showed it at a club meeting and it immediately appeared on the next Kubla flyer. Soon it was Kubla's official symbol and appeared on a Kubla t-shirt. Later Maurine Dorris made a masquerade costume of it, which she persuaded Ken to wear at a masquerade. And still later, she and others made small Khandor dolls to give as masquerade prizes.
KUBLA III - 1975
The con needed more space and moved to the Rodeway Inn on Briley
Parkway where it stayed for Kubla IV. The art show was already
getting serious. We had no trouble selling pieces with a
$150-$250 minimum bid. Several items went for well over $500.
Local artist Dennis Dotson made a big impression with his color
on black velvet space art, particularly "Dotson's Universe" (not
the real title, which I forget), a dodecahedron about 2 feet
across, of painted velvet pentagons. (A few years later Dennis
moved to Texas, where he suffered a massive epileptic seizure
that was not treated properly. This left him a partial invalid
and unable to paint.)
KUBLA V - 1977
The con moved to the downtown Quality Inn, where we had the
entire penthouse (rumor had that it had been originally built for
Elvis) for a con suite. The con grew again, nearly filling the
hotel. Much craziness at the banquet.
One year, Ken Keller was at Kubla promoting his Worldcon in Kansas City, MidAmericaCon, otherwise known as Big Mac. He heard Ken's plaintive mutterings about a worldcon in Nashville and at the banquet came out with revelations about the soon-to-be-launched "Nashville Worldcon Bid," complete with cute vote getting slogans like "Nashville is Neat in 100 degree heat." But Ken underestimated Khen's desire for a worldcon right here in Nashville. Khen took the hoax bid to heart and tried to make it real. (Ghod forbid he ever inherits a cornfield.) Khen know he needed a large hotel and they were just starting work on the Opryland hotel. Somehow Khen got a copy of the floor plans, which showed that a worldcon was indeed possible there. Khen carried these around to various cons for several years trying to generate interest in his plans (both sorts).
"With his blueprints underneath his arm,
"He can smof for hours."
Finally, his efforts died out, only to be replaced by the better organized L&N Nashville bid, originally scheduled for, you guessed it, the Opryland hotel.
Kubla stayed at the Quality Inn until Kubla IX in '80. Attendance peaked at around 550 in the years when the GoH was Harlan Ellison (1977) and Stephen King, just before he became a national celebrity (1980).
KUBLA IX - 1979
Maurine Dorris came to the con and got dragged into being a
gopher. She ended up running the gopher staff, known as the Space
Cadets, for the rest of the decade.
KUBLA XI - 1981
The Quality Inn rented most of its function space as offices, so
Kubla moved to the Holiday Inn on Briley Parkway. We thought the
Holidome area would be great feature for the con. But we were the
first convention to be held in the new hotel, and between staff
inexperience and culture clash it was a disaster. Little seemed
wrong until the masquerade on Saturday night. The art show was so
big (750 pieces, I counted them), that we had no space for
pre-judging. So the masquerade staff had it in the Holidome area.
The masquerade, as usual followed the auction, which, with some
200 pieces up for sale took forever. Soon bored members of the
masquerade wandered into the hotel bar to "freak out the
mundanes" which they did all too well. The food & beverage
manager, trying to get a Country & Western bar started
(Opryland was only 4 miles away), was not amused.
Lou Moore came in and told Dan, the auction head, to hurry up as there was a riot going on outside. Dan told the auctioneer, Rusty Hevelin, to auction art as fast as was humanly possible. Art never moved so fast. There was no milking a piece for raises, it was "going once, twice, three times, sold." If you were not quick, you never got to bid at all (although the art show grossed almost $9,000). Meanwhile, outside the auction things only got worse. Finally Lou came in and summarily stopped the auction, just to get the masquerade people away from the mundanes.
The next morning, the food & beverage manager blatantly took over part of our function space for an unannounced public buffet. And the restaurant staff simply refused to serve anyone wearing a con badge. Despite loud complaints, Khen never did sue the hotel for breach of contract.
XANADU
After a disagreement with Kubla in 1975, Dan began plans to start
his own convention. This consisted of noting what did and did
not work at other cons he was going to. The idea for
Dark Bheer was stolen from Satyrcon I in
Knoxville, when Dan realized that every time he went back for
some dark, he had to stand in line, usually a long line, to get
any. The name "Xanadu" was chosen mostly because it did NOT have
the word "con" anywhere in the name.
In 1983 at a party at Khen's, the subject of Xanadu somehow came up. Anita Williams offered to put up some money to run some parties at cons that summer. Dan took this as a good omen, and decided to run a con that same year. Most of the Kubla staff was willing to work on another con. Jim Woosley was supposed to be the Co-chair but he bowed out before the con and Fran took over the position. The con was planned for November because hotel rates took a significant drop after October. It also gave about 6 months to plan the convention.
Xanadu I - 1983
The con drew about 250 fans and was a very successful first
convention, except that it lost money. Bill Maraschello was filk
guest and Tom Osburn held the first of a long run of well
attended dances. No one went to the two movies it had except Dan
and Kelly Freas.
Xanadu 1.5 - 1984
This was a was a relaxacon held in the old Quality Inn. About 125
fans showed up, almost twice the expected attendance. The con ran
well and made a nice profit. Rocky Halleron showed up at the
wrong time and suddenly found himself head of the con suite, a
post he was unable to escape for several years.
Xanadu II - 1985
Xanadu II was held in the Rodeway Inn Central, two blocks from
the Quality Inn. Dan had recently moved to Atlanta which made
convention management difficult. Co-Chair Fran Bray became de
facto Con Chair.
Xanadu II had about 350 people, and was possibly the best of the Xanadu cons. The hotel had some interesting features, like (small) jacuzzis in some of the rooms. These rooms, and their jacuzzis were VERY popular. The con made a profit and everything worked as planned, except the large indoor pool. It suffered from a bad case of green slime, some of which was displayed in a bottle in the con suite, complete with name badge. The pool was greatly improved by Sunday and a few brave souls actually went swimming in it then.
The bheer consumption on Friday was incredible. The entire stock for the con was gone by 6 am Saturday morning. Then consumption dropped off to a rather sedate pace. The hotel staff was great, and everybody wanted to come back there again next year.
Xanadu III - 1986
We were back at the same hotel, now the Days Inn Central, after a
change of management. Xanadu continued its rapid growth reaching
about 450 members. The con was notable for the con suite and the
rain. The hotel rented out its penthouse bar, which had a great
view of downtown Nashville. It was such a great place that all
the Saturday night parties moved up to the con suite. It rained
hard all weekend. Almost all the rooms on the west side of the
hotel leaked badly around the windows. GoH Jack Chalker had to be
moved to another room, as his carpet was wet all the way to the
door. The hotel also had changed management and maid service and
restaurant service varied from very good to horrid. No one wanted
to use the hotel again.
Xanadu IV - 1987
The con grew again, reaching its peak attendance at 550 members.
The con had moved to the Ramada Inn Opryland, which was built
around a atrium with a large pool. It looked great, but the
ambiant noise level made it almost
impossible to hear the speech by GoH Poul Anderson. The
masquerade, also in the atrium, had less trouble because it had a
better PA system.
The con suite was an open area on the roof of the motel bar. It had a great view of the entire atrium, and made party-hopping easy. You could just look out and see which parties were still open. A fan named "Gweedo," from Atlanta joined the con suite crew and awed everyone by carrying a full bheer keg in each hand, up a flight of stairs, from the storage area to the con suite.
Xanadu V - 1988
The con staff was expecting another increase in attendance, but
the con suffered a small (50 people) drop in attendance. We
shared the hotel with members of a bridge tournament being held
at Opryand that weekend. Saturday evening
Kerry Gilley got on the elevator with several "blue haired"
types. They asked if he was "one of those strange people?" Kerry
made one of the great comebacks of all time by replying "No
ma'am, I have never played bridge in my life." The con chair
almost gave him a free membership.
Xanadu VI - 1989
Fran wanted out of the con business and Dan found it difficult to
manage a con long-distance from Atlanta. A group of Atlanta and
Chattanooga fans offered to help run the con, then announced that
this was the last Xanadu, hence flyers naming it Xanadu Omega.
The con suffered another drop in attendance, down to about 350.
The con chair remembers very little, except that he spent the
entire con running around putting out "fires" (so what else is
new?).
Xanadu VII (1993) the con that wasn't.
Dan thought the closure of Xanadu would be only temporary and
tried to revive it in 1992 it after he moved back to Nashville.
There was a problem with the hotel contract--Dan thought he had
one, but the hotel did not. Xanadu VII had to be canceled only 3
weeks before the con date. There ensued many frantic phone calls
to the immediate fan world to inform them that the con was off.
The ex-con ex-chair spent a long Friday night in the motel lobby to "explain" what had happened to any fans who showed up. This experience greatly dampened Dan's enthusiasm for trying to revive Xanadu again.
Although fans still come up asking when Xanadu will rise again, there are no plans to revive it. But who knows what next year might bring. Can you say "Real Soon Now"?
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KUBLA KHAN MC - andrew offutt - all years
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Nashville: Kubla-Khan XXV (May 16-18 '97), Days Inn Airport, Nashville, TN. Guests: Allen Steele, Frank Olynyk, Andrew Offutt. Membership: $25 until 4/15, $30 thereafter. Info: Ken Moore, 647 Devon Drive, Nashville, TN 37220. 615-832-8402.