SDCC'09: I Hugged Gaius Baltar and was Buddies with Drunk Colonel Tigh

I hugged James Callis and it was frakking glorious.

On Friday night of Comic-con, I bought myself a ticket to the Battlestar Galactica Concert at the House of Blues. I did this instead of heading to the Topless Robot meet-up, but I figured, how many BSG concerts will there be since the series is over. There were two levels of tickets, the general admission and the VIP which included seating in the balcony, a gift bag with some stuff, and access to the signing afterwards. Somehow I got a wristband that was kind of half VIP because it allowed me to enter the "Delta Lounge" and let me into the signing afterwards. I wasn't expecting this and at first thought that the lady giving out wristbands had thought I was VIP. As I went in the door I saw where all the VIP went in, but still went downstairs to the standing area. I had wondered though, what can I really do with this wristband? I headed back upstairs and walked up to the woman standing at the VIP entrance showed her my wristband and asked her, "What does this get me?" She told me it was indeed the Delta Lounge and signing. I thanked her and happily walked back downstairs to the souvenir booth where I bought the BSG: Season 4 CD set and Caprica soundtracks. I had already gotten Bear McCreary's autograph earlier in the day during the Dark Void signing at the Capcom booth on my Season 1, 2, and 3 CD booklets, so I figured I would get his autograph on the other two I needed to complete my set of BSG CDs. I thought that would be the highlight of my evening, but it was far from it.

There was still plenty of time before the show started so I went to this fabled "Delta Lounge." The room was kind of fancy with some posh furniture. As I was looking over the room I saw Edward James Olmos being interviewed by some TV reporter person. Holy frak. Edward James Olmos was only a few feet away from me. Bear and his brother Brendan came down to join the interview, but then Eddie did something that the reporter girl didn't expect. Eddie took the microphone and interviewed Bear and Brendan. Reporter girl was certainly surprised and just stood back in awe as Eddie did her job. It was great. Eddie finished the interview and went to do another quick pen-and-paper interview with some other guy. It was cool just to witness all of this and only a few others attending the concert were in the room at the time to see what I saw. When the second interview was finished, Eddie posed for one picture and was off to get ready for his hosting duties.

The show was hosted by Edward James Olmos and Grace Park and the show itself was fan-frakking-tastic. Before the BSG Orchestra played, Brendan's Band opened. The band is headed by Brendan McCreary, Bear's brother, who said tonight's show would be "Fuck tons better" than the night before and Bear agreed. I was a little surprised because I didn't know they would be playing or had even heard of them before, but they were actually pretty damn good. Eddie and Grace weren't the only Battlestar cast members in attendance. There were many surprise guests like James Callis, Michael Hogan, Michelle Forbes, Nicki Clyne, Michael Trucco, and David Eick. It was an amazing night. It was also an emotional night, as the cast talked about Harvey Frand, one of the producers of BSG and their good friend, who had just died the night before. At one point all the cast members were on stage talking about how great a person Harvey was. It was a solemn time for all, but the performance of the night was just outstanding. Eddie was right when he said the BSG Orchestra would "rock our rockets."

I was on the floor standing in front of the sound booth during most of the show. During the latter songs of the concert, James Callis ended up standing right behind me and Grace Park was next to him. I knew he was there to also enjoy the show, so I didn't want to seem like a rabid fan and meet him while the BSG orchestra was playing. I continued to enjoy the show and he continued to stand behind me. After the end of the final song, I turned to him and shook his hand. I think I said "It's so great to see you here," (what a weird thing to say) to which he replied, "Yes, it's great to be here." I shook his hand and then gave him a big man-hug. I know he wasn't expecting it. It was great. I had just hugged James Callis/Gaius Baltar. I didn't get to hug Grace Park, but at least I met her and shook her hand.

After the show I went back to the Delta Lounge for the autograph signing. As Bear began signing my newer CD booklets, a drunk Michael Hogan came up from behind me and said, "Make it out to Michael Hogan! M-I-C-H-A... that's how you do it!" and he started to laugh like how Tigh laughed in BSG. He then threw his arm around me, so what could I do but put my arm around him. He was saying something to Bear about the show and was doing a slight drunken sway as he talked with our arms around each other. It lasted only thirty seconds or so, but it was so cool. Michael Hogan was drunk and I was his buddy for a short time. It was awesome. It was there that I realized that drunk Colonel Tigh and drunk Michael Hogan are the same person. Earlier in the night, Michael came on stage with two beers in his hands, nearly spilling one of them. In honor of drunk Michael Hogan, here is one of my absolute favorite Saul Tigh moments from Battlestar Galactica:

Gods, I love that clip. I don't know how many Battlestar Galactica concerts there are going to be, but if you are any kind of fan, you need to go to one. You might have an unforgettably amazing experience or two like I did.