Bill Autographs a Commodore Phone By Robert Bernardo Not Bill Gates! I'm talking about William Shatner, Captain Kirk of "Star Trek", T.J. Hooker of "T.J. Hooker", Denny Krane of "The Practice", and star of other movies and television shows. We club members of Shatner & Friends, International (the official William Shatner Fan Club) had our annual get-together on April 30-May 2 in the Los Angeles area. In 2002 Bill signed my Commodore 1581 disk drive; in 2003 he autographed my VIC- 20 -- the computer he advertised in the early 1980's. This year I was stumped at what he could sign. I had thought about him signing the door of a Commodore 1701/1702 monitor, but that did not "inspire" me. However, with the help of my friends on the #c64friends chat, I came up with a great idea. Bill is Canadian, and he used to advertise for Commodore. What do I have that is Canadian and says Commodore on it? Voila! The Commodore Telephone, produced circa 1980. On Friday, April 30, we club members toured Paramount Studios, passing by the sky wall used in Star Trek IV and other movies, passing by the closed Star Trek soundstages, walking through New York Street, and viewing the videotaping of promos by anchorman Bob Goen for the television program, "Entertainment Tonight". (Bob Goen... very amiable... very personable... turned on his announcer's voice when the cameras were on... turned it off and went back to a regular speaking voice when the cameras were off... Quote, "Why can't I have a fan club like Shatner's that follows me around?!" What a guy! Too bad lovely ET reporter, Maria Menounos was not around, though!) Then it was off to the Kodak Theatre Center at Hollywood and Vine in order to meet Bill Shatner for lunch at the upscale California Pizza Kitchen. Cleaned and ready, my Commodore telephone sat in the car, waiting to be autographed. Unfortunately, Bill did not have time for autographs at that moment. He sat with us for about 45 minutes, eating salad and pizza. Bill inquired, "Where's everybody from?" Few responded. One club member shouted, "Australia". Another said, "Wisconsin". Bill pushed on, "Oh, come on. You must be from somewhere? O.K., where have you been?" I said, "England... France..." Bill looked at me and said, "You see... we have a person from France!" Then it was time for him to walk across to the other side of the Center and be the guest for the t.v. talk show, "On Air with Ryan Seacrest". And Bill had invited us into the studio to view the show as it was broadcast live! The show had already been going on for 20 minutes as we were quietly ushered to an upper balcony walkway which overlooked the stage; the rest of the audience had arrived earlier and were already seated. They were in commercial break; Shatner was about to come out. The warm-up person got us ready, "All right, everybody. Remember... lots of energy... lots of applause!" Commercial finished. Ryan Seacrest gave his introduction. Bill Shatner walked on-stage. We cheered and applauded. Bill was his usual bundle of on-air energy, and he even acknowledged us fan club members in the balcony. Camera cuts to us. There we were, waving and applauding, on live t.v.. During the course of Bill's talk, the camera would cut back to us two more times! (Upon watching a tape of the show afterwards, I noticed that I stuck out like sore thumb... the tall, skinny, bespectled guy who towered over the other club members.) After Bill's very humorous talk, we left the show and wandered off to look around and visit the shops in the area, which included a viewing of the stars' handprints/footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Then we went to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center to watch Bill ride his horses in preparation for competition. Afterwards, it was back to the hotel to watch videos and partake in liquid refreshment (hmmm, Jamaican Sex on the Beach... vodka, strawberry juice, coconut milk, ice, and a cherry). Saturday, we went to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center to watch the Hollywood Charity Horseshow. Never before had I seen such a sight! During the pre-show activities, among the cowboys with their horses, there were Federation personnel, Klingons, Star Wars stormtroopers, Darth Vader, a Peter Pan fairy, and even a Mugatu -- all there to entertain and control the hundreds and hundreds of parents and children. Yeah, cowboys and sci-fi! The show itself ran for about an hour, the riders putting their horses through certain riding routines under certain themes, e.g., the grand winner was a Jimmy Buffett/Florida-type theme with dozens of people dancing in the arena to Buffet music while the horse and rider danced along. And the stars were out! Bill Shatner did the narrating of the show. In the audience, just a few seats away from us, were Ben Stiller, comedian; his wife, actress Christine Taylor, and their young toddler. Seated next to him was Scott Hamilton, Olympic skater. I spotted movie star, Eric Roberts, brother of Julia Roberts. Later on, at the dinner with country singer, Brad Paisley, in concert, other members saw movie star, Sylvester Stallone, and wife, model Jennifer Flavin; and movie and t.v. star, Rebecca DeMornay. There was even an unconfirmed sighting of actress Jennifer Aniston (o.k., she looked like Jennifer... but where was her make-up?!) Needless to say, there was a small group of papparazzi who followed, cameras at the ready. Sunday, it was back to the Equestrian Center. Bill was there, waiting by the stables, because he would later be riding his horses in competition at the arena. Time for photos and autographs with Bill, the money raised to go to the Hollywood Charity Horse Show. I was in the middle of the autograph line, carrying the precious Commodore telephone. When my turn came, he remarked, "A phone?" I replied, "It's Commodore. It's Canadian." No response to that, but he signed the phone on its side. The rest of the day was devoted to watching Bill and his wife, Elizabeth, ride their horses in competition. Afterwards, we club members who had not left early were treated to a fine dinner at the Mexican restaurant next to the Equestrian Center. My thanks to Jane Singer and Sandy Moruzzi, the leaders of Shatner & Friends, International, for organizing a full weekend of activities. In all, our little group raised $3,600 for the Hollywood Charity Horse Show ( http://www.horseshow.org ). More information about SFI can be found at http://www.williamshatner.com I'm already thinking about next year... perhaps Bill can sign the Commodore Direct-to-TV joystick!