[jettajeffro]

With almost no notice, as most have experienced, Dan did a signing event for his wine and vodka on May 13th, 2009 here in Scottsdale, AZ. The event was from 4-6 pm so most of us had to make arrangements with our jobs and our team members that couldn't make it unfortunately didn't have enough notice. The wine shop was small and the line was formed around the store and then outside. We were in line for about an hour before we got up to him. We made the decision to not go to the event in full gear. We didn't want to be a distraction at the event and wanted to keep the focus on Dan and what he was there for.

We had one of our AZ Ghostbuster logo hats made with the addition of "Honorary Member" added to the back to give Dan. He loved it as well as our logo and took our new team info pamphlet and business cards. Our time with Dan was short but we all got either his wine or vodka and some kind of GB item signed. Ronin (slimer28) and John (JackIvyGB) got some of their original artwork signed. It was an awesome experience to meet someone we've all admired and hopefully we'll get to meet him again someday.

Line in store



Dan signing the Ghostbusters Making Of Book



Captain Matt Haynes meeting Dan



Dan going for a handshake



Dan Matt H and Jeff



Neal and Matt S getting items signed



Back of Dan's hat

[Krenzy]

Congrats, guys! It's awesome finally getting to meet him, isn't it? And I agree, most hardly have any notice that he's coming. Again, good job!

[jettajeffro]

Definitely alittle surrealistic to have met him after seeing him on screen so many years. It was alot different than meeting other celebrities. I think just because he has meant so much to all of us. Yeah we asked his people awhile ago if and when we might be coming and they only said sometime in May. We kept checking the community calendars and it finally popped up. He did appear on our local radio this morning to talk about the event, the wine, and alittle bit about GB. Lack of alot of notice and the President also being in town tonight may have kept the crowd from being bigger tonight, but there was still a good turnout.

[JackIvyGB]

It was incredible to meet a man that has given me so much inspiration since before I could remember. I learned to walk by dancing to the GB theme song whenever I heard it as a baby. I learned to draw by drawing GB over and over and over, filling sketch book after sketchbook from the time I could grip a pencil until now. I learned to write through making up my own adventures for the team, often placing myself as a part of those adventures. Countless halloweens spent patrolling the neighborhoods around town in my little suit and RGB pack in the car while my dad drove, playing the theme song with the windows down. Joining the Arizona Ghostbusters and feeling how awesome it was to take something that made me so happy and use it to make others happy. To build my own gear, to have a uniform with my last name on it. All 21+ years...finally culminating in the ultimate wish fullfilment:





I had it at my side and after I shook his hand and had him sign a couple pictures I had, I started to lift it up and he smiled and knew exactly what I was going to ask. I handed it to him and he looked at it. It's not an awesome trap by any means. Just something nifty to hang from my belt. But he looked back at me, grinned, thrust it in my direction, and uttered the words I had always dreamed of hearing directed at me. It played out just like I had written so many times in the stories from my childhood.

"...Dr. Ray Stantz handed me the trap and said 'Welcome aboard'."

What a rush.
I had planned to just get the pictures signed, but the lady behind me asked to see the posters and I ended up telling her about me making the props. She asked if I had them with me and I told her the trap was in the car. It had been there since a while back and I just thought about it then, but as soon as I did, I knew I had to do it.

I tried to take a picture for the couple behind me of them with Dan, but I was so shaky it came out blurry. I only wished that it hadn't gone by so fast. I got there a little later than the rest of the team, and only about 20 more people had lined up behind me before they cut it off. I got to tell him it was an honor to meet him, showed him the pictures, which he thought were cool and recognized the rest of the team that had come by earlier, shook his hand, took the picture and that was that. All in all though, I must say, only after I stopped to look at the pictures on my camera did it kick in that I'd met Dan. As Jeff said, it was very surreal. But very awesome.

More pics:

[slimer28]

Johnny I can't believe that you got the Great One to hand you the trap! Ever since I met you all you is talk about how much you love that damn scene! Your dream cam true man and thanks to the lady in the line who reminded you about your trap!

The cool things is that both of us got some of our original artwork signed! Wow I can't explain the feeling after getting to meet him! I almost dropped my bottle of Vodka because my hand was shaking so bad after I walked away! This is an experience that I will never forget my childhood dream came true and for the hour I waited in line I was the 3-6 year old kid again!

JEFF my good man now that im calm I would really like to thank you because if you hadn't been so diligent on finding out when he was coming, and for inviting to become a member of the team I would have never known about the event thus I would have never met my hero, so thank so much man I will never forget this!

[Ryusui]

Wow, that sounds like the experience of a lifetime, guys! Congrats for being able to meet the heart of the Ghostbusters himself! You have my eternal envy - not just for meeting him, but for the entire experience as a whole. Congrats again!

[Hasford1978]

Awwwwwww man im so jealous of you guys, You got to meet THE creator of Ghostbusters!!
Was you all nervous waiting in line & bet you all had a million & one questions to ask him about GBs didnt you?

Did you manage to ask him anything relating to GBs, any of you or was it such a rushed signing?

Well done to you JackIvyGB, that was a great piece to read about Dan handing over your trap & saying those infamous words, lucky you! Great photo of the two of you also, id love to meet Dan myself one day but with him coming to the UK is a very rare occurence if ever really!? I would have about a days worth of questions to ask him haha
I know these events are quite rushed because of the demand of other fans clamouring to meet there heroes & heronies so you cant always spend that much time with them & when you do get the chance you end freezing up

Seriously well done to all you guys who got to meet him, you have made the whole Ghostbusters community proud & a tad jealous

[jettajeffro]

Thanks Ronan. I know we all wanted to meet him. You definitely had alot more time with him than we did John since you came in later. Being in the front we didn't get to ask him much Hasford, he asked us if we knew about the game and we told him we were doing a release event for charity. I think we were all nervous.

[loyalGHOSTBUSTER]

Dan seems such a nice guy,and always has time for his fans

[jettajeffro]

I can report everything you've heard is true, he's great.

[jettajeffro]

Here's a couple more pics for from the signing



This about sums up all our reactions

[bradboss12]

Wow! Kudos to you guys! That is fantastic, and if any ghostheads deserved a meeting with Dan, it was you guys. Cool gift with the cap, too! Thanks for sharing! I don;t know if Dan has ever been to Pittsburgh or will be.

[rahum]

that was awesome! totally great!


is there a place online that has a list of all of his upcoming apperances?!

[jettajeffro]

This is the closest I've found.

http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/news/dan-aykroyd/

I found this event on our local newspaper calendar. You can also email his wine site about possible upcoming visits to your area. They seem to respond pretty fast.

Our local paper the Phoenix New Times blogged about the signing here. They put in a couple of pictures of us and gave a shout out for the video game release event we're doing soon.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/ ... ykroyd.php

[Shredder565]

Congrats, guys! It's awesome finally getting to meet him, isn't it? And I agree, most hardly have any notice that he's coming. Again, good job!

Dan is looking less and less happy at each of these events. I can't imagine having to spend 5 hours sitting in one spot and signing all that time. Even though meeting loads of nice people must be the only nice thing about it

[bradboss12]

Daeling with the public is tough. If he flips out on ONE fan, he's the next Christian Bale. Figure he's flying, layovers, jetlag, hotels, sitting hunched over with writers cramp. Not as easy as it looks. After 25 years, he's still "There" for his fans, and that shouldn't be taken lightly.

[rockstar232007]

Congrats, guys! It's awesome finally getting to meet him, isn't it? And I agree, most hardly have any notice that he's coming. Again, good job!

Dan is looking less and less happy at each of these events. I can't imagine having to spend 5 hours sitting in one spot and signing all that time. Even though meeting loads of nice people must be the only nice thing about it

I'm sure spending so much time away from his family, is also taking it's tole. He is a real trooper.

[UltimateGBfan]

Awesome guys,I'm hoping to finally get to meet him one day.

[jettajeffro]

Luckily he perked up when we met him, but it definitely has to be rough on him. He was usually keeping his head down and signing as fast as possible for most people. I believe he was heading to the airport the second the event was over. He's been at this for awhile now and I'm sure the tour is far from done. He's zig-zagging all over the place with little notice.

[madhatter]

Damn!

I wish I had known about this. Was this posted in the New Times or the Republic? Would have been there in a second. Just picked up a bottle of the vodka a few weeks ago. Haven't found the right moment to try yet.



Lucky guys you are! I probably would have had him sign the tattoo and went straight to my tattoo guy for the finishing touch

[jettajeffro]

It was only in the AZcentral event listings, online and in the paper. Suprisingly the New Times didn't have it. It was just so sudden. Dan's hat was picked up en route. I'm sure alot of the people there only knew about it because of his radio appearance that morning. I only found it because I was checking to the AZcentral calendar to see if they posted the video game release event we're a part of.