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X-Conference 2

4.12.5

The Road to X-Conference

The Saturday Night Banquet

One aspect of the weekend that remained a mystery until I actually attended was the Saturday Night Banquet. After attending lectures and workshops all day long, I was looking forward to getting a decent meal, having scarfed down hotdogs and various "snack bar" sundries throughout the day. The Banquet had precious little information in the program other than that there would be special awards given out and a keynote speech, with no speaker directly named.

So, with baited breath I made my way down to the Banquet Hall and joined the long line of folks waiting for them to roll the food out. After a brief wait, where I talked UFOs with the folks around me in line, all friendly and knowledgeable I may add, the folks at the hotel brought out some eats. They were actually pretty good, despite my skepticism and I was certainly full by the end of the night, thanks to the wide array of stuff they offered for eating.

Getting inside the banquet hall, I was surprised to see that the folks at X-Conference had thoughtfully spread out the various speakers of the weekend throughout the hall at different tables, so the odds of getting a seat at a table with someone who spoke was quite good. I managed to snag a seat at the table of Roswell director Paul Davids and "Mars Revealer" Gary Leggiere, who I'd become friends with earlier in the day. They were also broadcasting the speakers at the podium on a giant screen in the rear of the banquet hall so that everyone could see what was going on without having to crane their neck, a great touch.

Steve Bassett came out kick off what was a both formal and laid back affair. Most notably at the beginning of the program was Bassett having a special birthday cake brought out for Richard C. Hoagland, that had a giant Martian face on it, ala Cydonia. That got a great reaction from everyone in attendance.

He went on to give out a bunch of awards from the Paradigm Research Group, including a Lifetime Achievement Award and two inductions into the PRG Hall of Fame, going to J. Allen Hynek and Stanton Friedman. Friedman, of course, gave a humorous and insightful speech accepting the award, that including some anecdotes that had that distinct Friedman flair to it.

Bassett then settled in and delivered an amazing keynote address. He talked about how he got into the field. He told a very humorous story about how he was dissed by the Washington Post. He had an ongoing theme of his speech of "taking Ufology out of the intellectual ghetto" which was stirring in it's insight and truthfulness. He challenged everyone there to bring Ufology to the Presidential campaign, a challenge that managed to produce some interesting tid bits from Gen. Wesley Clark later in the year.

After he finished that, they brought out a woman who played music inspired by Ufology. No kidding. I didn't pay much attention to that, but she was talented and provided good background music. I believe Bruce Maccabbe joined her onstage later for some music as well.

Perhaps the most amusing and intriguing moment, for me, was sneaking outside to have a cigarette. It was there that I discussed with one UFO insider the many strange things that had happened to him since he'd begun to investigate the UFO phenomenon. He had me captivated with stories of strange phone calls and odds cars parked near his house. I finished that cigarette feeling decidedly creeped out. Meanwhile, I also made a lot of friends out there as folks who smoke were in small numbers at the conference and they formed their own strange clique, of which I was a member. There were lots of inside stories shared and strange anecdotes revealed.

The great part about the banquet, aside from Bassett's fantastic keynote address, was the intimacy of the event. I can't recall the scant details of the conversations, but the tables were abuzz with talk of UFOs between the speakers and the attendees It was a true bridging of the gap between neophytes and experts and everyone was on a pretty level playing field. Certainly as informal as the Cocktail Party, the Banquet was an event, in the same vein, that gave the folks who went to D.C. a chance to rub elbows with the people they came to see.