ISSUE #47 - September, 2004
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On Friday August 20th, fans from as far away as California and Colorado descended in droves to the scene of the Event...Legendary CEC Location Danvers,MA. Over the 24 years this Location has been open, it has seen some spectacular happenings and CheeseVention was yet another. From the moment you arrived, you knew you were about to experience true "CEC Magic". Although not as many fans showed up as expected, all in all those that did had a blast!

While waiting for the festivities to begin there were several tables displaying all kinds of collectibles from the years....rare stuff such as original CEC/Munch plushes to original PTT signage. VegaNova brought an impressive collection of prizes to be awarded for the Trivia Competition and Raffle that he had on display including stunning custom framed RAE cd-vinyl discs. They were awesome! Due to some last minute changes in the schedule, a few activities were changed or deleted. Once the Event began however...nobody really seemed to mind.

CheeseVention officially kicked off and it was non-stop fun the rest of the night. Hosts J and Jenn welcomed everyone, and after a few quick introductions, we swung into our Trivia Competition. Fans were challenged to answer questions about CEC's past and were then awarded some great prizes. Once the Trivia was completed, everyone gathered around the TV and watched the Rare Video Achieve. This was a selection of rare videos relating to Showbiz and PTT. During the videos many had their dinner and it was a good way to get a chance to meet folks and catch up on things. The highly anticipated showing of the fan made cult film "The Billy Bob Project" concluded the video showings...and after it was finished, something truly incredible happened!

We were thrilled to have a super special guest join us last minute.... Aaron Fechter himself, creator of the Rock-afire Explosion show, stunned the attendees by making a surprise appearance!! Everyone was pretty blown away by this - and it was hard to keep it a secret until that night. Aaron was generous with his time, telling us all about his feelings on the RAE and the Showbiz history. He also let us hear his plans to bring back the RAE and many Fans were happy to hear this news. We were honored to have him join us and it is clear that he had as good a time there as we did!

Once Aaron departed, we packed up our stuff and left Danvers to conclude the rest of CheeseVention at another location...this time a private hall. There were issues regarding some of the things we had planned to do at the Store Location, so as not to disturb anyone it was decided last minute to switch to a private location. It turned out to be a wise move...as CheeseVention ended up going on well after midnight!! J saved the day by securing us this hall in which we could present what many had traveled all the way to see... our special guest star characters performing LIVE!!!

The Entertainment section of CV now began and boy was it amazing. Fans again were still reeling from meeting Aaron Fechter, but now they were getting a double dose of shock as the Live Shows began. First up was the one and only Chuck E. Cheese from 1983!! "Classic Rat" kicked off the shows by performing the very first CEC Live Show ever from 1987. As this show originally had Chuck E. conversing with the stage characters, during this performance he interacted with small plush dolls of them instead, and the result was hilarious. Next up was a real treat...Billy Bob himself appeared much to everyone’s excitement as well as Looney Bird!! The Fans didn’t know what hit em' - they were agape in amazement. Billy Bob performed a special Live Show created exclusively for CV and it was a definite highlight of the evening. Looney Bird came to life via a special animated puppet built by Jenn especially for CV. This amazing device thrilled the Fans, as who would have ever thought they would ever see Billy Bob and Looney perform live again... only at CheeseVention folks!

After those great shows, it was time to bring out the rest of our special guests. Tux Chuck appeared along with his pals Jasper, Helen, and our other surprise guest, Mr. Munch!! All the characters did various Live Shows with the exception of Munch.....he was too busy eating pizza! Once the Live Shows were completed, it was well after midnight so it was time to call it a day. Everyone had a great time, and the fun was just starting in a way....the next day was just as great as the CV itself!!

The following day, a few of the fans who attended joined J and Jenn in a "CEC Crawl"...that is, a tour of several area Stores. Originally we were going to spend the day at a local amusement park, but the weather was not cooperating. Instead, we did the "Crawl" and I must say it went over well. First stop was Natick,MA to view a cool animatronic presentation in a furniture store (yes, MA is so cool we have animatronics in such places!). Afterwards we hit the Natick CEC and it was packed....so we moved on down to Burlington, Ma's CEC to party on down with Chuck himself. We were all involved in doing a great live show for everyone there that day which was a hoot...I don't think the Cast Members there knew what hit them! Here we all are marching around the showroom with Chuck wearing all of our CV gear...must have been quite a scene!

Next up on the tour was Methuen,MA ...and here we were treated like royalty. The Store hosted us well, and a special thanks goes out to Steve for your generosity that night! Chuck joined us again in doing another group Live Show which brought the house down. Maybe we should all just go on tour doing this??!! Once we said our goodbyes to Methuen, it was time to hit Newington, NH's CEC and it was well worth the trip. Newington has amazingly retained most of its old, original look so this was much enjoyed by the Fans visiting. Once our tour was complete it was time to return to Danvers to say goodnight. All during our commute between the Locations, we were cranking the CEC Music big time in J's van. Everyone was singing along with every word of it too...which when you think about it, is pretty surreal really. The climax no doubt was when we arrived back at Danvers after 10 pm to an empty parking lot. The original "March" had just started playing through our speakers and I jokingly said to J that perhaps it's time for another Live Show. Well would you believe it....we DID one right there in the parking lot in front of the Store? YES, it's true... 8 fans doing the "March" Live Show routine with music blasting in front of the closed Danvers Store. Yeah, it was pretty nutty....but boy was it a good laugh!

That was the capper to the whole CheeseVention.....I think it left everyone with a great memory of the whole experience. The following day on Sunday, some of the Fans from CV joined J and Jenn on a tour of historic Salem, MA which was a nice way to wrap up the weekend of fun.

All in all, it was a wonderful time for all the folks who attended. Most are already asking about next year....chances are good it will happen. The good news is that most of what happened at CV was captured on film, so a video release is in the works. J and I would like to thank all of those who attended, and to profusely thank VegaNova and ShowBiz Pizza.com for all the great help and support getting the word out there to the fans about our special Event. More thanks to Travis for giving me the opportunity to tell you all about CV in my own words this month!

Now take a look at all the cool photos below...and relive all the excitement yourself...or...see what you missed! Hope everyone has a great start to their autumn, and see you in the Stores!

Peace n' Pizza,
- Jenn