Hello fellow fans. It appears that the holiday season is again upon us, and another year is about to pass. I can't believe that it's almost 2005... anymore the time seems to fly by faster and faster. It seems that it wasn't long ago that I was just a kid hanging out at ShowBiz living for the moment and having fun. Now here I am, at the pinnacle of the ShowBiz and CEC Fan world and you know what? There's no place I'd rather be.

It has been an interesting year for this site and for my personal life as well. There have been high times, and low times, but somehow things always seem to work out fine in the end. I've found touch with parts of myself that I thought were dead long ago, and along with rekindled spirits, I've made goals to push ahead and make way for the future. It seems that things in life never stop changing, and just when I know where I'm at life throws me for a loop. That's not such a bad thing though, sometimes it's nice to not know what's to come... for better or worse. I've never thought that way personally, I'm always the one who plays it safe, who's afraid to try new things for fear of failure, fear of unknown. It's made me somewhat of a control freak in many aspects, one of which is ShowBiz Pizza.com - this site is my baby and it goes with me everywhere all the time.

Collectable Of The Month

Pizza Time Theatre Christmas Shot Glass This is a miniature shot glass dating back to 1983. It is encrested with a pewter charm featuring Chuck E. riding in a sled.

I have never been more proud of this community than I am right now. I honestly believe that this year has been profound in terms of uniting fans and that has been proven to me in several ways. Not a single one of them an expected event. A joke gone wrong, a mishap in administrative management, the underground set afire with a bit of panic, and ultimately the fans themselves uniting to protect what I had created. The end result is a community which now turns and operates primarily under its own power. Some of you know exactly what I'm referring to and most probably have no clue - and that's ok... the fact of the matter remains the same. The point I'm trying to make is that when my little safety bubble collapses and I run out of ways to maintain control, I have all of you as a safety net to fall back on.

There are other things that have me beaming with pride as well. When I first handed over the control of the message board to Jasper, I was nervous. Again, a matter of losing that all precious control. But he did an awesome job, and in time everyone warmed up to idea of his authority in place of my own. When it came time to appoint him as an assistant webmaster, I'll admit that I was even more nervous. But what can I say? Of all the decisions I've made over the past few years, giving him the duty of handling the Showtape Review is one of the best ones I've made. I don't know everything, and when it comes to CEC showtapes and CEC knowledge in general, I'm on the short end of things. Jasper isn't though and if anyone comes close to being an expert of CEC shows, he's the first on my list of people. Funny, but one of the sections of this site that I'm most proud of is the Showtape Review, and I have very little to do with it. Some of you may be scratching your heads, because yes, the review has been around for a few years. But in this last year the progress made with it and constant refining of old information has astounded me. Plus just this last month we finally got to meet up in person after all these years which was truly nice. I honestly do consider him to be a friend, and I know he's got my back, just like I would stand up for him.

2004 also gave me the opportunity to meet even more fans in person, via CheeseVention, which we all know was the first fan held CEC/ShowBiz convention in history - another good idea which wasn't mine. I had always hoped for something of the like, but fear of failure kept me from pursuing it. When the news of J and Jenn's idea came around I immediately wanted to get on board. Whether it succeeded or failed was irrelevant - the honest desire to unite fans physically under one roof was a success in and of itself. And at CheeseVention I met up with people who I've known for years, both online and off. Much of J and Jenn's Pizza Time material has been on this site for nearly 5 years, and in all actuality helped this fledgling little fan site get off the ground. Meeting Danny E., Rapid, Matt, Kerry, along with some new faces was surreal as well. But one of the most interesting aspects of CheeseVention, and what I honestly believe was the pinnacle of the evening was the appearance of Aaron Fechter. I met Aaron a few years back, but I know that many of the attendees hadn't. If there was one memory they could take home, one memory that would have made the event worthwhile, I do believe that was it. And as Aaron himself said, one thing that all of us attending would have is the ability to say that we were there at the very 1st one. We would always have that little feather in our hats to wear proudly - just as I do for knowing I was able to take part.

Aaron Fechter's involvement in the ShowBiz Pizza.com community has been interesting and many new facts and tidbits of knowledge have been opened up for all to enjoy. Ultimately what this has meant for me personally is that sometimes the past needs to be let go, and hatchets need to be buried. Yes, this website has been little more than a cyber-shrine dedicated specifically to the past. But at the same time, sometimes the past must be pushed aside in order to move forward. I think that Aaron's interest in the fandom has produced some excellent videos of the devastating hurricanes that tore through Florida this past summer. The competition between Aaron and Snapper's hurricane coverage definitely brought out some twisted entertainment, and we were all the primary benefactors. Although not your ideal form of journalism, they were still very entertaining and as fans we can watch these short films and appreciate them in ways that other people never could. As fans we 'get it', we understand it, and we thrive on it. I know that may not make sense but stick with me here. Aaron's interest in the past was no doubt inspired at least partly by CheeseVention, and the physical manifestation of this interest can be seen with the opening of Rock-afire Pizza.

Rock-afire Pizza has been talked about a lot these past few months, so I won't harp much on it here... but I do think that there's some very interesting things to be remembered about this restaurant. For one, this is the first store to be named after and themed around the Rock-afire. Yes, Billy Bob and Looney have had places named after them before, but the characters were used more like mascots (similar to the method in which Chuck E. Cheese is marketed). But for Rock-afire Pizza, the entire band is showcased... which is really unique because the term 'Rock-afire' means nothing to anyone except those who already know what it means. It's a restaurant named after a specific animatronic set of characters, which has been fairly unknown over the past decade. The owner is very optimistic about the show and its marketability, as is Aaron Fechter who has put a hefty amount of work into making this new concept work. The fans have even taken part and a member of our community designed the store's logo. Does this equal a winning combination? We all hope that it does, but only time will tell. Ultimately though, I believe that events that transpired beneath our very own corner of cyberspace helped to bring together all of these elements into something that people 'outside' our online community will be able to enjoy in their daily lives. That to me is something worth praising.

Happy Holiday from ShowBiz Pizza.com ShowBiz Pizza and Pizza Time Theatre Gingerbread Houses ShowBiz Pizza Gingerbread House Pizza Time Theatre Gingerbread House I decided to make a gingerbread house this year, and simply couldn't resist. Hope you enjoy the photos. Happy Holidays! And as everyone's agreed, the community is growing. It took over 4 years to reach 200,000 hits. In just the past year alone, we've gained close to another 150,000 homepage hits. That to me is just unbelievable. I never thought I'd seriously hit the 100K marker, and now we're staring down the barrel of half a million homepage hits. Every time I check this site it's updated daily by the fans via the message board. Even I drop by as often as possible to see what's new. It's almost come to the point where I no longer need to update... but honestly that's the opposite of what I plan to do. I've had plans sitting in my head forever of new things to do, new things to try. And now I'm finally at a point to start making them happen. Many fans have been gracious enough to 'donate' to our online Fan Club and costs for this website are coming close to a leveling off point. We're almost pulling in enough to completely break even with our operating costs (which works great because Jasper and I work for free). As I've mentioned from the beginning, I have no intention of making any personal profit from the Club - if what we bring in happens to be in excess of what we have to pay for web space, the money will be redistributed to the fans. For instance, the CD giveaway for Rock-a-Palooza and much of the promo stuff made for CheeseVention came out of this fund. There's one more idea that's floating in my head that I'd love to add, but am unable to right now because of $$ restrictions. If the renewals all come in and demand for the 2005 Club Packs is strong enough, I'm ready to add a new 'service' to ShowBiz Pizza.com that fans should enjoy. And the older sections will continually be renovated to enhance the cohesiveness of the site, along with the constant incorporation of new material. We've done some web space shifting recently which will allow for further expansion of the Photo Gallery, Information Section, and other parts of the site. I have much material on hand right now just waiting to be posted and in the near future I see much of it making its way online. Again, in order to make this possible it involves giving up a little of that control I mentioned earlier. I really stretched myself out too thin, trying to shoulder the Bulletin and Mp3s which both need monthly attention, all the site sections, and special events like Rock-a-Palooza and CheeseVention. Things just weren't getting done, and as the community kept growing, material has been flowing in faster and faster and piling up. So in the interest of the fans I'm appointing some new assistant webmasters to the site to help oversee and maintain certain sections of the site. As always, I'm still nervous of passing out authority, but if it works I see some very positive results coming from it. And again, it is the fans that will benefit. There so much more that has happened this year that I haven't even mentioned yet like the trip out to Michigan to meet up with Snapper where we met Marvin (interesting guy... I'll never forget him), and when I got Billy Bob which was my 2nd RAE character, and trying to pick up the pieces and regain my collection of Chuck E. items... but I think I've rambled on for long enough already. I just want to give thanks to everyone who's a part of ShowBiz Pizza.com - thanks for all of your help! Special thanks to those who contribute to the site and Fan Club, your support has helped and will continue to help this site prosper into even more. And to all the fans that have so graciously frequented this website and taken part in our community, thank you for sticking around and also for reading this bulletin down the very end (I'm boring I know!). To be able to get to know so many people and to have all of you allowed me into your homes via this crazy thing called the internet is really amazing. Many people go on in life and only influence those in their immediate circle of friends, family, and co-workers. I've had the blessing to be able to reach out and speak to thousands of strangers. My only regret sometimes is that I haven't had more profound things to say... And with that, I'm out of here. I'll be back bright and early next year with some new updates that shouldn't disappoint. Have a great holiday season and spend some time with those close to you. Life can change so turbulently sometimes that we fail to make good on the time we have, and there are some things that just shouldn't be taken for granted. Bury some hatchets, make some resolutions, and meet me back here in 2005! Happy Holidays, - VegaNova

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