RARA-AVIS: PulpFest 2009

From: mikechomko (michaelchomko@rcn.com)
Date: 03 Nov 2008

  • Next message: jacquesdebierue: "RARA-AVIS: Re: PulpFest 2009"

    Recently, a number of Pulpmags members including Walker Martin and Curt Phillips have been wondering about the status of the Dayton Pulpcon. In a very eloquent post, Walker wrote: "As one of the original attendees of the first Pulpcon and a long-standing supporter since 1972, I feel I deserve an answer concerning Pulpcon 38 in Dayton, Ohio. I ask again Mary, what do you, Don, and Bob have to say?"

    In today's mail, Jack Cullers received an answer to Walker's question. In the mail was a two-page letter from Robert W. Jones, Attorney at Law, retained by Robert Gorton. The letter asked Jack to voluntarily withdraw his application to register the service mark "PULPCON," and to discontinue using the mark on the Pulpcon 2009 website. Mr. Jones went on to state that although Rusty Hevelin's initial registration of the "PULPCON" service mark had lapsed in 1989, since Robert Gorton had been named Rusty's successor in interest to Pulpcon and had been handling the convention's business matters since approximately 2003, any use that Jack or others on the Pulpcon committee made of the service mark was "only with the express or implied authority of Mr. Gorton."

    Rather than argue with Bob Gorton over the use of the Pulpcon name, Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse, Barry Traylor and I have decided to change the name of the pulp convention that we are planning to stage in Columbus, Ohio in the summer of 2009. Beginning immediately, our convention will be known as PulpFest 2009. I have already registered our new domain name and you will soon be able to access the website by visiting www.pulpfest.com.

    In a post dated October 8, 2008, Will Murray wrote: "A new Pulpcon with a new name would signal new energy. And Windy City has shown that the name doesn't matter. It's the energy behind the convention committee." Jack, Ed, Barry and I feel that we have demonstrated and will continue to demonstrate that we have the energy to stage a successful convention.

    It is the opinion of the PulpFest 2009 Committee that the success of a convention is not based on its name. Rather, it is based on the attitude of the people who attend the show and the treatment they receive when they spend their time, money and effort to travel to that convention. We intend to treat people at PulpFest 2009 as partners, rather than opponents. Come the summer of 2009, we will be the ones staging what Mary Ramlow has called "the `true' Pulpcon." We hope you will join us as partners in Columbus, Ohio from July 31 through August 2, 2009.

    Mike Chomko



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