SHareCon 2002 Zine

Table of Contents

Cover of the 2002 SHareCon Zine
Art by L A Pinn

Contents That Are Online

Intro (below) by Flamingo and Rosemary (CrowRow)
Gentle Hands on the Reins by Kath Moonshine
Sometimes You Just Gotta Do by Blue Starsky
It’s a Wonderful Life? by Dana Austin Marsh
Getting to a Thousand by Rhonda Wynn
Art Plate 1 by Virginia Sky
Huggy’s Dark Secret by Alleycat
It Could Happen by Cyanne
Cop on the Take by Author Unknown (adapted by Lucy)
Mustard with Your Mad Cow, Sir? by Liz Barrett
Hutch Meets Bobby by Kathy (Windraine10)
Name That Episode! contributed by Linda McGee
Beaucoup by jat sapphire
You Love Him, Too by April Valentine
Ode to a Friend and Loved One by The Pointed Stic
Art by Virginia Sky
Lingering by Dana Austin Marsh
Thousand Words is Not Enough by Jennifer C.
Buyer’s Remorse by Morgan LeFey
Memos by Lucy
Answers to Name That Episode! contributed by Linda McGee
No Hope for Butch by Elizabeth Lowry and Linda McGee
All in a Knight’s by Rhonda Wynn
Starsky Tries to Get the Last Word by Flamingo
Art by L A Pinn
Changing Teams by Jadis
Thresholds by Rosemary
Talkin’ Dirty Bingo and Cheap Toupees by Flamingo
The Great Date Debate by Cyanne
Edelweiss by Elizabeth Lowry

Intro: And Now a Word from Our Sponsors…

“You should be sitting here,” Flamingo said.

“Why me?” Ro asked.

“Because you’re the editor.”

“Nononononono—I take no responsibility for this! You’re the editor of this masterpiece!” Ro insisted.

“No, you’re the guilty party,” Flamingo told her.

“Wanna make Anne the editor?” Ro asked.

“She hasn’t even read any of the stories…” Flamingo said. “But…she has done some proof-reading. Copy-editor, editor, what’s the dif?”

“I rule!” Anne announced, pumping her fist in the air.

“Okay, let’s get serious,” Flamingo said.

“Not in this zine,” Ro muttered.

And she’s right. This is just a little glimpse into what passes for “zine production” in the Flamingo-Anne-CrowRow asylum. Well, it’s 2002 and we’re throwing another SHareCon, which just goes to show that insanity is a progressive disease that just gets worse with time. We’re expecting at least a hundred other lunatics to be released from their holding facilities so they can enjoy themselves at our “tiny, intimate” con the weekend of October 25, 26, & 27.

If you haven’t received this at the con, then you must be one of those really hard-cases that couldn’t get released for the weekend. We’ll try to get you released in 2004 when, rumor is, we’re going to do this again. Apparently, we haven’t learned our lesson, and we’re going to keep doing it and doing it until we get it right. And since this isn’t a perfect world…

We want to thank all the wonderful contributors who have sent us some terrific stuff for this little “give-away” zine. We’ve got new writers and veteran hard-cases and new artists and veteran artists and new poets and all kinds of groovy stuff. It’s a terrific little zine, and you all made it that way. We just assembled it. With a lot of arguing. Some yelling. A few thrown items, but they were always soft things. It’s okay, really.

The good news is, that if you’re reading this that means we got it done in time and got it to the con. Which likely means we got there ourselves. If we haven’t, please come visit us in our padded cells at breaks between panels. (This is the only time you’ll hear Flamingo complain about restraints!)

Enjoy the zine. Enjoy the con! Make friends. Make memories. Have fun. And stay safe for the next two years. We want to see you back here again.

Y’all come back real soon, heah…. Ooops. Wrong fandom. That’s the kind of week it’s been.

Love,
Flamingo, CrowRow, & Anne
(who is being held hostage in a zine production factory against her will)

In Memory of Jean Holmes

Jean Holmes died this year from a fast moving cancer. She was a long time SH fan, and she will be missed by her many friends.

Jean may have been quiet, but she was a doer in fandom. When the editor of the long-running SH letterzine, Frienz, needed to pass the zine on, Jean took it over. She was also a major contributor to the SH Lending Library.

Jean was a quiet person. She wasn’t that well known. But she loved Starsky & Hutch, and she worked hard to promote the fandom and give other fans avenues to continue enjoying the fandom even when it wasn’t on the air. Jean was a member of our SH family—part of our neighborhood—and we have lost someone special in her passing.

Covers from various Frienz letterzines

Comments from Jean’s friends

From Elaine H.: Jean was a major S&H and Sentinel fan. She produced the S&H Letterzine for a number of years in the 90’s, and also the S&H Ad Zine, and she loved to attend cons. She was a very quiet person, and loved to sit in the back of a room of fans and listen to what everybody else had to say. But she always loved to be where the action was.

From Kath Moonshine: I can’t express how important Jean’s contribution to fandom was to me—I belonged to Frienz, that beloved ole paper letterzine. It was so exciting to find it in my mailbox! I remember how wonderfully connected I felt to my fandom, even fans in far away countries, when I would open up the letterzine and see names old and new. It was such a pleasure to craft a response to the last issue’s comments. It even inspired me to draw a Starsky & Hutch cartoon. The fact that Jean kept Frienz going for so long–long enough for me to discover it not long before the explosion of net fandom–is something I’ll always appreciate. God speed, Jean. Your frienz will always remember you.

From Linda Cabrillo: Jean was very reserved, but she loved Starsky and Hutch and did a lot for the fandom. When the show hadn’t been aired in about a decade and fandom had become very small, she cooperated with me on the production of a “We’re Alive!” flyer to be distributed at cons. Anyone remember “Yes, Virginia, there IS a fandom for Starsky and Hutch”? She allowed her name to be listed as a contact person for those interested in finding more about Starsky and Hutch. As you say, she published the letterzine for years, in addition to sending out regular listings of SH zines available. And when we decided to start a Lending Library, she was right there, running ads in Frienz and contributing to copying so we could expand our inventory. I’m glad I had the chance to get to know Jean. I’ll miss her!

From Candy Apple: Jean . . . was one of my early contacts in S&H, as I subscribed to the adzine and found the information to order some of my first zines back in 1995 and 96, when I was just getting my feet wet in fandom. She was a woman of few words, but she was always helpful, friendly, and willing to provide information to clueless newbies. 😉 I saw Jean at MediaWest a few times, and wish now I’d taken more time to draw her out to chat a little. Knowing she had passed on, I noticed her absence at the S&H panels this year. She was a quiet person, and didn’t draw a lot of attention to herself, but she had a wonderful spirit of service toward the fandom. And service without the need for a lot of resulting attention or credit is something really special. Thanks for all you did, Jean. We’ll miss you.

‘Brotherly Love’ by Mark Lawson

From a British publication, The Guardian, on May 31, 1999. An article on TV cop shows from the 70s.

[…] Starsky and Hutch was at its most original in the central relationship. […] The bonding between this LAPD duo was at the time easily the most intense and complex relationship between two members of the same sex ever seen on mainstream TV. There is an odd little quiver in the opening credits when […] Starsky and Hutch bump into each other and, in an accidental hug, exchange what seems suspiciously like confused masculinity.

In […] Gillian the exploration of male bonding is at its boldest. […] Speaking in-remember-the mid-70s, he declares openly that this is because he loves Hutch. […] Though often regarded as a more cautious age of entertainment, American television of the 70s can now clearly be seen to have created a show about two cops who are in love with each other. […] In a squad of slow-moving west coast loners from the 70s, the true stars [of all those TV series] were this LA duo who ran everywhere and were at some unspoken level in love.

From a Magazine Article in the 70s:

“In real life, Glaser and Soul are friends. They don’t hate each other the way many television series co-stars have done in the past. In fact, their makeup man, Shotgun Britton, once told an interviewer that, ‘Those boys don’t need two dressing rooms. They end up together in one dressing room. I’ve never seen co-stars on a show as close as these two. Even the married couples I’ve worked with spent more time apart!'”

Comments on Friendship by Paul and David

From Paul: “I’ve never had a relationship with a man as close as the one I have with Davey . . . Normally you put two actors together-two strong egos-co-starring in a series and about the best you could hope for is that they will tolerate one another. But Davey and I have a very special thing going.”

From David: “I love him,” says David Soul . . . “I respect his talent and his craft, but it’s very hard to put my finger on the way I feel about him, and he has the same frustration trying to talk about me. I feel kind of private with Paul, even on the screen. We understand each other, we have a very special kind of communication, and that’s the joy of working with him. . .”

More from David: “Starsky & Hutch is listed as a ‘crime drama’,” says David, “but in my opinion, the show is a love story between two men. If I love somebody, I’m not ashamed of it. People can watch and think that it’s sure nice to see somebody caring about somebody like that-unabashedly.”

What Starsky Thinks…

Starsky: There’s something really weird about the way you think.
Hutch: What’s wrong with the way I think?
Starsky: I don’t want to think about it.

Paul Michael Glaser Defends “Gay” Ways

From “Dramalogue,” approximately 1982:

Psychiatrists and TV critics have rapped S&H, charging its characters encourage homosexuality or bisexuality. They point out the show’s stars, DS and PMG, frequently hug and touch each other and occasionally kiss. Critics contend the overly warm relationship between the TV cops could influence the many young impressionable viewers of the top show.

But Glaser, who portrays Starsky, disagrees. He believes the show not only gives the viewers what they want to see but what they need to see.

“There’s an awful lot that’s been written about it and a lot of guessing has been going on,” Glaser recently told an interviewer. “Some people say it has to do with the chemistry between me and my partner, which I do think plays an important part. We’re in a day and age when people really do like to be reassured that a love relationship can exist for people who lay down their lives for a friend. It provides a fantasy for most of the viewing public and a needed fantasy. I think it’s academic to start worrying about sex. Obviously, in our culture, and especially in this country where we’re so preoccupied with sex and with who’s friends with whom, it does mean a lot that a heterosexual relationship, or rather, a relationship between two men who are heterosexual, is like this.

“Simply the fact that two men care for each other means a lot to people. They like to see that. In our lives every day there is so much friction, so many problems, so many difficulties, it’s reassuring to see that.

“My intention is to communicate love, hate, the human experience to the public. That’s what the theatrical experience is all about.”

Paul and David on the Business of Television

DAVID: “Both of us were very skeptical about the business of television. And what we actually did, we sat down and we looked at each other and we said, ‘Whatever happens out there, it’s me and thee.’ So in a sense the me and thee of Starsky and Hutch was the me and thee of David and Paul.”

PAUL: “We did get to a point where our timing was, and our chemistry was such, that I didn’t even have to look at David to have a pretty good idea of what he was doing.”

DAVID: “Well we were called prime time homos [laughs]. I think it’s really, I think it has more to do with the self-consciousness of the society that has to label relationships gay. I think it’s stupid. I think the strength of the whole show lay in the fact that Starsky loved Hutch and Hutch loved Starsky. There’s nothing unmanly in the love of a man for a man.”

From a Recent Interview in a British Publication

Interviewer: Did the relationship continue off-set as well as on-set?

David: Absolutely. To this day.

I: To this day!

D: Yes, I mean, recently Paul was over here visiting, and er, you know, he’s been a mate of mine ever since those days, 25 years now.

I: Fascinating.

D: It’s a rare thing. I mean, you’re always grateful to have work, you know, and to continue to work. But when you forge relationships that are lasting like that, doesn’t happen that often in this business and when it does, it’s magical.

Starsky’s Letters Home

Dear Nicky — Hutch met a pretty girl last week. Unfortunately, he nearly got killed because her ex-boyfriend was a crazy mobster, so she ran out on him. Hey, do you have any idea how long it takes needle tracks to fade away? Just curious. Dave

Dear Nicky — Met a great girl last week. Unfortunately, she got shot. Dave.

Dear Nicky — Hutch met a great girl last week. Unfortunately, she nearly got killed and raped because of a wacko who was after Hutch. Well, they were both blonds, y’see… hell, it’s a long story. She dumped him. Dave.

Dear Nicky — met a great girl last week. Unfortunately, her dad had to flee the country because of a case Hutch and I were on and she went with him. I’m bummed. Dave

Dear Nicky — Hutch met a pretty girl last week. Unfortunately, she got strangled by her owner. He’s bummed. Dave.

Dear Nicky — Hutch and I got tired of all the bullshit and decided to sleep together. Things are working out great. So far neither of us has been killed or has run out on the other. Maybe this’ll work. They’re painting the squadroom today so we’re taking it easy. Nothing but fun games of ping-pong and eating out. Life’s perfect. Dave

From the Article, “Me & Thee Against the World” (TV Guide)

There is also an almost naked dependence. One morning on the set Glaser came to Soul and said, “I’m down, I’m scared, I don’t know what the answers are. Hold me.” Soul put his arms around his partner’s shoulders until the fear passed. On location in a frowsy little restaurant at about 10 one morning, Soul asked for a beer. The waitress huffed over the inconvenience of finding one at that hour. Glaser told her, “Look, my partner needs that beer. You get it, now.” Glaser, abstemious himself, wouldn’t think of murmuring that it’s a mite early for beer-what he did was give total support.