SugoiCon Joe -
Anime
Convention Personality of the Week - January 20, 2008
Garages mean more than a place
to keep a car out of the snow. Corporate giants such as Hewlett-Packard
have come from garages, along with countless rock bands. And, long
before it graduated to convention centers and hotels, one of the Ohio
Valley's most entertaining events started in a garage. For that, we
have
Joe to thank, because his garage was the birthplace of the SugoiCon
convention. As the story goes, a bunch of anime fans in Dayton, Ohio
wanted to get together one autumn, but they didn't have a place to go.
So, Joe let the fans use his garage. They stayed in the garage each
year until they had enough fans and money to move an hour south of
Dayton to a real hotel in Erlanger, Kentucky. Since then, SugoiCon has
been held in the southern suburbs of Cincinnati, attracting guests of
honor such as Masao Maruyama of Mad House, Sailor Moon animator Kazuko
Tadano, musician Steve Conte and the D'espairs Ray band. Fans have
gotten used to the idea of heading to northern Kentucky each fall for
what has become an established event. It wouldn't have gotten started
without Joe lending his garage to that small collection of fans, long
before anime conventions were fashionable in the area. Everything has
to get started somewhere.
Garages mean more than a place
to keep a car out of the snow. Corporate giants such as Hewlett-Packard
have come from garages, along with countless rock bands. And, long
before it graduated to convention centers and hotels, one of the Ohio
Valley's most entertaining events started in a garage. For that, we
have
Joe to thank, because his garage was the birthplace of the SugoiCon
convention. As the story goes, a bunch of anime fans in Dayton, Ohio
wanted to get together one autumn, but they didn't have a place to go.
So, Joe let the fans use his garage. They stayed in the garage each
year until they had enough fans and money to move an hour south of
Dayton to a real hotel in Erlanger, Kentucky. Since then, SugoiCon has
been held in the southern suburbs of Cincinnati, attracting guests of
honor such as Masao Maruyama of Mad House, Sailor Moon animator Kazuko
Tadano, musician Steve Conte and the D'espairs Ray band. Fans have
gotten used to the idea of heading to northern Kentucky each fall for
what has become an established event. It wouldn't have gotten started
without Joe lending his garage to that small collection of fans, long
before anime conventions were fashionable in the area. Everything has
to get started somewhere. 