Vincenzo and I met him back in Dec and had him sign my Pack. I used a silver sharpie. He was excited to see us dressed up.
Was in my local liquor store and found them selling it for $50. Don’t think I’ll ever have an opportunity (geographically) to have Dan sign it but it lived up to its claims about being smooth and generally good vodka.
He’ll be here in Houston on May 7th for a signing at a local Spec’s. The H-Town folks are really excited! I don’t really mind having to buy a bottle of vodka to get a signature. As long as I can get something else signed, I’m cool with that. Now … what to bring?
Well, I wouldn’t mind having another bottle of vodka to enjoy. Just not sure I got the 50 bucks to toss in for one. Gonna be with the DFW Ghostbusters making the drive down to Austin on the 10th to meet the man. Never had a chance to try the wine, but I’ll give it a shot if it’s as good as his vodka.
The venue definitely makes a big difference. I just got back from Twins Liquors in Austin which made it quite clear that they did not want us there. They tried to limit the amount of time that we got to spend with Dan rather severely and even tried to throw away the business cards that we gave him. We heard several editorial comments from various staff members such as “these are the people that held up the line to begin with” when a couple of us went back through to get wine bottles signed. They also cut off signing two people ahead of where we were in line. Guess that is one liquor store that I won’t ever go back to…
Oh wow, that’s harsh! The people at Spec’s in Houston loved our group! The owner and store manager both came up to us all smiles and daisy wheels. They complimented our props and even thanked us for coming out.
I remember there were a couple of people with the store that were excited to see us, but all of the ones who were actively involved in moving the line along and packing/unpacking the vodka were really not polite to anyone from what I saw. Dan pulled us to the front of the line and when he sat down, all the Twins Liquor execs tried to shoo us all away so they could get photos with him…
It really felt to me like they were ■■■■■■ off that they weren’t in total control of everything at all times, acting like it was such a hassle to do what Dan told them to. Some of the people not involved in moving the line along were chatting with us and loved us though, so I guess it was just a case of certain people not handling the pressure well.
I unfortunately wasn’t able to go to the signing at Spec’s, but every member of my group that did go went to the one in Austin also and were all amazed at the difference in how we were treated. The signing at Spec’s went really well, and even though Dan had less time at Spec’s than he did at Twins and the number of people in line was about the same he was allowed much more time with the GhostBusters at Spec’s. I believe it was something like 8 minutes at Spec’s verses 3 minutes at Twins. Also I have been to the Spec’s store at times when Dan Aykroyd was not there and must say that store is amazing on a normal day. I especially love the chocolate and hot sauce isles, and that is something that you normally cant say about that type of store.
I wish I could send someone my props to get signed on account of I won’t be able to make it to a signing…
Sorry. 
Well, having lived in Houston and shopped at a few Spec’s during the time I was in the area, I kinda feel that Spec’s is a much more relaxed company. I mean, Twin Liquors just seemed to have a real stuck-up feel to it. With the fancy little sampling bar and the decorative wood paneling and shelves along the walls, it just felt like they didn’t like having so many “common people” in their store.
Speaking of which, I don’t recall seeing anyone with any kind of setup like Mr. Idontcare claimed to have. Unless his clients sent him things that he had signed before the event, he didn’t go through with it, since we watched Dan leave in a big Crystal Head Vodka RV. Unless he pops up somewhere with proof otherwise, I’m gonna come right out and say that this community was right to run him off with his bs scam.