I should add that prior to having their memberships "revoked" by PDP, Ann-Marie had been booking the speakers for the SFABC's Main Meetings for the last 5 years prior(Without thanks or recognition of same by him), Chris Hasselkus was running the movie-watching group, That's
Science Fiction after PDP took it away from the original host, Barry Weinburger in a power grab,
and Todd of course was running the Author Discussion Group,which had become the most popular & well attended of all of Phil's bookstore groups to date. And this is how he repaid them!
Well now we have a true Democracy...err, make that matriachy in the club, and it's better than
ever.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
It was 10 years ago this month...(Conclusion)
The SFSNNJ has continued to thrive and grow. Bill Wagner & I run the Themes of the Fantastic
group, and I introduce the speakers at the main meeting(i.e. Face The Fiction)every month. I've
gotten to know Ann-Marie & Jo a lot better since all this happened,and I like them all the more.
Todd was and IS a great guy to know & work with, and I enjoy his company very much. We have a lot of new faces in the group(such as Aurelia & Remy, Master Craig, and Aubrey is a delight!!!) Chris is still Chris,of course. I don't regret standing up against Phil in defense of these
good folks, & I would do it again in a heartbeat. I regret losing Pam's friendship,which I miss very much, but life goes on....
group, and I introduce the speakers at the main meeting(i.e. Face The Fiction)every month. I've
gotten to know Ann-Marie & Jo a lot better since all this happened,and I like them all the more.
Todd was and IS a great guy to know & work with, and I enjoy his company very much. We have a lot of new faces in the group(such as Aurelia & Remy, Master Craig, and Aubrey is a delight!!!) Chris is still Chris,of course. I don't regret standing up against Phil in defense of these
good folks, & I would do it again in a heartbeat. I regret losing Pam's friendship,which I miss very much, but life goes on....
It was 10 years ago this month...(Part 5)
On May 13, 2006, a month after Phil had offically announced the "revoking" of 4 memberships,
Phil asked the SFABC membership if they wanted to discuss the incidents of the previous month
right then & there or wait until the guest speaker was finished. The membership voted to wait.
After the evening's guest speaker had left,Phil took the floor and said that he stood by what he
did, that the group could not continue as it was, & that he would rather see the group break up
then continue like this. Several people began questioning & challenging him on his actions(I should note that I was not present that evening, but I wish I had been). At that point Phil took
being challenged as a vote of "no confidence" and "resigned" as Director of the SFABC. The original SFABC,which had been in existence since 1984,died that very night. I'm of the opinion that by not granting the people that he had "thrown out" of the club due process, he turned a large contingent of the membership against him. Shortly thereafter Todd and Ann-Marie began making plans to assume the contracts with the Borders chain for use of the stores for meetings
of the new SFSNNJ. Phil challenged this & resumed his position as head of the SFABC. I had
made overtures toward Phil to make peace between the groups at this time,culminating in a
phone call on June 2nd,2006. Phil used this occasion to make bizarre statements & unmitigated
slander against the people he had thrown out. He continued this behavior at a meeting with
Borders representatives 3 days later. On Tuesday, June 6th I declared that henceforth Jim and I were members of the SFSNNJ and would never again have anything to do with the SFABC
under Philip DeParto's direction. Both Steve Herr & Mike Piazza congratulated me for taking
a stand against him. It has been a year and two months since that happened....
Phil asked the SFABC membership if they wanted to discuss the incidents of the previous month
right then & there or wait until the guest speaker was finished. The membership voted to wait.
After the evening's guest speaker had left,Phil took the floor and said that he stood by what he
did, that the group could not continue as it was, & that he would rather see the group break up
then continue like this. Several people began questioning & challenging him on his actions(I should note that I was not present that evening, but I wish I had been). At that point Phil took
being challenged as a vote of "no confidence" and "resigned" as Director of the SFABC. The original SFABC,which had been in existence since 1984,died that very night. I'm of the opinion that by not granting the people that he had "thrown out" of the club due process, he turned a large contingent of the membership against him. Shortly thereafter Todd and Ann-Marie began making plans to assume the contracts with the Borders chain for use of the stores for meetings
of the new SFSNNJ. Phil challenged this & resumed his position as head of the SFABC. I had
made overtures toward Phil to make peace between the groups at this time,culminating in a
phone call on June 2nd,2006. Phil used this occasion to make bizarre statements & unmitigated
slander against the people he had thrown out. He continued this behavior at a meeting with
Borders representatives 3 days later. On Tuesday, June 6th I declared that henceforth Jim and I were members of the SFSNNJ and would never again have anything to do with the SFABC
under Philip DeParto's direction. Both Steve Herr & Mike Piazza congratulated me for taking
a stand against him. It has been a year and two months since that happened....
It was 10 years ago this month...(Part 4)
On April 7th, 2006 Todd Ehrenfels announced that the Yahoo Chat Group had offically severed
ties with the SFABC(at the request of Philip DeParto) and that it was now called the SFSNNJ Yahoo Chat Group. It had also come out that PDP had revoked the memberships of Todd, Chris
Hasselkus, Ann-Marie Brown & her sister Josephine. I was completely shocked to learn this &
emailed Todd to find out what happened. I went to Phil's monthly meeting the next night and asked him point-blank what happened. He said he didn't want to talk about it but he would be making a statement at the offical beginning of the meeting. At that time he said that an serious incident occured on April 4th, 2006,which caused him to take this action. Slowly but surely I began to find out the truth of what had been going on since I had retreated from the group.
Apparently a woman named Samantha had been attending the SFABC Bookstore events and was "coming on" to many of the men in the Group, including Todd,who is gay. Todd asked the woman to stop. She refused. Ann-Marie saw what was going on and also asked her to stop. The woman responded by threating Ann-Marie in the parking lot & nearly running her down with her car. At this point Todd & Ann-Marie(with Chris & Jo backing them up) started asking Phil not to invite her to the bookstore events. He refused,stating that "I didn't see it,therefore it didn't happen"(During this period Pam had started to pull away from the club to care for her mother Helen,who is in the terminal stages of Altzheimer's Disease. It is my belief [based upon what I now know]that Phil started "two-timing" Pam with Samantha, simply because she was there for him when Pam COULDN'T be). This situation continued for a year and a half until April 4th, when Phil showed up for the Classics of Sci-Fi discussion group with Samantha on his arm at the Barnes & Noble in Paramus. Utterly disgusted by Phil's actions, Ann-Marie, Todd,
Chris & Jo left the meeting and went downstairs to the cafe. A little while later(after Samantha
who worked at that Barnes & Noble told Phil that she planned to file a restraining order against
Ann-Marie)Phil came downstairs, went over to where Todd & the others were sitting and "revoked" their memberships{offering to refund their monthly dues as well}. These actions
would prove to be Phil's undoing, as what happened next will show....
ties with the SFABC(at the request of Philip DeParto) and that it was now called the SFSNNJ Yahoo Chat Group. It had also come out that PDP had revoked the memberships of Todd, Chris
Hasselkus, Ann-Marie Brown & her sister Josephine. I was completely shocked to learn this &
emailed Todd to find out what happened. I went to Phil's monthly meeting the next night and asked him point-blank what happened. He said he didn't want to talk about it but he would be making a statement at the offical beginning of the meeting. At that time he said that an serious incident occured on April 4th, 2006,which caused him to take this action. Slowly but surely I began to find out the truth of what had been going on since I had retreated from the group.
Apparently a woman named Samantha had been attending the SFABC Bookstore events and was "coming on" to many of the men in the Group, including Todd,who is gay. Todd asked the woman to stop. She refused. Ann-Marie saw what was going on and also asked her to stop. The woman responded by threating Ann-Marie in the parking lot & nearly running her down with her car. At this point Todd & Ann-Marie(with Chris & Jo backing them up) started asking Phil not to invite her to the bookstore events. He refused,stating that "I didn't see it,therefore it didn't happen"(During this period Pam had started to pull away from the club to care for her mother Helen,who is in the terminal stages of Altzheimer's Disease. It is my belief [based upon what I now know]that Phil started "two-timing" Pam with Samantha, simply because she was there for him when Pam COULDN'T be). This situation continued for a year and a half until April 4th, when Phil showed up for the Classics of Sci-Fi discussion group with Samantha on his arm at the Barnes & Noble in Paramus. Utterly disgusted by Phil's actions, Ann-Marie, Todd,
Chris & Jo left the meeting and went downstairs to the cafe. A little while later(after Samantha
who worked at that Barnes & Noble told Phil that she planned to file a restraining order against
Ann-Marie)Phil came downstairs, went over to where Todd & the others were sitting and "revoked" their memberships{offering to refund their monthly dues as well}. These actions
would prove to be Phil's undoing, as what happened next will show....
It was 10 years ago this month...(Part 3)
In the summer of 2002 we had several confrontations with PDP over the status of our Media Tie-In Book Group: We asked to move the location from Livingston to Morris Plains(that plan got scuttled when Jim got sick with an ulcer);We asked that others share in the work of the group; and finally we asked to change the format to Science & Media Book group so that Jim could do science books at least 4 times a year. Phil was willing to accept the first two demands but totally resisted the third. This colored our feelings toward him & set the stage for the folding
of the Media Tie-In group in June 2003. By the fall of 2003 we had pulled out of the Final Frontier group as well leaving only the Author Discussion Group as our last link to the SFABC(this group was being run by our new friend Todd V. Ehrenfels, a Borders employee who had
intergrated himself in very nicely). By June 2004 both of our memberships in the SFABC
had lapsed,and we made what we thought at the time would be our last appearances
in the SFABC leading a discussion on Jorge Luis Borges. After that we stayed away from most of
the bookstore groups, making only occasional appearances at either the Author group or at Vince's Final Frontier pre-main meeting discussions in Saddle River(which would be discontinued in Early 2006 when he & his wife had their first child). We were able to keep up
with offical events thru Phil's Starship Local newsletter as well as the Yahoo Chat group that
Todd had set up online,which we both happily participated in, writing all sorts of sci-fi related
pieces. But nothing that happened between 2002 and early 2006 could have prepared us
for what happened next...TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 4!!!
of the Media Tie-In group in June 2003. By the fall of 2003 we had pulled out of the Final Frontier group as well leaving only the Author Discussion Group as our last link to the SFABC(this group was being run by our new friend Todd V. Ehrenfels, a Borders employee who had
intergrated himself in very nicely). By June 2004 both of our memberships in the SFABC
had lapsed,and we made what we thought at the time would be our last appearances
in the SFABC leading a discussion on Jorge Luis Borges. After that we stayed away from most of
the bookstore groups, making only occasional appearances at either the Author group or at Vince's Final Frontier pre-main meeting discussions in Saddle River(which would be discontinued in Early 2006 when he & his wife had their first child). We were able to keep up
with offical events thru Phil's Starship Local newsletter as well as the Yahoo Chat group that
Todd had set up online,which we both happily participated in, writing all sorts of sci-fi related
pieces. But nothing that happened between 2002 and early 2006 could have prepared us
for what happened next...TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 4!!!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
It was 10 years ago this month...(Part 2)
In 1998 we started attending other group activities besides the Friday night Final Frontier meeting(during this period we mustered up the courage to attend a main meeting of the SFABC
held normally at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center or the Methodist Church across the street),and started to meet other folks such as Mike Piazza, aspiring writer; Steve Herr(i.e. Herr Herr),cycling enthusiast & jazz buff; Bill Molendyk, cartoon & wrestling buff; Kate Landis,fantasy buff; Thomas Purdy,wrestling fan(& later on Ann-Marie's whipping boy/scapegoat);Paul Dellechaie,Scientist extraordinare; Roy Greenburg, Star Trek fiction expert & Woody Allen/Mel Brooks Fan; Chris Hasselkus, movie buff extraordinaire & all around nice guy; "Professor"Bob Savoye,the "Laughing Boy", Pat Nash,aspiring writer with two young daughters(Mary & Lizzie);and many, many others. [Whoops! Forgotten "Master" Taras Wolansky,expert on Sci-Fi literature & almost everything else;]We went up into New York state for a Horror book group meeting and met the(now legendary)Brown sisters: Ann-Marie, Josephine & Kathleen. One of the great things about the SFABC/SFSNNJ was finding connections with other folks on different levels of culture(outside of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror realm). For example, Chris Hasselkuss & I share an interest in Frank Sinatra films & music;
I don't think I'd EVER met anyone as into Warner Bros. Cartoons as Pam Webber(except Ann-Marie,of course); She also loved "It's a Mad,Mad,Mad,Mad World",too. Vince Carlucci told me
that his mother was a big fan of Elvis pictures & that he(and his sister)had seen[by force] all of them,much to his dismay; But anyway...From 1998 to 2002 was the "Golden Age" of the SFABC for Jim &I; we ran the Media Tie-In book group in Livingston for him fairly successfully and were enjoying ourselves at many of the activities(Pam & I were also very close friends;she was
the BIG reason I stayed in so long; I came to adore her like the older sister that I'd never had).
But then things started to change....More in Part 3!!!
held normally at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center or the Methodist Church across the street),and started to meet other folks such as Mike Piazza, aspiring writer; Steve Herr(i.e. Herr Herr),cycling enthusiast & jazz buff; Bill Molendyk, cartoon & wrestling buff; Kate Landis,fantasy buff; Thomas Purdy,wrestling fan(& later on Ann-Marie's whipping boy/scapegoat);Paul Dellechaie,Scientist extraordinare; Roy Greenburg, Star Trek fiction expert & Woody Allen/Mel Brooks Fan; Chris Hasselkus, movie buff extraordinaire & all around nice guy; "Professor"Bob Savoye,the "Laughing Boy", Pat Nash,aspiring writer with two young daughters(Mary & Lizzie);and many, many others. [Whoops! Forgotten "Master" Taras Wolansky,expert on Sci-Fi literature & almost everything else;]We went up into New York state for a Horror book group meeting and met the(now legendary)Brown sisters: Ann-Marie, Josephine & Kathleen. One of the great things about the SFABC/SFSNNJ was finding connections with other folks on different levels of culture(outside of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror realm). For example, Chris Hasselkuss & I share an interest in Frank Sinatra films & music;
I don't think I'd EVER met anyone as into Warner Bros. Cartoons as Pam Webber(except Ann-Marie,of course); She also loved "It's a Mad,Mad,Mad,Mad World",too. Vince Carlucci told me
that his mother was a big fan of Elvis pictures & that he(and his sister)had seen[by force] all of them,much to his dismay; But anyway...From 1998 to 2002 was the "Golden Age" of the SFABC for Jim &I; we ran the Media Tie-In book group in Livingston for him fairly successfully and were enjoying ourselves at many of the activities(Pam & I were also very close friends;she was
the BIG reason I stayed in so long; I came to adore her like the older sister that I'd never had).
But then things started to change....More in Part 3!!!
It was 10 years ago this month...
...that Jim & I first encountered the people of what was the SFABC and is now the SFSNNJ. How
that came about I'll deal with later, but first I want to share my recollections with you. It happened on probably the first Friday of August in 1997. We went to the Barnes & Noble in
Livingston to attend what was then known as The Final Frontier discussion group, led by Brian
Gonigal(succeeded afterwards by Vince Carlucci),and this group was devoted to discussing Star Trek and it spinoffs,as well as other Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror shows. I forget what the topic was
that night but I remember the people who were there very well: Vince, who was well versed in
all things Trek; Bill Wagner,a lover of classic film comedy; Barry Weinberger, a supreme film
& comic book fan; Kathy Holusha, a divorced woman with two teen daughters(the One Day At
A Time theme ran through my head); Steve Rubin,who had an interest in Math & Physics; Derek Epstein, who always questioned the accepted dogma of any topic(Jim liked him); Pam
Webber, a large,tall woman with definite opinions but a great sense of humor; and Philip DeParto, a gray-haired,bespectaled man who was in charge of the main club(the SFABC) from which this bookstore group sprang. The first meeting came & went(Phil stated that all were welcome to come to the Diner afterwards, but we passed) and we didn't think much of it
at first. Slowly but surely we came to like the people we met and even started going with them
to the Diner after the Friday meetings(at that point we hadn't attended any of the other activities yet) More to come in part 2!...
that came about I'll deal with later, but first I want to share my recollections with you. It happened on probably the first Friday of August in 1997. We went to the Barnes & Noble in
Livingston to attend what was then known as The Final Frontier discussion group, led by Brian
Gonigal(succeeded afterwards by Vince Carlucci),and this group was devoted to discussing Star Trek and it spinoffs,as well as other Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror shows. I forget what the topic was
that night but I remember the people who were there very well: Vince, who was well versed in
all things Trek; Bill Wagner,a lover of classic film comedy; Barry Weinberger, a supreme film
& comic book fan; Kathy Holusha, a divorced woman with two teen daughters(the One Day At
A Time theme ran through my head); Steve Rubin,who had an interest in Math & Physics; Derek Epstein, who always questioned the accepted dogma of any topic(Jim liked him); Pam
Webber, a large,tall woman with definite opinions but a great sense of humor; and Philip DeParto, a gray-haired,bespectaled man who was in charge of the main club(the SFABC) from which this bookstore group sprang. The first meeting came & went(Phil stated that all were welcome to come to the Diner afterwards, but we passed) and we didn't think much of it
at first. Slowly but surely we came to like the people we met and even started going with them
to the Diner after the Friday meetings(at that point we hadn't attended any of the other activities yet) More to come in part 2!...
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