Star Trek Convention Cancelled DURING Event

[number6]

I have worked with promoters everyday of my life for the last 8 years or so.

Brazeal is certainly guilty of being a clueless idiot and of not having his shit together. Who does an appearance without a deposit and a written contract?

The answer is: NOBODY.

While the practice is kinda sleazy, there is nothing inherantly wrong with using
your personal connections to get a descent rate on something. I have often used my "friend discount" at Guitar Center to get equipment for my clients and for installations or my radio client connections to get tickets for people. You use what tools you have. People in the "Biz" do it all the time.

We don't know the real facts. We just have the same three posters with a personal vendetta, digging through the man's personal garbage and making a big deal out of every possible potential of nafarious intent.

Obviously the guy fucked up and will never be allowed to do anything Trek related ever again.

Some of my friends and I donated money to save Enterprise and that money was returned. I have no problem with that.

Not knowing Brazeal personally, I don't think he's sleazy, just completely incompetent, with lofty ideas and no real means of acheiving them.

I have met and worked with many "Tim Brazeal's" in my lifetime. It's sad that someone can be that self delusional, but it does happen. The best thing is to have as little to do with them as possible and try to minimize your damage if you do wind up working with them.

Anyone here could book an event and have it go as south as this one.

I know a few who have.

There are many reasons things like this happen.

Here's what I think:

TB wanted to promote the Mother of all Conventions- After all he was the guy who tried to Save Enterprise.

TB wanted 25 "BIG" guests and promised them anything to get them.

TB sorely underestimated how much upfront costs there would be and wrote checks hoping that advance sales would cover it.

Bills kept piling up for deposits of rentals with no incoming revenue.

People wanted their money and TB started to avoid calls.

Hotel deposit check bounced and the event was shut down.

Happens. All. The. Time.


This is a promoter who didn't really think things through in the planning stage and as a result, people didn't know what was going on and when that happens, miscommunication runs rampant.

This happens to a lot of people without them being totally evil.


The guy will lose everything he owns and will never be able to work in any related industry again, becoming manager of a Taco Bell, hanging out at the bar every night telling anyone who'll listen his tale of woe.

Is that not enough or will you all cheer when then the guy puts a bullet through his head?

Get real.

Seriously.

 

[Anthony Sabre]

As far as Brazeal goes, their is still something fishy about his use of AA. I seem to recall he made a claim to someone in association with Fedcon USA that since he worked for AA he could fly people all over the place, at little or no cost.

If he's an AA employee then he's telling the truth. AA doesn't restrict it's benefits to family. The employee can give their benefits to immediate family, extended family and even friends. But he's setting himself up for trouble. Before you book someone as a non rev stand by you must explain to them that the ticket is not confirmed. If the passenger makes a stink or complains about not getting a seat, then the employee can end up getting their benefits revoked.

Oh yeah. And they'd probably take a dim view of him using these passes for a business purpose. Personal/vacation use only.

 

[James Durdan]

I have worked with promoters everyday of my life for the last 8 years or so.

Brazeal is certainly guilty of being a clueless idiot and of not having his shit together. Who does an appearance without a deposit and a written contract?

The answer is: NOBODY.

Number 6 you have to ask yourself this, why is it that everytime Brazeal does something it always ends up in broken promises, irate fans, and the threat of lawyers?

I don't see anyone here with a personal vendetta, I do see people here who dealt with this con man three years ago and were hoping that he had learned his lesson from the Save Enteprise debacle. He hasn't. This time, he needs to feel the true ramifications for his actions.

 

[number6]

I have worked with promoters everyday of my life for the last 8 years or so.

Brazeal is certainly guilty of being a clueless idiot and of not having his shit together. Who does an appearance without a deposit and a written contract?

The answer is: NOBODY.

Number 6 you have to ask yourself this, why is it that everytime Brazeal does something it always ends up in broken promises, irate fans, and the threat of lawyers?

I don't see anyone here with a personal vendetta, I do see people here who dealt with this con man three years ago and were hoping that he had learned his lesson from the Save Enteprise debacle. He hasn't. This time, he needs to feel the true ramifications for his actions.

He certainly doesn't need you to teach him that lesson and gloat over his failure.

I don't think he's a con man. He achieved a couple of noble things. I think he fucked up, to be sure. My take on the situation is pretty well spelled out upthread.

 

[James Durdan]

Number 6 what great things has Brazeal achieved? You mean the constant black eyes he gives to Fandom?

I don't believe that Brazeal is stupid. I do believe that he is shady at best.

As for me teaching him a lesson. Nope, I'll leave that for Fandom and the Justice system. And I am not gloating. I've posted 4 or 5 messages in this thread, please tell me where I am gloating. I am sad that fandom once again has to suffer because of this wanker. I feel horible for the dealers who lost a weekend of sales because Brazeal bounced a check he knew he could not cover at the time (oh, and it was a $20,000 check, which depending on the jurisdiction could be a felony), and I feel horrible for the talent who will now always wonder if the next Con they attend is a Fedcon Job. And most importantly I feel for the fans who were promised something that Brazeal never intended to deliver.....and thats not a supposition, that is a fact. he advertised actors that were never going to appear at the show, but he used their names a come on to get people to buy into the Fedcon con.

 

[number6]

Number 6 what great things has Brazeal achieved? You mean the constant black eyes he gives to Fandom?

Pretty subjective statement. The only black eyes are being given by you.

. Nope, I'll leave that for Fandom and the Justice system.

No you won't and you haven't.

You don't know all the facts (and, admittedly neither do I), nor an understanding of why things like this go wrong (which I do) to draw a real conclusion.

Your conclusions seem totally based on the talking points of a hack blogger with an obvious axe to grind.
It's one thing to share his opinion, but it's another entirely to ignore facts that support the situation as I've described, which can almost certainly also be the real story.

 

[Krieg1981]

WEAK. Thats my opinion.

 

[cardinal biggles]

He achieved a couple of noble things.

What noble things were these?

 

[James Durdan]

LOL, ah yes the chant of the Branch Brazealeans, That Michael is a Hack Blogger.

Heard that 3 years ago too. I guess SciFi, The LA Times and numerous other news organizations were also hacks. Michael was right then, and I will be willing to bet he is right now.

From what little interaction I've had with Brazeal, he's not a reputable buisness man.

Since you can't site one positive thing that Brazeal has done for the SF community, I'll take that as your inability to think of one thing, and I'll call it good.

Let me know when you do think of something.

 

[AJBryant]

I don't think he's a con man. He achieved a couple of noble things. I think he fucked up, to be sure. My take on the situation is pretty well spelled out upthread.

Brazeal, this is you, isn't it?

That or a family member. It's the only thing that makes sense.

 

[JoeZhang]

Number 6 what great things has Brazeal achieved? You mean the constant black eyes he gives to Fandom?

Pretty subjective statement. The only black eyes are being given by you.

. Nope, I'll leave that for Fandom and the Justice system.

No you won't and you haven't.

You don't know all the facts (and, admittedly neither do I), nor an understanding of why things like this go wrong (which I do) to draw a real conclusion.

Your conclusions seem totally based on the talking points of a hack blogger with an obvious axe to grind.
It's one thing to share his opinion, but it's another entirely to ignore facts that support the situation as I've described, which can almost certainly also be the real story.

The guy is a crook - he was telling out and out lies, to and about, the actors who were suppose to appear at the convention. Thankfully people like Aaron Douglas called him on those lies (which he was able to back up with email correspondence between his office and TB).

Tickets were sold off the back of appearance that he knew were never happening - that's fraud where I live.

 

[James Durdan]

Not a whole lot new here, but this should be great to listen to tonight!

http://www.syfyportal.com/news425138.html

 

[Anthony Sabre]

Not a whole lot new here, but this should be great to listen to tonight!

http://www.syfyportal.com/news425138.html

Nice. Looking forward to it.

 

[Michael Hinman]

I bet good money it's Jane, Tim's wife.

I'm hardly a "hack blogger." Hell, I'm not even a blogger. But thanks for trying!

Sorry ... can't post too much on this today as I'm real busy with deadline at the job, and getting ready for tonight's show. We had to have our main guest not related to FedCon reschedule because of some work obligations (he's on location for a movie shoot), so we're hoping to have David Weddle on from Battlestar Galactica. He is supposed to do a pre-recorded phone interview this afternoon, so we're trying to get it set up right now and get it done.

It should be a good one .. he wrote Friday's mid-season finale with Bradley Thompson.

The panel is a strong one for FedCon. We have some reporters who were there at the convention, and we're also welcoming Chris McKeown from the old SciFiUnited, which is now SciFiNothing. He has gone back to SciFiUpdates, and I'm glad he got away from the cult. I believe he used to attack me all the time, but I don't really remember ... but he has turned to the good side, and we're excited to have him on the show.

 

[JoeZhang]

I bet good money it's Jane, Tim's wife.

I'm hardly a "hack blogger." Hell, I'm not even a blogger. But thanks for trying!

Sorry ... can't post too much on this today as I'm real busy with deadline at the job, and getting ready for tonight's show. We had to have our main guest not related to FedCon reschedule because of some work obligations (he's on location for a movie shoot), so we're hoping to have David Weddle on from Battlestar Galactica. He is supposed to do a pre-recorded phone interview this afternoon, so we're trying to get it set up right now and get it done.

It should be a good one .. he wrote Friday's mid-season finale with Bradley Thompson.

The panel is a strong one for FedCon. We have some reporters who were there at the convention, and we're also welcoming Chris McKeown from the old SciFiUnited, which is now SciFiNothing. He has gone back to SciFiUpdates, and I'm glad he got away from the cult. I believe he used to attack me all the time, but I don't really remember ... but he has turned to the good side, and we're excited to have him on the show.

Keep up the good work, I look forward to listen to the show.

 

[MattJC]

I don't want to violate forum rules, by posting to much to fast, but I just want to say something. Michael can vouch for me on this because he and I have been doing some emailing for the last few days. Over at the SciFi forums and FedConUSA forums my username is Enterprise Project Ghost.

For those who don't remember, the Enterprise Project was the first fan group that organized to work on getting a 4th season of Enterprise. It was a true fan group. It was run by two charming women and had a fairly large members group. I was lucky enough to be one of the first 10 members of the group and was fairly active with them. Unfortunatly for the group, a Mr. Tim Brazeal joined. Within days he had datamined all the email addresses of all the members and sent email out to most of them telling them about this great organization he was starting called Save Enterprise. His actions pretty much killed The Enterprise Project. It continued to exist, but it stopped growing in membership, and had a difficult time in raising capital to take out ads in various publications to showcase Enterprise. Brazeal's actions had "Sucked up the oxygen in the room."

This was not Brazeal's first time building his "empire" off the back of others. He did the same thing with the Art Asylum fan group. As the administrator of their forums he had access to all members email accounts. To everyone who was a member of the Star Trek Toy Forum he sent out an email talking about his latest venture "Save Enterprise", it total violation of the TOS for thos forums.

Oh yeah, I know my Brazeals' Character...................

Wow. I never heard of the Enterprise Project before today.
I'm sorry that Brazeal screwed you guys over.

 

[Michael Hinman]

I don't want to violate forum rules, by posting to much to fast, but I just want to say something. Michael can vouch for me on this because he and I have been doing some emailing for the last few days. Over at the SciFi forums and FedConUSA forums my username is Enterprise Project Ghost.

For those who don't remember, the Enterprise Project was the first fan group that organized to work on getting a 4th season of Enterprise. It was a true fan group. It was run by two charming women and had a fairly large members group. I was lucky enough to be one of the first 10 members of the group and was fairly active with them. Unfortunatly for the group, a Mr. Tim Brazeal joined. Within days he had datamined all the email addresses of all the members and sent email out to most of them telling them about this great organization he was starting called Save Enterprise. His actions pretty much killed The Enterprise Project. It continued to exist, but it stopped growing in membership, and had a difficult time in raising capital to take out ads in various publications to showcase Enterprise. Brazeal's actions had "Sucked up the oxygen in the room."

This was not Brazeal's first time building his "empire" off the back of others. He did the same thing with the Art Asylum fan group. As the administrator of their forums he had access to all members email accounts. To everyone who was a member of the Star Trek Toy Forum he sent out an email talking about his latest venture "Save Enterprise", it total violation of the TOS for thos forums.

Oh yeah, I know my Brazeals' Character...................

Wow. I never heard of the Enterprise Project before today.
I'm sorry that Brazeal screwed you guys over.

Back in the "Enterprise" days, these guys were the first to take action. I was led to believe that the Enterprise Project had "joined forces" with Save Enterprise, and that Save Enterprise was first anyway by Tim.

Yeah ... see how untrue that was.

 

[SeerSGB]

The guy will lose everything he owns and will never be able to work in any related industry again, becoming manager of a Taco Bell, hanging out at the bar every night telling anyone who'll listen his tale of woe.

A tear in my beer, cry me a river, and here's the world's tiniest violin. He fucked up, screwed over a lot of people, we don't know if he did or did not- yet- commit a criminanl act (if the stories of a bounced checks is true, then that's one in that column), and shanked a lot of people in and out of the industry.

If he doesn't want to reap what's sown, he shouldn't take the risk. If this was any other con promoter or business man we'd all be saying the same thing: You get what you deserve when you screw people over.

Is that not enough or will you all cheer when then the guy puts a bullet through his head?

And the emmy goes to...

Melodrama much? You honestly think anyone in this thread want this man murdered? Oh wait...you can't really make a strong defense of the man, so you've gotta belittle the legitimate anger and vinegar directed at him by making the cause that the people that are against are extremist nuts.

Back in the "Enterprise" days, these guys were the first to take action. I was led to believe that the Enterprise Project had "joined forces" with Save Enterprise, and that Save Enterprise was first anyway by Tim.

Yeah ... see how untrue that was.

For real. See I've heard to conflicting stories over the years: That Tim was asked to take over the Enterprise Project cause "he had contacts" ( ) and Tim saved the Enterprise Project cause the original founders were running into the ground.

Revisionist history 101 - Spin it like a turn table at a rave.

 

[number6]

You can draw whatever conclusions you wish. I am not Tim Brazeal nor do I know the man. I just think the gloating is in poor taste and speaks to the very underbelly of Trek fandom that I find deplorable.

He was one of those people who organized movements to save a show I enjoyed.

I donated money, not because I actually thought we'd get a 5th season of Enterprise (I'm not that dumb), but because of the message sent about what lengths we cooky fans will go to to save our show.

Those who have genuine gripes are certainly entitled to their opinion and are no doubt gratified by the outcome of this failure. I think the failure of any Trek gathering is certainly no cause for celebration.

The fact that you would so readily accuse me of drinking the kool-aid or colluding with the person you've accused speaks more to your character than it does mine.

 

[Carpe Occasio]

You can draw whatever conclusions you wish. I am not Tim Brazeal nor do I know the man. I just think the gloating is in poor taste and speaks to the very underbelly of Trek fandom that I find deplorable.

He was one of those people who organized movements to save a show I enjoyed.

I donated money, not because I actually thought we'd get a 5th season of Enterprise (I'm not that dumb), but because of the message sent about what lengths we cooky fans will go to to save our show.

Those who have genuine gripes are certainly entitled to their opinion and are no doubt gratified by the outcome of this failure. I think the failure of any Trek gathering is certainly no cause for celebration.

The fact that you would so readily accuse me of drinking the kool-aid or colluding with the person you've accused speaks more to your character than it does mine.

You find "the very underbelly of Trek fandom... deplorable" yet you seem to lump yourself in with all the "cooky fans." And you donated money, not to see a fifth season of Enterprise, but to send a message? Really.