"Then On Saturday" [HOUN]

The day after the BSI dinner and Gaslight Gala can be a bit of a paradox for some people. For after the dinners, some attendees gather to celebrate well into the night. It's an unwritten tradition to keep the newest investitured members of the Baker Street Irregulars awake until at least 2:21 a.m. That's not too rare when you're in the city that never sleeps, but with the doors of the Vendors Room opening at 9:00 a.m. sharp (and Jerry Margolin always jockeying to be the first in), it can be difficult to rouse yourself from an otherwise groggy state.

This year's Vendors Room was packed with merchandise, from the new to the old and rare. The Baker Street Irregulars had its usual range of books available from the BSI Manuscript and BSI International series, as well as The Grand Game Volume Two, the continuation of the first volume edited by Leslie S. Klinger and Laurie R. King. In addition to the Grand Game compendium being completed, there was a very handsome Grand Game Limited Edition being offered for sale; you can order it online after March 30. There will be 100 box sets created, with gilt-stamped volumes, a companion index with an expansion of the origin of the Game and Ronald Knox, and a gold-stamped slipcase.

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"Today Is Friday" [CARD]

Friday is always a hectic day during the BSI Weekend. From impromptu breakfasts to early pilgrimages down to Tribeca to see Otto Penzler's offerings as the Mysterious Bookshop, there are plenty of mind- and waist-expanding opportunities to be had before running off to...lunch.

The William Gillette Lunch
The Gillette Lunch has been in place for many years, having been first established in the early days of the BSI as an opportunity for those traveling from out of town to gather before the BSI dinner. Susan Rice and Mickey Fromkin have been running this event for a couple of decades, after it was handed down to them from Lisa McGaw.

Susan Rice - all smiles

Guests are welcomed to the quickly overflowing bar area of Moran's Chelsea restaurant (an aptly named or aptly selected venue, as the case may be) and conversation quickly rises, along with the temperature of the facility. But all is well as we wind our way into the substantial dining area and prepare for the welcome from Susan. We remember William Gillette of course, but also the founders and previous administrators. After a quick promotion of the Beacon Society - the group that promotes educating the young on Sherlock Holmes via the original stories - we dine.

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"A Technical Character" [SPEC]

The BSI Weekend is under way, and that means that the Thursday evening Distinguished Speaker Lecture officially kicked things off. In this case, we were honored to have Dr. Lisa Sanders join us.

Dr. Sanders has written a column for the New York Times since 2002 called "Diagnosis" and it is this column that was the basis of her becoming the technical adviser for "House, M.D." She is also the author of  Every Patient Tells a Story. She joined us at the Manhattan Club on January 12 to give the talk "Is Holmes Crazy as a Fox, or Just Plain Crazy?"

Dr. Sanders opened by saying how thrilled she was to be around people who have the same passion that she does, for she has been a Sherlockian for most of her life In fact, it is her interest in Holmes - having devoured all of the stories and everything related to Sherlock Holmes - that led to her fascination with diagnosis, eventually leading to her becoming a physician after a mid-life crisis. She gave a nod to House, saying that he is not her ideal Holmes, but then "neither is Robert Downey. Jr.," to which the audience responded with a round of applause.

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"A Very Pretty Hash You Have Made" [LADY]

At this time next week, we'll be in at the Baker Street Irregulars Weekend in New York City, preparing for a few days of interaction with fellow Sherlockians and Holmesians from around the country and a few from around the world.

There are a variety of events (see the embedded guide below - or click through to the post if you're reading this on email or RSS) that will keep us busy throughout the weekend, but if you're not there, we'd like to keep you updated on what we Irregulars experience. After all, we're supposed to be able to "go everywhere, see everything and overhear everyone."

Throughout the weekend, we'll be making updates via the @BakerStreetBlog Twitter handle and we'll be using the what's called a hashtag on Twitter. A hashtag (or #) is placed in front of a word to make it a topic of conversation that anyone can see, regardless of who they're following on Twitter.

Our hashtag is #bsiweekend.  If you're attending and would like to tweet, please use #bsiweekend in all of your tweets. We'll pick it up and make it available to everyone on the BSI WEEKEND NEWS sidebar over at http://bsiweekend.com and in "Every Nerve in a Twitter" [TWIS] in the sidebar here on this site.

We'll also try to bring you photos as quickly as possible as the weekend unfolds. Stay tuned here and on our Facebook page for more information.

And if you're at the event and can provide additional coverage, we'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, if you're planning to attend, download and print this handy one-page reference to keep you on track during the weekend:
The 2012 BSI Weekend


To see previous BSI Weekend coverage on this site, please click here.


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