Meet the People Behind the Scene!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Keefur

Keefur discovered the Fandom 5 years ago (thanks CSI). He is a fursuiter (Cutter Cat the Sabertooth Cat - the mascot for the House of Mews cat rescue in Memphis, TN), printer for many furry cons, a parody poster designer (with Draconis), and a parody song writer. Heis th. He is President of Fangcon in Knoxvile, TN, co host to The Furry Drama Show,  and has twice been an attending Guest of Honor at Mid-South Con as a pioneer in the Sci-fi war game industry.

 

About Draconis

Draconis came into the fandom no stranger  to being in costume or fandom conventions. His first Furry Con was in a one year con called Furry Spring Break (FSB) in the same hotel Draconis was helping run another fandom’s convention there, Gargoyles, The Gathering of Gargoyles.  His talents were acknowledged and he was brought on to staff to run the gaming track along with the charity auction that year along with being it’s auctioneer.  It was while at FSB that he found what truly interested him and that was fursuiters and how many of them got their own costumes to wear at the con.

Long before seeing fursuiters he had worked at Disney World, Fl. In the entertainment dept for the parade. In addition to the parade he did other roles, Pluto, Prince John, Eeyore, and many more.  He even had opportunity to play a few out of his height range due to the parks lax rules.  His favorite was King Lion from Bedknobs and Broomsticks. A very impressive character, “ I have always loved the way the big cats looked and acted.  My high school mascot was a live tiger and I got to do a story on him for the school newspaper.  That and along watching Shere Khan and Bagheera from Disney’s Jungle Book, I was hooked on felines and feline characters.  I took to playing in costume really well and I very much enjoyed it as work. But the year of Disney ended so did being in costume.  It was not till I attended FSB and got to see fursuiters, some of which made their own costumes, I realized this is something I wanted to do”

Draconis continued to attend the cons and used the fandom as a way to avoid depression after a loss of a close family member.  “The fandom was a great way of avoiding the thoughts of what had happened and the new friends filled a void that I had”  Draconis attended many of the East coast cons shooting photos.  “In that day suiters normally did an inside photo shot and stayed indoors.  The photos were pretty poor due to the lighting.  I was already used to being in costume coming from Florida so I thought it should not be too hard to take photos outside”.   This was true but some did not care for this and so some issues developed.   “Some suiters took exception to me organizing these events as I was not a fursuiter myself.  I was but I just did not have a costume”.

In addition to photography,  many of his photos can be found on timduru.org, after watching the mascot games in Florida he developed the first fursuit games for the fandom on the East coast of the US starting at Midwest Fur Fest he made them into themed games based off his work at Disney. “The idea was to give the fursuiters just a small idea of what it was like to be a costumed character or park mascot.  Seeing the con was in Chicago I based the games off an old movie that started in Chicago and lead a family to Wally World to see Marty Moose.   That was the movie Vacation and it made the games that much better I thought.   I took on the role of MC as Roy Walley Jr who was there looking for characters from the fandom to fill a new theme park” The games were run at a number of cons including  MFF, Megaplex, FWA and also RCFM.

Draconis main interest was still getting a fursuit and that finally happened when he bought an older Darkstone Realms suit, a cougar which he wore at AC. “ I gave him a unique name of Lincoln M. Cougar which no one got the reference to of the car sales of Lincoln, Mercury, Cougar”.  But the costume did not fit well enough so a different costume I had also acquired I wore that one nearly non stop for the weekend and that is how I got started as a costume character.  I had him for a number of years but like the cougar he was what was considered “Off the rack” a mass produced costume and it was time to get my own costume”.

 

Calamity Cougar is born

“I had wanted my own suit and by chance I had worked out a deal with Latin Vixen and she made me a partial suit.  Seeing he was going to be a partial I had to decide what clothing would work best with that.  I needed something long sleeve and would fit with being from Florida that be associated with Fl.  I went with a Flannel shirt as was long sleeve and seeing it was a good redneck shirt it worked.  I knew was getting a moving jaw so I wanted him to be able to talk so I wanted him to have a voice. Most suiters did not talk even if they had a moving jaw so I wanted to be innovative so it worked out”.

An  issue that had come up is where to perform.  Many cons did not provide variety shows. No one would step up to run them.  So Draconis did setting them up at first assisting with FWA and later running them at RCFM with later at Oklacon, followed by Wild Nights and then Furry Fiesta.  “The shows are a bit of a night mare as they are normally always put together at the con with little prepared beforehand. We encouraged over time to get those to prepare their skits or whatever they offer which makes things much easier on all of us.  At each of these shows though I have used Calamity as the emcee seeing he talks  and more lately he performs in the show also being part of act here or there as needed.  I have always enjoyed entertaining.  I have found those in the fandom who have inspired me, Brokken, Yippee Coyote, Scruff E Coyote, SK1, Tilt  Longtail, Robert King, Sonic Blu, Rhubarb the Bear and many others.  Some have been victims of jokes I did and I hope they have taken it all in fun.   To me being in costume is about entertaining others and performing whenever I can”.

In doing the shows he has seen good skits not do as well as they could do due to stage issues or sound so lately he has turned to video to provide a different aspect to the stage. He has taken preexisting skits and turned them furry or Furrorized as he calls them.  Furry+Parody+Terrorize=Furrorized.  This standard, and also coming up with original works to be set to video also. “One of the issues I have seen is you do a skit then you never see it ever again.  This last year I saw two of my original skits I had done some 10 years ago for the first time.  Some just get lost over time it seems which is a shame as I remember seeing some performances which are such great sources and could be an inspiration to others but other then the con are never seen again. I hope to change that a bit with doing more video  and seeing that is kept and shared with other cons”.

The show has changed over time with it becoming themed also depending on what the con theme was.  At Oklacon the theme was the Great Depression, the show became a Speak Easy with entertainment. Now the show will be named to become its own entity.  “After doing an act at MFM a parody song/skit the name was there and that was Furry Drama based off the song Zoot Suit Riot. So expect to see a newer style of show which will hopefully evolve into something more”.  The Furry Drama Show premiered at Wild Nights and will be touring the fandom where ever Calamity Cougar will be Emceeing at.  As of this writing Draconis has been in 50 variety shows and Calamity has Emceed 35 of those shows.  Draconis is also currently sending out videos to cons he cannot attend so the Furry Magic gets shared as much as possible.

In addition to all this Draconis has Con Chaired Oklacon for 2 years and has been Event Director for Wild Nights ( a Furry Camping Con in OK) since  2010.  He has also been on the staff for various cons every year he has been in the fandom and serves on the board for RCFM and the Organizing Committee for Wild Nights.  He is the Con Chair for Fangcon in Tennessee. He has brought unique entertainment to the fandom in bring radio plays to the con as well introducing new entertainment such as Rhubarb the Bear’s Julie Bunny must Die and Fosgate a musical to the fandom along with Jeff Goode's Fursona Non Grata.  “I enjoy entertaining the attendees whenever I can and finding others and sharing them with the fandom”.  The cougar still gets around but is mostly where he can get a gag in or a joke to entertain. One of his biggest jokes was to surprise a GoH at Furry Fiesta he wore a wedding dress at opening ceremonies and proclaimed that he (she) was left at the altar thus not being a person of Honor.   In addition to all this Draconis has hosted panels on Fursuit Performance, Entertaining and how to entertain with Skits, photography and video panels and other panels also. “I believe anything can be furry if enough of the fandom shows interest in it.

Draconis can be found on FA as Calamity Cougar and occasionally on Live Journal also.   He can be found under other names also but you have to figure that out on your own. He likes wine and other various forms of libations (booze) and considers it nothing better than being invited to a room party or out to dinner with fellow furs. (pick up the tab damn it) Believe or not he stays away from fried foods  and part of his natural diet is sushi of all forms and Texas de Brazil and other sorts of finer foods. 

Calamity is Florida cougar also known as a Florida Panther though he likes being known as a Mountain Lion also.  He is known to drink whenever he can and prefers liquor hard sweeter beers , likes lon chairs and will gladly tell you about them along with TV trays and Pink Flamingos in his yard.  If you are looking for someone who is classy it is not this cat.  He can be found normally wearing camo and some sort of cap on his head.  He will gladly talk to you so long as you can give him something to talk about.  He is not very bright but let him think he is. He hopes one day to be placed in a breeding program where the girls have no choice but to let him give them some of his luv’n.

 

 

Pan-Pan E. Melanoe

  Pan-pan was always a ham for theater, coming from a family of entertainers. Her mother a singer, and her father a musician, she was introduced and trained in the Theatrical and musical arts at an early age. Over the years she found herself often involved in various works of theatrics, in plays that varied from dramas such as Dracula, to comedies like Love, Sex, and the IRS. When she moved to Oklahoma she joined up with an improv troup. 
She met Draconis and Keefur early in her convention travels (she started going in 2007 and hasn't stopped since), and they bonded quickly. Since she has been lending a hand with them in various forms. When suiting as Melody, she generally is causing trouble for Calamity being a handful. While not an official staff member, she handles the website, minor PR, and lends a hand in performances and getting things together.  

 

 

Warndog

Warnndog is a mysterious entity who assists in the Furry Drama Show! He has helped Keefur in A/V as well as doing background work to help bring the show together.

 

Matsi Wolf.

A ham and a sweet heart. He is active and participates in the Furry Drama Show, as well as runs panels to help people prepare for the Furry Drama Show. He also helps work in the background to build and prepare the Show.