Encounters

Encounters
-An exciting weekend from your kiefersutherland24.net webmaster-

July 11, 2003
There are celebrities in my city for a golf tournament to raise money for mental illness put on by the Courtnall brothers (ex-NHL players). There is a banquet tonight and a golf game tomorrow. Knowing he was coming, I went to the Empress Hotel/Victoria Conference Center to try and find Kiefer. Well, I got there about quarter to six tonight and waited outside. I saw Kiefer from a short distance, but they were up on a deck and flanked by security so I couldn’t meet him. After they all arrived they moved to the Victoria Conference Center to have dinner and drinks and a silent auction. I went with a small group out to the street where there was a patio a floor above that the celebrities that smoke would be using since it was joined to the room. My (and other peoples) plan was to toss up stuff for them to sign. There was great success with Kid Rock and Chad Kroeger (of Nickelback), but there was no sign of Kiefer. Around 9 I really was suspicious, from what I understood about Kiefer he was a big time smoker so I couldn’t see him going this long. About 11:00 a few girls game around and were looking for Kid Rock. I said that he had been out a couple of times. They said that they got Kiefer’s autograph from him outside around the corner; there was a courtyard that he and a few others were using to smoke. A few others and me went there right away. The area that the event was in was glassed in; we could see where they were going inside. One of the people I'd met said after a while that they were heading inside to see if they could catch him on his way up to the hotel room since it is attached to the conference center. The door to go in was nearby so I waited outside alone. About 15 minutes later I thought I saw him going away from me towards the hotel. In a few seconds the door opened and my new acquaintance yelled, “He’s in here!” I went inside and there were people there that wanted photos of him and with him and also those that wanted autographs. There were probably about 15 people there, Kiefer and a guy that was security.
He took lots of photos with fans and signed anything that was put in front of him. He was very polite and 
almost always answered “of course” when he was asked if they could take a picture with him. It also struck me funny that he always asked before using someone else’s pen on a photo. He was willing to have photos taken of just him as well, always smiling.
One guy asked while he was signing his pictures “When do you start filming?” Kiefer answered “On Monday.” The guy then asked “With or without the president?” Kiefer hesitated like he was going to speak, then smiled and said, “Two more drinks and I would have been in a lot of trouble.”
I stood for about 2 ½ minutes before he got to me, first signed by photo in silver ink with my pen and asked “Can I use this pen?” to sign another persons picture. Then I asked if he could do the book too (my Emmy Magazine). He said “sure” and asked the other guy if he could use this pen to sign mine. He finished taking photos with fans and the security guy kept wanting to go, edging him along. Eventually everyone parted to let him leave and as he came by I caught him and shook his hand. I said “Thank you so much” while I was holding the pictures he’d signed for me. He answered “My pleasure, sweetie.” After this he walked away towards his room.
July 12, 2003
After such a pleasurable experience the night before, I couldn't help but try again. Around 11:45am I headed towards the golf course where I knew they were playing. Relatively soon after I got there Kiefer appeared, he signed autographs for people across the street and then came over to us and signed some more. The girl in front of me offered to pass my things to him for him to sign, I passed a clipboard with an ‘Entertainment’ Magazine and my ‘Three Musketeers’ DVD cover. He signed the magazine and asked if I wanted the DVD signed too. She looked at me and I said sure. He looked at me, I think he remembered me from before because he looked at me kind of funny. He headed down the line and kept my pen, signing the others’ items as well. Before he left he looked for me, the owner of the pen and handed it back. Meanwhile, someone asked how he was doing and he answered “this isn’t my game.” He proceeded to go down and he teed off first in his group. After quite a few practice swings he stepped up and hit the ball, slicing it off to the left near the road where the fans were standing. He had to yell a slightly panicked “Fore!” to warn them that it was coming. Kiefer then went towards the golf cart, it seems like he took some flack from the others but I couldn't hear what was said. He settled himself in the cart and lit a cigarette. He then pulled out his cell phone and either made a few calls or checked his messages, either way, he used the key pad a few times. After the others finished they went towards where the ball was but then turned away and drove toward the hole, I think he didn’t want to bother to look for it, it was in the rough pretty good.
Kiefer attended an event at the clubhouse at the Victoria Golf Course and then a friend told me that they went to a restaurant called ‘Hugo’s’ for drinks (her coworker was bussing there). Kiefer and the rest of the stars flew out Sunday morning, shooting of 24 begins on Monday.

Here are some Kiefer quotes that I pulled from a local newspaper, the Times Colonist.
Times Colonist Newspaper, Sunday, July 13, 2003.
“Like many of the celebrity participants, Kiefer Sutherland poked fun at his own golf ability.
When asked to reveal his handicap, he said, “Golf is my handicap.”
The star of TV’s 24 was glad to be back in the town where he shot the action flick Dead Heat with Anthony LaPaglia last year.
“I passed the Sticky Wicket and remembered having a couple of beers there and playing some pool,” said the affable actor. “You can’t come to a city as wonderful as this and not have a good time.”
“What did 24 star Kiefer Sutherland do in the 24 hours prior to his arrival for this weekend’s events? “I dreamed about coming here,” said Sutherland, adding he’d like to come back to Victoria to shoot another film. “We start shooting 24 again on Monday so I was dealing with that and flying here.”
While I was watching the news Friday, I noticed that when Kiefer got off the chartered jet that the celebrities arrived on, he was carrying a somewhat thick blue-papered document and a highlighter or pen. Possibly the script for 24? If you check the official site, they say that the final scripts are printed on blue…what I wouldn’t give to get my hands on that!
The fundraiser was for an emergency mental health facility here in Victoria. The golf tournament and the dinner on Friday night, as well as a radio-thon that Kiefer didn’t participate in raised an estimated total of $500,000 (five times the original goal of $100,000), which will go towards the 1.4 million dollar facility.
Here are some of the the autographs I got:
Autographed Emmy Magazine Jack Autographed Photo
Here's some more photos of the meeting:
Judging by the pictures, I think I may have lost my head a bit during the initial meeting... nothing like a short brian vacation... The below are from the Empress Hotel on the 11th.

The photos below are of the golf tourney:

Here he is coming...


After Kiefer shot he went back to the golf cart, we had to wait out a distance away. He lit up a smoke and then made some calls on his cell phone or checked his messages.


Here he's signing my The Three Musketeers DVD cover

Some of the others gave him a bad time about his golf game, he's saying something back.


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