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RYAN FAN CLUB MERCH
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The night before Ryan cut off his long hair

Fan Appreciation Day
RYAN FAN CLUB MERCH
Exclusively from CafePress.com

Top 11 Ryan Fan Club Moments
So much has happened in the last ten years that it's really hard to narrow it down to the eleven most important. I'm sure many of you have memories from the last nine years that aren't on this list and I'd like to hear them for sure. But for me, these are the 11 milestones of the Ryan Fan Club. Let's begin.

11. Glennstock 2002
When my good buddy Brian Crofton asked me to play some tunes with him at a little thing called Gelnnstock, I couldn't resist. Drunk on Fireball, and calling ourselves 40% Later, we penned three or four acoustic rock songs just a few days before the event.. The highlight of the tunes was a little ditty called "Raining In June", which ended up being downloaded a lot from this website. Another song, "I Don't Know Why" had some fun harmonica. The show was a lot of fun, and it was the starting point for what would eventually become my weird, retarded, comedy-music.

10. Cofffee War / Pub War 2007
It was a test to see just how much coffee my body could handle at once. The rules were very simple: Go to every coffee shop in the downtown area and have a large coffee at each. I was joined by Scott and Steve and we had six large coffees in just under three hours. Hopped up, we decided to do it all again, but with pubs n' beer. That was nearly a twelve hour event, and there were more people involved. And to think, Coffee War actually changed my life...

9. The Power of Ryan at HMV
When I first started the Fan Club, I used to carry application forms around with me everywhere I went. I was in an HMV with some friends and there was a cute brunette working. Naturally, I offered her an application for RFC membership and she had no idea what to make of it. She thought I was full of complete crap and wondered why I was so important to warrant myself a fan club. We left for the food court and bumped into a couple Ryan-Fans on the way. I asked them to go to HMV, find the girl, show her their RFC Membership Cards and ask if being a Ryan-Fan would get them a discount. A few days later, the cute brunette sent me an e-mail to join the Ryan Fan Club. Then she sold me the Labyrinth soundtrack I had been looking for.


8. The Complete Adventures of Ryan
I was always very interested in drawing comics. Before doing this Fan Club thing of mine I was doing an independant comic in high school called "Scourge". In 2002 I started drawing The Adventures of Ryan series. I was never too sure what I'd ever do with it, and I certainly didn't plan on putting it together in one volume... but that's what ended up happening. It was a lot of work to do so, and one of my proudest accomplishments too.

7. Ryan cuts off his long hair
November 10, 2001 will go down in history. Not just because it was my good friend Chris' birthday, but it was the day I cut off all my long hair. Before doing so, I did some drawings of my face with different hairstyles... about twenty in total... and I took them around Queen's University. I took a vote from about three hundred or so people and decided to do the hairstyle they chose. A couple months later I started spiking it. I really miss my long hair some days.

6. I Love Ryan With All My Heart
One day Steve and I went downtown and made a green sign that simply said "I Love Ryan With All My Heart". We took it to as many people as we could find and asked them to pose with it. We also saw many Ryan-Fans out and about that day and they were more than happy to pose with the sign. I'll be doing this again sometime, so don't be surprized if you see me carrying a sign around town.

5. The Very First RFC Awards
One of the oldest Ryan Fan Club traditions is the RFC Awards. They started in the very first year of the Fan Club and are presented to outstanding Ryan-Fans. Whether you're a Cool Dude, a Hot Groovy Chick, or just really creative, you might win an award! The awards are given out usually in March or April and are one of the most looked forward to events of the Ryan Fan Club Year.

4. I Have A Penis
After recording two acoustic rock albums (Bacon & Eggs, and Nice Bum Where Ya From?), I called Johnny San up on the phone and told him that I wanted to do some odd, off-beat comedy stuff. We could still rock, but we had to get a little weirder. So he and Crofton showed up for one of our typical jam sessions and when they asked what I had in mind I rolled "If I put my penis inside your vagina, we'll have a baby with a penis or a vagina..." off my tongue. Shazam. We found our niche. That song led to other crazy tunes like Fart In Your Mouth, Up The Pooper, Do A Fat Chick, Secret Bonus Track, and Squirrels!, just to name a few. I plan on releasing a follow-up EP soon. About four tracks have already been recorded. You'll all be hearing "Hi, My Name Is Ryan" soon enough.

3. Fan Appreciation Day 2004
From the very get-go in 1998 I wanted to have a gathering of Ryan-Fans. A day where they could all meet and get to know each other. Have some drinks and snacks, and give away some prizes, and maybe have some fun n' games. Well, I finally made that happen in the summer of 2004. The first Fan Appreciation Day was great. There was an excellent turnout, and I BBQ-ed food for everyone. Some fans brought guitars and we all jammed and played some tunes too. Prizes were given out in a draw, and everyone got to make new friends. I drank a lot of beer with Jon Browne, Aida, and Lisa then puked like a bitch when I got home. All in all, that makes for a pretty fantastic day.

2. RFC Newsletter Becomes Ryan Fan Club 'Zine
During one of my first of many conversations with the ever-creative Carolyn McNeillie, I was explaining the Ryan Fan Club Newsletter to her. She said, "So it's like a 'Zine?" Not knowing what a 'Zine was I had to have her explain it to me. The next day, I started writing the first Ryan Fan Club 'Zine. More jam-packed and crazier than any RFC Newsletter ever was, the 'Zine was always well received by Ryan-Fans. The RFC 'Zine ran for over 40 issues monthly before I decided to end it and concentrate my efforts to the website instead.

1. www.ryanfanclub.com
The first-ever Ryan Fan Club website was on a free hosting space. I think it was called Freestation or something like that. Whatever it was isn't around anymore. The important thing is to know that I was actually banned from my first website. Yup, I was banned from the Ryan Fan Club wesbite. Apparently the free hosting people were very strict about content and didn't like my *ahem* sense of humor. To this day I think it was the flashing "Vote Captain Jesus In 2000" that got to them. So I moved the site to a little place called Angelfire and was happy for three years or so until they started covering everything with ads. For real, I couldn't even see my own face because it had a fucking ad on it. I finally sucked it up and said "Fuck, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right." I bought www.ryanfanclub.com, and the rest as they say is history. Sweet pink history.
Related Articles
  • Coffee War 2007
  • Pub War 2007
  • The Adventures of Ryan
  • All About Ryan
  • Ryan Fan Club History
  • Ryan Fan Club mp3s
  • Fan Photos (includes I Love Ryan With All My Heart)
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