Skating Down Memory Lane

Oh, boy, all I need is encouragement to go on with my "past life" in order to avoid the future and the now (no, not that past, that's entirely a different topic [past lives and past life regressions])... but I dug stuff out anyway.

Of course I'll start with the best (towards the end of my "job" :)



The Percussionist and Sound Man (or the other way around), Sarah Kawahara, Ilia, Gregg Russell the Tap Coach and Yours Truly freezing her ass off and trying not break her neck. It also looks like we have a little ectoplasm with us (a ghost) -- or someone just breathed hard near the camera.

This was taken at one of the few rehearsals in Simi Valley at Sarah Kawaraha's rink. She's Scott Hamilton's choreographer and eventually did the 2002 Winter Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies... she's such a nice woman! She was fortunately harder on Ilia ("C'mon, you should be able to do four double axels in a row -- you're the Gold Medalist!"), but that's okay, sometimes he could be a big sleepyhead (I should talk... no, maybe I shouldn't). But this was quite a diversion for him, since he was working as his own choreographer since his win, and now he was working with veteran. He paid attention.

These four or five sessions weren't at the regular rink -- I don't know why this dang "hideaway" rink was so much colder than Iceoplex. I never had to wear gloves before, but my fingers would have frozen on the videocamera if I didn't. Oh, BTW, that was my "job" -- to videotape him and run the (music) tape player at practice (I know, I know, lucky me!).


Rehearsal here was at 11:00 pm so we could have that rink to ourselves with all the sound stuff. Ilia was doing "Bring On Da Funk, Bring on Da Noise," tapping on ice like Savion Glover to this funky song -- and he had microphones on his skates! Hence the sound man and a live percussionist too. It ended up being a great hit, "Noise." Three years later Sarah actually put Savion and Ilia on stage tapping together (well, one on stage, one on ice) at those Closing Ceremonies -- genius!

It was a cool adventure away from the other rink, and the bonus: the first day there I was shaking hands with Scott Hamilton -- gulp! He came in to check the youngster out with Sarah, and to tell Ilia where NOT to park his porsche because he would get bird crap on it, because he knew from parking HIS porsche there. LMAO -- birds will shit on Olympic medalists too.