Muscular Dystrophy Telethon
September 2, 2007
I went to the MDA telethon in Las Vegas this past weekend! It was quite an experience. I went, of course, to see David Cassidy, but the whole thing was quite exciting. I've never been to a television taping before, so I was interested in everything that was going on. I must say, they were a bit disorganized with the audience, and asking questions got you a different answer from each person you asked!
At the hotel registration desk, we asked where to get the MDA tickets. We were told to go to the box office. At the box office, they said no, we don't have any, but at 5:30 pm the café will have a table set up to give them out. OK, we located the café and decided to come back around 4:00 to check on tickets, or see if there was a line forming. We headed up the escalator to the Grand Ballroom where the show would be taped, but were not allowed past the velvet ropes or security.
At 4:00 we came down to the café, only to find a gigantic line of people but no ticket table. We attempted to go up to the Grand Ballroom but were stopped at the escalator, and told that the line upstairs was already full, and this line was the continuation of it. Bummer! We asked where to get tickets and they said there were no tickets, just a line.
So we got in the very long line. Eventually we were moved upstairs to the line at the Grand Ballroom. To my dismay they had electronic wands, checking for phones, cameras, or recording equipment. I opened my purse for the guard and he let me in, and I had BOTH a camera and a phone, but he didn't notice!!!! Am I lucky or what.
We figured out after waiting and watching, that they were letting people in during the hourly local TV breaks. At 7:00 we were at the front of the line but we didn't really want to go in yet, as David didn't perform for 2 more hours. So we let others in ahead of us, and at 8:00 we went in. They had ushers seating us, and luckily we were put in the 4th row, which was great, as the first 3 rows appeared to be reserved anyway. Jerry Lewis' wife and daughters were in the front row, and others with press badges.
I've never heard of most of the acts we saw, but it was fun, and very interesting seeing all the TV cameras and how they run things. At 9:00 it was time for a local TV break, which meant the studio had a 15 minute break before resuming filming. Jerry said "next up, David Cassidy" and we got really happy then LOL. We saw David's band equipment pulled out and being set up, and we saw Terri and Frank and Rob. Some other guy was the guitarist this time, not Matt. Then I saw David come out and come up to the microphone. White shirt and black pants. It was all dark on stage but they started rehearsing (Cry). After the 15 minutes, the studio went back on air, and Jerry announced David. He looked wonderful and sounded wonderful. We didn't want to scream on TV but we did scream out for David and wave our arms in the air when he was rehearsing and after the song was over. We THINK he saw us but not certain LOL. After David's performance, Jerry and David hugged and David said he was honored to be there. As David walked off and waved to the audience, Jerry said "I used to call him little cock. Yep, I used to call him little cock." Whatever that means LOL!
We could not leave the studio until the next local TV break, so we were in there until 10:45. We never saw David or the band after that, but all in all, it was a good experience for me. I felt a bit humbled to be in the same room with Jerry Lewis. It was all very impressive.
Carol
View Screen Shots of David's segment here.
