Behind the Scenes at Last Year's Sun Valley Show!

Kittens/Angels are descending on Sun Valley even as we speak, some having arrived yesterday, more coming in today, and all beyond excited to see Johnny perform Heartbroken and Poker Face (in the new costume)! Word is that rink management has promised the rink will be open tomorrow during rehearsals for the public to take pics and vids, which should of course be posted immediately to Twitter and Facebook for the rest of us who are sitting here glumly in front of our computers wondering why it didn't occur to us that really, 23 straight hours in a car is not so bad and if we left now we could be there by the time the rink opens for rehearsals so we could take pics and vids and post them ...

Sigh.

Anyway: Last year Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov (four-time U.S. silver medalist ice dancers who teamed with Johnny in the breathtakingly brilliant Fallen Angels program, and who also were fabulous at Ice Dreams in Bensenville earlier this year) joined Johnny for the Sun Valley show. And the result is some fun behind-the-scenes footage that Melissa and Denis--who were twit-pic- and YouTube-savvy way ahead of a certain other fabulous skater whom we adore but who really needs to be "twitter-picturing" about every hour or so just to keep up with demand, especially when the mullet may be in danger--so kindly shared with the world, which I discovered just this week and now bring to you here.

As you might imagine, all skating and no shopping could make Johnny an unhappy boy, so last year he, Melissa, and Denis spent some time off the rink at Deja Vu, a vintage clothing store in Ketchum, Idaho, about two miles south of Sun Valley. And thanks to Melissa and Denis, we have a record of their shopping trip in these hat-themed shots:

Sun Valley, I salute you.

Melissa and Johnny.

The Mad Hatters enjoy their photo session.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful,

which allows me to get away with wearing

a variety of unusual things on my head...

In addition, we have this priceless footage from the show. The first 45 seconds are a portion of Johnny skating to Hymne L'Amour (you can watch the full program from Sun Valley here). Then we cut to later in the show when he's struggling backstage to get into his original Poker Face costume and Melissa and Denis come to his aid, which is the first time I realized how many different pieces there are to that outfit. It's a high-pressure lol-fest as the minutes tick away, Johnny pretends to cry, and Denis tries to figure out what goes where, but it all comes together and the footage ends with Johnny on the ice and the opening bit of Poker Face:





And finally, we have this wonderful casual photo by Johnny's Angel Sue Olson, who is amazing with a camera. This was taken after rehearsals, when Johnny took some time to meet with fans, much to their delight!

OK then! That should definitely put everyone in the mood for a spectacular Sun Valley show! Johnny and Tara will be arriving tonight, and the fun begins tomorrow! Can't wait to see this year's pics and vids posted for all of us who are idly contemplating how fast we'd have to drive to travel 1,486 miles and still make it in time to get in on those rehearsal pics, which should surely involve tank tops and meggings again this year ...

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Coming next week:
Lake Placid 2009 photo album
courtesy of Agentress Extraordinaire Tara Modlin!
Mini-golf, anyone?

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Please check out Johnny's new entry
on the Sundance Channel's SUNFiltered blog!
At last the world knows why they're called "Dingles"!

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Hey! You can purchase a T-shirt to wear
in Sun Valley or Lake Placid

in honor of our Ride for Life project!

We exceeded our $7,500 donation goal,

so now we're aiming for $10,000!

We're less than $2,000 away,

and we have until July 31 to get there!

Shirts are $20 each including shipping,

and $10 of that goes directly toward AIDS/LifeCycle!

Everything you need to know about ordering is here!

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Very special thanks to Johnny's U.S. Angel Sue Olson
and the dazzling Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov
for today's picspam!

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copyright 2010 / Binky and the Misfit Mimes / Lynn V. Ingogly / all rights reserved