The Best of Binky's Johnny Weir Blog: Skate for the Heart

Showing posts with label Skate for the Heart. Show all posts

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Skate for the Heart Update: Road Trip! Flowers! And Not a Peep From the Peeps at the Covelli Centre!

Please, Grilled Cheesus, for the first of my three wishes,

let every mile of this glorious road trip in all its wacky

be tweeted and twtipic'd from start to finish ...

"There is absolutely no room in this car. Not a single square inch. How is it possible that you need as much stuff to go to Ohio as you need for two weeks in Asia? I don't even have anywhere to put my purse."

"Can't you hold it on your lap?"

"Seriously? For the next six or seven hours?"

"Why are your shoes off already? We're just now pulling out of the parking lot and already there are bare feet in my car."

"La la la la la I can't hear you ..."

"You know how I feel about feet."

"LA LA LA LA LA LA ..."

"Fine. I'll just be over here reading this magazine and sending a few tweets while I drive."

"No! Stop it! I hate when you do that! I'm texting your mom right now ..."

"No, no, don't make her worry! Here, put this back in the special laminated case. No, not that one. That's only for fashion mags. The other one. For gossip rags. And wipe off the fingerprints, please."

"How long before the first Starbucks? Are we there yet?"

"OMG. Are you five?"

"Don't be mean to me. I've been UP since BEFORE five organizing your life. And now I'm sleepy."

"Then we better sing to keep you awake. Because there's no way
I'm driving for seven hours while you snore. You're supposed to entertain me."

"I do NOT snore. What CDs did you bring?"

"The usual."

"Ooooo, let's do 'La Bomba' first! Only I want you to sing it as Viacheslav ..."

(Oh, to be a tiny webcam in that car ...)

Johnny performs in

last year's Skate for the Heart.

Photo from http://www.johnnyweir.net/;
(c) Leah Adams.

Here are two brief Skate for the Heart updates!

(1) If anyone would like to show some love to Johnny with flowers this weekend, we can send them to the Covelli Centre, 229 East Front Street, Youngstown, OH 44503, 330-746-5600. Except that it's pretty much impossible to have flowers delivered in Youngstown, Ohio, on Sunday (I checked) (extensively), and it worries me a little to send them to the arena on Saturday, where we'll have to trust someone there to keep them safe during the Alice Cooper / Rob Zombie concert so that they remain bright and happy and not trampled to death for Johnny on Sunday. So good luck with that ...

(2) Kayso I'm still on a quest to speak with a living, breathing human being at the Covelli Centre, but so far that's not working out which for some reason has left me humming the Twilight Zone theme a lot while scenes from Children of the Corn flash through my head, and also is not inspiring a lot of faith in item #1 above. Still no clarification on the signs-and-banners thing, but I'll keep trying, and in the meantime let's assume it's fine SO PLEASE BRING POSTERS! Here's our chance to demonstrate to the world twice in one week (and later on TV!) what a great draw Johnny is for any skating show!

And here's hoping for Grilled Cheesus to bless us with lots of twitpics today and throughout the weekend ...

Yes! You can own a fine art print of Johnnyperfect for any/every room in the house!

Prints of artist Peter Jurik's "Showtime!"

are available for purchase from his website.

More info here!

THIS SUNDAY, October 10, Johnny will be performing

in Skate for the Heart in Youngstown, Ohio!
Tickets are available here,
and there's a discussion page for fans here!
YES! WE'RE DOING POSTERS FOR THIS ONE TOO!
This show also will be televised on NBC
on Sunday, January 16, 2011, at 4 p.m. EST!

Also this Sunday: Can't make it to Ohio?
Relive the magic that was All That Skate!
NBC is broadcasting ATS at 2:30 p.m. EST Sunday!
Check your local listings!

Please remember to register to receive
the JW Art Project's email newsletter!
They have great tidbits to offer,
and you get a special sneak peek at an exclusive photo
from the book when you sign up!
The Artbook is expected to be published
by the end of October--can't wait!

Special holiday offer!
In exchange for a donation to Toys for Tots,
Trish Aaron-Misiura will send you one handmade,
Johnny-inspired Christmas ornament! More info here!

Coming up: More in the series
of translated interviews from the Mook Book
courtesy of the fabulous Akiko Nakata!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Skate for the Heart, Here We Come!

Ahhhh ... one last lingering look at All That Skate,

and then it's time to briskly move on

to Skate for the Heart!

(More ATS photos from allkpop here.)

So let's talk about Skate for the Heart!

So here's an interesting thing: I spent a great deal of time calling the Covelli Centre over and over yesterday, growing increasingly desperate with each call to reach an ACTUAL HUMAN BEING (because the Staples Center lady and I are kinda growing apart. It happens ...). Which took quite a few tries, because even though it was mid-afternoon there in Youngstown--not lunch time; not closing time--absolutely everyone was away from their desks, and every call went to voicemail no matter which extension I tried. Maybe they were all hanging out at various Starbucks on the turnpike. I dunno. So I left several cheery messages for various people seeking clarification on the signs-and-banners policy about stuff needing to be preapproved by Security or the Marketing Director or Grilled Cheesus or whoever.

Then, on a whim, I tried the Events Director (I think--it's all a blur of voice prompts and commands to "press the # key" at this point), and I reached his LIVE HUMAN assistant, who was very friendly but said she had no idea about the policy and immediately, before I could draw another breath, sent me to--her boss' voicemail.

So whether or not we need Banner Ninjas is not yet clear. But I'll keep trying, and in the meantime, please plan on bringing as many 11" x 17" signs as possible so hopefully we can offer another fabulous show of support for Johnny!

In addition, I came across this info, which helps answer the question about rehearsals and also wiped away the disturbingly entertaining images of Johnny and Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie all skating around together at the Covelli Centre on Saturday that were threatening to take over my mind:

U.S. Olympians Sasha Cohen, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto will appear at the Mentor Ice Arena, 8600 Munson Road on Saturday in an hour-long rehearsal that will be open to the public. The practice session will be in the West Rink beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The 2006 silver medalists will be joined by 2010 bronze medalist Joannie Rochette and U.S. National Champions Johnny Weir, Jeremy Abbott, and Rachael Flatt.

Wow! So they're rehearsing in Mentor, conveniently located just a scant SEVENTY-FIVE TO ONE HUNDRED MILES AWAY from Youngstown, depending on which road you take.

Since I had such good luck with my phone calls to the Covelli Centre, I decided to call the Mentor Ice Arena to confirm this by leaving rambling and aimless voicemails at random extensions there.

To my surprise, I got a real person on the first try and was briefly rendered speechless.

She confirmed that the skaters will be rehearsing from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Mentor arena on Saturday, and that the last hour will indeed be open to the public, with doors opening at 7 p.m.

She also said that the skaters will be available to provide autographs during that time (yay!). And she noted optimistically that really, it's only about 60 minutes from Youngstown. Which makes sense when you consider how hopped up on Starbucks everyone in Ohio is.

So that's all I know so far, but as soon as all my new friends at the Covelli Centre call me back, I will pass along more info about signs and banners and any covert ops that might be necessary. In the meantime, tickets are still available, so please come join me and everybody else this weekend in Ohio! (Motto: "Really? You don't have anything larger than a venti?" Alternate motto: "WTFcantyoupeopledriveanyfasterit'snevertakenmelonger
than30minutestotravelfromYoungstowntoMentorbefore
hellIcangettoNewYorkfromhereinabouttwohours")

See you there!

Johnny performs to Jordin Sparks' rendition

of "Battlefield" at last year's Skate for the Heart

in September 2009. To see more photos,

visit Masako's album here.

Yes! You can own a fine art print of Johnnyperfect for any/every room in the house!

Prints of artist Peter Jurik's "Showtime!"

are available for purchase from his website.

More info here!

THIS SUNDAY, October 10, Johnny will be performing

Special holiday offer!
In exchange for a donation to Toys for Tots,
Trish Aaron-Misiura will send you one handmade,
Johnny-inspired Christmas ornament! More info here!

Coming up: More in the series
of translated interviews from the Mook Book
courtesy of the fabulous Akiko Nakata!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Get Your Sign On, and Grind

Yes, it's the long-awaited sequel: Signapalooza II! Son of Signapalooza! Signapalooza: The Second Coming! Signapalooza: 2 Sign or Not 2 Sign! ... We've got a million of 'em! (But we'll stop there. For which I'm sure we're all 2 grateful.)

Johnny, Patti, and Tara are flying to LA today, and All That Skate is just THREE DAYS AWAY! But maybe you're still trying to make up your mind as to which poster (or fifty) you want to bring with you? Let the amazing Jenn Kittler come to your rescue and help further reduce you to a quivering pile of indecisive mush with these five exciting new designs:

Click here for downloadable print-ready PDF file.

In addition, the previous series of suggested signs are all still available here, and of course, please free to use any of them as a template to make your own.

Also: There's a rumor that the ban on banners MIGHT be lifted late this week. Watch this space for more details!

And: Can't make it to All That Skate? Johnny will be performing again the following Sunday, October 10, in Skate for the Heart at the Covelli Centre in dynamic Youngstown, Ohio! (Motto: "Literally the middle of nowhere! Because it's exactly halfway between New York and Chicago.") Show details are available here (yes! Sasha and Johnny together again!), and ticket info is here. Please note that the show time has been moved up from 7 p.m. to 5 p.m., and doors will open at 4 p.m. And yes! Please bring posters to this show also! Although we're still working on ironing out the details with the Covelli Centre, whose event policies include this frosty tidbit:

Banners and signs may only be brought into building after authorization from Security, or Marketing Director. Banners and signs may not be hung up, and must be removed after conclusion of event.

All righty then. We'll let you know how that goes.

I'm also fascinated to learn what the rehearsal schedule might be for Skate for the Heart, since the Covelli Centre is hosting this event, for which tickets are still available, the night before at 7 p.m. on Saturday (so hey, if' you're getting into town early ... ):

Click here for downloadable print-ready PDF file. Oh wait ...

Anyway, there's much to look forward to the next two weekends! So please go get your sign on, and grind. Thank you.

Yes! You can own a fine art print of Johnny

perfect for any/every room in the house!

Prints of artist Peter Jurik's "Showtime!"

are available for purchase from his website.

More info here!

Very special thanks to Jenn Kittler

for all her time, effort, and creativity
in producing these great posters!

Johnny Is skating in Yu-Na Kim's fabulous show,

All That Skate, in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 2!
Everything you need to know about tickets
and special gatherings of The Cabal
is right here!
PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR POSTERS!
This show is expected to be televised
on Sunday, October 10, on NBC--
check your local listings!

Also on Sunday, October 10, Johnny will be performing
in Skate for the Heart in Youngstown, Ohio!
Tickets are available here,
and there's a discussion page for fans here!
YES! WE'RE DOING POSTERS FOR THIS ONE TOO!
This show also will be televised on NBC
on Sunday, January 16, 2011, at 4 p.m. EST!

Coming up: A special holiday offer!
And more in the series
of translated interviews from the Mook Book
courtesy of the fabulous Akiko Nakata!