Last Night Was Crazy!

McDonald's Family Tribute Cast at the L.A. Ronald McDonald House

“Ram him! Ram him!” 2006 World Champion and 2007 US Champion figure skater Kimmie Meissner screamed over the pops of gunfire. “Ram the cop!? Or Paul’s van in front of us!? I stuttered. This seemingly mild-mannered skater with the look of the quintessential girl-next-door was shouting orders as her dad Paul crouched behind her, using Kimmie as a human shield. I curled into the fetal position in the back and proceeded to recite a slew of Ave Maria’s (I’m not even Catholic). The block lit up like mid-afternoon with the flood of light from the circling helicopter overhead. Just moments ago we were leaving a quaint restaurant and headed back to get a good night sleep in preparation for tomorrow’s big show. Where have you taken us you stupid GPS system?! Just my luck, the door to this forsaken rental van is jammed. We’d already dealt with the troubles of receiving vans with all the seats removed from the tracks and mismatched, adding extra stress and muttered curses to our morning. Kimmie leaned back, then with the precision of a kung-fu master shattered the side window to get out “I’m definitely not getting the rental deposit back on this van” was the only thought to cross my mind. We’re getting back to the hotel and performing in tomorrow’s tribute show one way or another” she quietly stated in a commanding tone. Welcome to L.A. (The preceding events are grossly exaggerated. Names and places have not been changed because this is a blog, and not the Wall Street Journal.)

Before our group’s exaggerated run-in with the law (which consisted of what seemed to be a block-wide manhunt involving blocked streets and a helicopter), Kimmie didn’t really strike me as a daredevil. I really need to stop relying on first impressions. They rarely serve me well. To think yesterday I watched as she decorated cookies and participated in arts and crafts with families at the L.A. Ronald McDonald House and her fellow McDonald’s Family Tribute on Ice cast, to learning that in 2005 she was the second American woman to land a triple axle jump in competition!

Side note: You can read Evan Lysacek’s blog about the Ronald McDonald House visit in the L.A. Times at: (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2008/10/lysacek-gets-pe.html) The Ronald McDonald House in L.A. is a beautiful, brand new facility that serves almost all of L.A. County and works with referrals from four area hospitals to make sure families from all over the county, state, country and even world are able to be near their children as they undergo hospital treatment. It’s inspiring to see such diverse families brought together through hope and mutual support. To learn more about the Ronald McDonald House Charities go to http://www.rmhc.com/.

Back to the Meiss-inator (I just came up with that) I sat and watched her gracefully warm up on the “built-from-scratch” ice rink in the Galen Center on USC campus. I asked her and 2006 Olympic Silver Medalist Ben Agosto how they like the rink, while at dinner at the excellent Silverlake restaurant The Flying Leap (if you go try the Mahi Mahi…It’s awesome and the atmosphere and service is outstanding). They noted how nice the ice is, but the substantially smaller size of the rink lends for skaters needing to adjust how they perform. Imagine being used to performing dangerous and intricate moves on an oval stage of about 200 feet by 98 feet. Now cut that in half and make it a square. In a sport where timing and spatial awareness are crucial, It adds even more difficulties.

Kimmie is on the upswing after a rough season and is making great strides with the help of new coach Richard Callaghan and former U.S. Champion Todd Eldredge. Now training and living in Coral Springs, Florida she mentioned one thing she doesn’t like (besides Jeffrey Buttle’s smelly skates)”The geckos”. I agreed with Ben that it would be cool to have geckos roaming about the house “...especially ones with a British accent that can save you up to 15% on your car insurance” he added. Kimmie’s Dad (who by the way is a hilarious podiatrist…Not that podiatrists are generally un-amiable people), made an astute point that the geckos probably eat the spiders that she would inevitably be calling him later screaming about. Ah, that’s what Dad’s are for; keeping it real. I feel like I’m sitting around a family dinner table with people I’ve known for years, not mere days. We talk about travel, food, music and politics. In that time interacting with Ben Agosto, Kimmie Meissner and Sasha Cohen, I noticed how down to earth these celebrity-athletes really are. People obviously recognize them and at such a young age (Kimmie only turns 19 tomorrow) I wonder how they balance normalcy with constant training, traveling, and celebrity status.

Many of you may not know that Ben Agosto, besides being an amazing figure skater, is a musician. On a prior show he came out skating with guitar in hand and rocked Santana’s “Black Magic Woman”. Talk about multi-talented. I was elated to find a fellow musician in the group. We discussed the finer points of recording and why the Vox AC-30 is such an amazing amp, able to rival a Marshall stack any day, 4x12 Celestion Greenbacks and all. I’m looking forward to jamming with him during down-time today (he brought his Gibson Les Paul.) I never figured I’d be strumming chords with a 5 time U.S. Champ and Olympic Silver Medalist.

I’ll keep you updated on all of the happenings from the show. For example we have breaking news that Evan Lysacek was just invited to the Mercedes Benz LA Fashion Week and will be attending the Christian Audegier main tent, front row. Additionally, Kimmie Meissner has just added me as musical support to one of her routines.

Cheers!