I've Moved ...

to a new country - one with no ice arenas. But on my first day in Panama, I saw an advertisement for Diseny On Ice!



That's right, Disney Sobre Hielo opened yesterday in Panama, my first day here. Maybe that's a good omen. So now I only have until Sunday to see it. Er, uh, I mean to take my daughter to the show. Yeah, that's it. My daughter really wants to see it.

She still would like to meet a princess, but that's probably not going to happen here.

Unlike my time in Mexico City, I've got nothing to offer to the skaters while in Panama. Our apartment is a giant mess of boxes half-way unpacked and TVs that don't work yet. We have a nice pool, but every place in Panama has a pool. I don't even know which are the good coffee shops yet.

The one thing we have is a car, in case any of the skaters want to take a ride around the city, but I bet they don't have the time. I've seen tour dates in Venezuela and Columbia as well, so I think they have a travel day on Monday, Tuesday is "Get In" day (or "Pack In" or "Move In" - whichever they call it now)and then they have shows Wed - Sunday. Then rinse and repeat.

So if anyone is reading this from Disney Sobre Hielo - Viaje Fantastico, just know that the one gringa clapping really loud out in the audience this weekend is an old pro.

... at clapping really loud for skaters.

Vacation

I've been on vacation since the first of July, but I'm about to enter the hotel zone of my trip, where there's not much free Wi-Fi to count on.

Hope to be back on-line next week.

Have a great summer - if you haven't seen any of the Tour de France yet, tomorrow will be a great day.

Disney Sobre Hielo

That's Spanish for Disney On Ice and it's now playing south of the border.

I'm so sad I won't be there when they for the Mexico City shows, because I may never live out my quest to have my daughter meet a "princess" backstage. I am a little relieved that I won't repeat my role as a Disney groupie, a.k.a. stalker, since that wasn't too cool. You can read about last year's effort in the Archive, from August 2009, in the post entitled, Miss Ice Charades Is Not Proud.

Nuff said.

So what I'll do instead is to offer a little guide to the cast and crew when they get to Mexico City of what to do if they have any free time. Anyone else reading this post can stop now, if you like.

First of all, if you're staying at the Inter-Continental, most of these suggestions will be easier. You're walking distance or a quick skip to the metro to get you around town. And don't worry about the metro - we skaters took is everywhere in Paris - this is no worse (or better).

If you're staying at the Camino Real again, you might be taking cab rides, which are dirt cheap. Last year, I took a cab from my apartment to the Camino Real hotel, about ten minutes or two miles away and it cost $1. Make sure you have small change.

#1 - if you're looking for a really different cup of coffee, very milky, very reasonable price, head to Lynis in Polanco. It's so close to the hotel Inter-Continental that a bunch of Lufthansa flight attendents that stay at the hotel go to Lynis all the time and get a discount. For the first few months that I went there they always asked if I was with Lufthansa. They do that with blonds.

Anyway, the coffee is Vera Cruz style, called cafe lechero, and it's like an old-fashioned latte.

#2 - a great place to have a drink with a view, perhaps on Sunday when the matinee is over, is the rooftop of the Holiday Inn hotel in the centro. You get an amazing view of the Zocalo and the National Palace. The food isn't great so maybe you can split some appetizers.

#3 - if you're looking for a great museum that gives you a lot of Mexico, but doesn't take a long time, head to the Museo de Arte Popular (Museum of Popular Art). Ask the front desk how to get there.

#4 - You really should go see the Ballet Folklorico! You will love it. Problem is it only plays Wednesday nights and two times on Sunday. Morning and Evening. That means the only performance you could catch would be the 9AM Sunday morning show at the Anthropology Museum. Go, really, just go. Tell the wardrobe people that travel with you to go. The costumes are amazing.

And for the first time in your life you can sympathize with someone who is busting their a$$ off way too early in the morning.

Any other questions - email me and bienvenidos a la ciudad de Mexico!

Interview with Toller

I didn't have a formal interview with him, because I'm a lousy interviewer, and Toller asks as many questions as he answers.

His curious mind has served him well.

But here are a few nuggets I asked, he answered, and I was later able to remember ...

How much time do you spend painting each day? Depends, sometimes it is the entire day.

Who lived in your house before you bought it? At one time it was a school for bad little rich kids.

He smiled when he said that.

Do you have skating dreams? Yes, his are of the competition variety where he's having trouble landing his jumps, or even getting to the ice.

Do you still choreograph in your head after hearing a song you really like? Yes, all the time.

What advice would you give to Johnny Weir?

The subject of Johnny came up a lot, partially because we watched his reality show, but also because he had just been asked this by someone in Johnny's camp. From the bits and pieces he mentioned, here you go Johnny: don't go back to competitive skating, but keep skating, and don't put money into your own show ... you always lose money on your own show. Stay true to yourself.

I sense that Toller is glad he had his life in painting along side his skating career. Skating can't last unless you want to teach or choreograph. The painting, on the other hand, will keep him very busy (and rich) for some time now.

My Last Weekend in Mexico

If you could stay in a guest room like this, you would right?



It came with an amazing bathroom and porch out the front and back.



And you could wander through the yard that looked like this and ...



this, on the way to the pool.



Let me show you this picture again. See the paintings on the wall? And the rug?

And in this picture ... the glass chandelier and the lighted fish on the wall?



He made all of it!

So why would we pass up a chance to visit Toller Cranston one more time. He had invited to stay the last time and he was as gracious as ever.

At dinner time we strolled out into the town and ate at the New Orleans restaurant called "Harrys" that sported two giant-sized paintings by Toller and an entire staff that knew him. He looked very dapper in an olive green suitcoat with embroidered beading all across the back in a native Mexican design.

The next day for breakfast, we went to another restaurant where he was equally known. He walked in wearing a crisp pink, silk button down and a giant, beekeeper hat that he recently purchases in Guatamala. He turned heads.

It was quite the contrast to see him inside his house where he was wearing some rags completely covered in paint. But that's his life now. He's a painter.

There are paintings (or pottery) covering the walls of every room of the 15-bedroom hacienda that is smack-dab in the middle of the old part of town. He told me, he figures the house is worth 7 million, but I say there is probably another 7-million worth of art, furniture, and "items" inside.

What you won't see inside his house are any photos or souvenirs of his skating. No trophy room, nothing. He mentioned his medals once (he said I could have them ... I'm glad he didn't say that directly to my 6-year old daughter, because she would have taken him up on the offer)but I never saw the medals.

It's not that he's bitter about skating or not winning (which I think he should have) the gold in the Olympics (call it the curse of the Canadian men). He's a painter now, living large in a beautiful colonial Mexican town. He has fabulous friends (Nat King Cole's daughter - no, not Natalie - the other one, Olivia was over for a visit when we got there. (If you look up Oliva Cole on IMDB, you'll see she's been in about 30 movies or tv shows ... I swear she's more beautiful now as a bald, almost 70-year old. Mexico has been good to her.)

But back to Toller ... the most amazing part of our stay was when he asked me to watch the reality show "Johnny Weir Be Good" with him. He had received all of the episodes from the producers who were asking Toller's advice for what Johnny should do next. Should Johnny keep skating? Competing? Should he try his hand at his own touring show? Should he quit and enroll in design school?

We watched the final episode and I couldn't help but wonder what Toller was really thinking. At times he spoke his thoughts out loud. He commented that he knew how Johnny felt to have skated so well in the Olympics and be placed so low. He also understood how Johnny wouldn't have wanted to go to Worlds after what I just described in the last sentence. Toller also couldn't believe that Johnny allowed the filming so close before, during and after the Olympics. "How could he concentrate?"

There are many parallels between Johnny and Toller. Skaters, artists in skating, and now writers. Although, remember Toller has written several books already. Trust me, they take a little time to crank out.

If he had advice for Johnny, one thing was not to do his own traveling show. "You always lose money when you do your own show," he demurred. He also felt Johnny shouldn't try to compete because he's lost the edge with all of the TV and PR distractions.

If I could thrown in my two cents, I would tell Johnny, he should plan a little retreat to a beautiful city in Mexico and stay with the master for a while. Toller could give him (and show him) about long-term plans as well.

What do you think he should do? Short term? Long term?

Confession (Of The Month)

Okay, my first confession is that I haven't confessed in a while. Ive been distracted with other more recent skating topics.

So, my second confession is that I never skated for Ice Capades. But there I was making my second appearance at an Ice Capades reunion. Luckily, they let me tag along.

I have gone to these reunions because I know more people there than a Holiday On Ice reunion and Holiday's is in France. While I would love to get back to Nice, France, it's a lot more expensive. I wouldn't be ready to get back on a plane after only two days on the Riviera, you know.

This time I convinced one of my long time friends in joining us in Vegas. She, too had never skated in Capades either. Like me, she'd done several other shows, including Ice Follies. Turns out she knew more skaters than me and the other two Capettes in our group combined.

She had only come to see the small group of gals, but when she realized how many people she had worked with, she had to write the names down on a notepad. She scrutinized the list and planned to check off the names as she talked to them at the cocktail party.

Here's a hint for your next high school reunion: Go through your entire class in the last high school year book and write down the names.

What was great for my friend was that she was able to see the "angel" in her life ... Mr. Debonair, Richard Dwyer.



He's the guy who stared in Follies and Capades with a unique skating style and trailing showgirls in some of the biggest costumes ever worn on ice. Swizzles only.



My girlfriend was the most excited to see him because he had suggested she audition and skate with Follies when he saw her practicing at an ice rink in northern California one day. She had just graduated from high school and been kicked out of the house. She had a minimum wage job with no chance for college. So she took his advice.

She skated for over ten years and later turned to a medical profession. But I'm so glad she skated first, because after four different shows together, she's one of my best friends.

Here she is thanking her "angel."

Ice Capades 70th Reunion Street Dance

Just got back from the red eye flight out of Vegas, so I'm not ready to give you the full run-down, but I wanted to link to the You Tube Ice Capades 70th Reunion Street Dance.

Choreography by Randy Gardner, amazing production quality, and fun-filled dancing by generations of Ice Capettes. And I say not bad for some of those Capettes from the 50s!

More to come!