NEW 2011 TOUR REVIEW THREAD-PLEASE SHARE YOUR REVIEWS WITH US HERE!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Rosario on September 13, 2011 at 4:46am

Aren't they too funny Dianna.....that has also caused a delay ladies....had to change my clothes from LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG

kathy and LAFD Bob

Permalink Reply by Diane McKane on September 13, 2011 at 1:43am

Kathy?  Kathy?  Are you there?!  How's that memory working out for you?!

 

tick, tock, tick, tock....

 

Diane

Permalink Reply by Kathy Rosario on September 13, 2011 at 4:45am

TICK......Diane.....LOL

Kathy and LAFD Bob

Permalink Reply by Kathy Rosario on September 13, 2011 at 4:23am

Hi all Michael fans.....before writing my review I want to send my best wishes to all the families who have lost loved ones on 9/11/2011. I will NEVER forget to honor their losses and of course the loss of 341 firefighters is very personal to me because but for the grace of God go I. So with a heavy heart I shall demonstrate via my review that life must go on and that NO ONE can destroy the American Spirit!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!

 

Here goes my second try........oh my how many times must I relive such an adventure!!!!! LOL And I now know you all are ready :) lol Get comfy!!

 

                                                       Michael Bolton/Dave Mason 2nd Annual Charity Golf Classic and Concert                                                                                                                                     September 10 2011

 

                                                                                   The Serendipity Walk

 

                                  Our dear friends Tom and Ashley Hayes arrived at our home in the afternoon on Sept. 9th. Hugs were shared all around and we settled in for some Bolton reminiscing :) After a relaxing afternoon it was time to head out for our Michael recognizance at the Ojai Inn. We all got buckled in our car with Bob at the wheel and off we went. It is a beautiful 40 minute ride to Ojai from our home. We circled the Ojai Inn completely looking for the venue. Tom spotted a Lawn Event sign and thought perhaps the concert was outdoors so Bob pulled over and parked. He kept Ashley company in the car while Tom and traipsed through hill and valley and up and down and up and down again and round corners until I thought for sure we were lost!!! Tom taking on a large lead caused me to declare that if he were walking in my heels and I in tennis shoes......he would be trailing!! We determined after huffing and puffing that there is no way any attendees could get to a concert in this area. We resurface from the hills and Bob and Ashley are now parked in the distance...lol I suggest we go back to the main entrance and I will get some info from the employees. A young man tells me where the concert will be and walks me half way. I continue on and check out the elevators and paths so that Ashley has complete access to our Michael! The room seems a bit small with no stage area. Hmmmmmm? I bring Tom to check it out and he is also puzzled but we are thrilled by the size of the room :) The Ojai Valley Inn is tranquility on earth. It is set among rolling hills of oak trees with a meticulously manicured golf course weaving all throughout the gentle slopes. There are wafts of aroma emanating from cafes and restaurants beckoning you to grab a bite to eat. People are catching sun rays by two pools and others are busy driving about in golf carts. So serene….and then I catch myself..SNAP out of it Kathy because you have work to do and take notes!!! We don't "run" into any of the usual suspects...lol...so we finally head home feeling our mission accomplished. Chef Bob starts on a delicious birthday dinner for Tom and we sing him happy birthday complete with a 4 layer chocolate cake. We chat into the night and our bedtime has arrived. 

                                    We awaken bright eyed and bushy tailed and Bob is off to work at his fire station. I will miss his usual concert accompaniment but I am with some great friends and fans for my latest Bolton adventure!! We reach our capacity of hazelnut coffee which has now become Ashley's favorite!! I haul out my Bolton boxes of memorabilia to share with Tom and Ashley. We rummage through tons of photos with Michael in many hairdos, concert tickets, signed cds and albums, baseball cards, tour books, Michael's children's book, signed Bolton Bear and baseball, many old fan club cards and more that I have collected over 20 years. We never made it to the VCR tapes!! Remember those??? lol We ran out of time to watch the Howie Mandell tape where I serenade Michael  but Bob did show Tom and Ashley the papparazzi made tape of Michael chatting with Bob's fire crew and posing for photos with his fire truck. Many many memories. Tom said that I really am a Bolton fan…..do ya think?? He and Ashley are newbies at just about 2 years or so of being a Bolton fan. It is time to start getting ready as Tom is even an earlier arriver than I am!! We decide to forego the golf tee time and decide to leave by 1pm. Is that thunder I hear in the distance rumbling about??? Oh my. As we are getting ready, my son Ryan gives me 10 minute weather updates. Do I even own enough hairspray to get my hair to hold up in the humidity???? lol We settle into Bob's car with me driving and off we go!!! Watch out ahead because I am on a Bolton Adventure!! Ashley busts out laughing!! I ignore the wet windshield and the continuing thunder!! We arrive around 2pm. to beautifully clear skies. As I park we realized we forgot Ashley's handicapped parking placard. Tom chats up a female security person (oh here we go) but she says we are fine. Right! Tom devises his own placard with Ashley's I.D. attached to a note and I say put that security officers name on it and we place it on the dash board. IF they ticket me I will personally sit in Ashley's wheelchair and run them over!! lol  We enter at the main entrance and see the beginnings of the silent auction with tables being set up. And so the serendipity walk begins :) As we pass by the tables we enter a never before seen venue and voila….through double doors we see the stage and musical instruments all in place. So THIS is the correct venue that we just stumbled upon. The dry run was incorrect. We count 23 tables  and 10 seats per table. Quite intimate by my standards. I smile to myself and send out a silent thank you. One of many to come. Of course where there are open doors…I will enter :) We all peek in and Tom spots Christina in the distance. She comes over and we chat a bit and thank her for her time. We continue our little tour together meandering throughout the landscape. I decide to ask an employees passing in a golf cart where the golf awards will be held. He smiles and points to the building in front of me. Oh my….. we are being lead whether we like it or not! I smile and send out another silent thank you. We decide to sit and have a snack during the awards time. Most golfers appear but not the one we want ;) We decide to stroll about once more. As we are coming upon hole 10…..who should appear walking over the crest of a gentle hill?????? OMG!!!!!! Yes…YES it is him….we say as we look at each other with our jaws dropping. Michael appears as smooth as silk running down the embankment of the sloping hill. He appeared out of NO WHERE!!!!!!!!! We are floored!!! I quickly grab my camera. It is dead quiet and I nod at Tom and just as quickly I happily greet Michael with…."Hi Jack Sparrow"!!!!! He laughs and waves!! Oh my…I smile to myself again and send out another silent thank you!!!! My camera clicks away!!! Michael and his young partner (Nick Jonas unbeknownst to us) finish their swings and get back into their golf cart. Michael is the 3rd in a group of carts. The first cart takes a turn away from us…oh our hearts are pounding. Michael then signals to the 2nd cart to wait up and then points in our direction!!! OH MY……he starts driving TOWARD us!!!! Can my heart take this???? Ashley is screaming!!! LOL Michael pulls up and parks and walks up and says "there is my friend Ashley!" OMG…..she is BEAMING!!! We all say hi. He gives Ashley a hug and kisses her cheek. He asks her "how are you? Are you coming to the show?" I mention the incredible thunder we had earlier and he said it was very loud!!! He told us to enjoy the show and that he was working on getting Nick to join them. We STILL didn't get the hint about who was being IGNORED in the golf cart. I am just too dedicated a Michael fan that NO other celebrity holds a candle to Michael.  jmo…lol So I apologize Nick Jonas for not recognizing you!!!! I guess if I was 13 Michael would have been ignored.  lol  Michael gets ready to leave and then steps toward me and I see his arms go up…..OMG….BREATHE Kathy…BREATHE…his arms wrap around me for a hug and I do the same…MUST follow the lead…ROFL…as I am hugging him I thank him for all his kindness!!! OMG OMG OMG….he gets back in his golf cart and I try to gather what brain cells are left and snap a quick photo of him in the golf cart. He waves good bye!! OMG OMG OMG Ashley is screaming!! I am screaming!!! Well…muffled screams that is!! ROFL  I am hitting Tom's arm exclaiming my surprise and delight. Ashley just about dances out of her wheelchair. We attempt to walk a few steps in a complete daze!!!! Then my phone rings for the first time all day and it is the real love of my life…Bob :) …checking in on my success!! OMG…..he can hear the excitement in my voice as I share my latest Michael adventure with him that literally happened seconds ago!!! He saved me a phone cal!!!! I can hear the joy in his voice also!! OMG…I tell Tom the day is over for me. I am completely thrilled and it can end right now and I will have NOT missed a thing!! We walk on in a trance and notice a lady up in a balcony taking photos. I surmise she witnessed the whole situation or maybe the "commotion!" LOL We chat with her and she says she got some photos of Clint Eastwood and we move on in a trance :) Oh my. We walk and sit and walk some more. We say hi to Ryan Perrino as he passes us. We have about 30 minutes before the silent auction starts. We park our selves on a bench over looking a putting green. We watch a dad and daughter frolicking about. I feel like Forrest Gump sitting on the bench!! lol I glance to where we had been sitting earlier and I spot "the" man. It is great to see Michael relaxing as he chats with friends!! :) We walk off to the silent auction. We sign in and get our necklace passes and table numbers. Thank you Andrena for seating us together!! Tom bids on a couple of items. We get settled in and Tom can't take the agony of anyone outbidding him so he keeps getting up to check his items. I think he will declare war if he doesn't win a chosen poster :) lol  We choose our seats at our table and start eating dinner. Tom…the Mayor…because he talks with EVERYBODY….found Tiffany in the lobby. She comes to see Ashley sitting at the table with me. I tell her she looks beautiful as she did in her jammies  in San Bernardino after that show. She remembered chatting with me.The room is full now and we watch Michael and Clint and Dave enter the room and get seated. Everything is low key and relaxed. I haven't seen any "cockroaches" aka security!! lol I am certain they are where they need to be. The live auction begins and raises a ton of money!! My goodness. I could follow Michael around the world at the amounts raised!! A comedian then performs. Dave Mason performs next and rocks the house!! Now it is Michael's turn!!! A superb appearance of Michael on dueling guitars with Orianthi!! BEAUTIFUL!!! They performed Steele Bars and a couple of other songs. Delta Goodrem then joined Michael and how much more beauty can you have on one stage??? My goodness. They sang their 3 songs which were glorius!! Orianthi then joined for another song or two. Some other songs were Nessun Dorma and Michael closed with Pride. There was some dancing on the sides of the room which is where I am sure my chair was headed because my chair dancing was rocking!!! lol Tom took Ashley out of her chair so she could rock out a bit AND she did with his assistance :) Very sweet!!! Oh my goodness….then the lights come up again. I did miss my stage fun BUT sometimes other things can happen instead :) My hair DID hold up and Tom DID win his 2 auction items. One was the infamous poster and the other was an Estee Lauder gift for me. What a surprise Tom!!! Thank you........And with that I bid you all a goodnight!!!  

 

Kathy and LAFD Bob 

and Ashley and Tom Hayes   

 

Permalink Reply by Mer... on September 13, 2011 at 5:30am

ROFL!! and OMG!!!!  Kathy, you've outdone yourself!!!  I don't know how you're ever going to top THAT review!!!  A perfect review for a PERFECT DAY!!!   Congrats!!!

 

Mer...

Permalink Reply by Kerie VanWinkle on September 13, 2011 at 5:33am

Kathy, WOW!!! what can I say, you had the perfect adventure!!!!  That is so cool to run into him in the golf cart!!  (Hey he didn't run you over!!) and he gave you both hugs!!!  I would take that any day!! You would have to pick me up off the ground after that hug!! That beats the stage for this adventure for sure!!  So glad you had a wonderful time with Tom and Ashley!  Sounds like the golf, auction and concert were all very successful!!  It was worth the wait for your review!!!  (Hope you didn't wear him out before I get to see him in a couple of weeks!!!)

Thanks for your review and now looking forward to some pics!! LOL!!

Kerie

Permalink Reply by meggy on September 13, 2011 at 5:35am

Oh Kathy, what a beautiful Bolton adventure:)! And I am sooooo happy for All of you! It sounds like you won't be sleeping much...probably Floating on that big ole' Cloud, though! I'll bet you needed a depends when MB walked up to you all, LOL! And our Ashley did get that Kiss & Hug, so mission accomplished:)! What a great story! And the concert sounds so wonderful! I sure hope he comes back to Ky. With these Duet partners!

I truly am happy for you all, and glad you all had a wonderful visit together as well! Sleep well my friend!

Mary (Meg's mom)!

Permalink Reply by sylvie boisvert on September 13, 2011 at 6:58am

OMG Kathy! Phew, did you ever consider volunteering to do audio description for the blind? :D All I can say is woahahahaow!  Fantastic description of a wonderfully fun and fuzzy day among friends and the picture of serenity! I’m so happy for you and Ashley that you had such a perfect impromptu Kodak moment and yay, your camera worked this time! Lol The concert sounded fantastic, you’ve heard lots of new songs, lucky Orianthi and Delta were there. Aww, Tom is such a sweetheart, not that there was ever any doubt! Well my dear, your review was certainly worth staying up past my bedtime! Lol Thank you so much for sharing your special day with us Kathy, you’re a very special lady and we’re fortunate that you’re one of us! :D Take care  sweetie. Big hugs, sincerely, Sylvie from Canada  

Permalink Reply by robin rehder on September 13, 2011 at 7:33am

Awesome review, Kathy. I'm glad for all of you. Neat the hays duo there spent time at your place. Though I'm sorry Bob couldn't make it&all, I'm glad yawl had fun. Cool meeting MB at the golf event. Cool the hugs&kisses. neato.Also, neat the performance Michael, Delta&Orianthi gave.  Boltonnut from L. A. CA

Permalink Reply by robin rehder on September 13, 2011 at 7:36am

&the weather didn't seem to be too bad despite the thunder rumbles. Boltonnut from L. A. CA

Permalink Reply by Kathy Rosario on September 13, 2011 at 8:07am

Thanks Mer, Kerie, Mary, Sylvie and Robin R....for you are all the late night crowd! Thank you also for the "teasing" which kept me from going crazy or having a meltdown over losing my first review!!! I need to add a PS to our night that never seemed to end!! I got a bit tired at the end so here is what I forgot......

 

                                           After the show ended we looked for our usual people standing about but they had vanished. We did find Clint Eastwood! (can't believe I forgot this.....well I can because it isn't Michael :) Sorry :/ I started clearing chairs so Tom could get Ashley's wheelchair through. We finally made it to Clint but Nick Jonas' people thought Ashley was looking for him...LOL So of course when Nick's people brought him to Ashley she met him graciously and thoroughly ENJOYED Nick and he signed her cast! It was really TOM who wanted to meet Clint and he finally did and shook his hand and then asked him to also sign Ashley's cast. I don't know how Ashley's dr. will remove that cast without losing a signature!!! Tom and I can't believe we didn't use our cameras more but there is so much to do in the moment and the camera is the LAST thing I think about. I guess I could never work as a reporter!!! I certainly hope I have remembered everything now. If not.....this will be a never ending a review!! Just what I need!!!! lol

Kathy and LAFD Bob 

Permalink Reply by Robin on September 13, 2011 at 12:40pm

Hey KATHY!! Of course you post after I go to bed.. I am up early for work and figured you had posted.. Way to go lady!!!!Sounds like an amazing day at Ojai.. I am thrilled for you and Ashley/Tom and all the fun you had. Meeting MB on the golf was perfect timing...Too cute about Nick Jonas.. I'd want to meet Clint too girl.....wish you had also..So glad you had a blast and got to see/hear Orianthi and Delta and MB do the new songs live..OMG......Sounds like another amazing adventure for you guys!!! I'm rushing here before work now, but I want you to know I'm just thrilled for you..Thanks for redoing the review for us and you know you had fun keeping us all in suspense!!LOL

 

Robin in MD :)

 

 

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