Journal Archive - 2004

December 4th, 2004 - My apologies!

Hi everyone!
I want to start off by giving my apologies to whom I offended by my last message, my intent was NOT to insult or make fun of fans. I realize what I wrote was purely emotional because I had just gotten off of a website that really disturbed me so I wrote what I was feeling; it really freaked me out! You all know how appreciative and greatful all the skaters are of you and we also love that you give feedback. For sure it's good for the show but sometimes what we read scares us a bit and therfore, our reactions are not appropriate.
I guess we have a hard time understanding all of it because we've never done that before. When I go to a concert I want to sit and enjoy the show so I assume that when people are writing the whole time they can't be enjoying the show.
It's not my business what you do at a show so I promise to never say anything about the fans again.
Please know that whatever we say on OUR website is not meant to be rude or disrespectful to ANYONE ever and we feel bad for those who took it that way.
Please accept my apologies.
Sincerely,
Jamie

November 30th, 2004 - Back home for a day and a half

Hello fans!
We are back home for a day and a half so I thought I would write you all to give you our review of the show. Man there are some serious crazies out there who write absolutely everything we all do throughout the whole show. We cannot believe this. Can you not just sit and enjoy the show? I mean they must not enjoy it because all they do is write in detail. Nuts!!!!
Anyway, we had quite a few retakes for those of you who weren't there. The show is very tough with lots of exact detailed things and they're not hard to screw up. For example, we missed our special for our 2nd program so we had to retake it at the end of the show. Stuff like this. You won't even believe it but Dave woke up with back spasms the morning of the show and we almost didn't skate at all. We got to practice but just enough to see if he could get through the show. Christopher was preparing the show (musically) without us in it. That how serious it was.
He's my hero! He obviously made it through and he didn't even complain or say anything about it.
The show felt like it went really well, everything I was in anyway felt good. Chris was very happy about the outcome and the poeple who were there for us said they loved it. Was it what you had imagined? I told you that it's different and much more than last year. It's so fluid and runs very well.
There was also a lot of laughing which is always great.
We had an early night considering we all usually stay out and party until our rides in the morning. We were soooooooooooooo tired from rehearsals and the actual show that we checked in at 1am.
We got home late Sunday night and went straight to bed. I woke up with the flu on Sunday and Dave's back is not totally better so we've been recovering at home for last day and we're leaving tomorrow for Kelowna, B.C (Canada for all of you Americans) for our Christmas show on Friday. We are getting home on Sat. and then leaving for Binghamton for the Kenny Loggins show. We go straight to Winnipeg from there for the World Team Challenge and to Quebec for 3 other shows between Dec. 16th-19th.
Ya, we're busy! We have 10 days at home for Xmas and then we go to Japna for 2 shows with Stars.
So we hope some of you or all of you will be out to see us at any of the following shows coming up. Take care and be well.
Dave says Hi

November 12th, 2004 - HEY EVERYONE

HELLLLLLLLO!!!!!!!!
WE ARE OFFICIALLY EXAUSTED! WE HAVE BEEN WORKING OUR BUTTS OFF (LITERALLY) GETTING THE SHOW DONE AND LOOKING GOOD ALREADY. IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
GOOD YOU GUYS! I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT YOU ALL SEEING IT.
IT'S SO MUCH FUN TO SEE THE SHOW COME TOGETHER AND ACTUALLY HAVE A BETTER IDEA OF WHAT IT'S GOING TO LOOK LIKE.
WE ARE JUST DOING TRANSITIONS NOW BETWEEN #'S AND THEN WE'LL SPEND THE NEXT 2 WEEKS POLISHING AND DOING LIGHTING AND COSTUMES AND SO ON.
HEH, I HAVE TO TELL YA I THINK THIS WEBSITE IS NEAT. THANK YOU GUYS (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) THE ONLY THING IS THE PIC ON THE FRONT PAGE OF OUR LOVE STORY PROGRAM, MY FACE LOOKS FUNNY DON'T YA THINK? IT'S A BIT DISTORTED OR SOMETHING. ANYWAY, IT'S ALL GOOD AND I'M HAPPY TO BACK AND RUNNING.
THERE'S NOT MUCH ELSE TO TELL YOU BUT DAVE'S B-DAY IS COMING AND IT'S THE BIG 30.
HE'S NOT IMPRESSED, HE STILL FEELS 20.
AHHH, AGE IS JUST A # RIGHT? HE'S A BABY STILL, I'M NOT EXAGGERTING. NO, JUST AT TIMES HE'S LIKE MY LITTLE COUSINS BUT IT'S CUTE. HE!HE!HE!
HOPE YOU'RE ALL WELL AND ARE ENJOYING THIS WEBSITE.
BYE FOR NOW,
JAMIE

October 31st, 2004 - Rehearsals

Hi everyone!
I apologize for the wait, I wrote a while ago but for some reason it didn't go through.
Anyway, we're doing very well, healthy this year(knock on wood) and loving all of our programs. The t.v shows were fun and successful and they should be on t.v soon either in late Nov. or all through Dec.
We're now in Lake Placid for a month as you all probably know rehearsing for Stars on Ice. It's different this year being here so long but we all LOVE it. It's beautiful!!!!!
We just started on Friday and we're done the opening already. It's pretty neat guys! It's totally different again from the past years. Be ready for a theatrical show with all kinds of music.
The cast is awesome and we are for sure the best tour out there. (I'm not bias or anything )
We will post every week to update you but I can't tell you exactly what we're doing because it'll ruin it for you. You guys should wait for opening night, you'll be very anxious and excited and it'll be more fun.
Hope you're all well and are safe tonight being Hallowen. We're on the ice from noon until 8:30pm so think about all of us with sore feet!!!! It's all for you
Take care,
Your friends, Jamie and Dave

September 6th, 2004 - We're back ;)

Hellllllllooooooo S&P fans! Welcome to our new website! Great job to all of you who have been a part of the rebuilding. Thank you.
We hope you've all had a great summer and ready for another busy fall/winter season.
We had a fantastic summer with very little travel but lots of training. You probably heard about our problem at the border (going to Sun Valley) with our visas that we've been using for 2 years but we finally got to go and skate. We did last weekend and this past weekend.
It's one of our favorite shows all year, it was the 1st show we did post Olympics as pro skaters so it's a special one for us.
We're also doing a show in Boston this coming weekend so make sure if you live near find out the info and come and see. We're not doing any new #'s until Kurt Browning's t.v special just fyi.
We chorographed 2 short programs this June which was quite challenging. The pair teams asked us to work with them so we said we'd love to try and wow! it's hard
We've also had fun working with our 2nd place pair (in Can.) for something different. We did our 1st seminar in Vancouver 2 weeks ago. That was fun and we definately will do more of those.
Oh ya, we'd like to thank Cassie, Neomie and Cassie's friend for coming to our show in David's hometown this Aug. and for all your help after the show. That was extremely kind of you guys and we were very impressed that you did that.
Thanks
We worked again with Rene Roca and Gorsha Sur on a new program to Jewel's "Over the Rainbow". It's beautiful! It's one of favorites for sure. They are the best at making up "really" hard programs that take a couple months to get ready but it's worh it. It's always good to have a challenge, right? That was our goal as long as we're skating.
We are of course very excited about Stars this year, HOLY it's gonna be great!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't say anything so you'll have to wait to see. All I can say is if you thought the past years have been great you're in for an awesome one. The concept is so cool and creative that you couldn't even begin to "IMAGINE". hint,hint
We are doing our Queen "Who Wants to Live Forever" and the other we can't say yet because we don't exactly know. All we know is that we're making it up in Lake Placid. YIKES
We totally trust Christopher and Jef Billings (costume designer) to make it great. I do know that it's something we haven't done yet.

We will be doing Kurt's t.v special as I said and also Kenny Loggins t.v spacial. We have 1 pro competition in the winter and some shows in Canada in the month of Dec. We may have a couple other shows to do in Oct. but we're waiting to hear.
So hopefully we'll see you guys out at some or all of these shows.

Well that's it for tonight, I have to get to bed now. Have a great Labor Day
Jamie

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Sorry Sun Valley

Hello everyone.
Well, sometimes you live and learn. Things by the way are going great and our year is on it's way. We were back on the ice 1 month ago after taking a well deserve break.
We like to get back on the ice early June so we can get organize and get back in shape for one of our favorite show of the year...Sun Valley.

Without going too much into details, unfortunatly, we were unable to perform in Sun Valley. We are healthy, happy and in great spirit. The bad news is paper work. One technicality made it impossible for us to perform the last week-end and also next week-end. For that, we are very sorry. It was out of our control.

On to better news. We went to Pheonix to skate at Doug Ladret's school. Let me tell you about the talent, the discipline and the work ethic this school has. Doug and his wife, Lara, are doing one fantastic job. The skaters are respectful and love skating. It was a priviledge to be here and to skate here for a week. We also took the time to ask Doug and his longtime partner Christine Hough to make a program for us. Doug worked with Lloyd and Isabelle and always did a wonderful job. So, we are very happy to be working with this team.

I hope your summer is going fantastic. I hope Cassie is not turning into BRIDEZILLA. YOU GUYS KEEP ROCKIN!!!!

DAVE

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Vacation Time !

Hey guys and gals!
It's been a it too long since I said I wuld write but I can't even tell you how busy we've been. We went from Vancouver to Calgary to watch game 6 of the Flames/Detroit game and then drove back to Edmonton that night. Got home at 4am and had to be on the ice by noon to learn our rolls for our club ice show, Oz On Wicked Ice (Wizard Of Oz. We were on the ice from Tues.-Thursday last week from 10am-10pm no lie. Then we did 5 shows all weekend, 1 Friday, 2 Sat. and 2 Sunday. Nice heh?! Aren't we good people? I think so. We were soooooooooooo exhausted and sooooooooooooo over skating by that time but a promise is a promise and we did it for our coach and for all the little kids. It actually was fun when we got it going but we don't just do a skating show we have to learn the dialogue so that when your character is talking you're acting as if you were on stage and mouthing the words at the same time. It's quite a production.
We've done Phantom Of The Opera, Les Mis, Starlight Express, Cats and Hook. It's a LOT of work but a lot of fun too.
The tough thing about this time is that we had 2 days to learn the script and I was Dorothy and Dave was the cowardly lion, so you can imagine how important we were to the show.I was on the ice the whole time and he was on for about 90% of it.He was a PERFECT lion though I must say. He's quite the actor.
Anyway, so that's been our time since tour and now we're heading off for vacation for 10 days so think of us sitting in the HOT sun enjoying the beaches.
I can't wait, we're leaving in 6 hours (6am)
and I can't sleep, obviously. I feel like how you guys are the night after you've seen a show or are going to one probably. See we all get excited but just about different things!!!!!!!
Our next event is Mario Lemieux's golf tournament June 9th-11th in Pittsburgh.
We are also doing 2 weekends in Sun Valley this July. LOVE it there, you have to go some time it's so beautiful.
Anyway, hope you're all well and not creating too much gossip while we're not skating. I know you're bored not having it on t.v or going to the shows but it'll be here before you know it. Be good!
Your friend,
Jamie

Thursday, April 29, 2004

CANADA

Wowzers! I've been a bad girl (writer) lately, I apologize.
We've been soooooooo busy and I had no idea how tiring the Canadian tour was going to be. I guess because it's 12 shows in 2 1/2 weeks that it takes it's toll on you. Everyone is so tired.
The shows have been awesome, the crowds are great and it's so good to home. We only have 4 more left and then it's vacation time.
Well, where so I start.....
Nothing really spectacular has happened, we were on Off The Record when we were in T.O which was fun. We had business meetings and dinners and oh I turned a year older (a big 27). We had a show that night in Kitchener and the skaters spoiled me with gifts.
I'm a lucky girl to have such good friends.
What else.
The T.V show in Hamilton wasn't my best, it's the first time I had to do retakes. I stepped out of my throw 3 loop in Sunscreen (1st time) and we messed up a little flippy thing in Ballroom. I had to get my Ballroom costume on again for a 5 second mistake and I had to put my hair and makeup back to what it was. I'm sure no one notices but my hair and makeup change throughout the show.
Oh how could I forget, when we were in Ottawa I did a photo shoot with Brian Adams. He was very cool and we had a great time. Isabelle came too for a bit because she's into photography.
It's going to be in Flare's anniversary magazine coming out this fall some time.
He also has a couple of books and I believe my picture will be in one of them.??????
Some of the skaters went to an Areosmith concert in Hamilton on one of our days in T.O. They were awesome! We also got to see the opening act Cheap Trick who most of us skaters know from coming to one of our shows in the US.
We're in Regina now for tonights show and then I'm home sweet home tomorrow. Apparently ticket sales are not good though in Edm and Calgary so I'm very sad about that.
Oh well, I can only skate I can't market the show right?!
All I want to say is how about those Calgary Flames for those of you who cheer for Calgary?! I'm so excited for them. We always have a t.v on backstage to catch any game that's on that night between #'s. It gets quite exciting back there some times.
I have to go now to do Yoga and then for my treatment (physio) before we leave for the arena. Hope you're all well and healthy and enjoying the Canadian tour.
Take care and stay tooned for a rap-up of the tour when I get home.
Dave say Hi and best wishes to you all.
It's Lloyd Eisler's B-day today too for any of you who'd like to know.
Bye for now,
Jamie

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Week #13

Hey Guys!
No offense but I'm really pumped now to get home, it's an exciting time for us Canadians as the fans are wired and LOUD! We've had good crowds this year in general but you have to come to Canada to experience the buzz or hype.
Yes everyone I'm doing Sunscreen in Canada.
I'm very thrilled about it too because I'd like to be busier. Not my choice for the US, I'm just the "skater".
We're in Hershey now having a blast (I apologize for being late again) and everyone's spirits are high because it's been a real long haul this year and everyone's tired. Vacation time for some, we'll miss them a lot but we'll have a great time with the new guys too.
It was a pretty boring week, sorry to tell you, the most exciting thing we did was bowling with the crew. That was fun! We make up rules like you have to close your eyes on one throw and then you have to do 1 turn and throw right away and fun things like that. It makes it hilarious and we're usually in stitches laughing so hard. It's been seen to have a ball jump lanes. Doesn't make the owners so happy but,..... good times!!!!
We went to the Crisco plant (a part of the Smuckers corp.) and saw how oil is made.
Let me just tell you it did NOT smell good!
we all almost gagged. Yes, that bad worse than a farm. Trust me, I live in Alberta.....farming land. I much prefer the cow doodoo.
Oh ya, I forgot Elena, Katia and I went dancing one night in Cincinnati at the Red Chita (???spelling or name not sure???)
Man that was sooooo fun, it was college night and it was packed. They gave us VIP passes (now I know what you guys feel like when you get that treatment for the shows) and treated so nice. We haven't done that this year yet and probably won't do it now so I was happy we cut loose. I had a sore neck and legs all the day the next day though. Oops!
I don't know about you guys but I can't handle the smoking. We actually left early because we were choking and couldn't breath anymore. I had to shower when I got back to the hotel too, I smelt like an ashtray. Yuck!
When we left there was a line-up down the street both sides. Poor suckers! It was cold too and there were girls dresses to do a "layout" if you know what I mean. Very appropriate. NOT!
Whatever blows your hair back!
So that's it everyone......we will be updating in Canada too but this is it for the US. It's been a fantastic tour (I'm very proud of it) and I'm so lucky that I get to see your country, and I mean really see it. I've been almost everywhere, probably places you've never even heard of. he!he!he!
Take care and stay tunned for CSOI. Thanks for all your support and giving us your warm welcomes to your cities and towns. We'll see you next year, it'll be here before you know it.
Your skater friend,
Jamie

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

FORT WAYNE

Hello everyone!
We had a day off yesterday in Fort Wayne. It was great. We went bowling with the crew. It was fantastic to hang out with everybody. They work very hard too and they sure are fun to spend time with. Well my friends, it is with great pride that I announce to you that I am the champion bowler for the second year in a row. With 185 as a high score, I once again did not let anybody down! Jamie's best score was 130 wich is really good. Anyway, it was fun.
There is only 8 shows left in the US. This year went so much faster. We have 2 days off(again!) coming in Cincinnati. We are going to visit the people at Smuckers. I'm looking forward to it. There is a lot of people that works hard to make this company the best in the USA.
We have been watching a lot of golf lately and Todd Sand and myself are pretty excited that the Baseball season is starting. Hey, how about those Edmonton Oilers!!!! They are in a great race for a playoff spot. I tell you, it's always better to do sports than to watch it but sometimes...
Thanks for being a fan!
Next one will be in french!!

David

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Week #11

Whooohhh! What a week for us!!!!!
Dave has recovered from his (48 hr) stomach flu and is back stronger than ever.
We apologize for missing our programs in Ames but Dave was GREEN and had no energy, therefore, it wasn't safe for us to do our #'s. We have a rule about the "production" part of the show that if you can get out of bed and not be sick on the ice than you have to skate production #'s. It's misleading I realize but trust me, you wouldn't have wanted him to skate and I would have feared for my life.
On a positive note we were excited about going to Detroit to see our friends Liz Punsalen, Jerod Swallow and their 4 month old son Gavin. He's sooooo cute!!!
There's been quite the baby serge this past year apparently. I guess it's in the water. He!he!he!
We've had a really tough week for travel again with 1500 miles of driving. We just did a media day in Baltimore today (March 23rd) and now we're back in Raleigh with everyone for another 2 days off.
Most of everyone though is gone somewhere but the crew and a few skaters are here. There's not a whole lot to do around here so I'll for sure be doing a lot of sleeping and just total R&R. Busing has really taken almost everything out of us this year.
Hopefully next year we won't be all over the map and back again. It's been quite the schedule don't ya think?
Maybe you should come with us to experience just a week of our travel, I promise you'll see things WAY different.
I'm not asking for sympathy but you can feel a little bad for me!!!!!! Just kidding!
Oh, I have to tell you about the hotel we stayed in in Peoria,IL.
It reminded us of the board game "Clue" or "Tower Of Terror", we could have had a murder mystery night with all the darkness,creepy pictures on the wall and the old furniture and floors.
WOW! We were all sooooooooooo creaped out we hardly slept. We were waiting for the pictures to start talking as you'd walk by but instead you'd hear noises when you were in your bed and trying to fall asleep.
YIKES
I'm telling you it's been a real eye opener this year for me, I mean we've stayed in some pretty less than acceptable hotels. It makes me appreciate where I live and what I have even more.
Well, it's bedtime now so go brush your teeth and get into bed. Ah you're probably reading this tomorrow. You know what I mean.
Take care guys! The countdown in on now with only 11 shows left. Make sure you come out and see it
Bye for now,
Jamie

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Sorry AMES!

I would like to apologize to the people of Ames for not being able to perform our programs on tuesday night. I have been in bed for 26 hours prior to the show. It could of been a virus or food. No need to get into details. Sorry again.
We are in Green Bay tonight and hopefully will be able to perform at the best of my ability.

By the way, Jamie mentionned that we would be doing tv appearences on saturday morning in Detroit.Just wanted to tell you that it got cancelled.

I'll be posting again real soon so stay tune!

David

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Week #10

Hello,hello everyone!
I am writing from our hotel here in Ames,IA where we have a beautiful snowy day off. Fantastic!
Dave and John have some kind virus that's made them sick all morning but thank goodness they're doing better now. Not pretty if you know what I mean!!!!!
Hopefully Dave can eat something tonight so he'll have energy to lift me tomorrow or we'll both be in big trouble. We may have to take out a program if he has no energy but we'll decide that tomorrow.
Besides all that we were doing great. We had a great time at home (didn't rest a whole lot) visiting and going to hockey games etc. All the things we love to do.
When we got back on tour Thursday evening we watched SOI on A&E. It was really good I thought. It was different from last year(which is also good) and I thought the way they did it was awesome. They obviously couldn't show all the programs but I'm sure you all figured that out.
They have to save some, especially ours right?
Hey you guys, you won't believe it. We got our 1st official standing ovation last night in the US. We've had some people stand before but not the whole audience. We were so excited you have no idea. We work so hard to make it so good and finally they stood. Cool
There isn't a whole lot more to tell you guys except that we're driving about 1300 miles total this week. It's insane. It's definately not a glamourous tour all the time. We arrive in the morning most of the time and try to sleep for a few more hrs and then go to the venue and skate a fabulous show and then get in the bus again and drive until the morning...you get it I'm sure.
Ya, all for you. No, we love our job like I've said before and nights like last night in Toledo make it all worth while.
Gotta eat now (hopefully the food is good!?) so take care and we'll be back next week.
We'll be doing some interviews for those of you who live in Auburn Hills (Detroit) on Sat. to try to get more people out (Fox and NBC)
Take care everyone,
Jamie

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Week #9

Hello again! It's the dedicated reported coming to you from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada at 11:04pm (incase you haven't figured it out it's Monday the 8th).
Yes we are home for another 4 days off and it's SOOOOOOOOOOO FANTASTIC!!!!!!! I love my home! Has anyone ever lived out of a suitcase for 4 months? And not to mention at least another 3 months away somewhere.
It's crazy I tell ya, but I love my job!!!!
I just came back from seeing "Starsky and Hutch" (the new movie) and it was pretty good. Very funny and just a feel good kind of movie. I haven't seen a movie in a while. Remember I told you about "Somethings Got To Give"? That was the last one I've seen. I know I don't get out much!!!!!!!ha!ha!ha!
Exciting week for us, we got to see our friends BLN (Barenaked Ladies) at their concert in Boston and then back stage for a little visit. They are so cool and down to earth. We'd like them to make a song for us to take on the road one day. Wouldn't that be cool?Yahhhh!
It was also kind of a stressful week for some as we played New York and Long Island and that's where everyone of everything comes, apparently! I don't really care much because every show is important to me whether we're in Sioux City,IA or N.Y, N.Y. Right? Right!
It's just that the skaters feel the pressure from all the management who gets it from the big guys who run the tour and so on and so on so it becomes a sress fest and everyone is so freaked out about those 2 shows. More N.Y city because even celebs come to it.
The next couple of shows are really hard because it's just like the day after a competition, you feel a bit of a let down and have no energy.
The crowd though in Syracuse I must say was one of our best. Some people were even standing after our Norah Jones program. We were so excited. Those are hard to get in the States.
You had to see the arena though, WOW!
Our dressing rooms were on a stage behind the ice surface with just those blue curtains around us. There was only one bathroom and one shower and the we had to walk down some stairs to get to the ice. It was helarious!!!! We were all saying,"if only our families and friends could see how glamourous our job can be".
It was definately something to write about. Apparently we have to rent trailers in Toledo,OH for dressing rooms because we're in a convention centre and they don't really have proper dressing rooms. How funny is that? Good times! Those days and shows are exactly what makes my job and tour so memorable and humourous.
We've been meeting with our writer for our book, she was with us for 3 days on tour, and I think it's going to a great one. Really I'm not just saying that. She's fabulous! Very smart and recommended by the owner of Chapters, Indago and Coles Books stores (her name is Heather Reisman).
It's probably going to be come out next fall 2005 along with our made for t.v movie. They will be out close together most likely but I don't know if the US is going to buy the movie. It's called a movie of the week.
We're looking for someone who can act and skate for the movie so if you know anyone let our manager Bob know.
Well guys and gals, I must go now and get "some" rest but don't be sad we'll meet here again next week.
Have an adverturous or eventful week
Bye for now,
Jamie

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Really Week #7

Hi everyone!
I'm terribly sorry but I thought last weeks report was week #7 and I believe that's this weeks. So here I go.....
We finished up playing Florida on the 17th and and headed back to cold. Yuck, yuck, yuck!
We all needed some sun that's for sure, a little low on vitamin D.
Anyway, we had a great time in Florida and the crowds were awesome, better than last year which is what we want.
We then went to Philadelphia and stayed based there for 3 nights. Kristi Yamaguchi joinged us with her daughter Keara and her mom. She's a mazing to be skating and look as fanastic as she does. I sure hope I look like her after giving birth.WOW!
The most exciting thing was meeting the Atlanta Thrashers in the hotel. The coach saw me and asked me if David and I would like to join the team the morning of their game for breakfast. I said sure so we got to meet most of them. Great bunch of guys. FYI the coach is Canadian from Quebec that's why he knew us.
When we got to the venue in Philly we were greeted by a security guy (Lou)who said that Mark Ricchi has left us a signed puck and signed jerseys. How cool was that?!!!!!
He's a fabulous guy, we met a Mario Lemieux's celeb golf tournament 2 years ago and he remebered us. I feel so special! He!he!
So we left him some merchandise (signed pics and program) for him and his family. It's not like we have anything like what he gave us to give to him.
We also saw Jeb (hi Jeb!one of our moderators) after the show for a little visit. Dave says you're a cool guy Jeb!
We are all so tired right now and in desperate need of this break. We've had a significantly challenging schedule this year compared to last year. We're not recovering as fast and everyone's starting to feel burnt out already. Don't worry though, this 4 days off will be exactly what we all needed.
We're at home right now until Thursday so we're lucky to totally get away from it all.
Most people went somewhere instead of staying in Boston. I love Boston so I'm bit sad but we still get to spend 2 days after we go back.
So that's all I have for this time and I'm so not impressed that Dave hasn't written in French for all of you, he said he was going to. He probably will next week.
I'll tell him you're all craving a French lesson.
Take care and see you (I won't see you but you'll me!!!!! ) at the shows.
Bye for now,
Jamie

Monday, February 16, 2004

Week #7

Hi guys and gals!!!!
We're are so happy that we're finally in some warmth, yay for Florida!
We all always look forward to Florida for the obvious but we usually have at least 2 days off here. Last year we had 4 days off in St. Pete's but I guess we didn't deserve it this year. No I'm kidding, I believe it's always a booking (venues) issue and we have no choice.
Anyway, so we started in Jacksonville and we had Paul Wylie and Oksana join us. It's like a new show when our guest skaters come in and out. It's so much fun!
Christopher Dean also came in to help them out and check up on us. He was very pleased and said the show went fast because he enjopyed it so much.
We had 2 days off in Ft. Lauderdale after that show so we all totally relaxed and did nothing except tan, eat great food and go to a hockey game. You know us Canadians and our hockey, whenever there is one in a city that we're in we go. It was the Panthers vs the Pinguins. We know a few of the guys from the Penguins so Dave was all excited to see them and I was extatic about seeing Mario Lemieux. He's sooooo handsom and a real gentleman. Love him!!!!
I also saw Candice Cameron,DJ from Full House she's married to Valerie Bure.
Dave and I took the crew out for dinner one night, that was a blast.
They like to have a good time let me tell you. They treat all of us skaters so well it was the least we could do for them.
We were lucky to be in Ft. Lauderdale for a couple of days because then we went to Orlando and the weather wasn't a nice. Warm but not sunny, lots of clouds and rain.
We've been based out of Orlando for the last few days because it's a great hotel instead of staying in Tampa and Ft. Myers. We are driving back 3 1/2 hrs tonight to Orlando and then flying out to Philadelphia on Wed. and out of the sun.
We're all a bit tired now being our 4th show in a row tonight but we're hanging on and giving it our absolute best.
The shows have been going very well the crowds are up everywhere. This is awesome
Heh, heh, heh, it's show #30 tonight aswell, we're half way already. It's going so fast for me this year. Does that mean I'm having fun and loving my job? Oh, YES!!!
Good times!!!!!
O.k, I've got to go now and put my face on and get those hot rollers in to look good for everyone. The boys can't believe we do this every night. Me neither, it's a pain and it takes too long. I can't imagine having to always put all this makeup on everyday. Yuck!
Anyway, take care and be well. Until next time.....

Jamie

Sunday, February 15, 2004

News from the road.

Hi! I'm writing you from Jacksonville, Florida.
Being on the road for so long brings us to amazing places. One of them is St-Elmos in Indianapolis. If you are ever in this city, you have to go eat there and order the shrimp cocktail. It is an experience. Scott Hamilton who knows a few great places in this beautiful country, brought a few of us there. The meal was spectacular and the horseradish in the shrimp cocktail is phenomenal!!! We had a great time in Cleveland also. We went to Orville to visit the Smuckers company. I'm sure many of you know that Smuckers was voted by Fortune Magazine the best company to work for in the United States. We had lunch with Tim and Richard Smucker in the JM Smucker's house. This is where everything started. They are a great company and it was extremelly interesting to visit and to learn how the actual product gets to our table.
We were off to Moline after a 10 hours bus ride. The crowd in Moline was fantastic. One of the best. After a short bus ride (5 hours), we got to Milwaukee. One thing that people do not know about Milwaukee is how amazing the catering food is!! It's a well known thing among the skaters. Every year is better and better.

After the show, we all met in a room and watched the Grammys. We were all excited when outkast came on stage to perform. They have a great song.

So, we are now in Florida and the weather so far is cloudy. I don't mind. I still enjoy walking outside and feel the warmer climate.
Paul W arrived and I'm looking forward to getting to know him a little better.

That's it for me. Please remember that the quality of my writing (in english) is somehow questionnable. So, my next post will be in french. Go and get yourself a dictionnary.

Talk to you soon

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

WEEK #5

Wow! I can't believe it's already been 5 weeks guys!
It's flying this year. We are (just over) 1/3rd done in the US and I remember last year feeling so much longer.
So lets begin where I left off with being stuck in Chicago.....(greay city by the way, love it!)
We ended up catching a flight and making it to Omaha for 2pm and then we practically left right away for the arena. We were soooo tired I can't even tell you. The best part about the arrival was that Lonny (remember the security guard) was there with the bus driver and our tour bus. Ahhhhh, we thought we were going to have to take a 45min. taxi ride to the hotel but they were there to save the day!
We actually had a great show though which was surprising seeing how much sleep we had gotten in 2 days.
The next show was in St. Paul,MN and we were so excited when we arrived at the arena we saw some french Canadians who were there with the Montreal Canadians (who were playing the next night) so we eventually ended up meeting some of the players once they arrived there.
That was a highlight for both of us.
The venue gave us Minnisota Wild jerseys but in return we had to do a little cheer on tape for the games. Have you ever seen that when the play (I'm talking about hockey for whoever doesn't know) has stopped they put someone on the board and they do a cheer of some kind? Well we did it and hopefully it's not too embarrassing. The only problem is they said they'll be using it for the game against the Canadians the next night. How bad does that look? OOOPS!!!!!!
Speaking of hockey, when we went to St. Louis the next night we got to go to the St. Louis/Vancouver game with Doug Weight's wife.
Vancouver won but that's good for us because they're in the same division as the Edmonton Oilers and they're way ahead of them too. We had fun though we bought 2 jerseys each, Dougs and Al McKinnis's and had them signed for our collection.
Earlier that day Elena and I went to get to our hair (or "hairs" as David would say!!!!)
cut. We had so much fun, we took a taxi and went to Starbucks which was across the street from the salon and then spent too much money and went back to the hotel. Good times!!
But the hair looks good, that's all that matters right girls?
After the show in St. Louis we drove 300 miles to Chicago (my favorite city). I also love the hotel that we stay in (can't say sorry guys!)because it's close to shopping andmy favorite food. So I did the traditional thing and got up and went for coffee (not Starbucks) and then did yoga and then went shopping. I always have to go to the Nine West store, they have great shoes. I ended up buying 3 pairs of shoes. Dave said to me "Jamie Sale" and I said,"I had to". Just don't tell my manager o.k. Kidding ;-)
You don't understand, I have size 5-5 1/2 feet and it's so hard to find shoes typically so when I can I buy out the store. Not quite but you get it.
After our show we drove yet once again another 535 miles to Sioux City. Really bad hotel but the venue was new and awesome and the crowd was spectacular. All I have to say about our 1 day off there was thank God we had a Super Bowl Party because we all would have went crazy and I'm not kidding.
It was cold and there was nothing to do.
We survived it.We got on the bus after the show the next day for a 685 mile drive to Indianapolis where our show is tomorrow (obviously).
That was an all-nighter, we got here at 11am this morning and look how good I am writing you right away. Heh, I tried writing yesterday but the website wasn't working or something. Oh well, you've got the scoop now.
So that's it for week 5. Hope you're enjoying the updates and they're not too long and boring. Bye for now,
Jamie ;-)

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

WEEK #4 :(

Hi guys!
I'm going to start by telling you that we are NOT happy campers tonight, we had to fly to St. Louis last night to do a media day today (just the 2 of us) and now we're stuck in Chicago overnight at the hotel. Our flight from St. Louis was so delayed that we missed our connection and there are no more flights going tonight. YIKES!!!!! The worst thing is they made us bring our skates because we were suppose to skate with Radio winners last night and then again in the am for some t.v show but it all got cancelled because of the weather. We almost didn't get our skates back tonight when we arrived. Normally they (tour management) don't like us travelling with our skates but this time it was so important. Well guess what? It won't be happening again that's for sure.
(If you don't know what's going on all over the place it's been freezing rain and lots of snow.)
We're hoping to get on a flight tomorrow at 10am so we make the show. Can you believe this is hapening again?!
Besides that it's been a pretty fun week we had 4 shows and only 1 of them wasn't so great for all of us. Alburquerque. The rink wasn't so nice and the spot lights were sooooooo low that I was totally blinded in my throws, therefore, I doubled both in my programs. Sucked to be me that night, I was so mad (you know how I feel about missing my throws). We also had the lowest # of people there so far so it was a tough one to say the least.
You must also know that we are very looked after especially when it comes to hotels. They put us in the best ones usually but there's a price to pay. I ordered coffee and orange juice the other morning and it cost me $20.00 US and that's like $100.00 Canadian!!! Kidding! I learned my lesson. Starbucks it is I guess all the time. The problem is there isn't always a Starbucks. Oh well, I'm sure we'll survive.
We did an interview with Parade Magazine (a magazine in the US papers) and a skating magazing aswell the other day so keep your eyes open. I'm sorry I can't remember what the skating one was called. Oops!
I had a fun night in Houston, when we were out for the opening and there was a girl in the stands that yelled "hey, Jamie!" and she had a Canadian flag. I smiled at her and waved to her in the finale, she was so cute. Thank you for that whoever you were!!!!
I had a great visit with my friend Christine Hough in Dallas (she did pairs with Doug Ladret on Stars on ice and they're Canadian too). I stayed at her house and we were up all night chatting about the good 'ol days. She was my idol when I was growing up in the skating world. She's doing great.
The last thing that was a highlight was when we arrived last night we went for dinner with our friends Doug Weight and his family (Doug plays for the St.Louis Blues but played in Edmonton a few years ago).
We had dinner at Mortons, AWESOME food!!!!
Alright, so that's this weeks update.
We are going to try and get some sleep now so we're in good shape for tomorrow, it's going to be a long day.
Take care everyone and stay tuned. :)
Love always,
Jamie ;)

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Hi! Its Me

Hi everyone,
I know I'm not the best to keep in touch and I'm very sorry about this. On the other hand, Jamie is really good and that's why we are a good team...hihihi!
Anyways, here is what's been happening lately. We had 3 wonderful days off in Phoenix. After driving 13 hours from San Jose, we arrived at 8:30 in the morning. Todd Eldredge and myself were on the golf course by 10:00 am. It was a very difficult round but we were outside in the sun and that's all that was important for both of us. On the third day off, the cast flew to LA to tape 5 shows of Family Feud. Now, I do not want to tell you too much about what happened but it was a blast. Did I do good? I guess I did but there was a few problem with the language and that's all I'm going to tell you. Jamie and the girls looked fabulous but...Watch it and you'll see.

The shows have been awesome and the crowd are amazing. We really liked touring in California once more and we are looking forward to next year already. The cast is healthy and we just finish our first stretch of 4 shows in a row. We are in Denver today. Kurt left after Phoenix and Scott joined us. Oksana left after LA and Katia just arrived.

Thanks again and stay healthy.
Talk to you soon.

~David

Monday, January 12, 2004

Week #2

Hi Guys!
I have to start off by excusing myself for any spelling ERRORS I make (ie: weakly) any time because I'm usually in a bit of a hurry or I write fast and I don't know how to do the spelling check with the computer so I'm sorry, please forgive me.
Okay, where do I start....
I have to tell you that it's groundhog day for us (everyday) so I don't always have the most exciting things to tell you but I'm opening up a lot to tell you the kinds of things we do on the road.
I left off in Seattle where we had a fantastic show, great crowd and we all skated well. We had a day off there the next day but it started to get real cold so all we did that day was see a movie, do interviews (love those!) and workout. We saw Something Must Give (I think that's what it was called, with Jack Nicholson) and it was really good we thought, a bit of a chick flick but it had a great message behind it.
So this is where it gets REALLY good! The next day was a travel day to Fresno,CA. We flew to Portland and then we were suppose have a connection to Fresno, well it didn't happen. They had this huge (for them anyway, in Canada we're used to all the ice and snow us crazy canucks!) snow and ice storm and all the flights were cancelled for that day but we sat at the airport until 8pm (like idiots) waiting for them to tell us that ours was cancelled too. We were the last ones in the airport.
So we went back to the hotel where we stayed just a few nights past and got to our rooms and they were freezing (50 degrees,or 10-12 degrees celcius). We eneded up sleeping in our security gaurds room 'cause it was warm and I did my yoga so I could sleep. We didn't feel the best the say the least.
We had to leave the hotel at 4:30am to try and catch the 1st plane that left that day. Well guess what? There were no planes leaving again. Our tour director had to come up with something huge and fast because we had a show that night and we were about 15 hours away. Trust me we all thought of everything.
Finally we decided to drive to Eugene (2 1/2hrs) to catch a chartered plane that was leaving at 3:30pm. We arrived at 5pm and the show was at 7pm. Our practices were quick because we couldn't open doors late and we were all rushing around showering and trying to get organized. Crazy but good times!
We made it, the show went off without any hitches and we got on our buses and went straight to bed. Exhausted was an understatement.
We drove to Bakersfield and I slept until noon the next day. Dave and Todd Eldredge went golfing. Elena and I went to the mall for a while and then for dinner we went for sushi with Elena and Anton.
We did yoga that night again to sleep and felt good the next day for the show.
We always go to Starbucks when we wake up to start our day of good and then we got on the bus to go to the venue (it was 3:15pm).
The boys always play ping-pong while they are waiting for their practice or the half hour call.
We chose our photos that will be sold upstairs at the shows, there will be 2, one ffrom Come Away With Me and another from Ballroom (charater). Hope you like 'em.
We drove to Sacramento after the show which was awesome by the way and played Yatzee. I love this game. I think I'm addicted.
We got to bed at 3:30am and our room was by someone who was a real good time. Laughing and loud talking until I think 5am. Didn't have good sleep at all. Dave and I went for a walk to Starbucks (as usual) and then we did yoga together. It was so reviving and refreshing, we felt like a million bucks.
Watched the US mens finals on t.v and then got to the bus again at 3:15pm.
Did our warm-ups and had a little meet and greet with the guestes of Smuckers. We have them every once and a while and we sign autographs and chat a little with them.
We changed the ending of Ballroom here because we felt the ending just wasn't what the program needed. It's gonna take some time but we all thought it was much better. It stays in character more and it doesn't drag on so long. The show was fun and we all got ice cream after we finished. Yummmmmmmy!
Our security guard Lonny got me popcorn too.
We're so spoiled.
Finally we are now in San Jose for this afternoons matinee show at 4pm. We are a bit tired but we always get our wind for show time. The only not so exciting thing is we have a 12 hr. bus ride to Phoenix tonight right after the show. We get there around 9am. We have a couple of days off to relax so that's great but we're also flying to L.A to tape 5 shows of Family Feud to be aired on the 16th-20th of Feb. We are so nervous you can't even imagine. We'll have fun though.
Gotta go now to catch our bus, they're gonna leave without me here if I don't get going.
Thanks for loggin' in and I believe Dave will write next time.
Take care everyone,
Jamie ;-)

Friday, January 09, 2004

Weekly Report

Hi Guys!
How are you all after the all the Holiday festivities?
I wanted to let you know that Dave and I will be writing you a weakly report on the tour and all the "spectacular" events that go on here. It's a bit too much to do more often than that because honestly not much changes night after night. Well o.k, something happened last night on our rehearsal that no one knows yet and you'll be the first to know.
Dave and the skaters from Sun Screen were doing that # and Dave had his hand sliced off. Just kidding!! No really though, he cut his pinkie finger right at the bottom of the finger where it bends, quite deep. No veins or bones were broken or cut thank God!
He's fine and has 3 stitches in his left hand for a while and has to tape his 2 finger together so the stitches don't rip. Nice heh!?
He's such a trooper I tell ya. This happened only an hour before we had our warm-up and he warmed up and did the show like nothing even happened. This is why I skate with him, no pain no gain he said.
The show was a little sloppy last night being the 1st one back after a month off and only 2 hrs of rehearsal but that's normal. Everyone's just getting their feet back and remembering all the trippy,tricky steps this year. The audience seemed to LOVE it witch was great for us because we always feed off of them. They stared to stand as soon as we finished. They laughed and clapped a lot throughout the programs.
We really like the show and think it's going to go over VERY well this year. We hope you like it as much as we do.
The only thing for us is we have some changes to be made to our ballroom #. We skated it well but Scott and Christopher think it's too long and it loses it's purpose at the end. I believe we'll be playing with it for a while until everyone is happy. It's a comedy and that's very hard to pull of but Dave is so funny the audience was laughing before we even started so I think it's working. They (and us) just don't get the ending so we'll be working on it today.
YIKES!
O.k, my fingers are tired now so I'm signing off but stay tooned for next weeks posting. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who sent us Christmas cards and the scrap book of our 1st year of touring. It's so awesome and we love that kind of stuff. You guys are so thoughtful, thank you again.
Bye for now,
Jamie and Dave ;-)

Friday, January 02, 2004

Happy New Year !

Hello everyone!
Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas we sure did. We ate well (I have to say it was awesome because I cooked!!!) and best of all we got to share it with our family. We are so greatful that they allowed us to start tour after the new year this year because it gives us more time to enjoy the holidays.
On the other hand we're very much looking forward to starting the show, it's been a great break and we're ready to go on Thursday. We start in Spokane and then Seattle.
Hope everyone is as excited about it as we are. As some people who were at the show may already know that you might want to buy your tickets in the middle of the bottom section to the middle of the top section because we have a lot of projections this year and you'll see them really well up there. The ice seats are always good too if you like to be right close to the skaters.
Just a thought.
Anyway, have a safe and fun New Years and we'll see you all soon!!
Bye for now,
Jamie ;-)