Champions on Ice at Arco Arena, May 19, 2007

Well, I almost didn't make this show. I managed to twist something in my back the day before and thought long and hard if I really wanted to drive the two hours plus it would take to get there, sit in the venue for two plus hours, and then have the two hour plus drive back. But in the end I just grabbed an economy size bottle full of Advil and make the trek, anyway - it might be long time until I get to see live skating in the fall, LOL...

Getting to Arco is a snap - even though when I first started attending events at Arco Arena many, many years ago, it was this huge, plain building stuck out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farmland, and you could see it coming practically from 20 miles, LOL. Now, it's buried behind new streets, shopping malls, business malls, and housing subdivisions. Even so, I can usually head right to it - I guess all these years of familiarity have paid off, LOL...leaving is another story entirely. It's guaranteed that I will make at least one wrong turn getting to the freeway I want. So I accept it, am resigned to it, and I'm relatively calm when it happens, LOL...

Arco Arena is old, as you can probably tell from the previous paragraph, and the venue staff were saying the ice shows might be moving to a new venue, as they are talking about possibly building a new one downtown. That would be very convenient for those who like to spend the night in Sacramento as all the cool hotels are downtown, and downtown is also very cool. I won't like it, because it means dealing with downtown Sacramento traffic, which I handle a heck of a lot better than San Jose or San Francisco traffic, but, being downtown, it's still a pain. Even though I much prefer the Oakland and San Jose venues, Arco is still the fastest, easiest venue for me to get to, and I always tend to think of it as my "home" venue.

Crowd was fairly sparse for Arco - no seating at all was sold in the upper section, and the lower section was about half full on one side and about mostly full on my side. The people sitting next to me, who said they come every year, said it was the smallest crowd they'd ever seen here, but attributed that to the afternoon show time. Most Saturday shows are in the evening, and the only afternoon shows are usually on Sundays. To compare it to SOI, I'd say the crowd was smaller because of the lack of any upper level seating at all, but, really, they were pretty similar. I had a great seat - front row, center ice. Probably the best seat I've ever had for COI. They don't have on ice seating at COI, though, so you have the boards in front of you, which I feel takes away from the intimacy of the first row. But it was still a great seat, and I was very happy with it.

It was a typical Sacramento crowd - very raucous - they tend to go for the more upbeat, fun, show bizzy and novelty acts, and are usually less enthralled with the more serious, artistic numbers. This held true, even though some of the artistic numbers were very well received.

Opening - starts off with grand, Olympic-type music, and the colorful COI logo is scattered by the lighting around the audience and then ends up on the ice. The skaters come out singly and in pairs (for the teams) and each gets their own theme music. Ryan Bradley was the first one out, wearing bright orange pants and yellow and orange shirt and skating to James Brown music - "I Feel Good" - something like that - did a scratch spin, a cartwheel kind of move, a triple toe, and a backflip. Alissa Czisny is next, wearing purple velvet with silver trim (didn't note music), did Russian splits and a double axel, which she fell on, flying camel/donut/Biellmann spin, illusion spin. Evan Lysacek was next, wearing sparkly sapphire blue, and did a triple I didn't catch the entry to and a deathdrop. Kimmie is wearing a two piece pink, white, and black outfit (if I can read my writing, LOL), skating to "You're The One That I Want" from Grease, and did something I can't read and a camel spin, nice double axel, and camel/sit/scratch spin combo. Rudy Galindo is next, skating to Prince music - "Kiss?" - and wearing sparkly fuschia, did a spread eagle, double axel. Shae-Lynn Bourne, wearing a print top (I think that's what my notes say, LOL - have a hard time reading them this time) and black pants, does a forward slide and hydroblade move. Pang & Tong are skating to Justin Timberlake music ("Sexyback" I think) and wearing blue, throw triple jump I missed the entry on so not sure what it was. Surya Bonaly is skating to Lady Marmalade music and wearing black and white with a yellow "tail," LOL - she did a triple sal and a deathdrop. Victor Petrenko is next and wearing blue, with a vest, does some nice footwork, tuck jump, double axel, and barrel rolls. Anissina & Peizerat are next, wearing red and black, and do a dance lift and a couple balance moves - they are skating to "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Shizuka Arakawa, wearing lavendar, does a forward spiral, Ina Bauer, triple toe, and a Biellman spin. Johnny Weir is wearing black and silver, and can't read my notes again, but does a Besti squat, triple jump I missed the entry to, hydroblade move, death drop, what I call a turtle sit spin, scratch spin. Belbin & Agosto wearing fuschia and black (have no note whether they are both wearing that, LOL), skating to "Black Magic Woman" (if I can read my notes correctly, LOL) and do a dance lift, then they fall inexplicably, then another revolving dance lift. Plush is next, wearing red, white, and black, and skating to Elvis' "Hound Dog" - does a triple toe, double axel, combo spin ending with a scratch spin. Gregory & Petukhov are wearing black and while for him, salmon for her, and skating to "If I Ruled The World," and did a dance lift, once again if I can read my notes, LOL. Sasha Cohen is last, skating to bluesy music with the lyrics "Nothing Can Stop Me" - something like that, and she's wearing white with silver trim, does a death drop/martini glass spin, Russian splits, forward spiral. Then everyone else comes back out and they do a group number to "Living in America," nothing too elaborate, but it was fun.

Ryan Bradley - wearing white with a black shirt and skating to jazzy music, double axel, triple lutz, music changes to disco, Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive," lots of dancey moves, butterfly/camel spin, music changes to "You Should Be Dancing," does a cartwheel kind of move, backflip, more dancey moves, another backflip variation, butterfly/sit spin, and ends up in the famous John Travolta pose, LOL. Very energetic, lots of fun, and lots of audience contact from Mr. Bradley, who clearly enjoys performing, LOL.

Alissa Czisny - wearing sparkly black with white trim around the top of the bodice, and skating to classical music, which starts out delicately with a flute- triple lutz, triple flip?, flying camel/sit/martini glass spin combo, three Russian splits in a row, flying camel/donut/Biellmann spin combo, connecting moves, change edge forward spiral, fan spiral, catch foot fan spiral, layback/Biellmann combo, sit/camel/sit/Y spin combo. Very pretty, delicate program which shows of Alissa's elegance and beautiful spins, and her jumps were pretty nice, too.

Inoue & Baldwin - wearing black jumpsuit for him and light blue for her - and skating to what sounded like a Josh Groban duet with a female singer - lyrics something about loving somebody until their dying day or until the end of time - death spiral, upside down split lift, SBS double axels, Rena falls on hers, surprisingly, spiral position lift with a flip over dismount - crowd oohed at that one, LOL - swing around lift. Pretty program, but just a tad ragged.

Rudy Galindo - wearing all black, and with a hat - and skating to dance music, starts off with the inch worm moves, LOL, double axel, dance moves right in front of my section, triple toe, scratch spin, then goes to the end of the ice and makes a costume change inside a decorative sack being held up by someone - I thought it was Shae, but now I'm not sure, LOL - now he's wearing a sparkly cream jumpsuit, a double jump of some sort, didn't catch the entry, butterfly/martini glass spin - nobody does that spin better than Rudy, LOL - cartwheel, gets the crowd clapping along with him, double axel, scratch spin. Tons of dance moves in this program. Crowd *loves* him. Definitely the first big response of the night, and a big hit.

Dan Hollander - in the dark he comes over to the boards in front of our section and chats with us a bit, LOL, asking us how we are doing, LOL - when the light comes up, he's wearing a black jumpsuit, with red emblem, red boots, and there's a "body" on a stretcher in the middle of the ice. He dances around with the body/stretcher, LOL, music changes to "Hero" by Iglesias or whoever does that song, double axel, camel/sit spin, butterfly, takes off top and is wearing a Wonder Woman costume, LOL, complete with black wig, LOL, then he changes that to a Superman costume, the "Hero" music changes to a different version of "Hero" - can't remember the artist, but it's a woman - triple toe, double sal, stars into butterfly, then muscles "pop up" in his shirt, music changes to dance music, two Russian splits, jump I missed seeing but just caught the tail end of it, don't know what it was, music changes again, then he finished up with a backflip over the body on the stretcher. Very popular, lots of fun, big crowd pleaser.

Johnny Weir - wearing blue and black velvet multicolored print jumpsuit and skating to Stevie Wonder music, "All in Love is Fair." Nice connecting moves, spread eagle, triple lutz, something I can't read, back spiral, fan spiral, camel/sit spin variation, twirling, tippie-toe footwork , spread eagle, Besti squat, triple toe, knee slide, flying camel/turtle sit spin, catch foot fan spiral, stars into camel/sit/turtle/stretch spin combo. Very beautiful, flowing, smooth, silky, elegant program, lots of speed. I like the costume, too.

Surya Bonaly - wearing a hot pink two piece costume and skating to high energy, jazzy dance music, "Right Now," lots of speed, triple sal with a hand down, double toe, then inexplicably falls, pops what looked like a planned triple sal - didn't really get off the ice, stars into sit/martini glass spin, backflip. Not as popular a reception as she would normally have gotten after this number (Surya is a Sacramento favorite), and I think it's because she lost her sparkle after the fall and that affected the audience reaction. I was wondering if she had hurt herself.

Victor Petrenko - skating to Sonny & Cher's "Ride" (or whatever it's called, LOL) - and wearing cowboy costume - triple toe, "shoots gun," flying camel spin, stars into butterfly, double axel, music changes to bluegrass, dancey moves, dancey steps, audience claps along, pops axel, dancey steps and footwork, tuck jump, Russian splits, barrel rolls, scratch spin. Lots of fun, lots of energy, nice program from Victor, and the audience was very fond of it.

Belbin & Agosto - skating to hip-hop music, Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback," and something else, I think - Tanith wearing boots, short shorts, and short top with jacket (not the lingerie costume from Marshall's), they skate around doing dancey moves, Tanith removes her jacket, dance steps and lifts, dance lift version of a candle lift, Ben gets the audience clapping along, SBS dance footwork down the middle of the ice - pretty cool - then Ben slips inexplicably (I'm starting to wonder how good the ice is - that's three slips or falls so far where the skater is not even doing an element, LOL). I think I liked this program better at Marshall's. It's just kind of one note, and I think they can do better, or maybe the crowd just wasn't into this type of music that much. Whatever the reason, it didn't really get a strong reaction, even though it was performed well, and it was kind of a low key number to end the first act with. I thought the audience felt this, too, like they were kind of surprised it was the last number before the intermission, which usually tends to be more of a showstopper number.

INTERMISSION

Irina Gregorian - okay, there won't be much about this one. This is the hula hoop girl (who I'm sure men in the audience were very fond of as she is very, very pretty and wears skimpy outfits and has a pretty fab figure, LOL) - she did lots of tricks with the hula hoops. The audience loves her, of course, LOL...

Shae-Lynn Bourne - wearing slinky black and looking stunningly beautiful, as always, LOL - and skating to tango music with a chair. She pretty much uses the chair as her partner, does lots of cool tricks with it (don't ask me to explain why it's okay for Shae-Lynn to skate with a chair, but I deride the hula hoops, LOL - maybe it's Shae's great edges and wonderful speed. ) And I'm sure men in the audience were thinking, "lucky chair." LOL Still, even though it was an entertaining program and I liked it much better than most of Shae's solo programs I've seen before, I found myself thinking, "this woman needs a partner."

Johnny, Melissa & Denis - "Fallen Angels" - wearing simply gorgeous ice blue costumes and skating to some kind of classical music (know my music, don't I, LOL?) - they are all lying on the ice, then get up individually, doing pretty and individual moves, Johnny and Denis lift Melissa between them, triple something from Johnny, didn't quite catch it, double axel, Melissa and Denis do a lift where I've written something about upside down, but I can't tell what I'm trying to say, LOL, Johnny does a camel/sit/turtle/stretch spin combo, scratch spin, Melissa and Denis do a lift, slide moves, triple toe from Johnny, can't read a lot of my notes here, unfortunately, and I know I've given no true impression of the program at all, but it was really quite wonderful and magical.

Anissina & Peizerat - Gwendal, looking gorgeous in a tux, comes down the aisle in the stands right in my section (told you this was a good seat, LOL), kisses a lady's hand a couple seats down from me (guess my seat could have been even better, LOL), charms everyone in the vicinity, LOL, then leaps over the boards onto the ice. Meanwhile, Marina is wearing red and sitting on a chair in the center of the ice. Music is show bizzy, kind of Broadway, they skate around in their signature wild and abandoned style, lots of lifts and balance moves, Gwendal makes costume changes and adjustments, at one point removing his shirt entirely, ahem - this was well received by the ladies in the audience, LOL. Kind of an unusual number, with lots of flair and showmanship. I think I liked it better than the audience did, which seemed a little puzzled at some of the goings on.

Kimmie Meissner - wearing pretty lavender with "wing" sleeves and skating to "Angel" - fluid connecting moves, lots of speed, double axel soft as a feather, forward spiral, layback spin, falls on a triple lutz, forward spiral, fan spiral, triple sal, camel spin, double axel, also very nice, stars into camel/sit/Y spin combo. This was really nice! Kimmie has definitely improved her presentation and skill at connecting with the audience, and this program suited her perfectly, showing off her speed and basic skating skills.

Evan Lysacek - introduced amid screams from the teens, LOL - and wearing all black with black wrist bands and skating to INXS. Dancey moves, triple toe, triple lutz/triple toe combo, dancey moves, deathdrop/sit spin, back spiral or butterfly - can make no sense of my notes, LOL - it's a "b" something, LOL - triple flip/double toe, snappy straightline footwork down the ice, triple toe, knee slide, dance moves, scratch spin. Lots of sharp, crisp skating, charisma and energy to spare, and Evan can dance. I liked this a lot better here live than the look I got at it from Marshall's, where I didn't seem to remember much about it, LOL.

Pang & Tong - white dress for her, black for him - and skating to "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere" or whatever it's called, LOL - gorgeous music, in any case - spiral position lift, SBS triple toes, I think, but I'm not sure, double twist that was so high it was in the rafters, I think, LOL, throw triple where I again missed seeing the entry, sigh, some kind of pairs Besti move with her upside down as best I can tell from my notes, pairs spin, chair lift, swing around lift where she is hanging by her ankles around his neck, death spiral turning into a swing death spiral. Very nice, and the crowd thought this was pretty nice, too.

Besedin & Polishuk - our acrobatic pair come out wearing what looked like 1700 or 1800 era costumes (I know my history, too, right, LOL?), all velvet and white wigs, LOL, and skating to classical violin music - lots of acrobatic moves, as is their wont, and the crowd goes ga-ga over all the handstands, etc., music changes to "Rock Me, Amadeus," the guys' costumes change to muscle shirt costumes, and I mean muscle shirt a la Plush, not tank tops, LOL. Some ooh! looking sliding back and forth underneath leg moves that no doubt Ina & Zimmerman will be trying next, LOL. Crowd loves them, of course.

Shizuka Arakawa - well, in a just world she should have closed the show - certainly her titles and the quality of her skating merited that - and maybe she knew it, too, which added that extra bit of intensity, LOL - wearing gorgeous white and carrying a long, blue scarf and skating to something classical sounding - swear I heard snatches of "Madame Butterfly," but who knows, LOL - she made quite the entrance - gorgeous, showy, breathtaking - triple jump I didn't quite catch, butterfly/Y spin combo, forward spiral, at one point drops the large scarf and uses a small scarf that's part of her costume, camel/donut spin, illusion spins, double axel, layback, Ina Bauer down the ice. Stunning program! Her edges, her speed, her beauty, her intensity - lots of audience contact - at one point she looked directly into my eyes - and I saw she was doing it around the ice. She was always a wonderful skater, but I think she has now developed the stage presence to go with that ability, and the two together make for one fabulous performer.

Evgeny Plushenko - wearing simple all black and skating to blues music - and the irony is not lost on me that what I wanted from Alexei - a serious blues program - I'm getting from Plush instead, LOL. Serious it was, and very nice. Interesting and clever footwork, triple toe, something I can't read, two double axels, circular, frenetic footwork that was excellent but didn't go at all with the music, which was slow and sensual, triple toe with a step out, butterfly, dramatic straightline footwork down the ice, very nice, but again with no relationship to the music, knee slides, camel/sit/scratch spin combo (I think there was something else in that combo, but, of course, I can't read it...grrrr). I actually really liked this program, was so glad to see this instead of the baby with diaper thing he started the season with. Needs a choreographer who could have whipped this program into something special, but the skating itself was great. Even though he didn't go all out jump-wise in this program, he seems in fine form, and if I were the rest of the boys, I'd be prepared for battle come the fall, LOL...

Sasha Cohen - skating to "Hurt" and wearing that gorgeous nude/beige dress I loved so much from SOI. Lovely connecting moves, spread eagle, fan spiral, double axel, flying camel/sit/martini glass spin combo, triple sal, forward spiral, two absolutely fab Russian splits, nice circular footwork, Charlotte spiral, scratch spin. Another beautiful, exquisite, lovely performance from Sasha, but I was still reeling from Shizuka's performance and so maybe the effect was slightly diluted.

Finale - James Bond theme, with other spy movie music, too - entire cast - the set consisted of white, translucent pillars, with pretty lights glowing from inside, and placed strategically throughout the ice - very effective. At times, skaters came out with blocks of the same material, moved them around, skaters danced on top of them, very reminiscent of James Bond music credits. There was so much going on in this program, so much to see, that I couldn't possibly hope to catch it all. Some great music - "Goldfinger," "Peter Gunn," etc - think of all your favorite spy music, LOL - and lots of cool moves to this music, lots of costume changes. Most of the skaters came out in pairs to do simultaneous moves, although there was some group interaction, too. I know I missed some cool stuff due to the audience reaction, and I'd turn too late to catch whatever they had just gone "ooh!" over, LOL. Plush did a nice triple axel. I was watching him set up for an axel, but one of the pillars blocked out the jump itself. But from the expression on his face I could tell he wasn't happy with that jump, and I was betting that he would try it again at the other end and that's exactly what he did, LOL...at the very end, the music changes to "We Are The Champions" and the skaters skated around the ice and high-fived the audience members sitting in the first row, like me, LOL. That's always fun, LOL.

All in all, it was well worth attending. There are some acts I could do without. But the programs I really enjoyed made up for those. Tom Collins was there, keeping an eye on his baby, LOL - walking over to chat with the credentialed photographer on our side, he'd ask random audience members if they had enjoyed the show.

Laurie

Marshall's Showcase on ABC - April 2007

Disclaimer: I didn't watch this broadcast very carefully, but here are my brief impressions (wish I could have started with something worthier from my end, but c'est la vie...)

Sasha Cohen - two numbers, "Hurt" and "God Bless America" - both simply wonderful - she's so expressive and musical these days, exquisite positions, as always - hope she gets bored with the acting thing so we can see her skating full-time, LOL...in my mind, anything this girl does off the ice is just a waste of her brilliant, brilliant talent, LOL...

Kimmie Meissner - two numbers - one of them was "Angel" - looked perky and confident, very smooth skating - unfortunate comparison with the polished performances of Sasha, but, still, Kimmie is a force to be reckoned with, and I think she will grow into her titles - and there will be more coming.

Johnny Weir - two numbers - solo program to Stevie Wonder music and trio performance with Gregory & Petukhov - first program was lovely, smooth, elegant, beautifully flowing - second number with Melissa and Denis was just outstanding - gorgeous!

Evan Lysacek - two numbers - can't remember the first, but it was a ballad - second was to INXS - he looked assured, powerful, and in command, and I loved his answer to Peter's question about how he could forget to pack his pants - "I was tired." Duh, Peter!

Emily Hughes - skated to "Proud Mary" - looked like she was having fun out there.

Ryan Bradley - skated to fast bluegrass instrumental - another skater who looked like he was having fun, LOL.

Caroline Zhang - skated to "You Raise Me Up" - exquisite skating - little bit of telegraphing, but if that's her only flaw her competitors should be so lucky, LOL. Beautiful performance!

Belbin & Agosto - something hip-hop - Tanith in a costume that should heat up the men in the audience, LOL - I don't know if this was that convincing, but it was fun. Ben seemed at ease with it - Tanith a little tentative. But I liked it!

Davis & White - "Beyond the Sea" and something else in the medley - wonderful, wonderful skating! - these guys are going nowhere but up, LOL...

Castile & Okolski skated to "When A Man Loves A Woman" - this was nice.

Dick Button was funny and irrepressible as ever, LOL...liked the pot shot he took at an ISU judge still judging who was suspending for cheating at past competitions.

Lots of fluff, specifically on Johnny Weir and his Pennsylvania roots - seemed kind of a PR build up for Skate America in Reading this fall except that I'd be surprised if both Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek compete, and Evan would have first dibs as the reigning national champion.

Overall, an enjoyable afternoon of watching skating on TV. I expect to see many of these programs live in May at the Champions on Ice show in Sacramento - thorough review to follow then.

Laurie