Chicago 2013 Update #3

Cold, overcast, gray weather out there today but who cares? This hotel is so beautiful you don’t want to go outside. You’re too busy lounging on a plush couch in the lobby, with your notepad, watching the balconies.

Or maybe down in the ballroom watching Jack and Jill prelims which are today …

Grace is our emcee this weekend – so funny! Jim and Nancy opened the event last night entreating us to be nice to each other. “Turn to the person you came here with, tell them how much you love and appreciate them.” Then they introduced Grace who said “I feel weird. I didn’t come here with anybody I came alone. So I’ve been back behind the curtain, in the dark, with my arms around myself, saying “I love you Grace I appreciate you.” She’s hilarious.

Pro couples came on one by one to dance to a song they’d chosen:

• The Roystons to “Swannee,” (Grace: “Robert you always look fierce, you dazzle audiences. No pressure.”)
• Brent and Kellese to “Things are Changin” (Gary Clark) – Kellese in Daisy Mae short-shorts denim overalls, a one-armed paisley peasant blouse, black tights with knee-high black lace-up suede boots and red, red lips. I love Kellese’s sense of style, every outfit she’s ever worn a totally different work of art, created at the moment like cooking with whatever you find in your pantry, created not from high-end designer pieces but from stuff anyone could find in a mall, or collect from hand-me-downs, or by tying your husband’s dress shirt around yourself upside down, or by draping curtains or other large swaths of fabric around yourself like she did one year with only two strips of metallic gold and scarlet red. I love Kellese’s artist’s soul.
• Luis and Taletha to “Better Without You” (Rhian Benson) and because the Keys had just left the floor kissing Luis felt moved to enter the floor kissing so he put a smacker on Taletha but with a hand covering his mouth. Taletha gagging, barfing, looking totally nauseated and grossed out. That’s how they started their sexy romantic dance hahahaha.
• Ben and Jessica IN 6″ spike heels and a miniskirt – Ben said “Do we have to do anything? Can’t she just stand here and we can all clap?” which she did, and we did. Jessica brings a party wherever she goes. She’s gorgeous, smart, and a tireless worker. I listened to her explain to a new competitor how she handles nerves, stress, pain, mistakes on the floor – how she sees her responsibility to an audience, her duty as an entertainer, her duty to be “on,” to bring positive energy, love, laughter, cheering, and support. Jessica is the person any event director – any producer in the entertainment business – wants to hire. (They did dance, too, to “Valerie” – she can dance in 6″ heels as ferociously as she dances in 1/2″ sandals. She’s not human.)
• The Auclairs to “Let Me Love You” – wow Crystal holy mackerel more beautiful every time we see her. Matt more funnier. And more faster if that is possible. (Grace: “I don’t feel old at all when I remember that I competed with Matt when he was ELEVEN.”)
• John Lindo, Jessica, and Jessica’s Shoes, to “Booty Voodoo.” She is not Homo Sapien Sapien.
• Myles and Tessa to “Locked Out of Heaven” by Bruno Mars. We heard they were out on the town Thursday night – would have been a treat to see these two tearing up some of Chicago’s famous blues bars! Did they do lifts?
• Kyle and Sarah to “Naked” by Kevin McCall – SO FUNKY! SO FUNNY! SO FAST! SO SMOOTH! SO MUCH HEART! What a treasure Kyle and Sarah are! How precious to the community! How lucky are we to be part of the community now, and see them live, and know them! Future generations will look back at videos and wish they could feel what it’s like to be here now, in these heyday years.
• Jordan and Tatiana to “Beauty and The Beast” (by the Bieber) in which Jordan, on that last YAA!, at the end of the song, that last yelp that you might not have noticed before but will now, forever after, always wait for, on that yelp Jordan yelled YAA! and sprung straight up in a jump shot that would scare Kobe Bryant. I caught the bottom half of him on camera – the rest of him was up near the ceiling.

Daylight Savings begins on Sunday at 2am which means I must “Spring Out Of My Bed One Hour Earlier Than I Want.” Do they have this in countries other than the US or is this a uniquely confusing custom we have here like the truly nutty 0.3048 meters in a foot and 8 ounces which does it weigh that much? Or does it fill up a cup but weigh who knows what. You decide! Cause we’re a little confused here in the US and this is why I don’t bake.