I attended Kristi Yamaguchi's concert on ice, "A Golden Moment," last night with my sister. We had center ice seats. I had called Kristi's Always Dream Foundation and the recording said the event was sold out. One end of the arena did not have anyone seated there because of the stage area at one end of the ice, where the singers and orchestra was. It was pretty much a full crowd except for some empty seats in the upper level. People were sitting in the last row up there though.

When we entered the arena, they were passing out a card you can send in to receive information about other events. You will be placed on their exclusive mailing list and notified in advance of all future skating events and be eiligible for discounted tickets and other special promotions. A newpaper article in the local paper quoted Kristi saying, "Depending on how it goes this time around, we might try to make it at least a biannual affair, then turn it eventually into an annual affair. We'll see." She was hoping to raise $200,000 during this event. So if you are interested in getting on the mailing list, send a postcard with your name and address to: Always Dream Foundation, 1203 Preservation Parkway S103, Oakland, CA 94612.

I'm not very good at identifying jumps, but I'll give you the order of the event. Kristi came out in a lovely pink evening gown and welcomed everyone and thanked the audience for their support in raising money for breast cancer. The Oakland East Bay Symphony played a medly from Westside Story. Then there was the introduction of the Golden Moment Cast.

Kristi was the first skater. She skated to "Love Theme" from Romeo and Juliet to the live orchestra. She fell on her first triple jump, probably because of being distracted by a seeing-eye dog barking at her earlier in her program when she skated towards where it was laying. The dogs owner tried to quiet the dog, but I could hear it bark where I was seated. It barked at least 3 or 4 times and finally quieted down and did not bark the rest of the show. There was one row of seats around the ice that some people were allowed to sit in. The person with the dog was sitting in the corner where most skaters do their first triple lutz jump. Kristi was wearing a pretty pink outfit. She skated beautifully the rest of her program after that.

Brian Boitano came out to do a special introduction of Taylor Dayne, who sang, "Naked Without You."

Kristi came out to introduce Rosalynn Sumners as the next skater. Kristi said that Rosalynn, her good friend, is now retired and she was happy to have her to skate tonight. Rosalynn skated to "Love Will Lead You Back" with Taylor Dayne singing. She wore a gold skating costume and did a double axle and another double jump.

When Kristi introduced Peggy Fleming, some in the crowd gave her a standing ovation.
She wore a lovely black strapless gown. Peggy spoke of being a breast cancer survivor
and how important it is to do a monthly breast examine. She had a group of breast cancer survivors (I think she said 100) that were invited to the event to stand. Then she introduced the next performer, Keiko Matsui, who did a solo performance "Hope," dedicated to breast cancer awareness.

While Keiko Matsui and the Oakland East Bay Symphony played "Night Hawk's Dream," Ekaterina Gordeeva came out to skate. She fell on her first jump (3t?) attempt, but did land several other double jumps and a single axel.

Then Dr. Ernie Bodias came out to speak. He is the one that got the breast cancer stamp passed to help raise money for research. I think it's 7 cents from these stamps that go back to breast cancer research.

Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler skated to "You're Still the One." They both did a great job and this was their only skate of the evening.

Katarina Witt performed to the Oakland East Bay Symphony playing "Carmen." She wore a red long sleeve top with black pants with some red at the bottom part of the pants. She landed a 3t(?) and 2 axle.

Peggy then introduced Don Bleu from the radio station K101. Don's mother died two years ago at age 75 and older sister died at age 44 from breast cancer.

Brian came out to introduce Sarah Brightman. She sang "Nella Fantasia." Then she sang "Second Element" while Tara Lipinski skated. Tara wore a teal green dress and landed 3 triples. (One was a toe jump and the other two were edge jumps, so don't know if they were 3t and 3l's?)

During intermission, Kristi came out to reskate the jump that she fell on. It was so cute, that after she skated that segment over, she went over to where the dog was laying down. It looked like she was going to pet it, but didn't. I guess she wanted to let the dog know that everything was ok or she didn't blame him for barking at her!

Then later, Tara came out to reskate a segment of her program. It was just skating, no jump involved.

The second half of the show, Keiko and the orchestra performed "Walls of the Cave."

Then Kristi introduces Katia who skates to "Tango." She wore a red dress with some black in the left chest area. She landed 1 triple and many double jumps, spiral, and layback spin. The triple jump was two-footed on the landing.

Peggy introduces Faith Fancher, a news reporter from KTVU Fox TV for 27 years. She recovered from breast cancer once before, but she told us last night that it has come back and she is taking radiation treatments right now. She also said that they will be televising the show in December on Fox. (I'm not sure if this means that it will only be shown locally here in the Bay Area on December 11.) I know that it will be on Lifetime on Nov. 7th.

Anne Cochran and the Oakland East Bay Symphony performed "After All These Years" with Rosalynn skating.

Katarina skated to "Rescue Me" while Bell Book and Candle performed.

Peggy came out to introduce Scott Hamilton. The audience gave him a standing ovation. Scott came out to speak about his own bout with cancer and that he is also a cancer survivor. He wanted to give the message of hope.

Tara skated to "Tell It to My Heart" while Taylor Dayne sang. Tara came in towards the later part of the song and did a short skate doing 2 triples.

Brian came out to introduce Kristi skating to "A Time to Say Goodbye" with Sarah Brightman. Kristi wore a white costume and did 3 triples and fell on the last one.

Then the president of Mervyn's came out for the check presentation. Over $225,000 was raised last night for cancer research.

Then Kristi dedicated the last performance to all breast cancer survivors. Kristi, Roz, Katia, Katarina, and Tara all came out dressed in white. They skated to "Somewhere" performed by the Oaklnad East Bay Symphony and Piedmont Children's Choir. Tara did a spiral, then while the others were standing down the middle of the ice, Roz skated around each one. Katia did a spin and Katarina did a spread eagle into a spin. Kristi did a flying camel and then all 5 did spirals. Then they meet in the middle holding hands and then they each went off in different directions and did a single axle. Then they held hands and skated toward the stage and then back to the middle. The show ended with Kristi thanking everyone for their support. The skaters and performers willing to give of their time to raise money for breast cancer research.