Hi everyone! Well, now we are switching gears a little bit....LOL! If you all were reading my other reviews for 2009, they were all with GH ("General Hospital") stars. Well this one is about OLTL ("One Live to Live") stars!
This event was being held in Edison, NJ - that was not too far from me, so I had to grab the chance and attend. There were some people from AMC (All My Children) here as well, but I don't watch that show. I was there for the OLTL people.
Despite many changes and a few cancellations, there were some that showed up. The OLTL people that were there were Ilene Kristen (Roxy Balsom), Jason Tam (Markko), Brandon Buddy (Cole Thornhart), Kathy Brier (Marcie McBain), Catherine Hickland (Lindsay Rappaport), and the lady who played Vanessa on the show. The actress, who is expecting a baby (and I totally forgot her name), is no longer on the show. I don't think her character stayed on very long either. I was never a fan of her character or the actress, which probably explains why I forgot she was there....LOL (yep, totally forgot - you will see why in a minute)!
Now unlike the other events, there was no Q&A session. Instead, we were served dinner, there were raffles, and we all just mingled with the stars. There was also a "Who Wants to be a Soap Star" contest. The two winners who won the raffle got to act out an OLTL scene with two AMC stars. It was hilarious. We had to judge which person was the best. Also, there was karioke where two AMC stars were singing a song with the host. In addition to that, there was "singing with the stars". There were also two winners of that. One person won singing with an AMC star, but the other person won singing with Jason Tam. Again, both funny moments.
Catherine came around to our table first. We were all having desert by then, so some of us were finishing up....LOL! She wanted everyone to wish Michael E. Knight (Tad Martin, AMC) a "happy birthday" and well wishes because he was sick. She assured everyone, though, that it was not the Swine Flu (now just called H1N1 virus). She went around with her little mini video camera and had each one of us say something to him. If she is at the OLTL boat party this year, I am going to ask her if he got our messages....LOL!
There was so much going on that day that I can't exactly remember what I said to whom but here goes. Again, I was only interested in meeting the OLTL stars.
Catherine said to me, "hi pleased to meet you" when I went to talk to her. I, then, reminded her that we had met last year at the OLTL Luncheon. She didn't remember me at first and explained that there were so many people at the event, but then when I had her sign a picture from last year of her and I, she remembered and said, "I remember this moment"....LOL! She asked where my friend and I was from, I told her I live about 20 minutes away and my friend said about an hour. She made sure tot ell everyone about her book signing the next day in Union. She didn't know where that was, though....LOL! Unfotunately, I couldn't go to that. When we had our picture taken together, she was like "make sure you like it"....LOL!
Somewhere between Catherine leaving and Brandon arriving, the people hosting the event stopped everything so that the stars can go outside to get ready for people who were getting group shots with them. While we were waiting, we were all talking with each other and there was music playing in the background (the DJ was very good, by the way!). My friend and I were at table one, so we were the first group to go out and get our pictures taken with everyone that was in attendance. After that, I went over to the table accross the room to talk with my other soap pals who had paid to eat with the stars. I asked them who was sitting at their table and they told me Aidan Turner. He was the only AMC person in attendance that I knew and I told them that he is cute....LOL! When they called their table, my friend and I went back to ours and chilled out for awhile.
When all of that was done, it was back to mingling with the stars. Brandon came around next, as mentioned in previous paragraph, and started talking to some people at my table and signing stuff, but then that's when the host called for everyone to go back to their seats for the "I Wanna Be a SoapStar". I was hoping he would remember to come back to our table, as he only got to half of us, after that was over and he did.
I said, "hi Brandon" and he was like "hi, how are you?" He had heard me singing to one of the songs that the DJ was playing and he was like, "you have a voice there". I said, "yes I was a voice major"....LOL! I also said, "we met at the luncheon last year", and he was like "I thought you looked familiar"....LOL! I had a picture of him and I to sign and he was like "how do you spell your name again?" and when I spelled it, he was like "I remember that name, I like it". I said, "thanks, it's one of those unique names that you can't forget"....LOL! I, then, asked him where he got his shirt from because I thought it was cool. He said, "Thanks, I don't know, I think it was The Gap"....LOL! I said to him that I thought he was doing a great job on the show. He said, "thank you".
I can't remember if it was Ilene or Jason that was next but I think it was Jason that came to our table after Brandon. Again we both said hi and I told him he was doing great on the show. He said, "thank you, I'm finally getting a storyline and I'm finally getting a father!" I was acting like I knew and said "yes", like I knew what was going on. I have to be honest, people, I have not been watching OLTL since April 9th (the same with GH - although it's more like April 1st for GH); so I'm a little behind. I don't have cable anymore so I rely on YouTube to watch. I'll catch up don't worry! I told Jason that we met last year at the luncheon as well, and he was like "I thought so"....LOL! I told him that I was glad this event was so close this year and there was no traffic because it was a weekend. He asked me how long it took me and I told him about 20 minutes. I said I lived right off one of the exits....LOL! He was like "nice" and then he asked my friend and he was like "I'm from Maplewood, and I ran into a little traffic on Route One". I told him, "that's because of the construction". Jason, then, went to tell us a funny story about how he and Brandon were in the car coming here and a police car had his lights on, so the car pulls over - thinking it was after them, but he wasn't. The cop went on his loudspeaker and said, "get out of my way!" and drove off. That was the most funniest story I ever heard and then Jason was saying how there was some guy who was drunk, but the police didn't notice or something. Hilarious. Got my picture with him and when he went to sign a picture of me with him and Brittany Underwood (Langston). He was like "oh Brittany, I'm so mad she couldn't come". I was like, "yeah, she couldn't make it".
Ilene came around next and I got my picture with her. I told her that it's great she is finally getting a storyline, but she said she wasn't working for the month of April and she wanted us to tell TPTB to give more storyline for Roxy. I said, "that's what we were talking about two years ago - the same thing". I told her she was doing great so far. She said, "thank you". I had brought my OLTL book (the blue one) for Ilene to sign since at the time that I met her two years ago, I didn't have the book yet.
I was looking for Kathy now. Out of the OLTL stars in attendance, she was the only one I never met. At first, I didn't see her and was worried that she had left early because the hosts said in the beginning that some of the stars have to leave early. Luckily it wasn't Kathy and I saw her talking to some people in the back of the room. I made my way over to her with my friend following. While we were waiting, my other soap buddies came over again and we all talked. I had asked them if they got to everyone and they said yes. I told them that we were waiting for Kathy and then we're done.
When it was our turn to talk to Kathy, my friend and I both said hi and then I told her, like I did everyone else, that she was doing great on the show and that I am sad she is leaving. She told me that it was a total surprise to her. I asked her about her singing, if she was going to pursue that. She said that she did make a CD and I told her that I have it. My friend and I both said we were musicians and she asked what we played. I told her I'm a singer and my friend said he plays guitar. She was like "That's great". She asked if I wanted her to sign anything and I showed her the OLTL book. She was like "oh, the One Life to Live book". There were some other people waiting to talk to Kathy and one lady said, "that's a good book" and I agreed, "yes it's a really good book". We had our pictures taken and she was like "it was great meeting you".
I found my other soap pals again after I met Kathy and we talked for awhile again. I will be seeing them in August for the OLTL party and the "Bree Williamson and Friends event". They are really cool people to talk with!
The night ended with a request to do the "Electric Slide". I had a sneaky suspicion that was coming....LOL! Many people joined Brandon and Jason doing the dance. A lot of us also watched from the sidelines (my friend and I included)....LMAO! It was better that way anyway, so I could take pics....hee hee!!
So anyway, it was a great night. I am glad that I finally got to meet Kathy Brier because I wanted to meet her for some time now. A good thing I was able to before she leaves the show. Her character, Marcie, and actor Chris Stack (who plays her husband Michael) are both leaving the show in June. I wish them good luck. Chris was "tentative" as showing up but couldn't make it.
When I got home and looked at my pictures, I looked at the group shot and noticed the actress who played Vanessa. I was like, "she was there?" My friend was like, "yeah, she was talking to Kathy for awhile". I told him that I had totally forgotten about her, I forgot she was there....LOL! In fact, nobody knew who she was when she was announced, so no one really clapped and then she walked in and everyone was like, "oh Vanessa!" and then clapped, so see I wasn't the only one who didn't know her name that night....LOL! My soap buddies paid to eat with one of the stars and she said even he didn't know who she was, and they had to tell him....LOL!
Like I said, though, there was so much stuff happening and I'm not a big fan of the actress with no name (since I can't remember her name); so I wasn't really looking for her. No big deal. I got who I came for, despite certain other actors/actresses cancelling. I am so looking forward to seeing some of them in August at the cast party. :)
