For those of you who don't know already, both Julie and I will be attending
the play Claim It--starring Joyce Vincent and Pam Vincent on Saturday,
September 23rd in Los Angeles. Our road trip starts Thursday when we'll both
be flying into LAX from different locations and meeting there.
Since both Julie and I will be ON THE ROAD WITH TOAD, we appreciate your
patience with any delays you may experience in posting messages to this
message board. We intend to welcome Julie to the Golden State with true
California hospitality, starting with a beach party barbeque on Thursday
night. Who knows, we may even sing a few TOAD songs around the campfire. ;)
Thanks to all of you who have sent your well wishes and please check back for
our reviews!!! We will try to put those on the site as soon as possible.
Oooo, sounds like fun. I guess I should pack the marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate. :)
Julie
What!!! No oreos??? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear Pat and Julie
I hope you have a wonderful time and enjoy. I cannot wait to hear what the new
adventure will be this time!
Tara
Tara, Susan and Jo:
Thank you so much! I wasn't really blessed with the gift of writing as Pat
was, but I will do my best in the review department :).
Julie
Pat, you and Julie have a wonderful time. We'll be thinking of you. If you
get a chance to talk to Joyce or Pam, tell them good luck with the play and
much success.
Susan
How truly wonderful for the both of you!
I wish you both a fantastic time. I know you are both so excited to be meeting
for the first time and getting to share some terrific time together!
Have a fabulous time at the play, remember to tell the girls to "break a
leg" and I for one, cannot wait to read your thrilling reviews!
A California Beach Barbeque while singing TOAD songs around the fire will be a
perfect evening!
Wish I could be there to share it with you!
(I know, I know, Pat, I had my chance, fool that I was to turn it down!!!!!)
Have a great, great time and also,
say hello to Mickey and Minnie for me!
JO
Jo,
I will give your regards to all--especially Moondoggie!!!
Hi everyone,
I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get my review posted, but I've had
computer problems. But things back on track now and I'm thrilled to say that I
have now had the pleasure of meeting Joyce and Pam Vincent.
I will let Pat tell you all about our travel adventures, as only she can, but
as far as the show, Claim It was a wonderful production with fantastic
characters and a very talented cast who brought them to life. Pam and Joyce
were terrific in their roles and what a thrill it was for me to finally see
them perform live. Joyce almost had us on the floor laughing as she delivered
a line to her "stage nephew" warning him that he shouldn't be out on
the streets.... "You should be home watching "The Jeffersons".
Or better yet, watching reruns of "Tony Orlando and Dawn"."
Wow, what a great line and a great moment for the TOAD fans in the audience.
There was no doubt after that where their TOAD fans were sitting. LOL!!!
After the show, the members of the cast had a meet and greet session. Our
friend Char had arranged for us to meet with Joyce and Pam after the show and
had mentioned that I was traveling all the way from St. Louis to see them in
the play. Pam and Joyce were so nice and very funny. They took the time to
meet with everyone who wanted a few minutes of their time. We had a wonderful
meeting and took many pictures which will be added to the "On the Road
With Toad" section of the site.
I want to thank Pat, Char, Joyce and Pam for making this such a memorable time
and trip to LA!!
Julie
Hi Julie, Boy did we have a great time at the play. It was so nice sitting
there with Pat and yourself watching the play. And we were all about to fall
out of our chairs when Joyce said that line about watching the reruns of
"Tony Orlando and Dawn Show". It was so great to see Pam and Joyce
on stage again. I hope we see more of them on stage. Which they do have
another musical play on Oct 7. As soon as I get that information I will let
you know.
I am so glad that I was able to arrange for you to meet Joyce and Pam in
person. I know that has been a dream of yours for a long time. If only you
would of got to see Telma that would of really been great. That was so nice of
Pam and Joyce to take time to spend a few minutes with all of us there to see
them. They told me when I talked to them before the play, that they would for
sure make time to meet you since you were coming all that way to see them in
this play. We did get some very nice pictures of all of us with them. I could
of gotten more pictures of them on stage if it weren't for some people
complaining about taking pictures! Right Julie and Pat? Oh well that didn't
stop me from getting pictures. I just passed my camera on down to Pat to take
pictures for me. We will get pictures no matter what we have to do. Right Pat!
Too bad we all can't be there together to see the play on Oct. 7 to support
Pam and Joyce. It looks like it is going to be a really great musical with
lots of dancing and singing.
I would like to thank Pam and Joyce also for taking time to meet with us after
the play. Even though they were so tired they still spent a few minutes with
us all. And thanks Julie and Pat for everything. It was a great trip we had.
Charlene
Charlene, Pam sent me the flyers for the shows on October 7th and 8th!
There are now 2 different shows that weekend! I will have them up on the
website tonight.
It was fun to be together and have such a fantastic weekend. Thanks for
suggesting Grinders for breakfast. We had a great time there too.
It was nice to see Julie #2 there and to meet Roger as well.
It was such a great 4 days that we'll have to arrange something like it again.
Julie:
I'm so glad you enjoyed your wild ride here. We did cram a lot into a few
days. Pam and Joyce were so gracious to all of us and so happy to see us all
there together--it was just like the old days.
Too bad Char didn't bring her famous chocolate chip cookies! Next time Char!!!
Thursday. Due to flight problems, we missed Moondoggie on Thursday
night—boo hoo hoo, but Ingo was a great substitute. My flight from SFO was
substantially delayed to the point where I spent more time on the plane than
Julie did on her flight from St. Louis. All blamed on LA weather. She had
quite a wait at LAX before I arrived. Fortunately, we were allowed to use cell
phones while we were stuck on the tarmac at SFO and I was able to get messages
to everyone. Once at LAX everything ran smoothly. We didn’t make it down to
Huntington Beach until 10:00 and the beaches there close at that time. It was
an exhausting day, so we just called it an early night.
Friday. Disneyland. I was thrilled to learn that Disneyland has 70 ECVs for
rent at the park—although the price is close to that of the admission
itself. It also comes with a lengthy booklet with all the secret entrances to
the rides for the disabled. It certainly made for a more pleasant visit,
quicker access to all rides in the park, and an interesting view of the
behind-the-scene works of the park. And, no one had to lug purchases or
refreshments around. They stayed in the basket. Yippee!!! We also had seats in
the first car on every ride there. Only two new rides are accessible in the
traditional way through the maze. Julie had trouble with her car in Autopia
and kept stalling out--must have been that Chevron gasoline LOL!!! We only had
one problem at the Haunted Mansion when the access route was blocked by a
garbage can, but Mike (who was vacationing there from Guam) and his son lifted
the ECV around the obstacle! They could qualify for the Olympic weightlifting
team--those vehicles are heavy! We had dinner at the Tomorrowland Plaza where
TOAD appeared in 1973, although the act playing there that evening was nothing
in comparison. It rained that night (who ever said…It never rains in
Southern California!?!) so after we were thoroughly soaked, we headed back to
the hotel concierge lounge, had a late night snack and watched some of the
Olympics. Can you believe that the hotel valet couldn't find my car? This is
beginning to become a tradition. First in AC and now here too! At least in
Atlantic City, they tried to give me better cars--this time they tried to give
me a green Saturn—three times! I think that Steve, the valet attendant, got
beaned on the head by his surfboard one too many times. All was resolved when
Gustave the manager on duty intervened.
Saturday. Huntington Beach (a/k/a Surf City USA). We started the day with
breakfast on the balcony of the concierge lounge and watched the surf. Later
when we went down to the beach I found out it was the first day of the Newport
Pro Am surfing competition. After watching the competition for a while, we
walked down the beach and collected shells for the science corner of Julie’s
class. Lots of photos were taken of the Pacific Ocean, surfers and seagulls.
We drove the coast route up to LA, toured through Japantown and then went to
our next overnight stop. Typical LA traffic, but with 2 in the car we were
able to use the commuter lane and cruised past most of the backups. With the
rain from the night before it cleared the smog away and it was the first time
I was ever able to see the skyline of LA. But please, someone, explain to me
why gas is 40 cents a gallon cheaper in Southern California than Northern
California???
We dressed for the show early (all of us wearing our Unique Creations
jewelry—the line made by Pam and Joyce) and headed back towards LA. Finding
the theater wasn’t too difficult. It seemed just when we felt we were
totally lost, the street we were looking for came up. As we neared the theater
there were signs directing us. The place was packed and we were lucky to get
there early and grab a close parking space!!! Seeing Pam and Joyce on stage
again and hearing them sing was fantastic!!! The are both in excellent voice.
Such a treat! They sang one duet and also the background parts for the other
songs in the production. The play was an inner city based musical revolving
around dreams, both realized and broken, gang issues as they overtake the
lives of two young men from the same family, and the family’s attempts to
intervene and save at least one of them. In one scene, after Pam finished
lecturing the young gang member on what he needs to do in life to turn himself
around, Joyce continued by suggesting that he needs to go watch the reruns of
the Jeffersons or the Tony Orlando and Dawn Show!!! Then the undercover cop in
the scene broke out into Tie a Yellow Ribbon… It was soooooooooo funny. The
audience roared with laughter. After the play we got together and took plenty
of photos. Sherry Payne (who was recently on tour with Diana Ross as one of
the Supremes) was there showing the girls her support and we were able to meet
her and speak with her as well. The theater had to turn the lights out to get
us out of there!!! We would have chatted the night away otherwise. As fate
would have it, we turned the wrong way on Beverly Boulevard and ended up in
front of CBS Television City where they filmed the TOAD show from 1974-1976.
It was on Julie’s list of places to visit earlier in the day, but we
didn’t have the time. It was another late night. In the morning I hit the
Jacuzzi first thing and then the pool. We had breakfast at the hotel and
headed out toward Vegas—stopping at a few outlet centers along the way :)
Sunday. Vegas. We didn’t have enough time to catch Jono’s show in Vegas.
We were only in town a few hours. Too bad they don’t rent ECV’s there, it
would have made it so much easier. I did the great tour down the strip, giving
the background on the Vegas of the 70s when TOAD appeared regularly at the
Riviera, the things we used to do when we were in town (well some of them
anyway LOL!!!), and how much it had changed over the years. Just reminiscing
about the old days, long before Steve built the first themed mega-resort. We
dropped off the photos from the night before at the one hour photo and had
dinner while we waited for them. Unlike Atlantic City, their one hour photo is
open 24 hours! The photos turned out great!!! We cruised through a few
casinos, took more photos, and hit the road back to LA. We made it to the
hotel in just under 4 hours.
Monday. Morning and the end of the 800+ mile road trip of the past 4 days came
too soon. But I felt good knowing that we did our best to show Julie a great
time here.
Pat
Hi Pat,
I was waiting to read about your adventure. It sounds like you had a really
good time. I enjoy reading your stories.
Tara