R-Town | Dancing With the Stars, Redlands Style!

If you are a member of the Redlands Symphony then you know what I'm talking about!  Each year the Redlands Symphony holds a Gala in order to raise money which supports the growing costs of providing music education opportunities to local school children, and also to help sustain the orchestra's regular season of concerts.  This Gala is their largest fundraiser of the year!  The theme each year is Dancing With the Stars and they choose members of their organization to be their "celebrities" who team up with a professional dancer in the area, learn a routine, and perform it the night of the Gala and, of course, raise money! Each dancer raises money by bringing in votes.  Each vote is $1, so if someone donates $25 for a particular dancer, that dancer receives 25 votes. And this year, one of the celebs asked me to shoot her head shots.  So not only did I do head shots, I thought she would be a PERFECT person to start off my new blogging adventure!  The R-Town segment of SF Photography.  Each week I will bring you someone or some place of Redlands, that I think people would be interested in hearing about.  So to pilot my first "edition" of this segment...Jackie Meyer!  

SF:  So have you always liked dancing?
JM:  When I was a teen in the 60’s, the rage on TV was dance shows….I of course was glued to every one of them.  There was one show I particularly liked called Shebang with host Kasey Kasem.  On the show there were permanent dancers, one being Buddy Schwimmer.  I convinced my mom that I needed to go the show so I could dance with Buddy.  So off we went to KTLA.  I was so excited...I couldn’t wait to dance with Buddy!  Now remember, he has no idea that I existed.  Well, little did I know, the permanent dancers on the show could not dance with anyone else but their partner on the show.  I was crushed, but had a good time anyway.  Fast forward to the late 90’s…I was working in the Attendance Office at RHS.  In comes this tall, young man with his dad to check him in for the day.  I asked for his name, Benji he said, Schwimmer.  I looked up at him and asked his dad, are you Buddy Schwimmer?  He said, yes, very cautiously.  I told Buddy I was still mad after all of these years that I didn’t get to dance with him on Shebang, but he made it up to me in the office...we did a quick two step and I was happy!  
SF:  That's funny!  I actually know Buddy and that sounds like something he would do!  So Jackie, If you had the chance to dance with anyone in the world, besides Buddy since you already had that opportunity, who would it be?
JM:  Derek Hough and/or John Travolta
SF:  John Travolta would be on my list, too!  What's your favorite type of dance?
JM:  I especially like swing, cha cha, country…anything upbeat!
SF:  You are such a fun person!  What is the funniest thing you've ever done?
JM:  Once I was on a game show and won a pile of money!  Funny thing was that I had to be talked into going!
SF:  Lastly, why do you think people should vote for you?
JM:  Because I'm awesome….No…. because I have a passion for dancing and music.  I want to raise as much money for the Redlands Symphony as I can and at $1 per vote, I think it gives many people the opportunity to contribute to the Redlands Symphony without breaking the bank.  I know we all have many choices where to spend our money in fundraising efforts and I hope that it will be affordable for 10,000 people to vote for me!  Just think, at $1 per vote times 10,000…that would be awesome!!
SF:  I wish you the best of luck Jackie!  Hoping everyone that reads this sends in a vote for you!  

VOTE FOR JACKIE!!!  

You can vote for Jackie Meyer by sending in your donation along with this form to:

Redlands Symphony
PO Box 3080
Redlands, Ca 92373

Remember in the memo section of your check to put Jackie's name!

R-Town: Friends, Faces and Places of Redlands

I love meeting new people!  I love to listen to them and hear their story.  I mean come on, we all have "a story."  And most of us like to talk about ourselves (insert Facebook Status's here).  I've often been told I'm easy to talk to, or that I'm a good listener, or that I'm rational and not judgmental.  This brings me to idea behind R-Town.  I've lived in Redlands since January 1972 (yep, I'm dating myself), and I know a lot of people in this "little" town and have seen many changes here.  I remember the dairy farm that was on the corner of Alabama and Brookside, I remember the Market Basket on the corner of Tennessee and Brookside, and I used to shop at Lucky's before it was Albertson's, and would go to Webb's before it was Rite Aid!  I played arcade games at the Flipper Flapper did my school shopping at Harris', bought corn dogs at Hot Dog on A Stick!  I've seen State Street go from prosperous to ghost town, to prosperous again.  The night life in Redlands has finally changed and when you go downtown on a Friday night, you actually struggle to find parking (it's great!!).  My point is, I'm proud of my town and proud of the people that are here.  Sometimes, it just takes a moment to get to know a friendly Redlandser, and I want to take that moment each week to bring you someone or someplace of Redlands.  Each Wednesday I will post something about Redlands right here on my SF Photography blog so I am hoping you check in every week to see who I met with or what I am writing about.  It just might be someone you know!!  You can always subscribe to the blog and get notifications when I post!  

Happy reading!

IT'S SHOWTIME!!

Dancing… the dance world… being a dancer…  It looks so beautiful and so glamorous!  The beautiful costumes, and their hair and make-up, and jewelry!  Their shoes!  Ballerinas, ballroom dancers, swing dancers!  Or maybe you like the jazz routines or the latin ballroom or even hip-hop!  So much fun!  But wait… those girls and guys work their butts off!  I NEVER knew all the work put into this sport!  Epsom Salt?  oh…that'll help her sore bones.  Wait… your feet….  eesh!  ouch!  Rolled ankles, torn hamstrings, bloody toes, it's all there.  

Competition team.  Your first thought, I know, is Dance Moms.  Drama, oh yah, there's drama! The nerves are unbelievable.  Now this I can speak from experience.  As a mom, when you are helping your daughter get ready for competition and she is snapping at you and short with you, and you really don't want to get mad at her because you know that she is just so nervous… terrified… about going out their to perform the routine.  But her makeup, her makeup must look perfect!  How do you do this bun??  "OUCH!  the bobby pins are hurting my head!"  "It's too tight!", "It's not tight enough!"  "Let ME put my lipstick on!"  I hear it all (from my own daughter!).  She's sick to her stomach, about to cry.  She says "we're not ready for this".  But I can't let her see my nerves!  I try and stay calm for her sake, and I try to make her calm down.  I talk to her in the calmest most rational voice I can muster up!  

She looks beautiful.  My little girl.  My little dancer, who is now in her 3rd year of competing.  I'm so excited for her and her team!  I watch them walk away to go backstage and be ready when they are called on.  Oh the butterflies are swarming in my stomach and I am trembling!  "Come on baby, you can do it" is what is going through my mind!  


It's time… here they come.  Their walk on looks great!  Cue the music… and here we go!  2 minutes of a pure rush of nerves, excitement, joy, and pride!  They look amazing!  First time performing this routine.  Ok, her leap could've been better, but her turns looked good!  she's smiling, having a great time!  Cheers from all of the moms and dads supporting them can be heard throughout the room!  It's over!  They did it!  It was amazing!  I am beaming with excitement and pride for all of them!  

We see them immediately afterwards with hugs and congratulatory remarks all around!  We are ALL beaming with pride and the girls are smiling and so excited about their performance being done!  It's a natural high and we are all riding it!  And now it's time to wait for the award ceremony.  

About 45 minutes later all the dancers are back on stage waiting to hear how they've done.  The nerves are back again…  We wait, we listen…  Results are in!


And we will do it all again next month.