Circle The Date
When: October 15, 2005
Where: House of Blues, Los Angeles, CA
Why: To raise money for breast cancer research via City of Hope. “The show contacts us with different charities and events, and if it’s something I connect with, I try to get involved,” notes Divins. “City of
Hope is something Andrea Evans (Rebecca) is involved in. I know she does the walks every year and I thought it would be cool to do something for the organization, too.”
Who: INXS, Melissa Etheridge and the Goo Goo Dolls
When Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7 auctioned off tickets to Lounge for Life and mentioned that two soap stars, Divins and Dattilo, would be the winners’ dates, the phone lines lit up. The date would include arriving with the hunks, walking the “pink” carpet, dining in the House of Blues Foundation Room (VIP area) and, of course, watching INXS, Melissa Etheridge and the Goo Goo Dolls perform. Die-hard daytime fan Sandy Fazio called in and ponied up $3,800 for the cause. Her sister, Susan, flew in from Florida to be her guest. “We go to a lot of soap events,” Sandy notes. (In fact, they were attending Evening with the
Stars the following night.) Meanwhile, Ray Bowling of Big Bear, CA, also bid big bucks. He says, “When else would my wife, Cheryl, get the chance to walk down a red carpet? Besides, the money goes to a great cause.”
Though the Bowlings don’t watch soaps, he offered an impressive $4,000 to make his spouse’s dream come true. Not expecting to get such high bids, the radio station decided to name both Sandy and Ray winners. After meeting up at NBC studios, the gang piled into a Nissan Armada (compliments of Cerritos Nissan), pulled up to HOB, got their pictures
taken on the pink carpet, answered questions from the press (yours truly) and strutted into the venue. After interviewing the INXS gang (including new hottie lead singer JD Fortune), I headed in to see how the dates were going. “I’m crashing your party,” I announced, while making myself comfortable at their private table. I was invited, I
swear. It was nothing like Alistair showing up at Luis’s funeral — I promise! Everyone was very welcoming.
I arrived just in time for the lamb chops, pot stickers and flat bread with salmon to be served. Was I supposed to dig in to the food they essentially paid thousands of dollars for? Well, Ray insisted. Just as the food was cleared away, we got word that INXS was on stage. I ran downstairs to catch JD sing “Pretty Vegas,” while the contest winners
were swooped away to what I call the V-VIP area, where they remained for the rest of the evening. Who could blame them? Once INXS left the stage, it was back to the Foundation Room, where Divins and Dattilo (who were not invited to the V-VIP room) chatted about happening clubs and how much fun they had attending Fan Fair in Nashville. Then, they met daytime newcomer Blair Redford (Scott, Y&R), who was there to auction off a Y&R set visit/makeover with on-screen mom Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren). Divins jokingly bet Redford $20 that he wouldn’t be able to raise as much money in the auction as the NBC men did. (For the record, the Y&R package sold for $1,350.)The Goo Goo Dolls were up, then it was time to call it a night. Dattilo and Divins had a great time. “This was a really fun and different event. And the contest winners could not have been nicer. I was lucky,” praises
Divins. As for me, I met some sweet people, supported a very worthy cause, heard fabulous musicians and had a great “date” with one of my favorite PASSIONS peeps. All in all, I felt like I was “Walking on Water.”
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