The Day After That

I had to move on and take care of myself...like an etch-a-sketch, one wrong turn, the picture’s all ruined. --Samantha Lucero, LET THE DEVIL WEAR BLACK 
This week was a typical work week but Alan and I had something meaningful to look forward to on Thursday night, January 27th at the Universal Studios Ampitheater.  It was the Commitment to Life VII (7th annual APLA-AIDS Project Los Angeles Event).   It’s such an important event that Alan and I were happy to support it.   
January 28th... Last night, the APLA event, was miraculous.  It started with Bruce Springstein singing the ballad song (Streets of Philadelphia) from the Tom Hanks film, PHILADELPHIA.   I was amazed by how it became more and more star-studded.  It was a sad feeling at times but filled with so much hope.  We came home with a CD from a song that was introduced as an ‘anthem for AIDS’ that very night by Liza Minnelli called THE DAY AFTER THAT (from the musical THE KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN).  She went on to do the song in French and Spanish.  I loved that song.  Liza was there and she sang the song with a chorus.  It was so moving.  People were crying.  I even felt it—having known a few people who had died from AIDS:  Jon Daubeneck (known since 6th grade) and Pac Bell coworkers, Dale Orlando and Mitch Schwartz.  The event paid tribute to Liberace, Keith Haring and others.    Actress, Elizabeth Taylor set the tone when she said, "I never dreamed when I conceived this award, that eight years later we'd still have no cure. But here we are, coming together once again, to honor, to remember, to mourn our losses and to pray that, maybe this year, heaven can wait. . . ."  
The honorees were Hilary Clinton and Jeffrey Katzenberg.  Barbra Streisand introduced Hilary and Jeffrey made a heartfelt speech about all of those lost from the entertainment community.  
Industry executive Barry Diller chaired the event (along with entertainment executives David Geffen, Ron Meyer, and Michael Eisner).  Diller mentioned the charity contributions for this very night was nearly $5Million dollars.  That brought out a great cheering applause.
Actor, Tom Cruise noted the thousands of the names of the dead that had been flashing on overhead screens and, in one of the more remarkably touching moments, asked the audience to stand and shout out the names of the friends, lovers, relatives they have lost.  That’s when I shouted, “Dale, Jon, Mitch.”  
Tributes ranged from Lauren Bacall’s winning tribute to designer Halston and Doris Day’s pre-taped audio remembrance of Rock Hudson to fleeting or obscure references to many of the others: Freddie Mercury was represented by film clips of Queen in action, Robert Mapplethorpe by a montage of his photographs as Sarah Brightman sang from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Requiem.” 
Patti LuPone, of the “Sunset Boulevard” London cast, sang “As If We Never Said Goodbye” in the immediate presence of Streisand, whose recording of the song was released first; Jenifer Holliday opened her tribute to composer Paul Jabara with an offstage sound-alike version of Donna Summer’s “Last Dance,” announcing to an audience clearly expecting Summer that “they couldn’t get the bitch.”  
Debbie Reynolds announced, “Here I am again, sharing something else with Elizabeth”– a funny line, but the house would have come down had Taylor come out to acknowledge that she, too, had been married to Eddie Fisher. And the extremely EMOTIONAL finale was not expected but it touched everyone.   No one could imagine who would be on-stage next.   It was Whitney Houston, singing DON’T CRY FOR ME.  Amazing!   
During our drive home, Alan kept saying, “That was unbelievable!” “That’s for sure.  It was one unforgettable night!”  And I recalled how my now deceased (from AIDS) friend, Dale Orlando, would always use that phrase, “That’s for sure.”   I smiled.  
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. --Kahlil Gibra, THE PROPHET