We rolled back into Richmond about 200am this morning and here I am at work...man, where is the bed? Please forgive me if this note doesn't make much sense...tomorrow I promise a much more concise note with better spelling. First, I must apologize to the Fan Club for missing the mark so badly on our SARATOGA 2000 charity goal. With the Live Auction, Silent Auction, and Raffle, our financial goal for SARATOGA 2000 was a VERY LOFTY $12,000...and we weren't even close...only missed it by $10,000... TRY $22,000+!!! WOW!!! WHAT A WEEK! Thank you so much to everyone who made SARATOGA 2000 a HUGE success. You guys are the greatest!!! Really! I've seen a few of the posts so far, but not all, so please forgive me if I'm trodding on information you already know. The toy drive got off to a very solid start with Chris P taking home more than a garbage can full of brand new toys. The band donated a BUNCH of toys as did many of the fans. Thanks to everyone who sent in a contribution.... Also, Chris did a FANTASTIC job with the anniversary cakes. The vanilla cake featured an actual picture of the Doobies sprayed on to the frosting...the chocolate cake featured the Cycles logo...I'm hoping we'll have some pictures of the cake up and running shortly... Thanks to Rick Santangelo for videotaping the entire event...Rick scared the hell out of me a couple of times with that camera during the auction. He isn't afraid to get right in the middle of the action (as evidenced by his earlier post), and you won't know he's there until you turn around and the camera is 3 inches from your face (a close-up of Laurin might just be a bit much for our more sensitive fan club members...editing will be in store). Rick Seaman and Rick Baker! WOW! One highlight to the SARATOGA 2000 convention was a performance by a band named "Ring of Fire". This band has been around for 30 years consists of Vietnam Vets (Carlton of the NVF on lead vocals). THEY ROCKED THE HOUSE!!! They only played 2 songs, but we were so strapped for time...we really needed 2 days to get this all done!!! A sad note was the closing of the Caribbean Zone. Apparently the Zone closed for good within the past month. Sorry to have missed all of the fans who planned to meet there on Saturday evening to see the former Doobieliner. When did we discover that the Zone was closed? After Miles, Palmer, Susie, and I had walked from our hotel to the Zone...padlocked and closed! It was cold and the wind was blowing. Thank goodness that Ann and Helen came along. Sorry we missed Carol, Harry, and Glenn there...(Harry, we got your call when we got back but didn't have your hotel number). That was a disappointment. Anyway, I'll write more later. All Doobie Brothers Fans should be VERY proud of SARATOGA 2000! The DBFC showed CHARACTER all of the way! The people at Montalvo were very complimentary! You guys are the greatest! Laurin _________________________ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe doobiefans-list" in the body.
