Palm Springs was a favorite haunt of Frank Sinatra and his friends, the place where he built his well-known estate and entertained his friends. So on October 22, 2017 Heal the Ocean turned the El Paseo restaurant into Palm Springs for a "Really Big Show," with pink flamingos, palm trees and little cactus planters on the tables - everything but a swimming pool.
On stage, Frank Sinatra (Monty Aidem) came out to sing a few Sinatra oldies and goodies, then introduced his friends Marilyn Monroe & Liza Minnelli (both played by Gailyn Addis(!). These three put on Big Show impersonations that took us back a few years. Some real fun came when Marilyn razzled around the room to hootchy-kootchy with gentlemen guests, and what a hoot we had when Liza invited us on stage with her to dance and let our hair down.
Big thanks to Benjamin Boyce, Dave Shin & Jon Wilcox for firing up their rocking band before dinner; to SMI Concepts for orchestrating sights and sounds for the evening; to Heather Hudson/Gracie Girl LLC & Marince Salmin for the film "HTO Then & Now," which was shown before the auction conducted by "Rocktioneer Russ Stolnack." Thanks go to, Heather Hudson, Shannon Trotta, and Corey Radis for organizing this evening, and to all the Last but not least, thank you, dear Julia-Louis Dreyfus for being our wonderful Honorary Chair, for always helping us!
