When we arrived in Los Angeles and picked up our rental car, we were delighted to see that we would get free use of their GPS mapping device. You just plug in the address you need to get to and a computerized voice tells you when to turn. When we pulled up in front of the venue (almost exactly in front of where the celebrity red carpet was) the computerized voiced announced, “You…have arrived”. That struck us as so funny because we were incredibly nervous about attending this big, Hollywood party. In a way we had arrived and didn’t know really what to expect.

The gala was held in the Los Angeles Convention Center which is a huge building (and that’s an understatement). There was a boat show being held in another quarter of the building. When you first arrive and park in the parking structure, you have to walk a short distance. In heels, that wasn’t fun! Eventually, though, you get to a red carpet and get to walk into the building. This was the regular people, underground parking garage entrance red carpet, though. There was an actual red carpet for the celebrities in front of the building. That’s where all of the photos of people standing in front of the MusiCares logo wall were taken.

We got to the check-in table where we gave our names to the volunteers, were checked off and issued laminated passes with our table number (196) on them and a ticket good for one gift bag at the end of the show. While standing in line we heard exec -types make introductions to each other like, “….this is the guy who brought us the Kid Rock deal! We then entered the room where the silent auction was going on.

There were a lot of people milling about wearing everything from tuxes to jeans and baseball caps. The women were wearing evening gowns, cocktail dresses and even silver track suits. The first thing we saw in the silent auction room was the Tahoe which was “inspired” by Don. (I'm not sure how a vehicle can be inspired by anyone). It was black, had leather seats and was very eco-friendly. There were signs stating that the winner of the Tahoe would also get signed Eagles and Henley CD packages, 1000 trees planted in their name and a “golden ticket” good for entrance for 2 to all Eagles concerts during 2007 and 2008. Pretty cool!

The entire room was full of things to bid on. There were a few Eagles items: Signed guitars and a really cute mini-drum set signed by the band. (Incidentally, everywhere they had to print Tim’s name…item descriptions…the auction catalogue… they spelled it “SchmiDt”. Ugh!) There was jewelry, artwork (some by Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix), vacation packages, rock memorabilia and concert experiences (tickets for 24 to a Rod Stewart concert provided by Shelli Azoff, for example). We bid on a cute All She Wants to Do purse signed by Don (we were later outbid by Don’s assistant’s wife, but never did see who ultimately won it). Drinks were free and there were a lot of people. Waiters milled through the crowd with plates of hors d’oeuvres. We didn’t have any of those, we were too nervous and too worried about spilling things on our clothing. We eventually went back out to the entry-hall to get some air. While there we saw people like Kelly Lynch, Ed Begely and his wife Rachelle, CBS President, Les Moonves and wife, Julie Chen (host of Big Brother), Brian Wilson and Rick Rubin ambled past. We’ll get all of the name-dropping done now…later on we saw Natalie Cole, Jimmy Jam, Roger Cross (from 24), and some former reality show contestants. All of the super-famous people (Dixie Chicks, Trisha and Garth, Jackson Browne) were up front by the stage and probably used a different entrance.

Eventually, we went downstairs to dinner. On the way there, we passed Timothy and Jean Schmit (or is that SchmiDt) who seemed to be escorting one of Don’s kids into the event.

Our dinner table was near the back and off to the side. We had a good view of the stage (though we were quite far away and needed the screens). We actually didn’t see Don until he took the stage late into the show. In case anyone cares, Don was at Table 29.
Each dinner table featured a floral centerpiece and some candles. There was a thick, heavy tribute journal on each chair (we’ll scan pages from this and post them separately). Each plate had what was described as a “Carnivale” salad which was basically some leaves (weeds!) surrounded by huge pieces of cucumber. There was also an olive tapenade and a giant bread-basket. Our table had its own wait-person and she made sure we had wine or water. Dinner was some potatoes, root veggies and a piece of steak and a chicken breast (we’ll post the menu separately). It was tasty, but seemed kind of like nice airplane food. Desert was really nice. It was a medley of confections and featured a little waffle-cone type thing full of berries, a small baked apple, a piece of white chocolate with the MusiCares symbol on it and a very nice chocolate cake covered in more chocolate.

As we were finishing eating, the announcer kept telling the people in front to take their seats and eat their dinner. There was a lot of handshaking and networking going on.

The live auction came next. This is where they auctioned off the Tahoe. It finally went for $70,000. We thought it would go for more, especially since the list price of the car was $50,000. Then the auctioneer announced that Don and Irving had just told him they would donate a handwritten copy of the lyrics to The End of the Innocence signed by Don and Bruce Hornsby. This went for $25,000.

It was now time for the Don honoring and concert to begin.

Continue to Part 2