Good morning, all! Just got home last night from the DAYS charity event I attended Saturday night and Sunday and wanted to "report back!"
I'll have to post my pix later in another post.
The actors were staying in the same hotel as me (and others as there was a block of rooms reserved). I saw Dan, Jordi, Erik, Kyle, and Matt there early Saturday afternoon. I waved to them all and Matt came over to me. First time, never met him before. He introduced himself and I said "I know who you are!!" Then we chatted for about 10 minutes. Talk about a nice guy. Wow. So friendly and unassuming. This was his first time at this event. At about 4:30, the actors convened for pickup to go to dinner with the event hosts and the actors' sponsors. (Usually two sponsers pay the way for each actor. This can cost upwards of about $2000 per sponsor.)
I don't know if anyone on here watches The Bay (I currently do not), but some of the actors who are on that series were there, too. Here's a list of all attendees: Eric Martsolf, Carson Boatman, Dan Feurerriegel, Kyle Lowder, Matt Ashford, Jordi Vilasuso, Mike Manning, Erik Fellows, Christos Andrews, The Bay producer/director Gregori J. Martin. Eric Nelson could not make it at the last minute.
Bear with me - I think I'm going to post backwards.
Sunday brunch. I was very lucky to have been seated with both Eric and Carson at the same table!! Talk about a score! Like I've said before, Eric is always "on," he's very in-demand at this event because of his ability to "work a room." I will say that he does have a very sarcastic personality and, at times, I have found him to be a bit crude. There was one or two incidents that I witnessed yesterday. Sorry, fans. I think, too, that there are times when he has had too much to drink. Carson is a total sweetheart. An absolutely adorable young man who is incredibly talented. He, too, is in demand at this event because of his knack for being likable and he puts on some great musical numbers with buddy, Eric. Mike Manning is an absolutely awesome guy who genuinely enjoys being at this event (he's kind of an ambassador; if you check out his FB page, he does promote this event quite well). He is multi-talented, friendly, extremely personable and welcoming to all. He, too, is in demand to do a bit of emcee-ing and everyone enjoys him. He and his Dad did a duet. Mike sang while his Dad played guitar. It was nice. The gang did their usual limbo for the crowd. Meh. All you have to do is see it once in a lifetime, not every year, but it was fun. I asked Dan Feurerriegel how to pronounce his last night which turned into a back-and-forth of, "Okay, Barbi, tell me how YOU think it's pronounced." I, of course, screwed it up a few times which he thought was funny. He pronounces it FYOORigull. Because I don't watch The Bay, the only actor from that show that I interacted with was Christos Andrews. He is verrry nice and also appreciative of the fans. Erik Fellows was there, but I did not speak to him. I don't really know much of what Jordi Vilasuso is doing now (he's apparently on The Bay) so we just took a quick pic and that was that. I asked Eric and Carson what they thought of the Body & Soul storyline. They both do NOT like it. Carson alluded to the fact that Chanel and Alex Kiriakis become a couple, maybe on Body & Soul, who knows. Carson lives in Burbank about 5 minutes from the studio. His wife, Julana, is home with baby daughter, Ava. I asked Carson how he has the time to do the show, the band events and all these other events. He said he will be slowing down in the new year. At first I thought he was hinting that he was leaving the show, but he said no, he's staying. I told Eric that it pained me watching him take the blame for Sarah's accident. He said it all gets worked out. Eric's twin sons are in a local college (in LA) playing water polo, and they hope to transfer to a different school at some point. He joked that he told them there's not much to do in Harrisburg, PA (where he grew up) and hoped they stay somewhere in CA. I reminded Eric that I watch the watch he wears on the show and always try to see what time it says to compare it to what time it is in Salem. He said the watch is a broken Rolex and doesn't keep time at all! I asked Matt earlier if they really drink beer at The Pub. Nope. It's something else that I can't recall. I asked Matt if he preferred working with Missy Reeves or Cady McClain. He, of course, said they are both phenomenal, but we then agreed that Missy is the only Jennifer! Then we talked about how everyone always prefers the original over the replacement. More chats will come to me. It's early now.
Saturday night cocktail party. Eric and Carson arrived at the venue just a bit late (Saturday night around 8ish). Apparently, Eric did not take Friday off and will not take the red-eye so whatever flight he and Carson were on Saturday, they missed their connection so they arrived late and were delivered from the airport right to the venue. They were tired. Eric had said the guy seated next to him on the plane stunk like Triscuits and ham. Kyle Lowder is very friendly, very polite and nice to everyone. He's genuine. There was a flock of females around Dan. Man, did he look great. Tall and buff, wow. (I'll post pics soon.) Actually, the Days guys are all tall and slender. I didn't go after any of The Bay guys to chat or take pictures with, honestly. Seemed like every time I saw Eric, he had a new drink in his hand. After the cocktail party, I returned to the hotel where EVERYONE was staying. Eric and Carson had to check in. The hotel clerks had zero clue who these guys were and no one watches the show!! I sat nearby and took a pic of them all the guys standing around. Some were overheard saying they were tired and were going to shower and go to sleep. Jordi came back down to buy deodorant from the lobby concession. He joked with me that it was ladies Secret!
Matt Ashford's brother and sister-in-law were there, too. His brother is a dead ringer for him. I told Matt and his brother that if I had seen the brother on the street, I would have done a double-take, then a triple-take, then I would have gone over to ask if he was Matt! STRONG resemblance. His brother recently moved to Sarasota so Matt will likely be coming more often to Florida.
More will come to my memory throughout the day, I'm sure. For now, that's all I have. Pics in a bit when they're uploaded.
I'm going to see The Day Players (Eric, Carson, Brandon, and standing in for Wally will be Leo Howard) and told Eric and Carson to "look for this face" in the crowd. I got some autographs. In May, I'm returning to this event but will sit with Ari Zucker. I'm not going to sit with Eric anymore. I came away the last time thinking I needed to sit somewhere else but was on the fence with Eric or Dan. Dan's table was packed. Usually Eric AND Carson both have packed tables. This time, though, Eric and Carson were at the same table and there were 3 empty seats. Very odd. The seating assignments did get screwed up, though. When I arrived, I was down for sitting with Mike Manning. I squawked and had my situation changed. Mike's table is always packed, too. He has his regular fans who won't sit anywhere else. He's THAT likeable.
That's about it for now. Sorry so long.