When we arrived at the Medina’s, everyone was ready to go! We were on our way without anything major delaying us. OK, so we had a few minor things like picking up food. After all, it was a two-hour drive, two vehicals. GG Medina drove one and Rubiel's Dad drove the other!

In the van Manny and Joy were bouncing ideas off of each other about the final tweaking of their show, as all of us were finishing the manufacturig of the CD's we were going to give away.... putting on labels, slipping in the covers, etc. I was also interviewing two of their dancers, Gabby and Cynthia to add to the variety of people who have helped MJ.

When we arrived, the kids were finishing up their activities for the afternoon before dinner. We were directed to the gym where Manny and Joy had a sound check with the live DJ, Rick. They did a quick run through of “U B U” to make sure they had plenty of room to give their audience a performance that would really impress! Right after they had finished, that infamous voice came on over the loud speaker in that echoing sort of way, “would everyone please report to the basketball courts for line up before dinner.” That was our cue that we should start heading towards the mess hall.Dinner was something different at that camp. I’ve been to camp before, but this one had a more profound effect on me. I believe it was while I was eating and talking with Cynthia and Gabby that I saw this small boy, who was only about 4 years old, that my perspective was widened to a proportion I thought I could never understand. I was eating dinner with children of some of the victims of the World Trade Center disaster. A site that once could be seen clearly from Sky Room Studios, where Manny and Joy record their songs. It could not have been any more real for me. That one small boy lost someone so incredibly important to him and he will never have the satisfaction of knowing him or her. It made me feel good that we were there to try and help them.

At the end of dinner, Amy Callahan, the woman who invited MJ to perform for the children, announced that there was one more activity before their surprise evening activity. When the kids were out of the mess hall and participating in their last activity for the afternoon, the MJ crew went to work checking over everything to make sure that we could deliver the best show we could. At 7 o’clock, the echoing voice over the loud speaker came on again announcing that it was time for all of the campers to head over to the gym for their last activity of the day.

It’s show time!

NEXT PAGE

Knock, Knock, Knock... “Dan…Danny…wake up Dan…” I groan and open my eyes, stumble to the door to find myself talking to David. It was nine o’clock in the morning and there was much to be done if we were going to make the concert today.

Only hours before the concert, which MJ, Manny and Joy Medina, were going to be performing at Camp Kennybrook that was sponsored for children who lost parents in the September 11th disaster, it was decided by David and Luis that the enhanced CD’s containing the “Brave New American Heroes” music video should not be given to these children. The reason being that the kids were mostly between seven and ten years old. To help David out I had two computers burning CD’s without the video that could be given to the kids. Then because we had 75 new CD’s, we needed to buy cases and I just happened to be the lucky one to do the errands. However, it didn’t bother me. I knew what I was doing wasn’t for nothing; I just felt good about helping out.

At ten minutes to two in the afternoon David and I are rushing around trying to get everything as organized as possible before we left for the Medina’s. Let’s just say that didn’t work the way we wanted it to. (But then again, what show has gone absolutely perfect?) There were still CD’s to be labeled and cases to be filled with both the CD itself and the cover sheets. There was just no time to get it all done and expect to arrive on time!