Mama went to the Oprah Winfrey Show!

She first heard about Oprah back in the days when she was a teenager in Brazil and it was a cool thing to be a Michael Jackson fan. Nowadays, if you are M.J.'s fan, I think people would find you a weirdo, just like he is now. Well, in the beginning of the process of getting "Wacko Jacko" he refused to be interviewed by just anyone. It had to be no one less than Oprah Winfrey to have the great opportunity to interview him in his surreal ranch. So, Mama was really impressed with "the power of Oprah"!


She's not really famous in Brazil, so Mama rarely heard of her since. When she moved to the US in 2004, she became a huge Oprah fan. I'm also her fan because she helps stop puppy mills.
In my last post I was speechless because I couldn't believe that Mama had the chance to go to an Oprah Show taping here in Chicago! But this was not an ordinary show; it was the 23rd Season Premiere in which Team USA's Olympic Stars joined Oprah on stage for a historic event! Harpo Studios was way to small to accomodate all the 150+ athletes on stage and the big audience that attended the event, including the Mayor of Chicago Richard Daley, who is working hard to increase Chicago's chances for hosting the 2016 games. Oprah also wanted to showcase Chicago as her favorite city for the Olympics and Millenium Park was definetely the best place in town for this unforgettable show BUT,unfortunately they don't allow four-legged people there so I couldn't go :( :(


Getting tickets to any Oprah show is hard since it is on a first come, first served basis, and the phone lines are always engaged. Being a big Oprah fan, Mama subscribed to her e-mail newsletters and one of them was about getting tickets to this show. She got it on a Thursday and on Saturday, she headed to Millenium Park where she knew the Oprah staff would be giving away the so coveted tickets from noon. Mama could only make it there by 11 AM and was really hopeless she would get any tickets. She saw the beginning of the mile long line, then she walked, walked and walked until she finally got her spot at the end. Soon lots of people started to line up after her and she saw another looooong line behind her, so her hopes to see the billionaire diva grew from spark to fire especially after learning from the security people that 4000 tickets were going to be given away. Not too bad, it took only one hour for Mama to get her ticket and she was in absolute bliss when the red wrist band and the info sheet were handed to her !

Last Wednesday was the big day! Mama looked like a little girl smiling and showing off her passport to Oprah. I told her : "Mama, she's flesh and blood, a person just like you" Why all that fuss ? I must say, I was happy to see Mama so happy about all this and, as you can see in the pics, she doesn't even care about the way she looks but, she asked me to upload some here to show off... Silly Mama .....







This time she wanted to make sure she got a good seat so, she got up at 4 AM and wore a bright red blouse hoping it shows well on TV, so she can try to spot herself in the middle of the crowd. At 5:20 she took the EL downtown and when she got to the park, there was already a line! Not as long as on the ticket day though, phew! As soon as the park opened at 6AM, there was no line anymore; everybody started running like crazy and so did Mama. When she was picking her seat, one usher called her and another lady because they were not supposed to be in that area so early. Apparently, it was the security guy's fault who opened the gate beforehand. Then they were escorted out of the area and to the end of another line...



It was about 6:30 and only at 8:55 the line started to move for people to go through security. In the info sheet they advised to downsize the purses and bring no cameras or video recorders, otherwise you could be denied access or be removed from the premises if you were caught documenting the event somehow. After going through security, another line formed to enter the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. When Mama finally got inside there weren't any center seats available because they were reserved for VIP's...
So she quickly found a seat on the left side about 15 rows from the stage, pretty good seat, she was radiant but... staaaarving!! She sat there for about one hour listening to music and about 15 minutes before the show, an entertainer lady got on stage to prepare the crowd to go crazy when Oprah sets foot on stage. She also welcomed, Gayle King (Oprah's best friend, I think) Michael Phelps's Mom & sisters, and the families of Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, the gymnasts all before 10 AM.

At 10:05 the "Queen of Talk" finally showed up! It was so emotional for Mama! She wanted to take a picture with her mobile phone even if the quality was not good but, she is so into the rules and was so afraid of being caught red-handed that she didn't even try. One minute later she saw a person being reprimanded for taking pictures. So she gave up...
It's all in Mommy's memory now, Oprah's famous Christian Louboutin's red sole heels, which she removed to pose for a picture with Shawn Johnson who is only 4 ft 9" and people cracked up, poor thing, I thought it was kinda mean... She also asked M. Phelps about his single life, but it looks like he didn't wanna answer... Oprah's curious just like me! And at the end of the show, to Mama's and the audience's surprise the American Idol David Cook showed up to sing " The Time of my Life" while all the athletes went down the stage and walked amongst the crowd hi-5ing everyone! Blue, red and white balloons and confetti filled up the air... just awesome!

All in all it was a great show and a wonderful experience for Mama and this is the only shot she got of the venue as she was exiting the pavilion.

This was the best picture of the event when it was over...

The Season Premiere of Oprah airs tomorrow Monday 09/08/08 and I can't wait to watch it with Mama!