Jan 27 - Today the touring company is doing their show in Richmond VA. Tomorrow they go to Hampton VA (never heard of it). Tuesday is a day off. I am often asked who was Brian's teacher. Well, that would be me. I taught him to talk (even the school insisted he had a speech impediment ), how to swim (that's why we still have a pool that is hardly ever used now the kids are grown), how to dress (I think I overdid that one). I got him started in speaking to large groups (that sure paid off), and I made him learn all the dances (I am pretty sure that's how he ended up doing a waltz solo in the tour).

Wednesday we will have an adventure using public transportation to go to the show in Wash DC. I think our seats are in the stands. I will bring a megaphone. They made us throw away our bottles of water at the Tampa stadium. Which is worse-a bottle of water or a megaphone?

Jan 25 - The touring company had yesterday off, and today their show is in Duluth, GA. They are on the home stretch now, working their way up the east coast.

Jan 24 - Today an article appeared in the local paper, Courier Post. It was about Brian and the dwts tour show. There are some very old pictures included in the online version. The article enjoys the center page spread in the magazine section of the paper. That makes it eaasy to make a poster out of the page. Thank you Mr. Editor. The Voytilla's and Sandra Martin were able to make some contributions to the article. Thank you for the nice things you said.

I will be running out of room on the Brian Wall pretty soon.

On Monday, Jan 21, Karen and I saw the show in Tampa. We loved it. We loved every single minute of the show. Brian came out and visited with us for a few minutes before he opened the show with the SoftScrub dance contest. He took us backstage at the end of the show and we said hello to the costume, lighting, video people, the singers, Helio, Kym, Sabrina, Monique, Sandy the ticket sales woman. It was nice. I am anxious to see the show again next Wednesday.

Jan 15 - I had Brian on the phone for about a minute today. He said he saw Perry Gingerich and had a nice reception with his group, signing autographs and visiting. He also said about 100 people from the Nashville group of dancers were coming to the Nashville show. Some, or all, of the dancers will stay overnight in Nashville to hang out and relax, then fly to the next place, Atlanta? I'm not sure. Sabrina is gone from the tour now, so I am guessing that Marie Osmond joins them, but I don't know.

Jan 14 - I haven't heard from Brian in a while. I know he has called home and talked to Andy. Andy has filled me in on Brian's plans for after the tour. I am happy that Brian is finding interesting opportunities and I hope he gets to choose the one that's right for him.

I checked out the calendar, and it's true. The dwts people produced a calendar and didn't put the names of the dancers depicted. Maybe the person selecting the pictures didn't have the information to identify the dancers. People have asked me will I leave January showing all year or will I turn the page? Probably I will leave January up.

Jan 11 - Today we received a news clipping from Judy Hatton who lives in Atlanta area. It is from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It was written by a Detroit Free Press reporter, Erin Chan Ding, who evidently spoke with Louis Van Amstel about the show. The headline is "For kicks, 'dance' tour takes steps to spice it up." Right under the headline is one of the pictures from the Seattle show of Brian and Snow. When the article appeared in the Detroit paper the picture they used was of Mark and Sabrina. The article emphasized the fact that the tour show's more than just repeat routines from the tv show.

Andy's accountant sent him a dwts calendar. Andy agrees with me that the pictures are great, but he points out that no one is named. I can't believe it. I will look on my calendar. It's the centerpiece for my new picture wall next to the music station.

Jan 10 - Brian and company are in Milwaukee today. I am a little surprised that there aren't big groups from local studios flocking to the show. There will be plenty of dancers buying tickets to see the show in AC and in Philly.

Juliann is on the cover of "Living " today. The Courier Post did a little piece on special shows and activities coming to Atlantic City. By the way, I heard the toll on the AC Expressway would be going up to almost $14. Will that change the way you travel to the shore?

Jan 9 - I haven't talked with Brian for a few days. I have gotten some orders for autographed CD's from fans. A lot of us are gearing up to see the shows in various cities. Donna Boyle gave me a dwts calendar, featuring Brian and Shandi's mambo on January's page. She also gave me the dwts book with dance and fitness tips. Who in the world gives a fig about dance and fitness tips? I just want to look at the pictures and costumes.

Brian did actually call home, but I didn't get to talk to him. Maybe he will call back. I put a bunch of Links to videos and picutres and even a newspaper article from Seattle on the Brian Fortuna On Line page. If you find any new links and would like to share them, please send them to me and I will add them, too.

Jan 7 - The dancers had yesterday off in Toronto. Their show is in Toronto tonight. Thankfully, Brian was in a hotel room. I can barely hear him when he calls from the bus, it is always so noisy. He said that Chicago was the best show so far-full house, things went well, great audience response. I found a lot of youtube videos taken in Chicago. Here's the url for the waltz he and Kym do to Wayne Newton's "Moon River." http://youtube.com/watch?v=APCJbMy_IvI

He says he can't sleep hardly at all on the bus and was really relieved to get to stay in a hotel. He enjoyed going to a restaurant in Toronto and said he was planning to visit a local gym for a workout. Joey Fatone has joined the tour. Brian says he is a lot of fun. I'm not sure how long Joey is going to be with the tour. Brian said that Monique Coleman was with the tour last week, but that's about all I know about her. I imagine she danced a number or two with Louis, but I don't know.

As far as the dwts video game goes, I understand they are now putting it into cell phones and some other device. Amazing.

They danced in Detroit this past weekend too. He had a tv show interview after the show in Detroit and something else, I forget what. I know he didn't get to meet Maria who started the petition.

He was telling me about his plans for when the tour ends. It is exciting to realize all the possibilities. He was also telling me about some of the personality dynamics going on between the dancers, celebrities and pros. The tour is almost half over. I am really looking forward to seeing it in Tampa on Jan 21st. I asked him to see if my friend and I can come watch the afternoon notes, if they do them. I'm hoping we can also have dinner together. Trying to visit after the show has always been impossible, because there is always something else going on.

Jan 1 - I spoke with Brian twice yesterday. The first time he said the touring company was on a shuttle to Wayne Newton's ranch. Later he said that it was an amazing place, with penguins, wallebys, 70 horses and all knds of animals. A couple days before New Year's they were at a party at Sabrina's and had a great time. He also told me a little about Las Vegas and the fun they had there.

Kym has returned to the tour. The waltz he originally danced with Snow is now with Kym. MOnique Coleman is with the tour now too, but I don't know who she dances with or how many shows she will do. The dwts video starts off with Brian dancing with Monique. He said the shows this past week went really well. I am assuming they have full houses like they did on the two previous tours.

At the Yuletide Ball everyone was expressing interest in Brian and the tour and the possibility of him being on dwts episode VI. I am always happy to tell whatever I know. It isn't at all surprising that people are still excited about all the new interest in partner dancing. It's also rewarding that Brian has some fans. Of course, these people are not the general public, they are dancers, so maybe they look at things differently. Lots of people wanted me to express their congratulations to Brian and to tell me he was their favorite on the show during episode IV, and that they were hoping he would be on the next episode.

A woman I met at the competition who lives in Oklahoma, says her studio has been flooded with new dancers, mostly couples, because of the show. Isn't that terrific?

It is interesting that some of the dancers at the Yuletide didn't know I am Brian's mother. Can't they see the resemblance? Didn't they wonder if a dancing Fortuna was part of the dancing Fortuna family? I am proud of my son and I want everyone to know that I am his mother. I'll take credit for his dancing and his manners. I will also take credit for his taste in clothes.

I am gearing up to see the tour in FL and in DC this month. I can't wait. I think we will have very good seats in Tampa. I don't know about DC, but it is good to get different perspectives. For the winter tour last year, the whole family had table seats. We sat in the stands in AC. For the summer tour, Aubree and I had the very best table seats in the house at Hershey, PA. In AC we sat in the stands again. For entertainment, what can beat music, fab costumes and dancing? We saw My Fair Lady at the Kennedy Center this past Friday. I loved it, but it wasn't as memorable as a dwts tour show.

Dec 31 - In the spring of 2007, I read in a local publication that two people from Philly were in the dwts summer tour. Brian was not one of the dancers named. That was a surprise and dissappointment for me. It was a tremendous personal reward for me as his teacher and as his mother that Brian managed to get on the first tour, on abc's dwts episode IV, and then on the second dwts tour, too. I felt that these acheivements justified alot of things that were not necessarily hardships, but, certainly aggravations and chores that our family went through over the years in the name of supporting, encouraging and promoting Brian's dancing. Philly's dance community, Universal Dance Center and Brian's parents produced him as a dancer. He didn't just move here to make a living off an established dance community. It was a revelation that local recognition should go to a couple who was not produced by the dance community in Philly while Brian, who is completely a product of the dance environment in our area, would not be mentioned. I guess it doesn't matter, since now he will be moving on and taking what he learned along the way to his new home and career. They all leave in the end.

Dec 27 - We had a lot of fun playing the new dwts video game yesterday at my friend Monica'a house. They were pretty excited when they first started up the game and heard "Brian Fortuna" first. My friend took pictures of Brian playing the game while his cartoon image was on the screen. Pretty funny. Valentina and Felicia are planning a dwts video game marathon today to see if they can reach the top level. The animations are funny. How they they appear or are depicted is a whole separate conversation. Emmit is smaller that Cheryl. Cheryl's legs are weirdly long. Monique is extremely svelte. I thought that Karina was wearing the same dress as Edyta's. Someone definitely spent extra time and effort on Joey Lawrence's image to make the top line look more mobile. It was a lot of fun. Another whole separate conversation is what the dancers get out of this. An appropriate contract in my opinion would have started out with every depicted dancer getting several copies of the game to share with friends and family and to keep as a keepsake.

Brian was mostly resting and treating his bronchitis while home. On Dec 26 our family visited my friend Monica's house and the kids played the video for a while, then Andy took Brian to the airport to fly back to LA. This week the tour will appear in LA, Glendale, Las Vegas.

Dec 23.5 - I asked Brian who is on his tour bus. Alot of dancers. He says they have triple stack bunks. Last time they had double stack bunks. He says there is very little head room vertically. One bunk happens to be 6 inches higher than the rest. Guess who discovered that and claimed the XLarge bunk?. He said the crew put a disco ball and a pole up in the hairdressers' bus. That must have been worth a lot of laughs. When Brian hosted part of the show he spotted a woman wearing a leopard print dress. He said the crowd laughed when he said it looks like his mother's living room.

Dec 23 - Brian came home last night and will be here til the day after Christmas. He will have an hour or so to spend at Monica's house before Andy takes him to the airport. He didn't get to go last year because he had to leave early in the day. We go to Monica's every year on the day after Christmas. This has been our tradition since the kids were little.

On Christmas day, we will hang around and watch tv, then have a big dinner starring rib roast and Christmas soup. On Christmas Eve we do the fishes - shmelts, talapia, salmon, shrimp, bacala salad, bacala in red w linguini, fried calamari, veggies and dips, Italian rice balls, loads of cookies, casseroles, salad, cranberry relish, some kind of potatoes, lots of wine. They are talking about having some absinthe now that it is legal. It will be a total day of indulgence.

Brian said one of the girls wrenched his shoulder in the cha cha. That's a new one. It's usually the man who wrenches the lady's shoulder; right lady's? He told me about a scarry lift he does with Christina (Corky's girlfriend). He told me that Drew got a trampoline thing that he uses to bouce off of and literally fly over Cheryl's head. Brian has a waltz routine in which he wears a suit and tie followed by the rock and roll number on the video link where he wears jeans, shirt, sweater, sneaks and he has 15-20 seconds to change. Four dressers help him change and he always makes his cue.

He talks about a number to "But You Can Keep Your Hat on." They use chairs, some burlesque kind of moves. He said it is a little risque for the G audience. I guess we all want to see this one. He is in 13 numbers. That's a lot. He says he gets announced the most times of anyone in the show. He does some hosting besides the dancing. According to him, Karina will make a career of television hosting. He says she is really good on the mike.

One person Brian is VERY impressed by is Wayne Newton. He said that Mr. Newton has been very gracious to him and that he is a very nice, cordial, caring, interesting and interested man.

Brian talks alot about how much he likes everyone. It must feel like this is his regular job. He does a lot on the mike and says that is what he would like to get into for a career.

After the show in Seattle he did some teaching at a school owned by a person who used to teach a bit in our area. Dancers don't stay put do they?

He said they got instructions but no rehearsal on a 50% revamp of blocking and partnering for the show in San Jose. Kym and Edyta are both on vacations visiting their families in Australia and Poland, Cheryl's been sick, Mark is injured. I'm sure there's more. What a nightmare for Louie.

His hair is very, very short. He said there are so many hats on and off that he can't have longer hair for this show or it will be too messy all the time.

I asked about Snow. Originally, he told me that she would be the stand in for Kym, but he says she is now permanently.part of the tour.

He mostly dances with Christina. She has been dancing for the past three years with Michael Wentik, from South Africa.

The tour will restart on Thursday, in San Diego, then Glendale AZ, Thursday and LA on Friday. Dec 30 is in Las Vegas.

He was telling about who is fun to hang out with on the tour. They don't have time to go to work then go home and socialize with a separate set of friends. Everybody works together all day, then relaxes together.

Dec 22- Tonight Brian will be coming home for a couple of days. Last night I spoke breifly with him right before the show was to start in San Jose. I asked about the Show in Sacremento.which was on Thursday night. He was happy to report that there were people standing at the end of his solo waltz . I am assuming that he is still partnering with Snow, but I am not sure. Edgar, Hannah (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJriUjLivgo) and Aubree each got a minute of telephone time with Brian. I tried to find some reviews for the show. Here's what I came up with: http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=f5561636-e279-4bb2-84ea- and http://beta.comcast.net/entertainment/articles/eonline/2007/12/21/86ebc574-6792-412d-9724- and http://comcast.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=0a33bc33-59a5-4ba3-9926-2e9f9361af5c You get the impression that Cheryl's plight is the main thing. I spent 30 minutes and couldn't find one other work reviewing the show; nothing about audience impression, nothing about comparing it to past oturs, nothing new in youtube.

Dec 19 - I spoke with Brian tonight. They are off today, but have a show in Sacramento tomorrow. Here is the url to a video of one of the numbers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGRLGwctxHc Brian is dancing w Snow, from So You Think You Can Dance. They also did a show for the Holiday bash for the company that makes jet engines for the US Military. I think that Snow is taking Kym's place some of the tour. Brian says that they got a really good audience response for their waltz solo. He said that the entire show is so up tempo and aggressive, then the Moon River waltz is the only change of pace and it went over really well both times they performed.

Dec 18-Tonight the show opens in Seattle. I spoke to Brian and he told me some stuff about the show. They had the "first viewing" for friends and family last night for about 400 people. He is one of the co-hosts (a speaking role!!!!) for the Pre-Show. I guess that's the dance contest. He and Snow (from the finals of So YOu Think YOu Can Dance a couple of seasons ago) did a waltz while Wayne Newton was singing Moon River. This number got the biggest applause of the entire show.

Brian said the costumers did some major alterations in one day, and all of his stuff came out great. He also said that he would be taking Joey Lawrence's place in the speaking roles on nights that Joey isn't in the show. How about that!?!?

Dec 15-I didn't talk to Brian yesterday, but I know that they are probably trying to stay on a fast track to finish the choreography for the show. They are supposed to leave for Seattle on Monday Dec 17 for the fisrt shw which will be on Tuesday. I am not sure about the final dress rehearsal. I know I have ordered tickets for shows in 4 cities. I am thinking about also trying to get tickets for Newark, but probably I am taking enough time off already.

Dec 13 - Brian Fortuna, my favorite son, did a special event in AC Dec 8, then flew to LA for DWTS tour rehearsals on Saturday. He did three numbers with Kym, Alec and Edyta did three numbers, and Brian MC'd the entrie evening. He said he was dead tired after sleeping on the plane Fri and then getting 4 hours sleep on his way back to LA on Saturday morning.

Dec 3 - Brian and Kym are doing a show and appearance at a private party this Weekend, so I will get to visit with him for a little while. He told me they were almost done the choreography for the tour. He said the set will be different this tour. There is a petition to bring Brian back to the tv show. If you would like to get involved, go to the home page and follow the links. It was set up by a woman named "Mariia" in Detroit.

Nov 20-Last night Brian and Irina were practicing for the dances they will present during the Thanksgiving Day Parade. They will be part of the finale which takes place on the Art Museum steps. One dance is a waltz, the other is a jive-the fastest one I have ever seen. I am concerned about them dancing on the cement in the freezing cold. I guess they'll live. The dances are great. I had a chance to give them some input on the presentation. Valentina went to the rehearsal at the Art Museum last night to take pictures. I will post some later.

Nov 19-Brian is visiting today. He is telling us all about Nashville. He loves Nashville and he loves the people. That's pretty much what he said about Nashville when the tour visited there last winter. He says there is music and dancing there ALL the time and EVERYWHERE.

I understand Brian and Edgar and Hannah were involved in a short feature on ABC this past Friday. I will add a link as soon as I find it.

Caution!