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If you took a peek into the green room before StarJam Rocks 06 stormed the stage, you would get a glimpse of the unity and the joy of the Jammers and their supporters.  And then on the red carpet , the Jammers gave all the guests a warm welcome.

Everywhere you looked in the Ballroom at the Langham Hotel there were stars.  There were 30 Jammers getting ready to star on stage.  There were celebrities getting prepared to be upstaged by the Jammers, and there were starry-eyed and nervous parents waiting to see their children perform on stage for the first time ever. 

The evening’s entertainment started with the five Jammers who went on the Jamming trip to USA in April, playing their ‘signature’ song, “We are the World”   Ese Aumalesulu, Jono Heaps, Renee Maurice, Olivia Shivas and Isaac Toafa had played this song to Arnold Schwarzenegger and many other celebrities they jammed during their jamming encounters all over California.

Olivia, the youngest of the USA Jammers, introduced the hosts for the night Kate Hawkesby and Daniel Gourlay.   Daniel was on usual form with his unbridled sense of humour. 

First up, he welcomed to the stage the nine hip hoppers who had created “Street Jam” over the past two months.   One of the Jammers, Freedom Harrison, so wanted to be in StarJam Rocks, that her family drove her to Auckland from Whangarei and back every Monday night so she could attend rehearsals.  Go Freedom!!

The live interviews kicked off with Nathan Child interviewing Petra Bagust.    Never mind Nathan’s interest in skeletons in the cupboard.   He questioned Petra on topics ranging from breast feeding to her TV presentations.  He also revealed one of his favorite pastimes - collecting ‘junk’ which in his eyes is pure gold.

Then on the big screen, the audience was then treated to excepts of pre-recorded interviews.   First up was Olivia Shivas gathering tips for the LA trip from Andrew Adamson while he was here in Auckland earlier in the year.    On the other side of the Pacific Ocean in LA, Olivia was asking Lord of the Rings hobbit, Sean Astin all sorts of things about acting, working with Peter Jackson and his involvement with helping people with muscular dystrophy.     Isaac Toafa got down deep with Alan Dale questioning him about his childhood and his pre-acting career as a milkman.    Alan told Isaac other interesting details about his roles in ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Lost’.

You would have thought they were born to sing together.   When New Zealand ’s latest singing sensation Yulia sang “The Prayer” with Jammer Jono Heaps, it was either spine tingle or hanky time (or both).   The blend of their voices was magnificent and the way they connected on stage was amazingly powerful. 

After diinner the audience was treated to more USA - filmed interviews.   Ese Aumalesulu found out about Kenny Loggin’s long and legendary career while visiting him in his home in Santa Barbara .   With Ese on keyboard and Kenny on guitar, they jammed it up playing Kenny’s classic “I’m all right”.   Back in Santa Monica , Ese questioned Kiwi actor Charles Mesure about some of the highlights of his career in LA.   They jammed too playing “Better be home soon” with Charles on guitar this time.   Moving east to Texas , Jono Heaps got to chat with Michael Bolton backstage in Dallas and to top it all off, Renee Maurice had the encounter of her life when she interviewed and sang to Julie Andrews at the University of California in LA. 

No Kiwis had yet heard the performance that brought 2000 people to their feet in Minneapolis in June to give Jono Heaps a standing ovation.  For the fist time in NZ he gave a performance of the song which he wrote for the Starkey Hearing Foundation, “Hear the Call” .

The auction which followed bolstered the fundraising effort for the night to $70,000.   StarJam is very grateful to everyone for their generosity.

Twins Etta and Sally Bollinger then asked TVNZ newsreaders Simon Dallow and Wendy Petrie  about the behind the scenes scene at the newsdesk.  The audience got to hear about ‘bloopers’ that are all in the day of the life of a TV anchor. 

Red Nicholson followed with a very witty interlude with Jackie Clarke.   Why wasn’t she on NZ Idol again?   As Red referred to his cell phone for notes, he calmly declared that notes on paper is ‘so last year’. 

Temuera Morrison received a haka welcome from a group of the Jammers but before it was finished, Tem jumped on stage and joined the boys.

The twosome jams were rounded off with an awesome jam between Rongo Katene and Temuera.   They played guitar together in three songs and for the last, ‘Ten Guitars, they were joined by 8 more Jammers, making literally 10 guitars on stage.

The whole cast joined again on stage to celebrate together singing Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World” followed by “I’m a believer”.  Yulia, Jackie Clarke and Simon Dallow enjoyed backing the songs while the Jammers and friends let loose

Sincere thanks to all of StarJam Rocks sponsors and supporters.  

Draw Prize

The lucky winner of the draw prize for dinner for two at the Langham Hotel worth up to $200 is Louise Walker.  Congratulations Louise.