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On Thursday, October 10, 2002, international pop/rock superstar Gloria Estefan, along with other rock legends Chaka Khan and Chrissie Hynde & The Pretenders joined forces with newcomers Michelle Branch, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Lee Ann Womack in a fight to save breast cancer for life, sponsered by the women's cable network, Lifetime.  The third annual event, held at the brand new glitzy Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, contained some emotional and rewarding performances from some of the biggest ladies in music, including Gloria & Chaka singing a classic duet set of "Coming Out Of The Dark" and "Through The Fire."  Myself, along with the Divas/DivO of CONGA Online, were privileged enough to attend this honorable concert in an effort to stop breast cancer for life!  Below, you can find some pics of us, as well as Gloria from this spectacular event.

I am picture here with my fellow CONGA pals Torpedo Gonzalez (DivO), Tim Ramos (Lucky Diva),
Vero Garcia (Lil' Diva), with her boyfriend.  As you can see, we all truly have our GLO Spirit on!



Hey CONGA!
As mentioned earlier, the Divas (Tim, Torpedo, and Vero), Monica, and I were in attendence for the 3rd Annual WOMEN ROCK concert held on Thursday 10/10/02 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. It was definitely a night to remember, just as any Gloria event should.

The event started off with an opening greeting from Ken Elrich, who is executive producer and does many music shows, along with the president of Lifetime Television.

The show opened with Chaka Khan's hit song, "I'm Every Woman," joined by Glo, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Michelle Branch, and Lee Ann Womack. It truly was a great way to get the show started. During this song, I grabbed Gloria's attention by waving at her, which she then waved back with that gorgeous smile on her face.

Jennifer Love Hewitt, who was the show's host, welcomed everyone to the 3rd Annual show, and then introduced Gloria with a very grateful welcome. Gloria sat on a stool, with her guitar and sang "Always Tomorrow," which she told the audience on how this song has a huge significance on her and how it explains and describes her musings on life.
She then invited Chaka Khan on stage and they sang together as a duet with "Coming Out Of The Dark," and Chaka's song, "Through The Rain." It was great to see two rock legends singing together. You could really feel Gloria energy with these two songs.

Chaka then sang solo with a couple of her songs. One was her fast beat hit song, "Ain't Nobody" and another slower song. After, Jennifer Love Hewitt sang with a new song from her new album, Barenaked.  Chrissie Hynde then sang Louis Armstrong's trademark classic, "What A Wonderful World." She then sang a couple songs with her band, the Pretenders.
It was then Lee Ann Womack's turn to take the stage. This is what I feel was the best performance of the evening as she invited Gloria on stage to sing Lee Ann's hit, "I Hope You Dance." This is a great song, but it made it even better because Glo sang it with her as a duet. They really collaborated well together which made me think they should do a duet together in the future. I really enjoyed this performance.

Of course, there were various presenters in between. My favorite was Fran Drescher. She looked better than ever and was serious, yet funny at the same time.  Michelle Branch than sang her latest hit single, "Goodbye To You," from her platinum album, The Spirit Room. After that song, she sang a song with Chrissie Hynde.  Towards the end of the show, all of the "rockers" came together with their guitars and sang their version of "Forever Young."

Throughout the show during the commerical breaks, Gloria was talking to the audience, and you can hear various people (besides CONGA), yelling out "I Love You Gloria" and, of course, she said "I Love You Too" to all of us! She really interacted with the crowd and cracked some jokes. As many of you may know, DivO (Torpedo) lives in Miami and is very fortunate enough to attend many Gloria events, and, with his luck, run into Gloria everywhere, even in elevators. So, you know by now, Gloria knows him pretty well. Well, he had his "One Night Only" shirt with him and during the commerical break when most of us were sitting down, he would keep standing up, grabbing Gloria's attention. He did and when Gloria saw his shirt, she said, "Hey, nice shirt!" I just found that to be pretty funny.

The show ended with all of the rockers singing, "I'll Take You There," where Gloria really "rocked" out on! After the show ended, they took some press photos. When all the others left, Gloria hung around for a few minutes, Me and the other CONGA members weren't able to take a picture with her because of the strict security and Emily, but we were able to grab her attention again as she said "Hi" and smiled at us, just when security was pushing her away. Plus, one of the head ladies of the Seatfiller program forced all Seatfillers to leave as one of the rules was that seatfillers can't approach and autograph seek the stars. Nevertheless, It truly was great grabbing Gloria's attention and knowing (and feeling) CONGA's prescene in the house!

Remember, the concert airs on Friday, October 25 at 10pm ET/PT on the Lifetime cable network! Make sure to tune in!
On behalf of myself, the Divas/DivO, and Monica, we all had a fantastic time and hoped that you enjoyed my little description of the evening!

To check out some great pics, go to Annamaria's site or WireImages.com

Take care,
Robert Rosario
(SoCal Valley Boy)
L.A., Cali :o)