JD Donovan

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September 18, 2020

As a teenager, Jenny loved concerts and the World Famous KROQ radio station. Our first concert together was the Go-Go's in August of 1982 at Irvine Meadows and our last concert together was Melissa Etheridge in September 2001 at the Terrace Theatre in... more

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September 18, 2020

Another item on Jenny's top ten list in my yearbook was eating. Jenny and I loved to eat. When I think about all our favorite places, there is always a food component to the memory. Skating meant Carl's Junior (which was right down the street) and the... more

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September 18, 2020

Roller Skating - In our high school years, we roller skated our brains out....at least 4 times a week during the school year and every night in the summer. Our tribe included my two sisters, Julie and Shelly, and their best friends, Kim Wood and Tammy... moreRoller Skating - In our high school years, we roller skated our brains out....at least 4 times a week during the school year and every night in the summer. Our tribe included my two sisters, Julie and Shelly, and their best friends, Kim Wood and Tammy Tudor. We would be here for days if I shared even a fraction of the good times that we had at Skate Palace. Jenny was a speed skater, while I was more of a fancy backward skater. Jenny's first love back then was her coveted black leather speed skates with Labeda wheels. While most of the women, including me, wore traditional white high top skates, Jenny was one of the first to wear speed skates which have a lower-cut ankle boot that allows for a wider range of motion for sharp turns. I remember when Jenny said she wanted to but the new speed skates. They were extremely expensive back then, especially for a young high school kid. As always, Jenny was true to her dreams, and with some hard work and savings, she got herself the top of the line speed skates. She absolutely loved them, especially because her own speed skates allowed her to participate in the "advanced speed skaters only" skate. To this day I hear these words when I hear the song "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen.

When I think about it, many of the memories of Skate Palace actually don't involve the physical activity of skating. Lets just say they involve the extra curricular activities that we did before going skating. I can remember one night when I was allowed to drive my Mom's brand new Cadillac to the skating rink. We decided to have some adult beverages before going into the skating rink. As we did quite often, we sat outside the liquor store and politely asked people if they would buy us beer. We always had some clever story as to why we needed the beer. Unbelievably, we were usually very successful. On this night we got a 6 pack of Lowenbrau, Jenny's favorite beer. Anyone who knew Jenny knows that she had expensive taste when it came to items she liked and wanted. We placed the beer in a white bucket on ice. We could not park in the parking lot of Skate Palace as the security guard knew us well and was always on the lookout. So we parked behind Skate Palace which was mainly a small industrial complex with single story concrete buildings. There were no other cars parked back there because it was evening and most of the businesses were closed. While we were enjoying a cold one a cop pulled up. We had placed the white bucket of beer on the black top outside of my driver's side door, in case it leaked because we did not want to ruin the Cadillac carpet. The cop was patrolling the area, and he pulled up to Jennys' side of the Cadillac. He got out of his police car and approached Jenny's window asking us what we were doing out here in the dark? We told him that we were going skating. The cop looked at us and looked at the car and then asked why we were parking so far away from Skate Palace. We cleverly told him that the Cadillac was my mother's car and that we were parking far away from other cars so it it would not get any scratches. By some miracle he bought this story after shining his flashlight in both the front and back seats of the car. All the while, the bucket of beer was still sitting on the pavement outside of my door on the other side of the car. less

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September 18, 2020

During the summer, Jenny and I would spend every day at Laguna Beach. We'd get there about 9:00 am when the June gloom was still around; stake our claim on the beach by the volleyball courts with our towels, chairs, boogie board, fins, smash ball; and... more

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September 18, 2020

Jenny would tell you that I taught her to snow ski up in the beautiful mountains of Big Bear California, where we would spend winter weekends at our family's "haunted" log cabin. In reality, Jenny taught herself to ski. My teaching methods... moreJenny would tell you that I taught her to snow ski up in the beautiful mountains of Big Bear California, where we would spend winter weekends at our family's "haunted" log cabin. In reality, Jenny taught herself to ski. My teaching methods were not exactly conventional. I basically told her to bypass the bunny slope and go up to the top of the mountain and ski down by snow plowing (turning your skis inward to slow you down). I told her "if you could master snow plowing then you could pretty much make it down any hill". Of course, this was mostly BS. I just didn't want to wait in the beginner line for the short, overly crowded bunny slope. When we got to the top of the mountain, the look on Jenny's face and the words out of her mouth were "no f...king way". I told her the only other way down the mountain was to flag down the ski patrol and have them transport her down in the orange sled basket. As most of you probably guessed, there was no way Jenny would ask for help from the ski patrol unless she absolutely needed it. I wouldn't say she was fearless, but she was stubbornly determined. So she pointed her skis forward and proceeded down the hill, as she quickly picked up speed, I would yell, "snow plow, snow plow", which she would do for a bit until overcomed by speed and then fall down in the snow. For those of you who have snow skied before, getting back up on your skis from a horizontal position in the snow isn't exactly easy, but it's a necessity which must be done on your own to learn properly. So I would wait for her to get back up, listen to her few choice words.....fck this, pita (pain in the ass), BS, and then do it all over again. After about three hours we finally made it to the bottom of the hill. After that first day Jenny said she hated skiing. I convinced her that the first day is always the hardest, and by the second day she would get the hang of it. That's all she needed to hear. She was determined. In my yearbook, Jenny wrote "I hated skiing the first day, but now I love it" less

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September 9, 2020

I met JD during a Pride parade, don't remember the year. I congratulated and thanked her for speaking to a particular person who I don't wish to name. That person was very disrespectful to me (and the Pride committee) in the past, and when I heard she... more

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September 3, 2020

I was honored by JD & Mel's request to photograph a special dress-rehearsal before the wedding.

-Steve Muench

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