photo via getty images
Saturday night I was fortunate to be a guest at The 16th Annual "Keep Memory Alive" Power of Love Gala celebrating Muhammad Ali's 70th Birthday. The Gala raises money and awareness for Alzheimer's, Huntington's, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease ( which Ali has been fighting since 1984). It is always an over the top Event, that raises HUGE monies to support the Frank Gehry designed Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health here in Las Vegas.... this year was quite the show, with the number of celebrities that attended to honour a man that is truly an icon. The highlight of the evening was when Stevie Wonder (who had flown in from Whitney Huston's Memorial the same day) sang Happy Birthday to Ali ! ( see the link below for video footage)...
With performances by Lenny Kravitz, Cee-Lo Green, Snoop Dogg, John Legend, Kelly Rowland, LL Cool J... Almost every major Boxer was in attendance, some that had fought Ali in the past... Food by Wolfgang Puck, Michael Mina, Scott Conant, and Tom Colicchio... Dom Perignon was abundantly poured...
And most importantly, HUGE amounts of money were raised for the cause... ( a pair of boxing gloves that Ali used when he defeated Floyd Patterson in 1965 went for 1.1 million...Wow!)
Bravo!
In listening to some of the heads of The Cleveland Clinic speak, the best news that I heard was that there are currently 100 new drugs being tested to fight Alzheimers... The worst news that I heard was that approximately 80% of us will have Alzheimers in the future, if something is not found to combat this terrible disease. ( I could be off in those amounts due to the Dom bubbles, but they are pretty close)...
The event will be aired ABC Saturday, February 25, at 7 p.m. EST (4 p.m. PST).
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