Ambassador
Ambassador's Speech
REMARKS BY AMBASSADOR WAYNE AT COCKTAIL FOR TOTO
November 6, 2007
Thanks, everyone, for being here today. This is a very special occasion. It’s not every day that we have the opportunity to welcome as distinguished group of performers as TOTO.
This is a band that has won Grammy Awards (1983) in six different categories as well as the coveted Album of the Year for TOTO IV and Record of the Year for “Rosanna” which brought a number of other awards for Best Engineered Recording, Best Instrumental, Best Vocal Arrangement and Producer of the Year Award. The list goes on and on and the band has continued to remake itself. And now, after 30 years together with hundreds of credits and awards behind them, TOTO remains one of the top selling tours in the world with over 30 million records sold.
What a great treat then it is for me to introduce them to you today. Please welcome Bobby Kimball, vocals; Steve Lukather, guitar and vocals; Simon Phillips, drums and percussion; Greg Phillinganes, keyboards and vocals; Leland Sklar, bass and Tony Spinner, guitars and vocals.
When I heard that TOTO was coming to Buenos Aires, I asked if they would be willing to meet with a special group of students to talk about their music.
They graciously accepted and have been sharing some insights about their music and careers with a group of students from the Primary School Mother Teresa of Virreyes, a group of secondary school students from Saint Andrews High School and a group of university students from the School of Music of the Argentine Catholic University.
Thanks TOTO for taking the time to give others the benefit of your experience as professional musicians.
We wanted TOTO to have the opportunity of meeting some very special Argentine colleagues. And we are lucky to have a number of them with us today. Thank you all very much for coming and making this a special welcome for TOTO.
I hope everyone has the chance to talk to them and to see them perform at the Gran Rex tonight.