There’s no reason on this Earth this link should exist, even in a globalized 21st century connected by aviation and the internet. The two couldn’t be more different, further apart, appear to have less in common — complete opposites, other than a shared, mostly desolate highway in I-10.
Yet on a cool 63 degree night in January nearly seven years ago they collided in an open-air theater surrounded by garnet roses overlooking a stage of emerald grass. Tens of thousands of people flocked from one city to the other while millions more watched on television, all eager to witness the blending of history and entertainment and the transformation of dreams into memories.