Finally....

The buzzing around Grauman’s Chinese Theater definitely caught my attention. But something else was nagging at me – my feet! I insisted that we go back to the hotel, let me change my shoes and we could hoof it back down to Grauman’s to see the stars arrive at the premiere. Well I didn’t check into the premiere deal quite enough! It really didn’t take that long to go to the hotel and come back – we were only a long block away. Lots can happen in an hour on Hollywood Boulevard. By the time we arrived back at Grauman’s, the street was lined with black SUV’s – seems to be the vehicle of choice to be delivered to a premiere. There were Suburbans, Explorers, Tahoes – all in black. It did look pretty impressive with all black vehicles lining the curb. But much to my surprise, the stars had already been dumped out in front of the theater, the movie had started and all the SUVs were just lined up waiting on their passengers to finish their little movie get together. I had one 14 year old daughter that was not happy with me! But then I explained that if they went in, they had to come out so we clicked into full on movie star spotting mode. And we were not alone, there was quite a crowd just hanging out waiting to see whoever might appear. Most got bored waiting so we were able to edge our way up closer to the front of the line – persistence was paying off. I had my huge zoom lens on my Canon and I was ready! All I needed was a star!

Well another misconception that I had about movie premieres was that every star went to every premiere! Now where was the logic in that thinking? I also hadn’t thought about asking what movie premiere was taking place. I didn’t think it mattered. Wrong again. There are about five or six major theaters around the Hollywood area. Movie premieres can take place at any one of these theaters depending on the studio that produces the movie and where they want to hold their “red carpet” event. If you look back at the picture of Brian the Haunted Hollywood Limo Driver, you will notice across the street a Hooter’s and next to it is the El Capitan Theater. Most Disney movies premiere at that theater. A couple of doors down from Grauman’s is the Kodak Theater. That is where the Oscars will be later tonight but it also has a movie theater for hosting premieres and a big nightclub on the top floor for parties. Those three are all right there in close proximity to each other plus there are two or three others in other locations in Los Angeles.

So back to us waiting around Grauman’s to see a star – our movie premiere was Will Ferrell’s Land Of The Lost. Other than Will Ferrell, who was in that movie? It was a matinee premiere. Can you see the strikes lining up for me here? I had moved my way up to the front of the velvet ropes that was being guarded by one of those guys in the black. I decided he might be a wealth of information. They are not friendly types but I was persistent. My little rug rat had missed the red carpet entrance of the stars because I wanted to change shoes and by golly she needed to see a star. Here’s what I got from him: He really didn’t know who all was in the theater that might be coming out soon. He really didn’t know what time the movie actually started to gauge what time they would come out. He really didn’t know who would come out the front door versus going out the back door to a premiere party. Big Guy was not tourist friendly. But again, I was persistent and we weren’t giving up our spots at the front of the red velvet rope. I figured they were keeping him there on the payroll for a reason.

Sure enough – a star soon appeared. Randy Jackson accompanied by his daughter. Either the movie was boring and they left early or Randy couldn’t go to the after party because he brought the baggage (minor child) with him. I quickly zoomed in and got some good close up shots of Randy. So if Randy went to the premiere, maybe Simon and Paula too? And if one star left surely more were to follow? We were really caught up in the excitement and anticipation of more stars to come and I had my camera all ready to zoom right in on them.

From the corner of my eye I happened to catch a glance of something really pink. If you haven’t figured out by now, I like pink. I have three girls and from the time they were born, I dressed them like a walking commercial for Pepto-Bismol. This was enough pink to draw my attention away from the red carpet in front of me. It was a pink cap and a matching pink blazer. Oh my, that was a lot of pink. Then my brain kicked in to actually look and see who was wearing it. It was one of those moments that you look and then you think and then you look again. Was that really ELTON JOHN standing next to me? I am a huge Elton John fan. He was right there next to me. No one in the crowd facing the red carpet had registered yet that he was among us. He had parked down the street and walked up from the back of us while we were all facing the opposite direction. How sneaky was that! He was trying to make his way through the crowd, past Big Guy to get to his star on the sidewalk which happens to be right in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Don’t worry, he had his own Big Guy to move my Big Guy out of the way and go past the velvet ropes. But there was that moment while the two Big Guys were negotiating this deal that Elton was standing right by me. I couldn’t speak! I was frozen for a moment in time. Finally I thought to grab my camera. The stupid thing had the zoom on it and it was sucked up so tight that it looked like Elton was 2 inches from my face. I jerked off the zoom and put the regular lens on in time to get a couple of decent shots.
If I didn’t see another celeb at all, this had made my day!

Leave me a comment to register for the $25 in Glamour Bucks to be given later tonight at the end of the Oscars. What are your star sightings?