Blogs to come...

Been a bit busy with Oscars and all... so here's what's coming:

*Oscar blog (my own personal take on the movie biz's biggest night)
*Chris Isaak blog (spent the afternoon with the quirky crooner)
*OctoMom blog (a visit to her house yields the worst day of my career)
*A Post on Huffington (a live streaming interview experience with Ariana Huffington)

First, I need to sleep.

Lessons from a Hollywood outsider...

My dear friend, Diane, is visiting Hollywood for the first time in her life. She's from Providence, Rhode Island, and is a world traveller: in fact, she's been to Italy with me and other loved ones countless times... she just hasn't, for whatever reason, made it to Los Angeles and its environs, ever. Well, her first time is giving me pause, that is, for the first time in eons, I am seeing this town, and it's glitterati in a whole new light... Not that I'm a jaded entertainment journalist, or anything... it's just that sometimes you need to see your own environment through someone else's virginal eyes.

She attended her first awards show with me and our friend, Mark, on Saturday night, and to see the look on her face when I introduced her to Ron Howard, and to hear how she's relayed that story to friends back home, does my heart good. She was at the movies yesterday and spotted one of her favorite soap hunks attending the same movie. Diane was delirously delighted. Those of us who live here and particularly work in "the biz" sometimes, no, oftentimes take moments like that for granted.

Thanks, Diane, for your fresh perspective... it's easy to forget how much impact "enjoying the moment" -- any moment of joy, in Hollywood or elsewhere -- can have. Just you wait 'til Oscar day!

Hazard pay...

If I ever needed  it, today would be a good day.  While setting up to do an interview on the stage of famed comedy club "The Laugh Factory" this afternoon,  the owner of the venue accidentally knocked a huge microphone stand with a heavy "boom" mike into me... THWACK ... right into my forehead and side of head.   When I finish this blog, I will be researching "concussion" online. Maybe I should have done that before writing this, because the headache is getting worse... I sometimes don't have my priorities in order, though.    Paul Rodriguez, one of the comedians I interviewed (about 'Obam-edy' -- i.e. will Obama be less fodder for comedians, unlike how MUCH fodder Bush provided --- for the record, they feel there will be a honeymoon period, and then all bets are off) offered an icepack, which I turned down because I didn't want the comedy to turn into a 'drama' at that point.    

All of this after one helluva morning writing, producing and fronting Extra's lead story on the octuplet Mom.   My head was hurting enough after going through scads of tape of this woman, her Mother, who's over the whole thing dissing her own daughter!  One day, I will blog about what actually goes into a 1:30 segment of television.  Those who know, know.  Those who don't, will disbelieve.  I digress.   The real interview to get in this whole octuplet drama, though, will be with the doctor who thought it was a fine idea to implant 6 embryos (two, of course, split into twins) in a woman who already was the mother of 6.    The State of California's Medical board is already looking into it.  

I'll take that ice pack now.

About last night...

Ok, so what's better than Coldplay doing the Neil Diamond song "Believer" -- written originally by Diamond for The frikkin' Monkees!!  That's not all that happened, as we were blown away by the MusiCares performances last night at the LA Convention Center.  Jennifer Hudson doing an absolutely moving version of "Holly Holy" -- she sang it as if it was the first time anyone had! Kid Rock (wearing sunglasses, so we were wondering how he could read the teleprompter*), Tim McGraw, even the Jonas Brothers didn't disappoint on the huge stage...  *So about the TelePrompter:  these are current and present Grammy nominees giving their time to do a tribute to MusiCares "Person of the Year" Neil Diamond, so they don't have a whole lot of time to learn the songs, as they are not given much rehearsal time.  Hence, they have the use of a huge teleprompter with the lyrics of the songs set in the back of the room.  It didn't take away from anyone's performances... we hardly saw anyone squinting or acting like they were using the prompter... the performances were all flawless.  Diamond, himself, was touched by the honor, and gave a rousing performance of some of his hits... He even donated his very own 1956 Thunderbird convertible for the silent auction.    What a great night!  Last year's event raised 28 million dollars for young musicians who can't afford health care or hospitalization... here's hoping last night's did that, and more.

A Rainy Friday in SoCal...

There aren't many of them, so those of us who live here secretly love the rain.  Oh yeah, we complain, and our cars spin out on the not-often-wet roads, but we are smiling on the inside. Sometimes it feels like the city needs one great big shower, and a bodyscrub -- the feeling of being cleansed -- and the driving rain gives us that.   

BIG TEASE

I'll be filling you in this weekend on the events of tonight.  It's an official Grammy Week celebration event...MusiCares --  a benefit for musicians who can't afford health care -- and so much more. Always a well-attended, star-studded event.... this year's tribute is to Neil Diamond, and performers include Coldplay (are you kidding me??? can't wait for that), Jennifer Hudson (fresh off her SuperBowl appearance, and considering all she's been through, should be a moving performance), Tim McGraw, Josh Groban (my Mom's fave -- he actually, upon my request during a cocktail party we were both attending -- gave her a call once and she kept him on the phone for 15 minutes... what a sport)!   Then, if even possible, it gets BETTER, because afterward there's an after-party where Timbaland and Rihanna will be performing!  BEST part of all of this, I'm attending these events and not working.  It happens so rarely, that I have to relish the moment it does.   I'll give you all the details over the weekend, until then, have a great one... 

Regarding 'followers' ...

I am grateful to have two days off... I am thankful to have 'followers' already, considering I just posted my first blog entry yesterday.  Followers is such an interesting word... It's suggestive of something that isn't quite right.  Why not 'readers'?  Whatever you're called, I'm happy you are interested enough in my (what will sometimes be) stream-of-consciousness dribble... my day-to-day encounters with those we consider famous -- they are, but they are, for the most part, surprisingly normal.  I will tell you when they're not.  THAT is what people really want to hear about, right?   Anyway, back to the followers... I'm grateful to have a former classmate, a fellow J-school student, reading my blog... but more importantly sharing HER student's journalism with me.  MB, we've come full-circle, now haven't we...  I'm grateful to have one of my dear friends who left SoCal to be closer with her family, and is now tearing up SoFla with her business partner, making all kinds of fun television...  I'm grateful to have a Laguna Beach gallery owner who is both tasteful, stylish, and knows a good blog, like she knows a great piece of art.... I'm grateful to have a fellow-blogger, a GREAT writer, a friend, a woman who can write a screen-play, a novel, a poem, a song -- whatever is in her heart --  like no other...  And I'm grateful for the 'followers' I haven't quite figured out yet... Thank you for taking the time to follow...  but you know you are all really leaders... f@#k the 'follower' moniker... Having some time off is good for the soul.  I will paint, I will spend time with my pups, and I will forget about the woes of the world for just a moment... Until next time.

First of many, I hope...

I have blogged on extratv.com (my show's website) but now welcome to my own personal blog. This will be exciting, because there is so much going on both at work and otherwise in my life which will be fodder for the blog. This week has been a busy one starting with the Oscar nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton hotel, where I had VERY revealing conversations with some of the nominees poolside. Amy Adams introduced her fiance for the first time, and Josh Brolin was getting work-out tips from the ripped Robert Downey, Jr. for his next role. (Downey still in great shape from Ironman and about to do the sequel). Anyway, fun day all the way around... followed up with interviews with Clive Owen (no, he's not sulking about the James Bond thing) and Naomi Watts (who just literally had her second kid, and is sleep-deprived beyond belief, but still going strong). Naomi told a story that I've never heard before. She talked about growing up very poor, and that getting a new pair of shoes was a real 'event' in her life. I was touched by her honesty, and then she got very candid about the economic downturn we're all experiencing, and shared her concern about her own finances... Not the kind of thing you expect a big movie star to share with you.

EXCITING NEWS

Many months ago, I filled out an on-line application to be a part of the Mini E one-year-long trial experiment. Mini Cooper (made by BMW) is testing an ALL-ELECTRIC Mini Cooper and only a couple hundred would be made available in California, with the same number available in the NY/NJ metro area (all because of the close proximity of Mini dealers in those areas). I applied like John Q. Citizen, and got a phone call last week from the Mini people saying that I was accepted and, in fact, was the very first phone call! I was like a kid getting his first bike. Now, let me be clear, this is not a freebie deal. This is a lease which I am paying and will have to give the car back at the end of the year-long trial. So no favors are being done here, and they are only accepting people who have a tremendous love for the car (which you had to express in your essay on the application) as well as a tremendous desire to leave less of a carbon footprint on our environment. The car gets, I've read, 150 miles to the charge and takes about 2 hrs or so of charging in your garage! How cool is this???! I cannot wait to get this car and will be blogging right here about the experience...

That's it for now, and we'll catch up later.