My Weekend with Michael Buble!
This past weekend was an absolute whirlwind – so much so that I am still trying to process the whole thing. It all started a couple of weeks back when I received a phone call from a good friend who informed me that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, of which he is a member, was going to be hosting “An Evening with Michael Buble” – a special question and answer session and mini-concert with the cutie crooner – on April 28th. He had reserved two tickets for the event and, because he says he can’t hear the name Michael Buble without thinking of me, invited me to be his plus-one. As you can imagine, I was absolutely ESCTATIC over the news! Especially since I had been experiencing a particularly tough week with my dad. Flash forward to last Wednesday evening. I received another phone call from my friend informing me that he had heard (this friend knows absolutely EVERYONE in the business) that Michael would be arriving at LAX that Saturday at 1 a.m. and that if I wanted a photograph with him, going there would be my best bet. So even though I am SO not a night owl (I am typically in my PJs, glass of champagne in hand, by 6 p.m. every night), for MB I rallied! As did the Grim Cheaper – and I am so glad that we did because it turned out to be a magical experience. (And yes, I do realize that I can no longer call myself “not a stalker” now that I have gone to the airport to meet a celebrity! )
When the GC and I arrived at LAX, I was shocked to see that there were about twenty paparazzi and autograph dealers (aka “graphers”) already waiting for Michael. Those who read my site regularly know that I am not AT ALL a fan of the graphers – they are extremely aggressive and typically try to get between 20-30 items signed each, thereby taking up all of a celebrity’s time. (Not to mention, they are obnoxious! A TSA agent walked by at one point and asked who we were waiting for and one of the dealers responded, “Michael Buble – he’s a nobody.” Yeah, that guy’s lucky he didn’t get a fist to the face! ) I am not an aggressive person by nature and do not do well in situations involving graphers and paparazzi, so I was fearful that the evening was not going to go well. Come to find out, I never should have worried. Not only is Michael Buble THE NICEST celebrity that I have ever met (Shannen Doherty runs a close second), but the GC was my absolute HERO that night and totally had my back! When MB walked out of the gate area, the graphers and paparazzi, of course, surrounded him and kept shoving photos and Sharpies into his face and hands. I called out to Michael from the sidelines and asked if he would pose for a picture, to which he said, “Sure! Just let me finish signing.” Well, anyone who has ever experienced the graphers knows that there is not ever a “finish” to their autograph seeking. These people carry hundreds upon hundreds of photographs with them at all times. (I’m not joking – some of them even cart around portable filing cabinets filled with celebrity pictures!) Well, MB pretty much signed his life away and it did not appear that the graphers were ever going to stop, so the GC yelled out, “Michael – this girl is a HUGE fan! She flew to Vancouver just to see the grocery store from your video!” (You can read my blog post on the Killarney Market from MB’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” video here.) Michael could not believe that and seemed really excited about it. Just then, his handler stopped him, saying, “OK we are done here. Come on, Michael, we’re leaving.” To which MB said, “Hold on, I need to take a picture with this sweet girl over here.” As you can imagine, I almost died right there on the spot!
My friend took the picture below in which I was telling Michael that he was my number one favorite celebrity.
I was just slightly ecstatic.
The photo below perfectly encapsulates how Michael interacts with his fans. He was SO incredibly friendly, cordial and engaging to everyone who was there – almost unbelievably so. Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, likes to describe fan-friendly celebrities as “braid-your-hair nice”, in that they are so accommodating, they’d braid your hair if you asked them to. Well, braid-your-hair nice doesn’t even being to describe Buble. He is more like “take-the-shirt-off-his-back-and-give-it-to-you nice.” The poor guy had been on a flight for over five hours and it was 1 o’clock in the morning (4 a.m. his time) when he arrived at the airport, yet he still stood there for what seemed like forever signing autographs and posing for pictures!
My dad, who (if possible) loves MB even more than I do, had asked if I would try to get a CD and a photograph signed for him. Right after Michael took the picture with me, he signed the CD – both the actual CD and the CD cover, which was so incredibly cool. (I framed it as soon as I got home and the result is below. My dad LOVES it.)
After Michael signed my dad’s CD, he headed outside to wait for his car. In all of the excitement, I had completely forgotten about the photograph that my dad wanted signed. It was a picture that I had taken on December 13th, 2010 at Michael’s Crazy Love concert at the Staples Center (which I blogged about here). The GC and I had surprised my dad with tickets to the concert for his birthday that year and then for Christmas, which was a few weeks later, I framed one of the photos from the night and gave it to him. It’s been hanging in his office ever since. (Ironically enough, that same Christmas my dad gifted me with a framed photograph of MB that he had also taken at the concert! ) Well, as soon as Michael stepped outside of the airport, the graphers and paparazzi went crazy all over again and surrounded him. At that point, Michael’s handler got wise to the fact that these people were not fans and told him not to sign anything else. Michael then said, “OK guys, I’m not signing anymore, but I’ll take all the photos you want.” Well, that started a whole other sh*tstorm, with even the paps jumping in trying to get pictures with the singer and everyone saying, “My picture didn’t come out, can I get another?” In the midst of the chaos, I went up to MB’s handler and asked if he could please sign one more photograph for my dad. The handler emphatically told me, “NO!” He was annoyed – and I don’t blame him in the slightest. The whole thing was absolutely ridiculous! You can kind of see the mayhem below – and me in the back trying to avoid the graphers.
Michael’s car arrived a few minutes later, but he still stayed outside taking photographs with people. When I told the GC how disappointed I was that I couldn’t get my dad’s picture signed (especially because that concert is such a special memory for the two of us), he grabbed it and went right up to Michael and said, “Look, we are actual fans. Her dad loves you and is very sick and would love to have this picture signed.” To which Michael replied, “Oh man, of course!” As I said, the GC was my hero that night! I NEVER would have gotten my dad’s photo signed – and personalized!!! – without him. I told the GC that while I had fallen in love with MB a little bit more than I already was that night, I had fallen in love with my husband A LOT more. On the drive home, while in total disbelief, I said, “Do you realize that I now have photographs with my top four favorite celebs (Michael Buble, Matt Lanter, Kristin Cavallari, and Shannen Doherty)? The GC’s reply? “Great! Can we retire from this now?” LOL Not surprisingly, I did not sleep at all that night and could not believe that I still had Sunday’s “An Evening with Michael Buble” to look forward to!
Flash forward to Sunday. My friend and I showed up about three hours early to “An Evening with Michael Buble” and wound up with fabulous sixth-row seats!
The Q&A portion of the event, which was hosted by Extra’s Terri Seymour, featured Michael Buble, NBC President of Late Night, Specials and Alternative Programming Paul Telegdy, producer Brad Lachman, Michael Buble’s manager Bruce Allen, and producer Bill Bracken.
The panel discussed the taping of Michael’s 2012 NBC Christmas special, Michael Buble: Home for the Holidays. The group shared some great behind-the-scenes stories and a video was shown explaining how the segment in which MB sang with Bing Crosby was made, which was fascinating to watch. And while the entire evening was taped, I am unsure of when or where it will air. If I had to guess, I would say that NBC is planning to sell DVDs of Michael Buble: Home for the Holidays come December and that the Q&A will be included as a special feature, but that is just a hunch.
After the Q&A session, Michael performed three songs from his new album, To Be Loved. He opened with the classic Michael Jackson ballad “Who’s Lovin’ You” and after belting out the long opening “When I” sequence, suddenly cut into “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. The whole band immediately went silent and MB said, “You should see my musical director’s face right now!” LOL Michael is completely at home on the stage, so incredibly fun to watch and, as usual, absolutely brought down the house. The guy is a perennial performer and I could sit there and watch him sing all night, although I am pretty sure that goes without saying. MB’s set list also included “Young at Heart” and “To Love Somebody” and everyone in the audience was sent home with a To Be Loved CD!
After the show, Michael’s people rushed him outside and through the massive crowd leaving the theatre (which I do not think had been their intention) and even though it was complete chaos, Michael did stop to sign autographs and pose for pictures – including one with me! – as he was being dragged towards his car. The guy is SO flipping nice! <3 <3 <3 The entire weekend was an amazing experience and I am so thankful that I got to be a part of it all. This is one high that I don’t think I’ll ever come down from!
You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
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