music – IAMNOTASTALKER

April 26, 2011April 25, 2011

Dwight’s Bar from “Burlesque”

One Burlesque filming location that I had been trying to track down for what seems like forever now was Dwight’s Bar, which was featured in the movie’s opening scene as the supposed small-town, Iowa-area watering hole where Ali (aka Christina Aguilera) worked. Even though the bar only appeared in one very brief, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it establishing shot, I was absolutely obsessed with stalking the place. For whatever reason, though, I just could not seem to find it. Then, like magic, just a couple of weeks ago fellow stalker Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, added the location to his Burlesque filming locations page and I just about died of excitement. The place was, of course, immediately added to the top of my To-Stalk list and I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there this past weekend.

As it turns out, Dwight’s Bar is actually a vacant storefront located in Piru, California, a small town (according to Wikipedia its population was only 1,196 as of a 2000 census!) situated about 50 miles north of Los Angeles in the Santa Clara River Valley. Piru (pronounced Pie-Roo) was originally founded in 1887 by a wealthy religious book publisher named David C. Cook. Thanks to its Anytown, U.S.A.-look and proximity to L.A., Piru is an oft-used filming locale and has appeared in hundreds upon hundreds of productions over the years, including Melrose Place, Charmed, Murder, She Wrote, Desert Fury, A Star is Born, Enough, The Dukes of Hazzard, The California Kid, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Torque, Van Helsing, Happy, Texas, Reno 911!, and Race to Witch Mountain. Piru’s historic downtown area, which consists of a tiny, one-and-a-half-block stretch of small brick buildings and which is the area of town most often seen onscreen, was reconstructed after being largely destroyed during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Since that time, many of the downtown storefronts have remained vacant, which only adds to the appeal of the place for location scouts as the area can be dressed to fit any sort of production.

Which was exactly what happened with Burlesque. For the opening scene of the movie, Downtown Piru was dressed to look like a small farming town in rural Iowa where Ali lives. And even though its appearance onscreen was brief, I cannot tell you how cool it was to see this location in person!

Amazingly enough, according to the DVD commentary with Burlesque director/writer Steve Antin, the interior of Dwight’s Bar, where Ali sang “Something’s Got A Hold On Me”, was actually a set created inside of a soundstage at Sony Studios in Culver City and was not built inside of the vacant Piru storefront as I had originally believed.

Because I had spent so many hours searching for Dwight’s Bar, I immediately recognized the place when it popped up recently in the Season 7 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Farewell Letter”, in the scene in which Gaby (aka Eva Longoria) and Carlos Solis (aka Ricardo Chavira) return to Gaby’s hometown of Las Colinas, Texas. In the episode, the two pull up in a taxi directly in front of the storefront that was used in Burlesque.

Later on in that same episode, Gaby and Carlos venture out to a restaurant where Gaby is fawned over as the local girl who made good.

In real life, that restaurant is known as the Railway Café and it has appeared in quite a few movies over the years, including 1984’s Rhinestone.

The actual interior of the Railway Café also appeared in the episode.

Sadly though, the place was closed when we showed up to stalk it, so I was only able to snap a few pictures of the interior through the front windows.

The Railway Café can also be seen in the background of Alicia Keys’ “Un-thinkable (I’m Ready)” music video, which starred cutie actor Chad Michael Murray.

Un-thinkable (I’m Ready) video–Piru

You can watch that video by clicking above.

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And, thanks to the Seeing Stars website, I learned that just across the street from Dwight’s Bar is Poncho’s Place, the eatery which stood in for the supposed Bon Temps, Louisiana-area Crawdad’s Family Style Restaurant where Sam Merlotte (aka Sam Trammell) took Sookie Stackhouse (aka Anna Paquin) for a slice of pie in the Season 1 episode of True Blood titled “Sparks Fly Out”.

And even though I have never seen even one episode of True Blood, since we were right there I just had to stalk it.

The real life interior of Poncho’s Place also appeared in the episode.

Although, as you can see in the above photographs, it was decorated rather differently for the filming.

Big THANK YOU to Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Dwight’s Bar from Burlesque is located at 3951 East Center Street in Piru. Poncho’s Place, aka Crawdad’s Restaurant from the “Sparks Fly Out” episode of True Blood, is located just across the street at 3944 Center Street in Piru. And the Railway Café from the “Farewell Letter” episode of Desperate Housewives is located half a block down the road at 3989 Center Street in Piru.

April 21, 2011April 20, 2011

Elevate Lounge from Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” Music Video

One location that has been at the top of my To-Stalk list for over two years now is Downtown L.A.’s Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant and Elevate Lounge which were used extensively in Britney Spears’ music video for her 2008 hit song “Womanizer”. I first found out about this location while watching the ultra-depressing MTV special Britney: For the Record, which aired on November 30th, 2008 and chronicled 60 days in the pop star’s life, two of which were spent filming “Womanizer”. I, of course, immediately became obsessed with stalking the restaurant, but the Grim Cheaper objected every single time I suggested grabbing a bite to eat there, thinking it would be far too pricey for his tastes. It was not until this past Saturday afternoon when the two of us found ourselves hungry while doing some stalking in Downtown L.A. that I again suggested the restaurant and the GC decided it might be worth a try. Before agreeing completely, though, he first scoped the place out on Yelp and was absolutely DELIGHTED to discover a reviewer who had posted a comment with those three magic words – “fabulous happy hour”, which of course caused him to acquiesce and we immediately headed right on over there to grab a bite to eat and do some Britney stalking.

And I am very happy to report that we were NOT at all disappointed! Takami is one of the COOLEST restaurants that I have ever been to in my entire life! Located in the penthouse suite on the 21st floor of a Downtown L.A. office building, the indoor/outdoor, open-air restaurant boasts INCREDIBLE, 360-degree views of the infamous L.A. skyline.

Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant and Elevate Lounge first opened in August of 2007 in what was a former office suite. The space was the brain-child of former Arthur Anderson financier Emil Eyvazoff who spent over five years touring over 100 different venues looking for the right location to build his dream restaurant. In a November 22, 2007 Los Angeles Times article, Emil is quoted as saying, “We told the two guys looking for us, ‘Make sure it’s jaw-droppingly unique.’ Then in April of ‘05 we saw [this] spot, and I think by the fourth step out of the elevator I said, ‘This is it.’” Tag Front, the design firm that was also responsible for the look of Boa, Geisha House, and Katana, was hired to design the space and, during an amazing two-year-process, gutted the 6,000-square-foot premises and brought in wood-paneled walling, a 25- by 40-foot sunken dance floor, 150 feet of sliding glass dooring, large modern couches, and a state-of-the-art DJ booth and sound system, transforming a drab office suite into the sleek, ultra-modern lounge and restaurant that it is today. And Emil was certainly spot on in his description of the place – it is most definitely “jaw-droppingly unique”. The food was out of this world, as well. And the Yelp reviewer had definitely been correct in his assessment – Takami does have a fabulous Happy Hour, which is, amazingly enough, also offered on Saturday and Sunday nights. During Happy Hour, all of the food served in the bar area of the restaurant is priced at $4 – not kidding! And the servings are huge, to boot! The GC and I tried almost everything on the menu and I just about died over the Japanese-style bruschetta, while the GC loved the Sushi Trio offering so much that he ordered a second serving of it immediately upon finishing the first.

Britney’s “Womanizer” music video was shot in Elevate Lounge, Takami Restaurant’s nightclub section, which was closed at the time we showed up to stalk the place. But our SUPER nice server asked the manager to take me on a private tour of the space when we finished dining. So incredibly cool!

Takami’s manager also could NOT have been nicer and gave me a very lengthy and in-depth tour of Elevate and pointed out where the filming of “Womanizer” had taken place. The video, which was shot on September 24th and 25th of 2008, was primarily filmed in one of Elevate’s three bar areas – the one located closest to the lounge’s main entrance.

As you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, the detailed mosaic design behind the bar area which appeared in the music video is actually there in real life. Love it!

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Takami’s kitchen area also appeared in “Womanizer”, but I, unfortunately, did not get a chance to stalk that part of the restaurant.

Some behind the scenes images from the video shoot are pictured above.

Elevate Lounge also hosted actresses Sophia Vergara and Natasha Henstridge and hairstylist Ken Paves for a “Beauty Roundtable” article which ran in the March 24, 2008 issue of US Weekly Magazine.

And OK Magazine held a photoshoot with singer Colbie Caillat for their February 28th, 2008 issue at the lounge. Elevate has also appeared in episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Brothers and Sisters, and Millionaire Matchmaker. The restaurant is also something of a celebrity hot spot and such stars as Audrina Patridge, Jason Biggs, Omar Epps, Kat Von D, Brody Jenner, Frankie Delgado, and David Archuleta have all been spotted there.

Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” Music Video at Elevate Lounge

You can watch Britney’s “Womanizer” music video by clicking above.

Britney Spears: For the Record–with the Making of “Womanizer”

And you can watch Britney: For the Record by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant and Elevate Lounge from Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” music video is located on the Penthouse level of the building at 811 Wilshire Boulevard in Downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the Lounge’s official website here. While Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant is open daily, Elevate Lounge is only open on Friday and Saturday nights, from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.

December 21, 2010December 21, 2010

The Michael Buble “Crazy Love” Concert – A Second Time!

Last Monday night, my mom, my dad, the Grim Cheaper, and I all headed to Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles to attend the final show of Michael Buble’s “Crazy Love” Tour. And, as you can imagine, I could NOT have been more excited! When I attended the cutie crooner’s concert back in April of this year, the experience was extremely bittersweet for me as my dad, who – if it is at all possible – loves Michael even more than I do, was too sick to attend. Thanks to a hook-up from fellow stalker David, we had absolutely AMAZING seats and although I enjoyed myself immensely while there, I couldn’t help but be distracted by the fact that my dad was not sitting next to me, as he would absolutely died over our proximity to the stage. So, when I found out a couple of weeks ago that MB would be returning to Los Angeles to finish up his tour, I just about had a heart attack and informed the GC that, come hell or high water, we would ALL be attending – my mom, my dad, the GC, and I. You see, after three years of living with pancreatitis – to the point that he was giving himself numerous daily injections of Dilaudid pain medication at home – after over 15 surgeries and one very unsuccessful trip to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and after literally almost missing my wedding due to pain, my dad is finally, FINALLY healthy again! As it turns out, one of his cholesterol medications was causing the pancreatitis, which we only discovered thanks to an extremely astute emergency room doctor at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, whom we happened to meet by chance after my dad’s pancreatic specialist told my mom, while en route to a West L.A. hospital in the midst of one of my dad’s attacks, that there was “nothing more he could do for him” (not kidding!). My mom immediately turned the car around and drove to Huntington, their local hospital, and the rest is history! My dad is now on his 45th day (and counting) of (relatively) no pain! Halleluiah! The bad news is that, for better or worse, he will forever have pancreatitus and will, therefore, always be subject to pain, but at least now it’s a manageable pain and he can once again live a normal life. So, to celebrate my dad’s newfound good health and his 64th birthday, which was on the 16th of December, the GC and I purchased four tickets to the MB “Crazy Love” show. Because I love surprises, we waited until the day before the concert to tell my dad of our plans and he started bawling upon opening the box and seeing the tickets. Smile One of the best moments of my life, right there.

Thanks to another hook-up from fellow stalker David, I was again able to secure FABULOUS seats to the show – in fact they were the EXACT same seats that we sat in during the previous MB concert! My dad almost died when he saw how close we were to the stage! Thank you, David!

The arena was literally JAM-PACKED with people, so the fact that we were able to get tickets at all, let alone such great ones, was absolutely incredible!

MB’s opening act was, again, Naturally 7 , an acoustic group that specializes in what they call “vocal play” – i.e. they perform without the assistance of instruments, but instead use their voices and bodies to simulate various musical instruments and sounds. And I have to say that they were absolutely A-MA-ZING! If I hadn’t been there, witnessing the whole thing with my own eyes, I would have been CONVINCED that they had instruments onstage with them!

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After Naturally 7 performed for about an hour, the lights went down and it was time for Mr. Buble to come out. He opened up the show with a rousing rendition of “Cry Me A River” and, let me tell you, the crowd went absolutely wild! But no one more so than me and my dad! My dad’s mouth literally hung open – and I am fairly certain that he also teared up a bit – upon seeing Michael step out onto that stage and realizing how very close to him we were. Smile

I can easily say that Monday night’s concert was JUST as fabulous as the one we saw in April, if not more so! Before seeing the show, I was a little worried that it would simply be a carbon copy of the previous concert and that all of Michael’s jokes were, in actuality, scripted and were not as off-the-cuff as they had seemed. But I am VERY happy to report that that was not the case AT ALL! Even though the song list was, for the most part, identical to April’s show, it truly felt as if we were attending a completely different concert, mostly due to the fact that all of Michael’s jokes and monologues were new and spontaneous. He truly plays off and engages the crowd and all of the hilarious stories we heard this time around were different than the ones he told at the previous show. LOVE IT!

And, as I mentioned last time, Buble is FUNNY! Like ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS! His show is equal parts concert/stand-up comedy act. At one point he introduced his pianist Alan Chang, who has been with him since 2003, by saying, “He is my friend, my pianist, my writing partner, my musical director, and . . . my part-time lover,” and then he broke out into a spontaneous rendition of Stevie Wonder’s 1985 hit “Part-Time Lover”. LOL LOL LOL Michael is also a fabulous impersonator and can speak in just about any accent imaginable, which he did throughout the night. He also did a fabulous impersonation of Elin Nordegren for us, during which he danced across the stage, pretending to wear clogs, while reprimanding Tiger Woods for his lascivious ways. Afterwards he said, “I’m sure she doesn’t really sound like that, but in my head she does.” Winking smile

It is also readily apparent not only how much the guy loves being onstage, but how much he enjoys interacting with his fans. One lady in the front row had a sign stating, “Michael, I’ve been with you for FORTY shows!” Well, Michael took one look at that sign, said “I have GOT to give you a hug!”, immediately jumped down to the floor, and embraced the woman. As you can imagine, I just about died over that one! I mean, is that all it takes to get a hug from Michael Buble? Oh GC, you know what that means! Next year we are going to at least forty of his shows! Winking smile

The most unique aspect of an MB concert, though, is that while there you feel as if you are hanging out with the singer in his living room. Even though there are 14,000 people surrounding you, due to his easy-going and sincere nature, Michael somehow manages to make the whole thing seem intimate and personal.

And his show is FUN! Michael is a barrel of energy and spends the entire two hours sliding across the stage, spinning around, and bouncing up and down. His jubilance is absolutely contagious and he has somehow even managed to make a fan out of the GC, who, prior to April’s concert, could just take or leave the guy.

As was the case last time, Michael was accompanied onstage by nothing more than a microphone, a stool, and his amazing band. There were no histrionics, no big dance numbers, no special effects. It was just a man and his voice and, let me tell you, he ABSOLUTELY BROUGHT DOWN THE HOUSE! He had that audience on its feet for the entire second act of the show! Even my mom and dad were standing and dancing for the last hour! So incredibly cool!

Also, much the same as last time, my favorite segment of the show definitely had to be the big Michael Jackson Tribute/”Twist & Shout” number. Michael introduced the segment by saying he was going to sing a song from the movie that won the 1986 Academy Award for Best Picture – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Then he said, “No, I’m just kidding – Ferris Bueller did not actually win the Oscar that year, but it TOTALLY should have!” LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

At one point during the concert, Michael actually walks through the audience over to the “B-Stage”, which is located on the other side of the venue. While there he sang an absolutely beautiful acoustic version of his hit song “Home” accompanied only by his guitar player. I don’t remember him singing the song in that manner during the April show and it turned out to be one of my favorite performances of the entire evening. Sigh!

Michael ended the show with his new song “Hollywood” while accompanied by Naturally 7 and it was FABULOUS. I absolutely LOVE that song!

He, of course, came back out after “Hollywood” to sing an encore, during which a cloud of confetti burst from the sky setting the stage for “Let It Snow”. Because the Christmas tune is one of my dad’s very favorite Buble songs, we could NOT have been more excited to hear it.

As always, Michael finished his encore with the Leon Russell-penned “Song For You”, which he says he hopes to end every show with for the rest of his life.

All in all, it was an ABSOLUTELY amazing night and the BEST possible present we could have ever given my dad in honor of his newfound good health! Amazingly enough, my mom actually saw the Beatles perform live in concert when she was a teenager and she said that the Michael Buble show was far more exceptional. Talk about a compliment!

A BIG, HUGE THANK YOU to fellow stalker David from both me and my dad for hooking us up with these amazing tickets! You rock, my friend! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Sadly, you can’t – last Monday night’s show was the last of Michael Buble’s “Crazy Love” Tour. But you can find out information about the singer’s upcoming appearances on his official website here. And you can follow Tory Class, MB’s Tour Marketing Manager, on Twitter at @ToryonTour here.

April 19, 2010April 20, 2010

The Michael Jackson Auditorium at Gardner Street Elementary School

A few weeks ago, fellow stalker and mega-MJ-aficionado David from Spain told me about a King of Pop location that I wasn’t previously aware of – the Michael Jackson Auditorium at Gardner Street Elementary School. So, of course, I just had to run right out and stalk it! MJ attended the Hollywood area school for a few brief months in late 1969/early 1970, after the 11-year old singer and his four brothers first moved to Southern California from their hometown of Gary, Indiana to begin their new lives as performers. At the time, the Jackson 5, who had recently been signed to the Motown record label, were on the cusp of superstardom. Young Michael attended sixth grade classes at Gardner Street Elementary School during the day – you can view his class picture here – while the group recorded songs for their new label at night. But, in January of 1970, after only a few short months at the school, the Jackson 5 skyrocketed to fame, their single “I Want You Back” hit number one, and Michael’s popularity made it so that he could no longer be a part of a normal school environment. He withdrew from Gardner Street and from that point forward was homeschooled by a private tutor named Rose Fine. But the story doesn’t end there.

In 1989, almost two full decades after he attended classes there, Gardner Street Elementary School decided to honor its most famous alumnae by renaming its assembly room the “Michael Jackson Auditorium”. On October 11th, to the delight of the student body, the King of Pop himself showed up for the dedication ceremony, where he was presented with a plaque by his sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Laura Gerson. The pop star made a brief speech thanking the students, the faculty, and the PTA, donated a large sum of money to the school, planted rose bushes on the campus, and even signed the wall of Room 8 – his former sixth grade classroom. In the years following the dedication, Michael also personally paid the salary of the school’s music teacher out of his own pocket, an act which I find absolutely amazing!

You can watch a video of the Michael Jackson Auditorium dedication ceremony by clicking above.

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But, once again, the story doesn’t end there. Sadly, in November of 2003, following the singer’s arrest on molestation charges in the Gavin Arvizo case, Gardner Street School covered over the Michael Jackson portion of the auditorium’s sign with paint and a plywood box. According to a November 25, 2003 Los Angeles Times article written by Erika Hayasaki, school district spokeswoman Stephanie Brady stated that administrators chose to cover the sign due to complaints from angry parents. She said the sign “may” be uncovered following the trial, if the singer was found innocent. But, even though, Michael Jackson was indeed acquitted of all charges on June 13, 2005, the sign remained covered, and still does to this day, seven years after the fact. And while in America one is supposed to remain innocent until proven guilty, that certainly wasn’t the case here. It’s pretty unbelievable to me that after BOTH his acquittal and subsequent death this past June, the plywood box has yet to come down. You can see what the Michael Jackson Auditorium looked like before its sign was covered up here.

All that currently remains alerting anyone to the auditorium’s former name is a small plaque which reads “Michael Jackson Auditorium, Dedicated October 11, 1989”. The plaque is barely visible, though, and we had to use my fiancé’s telephoto lens to snap a picture of it. After telling me about this location, fellow stalker David said “I must admit, I am dying to stalk this place . . . but, at the same time, I am also dying to to go there and throw a bunch of eggs at their doors.” And that pretty much sums up how I felt while I was there, too. English may be his second language, but David sure has a way with words! 🙂

Big THANK YOU to David for telling me about this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Michael Jackson Auditorium can be found at Gardner Street Elementary School which is located at 7450 Hawthorn Avenue in Hollywood. The Auditorium can best be viewed from the corner of Hawthorne Avenue and North Gardner Street. Please remember that this location is a school and that schools do NOT take kindly to trespassing. I must caution you that there are, by no stretch of the imagination, at least ten signs out front warning that all uninvited visitors who trespass will be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Schools don’t really mess around when it comes to trespassing, so please be aware that if you set foot on the Gardner Street Elementary School campus you are breaking the law and will be subject to arrest. To sign a petition to restore Michael Jackson’s name to the Gardner Street Elementary School auditorium, please click here and to learn more about the cause, click here.

April 14, 2010April 15, 2010

On Set With the “American Idol” Contestants

This past Sunday, while doing some stalking in Downtown L.A., my fiancé and I happened upon the current American Idol contestants filming a Ford commercial on the corner of South Hope Street and Wilshire Boulevard. And even though I have yet to watch even one episode of the series this season, I begged my fiancé to pull the car over so that we could watch a bit of the filming. And, wow, what a mistake that turned out to be! As we made our way over to the set, camera in hand, an incredibly rude crew member walked up to us and said – and I am quoting here! – “If you take a picture of this, we will sue you!” Being that we were standing on a public sidewalk in the middle of Downtown Los Angeles and that the Idol set was an open one (i.e. not closed to the public), I didn’t see how we were committing an act that was sue-worthy. Furthermore, I’m pretty sure that you need to know who someone is before you can actually sue them. Was the guy planning on serving a summons to “the blond girl in the white jacket who was standing on the corner watching American Idol film in Downtown L.A. on Sunday, April 13th at approximately 11 a.m.?” Don’t think that would really fly in court of law. 😉 My fiancé pretty much told the guy to stick it, to which the crew member said, “O.K., then I am going to have to call the police!” I am not kidding here! He actually said that he was going to call the police and have us arrested! For a second there, I thought we were being Punk’d! It was at that point that I noticed a group of three paparazzi standing a few feet away from us, chatting with the two policemen who were on duty manning the set. Being that the photogs not only weren’t being arrested, but seemed to be having a very amicable conversation with the cops, I figured we were safe. 🙂 I’m telling you, though, not once in my ten years of living in Los Angeles have I ever experienced the type of rudeness I encountered on the Idol set. Sure, some crews are not very friendly, some are even rude, but this one was in a whole different realm! One of the crew members even went so far as to shove a paparazzi at one point! Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it! Oh well, at the very least, it was entertaining to watch! 🙂

Now, I should explain here that if you tell the Grim Cheaper not to do something, he becomes pretty hell bent upon doing it. So, even though neither one of us cared much about watching the Idols film their commercial or about taking photographs of them, the next thirty minutes of our day were spent doing exactly that. My fiancé took as many pictures as he possibly could and, for once, it was me dragging him off a set instead of the other way around. I was ready to leave after about five minutes of being there, actually, because there just wasn’t a whole lot going on and because I didn’t recognize any of the contestants. In fact, I had a very hard time distinguishing who was a crewmember and who was an Idol, as did my fiancé, and he actually watches the show!

The Idol shoot basically consisted of four of the contestants (Michael Lynche, Lee Dewyze, Tim Urban, and Siobhan Magnus) watering a patch of dirt in the middle of a Downtown L.A. street.

Then something happens – something that I am guessing is going to be added in digitally during post-production – causing them to all look upward. And that was pretty much it.

After doing about four takes of the above sequence, the Idols joined together in front of a Ford car to shoot some publicity stills for Fox. And, let me tell you, the crew REALLY did not want anyone getting pictures of that! Which begs the question, why didn’t the producers just close the set? Sure, it’s more expensive permit-wise, but geez, it’s a better way to go about things than getting your panties all in a twist and almost punching out a paparazzi!

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Oddly enough, only eight of the nine remaining Idols were on set on Sunday, including Casey James, Katie Stevens, Michael Lynche, Siobhan Magnus, Tim Urban, Aaron Kelly, Lee Dewyze, and Andrew Garcia. For whatever reason, Crystal Bowersox was not in attendance. Or, if she was, we didn’t stick around long enough to see her.

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What struck me as odd about the whole thing was that the Idol contestants are virtual unknowns – relative newbies trying to make a name for themselves in the music industry. You’d think that the studio would want to drum up as much publicity for them as possible, not steer free publicity away! Ironically enough, one of the paparazzi told me that the only reason the photogs were there in the first place was because Ben Affleck was supposed to have been shooting a movie a block away. When that shoot got cancelled due to early morning rain, the paps figured they might as well take some Idol pics since they were already in the area. They said the pics were worthless now, but when the final winner is announced in a few weeks, they might bring in some money. Oh, if those Idols only knew!

The one highlight of my time on the Idol set was hanging out with the paparazzi who were SO incredibly nice I almost couldn’t believe it. It has been my experience in L.A. that photogs are typically not very friendly people. Most are downright despicable, actually. But the three who were on the Idol set were total sweethearts! We had great conversations about which stars are nice, which aren’t, our experiences living in L.A., and even the Michael Buble concert that I had just been to two nights prior. 🙂 The guy pictured above even let my fiancé, who has become very interested in photography as of late, test out his ultra-expensive camera. The whole thing was a very pleasant surprise.

It’s very sad to me that the Idol crew ruined something that is usually such a positive experience. If that had been my first time stalking a film set, I might never have gone back. So, to all of my fellow stalkers out there I say this – if you ever encounter a crew like this one, please, please don’t let it deter you from visiting other film sets! 99.9% of the crews out there are very friendly and know that what they do is pretty darn special and that us so-called normal people, who aren’t in the industry, are often fascinated by it and want to see it all firsthand and take pictures to show our friends back home. As the saying goes, “Mean people suck”, but I am very, very happy to report that in L.A. the number of nice crews far outweighs the mean ones!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Idols filmed their Ford commercial at the intersection of South Hope Street and Wilshire Boulevard in Downtown Los Angeles.

April 13, 2010June 6, 2010

The Michael Buble Crazy Love Concert

As I have mentioned countless times before on this blog, this stalker is one hundred percent, head over heels in love with cutie crooner Michael Buble. In fact, my fiancé and I are currently in the midst of creating our wedding slide show and the vast majority of songs I picked out to play during it are, of course, Michael Buble songs, which had my fiancé griping, “Lindsay, not EVERY song can be by him! Let’s have some variety!” Being that my dad and I are doing our Father/Daughter dance to “Save The Last Dance”, also by MB, I guess I am going to have to concede his point. Otherwise our wedding might just turn into a Michael Buble dance party. Which, now that I think about it, wouldn’t actually be such a bad thing. But I digress. So, when tickets for Michael’s Crazy Love Tour went on sale a few months back, I tried to purchase some for my parents, my fiancé, and myself. Sadly, though, the show sold out within minutes and I was turned away empty-handed. I did manage to find some on the ticket resale website StubHub a few weeks later, but seats were going for about $350 a piece. I almost bought them, too, but the Grim Cheaper put his foot down and told me in no uncertain terms that “no way, no how” was I to buy those tickets. Needless to say, I was crushed. Then, a few weeks ago, I happened to mention my desire to see MB in concert in my blog post about the Michael Buble Suite at the Best Western Alderwood Hotel and, as fate would have it, fellow stalker David immediately emailed me and said he might be able to hook me up with tickets. And, sure enough, he did! I got a call from him at about 1 p.m. this past Friday afternoon saying that he had two very reasonably priced tickets for that evening’s show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles if I wanted them. I was driving at the time and, let me tell you, I just about crashed into a tree I was so excited. I immediately called up my fiancé to tell him the news, but I was so keyed up he couldn’t understand me. He kept saying, “Lindsay, slow down! Calm down! I don’t know what it is you’re trying to tell me!” He told me later that at the time he actually thought I had been in an accident or something. LOL For the rest of the day, I could hardly sit still due to excitement as I knew that in just a few short hours I would be at the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles waiting for Michael Buble to take the stage! YAY!

David had told me when he called that the seats he had secured were good ones. And, while I knew that we would be sitting fairly close to the stage (we were in Row 17), I had NO IDEA how close we would actually be. The above picture is my reaction when we entered the arena and saw our seats for the very first time. I was literally DYING!

And while our tickets stated that we were sitting in “Row 17”, our seats were, in actuality, only six rows back from the side of the stage. You can see in the above photograph how incredibly close we actually were. The moment I first saw the stage and realized our close proximity to it was extremely bittersweet for me, as I had planned on bringing my dad to the show that night. Unfortunately, though, he was not feeling well and was unable to accompany me, which absolutely broke my heart. My dad is an even bigger MB fan than I am (if that’s possible!) and he would have ABSOLUTELY DIED to have attended one of his concerts sitting in the kind of seats that we had. 🙁 My dad not being there was truly my only regret of the night, though. The rest of the evening was sheer perfection!

The night’s opening act was a group called Naturally 7, whom I was already familiar with from the song “Stardust”, which is featured on MB’s Crazy Love CD. Naturally 7 is a group of 7 – duh! 🙂 – performers who specialize in what they call “Vocal Play”, a method of beat-boxing in which they use their voices, mouths, and bodies to impersonate instruments such as trombones, harmonicas, trumpets, and drums. They were simply incredible and if I had closed my eyes throughout their performance I would have been convinced that there were actual instruments onstage. Thanks to their jazzy-type sound, they were the absolute perfect opening act for a Michael Buble show.

At around 9 p.m., after Naturally 7 left the stage, the lights finally dimmed and the strains of “Cry Me A River” came blasting through the arena. Michael first appeared as a shadow behind a white curtain, conducting his band, and then the curtain slowly parted and there he was! Standing about 30 feet in front of me! Sigh! I borrowed my dad’s camera for the concert, as his is a lot better than mine, but unfortunately, due to the incredibly bright lights on stage, most of my pictures did not come out. Such a shame, too, as we really could have gotten some amazing shots of Michael.

After his big opener, MB addressed the crowd, something he actually does quite frequently throughout the show. As New York Post writer Dan Aquilante wrote in his March 22nd review of Michael’s recent Madison Square Garden concert, “The one trick that can’t be borrowed or learned is genuineness. There’s nothing phony about Buble. When he speaks to the crowd, it’s as if you’re in his living room.” Couldn’t have said it better myself! Michael very early on established the fact that this would not be your typical concert, but that he instead wanted us to think of it like a party – a party with 14,000 guests, no less, but still a party. He said that he would not be standing onstage simply singing songs while looking down at his shoes, but that we were “in it together” and if we wanted to sing along, that we should absolutely sing along, that if we wanted to dance, we should get out of our seats and shake our caboose, and that if the people behind us didn’t like it, well, we should just . . . and then he stuck up his middle finger and waved it out at the crowd, Ed Rooney from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off-style. LOL I guess it goes without saying that the guy is absolutely HILARIOUS! I had seen him in enough interviews to know that he was funny, but I had no idea how funny until this past Friday night.

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Michael Buble is an absolute and total goofball and, as you can see in the above photographs, spends the vast majority of his time onstage laughing. LOVE IT! It is blindingly obvious how much he enjoys performing and that sheer kind of joy is nothing if not contagious.

He also spends a lot of time having actual conversations with people in the audience. One lady asked him if he was married, as he appeared to be wearing a wedding ring, which you can see in the above picture. He explained, though, that he had just recently gotten engaged to his Argentinean girlfriend, Luisana Loreley Lopilato de la Torre. The woman who had asked the question cried out, “Oh, I’m Argentinean, too!”, to which Michael said, “Well, then you know! It is customary in your culture for a man to also wear an engagement ring.” The woman gave him a blank stare and then MB said, “OK, I guess not! Well, she sure had me fooled!” LOL See what I mean – HILARIOUS! Buble also does spot-on impersonations and can speak in hundreds of different accents, which he did throughout the night. It very quickly became exceedingly obvious that Michael Buble is not a singer, but an all-out performer.

What amazed me most about the show, though, was the fact that, aside from one set of pyrotechnics that was released during the opening song, the entire night was completely devoid of spectacle. There were no histrionics, no big dance ensembles, no videos playing in the background. Michael was accompanied onstage solely by a microphone, a stool, and his band. When you have a voice like his, everything else is just a distraction.

And, let me tell you, he had that audience on its feet the ENTIRE NIGHT LONG! He’s truly an OUTSTANDING performer and he gives no less than 100% the entire one hour and forty minutes that he is onstage. He runs around, dances his goofy Michael Buble-type dances, cracks jokes, and tells stories. And he is absolutely enchanting!

Before we left for the concert, my dad told my fiancé that he would no doubt be a Buble-fanatic by the end of the night, to which I said, “Are you kidding me? The Grim Cheaper is going to be sitting there the entire time thinking about the amount of money the tickets set him back.” LOL To my astonishment, though,the G.C. had a BLAST! There were points in the evening when he was absolutely doubled over in laughter thanks to MB’s onstage antics and I even caught him tapping his foot along with the music a few times. What’s even more telling is that at one point he ventured outside of the arena to use the restroom and I asked if he’d stop at one of the concert kiosks to buy me a T-shirt I had been eyeing. When he returned from the restroom empty-handed, I asked about my T-shirt and he explained that, while waiting in line, he heard Michael start to sing “Home”, so he immediately rushed back inside as he didn’t want to miss it! I guess my dad was right, after all – the Grim Cheaper has definitely become a Michael Buble fan. 🙂

My favorite part of the concert, though, had to be when MB talked about his childhood. Buble told the audience that most fans incorrectly assume that Frank Sinatra was his childhood music idol, when in actuality he loved none other than the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson! As you can imagine, I just about died upon hearing that! He went on to say that growing up he spent quite a bit of time on his father’s boat – his father was a professional salmon fisherman – and every time MB got a break during the day, he would go down to the galley and watch a little movie called Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He said he absolutely LOVED the parade float scene and credits it with giving him his original desire to perform. Sigh! A Michael Jackson AND John Hughes fan? Could this guy be any more perfect??? Then MB went on to perform an awesome “Billie Jean/Twist and Shout” medley, during which he even did the Moonwalk!, and, let me tell you, I just about died! It was SO MUCH FUN! You can watch a similar medley from Michael Buble’s Madison Square Garden concert by clicking above.

For the grand finale, Michael sang his latest hit song “Haven’t Met You Yet”, which is one of my favorites. I couldn’t believe it when the confetti first started to pour down from the ceiling signaling the end of the show, though, as it had seemed to me that only about 25 minutes had passed since Michael first took to the stage. In actuality, it had been almost ninety! As they say, time FLIES when you’re having fun. I literally could have sat there all night listening to him perform. He was PHENOMENAL. After the grand finale, MB came back out for an encore of three more numbers, including “Song For You” which he said he ends every single show with. During the final stanza of the song he astonished the crowd by dropping his microphone to the floor and singing to us without using anything to amplify his voice. Let me tell you, you could have heard a pin drop in that room, the crowd was so wowed. His voice was so incredibly powerful, it was almost unbelievable. It was an absolutely amazing end to an absolutely amazing evening – one I will never forget for the rest of my life. I literally don’t think I breathed once during the entire show. Even now, days later, my Michael Buble fog has yet to lift and my pulse rate is just beginning to return to normal. 🙂

A HUGE, TREMENDOUS, AND VERY HEARTFELT THANK YOU TO DAVID FOR HOOKING ME UP WITH THE CONCERT TICKETS! WORDS CAN’T EXPRESS HOW MUCH I APPRECIATE WHAT YOU DID! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: You can find out about Michael Buble’s upcoming tour dates on his official website here. The next leg of his tour begins on May 6th, 2010 in the United Kingdom.

April 21, 2009April 20, 2010

The Michael Jackson Exhibit by Julien’s Auctions

As I’ve mentioned once before, even though he has some major issues, darn if I don’t love me some MJ! So when one of my readers, Amanda, posted a comment this morning about the Michael Jackson Exhibit that is currently being held in Beverly Hills, I just about had a full blown panic attack right there in my own living room. HOW IN THE HECK HAD I NOT HEARD ABOUT THIS??? LOL I immediately called my dad, who also loves himself some MJ, and the two of us headed right over to Beverly Hills to check out the exhibit.

The Michael Jackson exhibit was originally slated as an auction to be hosted by Julien’s Auctions company. Michael Jackson himself hired the auction house, which specializes in entertainment memorabilia, to sell off virutally all of the contents of his now defunct Neverland Ranch. At the last minute, though, MJ changed his mind and decided to cancel the auction and buy back all of his memorabilia from Julien’s. But he did agree to go through with the scheduled exhibition of his valuables, which is open to the public now through April 25th. And I am so glad he did, as my experience there today was nothing short of incredible!!!!!

I was literally on the edge of my seat for the entire drive to Beverly Hills! And the exhibit did not fail to disappoint! The first thing you see when walking up to the exhibition area is – are you sitting down for this??? – the famed NEVERLAND RANCH GATE! I have wanted to see that gate for as long as I can remember and was so disappointed when I stalked Neverland Ranch back in 2007 and discovered that it wasn’t visible from the street. I was so floored to see that gate in person, in fact, that I couldn’t imagine there’d be anything inside the exhibit hall that could top it! But, boy, was I wrong! The Neverland gate was just the beginning! 🙂

In a very lucky twist of fate, after asking a security guard a question upon entering the exhibit, I was referred to a man named Michael Doyle. Well, it turns out that Michael is the administrator of the entire exhibit and a SUPER nice guy. After I told him a bit about my blog, he ended up taking me on my own mini private tour of the exhibit!!!!! Unbelievable!!!!! 🙂 According to Doyle, the 30,000 square foot, 1,400 lot exhibit took over nine months to coordinate. The removal of the items from Neverland Ranch alone took ninety days! Doyle was at the ranch during that entire ninety day period and got to see up close and personal how the King of Pop lived. What an experience! When I told Doyle that I had actually been to Neverland Ranch, he said “Oh, you were invited there?” LOL I had to clarify and tell him that no, I had not been invited to Neverland Ranch, but had stalked the outside of it for my blog. LOL LOL LOL While I was speaking with Doyle, he got a call that Sharon Osbourne would be touring the exhibit later that day. I guess even celebs are fascinated with the King of Pop. 🙂

The entire exhibit, which feels very much like a museum, is set up in such a way that visitors feel as if they are actually stepping inside of the real Neverland Ranch. Before arriving, I was nervous that cameras would not be allowed, as I knew that I’d want to take pictures of EVERYTHING. Well, I really needn’t have worried, as cameras are not only allowed, but encouraged!!! The ultra-friendly security guards and docents kept telling us to be sure to take a lot of photographs. And my dad and I sure complied!! The two of us took over 200 pictures while there! Obviously I can’t post all 200 pictures here, as this post would be never-ending. So, I had to choose a few of my favorites. 🙂

On display are numerous costumes that the King of Pop wore during performances. Seeing them in person I could not believe how tiny MJ is! According to one of the docents, he has a 28 inch waist! I took the above photograph for comparison – now, I am a small girl (a size 2 usually) and look how much smaller Michael is than me! He’s like half my size!!!

Michael had 114 arcade games at Neverland Ranch, all of which are in working order and on display at the exhibit. Apparently, when the auction was still set to happen, the arcade games were garnering the most attention. Not from Michael Jackson fans, though, but video game enthusiasts. 🙂

On display were both a personal letter from then-president Ronald Regan offering his condolences after the pop star’s accident while filming a Pepsi commercial,

and the original contract MJ signed with the William Morris Agency on May 21, 1970. As an actress, seeing his agency contract absolutely fascinated me!

Numerous awards were also on display, including a fairly banged up American Video Award for “Beat It” from 1983.

Countless Disney items were featured, most of them presented to the pop star from Disney themselves, including several animatronic window displays which were located at the entrance to Neverland’s movie theatre.

Also on display was a huge collection of the singer’s blinged out clothes;

and sparkly gloves;

including THE glove;

his wax figure from Madame Tussauds in London;

his household furniture, including China, silverware, and glasses;

hundreds upon hundreds of statuaries;

a huge collection of cars, including three limousines, a Neverland Ranch firetruck, and several mini-cars that look like they might have once been part of a Disneyland ride;

and his tour bus complete with a ginormous plasma TV and a huge marble bathroom with a bidet.

But my absolute favorite part of the exhibit was the large stage set up in the main room that featured a huge movie screen that played the Michael Jackson: Live In Bucharest DVD on loop. It was amazing to be walking around what basically amounts to a replica of Neverland Ranch while listening to music from the pop star himself. My dad pretty much stood mesmerized watching that DVD for a good 45 minutes. 🙂

And, of course, I just had to do the Thriller dance. 🙂

I cannot recommend stalking the Michael Jackson exhibit enough!! If you are at all a fan of the pop star, or are enthralled with celebrity in general, you MUST stalk the exhibit. It was an AMAZING experience for me – a once in a lifetime, really – and I can’t even believe I got to see it all with my own two eyes. BIG THANK YOU to Amanda for letting me know about the auction!!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: You can visit the Michael Jackson Exhibit by Julien’s Auctions through this Saturday, April 25th in the old Robinsons-May building, which is located at 9900 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, directly next door to the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The exhibit is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $20 per person. Parking is $10. I’d allow yourself a minimum of two hours to see the exhibit. Ladies, if you carry expensive purses, I suggest you leave them at home as you will have to check all bags at the door. Cameras, however, are welcomed and encouraged! 🙂 You can visit the Michael Jackson Exhibit website, where you can watch videos about the exhibition and browse through the five auction catalogs, here.