Party Time in Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills - So what is a celebrity studded party in Beverly Hills like? You seen the photos in the magazines, the rich and famous co-mingling at a glamourous setting. But things are a little more complicated than that.

I covered the Vh-1's Big Night for a Big Cause: A benefit for the VH-1 Save the Music Foundation. That's what the press release called it. What does all that mean? I really don't know. I do know that a bunch of big corporations get together along with powerhouse public relations groups and publicists and a foundation to organize an event that hopefully benefit everyone involved. "Benefit" being the key word.

These events are very complicated. Esquire Magazine built this massive 17,000 sq. ft. Italian Villa in Beverly Hills at 11 Beverly Ridge Terrace that they call the "ultimate bachelor pad". They hosted the event at the villa and its on top of a hill on a private street with a guard house on Coldwater Canyon. All the houses on the block are way above $10 million. It's Esquire Magazine's Playboy Mansion. I'm sure the magazine is getting some kind of tax write-off.

I'm also sure the neighbors are not too happy about having hundreds of people invading their area to go to some party. The parking for the event is a disaster. They have valet service, but only for so many cars. After that fills up, there are remote parking lots on dirt construction sites that you can take a mini-van shuttle to the mansion. But if you are big celebrity arriving late, I don't think you are going to take the shuttle. The other problem that the cul-du-sac the property is on doesn't have enough room to turn-around in. So that means you have to make a broken u-turn to go down the narrow street, which is not a problem in the intially, but becomes one after they start turning away cars when the valet lot is filled. Now you have a grid-lock of expensive cars on the street having to make a u-turn. I saw one celeb get fed up and park his Land Rover on the street in front of someone's home and then walk up to the event. Its a long walk, the driveway for the villa is like 100 yards long alone.

Events like this one have a formula. Take a good cause, Save the Music Foundation that is supplying millions of dollars for musical instruments for public schools, a few sponsors, Moet Champagne, Intel, Cadilllac, Esquire Magazine, add a few celebrities, some famous like Kiefer Sutherland, and some like Fabrice Morvan of Milli Vanilli, add your entertainment media, like ET, Access Hollywood, and a group of celebrity photographers that sell pictures to the tabloids and magazines, and you have an event. Well they had some up and coming bands play and they served drinks too.

For most people these parties are work. Its part of the Hollywood machine that employs a lot of people. From the valet guys parking cars, the caterers, the people putting up lights and backdrops with corporate logos and rolling out a red carpet to stage a place where celebs can be photographed and interviewed, the reporters and photographers, the publicists and even for the celebs themselves, its work. Everybody is promoting something, whether its a movie or TV project, or a bottle of beer. (St. Paulie Girl was a sponsor.)

And these parties/events are on every night of the year in LA. That's a lot of work.

UFC 65

Sacramento, CA - Taking a road trip to the pleasant city of Sacramento. The airport, the Arco Arena, the hotel are all within a ten mile radius. Last night was UFC 65. Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed martial arts (MMA). Some people call it cage fighting. It is held in an octagonal ring with a wire mesh cage surrounding it. To some outsiders it may appear to a barbaric, no rules, two men enter, one man leaves, blood sport. But its just really like boxing, judo, wrestling with similar rules. Some matches can be bloody, and you can win by choking your opponent.

Taking photos can be a challenge. The lighting is not really bright, ISO 1000 at 1/400th sec and f2.8. There is a cage you have to shoot through, more like a black coated vinyl fence. So that means no autofocus. The usual venue for UFC events is Las Vegas. Sacramento doesn't have the Vegas vibe and the celebs octagon-side. (The press credential will say octagonside...not ringside, I think UFC has some kind of trademark on Octagonside.) The action is the same, the fans just as rabid. Actually Arco Arena can get quite loud. The arena feels kinda of small, maybe because they don't have all the suites that more modern arenas have.

This is my second time shooting a UFC event. So I had a good idea of the routine. They provide WiFi, and are pretty good with photographers except for the fact they want you to be escorted at all times.

The UFC has a lot going for it, more action than boxing, and not the clownish, fake fighting of Pro wrestling. The fans are pretty die-hard. You can spot the fans easily as I left the airport, most of them wore MMA related t-shirts or sweatshirts.

Another Photo Backstage

Backstage at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Yesterday I was allowed a few minutes backstage at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Not exactly what it sounds like. More like an early morning media event where television and print media were allowed to take some photos and interview models that later that night would be taped for a TV show to be aired December 5th. The venue was at a ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, a hotel attached to the Kodak Theater, the same place where they hold the Academy Awards every year. They tried to replicate an Academy Awards type of red carpet too.