TOP TEN POP CULTURE MEMORIES OF 2009

Credit where credit is due: Whitney Matheson of USA Today’s Pop Candy blog put together a list of her Top Ten Pop Culture Memories of the past year, which included parties, screenings and concerts.  Loved the idea,  so I copied the idea. Here we go…

10.  “THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS”:

Not quite as fun as the 2008 version, when I hung out during the show with friends who were hunting autographs and photos to impress their kids in the dressing room hallway. We  spotted such stars as Mariah Carey, the Jonas Brothers and Coldplay, who were more than happy to pose.

Still, the AMA’s make the list because this is the year I realized that with a Production Pass, you could just take an empty seat in the back of the hall during the show. But that wasn’t good enough for one of my friends who used to help coordinate the audiences for big events like this. He asked one of the staff to sit us in the front row for a while, and while we only made it to the third row (they were saving the empty front row seats for Marc Anthony as his wife Jennifer Lopez was about to perform), we still were darn close for J. Lo and Whitney Houston…

9.  “THE AMAZING RACE”:

I had the chance to spend a week in Dubai this year, so I loved seeing the two episodes of the Race that were shot in the Emirates. Like the contestants, I visited the Burj Dubai, the Gold Souk, the indoor ski resort Ski Dubai and the Madinat Jumeriah resort. I didn’t make it to that fateful water slide, but unlike Mika, I would have went down it if I had…

8.  “THE ACM ALL STAR JAM”:

While I was in Las Vegas to work on the event you’ll read about at  # 2, I got a chance to attend “The Academy Of Country Music Awards.” And while it was a great show, the real winner was the one that wasn’t on TV. Every year the ACM hosts an informal concert right after the Awards in a ballroom at the MGM Grand. And while I missed an appearance by Kenny Chesney because of a late dinner, I really enjoyed what I did see, including John Rich, the Zac Brown Band and best of all, the newly crowned Entertainer Of The Year, Carrie Underwood in the most no holds barred performance I’ve ever seen her give…

7.  THE “TERMINATOR SALVATION” PRESS DAY:

For years, I’ve been filling a copy of “The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told” with the autographs of everyone who has added to the legend of the Dark Knight, whether in comics, movies or television. So far I have fifty autographs (including the late Bob Kane, the creator of Batman who was the first person to sign the book) and not one person has personalized it by writing “Thanks, Brian” or anything like that. I’d like to keep the book pristine in that way, but it bothers me that I might have to skip getting someone’s signature for that reason. Which brings me to Christian Bale…

I’ve never seen Christian Bale sign anything without asking for a person’s name to personalize it. I brought my “Batman” book to two previous interviews with Mr. Bale, yet never brought it out for that reason. But there I was sitting beside him at the “Terminator Salvation” roundtables and I decided to chance it. Sure enough, he asked who he should make it out to. I said, “If you wouldn’t mind, could you just put your name?” Christian said, “How do I know you won’t put this on E-Bay?” Fortunately, one of the other interviewers piped up and said that would never happen, as I’ve been getting the book signed for years now. So Christian actually signed it and I breathed a sigh of relief. Now let me point you to my auction on E-Bay… Never!

6. THE “AMERICAN IDOL” FINALE:

This was just a great day, starting with lunch with Neil Sedaka and my friend Fred Bronson, great seats for the finale at the Nokia Theater (with the Kiss appearance and the announcement of the winner being the highlights) and ending with the “19″ party which featured appearances by not just this year’s contestants, but many from past years. I especially enjoyed the moment when Kris Allen’s father was telling us about how people were already leaving messages on their porch for Kris and David Archuleta piped in and said, “That’s nothing. We have people walking right into our house!”

5.  TERRY FATOR AT THE MIRAGE:

This year I went to my first Cirque Du Soleil show, “O,” at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. In spite of all the raves I’ve heard over the years, I certainly wasn’t bowled over. I found the show unfocused, meandering and not all that exciting. But that same week, I did see a show I loved, Terry Fator at the Mirage. I had never seen Terry during his winning season on “America’s Got Talent,” so I was amazed by his ability to sing without opening his mouth. Terry proved to be a master impressionist and a great singer all at the same time, combining great music with plenty of laughs…

4.  “STAR TREK”:

I have been a “Star Trek” fan since high school, and while I wasn’t too worried that J.J. Abrams would screw up the reboot as I really liked his work on “Mission Impossible III,” I never imagined this new “Trek” would be so well done, so exciting and respectful to what came before. I literally had tears in my eyes watching it, because I was so happy the movie was so good…

3.  THE “LOST” SEASON FIVE FINALE:

I love “Lost” more than anything else in pop culture right now. The Season Five finale was a true game changer, with answers revealed in the opening scene, and one of the biggest “Lost” shockers ever when we learned John Locke wasn’t quite John Locke. I can’t wait for Season Six to start…

2.  “GEORGE STRAIT: ACM ARTIST OF THE DECADE ALL STAR CONCERT”:

I was the researcher on this show and I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed working on a project so much. First I got to stay a week in one of my favorite places, Las Vegas. Then I got to attend the rehearsals by each performer as they worked out their songs with the house band. It was like having a private concert by the greats of country music, including Brooks & Dunn (Ronnie Dunn’s voice in person is amazing!), Alan Jackson and Keith Urban.

I was especially pleased when Taylor Swift arrived at the rehearsals and read her script for the show. She was extremely happy with it, and after she learned it was because I had done a phone interview with her about how George Strait had changed her life, she came over and gave me a hug.

But as nice as that was, it was nothing compared to sitting in the audience at the concert and watching performer after performer show their love for the man known as King George. They did it through their words and they did it through their music.  Truly an unforgettable evening…

1.  THE “LOST” PANEL AT COMIC-CON:

It was exciting enough that I actually made it into the “Lost” panel without staying overnight in line, but I never would have guessed how entertaining it would be. Kudos to the “Lost” production staff for working so hard to make this a special occasion for the fans, complete with funny videos, revealing videos and great guest appearances by the actors. Michael Emerson’s interruption of Jorge Garcia was probably the funniest thing I’ve seen all year, and it may have been topped by Nestor Carbonell’s Christian Slater impression. And it bears repeating: I can’t wait for Season 6! I wonder if anything will be able to beat out the “Lost” season finale for number one on this list come next year…

IN FRONT OF THE STAGE AT THE “GEORGE STRAIT: ACM ARTIST OF THE DECADE ALL STAR CONCERT”

Well, I certainly have to laugh when I read back my entry about the ACMA rehearsals. If you kept up with the news, Tim McGraw never did rehearse for his spot on the ACMA’s and in fact didn’t appear on the show at all. He did make it to the George Strait concert though. More details on that, but first let’s review my night at the ACMA’s:

I got tickets for myself and my friends Annie and Chris. We ended up sitting in the stands to the right of the stage. Unfortunately, our view was blocked at times by a camera operator, but once we moved down a few rows, we were so close, it was like we were onstage. The show moved fast and the three hours were over in a flash. But the highlights of the evening came after the show. First, as Nicole Kidman was leaving the arena via a door on our side of the stage, Annie yelled out a goodbye to her and Nicole looked up and waved to her. Funnily enough, the next day Annie found herself sitting next to Nicole in a VIP lounge at the Bellagio and didn’t say a word to her!

After a quick dinner, we attended the ACM’s All Star Jam. This is an event that takes place after the show in a huge ballroom behind the Grand Garden Arena. I actually enjoyed the All Star Jam more than the official show, because while on the Awards, the performers tend to showcase their new singles, at the Jam, they play their most popular hits. While I was upset to find we were too late for a three song mini-set by Kenny Chesney, we did get to see John Rich, Luke Bryan and Randy Houser (whose song “Anything Goes” is going on my Ipod at my first opportunity). Best of all were the Zac Brown Band, who performed their number one song, “Chicken Fried” as well as a blazing version of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia,” and the newly crowned Entertainer Of The Year, Carrie Underwood, who was so on top of the world after her win that she gave the loosest, most spontaneous performance I’ve ever seen from her, rocking out on “Last Name” and “Before He Cheats.”

But that wasn’t the end of the country festivities, not by a long shot! The next night, we taped the “George Strait: ACM Artist Of The Decade All Star Concert” at the Grand Garden Arena. The show attracted another full house and since there were fewer people from the music industry in attendance than at the Awards, it was even louder. In fact, the energy didn’t flag the entire evening, as performer after performer went above and beyond in their salute to King George. The real question is how will they edit the show down to two hours? Every singer not only talked about what George and his music meant to them before their song, but afterward, most of them spoke even more before going over to shake George’s hand. It was really very moving.

Now I don’t want to give away too many details about the show, since it’s air date is still two months away at the end of May. I will say you might just be getting a look at your humble blogger. It seems during Alan Jackson’s rendition of “The Fireman,” one of the roving cameramen started filming our row. I figured he had trained his camera on Annie who was sitting beside me (although for that song, the entire audience was standing up and dancing), but it seems I was the target of his lens. I know this because I was later told that everyone at the producer’s table following the action on monitors yelled out my name when they saw me, so I should be on the show. Of course, every time I ran into one of the producers today, he mimed a pair of scissors cutting something. I think he was kidding…

BACKSTAGE AT THE 2009 ACMA’S

I’m writing this from the production office of this year’s ACMA’s at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. Today things are a bit more hectic than previous days this week, thanks to the crush of performers coming in for rehearsals before tomorrow night’s live show. Although things will never get too over the top, thanks to the calm and steady demeanor of Executive Producer RA Clark (known to everyone as RAC). Assisting him in keeping the mood light is Producer/Writer Barry Adelman, who is constantly cracking jokes and singing the most nonsensical lyrics he can think of in current pop songs (you wouldn’t believe how many times we’ve heard the words, “That’s not my name”).

For an excellent overview of the rehearsals, you can check out Whitney Pastorek’s reports at Entertainment Weekly’s website. But my vantage point is quite a bit different. While Whitney is writing about what’s going on in the arena, I’ve been spending time watching the performers booked for “George Strait: ACM Artist Of The Decade All Star Concert” working on their songs with the house band for the show. It’s been fascinating sitting a few feet away while Jack Ingram rocks up his song or Keith Urban shows off his skills on acoustic guitar. The funniest thing is while the area around the Grand Garden Arena is ringed with fans and autograph seekers, outside the hall where they’re coming in to rehearse for our show, it’s totally free of fans.

As you know, I did phone interviews with many of the performers on the George Strait show before I got to Las Vegas, but it’s much more fun to talk to the stars face to face and tell them things I’ve always wanted to share. For instance, I got to tell Faith Hill how much I enjoy her song “Paris” from the album “Butterflies,” even though I’ve never been all that sure what it was about. Faith said she wasn’t sure what it was about either, so I certainly felt good about that. Continuing with the compliments, I told Keith Urban how happy I was that he redid the song “Got It Right This Time (The Celebration)” on his “Greatest Hits” album. Previously, he had put a demo version on a previous album and while I liked the song, I still wanted a full-blown version, which I got on “Greatest Hits.”

But the most memorable moment was getting a surprise hug from Taylor Swift. Writer Fred Bronson had approached Taylor to show her the intro that she’ll give before her song. She was very happy with it and didn’t want to change a word. Fred reminded her that she had done a phone interview with me just a week ago, so much of what he had written were her words anyway. So Taylor came over to say hello and gave me a hug. Naturally I had her sign something for my friend’s daughter, who’s a big fan. And don’t think I forgot about myself, as I also had her sign the CD cover for her latest album, “Fearless.” So far I’ve also gotten autographs from Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley and Toby Keith, which probably makes me one of the most successful autograph hunters in the building. I was only stymied by Lee Ann Womack, as I didn’t have a CD cover along when she was rehearsing yesterday, something I was reminded of when she turned up in front of me when I was walking through the casino to my room this afternoon.

Okay, time to check out Tim and Faith rehearsing on the big stage!