Friday, December 30, 2016

Four For Friday - Oh We Are Going To Party - Part 2

In the lobby, our actor friend asked why I was in town. I told him I had some tickets to a show later that night. He then informed me he was playing in that same show and was sure he could get me better tickets,including to an auction that was happening earlier. When I asked him about the auction he said that even he could barely afford the prices that would be seen. It was a charity gig. The auction items were truly one of a kind celebrity type things and true to his word, most of them started the bidding in the $100K range.

During the day we had lunch together and got caught up before he went to a sound check. He told me to stop by because there was someone special who was going to be there he knew I loved. Sure enough, when I dropped by, there was an old friend there. She had just released her first record about a year or so earlier and was within days of releasing her second record. I had seen her the week before in LA and she never told me she was doing this show. She said it literally came up the day before when someone else dropped out. Her first record went double platinum. Let me check that. Yes, it did. Good memory. Honestly though I couldn't remember the sales of the second record and had to look it up. Barely platinum. She has over a double handful of Grammy wins/nominations and one heck of a name. One thing that sticks out at me about that night is she was introduced to a permanent A+ list musician who loved her work and almost a decade later they worked together based solely on their mutual admiration from that night.

Did I tell you that she enjoys making sure everyone has enough to drink? Yeah, she got that party started for me that night. By the time the auction started I had to go to slow down mode or I would be passed out by the show. The show itself was one of a kind. It literally had every combination of performer, singer and comic you could imagine.

After the show, I went backstage and the first person I saw was someone I had not seen in a long time. A guy well over 7 feet tall who I had a history with when he was much younger. Now, he was passing out shots and telling me to drink. For about two hours after the show, this backstage area had everyone and no one wanted to leave. It was this combination like I said of some very special people and they were enjoying being with each other. I think they were afraid if one left, the spell would be broken. The guy who was kind of leading the charge and keeping everyone together was the one guy who was not drinking anything but bottled water. He was a permanent A+ list comedian/actor/Academy Award winner/nominee. Just one story after the other and each one was more dirty than the last. There was nothing even close to PG about his material, it was closer to NC-17. My actor friend played his straight man for much of it when not sitting at a piano with this foreign born permanent A+ list singer/musician singing song after song. The two played for another foreign born permanent A+ list singer who sang some of his classics before giving way to a Canadian singer who was just making a name for himself and is now an A- lister. A+ list at cheating. One interesting dynamic was the comic actor I mentioned who was best friends with another foreign born permanent A+ list musician who was there. Apparently they even flew together to the show and hung out all the time. A very strange combination. For two hours it was just one big fun singalong party. If it had been recorded it would have been the highest rated variety show ever to air. Guaranteed. Instead, there are a couple of photos and maybe someone took a quick 30 second video here and there, and the rest is lost to memories. When the party started to break up, my actor friend and I and my singing friend all went to dinner together. Just the three of us. That night generally is in my top five celebrity nights of all time.

20 comments:

sandybrook said...

Lisa Loeb is the long-time friend

sandybrook said...

Eddie Murphy the dirty comic?
Chad Kroegser the Canadian singer\cheater?

His Girl Friday said...

Sarah McLachlan and Run DMC did a song together. Darryl loves her, her music helped him out of a serious depression.

Salaam said...

Someone loved...India.Arie? Works with sales, and eventually worked with Stevie Wonder, as permanent A+ as it gets.

Jessica said...

Eddie Murphy for dirty comedian.

Scott Staph from Creed for the cheater

Salaam said...

India.Arie has 20 Grammy nominations, first album "Acoustic soul" went double platinum, second album "Voyage To India", just barely went platinum.

Salaam said...

Canadian singer just making a name for himself is Michael Buble.

Salaam said...

Guy well over 7 feet tall could be Shaq.
Actor friend is Jamie Foxx (ties in with yesterday's blind, and Jamie Foxx plays piano).

WhoWhat said...

The Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation's 7th "Grand Slam for Chidren"

Salaam said...

That's it. Here's a photo, featuring Agassi, Elton John (the foreign A+), India.Arie, Michael Buble, Jamie Foxx, Robin Williams (the A+ Actor/Comedian) and others.

http://www.gettyimages.com/event/andre-agassis-7th-annual-grand-slam-press-conference-1435050#robin-williams-jamie-foxx-carlos-santana-sir-elton-john-kenneth-picture-id1436960

AIP said...

Nice work WhoWhat and Salaam!

Salaam said...

Answers:

Event: Agassi Foundation - September 2002
Friend: Jamie Foxx
Old Female Friend (recording artist): India.Arie
A+ Legend sh met/recorded together a decade later: Carlos Santana (those two recorded "While My Guitar Gently Weeps in 2012)
Permanent A+ List Comedian/Actor leading show: Robin Williams
Foreign Born A+ singer/Musician at piano: David Foster (or Elton John)
Other Foreign Born A+ singer: Elton John (or David Foster)
Canadian "Cheater" just getting started: Michael Buble
Other Foreign Born A+ Musician (friend of Williams): Rod Stewart

Long Island Girl said...

Good work, Salaam and WhoWhat!
Now that's a party!
Enty, can I hang out with you?

Matt said...

Whoa. Nicely done, Salaam.

sandybrook said...

very good guys! Excellent sleuthing!!

parkdove said...

Great work! I like the long stories. Is Enty in any of the photos?

Hot Cola said...

Excellent work! Now that's a party!
(I'm wishing one to myself this year and to all readers!)

pusssykatt said...

Salaam you deserve a detective license....good work!!!

Bubbles said...

Why is this is a blind? Nobody did anything salacious or scandalous.

Guesser said...

@Bubbles, this is a holiday time blind, and it might give us a hint about why Enty avoids bad mouthing some people. For instance, Jamie Foxx seems to avoid his wrath, and now we know why. I was wondering why he made no mention of the rumors about him Marrying Katie Holmes,for instance. Plus other rumors that I see about him elsewhere. Hmmm. Also, I wonder if there is some footage of the event, these things were often covered on entertainment shows, I often saw Andre Agassi promote his Vegas charity.

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