"How many husbands have I had? You mean apart from my own?"
~Zsa Zsa Gabor, glib glamour girl
Labels: glamour, glib, Hollywood, Smalltown Girls, wild women, Zsa Zsa Gabor
Disclaimer: Johnny Depp obsession liberally indulged.
Once upon a time two Smalltown Girls set out for a Hollywood adventure.
Chingpea and I were on a mission to explore the dirty streets of Hollywood, the gritty underbelly of the celebrity’s city, the place where people walk on the stars instead of looking at them in the sky. We were on a mission to find Johnny Depp on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!
We left Bakersfield with a tentative agenda of shopping, sightseeing, searching for Johnny Depp and exploring Hollywood. There was no way we would get everything on our list done in one day, but we intended to have fun trying.
We stopped at Ikea in Burbank before reaching Hollywood. Ikea is a dangerous place. I could go broke at Ikea. After buying a few items, we rummaged through a few near by vintage clothing stores where I found a really cool top for six bucks.
Next we headed to West Hollywood and poked around the Bodhi Tree Bookstore next door to the Urth Caffe, which has been featured on the HBO series Entourage, before eating lunch. We planned to eat at the Urth Caffe, but it was extremely packed so we ate at a little place across the street whose dry tasteless chicken, the company of friends and literary talk was much more memorable than its name.
After lunch, too late for the Max Factor Museum, we began our search for Johnny Depp on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. First we went to Graumans Chinese Theatre where the stars handprints and footprints adorn the cement courtyard memorialized for all time.
We compared hand and foot sizes with Hollywood’s elite: Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, Mickey Rooney, Lucille Ball, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, even our governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was there. So were newcomers: Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and George Clooney. And then we spotted Johnny Depp’s block of cement nearer to the theatre and surrounded by girls.
We both screamed in delight and ran over to where Johnny Depp once kneeled and stood while making his Hollywood cement memorial.
All poise was lost as we indulged our Johnny Depp obsessions as true groupies would with cameras flashing and laughter ringing in our ears.
Once we had stood and kneeled where Johnny Depp had, we ran into a few good men outside the Kodak theatre, Batman, Captain Jack and Davy Jones. We waited our turn to take photos with Captain Jack and Davy Jones while three women giddily posed with them.
“Where are you ladies from on this fine evening?” Batman took my hand and kissed it.
“Bakersfield.”
“Ah Bakersfield.” Batman said still holding my hand.
“Would you ladies like to have your photo taken with a dark knight?”
“I’m sorry. But we’re waiting for photos with the pirates.” I said breaking Batman’s heart.
Rejected. Batman bowed over my hand and backed away watching as Chingpea and I took a photo with Captain Jack and Davy Jones.
I felt bad for breaking Batman’s heart but Batman doesn't hold a candle to Johnny Depp in my book. So we left Batman, Captain Jack and Davy Jones to find other fans and we began our search for Johnny Depp’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Thanks to a crafty google search, we had a general idea of where Johnny’s star was located on Hollywood Blvd. We walked up and down both sides of the 7000 block of Hollywood Blvd. several times searching the names of every star for Johnny Depp to no avail. We couldn’t find his star. Chingpea and I were feeling quite dejected and about to give up when we decided to ask at the El Capitan theatre’s box office if they knew where Johnny Depp’s star was located.
“It’s just down the block a little ways in front of the Roosevelt Hotel.” The box office worker pointed.
Our eyes followed her pointing finger, which led to our coveted prize, Johnny Depp’s star.
“Thanks!” We took off walking briskly almost skipping towards the Roosevelt Hotel while searching the names on the stars.
When we finally found Johnny’s star, it had smeared gum on it. Chingpea tried to clean off the gum with her shoe so we could get a good photo with Johnny’s star.
The end of our search for Johnny’s star was the triumph of our adventures in Hollywood that day. But not the end of our Hollywood adventures, for we’re going back to Hollywood soon for more adventures and the Max Factor Museum.
Labels: Batman, Captain Jack, Entourage, HBO, Hollywood, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Ikea, Johnny Depp, Max Factor Museum, obsession, Smalltown Girls, Urth Caffe
Recently, chingpea and I traveled to Hollywood for a girl’s night out with Darren Hayes at the famous Roxy nightclub.
I don’t know what it is about Hollywood, perhaps it’s the gritty underbelly night life, or the magical feeling that celebrities frequent those clubs, those restaurants, or the realization that “this is where the movies are made,” the giant building size movie billboards, or maybe it’s the stars on the sidewalks, but I love exploring Hollywood. And I haven’t done a lot of Hollywood exploring in my life. My first real Hollywood experience was the night I blew my knee out after seeing the play Trainspotting. Since then I’ve only ventured to Hollywood a few times. I saw World Wide Spies at the Viper Room, I’ve eaten at Astro Burger and Mel’s Drive Thru and I’ve walked around Sunset and Hollywood Blvd. So, I was very excited to see my favorite pop star and the Roxy all on the same night.
Apparently everyone else in the world had the same idea of going out in Hollywood that night. The Los Angeles Film Festival was in full fanfare at the Hollywood Bowl, Ratatouille was premiering at the Kodak Theatre with some red carpet action, Darren Hayes was at the Roxy, Prince was at the Roosevelt Hotel for his seven gig stay, and there were many other events going on as well. What did all of these Hollywood events have to do with two Smalltown girls on a mission to see Darren Hayes?
Traffic. Detours. And Parking.
We navigated through constipated traffic and Hollywood detours in a giant truck we weren’t used to driving as we tried to get to the Roxy on Sunset. Let me just say chingpea is the master of LA traffic! I would have had a nervous breakdown driving that truck in that traffic. With all the detours, we couldn’t figure out how to get back to Sunset. So we asked a man on one of the side streets and he said, “go up to the corner, 'Roger-it' and that street will take you to Sunset, the Roxy will just be a little ways down from there,” turned out he was a regular at the Roxy. I was glad that chingpea was driving, because I had no idea what 'Roger-it' meant!
Once we found the Roxy, we had to find parking. The first public parking lot we tried charged thirty dollars to park! We kept driving until we found one under ten dollars and luckily it was within walking distance of the Roxy. Outside the Roxy, we waited in a line that was at least three blocks long and grew the longer we waited.
So did my excitement…
Unlike John Mayer’s concert where I fell under his gravitational spell, I’ve been in LOVE with Darren Hayes and his music for the past eight years. I’ll admit that I’ve been in love to the point of musical pop star obsession. His music has affected me that much. Not only was I about to see a rare Darren Hayes U.S. performance, (he hasn’t toured in the U.S. since 2000) but it was also chingpea’s Darren Hayes initiation. I wondered if she would love him as much as I did?
Soon the line started moving and we were finally inside the famous Roxy nightclub. It was really dark inside the Roxy! We crowded in as close as we could to the stage and waited with hundreds of fans all in love with Darren Hayes for what was to be an amazing show.
There were two opening acts: Julien and Tempo Shark. Both were a perfect combination of music to compliment Darren Hayes. Julien was an acoustic duo with a beautiful tenor voice whose music I really enjoyed.
And Tempo Shark was an electro-pop band whose lead singer was flirty, and their music made you want to dance.
The excitement in the crowd began to spark after Tempo Shark left the stage. The vibe was infectious and soon the crowd began to chant Darren’s name. When Darren Hayes took the stage, it was like he had never been gone. Darren wrote about the show on his blog:
“At first, the chanting of my name and the screaming I honestly thought must have been for something else. I did not expect such a vibe and it fueled a show that the band and crew were calling the best on the tour.”
I was so glad to be there with chingpea, among those people and Darren Hayes, at the Roxy, in that magical moment. It was surreal.
Darren performed an electric energized set that included old Savage Garden favorites: I Want You, Carry on Dancing and an acoustic version of I Don’t Know You Anymore. The crowd sang along to I Don’t Know You Anymore drowning Darren out until he stopped singing and listened to the sea of voices for a few lines. It was an incredible moment. So personal. So intimate.
Carry on Dancing - (Lighting is dark, but sound quality is good)
He did not perform the expected Savage Garden number one hits, focusing instead on the new music from his upcoming album This Delicate Thing We’ve Made including: On the Verge of Something Wonderful, Who Would Have Thought, Step into the Light and How to Build a Time Machine. How to Build a Time Machine is an amazing song! Wouldn't we all like to build a time machine and go back in time and bring back only the joy in our lives. I know I would.
He seemed to be more focused on the future than the past both musically and personally. His new music, like his new life, and even the way he performed/reworked his old music, had an infectious sincere happy vibe that made you believe all was right with the world. 
How to Build a Time Machine - Darren tells a story at beginning of video.(Lighting is dark, but sound quality is good)
He may not have performed some of my old favorite Savage Garden hits, but Darren did perform some of my favorite songs from his Tension and the Spark album, which I listen to constantly, including: Unlovable and I Like the Way. Unlovable was amazing live!
Surprisingly he also performed a dead-on cover of Prince’s Baby I’m a Star, which was out of this world. He ended it with his own Pop!ular and joked about “Bringing Sexy Back.”
Darren came back on stage at the end of the night to perform Void and Insatiable as a double encore, both were incredible live, and he left us all wanting more… especially this Smalltown girl.
He also joked about the reasons he hadn’t performed in the U.S. in seven years stating:
“I got Kelly Clarksoned. I put out two albums that I really believed in which got buried by a big, bad record label. I spent some time finding myself, and I got married to my boyfriend. You can do that in England!”
The crowd screamed and cheered louder and was Truly Madly Crazy for him. His long absence was forgiven.
Darren Hayes ROCKED the Roxy!
At the end of the show, as chingpea and I ventured out onto Sunset again, I realized that the intimate, up close and personal setting of the Roxy was the only way to see Darren Hayes perform. He had shared something special with us, part of himself, that wouldn’t have happened in a much larger venue. And I was even more in love with him and his music than before.
After such a great night of music... we rode Darren's vibe out into the night to conquer L.A. traffic again in the giant truck. As we drove down Sunset past the Ivy we saw about twenty Paparrazi photographing someone in a SUV parked outside. The camera flashes sparkled in the night like fireworks but we couldn't see which celebrity they were stalking. It was my first Paparrazi sighting. It was Hollywood.
Photos/videos by: chingpea
Labels: Bakersfield, Darren Hayes, Hollywood, LA Film Festival, Music, paparrazi, pop, Prince, Ratatouille, Smalltown Girls, The Roxy
For my male readers who are tired of hearing me wax poetic about Captain Jack and Johnny Depp, who gag every time I post another Captain Jack/Johnny Depp photo, please feel free to skip right over this blog, in fact go read about me being a zombie… this blog is for the females.
I’ve been looking forward to the opening of the third installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean and seeing Captain Jack once again on the big screen all year. In fact I have been obsessed. And like any good obsessed smalltown girl, I joined my friends after work last Thursday evening to wait in line for the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean At World’s End wearing my favorite Captain Jack t-shirt.
We waited in the heat as the sun had decided to burn down upon us as if we were lost at sea with no cover. Those next to me in line opened an umbrella and tried to find shade. While others camped out in lawn chairs and on blankets text messaging and reading books. There were many pirates from the local Pirates Guild in full pirate regalia in line having mock sword fights, smoking cigarettes and talking in “arghs,” I wanted one of their fabulous pirate costumes.
Chingpea and I argued with a 4-year-old pirate over Captain Jack and Will Turner. The 4 year old claimed: “Captain Jack is old,” chingpea and I were heart broken for our beloved Captain Jack. I guess each generation has their pirate, Will Turner can be the young ones pirate, Captain Jack is chingpea’s and mine.
Finally they began to let us into the theatre. Pirates 3 At World’s End was worth the wait! I liked it much better than Pirates 2 Dead Man’s Chest. There were amazing Singapore scenes, the tyrannical East India Company and the demolishment of democracy, the journey to Davy Jones’ Locker to rescue Captain Jack, a sea goddess, the pirate brethren, great sword fights, and love and betrayal.
Even though it took a while for Captain Jack to make an appearance, once found he was larger than life in every scene. And though he suffered from delusions because of his visit to the locker, he was nobody’s fool. All of the main characters story lines were completed and we found out the answers to many unanswered questions from the previous two movies. Each of the characters seemed to have their own agenda, and at times it was hard to figure out who was betraying whom. In the end Will and Elizabeth’s love and Captain Jack’s good heart won the day.
I’ve read in articles where Johnny Depp is so attached to his Captain Jack character that he’s not quite ready to give him up. Believe me, I’m not ready to give up Captain Jack yet either. In the end the movie is left open for a fourth installment of Pirates should every one so desire it. I certainly wouldn’t object to more Captain Jack and Pirates movies.
In the meantime, Pirates of the Caribbean At World’s End broke the record for best Memorial Day opening with $142.1 million for the three-day weekend and another $14 million on the premiere last Thursday. And with sold out shows continuing those numbers will only climb.
I’ve seen the movie twice now and can’t wait to see it a few more times at the theatre; it’s a wild pirate ride to the end of the world.
Labels: Bakersfield, Captain Jack, Johnny Depp, Kern County Pirates Guild, Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End, Smalltown Girls
There are men in my future...
Hot men.
Talented men.
Famous men.
Who? You ask.
Harry Connick Jr.
Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean At Worlds End
John Mayer
Darren Hayes
and The Police
This Smalltown Girl is looking forward to the next five weeks...
and the men I’ll be seeing.
Labels: Darren Hayes, Harry Connick Jr., John Mayer, Johnny Depp, Smalltown Girls, The Police
About Me
- Name: Matildakay
- Location: Bakersfield, California, United States
An inspirational, eclectic and often humorous peek into the life of single womanhood in Bakersfield, California and beyond...
Keep Moving Forward... in 2008
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