Celebrity Sightings --- for real!

I still have to write about the rest of my time with Teresa, but I wanted to make sure to write this post before I forgot the details.  (Kurt & Kelly, you might like this one.)

Last night, I went to Sundance.  No, I didn’t wing my way over the pond and travel back in time (Sundance is typically in January).  For the second year in a row, Sundance came to London.  Last year was the first time that Robert Redford extended Sundance beyond Utah.

For those not in the know, Sundance is a non-profit organization started by Robert Redford that works to promote the work of artists throughout the world.  Most people know it for the festival that is put on every year in Utah to showcase independent films.  It’s become a bit of a boondoggle, but the concept is to promote independent films/documentaries/etc. that might not normally get made in Hollywood.  Sundance also promotes other types of artists (e.g. ceramics, painting, etc.) and is the home of a kick ass ski resort with a really nice ski instructor (ahh…Wendy).  But, I digress.

I found out randomly that Sundance was going to be London.  I read an interview with Robert Redford in the paper talking about the event.  Since I am going to be traveling this weekend, I didn’t think I would be able to attend at all, but I was able to find a ticket to the documentary “History of the Eagles: Part One”.   This documentary details the progression of the band The Eagles from creation to their breakup.

First of all, the event was held at The O2.  This is a massive arena southeast of the city.  Not exactly a quaint Utah town.

As you can probably see from the picture, Pink was also playing at The O2, so there was quite the range of people there.

The movie didn’t start until 9pm (late for a school night).  As I was waiting for the movie to start, in comes a troop of people who were seated in a reserved section 3 rows behind me.  Now, this was a feature event of the festival, so I assumed that the seats were reserved for a bunch of sponsors.  Well, there were sponsors that were seated there, but the troop of people that came in were none other than The Eagles themselves --- Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt!  I was more than a little surprised. 

Well, the surprises kept coming.  Before the flick started, out walks Robert Redford to introduce Sundance and the film itself.  Um, hello?!?  For anyone who knows me, I’m a big fan of celebrity sightings, so this was like a veritable feast.  All these legends in one room!  (Someone at M*, tell Nadine.  She never believes me, but I have pictures this time!)

The movie itself was pretty good.  I only knew part of their story, so it was interesting to learn the whole history.  Who knew that Jackson Brown lived below Glen Frey in an apartment in California?  OK, let me rephrase that --- who, other than Kurt, knew that Jackson Brown lived below Glenn Frey? 

The filmmaker had old concert footage and filmed interviews with quite a few people: Kenny Rogers, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Brown, and others who had been with The Eagles during their formative years.  Those were nice, fluffy interviews, but they also had interviews with ex-band members (Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner) and David Geffen, whom The Eagles had sued back in the day.  Those were less fluffy.  I kept looking back at the band to see if they were cringing during some of those interviews because they were NOT complimentary.  This obviously wasn’t the first time they had seen the film, so they were taking it in stride, but it had to sting a little.

After the film, the band came up on stage and did a Q&A with the audience.  Most of the questions were pretty standard.  

They did admit that watching it was a bit painful, but they said they wouldn’t do anything different.  Glenn Frey did a lot of the talking.  When Joe Walsh spoke, both in the film and during the Q&A, it was trippy.  That man must have done some serious damage to his brain cells over time because having him tell a story was a bit painful.  He was rambling and spoke like he was drunk.  He did tell one funny story in the film about how they were in Chicago and John Belushi came to take Joe out.  They tried to get into a restaurant at the Drake, but were not allowed in because they were wearing jeans.  John Belushi proceeded to take Joe into the alley and they each spray-painted each other’s jeans black.  They were allowed to go back into the restaurant, but they destroyed the chairs because their jeans were still wet and they left black marks all over the chairs.

All in all, it was pretty cool.  I recommend the movie.  (I think it is either on DVD or on Showtime.)  I am very glad that I got to experience the whole thing.  I’m sure it was nothing like the real Sundance event, but 5 celebrities in one night.  Not too bad for a school night!