January 30, 2012

• Sundance day 4: police, stoned celebrities making snow angels, flirting, gifts,

  

  I thought today was going to suck so bad. We were so short staffed. We needed about 23 models and there were 6. One of them being me and technically I don’t walk celebs unless they are really important and Debbie wants them to have special attention or everyone else is already walking people. The girls were doing great to keep everything covered thankfully because my hands were so full with all the big projects I had put on me. First thing this morning a certain comedian/actor came in but we weren’t ready for him so he headed off to the bar. Then Danny Glover came in and they had me walk him. He is a little older so I had to yell a lot. I felt bad because the poor man was so exhausted. He just wanted to rest but everyone kept pulling him in all directions wanting pictures and interviews and wanting him to hold their product. They were just grabbing him talking over each other. They were swarming him. I’m not security and it’s not in my job description to do crowd control but I felt like it was necessary so I had them all go back to their places so I could bring him to them one at a time. He had his wife and assistant with him and they wanted to shop so while they were trying on sunglasses he found a spot to sit down in the back corner of the lounge. I lucked out because we had rare time to ourselves and he started telling me about this little old lady he met once on a mountain top in Haiti. Someone asked for a picture and he said they could take it but the lady started hiding her face. He asked her why she wouldn’t take a picture and she said because it steals your soul. He looked really tired then, and a little bit sad and he looked me dead in the eye and asked “do you know how many pictures and videos I do every day?” He almost seemed like he might be worried about his soul. Then there was just kind of this moment that you really had to be there for because it doesn’t make sense otherwise. We got to talk for about 20 more minutes and he told me some really deep things. Then it was over. People came over again and started asking for pictures one after another. When the first girl came up and asked for a picture he just gave me this look and then started taking pictures again. For some reason that look made me want to cry.

  Not even one minute after he left they run me out front to talk to the cops because apparently the crazy blonde from the day before wants to sue us for firing her and because AJ supposedly stole her purse. Really the girl left it in the car when she was trying to steal it. So I have to explain to them how ridiculous she is, then I see the comedian/actor from earlier coming back to the lounge. He looked really confused and starts walking up the stairs but fell down a few of them. The hot guy they had working over at one of the vendor booths (I’ve been flirting with him all week) stops and tries to help him up but the celebrity gets up and looks really freaked out. He looks around like he has no idea where he is and takes off walking toward the bar again. I was supposed to get him in the lounge but technically he can do whatever he wants so I let him go to the bar and planned on catching up with him later. I went back into the lounge and immediately got assigned to lead the guys from the radio station around. It was a lot of fun because I got to do the hour long radio show with them and kind of hi jack the station but I was still a little paranoid about my actor/comedian coming back. He was drunk and stoned out of his mind and I was responsible for him.  As soon as I was done with the radio show and a few interviews on camera I ran over to the bar because they said he was really confused so he might need more help finding his way to the lounge. To get to the bar from the lounge you have to go out some doors and follow a windy path across to some other buildings. Well I was running along the path when I see this man kind of stumbling around and then he fell into a snow bank! I was trying really hard not to laugh because at the moment it wasn’t funny. I run up to him and he’s just laying there like he’s not sure how he got there. I asked him if he wanted help up and he picks up his arm and looks at it covered in snow. Then he sticks his head up and looks around some more. He started laughing and making a snow angel. I just stood there wondering what your supposed to do when a celebrity decides they need to make an impromptu snow angel. I ended up going to get help to get me to life him up since he was uncooperative and heavy (and soooo drunk) but when we got back there was only a body print in the snow! I guess he had wandered off into the lobby and then out to the front of the building. I was walking down the hall asking “did so-and-so just walk past here?” and they all pointed me in the right direction. Somehow I lost him in the parking lot. I know he couldn’t drive because he could barely walk but I looked everywhere and couldn’t see him. I even checked all the snow banks!

  Since my celeb was MIA I went back to the lounge only to find that the police were there AGAIN. I just couldn’t shake those guys. This time they were there because some one had tipped them off that one of the vendors didn’t have the proper business license and they said they were going to shut the whole place down. We were trying to get it taken care of before the host found out because she freaks out over things really easily. Me, Andy who was acting as security, and the host’s assistant talked them into letting us send his wife right then and there to do the paperwork (having the park city mayor right there in the lounge with his band really helped move things along). The cops said ok but they would only give us until 5. We ended up getting it taken care of in time so nobody knew we almost got shut down. By then things relaxed quite a bit. I had some free time to go flirt with one of the really cute vendors. I had noticed during lunch that he was drawing something and it was really good. He seemed kinda shy so for the first two days we just smiled at each other from across the room and he would give me compliments when he got the chance but we didn’t really talk. He must have been a man on a mission today because he was flirting a ton (I’m totally guilty of flirting back) and then he gave me some of his art because I said I liked it and gave me his phone number and everything so we can stay in contact. The lounge was slowing down for the night and the last band was performing. Everyone was in a really good mood. While the band was setting up a bunch of people got on the red carpet for final photos and while they were taking pictures the band started to play and someone started dancing. Then more people started dancing and before you knew it the photographers, models, sponsors, vendors, and hosts were all involved in this spontaneous dance party. The band was giving it their all, the lead singer had his shirt and shoes off and started dancing on a chair and a bunch of the vendors were dancing on the furniture. The lounge hosts were head banging and booty shaking and swing dancing. It was so random but so fun. I felt like I was in a movie because that doesn’t usually happen in real life. Not my life anyway.  The video cameras were out and everyone was having a good time. I didn’t think to go grab my camera til right at the end so I missed the majority of it but I caught some people at the end. Then it was over way too soon and everyone was hugging and exchanging business cards. The sponsors were all so great. They don’t have to give us anything but they spoiled us with hats and t-shirts, joe perry’s amazing hot sauce, leather wallets, electronic cigarettes, snowboarding gear, a bunch of food from whole foods, custom designer jeans, purses, bracelets, hats, scarves, minky blankets, and hair straightners with mp3 players built into them. I wish the lounge was going to be open the whole week but it was time for them to get back to LA. We’ll see some of them again for the Oscar’s lounge so I’m pretty stoked about that. The rest gave us their contact information so we’ll definitely stay in touch. We still have some different lounges to work and a few more private parties so I’m sure I’ll have more stories to tell at the end of the week. I’m saving the most scandalous ones for last

  • 5:18 pm
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