Red Carpet for 'Love'
11:30 AM PT, Jul 3 2006
My plan for working the red carpet at the "Love" opening at Mirage Friday night seemed sound. By the time I got there the coverage area was packed with photographers and press. When we picked up our credentials the publicist explained that far more media had showed up than anyone expected and the red carpet area was a tighter squeeze than had been anticipated too. So, I ignored the actual red carpet line that was about three deep and placed myself after the pivot where the stars had to walk past me on their way into the theater. I am greedy about my interviews and don't like other journalists taping them and using them, so beyond the position this offered the exclusivity I favored. This all worked out well as people like Billy Squier, Sheila E. and Richard Marx made comments too dull for me to offer here. The first sign of my real mistake happened when various pop stars from Quebec walked past. One thing I have learned from Celine and Cirque is that Quebec has the most insanely aggressive media in the world. And, as people we did not recognize walked past suddenly a dozen photographers yelling in French would swarm over jostling aside photographer Sarah Gerke and myself.
For Siegfried and Roy this marked the first time they have returned to the Mirage theater since the night Roy was attacked onstage. That made this a very special moment in Roy's return to public life and health. Roy, with great effort, walked the red carpet. He also posed for pictures. In Vegas, Roy's recovery is frequently described as miraculous. But up close you can see a will that has really been supremely applied and dedicated to every bit of progress he has made. It is inspiring.Yoko Ono walked by wearing a massive white hat. She actually seems very diminutive in person. She talked to the three-deep crew of journalists (looking down from her glasses at them) and a dozen people who were not me taped her every word. She then rounded the corner, passing by me. She stopped as she saw across from my position the 
hundreds of Beatles fans gathered against a barrier chanting her name. She headed toward them with her arms extended in a hugging gesture. Ringo also didn't stop for an interview with me but rounded the corner and headed straight for the crowd. He was playful and gregarious, of course. Parked in front of me was a cheerfully benign older gentleman in a wheel chair. I recognized him yet could not call up a name. Looking back I can only attribute this to the fact that there is something bizarre about seeing Ravi Shankar at a red carpet premiere in Las Vegas. Anyway, I was feeling pretty good that I was going to get a clear view of Paul McCartney. I had assumed that he was not going to take any press questions and I was absolutely correct about that.
hundreds of Beatles fans gathered against a barrier chanting her name. She headed toward them with her arms extended in a hugging gesture. Ringo also didn't stop for an interview with me but rounded the corner and headed straight for the crowd. He was playful and gregarious, of course. Parked in front of me was a cheerfully benign older gentleman in a wheel chair. I recognized him yet could not call up a name. Looking back I can only attribute this to the fact that there is something bizarre about seeing Ravi Shankar at a red carpet premiere in Las Vegas. Anyway, I was feeling pretty good that I was going to get a clear view of Paul McCartney. I had assumed that he was not going to take any press questions and I was absolutely correct about that.
It was the screaming that I heard first. It was the fans, yes. But it was also the photographers and press. Then the piling on began. If we were in a boat we would have capsized. The photographers abandoned their marked positions lining the red carpet and joined the print and radio journalists all crushing forward against Sarah Gerke and me. I tried holding the rope barrier up as photographers elbowed me in the face and climbed on my back. Sarah managed to get a picture and I got a brief and good view of the pattern of McCartney's jacket and the back of his shaggy hair. I have been to a lot of red carpets but I have never experienced anything like that. The Beatles truly are beyond any concept of celebrity.photos by Sarah Gerke
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Thanks for the great account. I finally felt like I was there!
Posted by: Rocco | July 03, 2006 at 11:52 AM
That's very funny. Thanks for the laughs. What did u think of the show?
Posted by: stephen w | July 04, 2006 at 08:38 PM
"The photographers abandoned their marked positions lining the red carpet and joined the print and radio journalists all crushing forward against Sarah Gerke and me. I tried holding the rope barrier up as photographers elbowed me in the face and climbed on my back."
- I guess those must have been the "American" phtographers.
(They are so much more polite than the Quebec ones...)
Don't YOU love stereotyping?
Posted by: Robert Austen-Brown | July 04, 2006 at 09:56 PM