Wishing on a 'Starr'... and being left disappointed

RINGO STARR...? A bit of a douchebag really...

There, I said it.

I’ll no doubt upset a great many people with this opening statement but hey, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion…

Over the last couple of days since interviewing him I’ve answered a lot of questions from a lot people both in and out of work.

‘How was he?’

‘What was it like interviewing him?’

‘Was he cool?’

And so forth.

If I’m honest I’ve skirted around giving my honest opinion because, I guess, it’s hard to admit that a person you’ve held in such high esteem for much of your life – is actually just that… a bit of a douche.

I love the Beatles. I've always loved the Beatles. In fact, I distinctly remember singing along to the song, ‘Yellow Submarine’ – which Ringo actually originally sang – as a five or six-year-old at primary school.

It was probably the first real song that I truly loved.

And Ringo, the kind of goofy loveable character that he’s always seemed to be, was difficult not to love too.

But after meeting him at a red carpet event in his honor in Hollywood on Monday night, my opinion of him has changed somewhat.

It’s always the risk when you meet someone famous. That fear that whoever it is will never truly live up to the expectation that you imagined they would.

It’s an unfair test really.

Will they make you laugh? Would they be so friendly they’d act like a long-lost friend? Would they invite you for drinks to meet other ‘cool’ famous people?

Sadly these people are nearly always the opposite of what you think.

I’ve met a lot of famous people in my years as a journalist. I’m also lucky to have semi-famous friends.

My friends thankfully have remained so because they aren’t complete douchebags.

Anyhow, I digress.

On Monday night I was reporting on an event organized by multi-Oscar-nominated Hollywood director (Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart, Mulholland Drive), David Lynch, to honor the former Beatle drummer with the ‘Lifetime of Peace and Love Award’.

'Peace & Love' poster

The venue was the El Rey Theater in West Hollywood which looked like it was amazing – several decades ago.

That’s the bizarre thing about Hollywood. It's an illusion. It’s smoke and mirrors.

Through a camera lens it looks amazing. The streets could actually be paved with gold.

But this run-down theater – which was just about to play host to a member of arguably the most famous band the world has ever known – was a few doors up from a Starbucks and an Office Depot.

Anyway, as the hours ticked away towards the event, excitement grew and we took our positions.

Take your place among the stars

Large lettering had been placed on the building’s façade stating what the event was all about and, no sooner had the magical rolled up red carpet appeared, so to did a flurry of photographers and autograph collectors who almost seemed to be hiding down the street, lurking until the opportune moment to pounce.

The El Rey Theater, West Hollywood

One very obvious fan camped out in a nearby doorway with no less than 30 vinyl albums by The Beatles and Ringo himself.

With an hour to go before the concert began the stars began arriving on the red carpet.

Legendary rock drummer Kenny Aronoff was first followed quickly by a couple of up-and-coming artists who no-one seemed to have heard of.

Cue awkward interviews as everyone asked every question under the sun apart from: “Er… and you would be…?”

Um...?

Then came Ben Folds who was actually a really lovely guy and proper talkative.

Ben Folds

And then, the five or six camped-out photographers, quickly became 100+ (or so it seemed).

A blacked out car pulled up behind us and out clambered Ringo together with his wife and former Bond-girl, Barbara Bach.

Cue madness. The intense frenzy of camera flashes quickly turned night into day.

The 'Starr' of the show

After giving an interview to Access Hollywood and another local LA network, Ringo approached my cameraman and I.

We interview Ringo

As a bit of a joke I asked him – surrounded by dozens of cameramen, photographers, celebrities and fans – if he thought ‘Beatlemania’ was returning to the U.S.

I thought it was quite a witty shoe-in given the amount of attention being paid right now to Paul and Ringo performing as part of the Grammys.

"Well… no," he responded. Point blank.

To give him credit he did then answer my question about how honored he felt to be receiving the award, but then ended sarcastically saying "we’ve got a great show… pity you won’t be joining us..."

I felt like showing him my ‘press pass’ for the event, but instead I smiled and let him enjoy his moment.

And then he wandered on to have his photo taken several thousand more times.

My opinion of him changed there and then.

Maybe he’s bored of doing interviews seeing as he’s done more than most in his life.

Maybe he just didn’t like me.

Who knows.

But I guess when you’re the ‘world’s richest drummer’ with a net value of $300million you can say what you want, in whatever way you want, to anyone.

I guess I should be honored or just thankful that he stopped and talked to me.

However the experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

Within seconds my mood – and the general atmosphere on the red carpet – quickly became electric again with eight words muttered by an excitable woman standing behind me.

“Oh, my, GOD… it’s Jim FUCKING Carrey…”

All of a sudden a largely muso-focused event quickly became ‘A’ list.

Jim Carrey

Cue so many more camera flashes that David Lynch thanked the assembled press for the “cool light show” before scurrying inside.

Every the character

Carrey talked abut his love for The Beatles and how he sings his daughter to sleep singing some of the group’s classic hits.

Who’d have known it.

Jim even jokingly told off his publicist who was trying to hurry him along the carpet by saying... "you're always telling me what to do... I like talking!"

Some other familiar faces such as Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton - my absolute favourite on the night (and son and daughter) - then joined the line up before they all flocked inside for the show.

Peter Frampton and son and daughter

So there you have it. Monday night was my first taste of Hollywood.

My first trip to LA, my first time interviewing people on a red carpet, and my first real disappointment interviewing a star.

Of course I’ll keep listening to The Beatles but I’ll try and forget about that bloke at the back playing drums.

Twitter: @tristan_nichols

News team... ASSEMBLE!!!!

IT SEEMS that man Andy Warhol was on the money when he asked the question: “Does life imitate art, or does art imitate life?”

I’ve pondered that question a few times in the last eight weeks since starting work as an anchorman in San Diego.

Of course, when I mentioned my new job role out here my friends, acquaintances and former colleagues – naturally – laughed and joked… “anchorman”, “Ron Burgundy”, “Stay Classy San Diego” etc etc.

In two months I’ve had much of the film’s script shouted/texted/emailed at me.

I laugh as much as the next person, so it seems only natural to write about it all.

Finding myself living and working in this strange new world, I can’t help but try and relate to what I know about the city – thanks largely to Hollywood.

A). San Diego was of course the home of Ron and his Channel 4 News Team.

B). Much of the film, Anchorman, was shot here, including the iconic “BAAAAAAXTER!!!!” scene on Coronado Bridge.

"Well guess what... now this is happening..."

C). ‘San Diego’ translates to a “whale’s vagina”.

No wait… one of those is clearly wrong.

In getting to know the city I’ve actually been amazed to learn about how much of Anchorman's story imitates life here in America’s ‘Finest City’.

For instance, San Diego Zoo DOES have a ‘Panda Watch’ as highlighted in the movie.

'Panda Watch'

This week U-T TV used the footage of the amazing water-skiing squirrel as featured in the movie.

And comically, San Diego does have a crazy abundance of television news networks.

You remember the fight scene in the movie? The scene which involved a stupid amount of news crews?

While I haven’t seen a real fight between the networks here, it’s fair to say each and every one is fighting for the position of the city’s top news channel – including my very own U-T TV.

I’m from a UK city about a tenth of the size of San Diego.

On a typical high-profile news story there you’d probably see reporters from two newspapers, a couple of photographers from a newspaper and/or an agency, one or two radio stations, and no more than two television news networks.

Here, U-T San Diego is the only newspaper in the city, so on a typical news story you’re only likely to find one newspaper reporter and one photographer.

I’m yet to meet a radio news team on a job but – I kid you not – if a press event is called there will be at least six or seven television news channels represented – all covering the same thing for the same San Diego audience.

It’s a TV media circus and I lose count of the number of stations.

Media scrum

From what I’ve learned so far, there is Channel 5, Channel 6, Channel 7, Channel 8, Channel 9, and Channel 10 - and numerous others, depending on what story is breaking.

Of course each and every one claims to be the ‘local source’ and ‘leader’ in offering breaking news.

I can’t keep up with the number of networks which operate here in this county.

Attending these jobs and seeing the mass television media presence, I can’t help but laugh.

Last week the scene of a burst water main in the city resembled a scene from the Cannes Film Festival.

I actually heard a resident warn her friend, “don’t go north, you’ll get filmed…”.

When the mayor of San Diego called a press briefing at Balboa Park earlier on last week, he wore so many TV radio microphones on his shirt he looked like a human cyborg.

These types of scenes make me laugh each and every time.

And they remind me so much of the ‘fight’ scene in Anchorman.

You could argue that I’m biased, but in terms of presence and appreciation among typical San Diegans, the U-T is hard to ignore given its proud history and its newspaper/web/TV offering.

Anyhow, much of the buzz about town recently has been involved with Anchorman 2.

My first reporting job for U-T TV was actually covering the Anchorman 2 casting call in the city on a Saturday morning.

"When in Rome..."

For one morning this otherwise ‘quiet’ area of the city became a haunt for every potential Burgundy wannabe on the west coast.

With the possibility of being cast as an extra in the forthcoming movie, people travelled from far and wide to be a part of it.

Some extended their Friday night’s drinking and partying by staying awake through the night to attend the casting call; some queued for the sake of it without actually knowing what the queue was for; and others came properly dressed for the occasion with some pretending to be Burgundy’s long-lost brother.

Weird.

Getting interviews with these people for U-T TV was easy as every single one of them was there for one purpose – to be on camera.

It was easy pickings and I can tell you, it was a WHOLE lot of fun.

People began queuing at 4am. By 10am there were roughly 2,500 people.

That escalated quickly...

At one bizarre moment U-T TV was stood alongside two other networks and out-of-town channels in the same spot. So naturally, we all interviewed each other for a laugh.

What did we discuss…? The sugar in our coffee? The best bad song in the last 20 years? I can’t recall. It was a surreal and funny moment nonetheless and the nature of the casting call’s movie only enhanced the comedy value.

As you can imagine each person who was selected as an ‘extra’ was sworn to secrecy.

The story goes that the extras found out the details an hour before the event via text or email.

We know one scene was shot at SeaWorld (with Ron involved in a ‘fight’ scene reportedly with a dolphin?!), and another was shot at Harbor Island, also in San Diego.

Will Ferrell at SeaWorld in San Diego

Sadly no-one could get an interview with Ron, sorry… Will Ferrell, so we’ll all have to wait and see how much of the movie is based here in San Diego when the film eventually comes out.

Ron and Veronica

One thing’s for sure though. With me in my new role, coinciding with the forthcoming release of Anchorman 2, the jokes and fun times will continue for a while yet.

Stay Classy… WORLD.

Oh, news just in... a new Anchorman 2 trailer has been released in the last few hours.
Copy the link into a web browser and take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elczv0ghqw0.


Twitter: @tristan_nichols

"... You can always go, downtown"

“BUY something you don’t need?” asked the ageing Mexican as we walked past his magnificently chintzy tourist shop.

As far as sales pitches go, this one was pretty lame.

But you had to appreciate the apparent brilliance in its sheer honesty.

Had we a penchant for buying over-priced rubbish then we might have taken him up on his offer.

But we decided to venture on exploring Tijuana’s infamous ‘Downtown’ area.

I know I know, I can hear you asking… ‘it’s taken you six MONTHS to go downtown?!’

Personally I’d much rather settle into an area and then do the ‘norm’ and take in the tourist traps.

Avenida Revolucion (Revolution Avenue) is THE tourist heart of TJ. It’s the main strip which plays host to most of the city’s bars and tourist shops and stalls.

At one end is the famous Tijuana arch, and at the other is the huge Mexican flag. Both act as symbols of pride.

Standing tall: Tijuana's famous arch

Now THAT is a flag

Each shop on Avenida Revolucion pretty much sells the same chintzy assortment of key rings, guitars, sombreros, chess boards, 'I LOVE Tijuana' stickers, wrestling masks (Mexicans LOVE wrestling), and spectacularly bright ornaments which would immediately cheapen any mantelpiece.

Chintz anyone?

The entertainment

Wrestle-mania

I’m led to believe its TJ's notorious drug cartels which have given the city, and indeed, Avenida Revolucion its bad name in recent years.

Sadly even at night the once bustling and chaotic downtown area is now a shadow of its former self.

Promotional teams, bar and restaurant owners and even waiters, almost go as far as to sell their souls to entice you into visit their establishments.

Some sales pitches are obviously better than others.

It seems that even the sale of a couple of cold beers will allow these establishments to open the next weekend.

When I ask whether it was the global downturn in the economy that put paid to the once booming trade, Jacks tells me that it was actually largely the fault of the US media which shot an arrow through its heart.

As I’ve mentioned before, you only have to watch a US comedy starring Will Ferrell and you’ll hear reference to the slurs against ‘Tijuana’.

It has probably the worst name in Hollywood.

And while I admittedly wasn’t around here a few years ago to witness the ‘bad times’, it’s hard to imagine a place so bad that it deserves such a stigma which still sits heavily on its shoulders.

Even Jacky openly admitted after our night-time visit that “it’s not as bad” as she imagined.

Sure it’s seedy, and it feels dangerous and edgy.

But we weren't offered any form of drug, not least an Aspirin, as we wondered around. 

The air reeks of stale cigar smoke, cheap perfume and tacos, and your ears are filled with the sound of The Doors, banda music and some sort of techno – but isn’t that its appeal? It is what it is.

A few titty bars, drinking holes, bric-a-brac tourist shops, and a zebra-donkey or two to have your photograph taken with?

I mean, that’s Blackpool right?!

Nowhere here does a sign say ‘welcome to Tijuana, please wipe your feet’.

Besides in life you have to taste the sour to appreciate the sweet.

And I actually like it.

TJ - proud to be Mexican

In between all that there is also evidence of an upcoming art revolution in the street. A few new trendy and retro art gallery/shops have opened and there are cool Banksy-style murals and designs on shutter doors and shops fronts.

Banksy-inspired?

Street art

The famous 'zebra-donkey'

Oh, useless fact for the day?

The concept for the traditional ‘Caesar salad’ was created in Tijuana.

Fact.

Weird huh?

It turns out that an Italian restauranteur called Caesar Cardini owned a restaurant in TJ and developed the salad at that establishment.

That was back in the 1920s.

Nowadays The Hotel Caesar and the associated restaurant on Avenida Revolucion proudly continues the association.

Further food for thought eh?

Talking of which it didn’t half feel strange tucking into an ice cream last weekend in 25 degree heat – especially because everyone back home in the UK has been experiencing hell on earth with regards to the weather.

I’ve told Jacky that on second thoughts she’d best pack the snorkel and mask and a few extra woolly jumpers.