Opening night of Outfest is always one of the highlights of summer because the after-party can't be beat, you see so many people you know, kinda know or wish you knew! I always invited a friend or a date to the event to try and spice up their dull little lives (kidding, that's an 'I Love Lucy" line). So this year, I invited my friend Trevor Daley who is always fun to go to stuff with. At the Human Rights Campaign dinner this year, Trevor took me all around and introduced me to scores of people so I thought it would be fun to do the same for him at the Outfest bash. Well, didn't work out that way.
Trevor, the little social butterfly that he is, knew more people than I did! And it kinda pissed me off! I did a buncha red carpet interviews before Trevor arrived to steal my thunder and got to hang with Rene Lynch of the LA Times who I worked with for many years - including covering a murder case in Arizona where a madman kept the body of his murder victim in a freezer. Life is a lot less grisly for both of us these days.
Gabbed with the cast members of "Dante's Cove" who were first to arrive including Gabriel Romero, William Gregory Lee, Gregory Michael and Jensen Atwood. All are ridiculously good looking and very sweet. Trevor Wright of "Shelter" and I were gabbing when he got ripped away to do photos but caught up with him at the VIP party and will share our chat in a few days [Well, I can't spill it all today!]
It was so great to see the cast of "East Side Story" and to finally meet the writer-director Carlos Portugal. Trevor and I kept running into the guys - like about six times - so we all got rather chummy. Here I am pictured with Steve Callahan who has a lot going on in his career right now. We had a chat that, you guessed it, I'll share in a few days. Steve told me he is a faithful reader of Out In Hollywood.
Once the red carpet slowed down, Trevor and I hit the VIP pre-party. Trevor's motto for the night: "Think VIP!" We gabbed with Perez Hilton whose hair was very orange - frighteningly orange. Perez, who I interviewed for an piece in The Advocate last year, told me he had some kind of big announcement today. I still gotta check and see what it is...Perez is seen hanging out with Tori Spelling and her hubby Dean McDermott at the after-party filming something for Tori's reality show I believe.
UPDATE: Hilton has landed a deal with VH1 for "What Perez Sez" a series of one-hour specials, with the first one premiering in September. He wreites: "Perez is going to be like the gay Barbara Walters of VH1!"
OK, back to last night: We head to the theater lobby and check out the scene. I see Michael Huffington, the former congressman and ex-hubby of Arianna. He is openly bisexual [but wasn't hen he ran for the U.S. Senate against Dianne Feinstein in 1994]. I introduced Huffington to Trevor without even thinking it could be weird since Trevor is Feinstein's right-hand man in LA.
I was saved when the ushers started to insist that we go into the theater to our seats. The "East Side Story" dudes told us they had seats in the front row. Trevor lamented our N-48 and N-50 seats. It just wasn't VIP enough for him. We settled in and watched Bill Condon get a special achievement award who said: "I can't describe what it means to me to be recognized today - the phrase 'being recognized by your peers" has a literal meaning." Condon noted that he was standing on the same stage where one of the musical numbers from his "Dreamgirls" was filmed and went on to thank his gay manager and gay agent and partner Dan Morrisey.
After the movie is over, a hungry and thirsty Greg and Trevor tore over to the after-party and filled up on food and drink and made the rounds. I had all my interviews done so decided to have a greyhound (vodka and grapefruit juice) then a secone one. Whew! Probably shoulda stopped at one.
Met a buncha people Trevor knew and when I tried to introduce him to someone I know, GLAAD Executive Director Neil Guliano, it turns out they already know each other. And there's Wilson Cruz! "Hi Wilson! Meet Trevor." Knows him. Chad Allen? Knows him (that's Trevor pictured above with Chad). Finally, we spot Tony Tripoli and his boyfriend T.J. (pictured below) and Trevor knows neither of them. Had a great time hanging out with them for awhile and Darryl Stephens (Noah on "Noah's Arc") came by for awhile. Darryl, who also starred in "Boy Culture," has just finished an indie film and is excited to start filming the new "Noah's Arc" movie next month. Tony, once Kathy Griffin's favorite gay friend, and I met when I wrote a cover story on him for Fronteirs Magazine.
Just after midnight, Trevor turned into a pumpkin so we headed out. Another Outfest opening night was history.