Greg's Friends: April 2008 Archives

The night before I headed to the Balboa Penninsula for an amazing beach house week (I will blog a bit about it later this week), my pal Kenneth Walsh (Kennethinthe212) was in town from New York and we had a blast at The Abbey which was jammed-packed even more than usual. We chatted a bit with Phiipp Karner, one of the hot stars of "Kiss the Bride" who I had interviewed just a few days earlier and snapped a picture with him (that's Kenneth's partner Michael standing far left). Kenneth has blogged some about his trip on his cool site. It was so good to spend some time with this fantastically talented guy who I met just last fall but feel like I've known forever.

I'm sitting here looking at an invitation to tonight's premiere of "Prom Night 2008" and wondering if I'll have time to finish my work and make it there. If I had my old friend Candice Choi still sitting a few desks away, I bet I'd make it. Candice and I tore up the movie premiere circuit like nobody's business about three years ago before she left me for the Associated Press in NYC! Candice would bring her digital camera and get all these goofy shots (That's her, pictured left, licking the Liberty Bell) along with the more traditional standing next to a celebrity snap. She was fearless and would go up to anyone, anywhere, and ask for a picture. My favorite is one of her next to Queen Latifah at the "Beauty Shop" premiere and Latifah had this "Who's this Chinese girl sitting next to me?" look on her face! Classic. I miss Candice as a Hollywood sidekick but she sent me some of these pictures from the premiere of "National Treasure" a few years ago for my Facebook page but I wanna post them here too!

The film's star, Nicolas Cage. Even Candice couldn't get near the Oscar winner since he was surrounded by security and a buncha hangers-on. Candice was pissed!

Candice snapped me with Justin Bartha who co-starred in the film and its sequel. I thought he was hilarious in the movie and told him that night I thought he was gonna be a big star. Candice said I was just being a suck-up...

Here is Candice with Jon Voight who plays Nicolas' father in the movie and its sequel. She looks awfully chummy with the Oscar winning dad of Angelina Jolie but the funny thing is, Candice often didn't even know who a lot of the celebs she posed with were. I'll never forget the time she got a picture with Renee Taylor and then said to me, "Now WHO is she?" She obviously never watched "The Nanny" !!!

Hey, no one can ever say that I don't get wild and crazy in public sometimes!

And finally, here is a photo I really treasure with Olympics Gold Medalists (and married couple) Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner. About 10 years earlier, I had covered an event for the LA Times where Nadia performed to the Diana Ross song "It's My Turn" shortly after defecting from Romania. I got to watch from the floor of the arena and for some reason started sobbing. Thankfully, it was dark and no one saw me. There's no CRYING in journalism!!!

Anyway, I've had so much fun with these pics that I've asked Candice to send me more and I will share them as "Hollywood Flashback" postings from time to time.

Ron Kaye sometimes used to stop by my desk as I was pounding out a story or blog item and loudly proclaim: "I set you free!"

He knew it, I knew it, everyone knew it.

After two decades in journalism, it was with Ron's staunch support that I launched the Out In Hollywood blog - a gay man's take on all things involving pop culture and whatever else I found of interest. It was the summer of 2006 and my role at The Daily News went from being very enjoyable to being an absolute and utter blast.

Ron encouraged me to break the chains of traditional journalism and to write from my heart. Along the way,. I found my voice.

What a gift.

Ron was excited by the blog's success and talked it up publicly on several occasions and also did so for others who had entered the online world and connected with readers. Then last summer came the cherry on the cake when Ron and managing editor Melissa Lalum gave me a daily column in the paper to make this more of a dream job than I ever could have imagined.

Today was Ron's last day at the Los Angeles Daily News after 23 years. He told us they had been the happiest of his life and that his three years as editor had been heaven. I wanted to publicly pay tribute to Ron here on the blog because without his support, there would not have been an Out In Hollywood and I would have never have been set free!

It is priceless and I intend to honor him by carrying on in this way no matter what the future holds.

To read about Ron's career and his departure, go to DailyNews.com