Hollywood Alleged Stars Night

Tonight was the 47th Annual Hollywood Stars Game at Dodger Stadium. As you can see above, the set-up to welcome the stars outside of Dodger Stadium was very elaborate. My guess is this is the finest treatment the B-level stars participating in the game have received in a long, long time.

And then in the real game the Dodgers lost to the Twins 5 to 3 in interleague play.

James Van Der Beek 

Jon Lovitz 

Robert Wahl 

Michael Rosenbaum, who plays Lex Luther on Smallville. 

Rob Schneider 

Super Dave Osborne 

Jimmy Kimmel 

Tonight was also KROQ's Kevin and Bean night at Dodger Stadium. I know they've been doing the morning show for like 20 years -- but I was still shocked they are as old as dirt. 

Dodger fans like to bring beach balls to the stands. (I like to pop them with my pen.) The ushers are instructed to grab the balls and take them away from the fans. This usher hurt himself lunging for a ball and then sat down on the steps and cried for 10 minutes. The fans were not very sympathetic to his plight. 

A Landmark Visit

The weather today in San Francisco was gorgeous. I finally had a chance to visit the recently redone Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street. It's filled with excellent food stalls and restaurants.

I had lunch at Taylor's Automatic Refresher -- the San Francisco branch of the decades old Napa Valley hamburger stand. It was excellent.

Here's the interior of the recently redone Ferry Building. 

Here's the busy staff at Taylor's Automatic Refresher dealing with the lunch rush. 

A stalled car on the Bay Bridge slowed traffic so I was able to watch these large pieces being brought by barge to be part of the newly constructed eastern span. 

Better Live Than TiVo

Flew up to San Francisco today to attend the mid-year meeting of the Junior Statesmen Foundation's Board of Trustees. It was a gorgeous afternoon. Above is the view from my hotel room at the San Francisco Hilton looking out towards the San Francisco Bay -- you can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

After the meeting I grabbed a quick dinner at Sears Fine Food near Union Square. It's not "Sears" as in the catalog, but rather a long time, classic diner in San Francisco. For decades they were only open for breakfast and lunch; but recently under new ownership and after an extensive remodel they are open until 10:00 p.m. The turkey dinner is excellent!

Tonight I caught "Hush Up, Sweet Charlotte" at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. It's a campy little show based on the famous Bette Davis movie "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte." It stars one of my favorite actor/actresses -- Jeffery Roberson aka Varla Jean Merman playing Cousin Miriam Deering. Varla Jean claims to be the illegitimate love child of Ernest Borgnine and Ethel Merman. According to the credits, Varla Jean made her network television debut on ABC's "All My Children" in the recurring role of lady of the evening Rosemary Chicken.

I actually tried to TiVo "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" a couple of weeks ago, but it turns out I don't have the cable channel it was running on. But I guess now I can say I've seen the story.

Life In the Slow Lane

Just staying home tonight, watching the Dodger game and reading. I can't be expected to do something every night. I'm not Kitty Carlisle Hart, after all.

It Only Takes One

The demise of $2 Tuesdays at Dodger Stadium makes for much quieter games. It also means only 32,000 were on hand to see the Detroit Tigers beat the Dodgers 8 to 4.

But that doesn't mean all stupidity is gone. The idiot photographed above is being escorted out of the stadium after he reached over the fence and interfered with a ball in play -- potentially costing the Dodgers an out.

Hoooray for Short Games!

The Dodgers beat the Detroit Tigers 5 to 3 in a game tonight lasting 2 hours and 9 minutes. I needed a short game! I was out late last night and up very early to catch my flight home from Kennedy. Now it's time to go to bed.

Celebrity Sighting: Bryant Gumbel was on my flight from JFK to LAX today. I had to look at him a long time to make sure it was really him. He has really aged since leaving the national television stage.

Tony Awards

Had a great time tonight at the Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall. We were inside well before it started and the photo above is the view from our seats. I had to smuggle my camera inside, so I took very few photos inside the building.

Four of us attended -- my friend and colleague, Renne Rose; her sister-in-law Cecilia; my friend John DeGregorio and myself.

It was a great show and Hugh Jackman did a wonderful job as host. He talked to the crowd during the commercial breaks and they showed some funny Broadway clips.

I wasn't surprised by any of the awards and am glad that "Spamalot" was limited in the number of awards it won. I knew it would win Best Musical and was hoping it wouldn't win an additional boatload of awards (it didn't).

On the way out I had a chance to say hello to Jess Goldstein, who won a Tony for Best Costume Design of a Play for "The Rivals." He said he was glad his work was remembered because the show closed some time ago, after a good run at the Lincoln Center. We also said hello to Jon Cryer, of "Two and a Half Men" on the way out with his Mother.

Earlier in the day I attended the matinee of "The Pillowman" and was really pulling for it and Billy Crudup to win. It's a creepy and thought provoking play about storytelling, writer's responsibilities and, oh yeah, child murders.

Now it's time to say goodbye to the Center of the Universe, as I refer to New York City, and return to Los Angeles tomorrow.

Here's a photo of me and Renee waiting to go into the Tonys. If my face seems a little shiny, it's because it was warm waiting outside. Fortunately, inside it was air conditioned.