Sokol Sundance Selebrity Search, 2011 Edition

This year’s Sundance scene was hotter than ever. Actually it was freezing as always. After our first year, we learned how to dress or how NOT to dress for this event. So here I am zipping up my super stylish black snow pants.
I may not be the most fashionable at Sundance, but I promise I am the warmest lady there.

We have been doing this for four years now. I know, it seems like just last year we showed up the as the clueless couple who knew nothing about siting celebrities. Now we are practically seasoned professionals.
We know how to dress, where to be and what time to get there.

I just loving doing this every year and I can’t really put my finger on why I love it so much. Everyone knows that after serving my mission in frigid upstate New York I would do almost anything to avoid prolonged exposure to coldness.

I don’t know, it’s so exciting to see famous people. I don’t really even care who they are. I think it’s more about conquering the nerves of asking someone famous for a picture. Having formerly been quite shy, I count it as a personal victory when I am able to do something scary (or stupid).

Anyway…We arrived around 2:30p.m. a bit earlier than we have arrived in the past. We parked at the High School this year. There was plenty of parking there. The high school is also the Eccles Center, the biggest film venue at Sundance. We were hoping to see Paul Rudd and Zooey Deschanel later that day here. But first, we met Emmy nominated cinematographer Bob Seaman (OK, not technically a celebrity—but at least we wouldn’t be totally skunked this trip). Although he was holding a movie camera that looked to be worth more than our lives, he consented (he actually offered without our asking) to take our picture and tell us about his award winning career.
Doesn’t this look like an award winning photo? Bob Seaman sure thought so.

We then took a Shuttle Bus over to Main Street. We have never had great luck here, but have always arrived here after dark when it’s hard to see anything at all. Anyway, we took the world’s slowest bus and ended up ditching half way there because we thought we could walk faster. We ended up beating the bus by about 45 seconds, but at least we weren’t cooped up that whole time.

This year, we started at the “bottom” of Main Street by the ski lift.
I’ve never noticed this lift before and I thought it was super cool, so I took Steve’s picture by it.

The air in and around Park City during the festival although cold is absolutely electrifying.
There was a really great gospel choir singing and filling the street with gospel music.

We decided to go into this Art Gallery turned music venue where the sign said Paul Reiser as in “not so much” Paul Reiser would be performing. We attempted to get into this venue for the last two years first to see The Fray and the next year to see Lady Antebellum, but never with any success. There is always a massive line and they can only allow as many people in as is allowed by fire code. This year the line was very small and we got right in.

When we first arrived a band called Manchester Orchestra was playing. They were actually very good. Like very, very good. They were almost as good as they were attractive.
Aren’t these some of the most attractive clean-cut men you have ever seen. You know musicians, always doing their best to look fresh and clean during a performance.

Then came Paul Reiser and Julia Fordham. So he played the piano and she sang.
It was a very New York performance. Very Jazz. White Jazz anyway. Not bad, but not as entertaining as the first act we saw.


It was fun to see Paul Reiser. I used to just love him while I was in High School and he was in Mad about You sitcom. He was very funny in between numbers, but daylight was wasting outside so we cut out after the third song.

Leaving turned out to be the right move because just after we headed up Main Street we saw a small group of really tall black people. The guy in the middle looked very familiar and famous. Like his face was worth a million dollars. SO without hesitation we turned around and followed them even though we weren’t EXACTLY sure who it was yet.

As the group moved down the street, everyone pulled out their cameras and snapped pictures of him passing. Then Steve came up with his name. Danny Glover. Most famous for roles in Lethal Weapon, Color Purple and about 120 other movies, hardly a more famous actor in Hollywood.

I really wanted my picture with as many Celebrities as possible, so we walked down the street with them until he noticed me.
I asked for a pic and he said it was too icy and he couldn’t be distracted. So I apologized for bothering him and walked with him for another few steps when he stopped and said “Okay, just make it fast!”
He posed with me, Steve shot the photo and he was off again. BooYah, Danny Glover!

We continued up the street for about 5 minutes when we saw some commotion on the other side. Without hesitation we crossed over and tried to figure out who the famous person was. We heard the name Mike Rapaport, which meant nothing to us. (For people who love to get pics with Celebs, we sure are clueless as to who they are) Someone pointed out who the famous person was and I ran up to ask for a pic. As you can see here, he was delighted to have his pic with me.

Turns out, he was having car problems and was not real happy to be on the street taking photo’s with ladies in pink hats.

After it was all over we googled him on Steve’s phone to figure out why he was famous. Turns out he play’s Liz Lemon’s jerk boyfriend Dennis on 30 Rock. “Hey Dummy!” He’s been in a zillion other things too, but that’s what we knew him from (or didn’t know him as the case may be).

So feeling good about that we walked a little further up the street where we had another sighting. This time it was Chimayo, one of the restaurants we used to go to in California when we were dating. It closed in California and we never knew that there was one here in Park City.

So we took a pic in front of the sign so we don’t forget it’s here. Note to self: Good place to go for an anniversary or something.

On our way back up the street we spotted a really interesting group who appeared to be there playing music although in the several hours we were on the street we never actually heard them play. I am beginning to wonder if they were just standing there holding instruments, including the accordion.
I thought it odd that a young person would know how to play such a thing. I was probably right. He probably didn’t know how to play it. He was just holding it for looks. They did have a case full of money in front of them though. It was probably their money.

We kept moving with eyes wide open up the street. When we got to the top, we found the Egyptian Theater. The original Sundance Theater from the 1970’s. They still do some panel discussions and such there.

Worth a photo. You bet.

We turned around and walked back down looking for more of the same. As we made our way down most of the hill, we spotted our friend Skippy (all the single ladies…yes, he is available).
He is our Sundance Master. He taught us everything we know about how to work this festival three years ago and now we are facebook friends.
He himself was featured in a documentary for his work spotting and getting photo’s with every famous person around. We don’t really know him all that well, mainly just from the stuff he posts on facebook. It seems like he is focusing more on up-and-coming celebrities now.

Anyway, it was a delight to see him again. We hung out with him and heard all his exciting stories. While we were talking to him, a group of really pretty ladies walked past and one of them said…”Hey Maria, there’s your boyfriend!” It was Maria Menounos from TODAY and Access Hollywood. Skippy then told us that he had proposed to Maria with a ring pop earlier in the day. I guess she said “no” but they were still friends. I see her on TV all the time. You know, because I loves the hard news stories she covers. So I started to run after her, but by the time I caught up with where I thought she was, she had vanished. So crazy.

I was so bummed. I really wanted a pic with her. I thought about it for a minute and put on my gumshoes and solved the mystery of Maria Menounos and realized that she had ducked into a nearby tent.

We looked through the plastic windows and you could sort of make out her silhouette. We hung out there for 10 minutes or so to see if she would come out. She did, and we were there.

I told her that me and my little girls watch her all the time. She seemed genuinely excited about that. She seemed like she wanted to talk, but I couldn’t come up with anything else to say, so we parted ways. We followed her from a distance to see if she was going anywhere else interesting, but we got distracted and lost her.

We got distracted by this man.
Does he look familiar to any of you? He did to both of us, but we weren’t exactly certain who he was. We didn’t let that deter us from asking for a photo. We figured Skippy could tell us who he was.

When we got back to Skippy he told us it was former Brittish Boy Band star Alex Boye. You might know him as the “brother” in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Pretty cool eh? I didn’t think he was Usher, but I thought it was someone more along those lines. So, this one is for you mom. Me and Alex Boye.

It started to get dark and we decided to get moving towards home. As we were walking up the street and toward the bus stop, we saw a major crowd looking inside a window. There were famous people in there. We could tell, it’s just that our handicap of being so short kept us from seeing who it was. We then heard who it was…BonJovi. Oh wait…not Bonjovi. Who? Paul Giamatti. Kinda sounds like Bonjovi.

We didn’t know him at all, but we snapped the pic anyway.

Also inside that room was Holly from The Office.

As in Michael Scott’s girlfriend Holly, yep, that’s her.

Also inside was Rose from Two and a half Men.
I’ve never seen that show or her, but I took their word for it.

This guy was also being interviewed in there. He looks kinda familiar but no one could place him.
Anyone reading this know who that is? Please tell me if you do.

We stood in the window for 10 minutes or so, eventually made our way to the front so we could actually see what was going on. I helped an old lady who was also taking pics figure out how to turn the flash off her camera. If you’re going to do this really need to know how to use basic functions on your camera.

After that we set off for the bus stop for reals. Until…We saw…

Ross the Intern, from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He was crossing the street. We turned around and I stopped him for a picture.
He was SUPER nice. He even complimented my hat. It is very cute. My sister-in-law Jacquelyn made it for me for Chirstmas two years ago. It was a big hit last year at Sundance and again this year.

Okay, now for real we were done. No more. Bus time. We found our way to the transit station and found a bus we hoped would move a little faster than the one we used on the way here. It was a success. The bus moved very well and the driver was very friendly. Actually, all the bus drivers were friendly and helpful. I don’t know how they have such nice and courteous drivers, but they do.

It is our tradition that after a long day schlepping the streets of Sundance for Celebrity sightings we treat ourselves to dinner at a nice restaurant. This time was no different.

So here we are (post shedding our warm layers) at our “nice” restaurant. Arby’s.

It may not be the fanciest place in town, but you can’t beat a French dip sandwich especially when they are on sale 2 for $5. It was delicious and it really hit the spot.

If you haven’t taken advantage of the Arby’s 2 for $5 deal, you should. They are delicious.

Then back to home where we left our two biggest Celebrities with a baby sitter. We were gone just about 7 hours total and I did start to really miss them and they us.

After all the searching we did today, we found two of the world’s prettiest girls right here at home.

We are a happy family.