Crosby, Stills and Nash! Alright...just Stills and Nash.

On Tuesday of last week, the classic band Crosby, Stills and Nash were in town to do a show in downtown Phoenix. After uncovering which hotel they were staying at, my friend Shawn and I went on the hunt. Right after arriving at the hotel, we (we being Shawn) spotted Graham Nash, who said he would sign for us when he came back from getting coffee. He kept to his word and signed 2 items each. I was able to get him on my guitar, and an album; and snuck in an album for my friend Cary, who had to work (the fire dept keeps him busy I guess).

We then waited for a few hours for Stephen Stills to come out, and when he finally did...on the bus he went. We jumped in our cars and followed him to the venue. Shawn was able to catch him and get his 2 albums done. I missed him by 10 seconds while I was looking for a place to park. I called to him as he was walking away from Shawn, but he ignored me. The good news is while I was waiting for him to come back out, Graham came out of his bus and signed Cary's other album for me. David Crosby told me, in a very polite way, to go F*** myself. Not in those exact words, but he kept saying "No...I don't do that...No...I don't sign...No...I don't take pictures with people...No means NO". It was expected, since I heard he was impossible, but it still bothered me as I was the ONLY ONE THERE.

Oh well...Stephen finally came back out and took my guitar and all 3 albums onto the bus and signed them. Thanks so much Graham and Stephen! You are much nicer than your pal David!

Here are the results of my hard work:

And that's my CSN story. Hope you enjoyed it! Until next time kiddies!

Expendables 2 Premiere, Dexter, Shameless and Scandal! Photo's and More!

I've been slacking at posting on here and apologize for not getting this HUGE, AWESOME post up sooner. A few weeks ago, a few friends and I made the trek to LA again for The Expendables 2 premiere. Now, I did my homework before we left and made a game plan for what else we were going to hit up while we were on our 3 day visit. On Monday night was the premiere for the new Dax/Kristen flick Hit and Run, so we made sure we were there for that one...but prior to that, we hit up a few tv shows that were filming in the area as well. First up on this amazing day was the showtime show Shameless. I really love this show. If you haven't seen it, take a look. It's about a disfunctional family in Chicago (and they film most of it in LA) with starts William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum. Unfortunately, neither of these stars were on set today, but we were able to get a few members of the cast non the less. Here is what we got:

Emma Greenwell, who plays Mandy; and Jeremy Allen White, who plays Lip on the show.

 



Noel Fisher, who plays Mickey on the show.

 



Cameron Monaghan, who plays Ian on the show.

 



Steve Howey, who plays Kevin on the show.

 



11x14 cast shot

 



11x14 cast shot



While we were waiting for the guys/gals on Shameless, there was another show filming just a few blocks away...one of the best new shows on tv...Scandal. This has a great cast with Kerry Washington and Columbus Short leading the way. It just so happens that BOTH of them were filming on this day and with the help of an awesome crew (the AP and security staff were great), I was able to get them on a cast photo and an individual shot of Kerry.

11x14 Kerry Washington

 



11x14 cast shot with Kerry and Columbus.



She didn't want to take a photo with, but I broke her down :p

 



Now that both Scandal and Shameless are out of the way...it's off to LA Live for the Hit and Run premiere. With the help of my friend CB, who held us a great spot; we were able to do really well on arrivals and at the after party. Here is what I got:



While we were waiting for arrivals, we got a picture with acting legend Robert Loggia from Scarface.

Got a photo with David Koechner.

Photo with Dax Shepard.

Photo with Kristen Bell. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is one of my fav comedies!

Bradley Cooper signing for fans.

Olympic Gold Medalist Tyler Clary was there.

Photo with Traffic and Parenthood star Erika Christensen.

Parenthood star Joy Bryant, who is also in this movie.

Tom Arnold needs no introduction. :)

I had to get a picture with Tyler Clary and his gold medal.

Michael Rosenbaum from Smallville and Urban Legend.

Christopher McDonald from Happy Gilmore. 

11x14 cast shot with Kristen, Dax, Bradley, Joy, Michael, David, Ryan Hansen and Jason Bateman.

12x18 Kristen Bell

11x14 Bradley Cooper 

11x14 Kristen Bell

8x10 Jason Bateman

12x18 Bradley Cooper

12x18 Bradley Cooper

Now, while we were waiting for departures at the premiere, there was another event going on next door presented by Walmart to benefit the Teachers Association. Although it was not planned, meaning I didn't have many pictures for the people that were in attendance, I was able to get a few things done and a few pictures with some of my favorites. Here is what I got:

Country Legend Garth Brooks. He wouldn't sign a guitar for me, but I got him on an index card.

NCIS star Pauley Perrette. She was so sweet. 

Swooner Josh Groban. I got a guitar and 8x10 from him. 

8x10 Josh Groban

 

8x10 Miranda Cosgrove

3 8x10's from Pauley Perrette.

 

 

 After a few hours of sleep at a crappy hotel (it really wasn't that bad), where only 1 guy asked me for my shoes (that I was wearing); we were up and back at it. Today was going to be a long day as we needed to get there early in order to have good position for The Expendables 2 premiere. But first, I received some great info that Dexter was filming about 8 blocks from where we were going, so off we went. Those of you that know me well are aware that Dexter is one of my favorite shows. I know I have a lot of favorite shows, but this one is top 2. I have tried sooooooo many times for Michael C. Hall and have missed him every time. Not today! Here's the story...

 

As we were waiting across the street of the Dexter set, I decided to try to get some info and here is what I found out. Michael C. Hall was pretty much the only cast member on set (and the main one I needed), and they were already inside filming. We decided we would wait for them to break for lunch, and made a trip to the corner for some Coffee Bean :) 

 

There were no trailers for the cast as the studio that shoots dexter is just down the road, but the craft trucks were right outside the door of coffee bean. When my friend Shawn and I came out, Shawn immediately spotted Michael. He said "There he is", so I decided to make my move. I told Michael we were HUGE fans and drove all the way (6.5 hrs) from AZ, and when he was done eating; would he mind signing a few pictures for us. Being as nice as Michael is, and I heard he was the best with fans; he said "No problem", so we started back towards the car. Then I heard Michael say "Hey...where are your pictures", to which I responded they were in the car, and he said to go get them. We RAN to the car, told our other friend Dwyatt to get his stuff as well, and ran back to where Michael was. He was so nice, he signed several pics for us as well as pictures with. This is one of my new best signers. Michael is so great. Thanks so much Michael! Here is what I got:

 

4 11x14's from Michael C. Hall 

 

I actually got one more picture signed, but it mysteriously vanished and I have not yet been able to find it. Oh well...I will just have to go back to LA for more :p

 

Now, for the moment of truth...the Exp 2 premiere. Although this day seemed to be very long, once the event started, you forgot all about how tired you were. Being that it was several weeks ago, I can't remember who arrived in what order, so here is my best recollection.

 

Terry Crews arrived first and was greeting everyone with handshakes and flexing his muscles. He only signed a few autographs. I have met Terry in Phx on a few different occasions and he has always been nice, but I was surprised he wasn't signing. Sometimes celebrity can go to your head and I hope that is not the case here as I really like Terry Crews. I was unable to get his graph tonight though. Next to arrive was Christmas Carpenter and I didn't have anything for her (guess I should have put her on my cast shot). Then all hell broke loose. As it always happens when you have several stars in the same movie, they all seem to arrive within minutes of one another.

 

In no particular order...Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, JCVD, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Swarzenegger and Chuck Norris all arrived and signed in different places. Since this premiere was HUGE, the street was packed and make it very difficult to jump for these guys (move from place to place). I pretty much had to stay in one spot (I had a pretty good one) and wait for them to come to me. Dolph came our way and I got him on a few cast shots (with the help of Brenda), a Rocky dual with Sly, and an individual from Exp 2. Thanks Dolph!

 

 

 

Jason Statham came my way, which I was so happy about as I had heard that he was the most difficult person in the cast to sign and would more than likely only do a few. Quite the contrary, Jason signed down the whole street and I was able to get him on both my cast shots, a Snatch poster image and a Transporter shot as well (with jumping for him). Thanks Jason!

 

 

I was not able to get Randy Couture on arrivals, but did get him leaving the after party. Thanks Randy!

 

 

I tried very hard to get Jean Claude Van Damme on arrivals and leaving the after party, but he was having non of it. He did sign a little at arrivals, but not near my area; and leaving the after party, he completely ignored us. :(

 

Here was my dilemma of the day...both Sly and Arnold were both signing at the same time and if I jumped, I might have got Arnold and if I stayed put, I was more than likely going to get Sly. What would you do? Decisions, Decisions. Well, I chose to stay and get Sly as I had already met Arnold before and never got Stallone. I believe my choice paid off as I was able to complete the Rocky IV dual with Dolph, AND get him on a 12x18 Rocky poster shot. I was extremely happy!

 

Dolph wrote "I must break you" on this. 

 Close-up of Sly's signature

 

Here are the 12x18 cast shots that I got.

 

 Dolph Lundgren and Jason Statham.

 

Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham and Randy Couture. 

Close-up of Jason Statham and Randy Couture graph.

 



 

Well, I tried to get more when they were leaving, but ended up with nothing. That's how it goes. Overall, it was a great day with Dexter and Exp 2 being successful. We did stay in town the next day and try to Jean Claude during his appearance on E at the Grove, but again, he ignored. Here are a few shots from his appearance and my photo with Maria. Thanks Maria!

 

 

That's it folks! Hope you enjoyed this edition of As Joe's World Turns! Until next time :)