How Elton John Wound Up at Saturday Night’s ‘Pose’ FYC Drive-In Event

Back in the before times, when there were in-person Emmy events every night, sometimes you’d get a heavyweight to show up and either promote their own project, or support another one. Remember when Bruce Springsteen actually performed at his Netflix FYC event for “Springsteen on Broadway”? Everyone’s thirsty!

What they’ll be talking about this year is Elton John and David Furnish, showing up at Saturday night’s FX/20th Television FYC event for “Pose.” Sitting on stage in front of a sea of cars honking their horns and flashing their headlights in delight, John and Furnish sat down next to “Pose” co-creator Steven Canals, as well as stars Billy Porter and Mj Rodriguez, and answered questions from executive producer Ryan Murphy. Scott Huver covered it for Variety:

Murphy unspooled an anecdote from his childhood that he’d long wanted to share with John, recalling being a gay 7-year-old with a traditional, hetero-masculine father he’d never quite connected to – until one day while riding with his father in the car, John’s 1975 hit “Philadelphia Freedom” came on the radio.

“I was like, ‘You know what, I’m just going to be me,’ and I performed the shit out of ‘Philadelphia Freedom’ in the back seat of that car, and my father saw me for the first time, thanks to Elton John,” Murphy recalled. ‘We pulled into my driveway and he looked at me and he goes, ‘You have a good voice,’ and it was the first time he had ever said anything kind to me. So you’re so a part of my life, Elton, in a way that you’ll never know.”

Apparently John and Furnish were scheduled to end their Los Angeles vacation before Saturday’s event, but extended it in order to attend the FYC event for “Pose.” They weren’t paid to be there, but rather, simply offered to show up because they are fans.

John and Furnish had reached out to Murphy and offered to support the show in any way they could after falling in love with “Pose,” which they lauded for its depiction of the fight for LGBTQ rights in the 1980s, and even more critical, the push for AIDS/HIV awareness and research back then. Writes Huver:

“I lived the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s,” said John, who revealed how profoundly taken he’s been by the authenticity of the show’s storylines and characters. “This series touched me more than any other series because of the journey that these people are on… They’re real people, and they’re trans people who’ve made their life possible, but by god, they had to fight for it — and they still have to fight for it. And they shouldn’t have to fight for it. They should never have to fight for it.”

The event ended with a stirring performance by Porter, and duet by Porter and Rodriguez. Especially impressive when you realize they were singing on a stage to a bunch of people in cars (all listening to their car radios) and not quite seeing any reaction or even really hearing themselves!

Emmy FYC Season Is Under Way

 

This year, the TV Academy is sticking with virtual Emmy For Your Consideration events -- with the exception of Drive-In screenings. Bravo took advantage of that opportunity to kick off the first Emmy Drive-In event of the season, at the Rose Bowl, for "Top Chef." Doing a Drive-In made extra sense as the entire episode revolves around the contestants cooking for a Drive-In crowd (including the show's judges). The FYC event caterers took the recipes from the winning dishes and recreated them for attendees -- and yes, that was worth attending.  Among the dishes: Korean fried chicken with a kimchi dipping sauce, a pupusa with braised jerk pork and cheddar masa, and popcorn sprinkled with chicken-skin furikake and spiced caramel.

And even a milkshake at the end.

Fair Foodie Fest: Too Much of a Not-So-Good Thing?

 

You're supposed to eat terrible things at the fair. That's part of the contract. But what if there are no fairs, but you're still craving a deep fried Krispy Kreme donut chicken sandwich.

Well, you've got problems. But nonetheless, fair food has become a crazy exercise in trying to top yourself with something even more unhealthy. It's fun at the Los Angeles County Fair in doses, and then there was the recent Fair Foodie Fest at the Rose Bowl. The idea: A drive-through experience with the chance of ordering all of your fair favorites.

Ultimately, as you see above, Evan went with a massive turkey leg, while below, we also got bacon cheese fries. Honestly, we were pretty tame vs. what we could have gotten. (The longest line of the evening was for a pulled pork sandwich stall.)

What was a bit disappointing is that it wound up being all the same vendor, and many of the stalls had similar food. At least at the fair, the choices are much more varied. Where was Chicken Charlie's?

The key selections: 

GIANT TURKEY LEGS
DEEP FRIED COOKIE DOUGH
MAPLE BACON FUNNEL CAKE
FUNNEL CAKE CHEESEBURGERS
KRISPY KREME DONUT CHEESEBURGERS
FUNNEL CAKES
DEEP FRIED OREOS, SNICKERS, KOOL AID, BUTTER
COTTON CANDY, KETTLE CORN AND LEMONADES
HAWAIIAN CHICKEN TERIYAKI PINEAPPLE BOWLS
Brand new BBQ ZONE featuring BBQ RIBS, BBQ CHICKEN, PULLED PORK SANDWICHES, and MORE
MEXICAN CURLY FRIES with JALAPENOS
CHEESE BACON CURLY FRIES

If you're looking for the Fair Foodie Fest, it's next appearing this weekend at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif. Get your free entrance tickets here.

Drive-In Premiere: 'The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run'

Paramount Plus has officially launched, and one of its earliest original offerings is the new "SpongeBob Movie," subtitled "Sponge on the Run." As part of the premiere, Paramount recently held a drive-in experience and screening at the Rose Bowl (a popular spot for these things!). The line was long, and it took time to get inside, due to the slow-moving drive-thru experience. After volunteers helpfully ran a squeegee over our dirty windshield, we drove through a version of Bikini Bottom, and tried to play along with QR codes on our phone. Trying to drive and point your phone at a code is tough, though, and we failed on that account. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining drive-thru, featuring costumed SpongeBob and Patrick, among others. And it all led to the screen.

"Sponge on the Run" is a trip. Featuring appearances by Danny Trejo and Snoop Dogg, the movie is stolen by a fully game Keanu Reeves -- or more specifically, the head of Keanu Reeves, stuck inside a tumbleweed. Weed Reeves helps SpongeBob and his pals on their journey to save his pet snail Gary, and it's quite a journey. Maria and I let the boys sit in the front seat for a primo view of the drive-in film, and they enjoyed it. From the backseat, so did we. "SpongeBob Squarepants: Sponge on the Run" is now streaming on Paramount Plus.

The Blogger Kid Attends His First Concert: Coldplay at the Rose Bowl

It all started with the 2011 video to Coldplay's "Paradise." The Blogger Kid, who was 6 at the time, loved the story of Chris Martin, dressed as an elephant, escaping a London zoo and traveling to Africa to find his home. But last year Coldplay easily became Evan's favorite band thanks to the video to "Adventure of a Lifetime," the motion-capture short inspired by Andy Serkis. (Mat Whitecross directed both videos.)

When the Blogger Kid got his first iPod, he had me upload Coldplay's catalog of hit songs, which he now knows by heart. So when Coldplay announced its shows at the Rose Bowl, I knew it would be the perfect first concert for him. (He's seen plenty of live music over the years at events like the Kids' Choice Awards, but this was his first full-blown concert by a major artist.)

We made it to the Aug. 20 show, and indeed, this was quite the experience -- the huge crowd, the epic size of the show and the energy inside the Rose Bowl. (On the down side, stadium shows mean a long wait just to get past security and inside. Then there was trying to leave after the show -- we sat in a car for an hour, not even moving.)

Despite being inside a huge stadium, the show felt surprisingly intimate, even from way up in the stands. Chris Martin connected with the fans (even apologizing for the expensive experience -- I know, I know, but it worked) and the group played most of its big hits.

Some pics from the show:

Stuffing Our Faces at the LA Street Food Festival

They warned us to wear stetchy pants, and we indeed showed up to Saturday's Los Angeles Street Food Festival ready to eat. More than 100 booths offered up samples of dishes from a wide variety of Latin, Asian, European, American and other dishes, as well as an iced coffee lounge, an ice cream/dessert section, a tequila tasting tent as well as beer, wine and cold drinks. I brought along the Blogger Kids and we arrived at the Rose Bowl around 4:30, hoping to beat the crowd.

The crowd was already huge, and we never made it through the Latin area. But we did manage to try a wide range of items. Some photo highlights:



The Grilled Cheese Truck were among the mobile eateries making an appearance.



Golden Road -- enjoying a bit of Point the Way IPA to counteract the heat.



The early crowds at the LA Street Food Fest.



Of course, the boys steered us over to the ice cream and dessert tents.

At Salt & Straw, I tried a coffee & bourbon ice cream, while Blogger Kid had sea salt/caramel and Blogger Kid 2.0 tried chocolate with gooey brownies.



You have a friend in Donut Friend.



I Heart Spam at the Aloha Plate truck!



Quenelle offers up an apple pie bon bon with bourbon caramel.



Nothing new about Sushi Roku, but still a solid spicy tuna roll and baked crab roll.

Bring Stretchy Pants: The LA Street Food Fest Is This Saturday

It seems like every weekend there's another food festival here in L.A. But there's nothing quite like the Los Angeles Street Food Festival, now in its fifth year and bursting at the seams with some of the best L.A. food imaginable.

This year's event takes place on Saturday, June 28, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Rose Bowl. Here's the good part: Just 5,000 tickets are sold, making the crowd manageable and the food actually attainable. More than 100 vendors from restaurants, food trucks and food carts will be on hand, plus craft beer, cocktails, wine, tequila, ice cream and even an iced coffee lounge.

Here's who's coming:

LA food truck favorites Urban Oven, Luckdish Curry, the Grilled Cheese Truck, Azteca Truck, Foodism, Kraken Mobile and Currywurst plus special guest truck, Aloha Plate, champions of last year's Food Network Great Food Truck Race, bringing us their signature Spam musubi from Hawaii; street eats from foodie favorites Home State, Badmaash, Chef Brian Huskey/Formosa Café, Mexicali Taco, Chef Bruce Kalman/Union, El Condor, Chef Vartan Abgaryan/Cliff's Edge, Short Order, Guelaguetza, El Coralense, Chef Eric Greenspan's Grilled Cheese, Bizarra Capital, Del Rey Deli, Sticky Rice, and pop-ups BEP Vietnamese Kitchen, ARO Latin, The Ceviche Project and Hotato Potato.

Debuts at this year's Fest include The Asian Box, the Carb & Nation truck helmed by Church & State alums, Shao Kao BBQ from underground supper club chef Luther Chen, Short Cake's new lunchtime line of paninis from pastry chef Ivan Marquez, and Glassell Park's 100% grass fed Vaka Burger, voted Best Burger in Southern California. Past event award winners, Starry Kitchen and Dog Haus return along with local lonchero Mariscos Jalisco and Baja, Mexico's Mariscos El Mazateño, Tacos Kokopelli and Aqui es Texcoco. For the veggie minded, Kitchen Mouse Vegan Café returns along with The Grain Café and No Tacos, Please!

For the sweet tooth, the popular Ice Cream Social is back and even bigger, featuring cult favorites Donut Friend, The Churro Borough, Peddler's Creamery and The Beignet Truck alongside Fluff Ice, Ramekin, Quenelle, Choctal, Saffron & Rose, What the Funnel, Ice Cream Lab and Confexxion's "brioughnut", along with the baked stylings of local flour mill, Grist & Toll. Portland's Salt & Straw makes a So Cal debut with special flavors created just for the LA Street Food Fest including "Papi's Salted Nuts": the brainchild of Roy Choi from Kogi and POT, combining salty Beijing-style boiled peanut ice cream with a spicy Southeast Asian style marshmallow fluff and "Stumptown with Compartes Love Nuts": cold brewed Indonesian coffee with chocolate dipped, caramel coated pecans from LA's Compartes Chocolate.

A new feature debuting this year is the Iced Coffee Lounge which will feature cool caffeinated beverages from a dozen of the city's top roasters and new wave coffee shops including Cognoscenti Coffee, Copa Vida, Cafecito Organico, Home Brewed, Zona Rosa and more, plus the debut of Angel's Gate Roasting.

For the 21+ crowd, the original Tequila Tasting Tent returns and beer options have been expanded to include refreshing suds from Angel City Brewery, Golden Road Brewery, Stella Artois, Kronenbourg and Singha. Caroline on Crack also returns having curated some incredible cocktails from Petty Cash, Harlowe, Bar 1886, Church Key and Melrose Umbrella Co.

Tickets are just $55 and are available right now at the LA Street Food Fest website here or at Eventbrite here.

The organizers advise that you "bring stretchy pants."

A Peek Inside the Tournament of Roses Float Building Frenzy

The folks at the San Antonio Winery distribute the line of Stella Rosa semi-sweet sparkling wines, and this year Stella Rosa is unveiling its first-ever float at Wednesday's 125th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade. To celebrate the float, Stella Rosa threw a party on Saturday in Irwindale, next to the float-building warehouse. The cool part: We got a tour, and got to see the craziness up close as volunteers worked around the clock to get flowers, seeds and other plant life glued to the floats (per Tournament of Roses custom).

Besides Stella Rosa, floats under construction at the Irwindale warehouse include Dole, Kaiser Permanente, MiracleGro, SeaWorld, the City of Torrance and more. There's a sense of community at the site, as plenty of movement in and out of the building as volunteers shuffle in and out. Food vendors are even outside to feed hungry volunteers. I'm sure things will even get more crazy leading up to Tuesday night as the floats prepare for a late-night slow ride to Pasadena.


Buckets of flowers


Entrance to the float warehouse


Transformer float


Hopefully this duck is more tolerant than some of the other ones we know


The Sea World float, under construction.


The MiracleGro float volunteers work on butterflies


Camels!


Hard at work on the Kaiser Permanente float


Monkeys!


Fish!


Seahorse!


Chick!


Under construction.


Rows and rows of flowers.


Now that's an unfortunate sight.


Tucked in a corner, the float that will carry the Tournament of Roses royal court looks simple now, but on New Year's Day is will be covered with roses (naturally).


Working on a float


It's the first float for Stella Rosa, which is using the theme "Stellabrate Good Times." The Stella Rosa float will feature dancers plus KC and the Sunshine Band performing on top. Nearly 300,000 flowers will cover the float, which comes with a hydraulic top (so it can be lowered while going under overpasses).



This year's 125th parade includes 91 participants, 46 of which are floats. The parade kicks off on New Year's Day at 8 a.m.