HellgaVision!!!!

Another post from the past - I’ll catch up soon!

R

Hellga Blog 4 – Oscar Time

What an exciting time it’s all been – the girl who has always felt like an outcast of sorts is in the inside track now! For years I’ve wished to get invited to the big nights – oscar and emmy award parties… I’d made it as far as to the NY Emmy Awards with a friend, but never invited to anything myself….

This year I was invited to the red carpet for the large Academy Awards afterparty sponsored by Billboard and Children Uniting Nations. One of the largest parties, following only the Vanity Fair and Elton John AIDS Foundation Party in size.

I would have been happy just being on the list – but to do the red carpet on a night such as this was an incredible experience and milestone for me.

Thank goodness I love shopping! I’m a sale hunting diva of the highest form – so luckily I had on hand a gorgeous Tadashi dress I’d found in Vegas. Why this is lucky is that I was asked the age old question, “Who are you wearing tonight?” And as it happened the host asking the question was a former model for the designer! When I’m that nervous things like this help immensely!

VIP room cocktails, kudos from friends, a performance by Cirque du Soliel, and great music and dancing was what the night entailed. With two great friends in tow, we made the most of an incredible night and danced to some seriously funkadelic music! We want the funk!

Alex “Millitia” Castro was there that night too with the Cirque folks (he’s a choreographer and performer for the famed troupe), but we both looked so incredible different dolled up we glanced at one another 100 times but didn’t think we were who we were! Ugh!

But a big thanks to Billboard, Children Uniting Nations, and Jeff Gund with Infolist for putting all of this together! You made it an incredible night for all, not the least of which this Gladiator.

For information regarding CUN and the great things they do, check out;

http://www.childrenunitingnations.org/

A bit delayed as I’ve been learning to blog - forgive me! This is from Feb 2008:

What a time it’s been so far this year! Shooting various pieces for TV shows, traveling, hanging out with my new Gladiator family, and PARTIES!! And while the parties are really for work – networking, being interviewed and photographed for the media, etc, it’s a LOT of fun.

The day we shot the article for People magazine, the “Texas Trio” decided to hang out! We went to a great healthy Mexican lunch (easier to do in LA than in other places), then over to my house to gather with more people, then out for our first night of club hopping in Hollywood after becoming TV Stars! I don’t think it’s set in for any of us yet… not really. But we sure were treated like royalty! Here’s a shot of the Texas kids from that night:

Gina (Dallas born), Romeo (Houston born & raised), and yours truly (Friendswood / Houston born & raised)…

A few days later, NBC invited several of their \ Gladiators to the premier of Martin Lawrence’s new film, “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins”. Our first time on the red carpet! I was SO nervous that night…. I pulled thru the anxiety (what to wear! Will I get my makeup and hair right??!!), and of course when I see the guys I chill out and decide to just have fun. This is the time of my life – and again I’m trying to savor and remember EVERYTHING! This crew consisted of Titan, Justice, Mayhem and Hellga, here are some shots from the carpet!

It was a GREAT film, a great after party too… I got to talk with Cedric the Entertainer for a brief minute. Years ago when I was a bouncer and fresh in LA, I met a lot of celebrities, not all of them were particularly NICE. Cedric was awesome. He and his group – which I believe were Iman & her brother – came over to my station to chat, treating me as an equal… we had a lot of fun exchanging jokes. I was held captive at one particular door I had to secure – it was sure nice to have company! So as you can imagine, it was awesome to be on the same red carpet 8 years later, now having achieved some success, and remembering how cool he’d always been.

In February came the Grammy Awards, and so did a call from the Gladiators that we had an invite to Ne-Yo’s after party! (If you don’t recognize the name, his current hit is “Because of You”, a very pretty R&B song). My Texas bud was in town, so I drug him to this red carpet circus so he could see what it was about! He watched as I was interviewed and did a plug for the Gaming Network, then we all had a cocktail or two and danced… Fat Joe, Beyonce, and many others showed up to get down…

I did an interview with TV Guide’s “Reality Chat” show, and a really fun gym piece with Siren on G4 Network’s “Attack of the Show”. If you don’t know G4, they are part of E! Entertainment, and are the US Broadcasters of Ninja Warrior – if you enjoy Gladiators you’ll love watching that!

Red carpets, tv show tapings, all these wonderful things…. Then the craziest one yet – we were invited to a premier party for NBC’s new Knight Rider series… at the Playboy Mansion! I was really nervous about this one, but I picked a Goddess gown, some strappy heels, and went out to a true Hollywood experience…

The “red carpet crew”… yes, that’s Danny Bonnaduche. We think he wants to be a contender…

Siren, looking very ‘green goddess’, with Wolf and Stealth.

Mayhem scaring one of the stars of NBC’s “The Office”, Brian Baumgartner (Kevin Malone on the show).

Crush with the new star of “Knight Rider” Justin Bruening

The party was a lot of fun, Adam Carola broadcast his show from the Grotto, and while it was a tame party by Hollywood Legend standard, it was pretty cool to be there! Hef was there as well, briefly, as well as Hasselhoff. And the new KIT is pretty awesome!

Around mid February Wolf and I did a morning news tour via satellite thru 12 cities around the USA. A favorite moment was finding out the Houston affiliate tried to get my mom on the show as a surprise! She couldn’t make it, but it was a lot of fun talking about Friendswood and what I’ve done out here in LA. Wolf is a blast to interview with, too! His rodeo clown stories are unreal!

That same day 6 more Gladiators showed up to the Burbank lot to shoot a tiny teaser for the Finale episode. It was another fun reunion! And the 2nd time on Access Hollywood’s set for Justice and I.

More soon!
R