In celebration of the 54th Annual Grammys, the red carpet at the Hard Rock Café Style Lounge on Hollywood Boulevard was packed yesterday with movie stars, television actors, and pop singers. To bring you the behind-the-scenes scoop at this gifting suite and the Beverly Hilton on this Grammys 2012 eve, we spoke to Malin Akerman (The Proposal), Emily Alyn Lind (J Edgar, Revenge), Natalie Alyn Lind (Wizards of Waverly Place), Pop Singer Manika, Teen phenomenon Brandon and Savannah van den Heever (All the Runaways), Richard Grieco (21 Jump Street, A Night at the Roxbury), Chelsey Bryson (Kickin’ It, Dummy Dancing) and actress Devon Ogden (Noel Gallagher High Flying Birds…What a Life short with Russell Brand.)
Malin Akerman gave us an insider view of her new movie, Wanderlust that is about to hit theaters (February 2012), “I’m so excited about this movie….It’s a crazy comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd…It’s quirky. We’re all in a commune. And I play this crazy maybe kinda sexual girl who’s enticing Paul Rudd at the commune,….It makes for a good environment to do some crazy stuff.”
When asked about her favorite part about the Grammys, Malin told us, “The music. I’m such a huge music fan. My husband’s a drummer. We’re all about the Grammys. We’re super excited, we’re going to watch some great shows tomorrow. I think there’s some really great new artists this year. I’m excited to see the show.” Malin also autographed a guitar that will be presented to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and got one of the cool t-shirts from Dirtee Hollywood.
Emily Alyn Lind (Revenge) also gave an update on her 2 TV series and latest movie with Oscar nominated actors, “I’m hopefully going to be a regular on a new NBC series called Beautiful People, and you’re the first people I’ve told so I’m excited. I just got it so we’re going to try to work out with Revenge and it…I have a movie coming out, it’s just crazy, our life is just crazy. One movie in June with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis is called Won’t Back Down.” Emily also shared her favorite music artists nominated for Grammys, “Bruno Mars, Grenade, love him, I know that song, my baby sister, I taught her that song, he’s cute, I love him, he’s my number 1….Nicki Minaj and Adele, actually Adele 21, I love her album.”
When we first spoke to Emily Alyn Lind and her sister, Natalie Alyn Lind, they were checking out the handmade necklaces by Sistas Jewelry on Esty.com @IamSheGlobal. And there were many other great finds at this Grammys gifting suite including Andrew Charles (a new line inspired by Aerosmith’s and American Idol’s Steven Tyler that will be in Macy’s this spring) that was being checked out by Jacob Diamond (Criminal Minds, Brothers & Sisters.)
Pop Singer Manika, who was recently in the Camera Hollywood Dance-a-THON, was also at the Hard Rock Café Style Lounge. She has a new song “Valentine” that was just released, and dedicated the song to her fans. Manika is also giving this song away free to everyone who joins her email list for the Valentine's holiday.
After this action-packed gifting suite day of interviews, I left the Hard Rock Café Hollywood with MonteBubbles News Reporter Joyce Chow to drive to the Beverly Hilton. We interviewed Fashion Designer Simone Rodrigues for Sisa Designs from Brazil, and after about an hour of trying on her red carpet gowns and filming an interview, we got the text message news that Whitney Houston had passed away. We all stood there in shock and disbelief like so many around the world. We went down to the hotel lobby where everyone was getting ready for the Clive Davis Pre-Grammys Party to try to gather some insights as to what happened. It was a sad and solemn lobby packed with media getting ready for the Clive Davis party red carpet, and the news is still unclear as to the cause of her death. What is clear is that we lost a music legend, and we are all anticipating the tributes to this 6-time Grammy winner tonight.
Many thanks again to the sponsors for the Hard Rock Café Style Lounge, including Shangri La of Luxury, BIW, Single Dress, Drunken Udder Ice Cream, Dirtee Hollywood, Marge’s Bakery, Rich Happy and Haute purses and many others. We’ll keep you posted on when the autographed guitar will be presented to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and stay tuned for Oscar coverage updates around the corner here.
© Liz H Kelly @LizHKelly, National Digital Entertainment Columnist, Sunrise Road Media, http://sunriseroadmedia.com
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