Ok first of all I have to send major thanks to Eric for inviting me! Thanks ever so much! It was a day of thanks as you will see.

It was a rushed night. Once I called Eric to confirm things, I uploaded and my computer decided to be cranky and crashed. Sorry to those on the MW.com MBs! I tried, but schedule was tight and I had to go.

Met my friend Cindy at BART [our subway system which had threatened a strike that day, but thanks to Mayor Brown - both Willie (SF) & Jerry (Oakland) - saved the day]

Got to the Sony Metreon at 5pm, only to be told tickets weren't being let out til 6:30pm! We ate some dinner and came back to see a line, luckily we were still in the first 20, by the time 6pm came, the line was HUGE! I have to say thanks to Jon (I think) Weiss and his colleague (didn't get her name-sorry) of the New Yorker for being such a nice people in helping me with after party tickets.

Anywho the line started moving at 6:30pm, free concessions! The first 7 rows were all reserved. Didn't see anybody famous at the theater, but it was hard to tell as they seated everyone once the lights went down. A guy (I know I should of remembered, but I was rushing to find Jon) from Celluloid Sounds introduced the film, thanking Warner Brothers and Bel Air Entertainment. He also talked about Mark's foundation and James (Jim) Wahlberg was there. I couldn't spot him, but he supposedly was there.

Ok the movie. They started the movie ASAP at 6:45pm, no previews, just straight to the WB logo!
It opens with Chris Cole (Mark) talking about Steel Dragons, then segues into the life of Chris. Which includes putting on mascara and lip gloss!

I won't go into the whole movie, as my brain is still all gooey with excitement. Highlights include Chris with his little brother and older brother who harasses him on his music, and I love Chris' parents. They're so cool!

I'll have to dissect the film to figure which parts were Mark's voice and what were the professional metal singers. But Mark was fabulous, definitely not "Feeeeeeeel My Heat" 

Oh and the Judas Priest thing, It does bring up one reason some think why the lead singer was kicked out of the band. If you follow the band, you know what I'm talking about. It really isn't a rated R movie if you ask me, I guess they gave it for language and suggestive words. Watch for Mark saying umm very suggestive things in a British accent. Big laughs from the girls in the audience.

There's a nice ballad toward the end of the movie, (some stupid girls in the back of the theater started giggling like mad, if I had been closer I would have killed them). [For my longer review of Rock Star go here]

So the VIPs escaped thru a different exit. (I don't think Mark was there, as Eric said they would probably show up at the end)

So it was off to the W Hotel for the after party at 8:30pm. Any ideas of the wild premiere parties you see in LA/NY/London didn't happen here. In part because it was a launch for the film festival, may be why. It was in a medium sized room, may have been a board room. A few strobe lights, candles and a few sparse tables. There was a section reserved for Cast and VIPs, Cindy and I stumbled there, thinking we could sit down. Wrong! They had some little appetizers, salmon on crackers, mushroom on french bread and cucumber things (don't ask me what's on it). The DJ played the Rock Star Soundtrack before any of the cast people came. Everyone went to the bar lines, the line went all the way to the door! God people love free bars!

Around 9:00pm, I spotted Eric. Told him Thanks ever for inviting me, got my pic of E! 

Mark appeared a few minutes after. Eric waves me over, introduces us (This is Lianne, something about the website) It was kinda loud, with people milling about and the DJ playing music. Mark's totally casual, sweater & shirt, Boston baseball hat and jeans. Ok I'm stupid, had my glass of Sprite and camera in my hand (they need more tables!), when I finally met Mark. Stuck out my right hand (doh, he's a lefty - I've known this for 10 years) said hi, nice to meet you, great movie. He say Thanks and some girl then grabs his shoulder and off he goes to more meet and greet. Just to let you know the time frame, Mark had to leave at 9:30pm to get on the flight to NY. So I'm amazed I got any time at all. 

So my friend Cindy, who had staked out one of those tables, was meeting him. She waves me over and we get a pic. Mark was really sweet (and he didn't smell like anything to me besides clean, if you're curious- all of you may have better noses than me.) Oh and the height thing, OK, I went and measured myself again to be sure. I'm exactly 5'6 1/2. The shoes added 3 inches even, so I was 5'9 1/2. SO Mark is around 5'9 - with shoes. End of subject, thank you!

OK I'm like in heaven and then he goes off to the cast area finally, talks to some folks there for a few more minutes (met fellow board member Alex - sorry I missed you Mia!) and whoosh they're gone. I wished them a safe flight and they were gone. People milled about for a few more minutes, but the room of about 400 (OK it wasn't 400, More like 200 but it sure felt like it when Mark appeared) dissipated in 5 minutes. I, for the life of me, couldn't name any of the people in the movie beside Mark & Jennifer (who wasn't there). I took pictures, so you'll have to help me ID people. I should of boned up on how the actors looked like in real life. I think I'll blame it as fallout from meeting Mark!

OK I figured who Arion was once I double-checked the 3EB site. Nice guy considering we didn't know who he was at the time. If you see this Arion, sorry, I blame being in Colorado. Not much 3EB out there.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

And Stephan Jenkins also of Third Eye Blind, is the guy in white. Anyone recognize the guy standing next to him or is he just a film fest guy?

Anywho, my two other friends showed up just to see Mark zoom out. So we just hung around, they grabbed some free drinks (which had alot of alcohol, I think they wanted people drunk lol) The few people who we talked to panned Mark's movie. What do they know (film festival folks are a bit critical of everything)? After most of the famous people left, they stopped checking for tickets and some party hoppers came in (a couple guys had just been to the SF Giants game that night) We left at 11pm, there was only about 50 people left. Nobody danced even when the DJ played some dance music. 

I don't know, it was cool. It was a dream come true, even if I forgot all the things I wanted to say. I just have to say thanks to Eric and Mark for coming up! You made this girl's year!

Ok, here's some more pictures, some are still murky, nothing I can do about the lighting, but you get the idea: 

Notice he's flanked by 4 guys! The guy with the earring (right w/black shirt) was cute! Mark Shields (the webmaster of MW.com) said the LA premiere after party was almost all girls- he was a happy guy! At this screening, there were quite a lot of guys, which makes me happy, especially when one of them is Mark! But you know it was San Francisco... Still ooh la la!
 
 
 
 

Here he's shaking hands with some girls.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

And here's a zoomed in pic of his rosary tattoo
 

Here's Jon Weiss (right in White) of the New Yorker

And the DJ

Here's one of the bartenders.

Ok here's my attempts to zoom in on the folks in the vip section. Tell me if you recognize them, cause I sure don't!