Kambri Crews on the Red Carpet!

If you had told the 13-year-old, tin trailer living, outhouse using, raggedy clothes wearing version of me that her life would come to this, she would have wanted to believe it with every fiber of her being but couldn't possibly have imagined it coming true. I swear I wished on many a bright star, birthday cake candle and 11:11 clock read-out that I would have a life & career that allowed me to have a week like the one I just had.

I have just returned from Los Angeles after attending, among many other awesome events, the 2006 TV Land Awards with my fiance, comedian Christian Finnegan, where I was feeling pretty high on life and - dare I admit it - myself. I looked good, felt good and only made a fool of myself once when I told Megan Mullally's husband during dinner that he was a liar, that he was not really her husband that he was just pulling my leg. Turns out he's honest, I'm just a little bit skeptical and a lot inexperienced.

"Why would you not believe me? Am I not dashing enough?" Nick queried.
"No, it's just, I mean why would you be sitting next to me?!" I guffawed.

Unless you've grown up in the deep woods of Texas sleeping on chicken coop wire in a tin shed with deaf parents -- one of whom is now in jail for attempted murder -- you just can't imagine how surreal it is to be sitting amongst every television star from your childhood not as a busboy but as an invited guest. Of course he was her husband, he was in the extra special seating section for VIPs . . . and so was I. Poor Nick.

Smile!

All the Oscar Viewing Party pics are loaded. ALL 34 of them!

My digital camera battery died so we used disposable cameras, hence the lame quality of some of the scans but they're decent pics overall. You can tell we were really having fun and everyone there was really into the awards so it wasn't annoying trying to hear the winner or acceptance speeches.

4 big flat screen televisions
+ 40 people
+ the biggest entertainment awards ceremony of the year
= A rockin' good time!

Eight prize packages were given throughout the night: two random drawings, four trivia prizes and two prizes based on ballot results. Every winner received a bottle of booze, free passes to a future Ballyhoo Promotions event and a CD. Other lucky winners also won movies and the top two prize winners received admission for two to any AMC theater and admission for two to the American Museum of the Moving Image.

Rose filled popcorn boxes and popcorn filled bags decorated the room along with vintage movie posters and other festive movie-themed decorations. There was even a red carpet!

Just a few pics are up at Tex in the City but more photos coming soon! A big thanks goes out to Tex in the City collaborater Kevin Farr and his friend Paul. Kevin co-produced the event with me and Paul just chipped in many helping hands because he's just that nice.

I just tallied all the prizes and they're pretty darn good. Eight prizes will be given out over the course of the evening, so even if you show up too late to fill out the ballot you'll have a chance to go home with something.

We have lots of ex-Texans RSVPd and lots of non-Texans, too. We're expecting a healthy crowd of a mixed bag of characters some of whom are actors, comedians, producers, writers whose work you've admired on the telly.

Here are the details:

Watch the Oscars on four giant flat screen televisions in a newly remodeled space at the Gin Mill. We'll have ballots for sale and great prizes. Anyone and everyone is welcome!

No Cover Charge! Cheap ballots for sale!

Gin Mill (Google Map)
442 Amsterdam Avenue
New York City, New York 10024

No cover charge - cash bar / full menu.

Last night at the ultra-modern and sleek Dodger Stages, thirty Tex in the City friends were treated to a free night of the new musical Sidd based on the novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse courtesy of Ballyhoo Promotions. Click here for just a few photos from the night.

If you missed the free night, stay tuned for a discount code.

Check out the photos and summary of The Big Podcast of 2006 here!

I hope to have a video of The Brief View of the Hudson uploaded soon so stay tuned.