Sundance and Skiing
10 days ago was the beginning of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City. This is a time when downtown PC becomes host to a slew of celebrities and musical acts all to promote and showcase American and International independent films. Of course Billy and I had to check this out as a close encounter with one of the many celebrities (such as: Tom Hanks, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tom Arnold, Sharon Stone, Charlize Theron, Jack Black, 50 Cent, and even Reggie Bush amongst others) would be quite the story to tell to our Mitten friends. The problem, however, is that during Sundance almost all the bars on Main St. are taken over by other companies or bars from other areas and become VIP only. So when Friday night finally arrived we started our quest to find a drinking establishment in which we could consume adult beverages and mingle with Hollywoods’ finest. We would soon learn we would have no such luck in this department, at least with the celebs.
We started weaving our way down Main St. first going to the Star Bar, where our New Year’s Eve was spent. We arrived at the front entrance to be greeted by two burly bouncers, both of which wearing VIP passes were standing. “Do you have a pass?” was the initial question asked. Our obvious response was of course no but this is where Billy shot into action and tried to pay off the bouncers to get us in. It was a quick conversation to say the least ending with us re-thinking our strategy. We figured the most popular spots would be VIP only so we decided to try the Sidecar. The Sidecar is a bar on the top floor of a small mini indoor mall on Main that generally the older crowd went to. Upon arriving here we found that the general public was being admitted for a small fee of $40. Yea, $40 bucks. Another quick conversation was held between B.T. and I and we decided to go in as we had no idea what would happen if we left and got screwed by all the other bars. The Sidecar was pretty crowded and they had a live band playing per usual (which I am not a fan of). The span of ages was wide from 21 year’s to 50-something’s. The night progressed well from this point. Many drinks were had and many random conversations were initiated with people we were meeting who both lived in Utah and those here visiting just for Sundance. Unfortunately, no celebrity encounters were had this evening, or for that matter, the rest of Sundance. I can say though, it is quite the event and if I’m still here next Sundance maybe more planning we’ll be done on our part to improve our chances of seeing some celebs.
The morning after our Sundance night we awoke to begin our weekly routine of going skiboarding (my term for snowboarding and skiings). It would be our second trip to The Canyon’s Resort which is pretty much in our back yard and thus far, the best place we’ve gone. Our first trip here was the weekend prior to last (see previous update) and I was kicking myself the entire time for not bringing the camera so I made sure this trip would be documented (See Photo Album in 2008).
This weekend was for the most part uneventful in terms of partying. We did, however, go to Sundance Ski Resort that Robert Redford owns with some of Billy’s co-workers. The resort was nothing spectacular and the chair lifts were slow and long, for what seemed like nothing as the trails were seemingly short. The snow here on the other hand, was fantastic, perhaps the best snow I’ve boarded in since starting to do so in Utah. Sundance did have a great run called Bishop’s Bowl, which is a black diamond drop down into a bowl and then through a pipeline (think of a long half pipe except the sides aren’t all snow but sides of a mountain) this was a ton of fun, but I think I’ll be sticking to the Canyon’s for a while.
Not too much to report, in terms of coming events for the Utah boys. A little upcoming music news: We are going to the Cobra Starship show during the first week of February which I am very excited for. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony is also going to be in Salt Lake in a few weeks and I’m sure we’ll be trying to attend that event also. Finally, Talib Kweli will be at HarryO’s next weekend for $25 so hopefuly we can check that out as well.
I took a few pictures (below) from both the snowstorm we had last week that actually caused PGP to send us home ( the pics are from Parley’s Canyon, that I drive through everyday) and the other 2 pictures are of a V12 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano (Grand Turismo Berlinetta) that I saw while driving on I-215 after work, all four pics taken with my Blackberry camera.
That’s about all for now, I hope ya’ll back in the Mitten are doing well, I think about you all the time and miss you all!
