Dropping names like hot rocks

PETER BUFFA

I know. Don’t say anything. I don’t like it any better than you do.

And, as promised, that brings us to Morgan Freeman. We got to do

some Hollywood stuff on the Friday night before the Oscars, and I

thought you might find it interesting.

A word of warning: I don’t like name-dropping, but the names were

knee-deep that night, so it can’t be helped.

It was actually a birthday party for a good friend, Phil Robinson.

It was his 55th, which annoyed me, having done that one a while ago.

Phil and I were in the service together way back when, which was a

really long time ago. We were both Air Force officers in a motion

picture unit and Phil went on to become a big-deal Hollywood director

and screenwriter.

His credits include “Field of Dreams” with Kevin Costner and James

Earl Jones, which garnered Oscar nominations for Best Picture and

Best Screenplay; “Sneakers” with Robert Redford and Ben Kingsley; and

last year’s “Sum of All Fears” with Morgan Freeman and Ben Affleck.

He also directed episodes of the “Band of Brothers” miniseries, plus

lots of other stuff.

For his birthday bash, Phil rented out the Whiskey A Go Go on the

Sunset Strip and reassembled a rock band called The Possibilities

that he actually played in many birthdays ago.

To be honest, I was a little reluctant about going at first. Do

you get to L.A. much? I do. Ever try to get to Hollywood from here on

a Friday night? I have. It’s fun. I really like it.

But we didn’t want to miss Phil’s birthday, so hit the road we

did, we being myself, my wife Sharyn, our son Nick and his girlfriend

Tarra. We all know each other very well, but by the time we got

there, we were really close. We rolled up the onramp to the 405 at

Harbor Boulevard at 5:30 p.m. ... and we hit the bright lights of

Hollywood at 8:05 p.m., which is a lot like 2 hours and 35 minutes

later.

At one point, we actually got up to 40 miles an hour -- for almost

half a mile! It was very exciting. We cheered and screamed and I

leaned on the horn like it was Bastille Day in Marseilles. I rolled

down my window and yelled at the next car, “Hey, did you see that? We

were going 40 miles an hour for an entire, like, 20 seconds!”

The trip reminded me of Marian Bergeson’s story about the woman

who was trying to get from Newport Beach to Anaheim one afternoon and

had a baby right on the 55 Freeway -- and she wasn’t even pregnant

when she left Newport Beach. But such is Friday night on the roads.

We finally got to the Whiskey in the middle of Phil’s first set,

which was surprisingly good, as in, very good.

Some of the actors who have worked with Phil over the years were

there, including Morgan Freeman, whom we spent some time with. That

made life complete for Sharyn and Tarra. They won’t be needing

anything else, thank you.

Everyone wanted to wish Morgan luck at the Oscars, which were only

48 hours away. You already know that he’s one of the greatest actors

ever, anywhere, anytime -- but he is also as gracious, warm and

genuine a person as you will ever meet. As you can see, he is a

pretty big guy, which is surprising because it’s usually the other

way around with actors.

When the topic of his Best Supporting Actor nomination for

“Million Dollar Baby” came up, Sharyn told him the problem was that

he is just too good in everything he does, which sets the bar

impossibly high.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, with a great look of mock apology on his

face.

Needless to say, there was a whole lot of whooping and hollering

at our place Sunday night when Freeman walked up the steps to pick up

his little gold guy for “Million Dollar Baby.” The fact that it was

his first Oscar in four nominations is powerful evidence for Sharyn’s

bar setting theory. If anyone can explain how he didn’t win Best

Actor for “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989) and “The Shawshank Redemption”

(1994), please raise your hand.

By the way, the rock band theme at Phil’s party was hardly an

accident, since his partner-in-life is Carole King, as in “It’s Too

Late,” “I Feel the Earth Move,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” “You Make Me

Feel Like a Natural Woman” (not me, her), the “Tapestry” album and a

boatload of other songs that defined the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Carole took her turn at the mike and bowled everyone over -- which

is an understatement -- then closed by blowing the roof off with

“Natural Woman.”

We even heard from Paul Williams, a close buddy of Carole’s, who

did his trademark “Just an Old Fashioned Love Song,” which I hadn’t

heard in an eon, which is slightly longer than an age.

All parties must come to an end, but it’s especially poignant when

the party is in Hollywood, it’s after midnight, and you live in Costa

Mesa. How long did it take to get home? Exactly what it should have

-- one hour.

Oh well. That’s showbiz -- kid. You’re the best. Really. I gotta

go.

* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs

Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at ptrb4@aol.com.