By Stefanie Hubbs
Rumor had it that Benjamin McKenzie from Fox?s hit soap opera ?The O.C.? was going to be there. Carmen Electra, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Chevy Chase were on the guest list too.
But while Harry O?s was a hot spot Saturday night in Park City, a mere handful of A-list stars made appearances at Blender magazine?s concert featuring headliners Dashboard Confessional and Fountains of Wayne.
Despite several celebrity no-shows, the rich and famous were well represented at the Budweiser-sponsored event. Glenn Close, ?Apprentice? winner Bill Rancic and Anna Benson, wife of New York Mets pitcher Kris Benson, were present along with plenty of other VIPs to overcrowd the club?s dance floor and balcony. Throughout the evening, female club employees walked around Las Vegas casino style, offering free cigars and $1 boxes of cigarettes to the displaced Hollywood set.
In true promotion party fashion, free CDs and copies of this month?s Blender lined the bar. Posters with Blender?s cover artist Snoop Dogg were a visible reminder that he would play the club Monday. Most attendees were following the Sundance tradition of dawn to dusk drinking and listened to opening act Jag Star in ready-to-get-rowdy mode. The independently produced quartet from Knoxville played bubblegum sweet tunes with a sometimes angry girl edge ? not quite reminiscent of the 90s Lilith Fair ? while guests filled the venue.
Fountains of Wayne gave an hour-long performance, which featured their beer-swilling and cigarette-smoking rhythm guitarist barely looking alive as he tapped his left boot to the band?s radio-friendly melodies.
Young women in last season?s Ugg boots, who had shed various fur-lined apparel at the $6 coat check, shrieked when Dashboard Confessional lead singer Chris Carrabba took the stage with his band around midnight. The 5-foot-5-inch king of emo crooned crowd favorites such as ?Hands Down? and ?Bend and Not Break? from their latest album, ?A Mark, A Mission, a Brand, A Scar.? Interrupting the usual lineup with a few lukewarm covers, Dashboard played ?Teenage Dirtbag? and ?I Am Superman? on request.
Whether winking and pointing at the ladies during romantic lines or pausing between songs to utter a nervous ?thank you,? it is obvious that Carrabba is the living icon of his simultaneously gut-busting and self-deprecating music.
Even after popping a stick of chewing gum before ?So Beautiful,? Carrabba heard more applause than Fountains of Wayne the set prior. Fountains earned crowd points with an exuberant rendition of their hit, ?Stacy?s Mom,? but the band seemed more bored with their own music than anyone in the audience did.
An exclusive gala, the Blender event was ?by invitation only,? but that didn?t stop Main Street passersby from gathering outside the club for hours, schmoozing and flirting with the bouncers in the hopes of gaining admittance.
To the celebrity-seekers inside the party and those outside wanting to get in, it?s better luck next time.
