Last week I wrote about my run-in with The Real World DC cast and it appeared to have picked up some buzz:
My blog traffic by day
Thanks to everyone for reading, it’s a story I enjoyed telling and telling it this past Friday led to yet another encounter.
My friends Sara and Ryan invited a bunch of us out to Wonderland Ballroom for some Friday night drinks. I met up with them, Rebecca, Adam, and Mattie and we all caught up on what was new- which included my Real World run-in. After some heckling and accusations that I was a stalkerazzi, we went on to create our own fun by starting an impromptu game of flip-cup in the outdoor patio.
The Wonderland Patio courtesy of Flickr user miamabanta
For those that have never been to Wonderland before, imagine an outdoor seating area with long rows of picnic tables where patrons wine and dine amongst others in a communal-like environment. Well it was a nice summer night and the patio was a popular destination.
We decided to make things fun by grabbing some plastic cups, buying a few bottles of beer, and recruiting some of our table neighbors to get up and join us for a rousing game of flip-cup.
It was a messy good time.
As the night went on we eventually felt the urge to go our separate ways. As I closed my tab Mattie asked me if I was going to go find the Real World Cast and if he could come. The story interested him in seeing what all the hoopla was about. I checked my Blackberry and the latest news was that the cast was at Madam’s Organ; which I found pretty amusing because it was one of the places I suggested to Josh when he asked me which places had good live music. I told him Madam’s Organ was a cool place to check out if it was cleared by the production, and he mentioned it was.
I don’t take credit of course- the show is heavily scripted, and before the summer is over they’ll visit almost every bar in DC, hell I wouldn’t be surprised if they are caught at Recessions.
Mattie and I grabbed a taxi and headed over to Madam’s Organ.
Erika Lauren arriving to The Real World house (photo by James Calder)
We pull up to the bar and as our IDs get checked I look up and up on the balcony are two of the cast members, Callie and Erika. They are looking down at the street from their vantage point, checking out the people on the street.
I realize that we are staring at each for no particular reason so I did the only logical thing I could think of at the time: I waived.
Erika waived back.
I proceed to lean over to Mattie and inform him that they are indeed in the building. Mattie gets excited.
We stroll in to the blare of a lively band and people jamming out to the music. We make our way upstairs and before I open the door to the second floor area, I asked Mattie if he was ready to experience, “The Real World.”
As I open the door to the second floor the tell-tale cameras are already capturing the cast hard at work, doing what they do best: partying.
Ty was easy to spot since he was the center of attention, and the camera lights. He was surrounded with a typical crowd of beautiful woman and was living the good life like any Real Worlder should. I convey my thoughts over Twitter as Mattie buys the first round.
From the bar I give Mattie a lesson in Real World DC 101, I point out the camera crew and their components and what they do. The Real World camera crew typically is comprised of a shooter with a shoulder-held, ENG type camera; a sound guy with a boom-pole; and a PA-type that babysits them and collects waivers. I also point out the cast members for reference.
He is amazed at how much I know- besides knowing a thing about shooting from my own experience, following the cast during filming has taken on new levels as information about the cast and the production can easily be found on The Internet.
We decide to take a breather out on the balcony and we meet some girls celebrating a birthday and were talking about the action going on inside. During our conversation I turn around and Josh has entered the balcony to light up a cigarette. We bump into each other and I throw him a, “hey haven’t we met before?”
He looks at me and immediately answers, “ya we have,” and we recall our last encounter.
I introduce him to the birthday girl and Josh is even nice enough to take a photo with them. He’s a quite the classy guy.
We talk about his screenplay, the subject of our last conversation, some more and he gives me some insight on what it’s about (think vampires) and shows me a necklace he’s wearing of Vampire fangs. He also apologized for not following up on the e-mail I sent him, he told me that he gets a lot of “haters” in his inbox.
He finishes his cigarette and moves back inside. Mattie and I decide to move to the third floor outdoor patio where we spy the camera crew following Ty as he continues his big pimpin’:
Ty loves two things: women and white T-shirts.
Mattie points out two girls that must be cast members, their lights from their wireless mic transmitters glowed from the back their dresses. Seeing how they were two brunettes I figure they had to be Emily and Ashely- but in the dark I don’t know which one is whom.
As I snapped the photo above one of them looks at me and slurs, “oooh you took a photo…”
I quickly deny it, making up a story of checking my text messages and she appears to buy it. Oh the power of alcohol.
The group eventually decides to go downstairs and dance, and Mattie and I decide to move on to another room for another round of drinks.
Andrew, with his signature glasses
We walk into a small room in the third floor and we see that we’ve run into another cast member, Andrew, who was talking with a group of lucky bar patrons.
As the cameras roll we watched a couple of other guys snapping photos of the scene. Obnoxiously snapping photos.
Now I think snapping a photo is ok and if done discretely shouldn’t be a problem. However amateur, snap-happy, photogs with point and shoot cameras doesn’t just eventually bother the cast, but bothers the entire room.
The cameras move on and a PA moves in to have the entire group sign waivers. After the crew leaves I walk up to the two guys reviewing their photos.
Upon asking them about their photo-taking orgasm they immediately deny even taking photos. They even deny they knew The Real World cast was in the building and started taking a very defensive position.
I wonder if they thought Mattie and I were secret production crew members, ready to confiscate their photos or demand that they delete them. It’s been a problem the production has already faced to some harsh criticism. I bet these two geeks were afraid they were next. They didn’t even believe it when I said I was just a person watching them taking photos from the bar.
Oh the paranoid stalkerazzi.
Mattie and I decided to call it a night after having some fun with the two photo geeks and made our way home.
I was excited to make it on the Metro, not excited to miss my stop and paying for a Taxi to take me back to my house.
Another wild night of Real World DC fun- I didn’t really expect to run into the cast again after my first encounter, I want to make it clear that I’m not really out to follow them around unlike some other people I know. But like I said in my previous post- the city is smaller than you think.
So will there be a part 3? I doubt it, but then again it is a small city.
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