My night at the GLAAD Media Awards

First off: me and Cheyenne Jackson, okay? Cheyene Jackson and me.

I want to finish my coverage of Saturday night’s GLAAD Media Awards with some personal reflections on a really special night and used the photo of Cheyene Jackson and me to get your attention. Hopefully you’ve already seen my show recap and red carpet recap.

First of all, the switch from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood to the Nokia Theater downtown was annoying to me since I live so close to the Kodak. But the new venue is terrific and I can see why more and more events are gravitating there.

It was my first real major awards show as Greg In Hollywood instead of Greg Hernandez of the LA Daily News or of Out In Hollywood. The stars and their publicists were as great and accommodating as could be even if GLAAD had me a little further down the arrivals line than I’m accustomed to!

In fact, I was so far down that many of the celebs were making a beeline for the VIP reception right past me but most did stop once I flagged them down. Dana Delaney had left the red carpet but came back when she discovered I wanted to talk to her. And Dustin Lance Black was through with interviews but did one more with me. Ditto Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm (pictured below) who chatted despite their red carpet handler’s claim that they had no more time for interviews. Brad Rowe politely stood by and waited so I could catch George Takei before he slipped by.

While it’s a lot of work doing the red carpet and covering the show itself, the GLAAD Awards are also about seeing your friends.

I was wrapping up red carpet duties when I heard my name called and it was my pal Jim Key, director of communications for the LA Gay and Lesbian Center and an overall fantastic guy. Then saw Sean Patrick Lewis doing interviews for his TV station and thought about how we first met at the GLAAD Awards three years earlier when we were assigned to be next to each other on the red carpet.

Then saw Trevor Daley of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s staff who is a close friend and my guest to last night’s Back to Bacharach and David show. Trevor is always fun to hang with at events like this. Before grabbing my seat, had a good gab with Bruce Mayhall, conductor/artistic director of the terrific Gay Mens Chorus of Los Angeles who I met last month and who told me he has since been reading the blog regularly.Love it! Also greeted gorgeous Thomas Roberts, the former CNN Headline News anchor, with a hug and kiss (sigh…) and his gorgeous partner Patrick D. Abner as they made their way to their seats.

Sat down and two seats away to my left was William Keck of TV Guide with whom I had been swapping Facebook messages with a few days earlier and two seat to my right was Lesley Goldberg, a former Daily News colleague who has been with The Hollywood Reporter for several years now.

After the show – which ran quite long – I was famished and made a beeline for the after-party which was on the rooftop of the parking structure. I ran into Cheyene Jackson at the stairs and gabbed a bit then bounded up the stairs followed by Brenda Strong, Kyle MacLachlan and Kevin Rahm of Desperate Housewives. I think Kyle just has hall of fame hair.

Sat down at my assigned table and just started in on my salad then looked up and saw old friends Justin Rudd and Ralph Millero who recently celebrated their sixth anniversary together. As we were chatting, it turns out that Cheyenne Jackson is friends with the guy who is sitting next to me and stops by for a chat. So Ralph snapped a photo of us and one of me and Justin too. Justin, a well-known community activist in Long Beach, is an old friend who I’ve known for more than a decade.

Also with Cheyene was sexy and talented Lance Horne who played the piano during Jackson’s number on stage. We were transfixed by Cheyene’s beauty on the big screens in the Nokia but we were also buzzing about his piano player. “Who is that?” someone whispered. Lance and I gabbed a bit and I found out more about him then saw him last night at opening night of the Back to Bacharach and David show!

Anyway, back to GLAAD. At my table was Tracy Young (pictured with the giant vodka bottle!) who was going to be the DJ at the party and she and her friend were talking about how they just bawled on the plane to LA watching Marley and Me. I woulda made fun of them had I not also cried during the damned movie.

The party was just getting started but it was nearly 11 p.m. and I had a drive home and a lot of writing ahead of me so I gathered up my gift bag (a DVD of Milk was inside!) and headed toward the exit.

On the way out, I pumped into my friend Brian Putnam who is the hardest working photographer in town – and a damned good one too! He snapped some of the photos in this post and you know if Brian is at an event, chances are it’s the place to be!

It was such a fun night for Greg In Hollywood.