Total mayhem.
That’s one way to describe the craziness that went down on the jam-packed red carpet at the Shangri-La in Toronto yesterday for the Joe Carter Classic Celebrity Golf Tournament after-party
But hey, it’s not every day Charlie Sheen comes to town.
Or the Blue Jays World Series hero himself, Joe Carter.
Or the youth-defining Salt-N-Pepa… or Growing Pains dad (and Robin’s real dad) Alan Thicke. Or blue-eyed Toronto Maple Leafs babe Joffrey Lupol.
There was no room to be a pushover on this red carpet if you wanted to get a word in with any celebrities, not that they were overly eager to chat. Perhaps too much sun and booze during the earlier golf tournament played a role?
Either way, here’s what went down…
– Though he initially agreed to “talk with everyone” (as PR told us) on the carpet, Alan Thicke (who was accompanied by son Carter who clearly forgot to wear sun screen on the golf course) decided to ditch the interviews half-way down the carpet in favour of the party. Guess the Growing Pains gossip is going to have to wait for next time.
– A welcomed blast from the past was Pepa of the 90s hip-hop group Salt-n-Pepa. What does she miss the most about the 90s? “I get to relive the 90s on stage, so that’s pretty fun for me,” Pepa told us. “People come to my show sometimes dressed in 90s gear. I just love the whole free spirit of the 90s – the hairstyles, the clothes, the music. Everybody was all about partying and not so cliqued up. I mean, it’s fun now, but it was just a really fun time back then. It was different vibe then, but it’s OK because I am going to bring it all back tonight. I will take you down memory lane.”
– Back again was Charlie Sheen’s best friend Tony Todd, co-actor in Anger Management. As we reminded him, we still have his number on a card from last year and his emails in our inbox (though we aren’t confident that he remembers us as well as we did him). “It’s all about Joe Carter,” he told us when we asked what kept him coming back. “He asked me about five years ago and I have been coming ever since and this year I brought Charlie along. It’s all about giving back to the kids. And I love Toronto. I love the people, they are so nice. The weather is nice and I get to sweat a bit, which you don’t get to do in Santa Monica.”
– Arriving around 10:30pm (an hour and a half after the carpet started) was a very sweaty but seemingly sober and behaved Charlie Sheen. Between squirts of breath spray, he chatted with a few select media on the carpet before heading into the party with his barely-smiling new fiancee (and future fourth ex-wife, porn star Brett Rossi, who also goes by Scottie). Our verdict? A far cry from Denise Richards, she is pretty average (especially for 24).
– Arriving fashionably late to his own party, Joe Carter decided to stroll in around 11. As we remember, he is a seriously sweet dude. We asked him what the best part was about being Joe Carter, especially in Toronto “Wow. I have a lot of love for the people of Toronto and they really reciprocate that love. It was a love affair for the seven years I played here and everything I did in this city from 1991. They love what I do and I love what they do.”
– So we may have discovered a new crush in Joffrey Lupol. Alas, date night may have to wait, as it seems he’s pretty tied up for the summer. “I am just going to be training and getting ready for the season. I did a bit of travelling already so I am going back into training mode in prep for next year and I can’t wait to get it started. I was in London and Paris and that was cool, but I will spend the rest of the off-season in Southern California.” Like Carter, he has his own golf tournament in his hometown of Edmonton in August (but don’t ask him the date… he isn’t quite sure).
– As for Sheen, him and his crew spent most of their time in the private party room, then in a heavily-guarded, roped-off booth on the corner of the ballroom. Though we wish he was more exciting, we can confirm that there was no shortage of booze being consumed in his corner. Our very ballsy friend made it past the glaring guards (all four of them) and into Sheen’s VIP area (thanks to Tony Todd) for a photo with Sheen (who told her she was pretty) and his fiancee was pissed. In Jerry Springer-esque fashion, she repeatedly made obnoxious hand motions for said friend to get her butt out of the booth and arms off her man.
– A nostalgic Salt-n-Pepa performance transported us back to our Disc-man days with hits like Whatta Man, Push It, Shoop and Let’s Talk About Sex. Recording artist Biz Markie also took the stage with a rendition of his hit Just a Friend.
– Pepa almost got mauled by a sea of drunk women post-performance, who practically trampled us in their frantic pursuit of a picture with the star before she headed back to the private room. Nonetheless, she graciously posed with the squealing women.
– Also in attendance were athletes like Wendall Clark and Bo Jackson. And a slew of not-so-discreet gold-diggers.
– By 12:45am, Sheen’s booth was vacant and the party finally started to clear out just as the bar ran out of wine.
In general, the jam-packed event (seriously, we have never seen the venue so rammed) made it difficult to spy on all the stars. As for next year, Carter tells us it is going to keep getting “bigger and better” in terms of scope and celebrity involvement.
We wonder who we’ll see next year…
#NOTABLE
Images: http://georgepimentel.dphoto.com
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