Driven to Distraction

I have dreams and goals and stuff to do around the house. These are the things this week that kept me from getting to any of it.

Hey Paula: Episode 5

July 20, 2007

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If you’ve been reading this blog regularly, you know that I haven’t had the greatest time with “Hey Paula” thus far. That is why I’m happy to report that my Paula-palette has been cleansed this week and now I’m markedly less Paula-cranky.

The reason for my attitude adjustment is simple. A VHS tape that I’ve kept around for nearly two decades. Last Saturday, while going through videos in preparation for Outfest’s Home Video Gong Show (a free-for-all clipfest that I’ve hosted for the last nine years) I came upon my cherished tape of the American Music Awards from 1989. Some of you may remember how Paula opened the show that year with a rousing version of “The Way That You Love Me.” The number featured every hot, talented, male dancer in Los Angeles. I so wanted to be one of those guys. I was a cruise ship hoofer from ‘87-91 and I longed to someday share the stage with someone like Paula but alas, it was not meant to be.

When I think of Paula at her peak, I think of that performance. She came down from the ceiling in a metal globe like “Wicked” then proceeded to rock the auditorium: tap dancing and turning and climbing her dancer boys like stairs and then diving headfirst into their arms before bouncing back up into a seated chair lift … so great. The look on Paula’s face at the end of it said it all? “I nailed it.”

Here it is on YouTube. Enjoy.

Watching that clip brought back a lot of memories of dance classes and bad auditions and a short-lived romance. I dated one of those dancers, Robert with the pony tale. It was just for a little while, not long after the AMAs, but then he booked the Gloria Estefan “Coming Out of the Dark” tour and that was the end of that. At least he didn’t leave me for Martika.

Good times.

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Comments

Sue wrote:

Check those first scenes again. The assistants change clothes and go to bed, then Paula has her crying jag, and then the assistants are shown with their original outfits back on and once again clearing the clothes off the bed. What's more, the one assistant is already in the middle of a sentence. Those shots of them were clearly not taken during Paula's attempt at an Emmy moment. They just stuck those shots in their to support the story that Paula's scripted narration was creating. It was the same with that episode about the jewelry. Her narration said Marty the rep failed to save jewelry for the AI contestants, but the actual scenes showed that they were really discussing the lack of men's jewelry for the male contestants.

posted at July 22, 2007 01:21 AM

Kevin wrote:

I have to say, there are a lot of things you have written that make me *heart* you (or, 'heart reading you' is probably more accurate). This is one of them:

"I like to think this was just Paula’s first instinct, not just some reality producer saying to Paula right before, “Head straight to the girl with the glasses and the dog biscuits. She thinks you’re Jesus.”"

Thank you for making me giggle. I love feeling like a 7-yar-old girl. (note loving sarcasm)

posted at July 26, 2007 01:18 PM

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