PHOTOS: 4th Annual Thirst Project Gala

Can you find me in this photo? 

It was another incredible year at the 4th Annual Thirst Project Gala at the Beverly Hilton on Tuesday night. Founder Seth Maxwell got pied and hosed down in his tux after raising $200,000 from the evening. Definitely a fun way to end a moving evening.

I was so honored to host the red carpet and interview room with guests like Kirsten Vangsness, Pauley Perrette, Michael Welch, Audrina Patridge, and Drake Bell. If you missed any of the live stream, you can watch it below.  Enjoy my photos and remember, even $5 will make a huge difference. Donate: Thirst Project

 Interviewing Drake Bell

 On the red carpet...my outfit post is coming soon!

 Kirsten Vangsness killed it as host of the evening.

 Tahj Mowry, Josh Sussman, Crystal Reed and Camila Banus do a Vine!

 My seat mate at Table 6 and such a lovely singer...Coco Jones!

 Roshon Fegan and Audrina Patridge

 Twilight reunited: Christian Serratos and Michael Welch

 Pauley Perrette receiving her honorary award.

 Seth Maxwell after his pie and water mess, but $200,000 for charity is awesome! 

 One of the sweetest kids in Hollywood...Shake It Up's Roshon Fegan

With Kirsten Vangsness: Photo courtesy of Mingle Media TV.

 Interviewing Mollee Gray from STYCYD, Season 6

The 4th Annual Thirst Project Gala

For those of you who have followed my blog for a long time, many of you know about the Thirst Project since I post about it from time to time. On Tuesday, June 25, I will be hosting the red carpet for the 4th Annual Thirst Project Gala.

Seth Maxwell is a longtime friend of mine and his work is so inspiring. Just to share a few facts with you:

• Almost 1 billion people on the planet do not have access to clean drinking water.
• 4,400 children die each die from diseases caused by contaminated water.
• The average distance a woman walks to collect water is 3.75 miles.
• The chore is often left to young girls leaving no time for education.
• Water is a human right!

I hope you join me for this year's gala. The live stream begins at 5:30pm PT. I have embedded the YouTube link below.

Some of the celebrities I will be interviewing include:

• Michael Welch-Twilight
• Crystal Reed-Teen Wolf
• Peta Murgatroyd-DWTS
• Audrina Patridge-The Hills
• Pauley Perrette-NCIS

I hope you join me on Tuesday!

Media Mondays

Beautiful weather and beautiful views during my San Francisco Thanksgiving weekend.

Ahhh, is everyone officially stuffed from their Thanksgiving weekend?  I am ready to hit the trails and work off all of the delicious food I consumed, but I am not sure I am ready to go back to work. Oh well!  If you noticed, I didn't post much last week.  My laptop decided to take a holiday by having the hard drive crap out on me. So, we begin the week anew with a borrowed laptop, but I am back in the mix in the online world.  It's scary out there without a laptop!

Here's where you could find me last week all over the world wide web. Pick your favorite and let me know what you liked best:

Breaking Dawn, Part 2 on Spreecast:  If you watched last week's fan chat with Amy Taylor, we couldn't talk about the twist.  Finally, the NDA was lifted and we talked all about it.  What do you think about the final movie?  Let me know!




Good Morning, Spreecast:  I made another appearance on the morning show even though I had to duck out to do a radio spot, but I had a great time with Seth Everett again.  This also featured the breaking Elmo resignation news.



Even though I my laptop crashed, I still had to write! I had the opportunity to cover the Hitchcock premiere, so this is what I learned from the chilling red carpet for SheKnows:

Hitchcock Premiere
Hollywood's Favorite Hitchcock Movies
Oprah's Favorite Things is Back!

You can see my red carpet photo from the cold red carpet on Facebook.  I wore lots of red, an appropriate color for the evening.

Dancing With the Stars:  It's the semi-finals and our viewers went crazy because we had DWTS troupe member Henry Byalikov.  Watch the Afterbuzz TV show here:



The Radio Dish:  One of my favorite radio spots each week includes this Kansas City show, so listen in and hear the latest scoop on Ocotmom.....noooo, not Octomom!  I come in at 20:30.  


If you want the latest entertainment scoop this week, tune in tonight for a little #RadioBurtt on Driving with Gass at 6:35pm PST/9:35pm EST on KWSS.org.  

Media Mondays

Okay, kids, here is where you can keep up with everything I did last week.  My mom says she can't keep up, hopefully you can??

Last Monday, I kicked off the week by co-hosting Good Morning, Spreecast with Seth Everett.  I talked a bit about it here, but the show was so much fun, we are doing it all over again tomorrow at 7:30am PST/ 10:30am EST.  You can join us at the link here.

Tuesday, I predicted that Channing Tatum would be named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People the next day. (I actually wrote an article about it way earlier on November 6th for SheKnows....that's some good insider news, right?)  Turns out, I was right.  Hear my entertainment scoop on the Tom Barnard Podcast here.

I also had a blast with Amy Taylor chatting about the Twilight camp and premiere on Spreecast.  We had a lot of great viewer questions, so we are going to do it all over again TODAY at 5pm PST/8pm EST.  Link is here. We will cover the twist and what people really thought of the movie now that it is out and hitting the mainstream....meaning my Non-Disclosure Agreement has finally expired!



Speaking of Twilight, if you missed my Taylor Lautner interview, it was posted here.  I'm also giving you my Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson interview below.  Kristen was extremely likable which a lot of you have commented on.  If you want to see all of my Twilight coverage over the years, you can view it here at my publicist's site.





And then the week brought me to one of the final episodes of Dancing With the Stars on AfterBuzz TV.  It has been such a fun ride and the fans have been responding to our shows each week.  I'm already looking forward to Season 16.  Here's last week's episode.



Then I hit the road in my ILX and went off to LAX for a quick 24-hour gig at EPCOT......that's a lot of acronyms.  It was fun getting a behind the scenes look at the park.  Here's a crazy photo from my trip or hit my Facebook page for this one.

Me and Sully! 

I had one final radio stop for the week with my ladies in Kansas City on The Radio Dish where we chatted about Taylor Swift and the new round of Star Wars coming up.  Listen here at the 20-minute mark.

And if you missed any of my articles on SheKnows last week, here are my three favorites:
Biggest American Music Awards Flops--Ouch, Katy Perry, sing on key!
Biggest American Music Awards Openers--The ladies rule the stage.
Janeane Garofalo Had No Idea She Was Married--Oh, for say, 20 years!!!

Have a great week, everyone!  Please enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday......and let me know what's your favorite dish:  mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, or stuffing?

xo kb

Taylor Lautner Talks About His Abs

I doubt this boy needs much of an introduction.....but here's breaking news for you:  I get Taylor Lautner to talk about his hot abs. You're welcome.  Enjoy!




Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?  Let me know in the comments below!

These interviews were shot for iVillage.

My Adventures with the ILX

My first day with the Acura ILX was a really good one.  Here are some of the things I did during my first day with the vehicle.  And by the way, it's a hybrid, so you know I was super psyched!

I kicked off my day by co-hosting, Good Morning, Spreecast, with Seth Everett.  We talked about everything from Kristen Stewart to Elmo to the fact that Fifty Shades of Grey is just commercial porn....and oh yeah, I danced in my pjs to Gangham Style.  That was unfortunate.  See it all here.

I drove the ILX around taking me to my BarWorks class as you can tell from my workout gear in the top photo. I decided that the back-up camera with multi-view was my favorite feature of the day.  I have a back-up camera in my current vehicle and I always say it is a necessary piece of equipment, but the ILX actually guides me in reverse.  As someone who is an embarrassing parallel parker, this is going to be key for me this week.  Maybe I will finally parallel park in three turns of the wheel for once.

A snapshot of the back-up camera in reverse with the guiding lines.  Pretty cool, right?

This shot gives you a better idea of the screen size too.

I then drove back home to do a couple of entertainment spots on Driving with Gass in Phoenix and The Radio Dish in Kansas City all while finishing up my entertainment pieces of the day for SheKnows like this one:  

Finally, I learned my co-host, AJ Gibson, and I were nominated for an IAWTV Award along with our show, AfterbuzzTV's So You Think You Can Dance after show.  Holy cow, what a day!  See the live announcement below:

Tomorrow is definitely going to be an adventurous day in the ILX as I have a screening to attend, a little bit of beauty to work in, and a fun fan chat about last night's Twilight premiere on Spreecast.

Don't forget to enter for a chance to win a week with the ILX for yourself.  It's so easy to enter.  Info is here.

If you want to join my Twilight fan chat, it's happening at 5pm PST today at this link.  See you there!

By the way, the winner of my Twilight giveaway has been announced.  Congrats to Elle A!  I sent you an email so make sure to send me your mailing address.  



Acura has invited me to test the new ILX and share my honest thoughts through social media. I may receive product, access or content, but all commentary is my own. 

Media Mondays

I can feel that award show season is just around the corner because my media appearances are kicking in to high gear and everyone wants to know who the front runner is so far.  This week, it's Argo, but we still have a solid 30 days of movies to watch.  I might change my mind next week since I have a Flight screening tomorrow.

Either way, follow me all week as I ride around in my Acura ILX Hybrid.  Yes, it's borrowed, but I am going to be chronicling my adventures all around LA.  If you want to win a week with the ILX, make sure to enter here.  It's so easy and there up runner-up prizes of $50 and $100 gift certiheficates.  You don't want to miss it!

Here are some of my fun appearances from last week...pick and choose your adventure!

Oh, hello, Molly Ringwald.....you are my 80s idol.  At reading of Molly's new book, When It Happens To You at Blushington.

Another fun week on Afterbuzz TV talking DWTS.  

The Radio Dish:  I love my Kansas City ladies.  I come in around the 19:20 mark dishing the Hollywood Bling.  

Cocktails and Conversation:  If you missed any of my Twilight press junket scoop, you can hear it here at the 24:00 mark.  I talk a lot about Kristen Stewart, Rob Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner in this one.  

Spreecast:  If you missed my interview with Marisa Quinn who plays "Huilen" in Breaking Dawn, Part 2, you can view it here.  She talks a lot about that big huge final scene.  If you read the books, you know what I am talking about!  

The Detroit Bureau:  It's amazing what you find on Google Alerts. Here's an interesting article about Toyota's appearance on HSN, it's kind of cool to be a part of automotive marketing history.  The link is here or double click the photo to read the text.  

SheKnows.com:  My favorite stories of last week:
Kirstie Alley "was trying not to be a whore"--The title of this is just awesome.
Channing Tatum is People's Sexiest Man Alive this year.--Trust me, the news has been spoiled.
Brandi Glanville disses LeAnn Rimes.--The fact that I know how to spell LeAnn that way says enough.

Okay, that's it for this week!  Just a couple of things to note:

--Breaking Dawn, Part 2 giveaway ends tonight.  Enter here.

--There is an awesome Acura ILX contest going on and it's so easy to enter.  Do it here.

--I will be chatting about the Breaking Dawn, Part 2 premiere tomorrow at 5pm PST on Spreecast.  Join me here.  

Fan Chat with Breaking Dawn's Marisa Quinn

I will be doing a bit of Twilight Saga:  Breaking Dawn, Part 2 coverage over the next week.  If you are a fan of the series, then you are in for a treat!  I had the opportunity to interview Marisa Quinn who plays Huilen in the final chapter.  She talked all about how she got the role and what it was like on set with Rob, Taylor, and Kristen plus she took fan questions about what it is like being an actor in LA.

Check out our Spreecast below:





Don't forget the Breaking Dawn, Part 2 giveaway ends on Tuesday!  Enter here.  

Fashion Fridays: New Era Caps

Back in September during Emmys Week, I had the opportunity to take a look backstage at the official presenters lounge.  I was introduced to so many cool products, but I was definitely drawn to New Era Caps.  It's no secret that I love my hats, particularly the fedora.  You can see my hat here in Paris, in Munich, and even in Prague.

Well, a few weeks ago a package arrived at my door with a couple of goodies for a hat fan like me.  They sent me an awesome black fedora that is comfortable and well-constructed, so it's the perfect addition to my series of fedoras and travel hats.

They also sent this Boston gal a cap that is perfect for so many reasons...my favorite team:  The Boston Celtics!  Shhhh, please do not tell anyone as I am living in LA and in Lakers territory.  I know I need to mold the lid, but I cannot wait to hit the trails and wear the hat on my next hike.  

Now, if they only carried my latest obsession that is carrying over from Halloween...kitty ears!

You can check out my Emmys gifting suite article here on Starpulse and see the latest inventory at New Era Caps on their website.

Are you a hat person?  Let me know what your favorite type of hat is!

Twilight Fans:  I am doing a fan chat today at 4pm PT/7pm ET with Twilight Saga:  Breaking Dawn, Part 2 star, Marisa Quinn, who plays Huilen. Come join me on Spreecast for the inside scoop on the hottest movie of the saga.  Link is here for the fan chat:  Spreecast

Disclosure:  The hats were compliments of New Era Caps.  All opinions are my own.

Twilight, Breaking Dawn, Part 2 Giveaway

If you were following all of my tweets on Friday, you know I was busy interviewing the cast of the final Twilight film:  Kristen, Rob, Taylor, and more.  I don't even need to list their last names since you know exactly who I am talking about.  This is one of the most iconic films of the last decade and the cast are all mega-stars from the saga.

So, as a thanks to everyone who has followed my coverage over the last few days,  I am going to do a fun giveaway just for you.

Here's the prize: A Breaking Dawn tote bag with the movie soundtrack, a sticker, a pen, and a key chain.  Cool, right?

And don't forget, my interviews for iVillage will be posted next week, so be sure to join me on Twitter and Facebook for all of the updates.  Good luck......I hope you win!

Here are the rules:

1. Enter using the Rafflecopter form below.  You can sign in with your Facebook account or your email address.  This is important because I need your contact information if you win.  Putting a comment below will NOT enter you in the contest without filling out the form.

2.  You MUST be 18 years of age or older to enter.  No exceptions.

3.  You MUST be a resident of the United States.

4.  Giveaway ends on Tuesday, November 13th at 12:01am EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway




If you missed my fan chat with Marisa Quinn who plays "Huilen" in Breaking Dawn, Part 2, then click here to see the archive of the chat.  

Behind The Red Carpet Live: Episode 2

It happened. I made an official call on the Jennifer Aniston Baby Bump Watch.  Plus, I had a great guest, James A. Molnar, editor of The Gold Knight Blog and Film Editor of the Toledo Free Press.  We talked box office, the Olympics, and the crazy off-screen Twilight drama.

See the archive below and join me next week LIVE on Monday, August 6th at 6:30PM PT/9:30PM ET on Spreecast right here.

36th Annual Razzie Award Nominations AKA The Worst In Film For 2011

We were so busy covering the best in film a few weeks ago, that I almost forgot to bring you the worst in film for 2011.  It's the Golden Raspberry Awards also known as the "Razzies".  Now, they normally hand out the awards the night before the Oscars, but this year, the nominations happened on Oscars Eve and the official award date is April 1st.  Yep, April Fool's Day. With a plethora of bad films to choose from, who had the most nominations?  Oh, if you've been listening to me on Driving with Gass, then you know who I picked on in this piece.  Check out the nominations and my interview with founder, John J. B. Wilson:

3 Tips For Producing a Red Carpet Event

I have been on the red carpet quite a bit this year and I've seen it all from the grandest red carpet to one of the most laid back red carpets.  Even if you are having a small press event, it is important to have a well run red carpet that not only pleases the talent, but also pleases the media. I've given my helpful hints on how talent can shine on the red carpet here and here, but I haven't offered up a few suggestions for producers of red carpet events. Here are my Top 3 tips for running a top notch red carpet.

Press Release:  Ringling Bros PR was great at updating their press release several times before the event.

1.  Press Releases:  This is one of the most important aspects of your event, so make sure to write a compelling press release that will get the media excited about coverage.  It should include the pertinent information about when the event is, expected celebrities, and types of media opportunities. (red carpet, VIP party, Meet and Greet, awards show press room access, interviews with producers, etc.)  Get your press release out about 2-3 weeks in advance.  This gives media outlets time to plan their coverage and line up reporters for the event.  If you put the press release out 3 days before the red carpet happens, you run the risk of having a low media turnout.  This is especially important if your red carpet is happening during summer movie premiere season or during Oscar season, it's hectic...plan accordingly.  Check the Hollywood Calendar or the trades for important awards show and movie premiere dates, you don't want to schedule your big night the same night that the Academy Awards occur.  Finally, if you are announcing nominees for an awards show, have the press release ready to go BEFORE the announcement. (Honestly, this is PR 101.)  Once the announcement is completed, email it out to your media contacts,  place the nominees list on your website, and tweet it out.  If you want the media to cover your event, be prepared, otherwise we grumble (Trust me, we are good at grumbling.) about the lack of preparation and it is noted for next year.

Tip sheet from my Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus red carpet. 

2.  Tip Sheets:  These are imperative to any photographer or reporter's job on the red carpet.  They include a picture of the confirmed celebrity and their latest/most notable credit.  For me, I see so many faces and talk to so many people in any given month.  I may recognize a face, but I forget what show I've watched them on.  Having that tip sheet in hand lets me do quick research on my iPhone as I see them walk down the red carpet.  For up and coming talent, it is great if a publicist is escorting the actor down the carpet with a sheet of paper that includes the correct spelling of the actor's name and their upcoming movie or TV show.  If they are making their debut in the Twilight series or in a new Disney Channel show, chances are I will jump at the chance to interview them.  It's fun to break a new actor to the public before they are wildly famous.

3.  Placement:  A typical red carpet places photographers first, then video crews, and then writers/bloggers at the tail end of the line This is done for a reason.  The photographers grab their shots and then send the talent down the line to be interviewed.  After the video crews grab the interview, the writers will ask more in depth and longer questions so it is okay if the back end of the red carpet crowds up a bit.  Each media outlet is assigned a spot where the bigger the outlet, the better the placement.  You can expect to see E! News, ET, and Access Hollywood up front and the online media outlets closer to the back.  Honestly, it's a fair way to do it and I never hear anyone complaining about this system.  What can be a problem is the amount of space given to each outlet.  A piece of 8x10 paper is placed at your feet to indicate your spot.  The problem is that the next piece of paper is laid down side by side for other media outlets.  Uh....I don't know about you, but my body is not built in 8x10 dimensions.  It can be so frustrating for all of us to jostle for space, keep out of other network's shots, and interview at the same time.  Now, I don't expect a plot of land, but placing each piece of paper even three inches apart would make a huge difference.

I hope these tips help if you are producing your next red carpet event.  Feel free to leave me comments or questions on an area I might have missed.  I am always happy to do a follow-up to this article.

Don't forget to enter to win my Red Carpet Gift Bag.  Enter before July 31st for a chance to win!

Photos from the 2nd Annual Thirst Project Gala

Seth Maxwell, founder of the Thirst Project, addressing the crowd.

Approximately 3 years ago, my fellow Kodak Theatre co-worker, Seth Maxwell talked about a charity he wanted to start to create solutions for the world water crisis.  I kept thinking back to that moment in our break room and just nodding my head.  The plans sounded grand and ambitious.  Now, fast forward to June 28, 2011 as I sit in the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton.  The charity has raised over a million dollars and has created a clean water solution for over 50,000 people.  It makes me so proud to call Seth a friend.

My incredible red carpet producer, Leilani Gushiken

He inspired me to donate money to help build a well in Niger where children regularly drink dirty and contaminated water by their school.  It's hard to imagine, especially since I have a cat who drinks filtered water.  Does that seem fair?  Clean water is a right and if you are moved to donate, feel free to visit the Thirst Project page.

You will find the footage from the red carpet below.  It truly was an honor to host the live stream of the red carpet.

The Pioneering Spirit honoree, Michael Welch from the Twilight Saga.  He gave an incredibly moving speech.

 A few of my Glee pals presenting an award.  Josh Sussman is my favorite.  Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

My hot date, Byron Bryson.  Okay, we both came alone, but he kindly agreed to be my date after we were seated next to each other.  Isn't he cute?

The Thirst Project Gala

Tonight, I am honored to be hosting the red carpet portion of the live stream for the 2nd Annual Thirst Project Gala.  I hope you all have an opportunity to join me and the incredible celebrity hosts of the evening, Chyler Leigh of Grey's Anatomy and JR Bourne of Teen Wolf as The Thirst Project brings awareness to the plight of close to 1 billion people not having access to clean, safe drinking water.  Here are some of the stats:

1 in 8: The number of people who do not have access to clean drinking water

4500:  The number of children who die every day from diseases caused by contaminated water. (Approximately 1 child every 15 seconds.)

3.75 Miles:  The average distance a woman walks to collect water.  This task often falls upon young girls leaving them no time or energy for an education.

So, join me on this important evening as we honor Michael Welch from The Twilight Saga for his time, energy, and dedication to such a wonderful cause.

Live Stream Begins at 5PM PT/8PM ET on UStream.

You are welcome to tweet me questions for any of the celebs expected to attend (lots of Glee, Grey's Anatomy, Teen Wolf, and American Idol peeps are on the list.) on Twitter or leave a question in the comments below.


Chyler Leigh and JR Bourne host the 2nd Annual Thirst Gala from The Thirst Project on Vimeo.

Monthly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday!  I am going to do a weekly and monthly wrap-up all in one for this Labor Day Weekend. Let's get started so all of you can enjoy your long weekend sooner versus later.  Here we go!

For those of you who are Twilight fans, here's a blast from the past with BooBoo Stewart who plays, Seth Clearwater, in the series.  I worked on an adorable series with him called Blue Dolphin Kids back in 2006-2007.  BooBoo and his sister, Fivel, were so charming in this series about discovering the fun of Hawaii.  I narrated and they hosted.  Check out this one minute clip with all of us and see how little BooBoo looks.  Cute!

Yesterday, I was shooting on location in San Diego at Streamlight Video for one of my regular clients, LawInfo.  Here's a great look behind the scenes of what it is really like on set.  The clothes don't fit? Call in your instant tailor:  the clothespin!

The reality is much less glamorous than the illusion.....

If you are in the LA area, here are two great charity events that I will be participating in.

September 10th:  Fashion's Night Out:

September 22nd: Web TV Prom:

For the September 10th event, I will be covering it for Mingle Media TV and the September 22nd event, I will be hosting the Live Stream for This Week In, so for those of you who live outside of LA, you can watch it live from your computer.  They are both great events to support some terrific charitable causes.  I hope to see you there!

Last but not least, here are the Top 5 posts you were reading in the month of August.  If you missed them, this long weekend is the perfect time to catch up:

1.  I guess you are just like me, you love your Bad TV.  A lot of you were searching for Jeff Lewis of Bravo TV's Flipping Out, so thanks for coming to me as your source.

2.  It's no secret that I do a lot of work in the Web TV community, so it is fitting that my round-up of Web TV news made it to the Top 5 last month.

3.  The Coach Poppy Project has brought a lot of you here.  The winners were announced the other day. Were you one of the winners?  I wasn't.  Boo!

4.  Every month, this post makes the Top 5.  You all want to get into Disneyland's secret Club 33.  Oh, you didn't know Disneyland had a private club?  Well, I got in!  Take a look.

5.  Anytime there is a big awards show, this post resurrects itself.  I am glad it is useful to those of you sashaying down the red carpet.  Here's my perspective on some Dos and Don'ts on the red carpet.

Okay, I call that a week!  Have a great long weekend.  Let me know what you are doing to celebrate Labor Day in the comments and remember, you have three more days to enter the Emmys Event Weekend gift basket.