Celebrities in Philly this Weekend: Where did Drake Drown His Sorrows, What did Shaq & his 5’3 girlfriend do, It’s Always Sunny in Philly when Mac & Dee are here and much more

This weekend Philadelphia had their hands full with celebrities. Mario Lopez, Brody Jenner, Troy Aikman, Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson, Drake, Richard Gere, Shaquille O’Neal, Carrie Fisher and Will Forte. Plus a few fans camped out at the Four Seasons for three days, to meet Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam. I hear they were generous with the autographs.
Friday started off with Mario Lopez, Extra TV, filming a few spots for his show on Monday.

Then Rob and Kaitlin posed up a storm with anyone who asked. So incredible.
My favorite was this “bride to be”
Saturday night I was tweeting about meeting Mac & Dee, but also trying to figure out where Miquel was going to have his pop up concert. At one point I heard it was going to be at Recess Lounge, but in the end it was at Ortlieb’s Lounge northern liberties, I was too caught up with Mac & Dee by then. Romeo *don’t call him Little, went to Recess lounge. Where did Drake drown his sorrows after his concert was cancelled at the last minute. Back at his hotel, Hotel Monaco at Stratus Lounge for a drink. There he ran into the very happy Laura Roberts celebrating her impending marriage to Philadelphia Eagles football player, Kurt Coleman. OMG LOOK HOW UNHAPPY DRAKE IS IN THIS PHOTO, but hey he did pose for the pretty lady. Afterward Drake and his posse of about 20 headed over to Ms Tootsie on South Street for dinner. Drake dined on Chicken, waffles and greens I was told. They gang stayed til closing and left a very generous tip.
Carrie Fisher feeding her service dog at the buffet.
Sunday night I went to a great gala Minding Your Mind
it’s about suicide prevention for high school kids. What a great event. What wasn’t so great, having Carrie Fisher as a speaker. The gal was unprepared, admitting she was up all night after partying at Penny Marshall’s annual birthday party. Her speech was rambling, and kinda glorified her drug and alcohol use. Instead of dealing with her depression in her teens, she became an addict. Says it saved her life cause she didn’t want to die, just get high.
Hmm girl that was not the speech the families of these high school kids needed to hear. After 45 minutes, they yanked her from the stage via a note passed by a staff member in a tea cup. Most people I talked to afterwards were in shock, others said she was very brave. ok brave. How about preparing some notes next time. I have some of it on tape. Wish I had the part where she read the note and said, oh it’s been 45 minutes, I’m done.
Sunday night and look who’s at the Irish Bar at 12th and Walnut, 6’7″ Shaquille O’Neal with Fran McClausland, manager of Irish Bar. He’s in town with his friend Don De Lucca, Chief of Police of Golden Beach, Florida who was in town for the the International Association of Chiefs of Police Convention. De Lucca was throwing a party at Irish Pub and Shaq was there with with his girlfriend, Nikki “Hoopz” Alexander (5’3). Around 10PM, Shaq and Nikki headed to Del Frisco’s for a late night bite. I hear they were quite a site considering their height difference. The duo ate in the Vault, undisturbed.
The scene had Gere coming out of the Bellevue, getting into the 1968 Mercedes, then deciding to ride on the trunk instead. There’s Director Andrew Renzi lying down in the back while directing from that awkward position.
The traffic was stopped on Broad Street going south as the Gere mobile hit the highway. Check out my photo at Philly Mag, which I took yesterday around 2PM. After this shot, see what Richard Gere does, which is explained by my photo at Philly Mag
The Philadelphia Film Festival is in full swing, after opening last week with All is Lost, then having a packed party at Del Frisco’s. Last night the PFS had a cocktail party at 10 Rittenhouse for Oscar-winning writer-director Director, producer and screenwriter Alexander Payne (r) and Will Forte (2nd from right) for his starring turn in Nebraska. (Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska.) The films is about an aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska
with his estranged son in order to claim a million dollar Mega
Sweepstakes Marketing prize. Also in the above photo: J. Andrew Greenblatt. Executive Director of PFS and Sharon Pinkenson, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Film Festival. Everyone I talked to raved about the movie. A few people told me that Bruce Dern, who stars in the movie, looks like Richard Gere, who is now filming Franny in Philly through November.
Whew, lots of celebrities in Philly this weekend.
Re Carrie Fisher – 45 minutes is excessive even if someone has something important to say. Her 15 minutes of fame were over a long time ago.