Shania’s ceremony was to start at 11:00 AM on Hollywood Blvd. in front of the W Hotel, and I arrived about 8:45, though others had arrived as early as 6:00 AM. They were just starting to set up the staging, etc. & I planted myself in what turned out to be the best spot (with the exception of the press area, of course) and chatted with other Shania fans. One girl named Melissa was there to try to get Shania's autograph on her body so she could have it added to her 160+ tattoos! (photo below). We all enjoyed listening to Shania’s music as we watched the setup.
Shania arrived with her entourage, including hubby Fred and sister Carrie Ann, and posed for some photos before the ceremony. It was cool (low-mid 70’s) but the sun was HOT. I was able to take quite a few photos and was really happy how well they came out considering I was still learning how to use my new Nikon Coolpix P100. Shania was as beautiful as ever, and of course I loved the shoes! Her long-time friend, Bo Derek, spoke about Shania’s career and their friendship. Bo’s late husband John Derek took photos of Shania for the “Woman in Me” album and directed some of her videos. (Side Bar: John Derek had a reputation for being difficult, and he told Shania right away that she was overweight (!) and had a crooked nose. She was unfazed, as she said in her book From This Moment On, “Compared to Bo, I was overweight at 115 pounds, and yes, my nose is crooked, so he was right. It didn’t bother me to hear things I already knew, and I didn’t see any reason why that would make me not want to work with him.” Love her spunk!) Bo introduced Shania, and then she spoke for about 15 minutes. I thought she seemed a bit nervous, understandably.
I loved that she posed with her sister Carrie and her husband Fred afterward, even giving him a little smooch. :-) It's nice to see them so happy. Then Shania did a few TV interviews and Bo signed autographs. You could tell Bo didn’t want to; probably didn’t want to make it about her, but the crowd screamed for her to come over.
I’ve lived in California for over 40 years and had never attended a Star ceremony. Heck, I haven’t really done anything “touristy” since we moved to CA when I was a kid in the mid-60’s. After the ceremony I had lunch at a deli down the street called Chicken Dijon, took a few more pics of Shania’s Star (now that the sun had moved and the crowd had cleared), then headed home. Pretty fun experience. It was also the 1st time using my new camera, and I was pretty pleased with how they came out. Enjoy the pics!
EDIT: I'm not very happy with the way blogspot or photobucket has lowered the quality of these pics and cut off the images (like heads cut off), so I'm working on an alternative. :-(
