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Call Sheet #54: William and Kate's L.A. Tour: the Food, the Faux Pas, the Awkward Panel Appearance

BIZBASH CALL SHEET — #54 — Monday, 07.11.11

Compiled today by Chad Kaydo in New York
Feed the Sheet: [email protected]
Subscribe: http://info.bizbash.com/callsheet.html

* INCOMING *

1. ALL ABOUT THE ROYAL VISIT: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made international headlines with their weekend visit to Los Angeles. Here are highlights:

THE BIG DINNER: We have menu details from Saturday night's inaugural "Bafta Brits to Watch" event attended by the royals and 280 guests (Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Hanks ) at the Belasco Theater. Patina Restaurant Group chef and founder Joachim Splichal created the three-course menu with less than three weeks lead time.

* The first course was courgette and mint tian with lemon and pine nut gremolata, the entree filet of beef with creamed leeks and a red wine sauce, and dessert was a take on "Eton Mess," an English rose meringue with fresh picked strawberries and cream.
* The signature cocktail was a Pimm's Cocktail with Pimm's No. 1, chilled lemonade, mint, and cucumber.
* The waitstaff wore a mix of uniforms including union-jack emblazoned blazers and dresses and stripped ties and bowler hats.
* Patina Catering plans to repurpose the menu for events and weddings throughout the country in the coming weeks.

THE BIG ENTRANCE: The Hollywood Reporter on the couple's arrival at the Bafta dinner: "About 300 fans—if you’d call them that–cheered from across the street. There were a few dozen photogs and news crews, but the flashes going off didn’t have the exploding supernova intensity of the Oscars. It was actually quite quiet. The couple just walked down the middle of the carpet (unlike movie stars they’re taller than you’d expect); no one in the press called out questions; they strode up to a group of about 30 carefully chosen commoners (lots of little girls); shook hands and made friendly small-talk; then turned and walked into the theater."
http://bit.ly/oUkIrG

THE FAUX PAS: While the Americans focus on the glamour, leave it to the British press to turn up the fun stuff: The Telegraph notes that Barbra Streisand refused to walk the red carpet, and "The royal couple had to contend in addition with Quentin Tarantino committing the solecism of arriving 10 minutes after them."
http://tgr.ph/oy1ecB

THE POLO MATCH: L.A. Business Examiner on the Saturday afternoon festivities: "This event covered so much new ground in the history of marketing and sports sponsorships it will probably change sports marketing forever." (There's not much of a case for this, though.)
http://exm.nr/q4MMJN

A GIFT: Reuters: "California Governor Jerry Brown gave the young royal couple an Apple iPad 2 loaded with California-themed songs and apps."
http://reut.rs/pFdRtt

THE AWKWARD PANEL: The couple made an appearance at the Variety Venture Capital and New Media Summit at the Beverly Hills Hilton Friday. L.A. Times: "Arriving to a panel on Tech City [in London] about 45 minutes after it had started, the couple took a seat on the stage among the panelists, in front of an audience of hundreds. That's where the action stopped, however: For the next 20 minutes, neither spoke nor was asked any questions by the moderator, 'Freakonomics' producer Chad Troutwine. The result was something of an awkward tableau of the couple sitting and smiling while panelists talked about the British tech scene." They got to play with an HP TouchPad though.
http://lat.ms/qjRKp4

Now, in other news:

2. NEW D.C. "POWER COUPLE": The Washington Post's Reliable Source notes that  Mark Walsh, partner of event planner Bryan Rafanelli, has joined Hillary Clinton's State Department team. Rafanelli famously planned Chelsea Clinton's wedding (and made our list of the most innovative people in events: http://bit.ly/pEp486) and helped design January’s state dinner for Chinese president Hu Jintao. Walsh "in April became one of two deputies in State’s Office of Protocol, where he’ll work with Capricia Marshall on state visits, foreign trips and other diplomatic matters."
http://wapo.st/pKIliP

3. FRANCO EXPLAINS OSCARS: Much-maligned Academy Awards ceremony co-host James Franco tells Playboy (as picked up in the Huffington Post): "It's hard to talk about because it's like assigning blame—not a fun thing to do. For three or four weeks we shot the promos and the little film that played in the opening…In the last week, when we really started focusing on the script for the live show and did a run-through, I said to the producer, 'I don't know why you hired me, because you haven't given me anything. I just don't think this stuff's going to be good.'"
http://huff.to/nXvhcr

* LOCAL NEWS *

LAS VEGAS: Caesars Palace and Nobu Hospitality will develop the first Nobu hotel, restaurant, and lounge in Las Vegas, set to open in summer 2012.

LOS ANGELES: The International Special Events Society Greater Los Angeles Chapter has rescheduled its inaugural event industry golf classic and food event for non-golfers, originally scheduled for July 18, due to "Carmageddon," the closing of the stretch of the 405 the includes the ramp to the Mountain Gate Country Club, the event's venue. The event will move to an unannounced date in May.

MIAMI: Meeting Professionals International's South Florida Chapter awarded the Fairmont Turnberry Isle with the 2010/2011 Venue of the Year award. Criteria included hosting a chapter event or function in the last year, having a chapter member on staff, and making a significant impact to members.
http://bit.ly/8rAsPM

The Standard is hosting Standard Industry Night (S.I.N.) tonight with games like bingo, ping-pong, and Twister, along with drink specials.
http://bit.ly/Jmx6n

NEW YORK: The Post says the Rainbow Room "is getting spruced up for a reincarnation. Renovations have begun inside the legendary nightclub—dormant for two years—on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Center."
http://nyp.st/oLGeDq

Also in The Post yesterday: "The Gansevoort Hotel's uber-cool rooftop pool belly-flopped in a Post test for water cleanliness, scoring last among six city swimming spots."
http://nyp.st/oMcNPv

ORLANDO: More than 3,400 Harry Potter fans from around the world are coming to the Loews Royal Pacific Resort July 13-17 for LeakyCon 2011. The fan festival coincides with Friday's premiere of the final movie in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2."

SAN FRANCISCO: The Grand Hyatt San Francisco announced plans for a $70 million renovation to be completed by fall 2012. The renovated hotel will offer 659 new guest rooms and suites along with a redesigned Grand Club, lobby, restaurant, lounge, and improved meeting facilities.

TORONTO: As part of the Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism project, scenes of those locations were projected on to downtown Toronto buildings on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit celebrated its 50th anniversary this weekend. Up-and-coming artists set up shop in Nathan Phillips Square.

Sunday marked the four-year countdown to the Toronto 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games. Councillor Mark Grimes was chosen to lead the effort.

COAST TO COAST: The 15th Spa Week, presented by Carefree, will run October 10-16, with hundreds of spas and wellness facilities across North America will offering two or three signature services for just $50 each.
http://bit.ly/nKHZsn

YOUR NEWS: What are you doing? Tell us: [email protected].

With contributions from Jenny Berg in Chicago, Alesandra Dubin in Los Angeles, Mitra Sorrells in Orlando, Carla Warrilow in Toronto, and Erica Petri, Anna Sekula, and Courtney Thompson in New York.

BizBash Call Sheet is the must-read daily digest of event industry news from BizBash.com.
Feed the Sheet: [email protected]
Subscribe: http://info.bizbash.com/callsheet.html

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