July 28, 2009
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The Celebrity Paparazzo
While at the Michael Jackson Memorial (I know it seems like ages ago), I bumped into a guy that looked familiar.
- Me: Hey… You’re the paparrazi guy!
- Paparrazo: Yeah, that’s me.
- Me: I met you about six months ago, at a Paris Hilton event, when she was at Foxtail Lounge.
- Paparrazo: Oh yeah, I remember you! What agency are you with?
- Me: Ha ha, no, I just do this for fun. I don’t work for anyone. Where’s your camera?
- Paparrazo: Can you believe it? We (pointing to his friend) won tickets. I can’t believe it, we are just following the MJ vibe. There’s an energy flow going on. I am actually friends with Michael, I’ve done photo shoots for him before. We just got back from Neverland. Have you ever thought how you or I got these tickets? Of all the people in the world, why us? It’s karma, I’m tellin’ you, do you feel the energy spirit too?
- Me: Yeah, I thought about it and wondered how the heck I got the tickets, because I really wanted to go, but maybe it was fate. So, who do you work for? No camera today?
- Paparrazo: HollywoodTV.com. I have the camera in the car, but I’m not working today. Even if I was, I wouldn’t know where to position myself. What entrance is the casket coming out, where are the stars entering, the security, this would be a tough one. But I’m glad I’m here, I’m a huge fan.
- Me: Yeah, totally. I’m Howard. What was your name?
- Paparrazo: Hey, I’m Rick. Rick Mendoza. Good seeing you again!
I had wondered before why in the world I was blessed with tickets. Was it because AEG was sponsoring the event and I have Lakers season tickets, and the Lakers play at Staples? How did MJ know that I wanted to say goodbye? Even before he said it, a part of me wondered if it was karma or divine intervention. Me, a ticket seller, getting the holy grail of tickets.
Anyhow, life is always interesting when you meet different people. I looked him up on the net. If you’re ever at a hot club, or walking down Robertson Blvd, or outside of trendy restaurant in WeHo and you see this guy with the hat, now you know who he is (on the left).
What’s the big deal? He’s infamous! Remember when psycho baldheaded Britney Spears ran over someone a couple of years ago? He was the one that got his foot crushed by tires. He was filming during the whole fall and other paparrazi caught the whole incident on tape too. He’s also filed a $2 million dollar civil suit against her. Do you remember seeing the video?
LA Being LA, what story can top that of A-List celebrities? Ironically, that might be the story of a celebrity paparazzo. Man, this world is small.
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Comments (6)
Stories like this make me think how much I can’t wait to get to LA! All the interesting people you get to meet just walking around town. That’s so awesome!
I wonder if they based the photographer in the series, “Dirt”, on him. That guy wore a hat & covered the Britney Spears bald thing in the series.
@mileyfan08 - Well, they are just people. No different than you or me, other than we put them on pedestals and they make more money than us. =)
@deshue - I never watched that TV show. It looks like the hat wearing for that character might just be a coincidence? I think the actor wears hats a lot in real life…
He wore a turben in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone movie. I couldn’t find any other pics of him w/ a hat on except ast the Dirt photographer.
haha that’s crazy that you recognize paparazzi! only in LA.. =)
@deshue - There’s also some pictures with him with a driver’s cap on.