The sun begins to set on Waikiki and the red carpet has been rolled out. Lights, camera, action! The festivities began with some live music from Hapa. Then we were treated to some awesome fire dancers. Along for the ride was a local DJ tossing some Hawaii Five-0 visors to the crowd. The media lined up along the red carpet setting up their areas for their interviews with the stars. One by one, the crew members arrived and made their way to their seats as we awaited the arrival of the cast. Amongst the media, some of our own Five-0 twitter pals,
Wendie Staszkow Burbridge (@WendieJoy), Mike Gordon (@CrankyDad), and Mel (@Melapaloosa).
In the distance, we could hear the fans screaming behind the massive viewing screen. Making their way through the media blitz, the Hawaii Five-0 cast. First cast member down the carpet, Masi Oka (Dr. Max Bergman) He was so nice to everybody. Signed many autographs and greeted all of the five-0 fans graciously.
Second in line, the five-0 Executive Producers, Peter Lenkov and Roberto Orci. They were both so overwhelmed to see the massive turn out for the show. People as far away as Germany, Hungary and Alex's native Australia were among the crowd. Many of us were locals or from the mainland. We were all there to cheer on our favorite cast and crew and to celebrate season 2.
Little by little the screaming would crescendo. We knew the Five-0 team was here. Daniel Dae Kim arrived looking handsome as ever. He was also very gracious, stopping for pictures and signing
autographs for the fans that waited all day in the hot sun for him to arrive.
Following Daniel were the beautiful ladies of Five-0 this season, Grace Park, Lauren German and Daniela Ruah. Daniela was in town to film her cross-over episode from her series NCIS:LA. Grace walked down the carpet so fast, I didn't get one shot of her. Thank goodness one of us did. We hear she looked stunning all dolled up for this exciting occassion. Daniela and Lauren looked beautiful too. Both wearing white and cream colored dresses and very high heels. Wearing them proved to be a risky venture when they stepped off the red carpet and onto the beach to greet the fans. Sinking fast into the sand and making their way to the fans behind the barricades calling to them for a picture or an autograph.
The crowds screams were hitting a higher decibel level now. Scott Caan, Terry O'Quinn, Marc Dacascos and the Big Kahuna himself, Alex O'Loughlin finally arrived. As they made their way down the red carpet, screams of Scott, Terry, Mark and ALEX danced upon the night air. Flashes were going off like fireflies dancing in the night. You just didn't know where to turn next. Each of them came off the red carpet, greeted their adoring fans, stopped to take pictures and signed a lot of autographs. All we could do was watch and take pictures as each handsome man went by us. Scott was kind enough to stop and strike a pose with another one of our twitter peeps, Andy. (@Andyisjiajia) We think Andy had an outer body experience when Scott came up to him, signed his photography book and took this picture.
Marc (WoFat) Dacascos was kind enough to stop and take a beautiful picture with me. Thanks to my twitter pal @ltaelor (Letty) for getting such this great shot!
Sneaking his way quietly down to the end of the red carpet with his kids in tow, Taylor Wily (Kamekona) stopped to say hello too.
Then it was finally time to see Alex. As he came off the carpet and greeted his screaming fans, we just stood by and watched his every move amongst the crowd. Each of us took as many pictures of him as we could. We had to remind ourselves to just breathe. He was so much more handsome in person than we could have ever imagined. His rugged good looks and stunning greenish-blue eyes with those long eyelashes just left us speechless. He passed me by and walked over to the other barricade area to my right. He continued to sign many autographs, pose for pictures and give hugs when he could. As he tuned back around, he was greeted by my buddies, Ellen, Stacey and Deb. Each of them said hello, gave him a lei or just got an autograph. As many of you know from our initial story, the four of us made a special quilt for Alex. At this point in he night, he finally got to see it hanging on the barricade in front of us. Ellen explained that one side of the quilt was traditional Hawaiian fabric. The other side was a dedication to him from us and a few other fans. Each square represented some movie, tv show or part of his life. He was thrilled and amazed by it. He thanked us and told us to please drop it off to the H50 production offices making sure he'd get it. So on Wednesday afternoon, we did just that. Thanks to our twitter pal @LisaLisa98 for getting it all on video.
As Alex made his was back down towards the red carpet. Madaline could barely get up the nerve to say his name loud enough for him to turn towards her. As he did, all she could do was present him with an orchid lei. He lowered his head, she placed the lei around his neck, and he graciously bowed and acknowledge her with a kind thank you. She definetly died and went to heaven. Thank goodness
our twitter friends Letty and Lisa had her back. Pictures and video were taken of that very moment.
After the cast made their way back up the red carpet they found their seats among the crew, family members and friends seated in front of the viewing screen and stage. The mayor of Hawaii got up on stage to declare Sept. 10th Hawaii Five-0 day. The crowd went nuts! After the President of CBS, Peter Lenkov and Bob Orci said their peace, they began to call up the Five-0 cast members on stage.
Each was presented a beautiful lei and lined up on stage for all of us to cheer. Alex said a few words of thanks to the fans and his fellow cast members. When they were all done they departed he stage. It was finally time for the big premiere. The lights were dimmed and the crowd grew quiet. Opening scene played and season 2 had begun. Then a familiar sound came through the speakers...the Hawaii Five-0 theme song. Everybody cheered with excitement. During the premiere the were many ooo's and aah's going on. Pleasant sighs every time Alex was on screen. Gasps and screams were heard during some scenes too. We won't give anything away as so many of you have not seen this episode yet. Just know this...you're going to love it!
A fun time was had by all on this very long day. Getting up and onto the beach at 3:00 a.m. was worth the lack of sleep. Mahalo to Peter Lenkov, cast and crew on a job well done. Season 2 is going to be a
very exciting time. Many new twists and turns are in store for all of us...and that's just the way we like it.
2. Get yourself a great travel agent. We highly recommend our friend Bruce Fisher. He worked with us last year to help us plan not only our trips, but he arranged our tweet-up, luau, brunch and tour of Hawaii Five-0 filming locations. You can read about it all in our past blogs.
