Walking down the main drag in Park City, The Observer remembered one thing: This place is tiny. We’re talking NoLita tiny. Nestled between Park City and Deer Valley Ski Resorts, the diminutive town transforms itself once a year, at the crack of Robert Redford’s whip, into the epicenter of the Sundance Film Festival. It’s 10:30 p.m. on the first night (sort of), and this frigid hamlet is slammed.
First stop: Microsoft’s eyebrow-raising bottomless pit of bourbon – The Bing Bar.
- The Observer overhears a partygoer’s astute observation: “Can you smell that pot? Wiz Khalifa is totally here, I think he’s in that tiny VIP area”
- Wiz was, in fact, totally there, presiding over a petite velvet roped section of the seductively grungy basement of The Bing Bar.
- Mr. Khalifa took the stage, belted out his seminal track Black And Yellow and the crowd promptly lost it.
- After being asked how they got there, New York’s own nightlife impresario Mark Birnbaum revealed to The Observer he came by plane to Sundance after learning his lesson from last year’s 23 hour, 400 mile (really?) car ride that nearly ended him.
Next stop: The Celeste and Jesse Forever Premiere Afterparty at Grey Goose’s Blue Door.
- Two words: Elijah Wood. The Observer borrowed the cameo star and had the chance to ask him how he got here, to which he replied, beaming, “I owe it all to my mom, man. She got me here – no question.”
- Rashida Jones is hot.
- Both Chris Kattan and James Marsden revealed surprisingly that it was not hard work and determination, but “an airplane” that got them to where they were last night. They both declined to mention if they flew commercial.
- Aziz Ansari had perpetual s’mores in his mouth.
- Grey Goose knows how to make a mean cocktail.
Last Stop: Tao, yeah that Tao, you know the one.
- Successfully recreating everything you love and hate about it’s megaclub big brother, Tao Sundance is something to behold. An infinity watt speaker system made conversation a bit of a stretch, leaving The Observer feeling as though we were in a bizarrely captivating celebrity petting zoo.
- The ever dimpled Mario Lopez doesn’t know how to not smile.
- Harvey Weinstein held court at his table while a semi-unitarded Paris Hilton channeling Snooki and beaux Afrojack took to dancing on anything that wasn’t the floor. The Observer noted the suspiciously high quality of Hilton’s earmuffs.
- Fire code shmire code.
