On Thursday July 5th, ESPN hosted the Red Carpet Premiere for the Bronx is Burning. I asked Don if I could go and help out. He said they are probably going to tape the people walking on the red carpet and the after party so I would be a production assistant.

Hillary Wasch said I should dress up and thank goodness…

I had to go to Bristol to get a mike flag and tapes for the camera. All this traveling made me miss my train to NYC so I had to catch one later. This in turn caused me to miss my chance to take my luggage to my hotel. I had to go straight to the theatre carrying a book bag and overnight bag.

While on the train Nick, the producer, called me and asked if I would be okay by myself during the after party because he would have to leave early to edit footage. So I would be the person doing the final interviews at the end of the night…

Once I found Nick and the camera crew, I asked the taxi to pull near them. I found out the hard way that taxi’s don’t take credit cards….luckily Nick paid for me! When I got out the two camera crew guys said I should do the interviewing because I would probably get the most reaction since I’m the young chick. Nick said it was a good idea!

I DID THE INTERVIEWING ON THE RED CARPET!! They had the premiere at the Tribeca Theatre. We went in and got prepared for interviews. Around 6pm, people started to show up.

My first interview was with Evan Hart, a really cute young actor. I was nervous. The camera guy had to keep moving my arm – and the mike – closer to Evan so they could hear him. I had asked them before we started what common mistakes were made, and that was one of them. So after that I kept that mike on their freakin faces!

Some of the old Yankees came as well. They were all portrayed in the show so it was neat to see the “show” player and the “real” player. Jimmy Breslin and Ed Koch came, two very valid people to the time period. Breslin did not want to be interviewed and Koch was a quick interview. Paul Blair has got to be one of my favorites…since I had no idea who he was…and he knew it! The producer called him over for an interview and told me to ask him the questions we had planned for Old Yankees. Paul just looked at me and said “You have no idea who I am, do you?” I freaked out and started laughing. He said “I am Paul Blair,” and I said “I am Ashley.” We did the interview and I screamed out “Bye Paul Blair!” He yelled out “Bye Ashley!” When he left later that night we screamed out each other’s names again. We’re new best friends.

Then came the big dawgs: Daniel Sunjata, Oliver Platt, John Turturro, and Jorge Posada. Oliver Platt was spitting on my face. Plain and simple. I froze when I interviewed Jorge. They were all really nice but Oliver and John scared me. I was nervous that my questions weren’t good enough. I did get a “good question” from Oliver. Yes, we’re on a first name basis.

The after party was a blast! I hung out with the actors and drank free alcohol. Gotta love it! Hillary, an associate producer at ESPN, went to the premiere with her Uncle Joe and they were fun to hang with. Seth Gilliam was complementing me on my interviewing and was showing me how to interview while also getting face-time.

The after-after party was at Evan’s friend’s bar – the Gold Club…That’s where I got to know Leonard Robinson – he’s on MTV’s Short Circuitz and played Mickey Rivers.

I stayed at the W hotel. The bed was incredible and I was in heaven. Best sleep of my life!