LOOKING BACK AT 2007
This was a great year for Legendary Bingo. Going into our tenth year, we have raised almost 2 millon dollars for local and national organizations! And what fun we have had doing it. Each Wednesday night the bingo faithful gather at Hamburger Mary's in West Hollywood and try their best to win various prize packages whule trying not to get hit by the "pelts" and definately not having to reach into the "bag of crap." Here's a little look back-



One of the most amazing things about this weird little event is the amount of pretty cool celebrities who stop by to play bingo instead of going to one of their "Hollywood parties" or even a very cool nightclub. This year, we had "celebrity drop-by's" from the likes of MINNIE DRIVER, ROBBIE WILLIAMS (on a date with DITA VON TEESE!), DARYL HANNAH, SETH GREEN, AMBER TAMBLYN, JOY LAUREN (of "Desperate Housewives"), THOMAS DEKKER (of "Heroes" and the upcoming "Sarah Conner Chronicles"), DAVID ANDERS (of "Alias" and "Heroes"), JANE LYNCH, AHMET & DIVA ZAPPA and NATALIE MAINES of The Dixie Chicks (pictured above with Bingo-boy) I am sure there are more that I can't remember. Also famous celebrities' mothers seem to love us including the mothers of BRITTANY SNOW, MANDY MOORE and SHAWN PRYFOM (of "Desperate Housewives"). A bunch of "America's Next Top Model" gals are also in the house very frequently.



Belle Aire took time off from her film and television career to host a night of bingo at Busby's in Los Angeles and her fans were there in full force. ANDRAE GONZALO of "Project Runway" helped call the balls and was very amused by the goings-on. Belle Aire will continue in 2008 to make special guest appearances and remind us of why we call her "The Bingo Bitch."







BRIDGETTE OF MADISON COUNTY became the resident bingo hostess in 2007 and turned bingo at Hamburger Mary's in to a through-the-roof wild and crazy- what the fuck is she saying now? evening not for the entire family. Bingo-boy and Bridgette were featured in the BRAVO reality show WELCOME TO THE PARKER with special guest MISS COCO PERU and yes, we became even more famous than we already were.









It's no surprise that we have had a buttload of Celebrity Ballcallers come on by to "call our balls" and this year we were honored to have LIZA SNYDER ("Yes, Dear"), ROSS THE INTERN, PETER PAIGE ("Queer As Folk"), JANE LYNCH, VARLA JEAN MERMAN, JUDY TENUTA, MISSI PYLE, PATRIKA DARBO, JERRI MANTHEY, DEBRA WILSON, SAM PANCAKE, REICHEN LEMKUHL, ELAINE HENDRIX, designer ANDREW CHRISTIAN, ALEC MAPA (so funny on Ugly Betty!), HONEY LABRADOR, JENNIFER WARREN, AMY HILL, JACK PLOTNICK, BETH GRANT, SAM LLOYD (of "Scrubs"), STELLA STEVENS, SHELLEY MORRISON (she was so great), JIM J. BULLOCK, JAI RODRIGUEZ, ESTELLE HARRIS (of "Seinfeld"), REX LEE ('Entourage"), TIA CARRERE, ERICA VITTANA PHILLIPS (so funny in "Superbad"!), WILSON CRUZ and of course our good friend and diva LISA ANN WALTERS (pictured with IAN ZIERING). Looking forward to even more celeb visits in 2008!






And finally, we had a new BINGO HOSTESS come up through the ranks and prove him/herself to be worthy of the very high standards of the Hamburger Mary's Bingo Freaks. FAMOUS BINGO HOSTESS WILLAM who has wowed audiences with his appearances on "Nip/Tuck," "Women's Murder Club" and many other shows now has a huge fan base at Hamburger Mary's and beyond and Bingo-boy couldn't be more proud. Bingo-boy and Willam were featured on the reality shows "Sunset Tan" and "L.A. Ink" and Willam is pictured with KAT VON D of the latter show. We look forward to more from Willam in 2008!



A very special THANK YOU to all of the Bingo Freaks from Bingo-boy, The Fabulous Belle Aire, Bridgette of Madison County and Willam as well as from all of our charities. You really have made a difference in the lives of others through your support of this event and we treasure you- each and every one of you. We look forward to a wonderful 2008 and wish you all prosperity, peace and most of all- that you are" on" each and every day of your lives.


HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE LEGENDARY BINGO FAMILY!

A MEMORY OF ANNA NICOLE SMITH


In April of 2006, my friend Nate called me on my cellphone with the announcement that "Anna Nicole wants to come and host bingo." I knew that Nate had been working as Anna's personal assistant and was also very good friends with Kimmy, Anna's previous assistant (she was featured on the Anna's E! show) but I was still in a bit of shock over his announcement. All that came out of my mouth in response was "why?"

Nate was and is a big ol' bingo freak- loves to bring large groups to party at Legendary Bingo and he told me that a group of Anna's friends were going on and on about how fun this "crazy type of bingo" was. He said that Anna became very excited and said "I wanna do it!" And so it was done. Well, not quite yet. I called Nate and told him that I couldn't possibly announce that Anna was coming to bingo unless I was very, very sure that it was really going to happen (celebs have bailed before- most for very good reasons but it is still disappointing) because I knew that many people would show up just to see her. That's the kind of presence she has.

Nate said "if you don't believe me, why don't you ask her?" And the next thing I knew I was talking to Anna Nicole and she was telling me that, yes, she was going to come and that it sounded like a lot of fun. I was talking to Anna Nicole! Honestly, that's how I felt and you know I talk to ALOT of celebrities. But even talking to her on the phone had a bit of a surreal quality to it.

So, to make a long story short, Anna Nicole came to bingo- as a surprise guest. She arrived with Nate, her son Daniel and Larry Birkhead in tow. Not exactly an entourage- just Anna and her family. The first impression that I had was that she was the most beautiful woman that I had ever seen. She was very tall and her skin was a golden color that had sort of a glow coming off of it. She was wearing a pair of very tight jeans and a little top that showed her belly and I kept thinking this is not the same Anna that I saw on all of those episodes of her show. Somehow, she had turned back the clock and was the Guess? jeans Anna, maybe even better.

I think that most of the bingo crowd thought that she was an Anna Nicole Smith impersonator (we had just had a Dolly Parton impersonator that looked like the real thing) but soon it began to set in and the camera phones began clicking.

Anna came up and called a few games of bingo and was sweet, funny and very warm to the crowd. She posed for every picture request, signed every autograph request and bid on every live auction item (she won several of them) to help the charity for the night.

The Anna Nicole Smith that we all encountered on that night of bingo was one that we will all never forget. Whatever problems she had experienced in the past or was soon to experience took the night off and we all knew that we were in the presence of someone with true star quality.

We will all miss Anna Nicole and will remember her generosity of spirit and her ability to find joy in little things like being "one away from a bingo!" I hope that she has found the peace that she truly deserves.

The beautiful photo of Anna Nicole Smith was taken by Gil Kaan.

Bingo-boy
2/18/2007