by Andy Gibbons

So being in LA (I’ll tell you more about why in the next few days) I figured it would be perfect to do a bit of star spotting and what’s easier than hanging round while someone gets a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. And it just so happened that while I was in town multi-award winning singer / songwriter Randy Newman (his credits were read out before the ceremony and to call them extensive would be an understatement – Google him and you’ll see what I mean) was being honoured with a spot on Hollywood Boulevard. And seeing as all recipients are asked to bring along a couple of ‘celebrity friends’, it was odds-on there’d be some top talent on hand. And we weren’t disappointed as Woody and Buzz Lightyear came out to support Newman, who has written songs for two of the three Toy Story movies.

Fortunately Pixar / Walt Disney bigwig John Lasseter and former Python Eric Idle also showed up to praise Newman. Lasseter was first, describing his friend as a “great composer, a great songwriter, a great conductor of orchestras and a ‘good’ singer” while Idle suggested that Newman “looks like a dentist, writes like Voltaire and sings like a frog on heroin”. Of course it was all very good natured and Randy stood there and took and their good natured jibes and insults in the manner in which they were meant.

Then it was Newman’s turn to take centre stage, thanking his wife and his family for their support over the years. But he then urged the citizens of LA to do “whatever the hell you want” seeing as June 2nd 2010 had officially been designated ‘Randy Newman Day’.

Finally it came to the big moment as Randy unveiled his star, accompanied by his friends and various members of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce (who run the Walk Of Fame).

So if you’re coming to LA and want a sure fire way to see celebs in action, get along to one of these ceremonies. They’re free to attend, don’t drag on too much and you can usually grab the honouree and his guests for a chat and an autograph after the ceremony – depending on the crowds obviously – just as I did with John Lasseter (I’m a HUGE Pixar geek!!!!). To find out who is being honoured with a star while you’re in town, you can click here for a schedule.