It was nothing more than a shameless publicity event, but - like most of
them - it was a lot of fun anyway.UNIVERSAL CELEBRATES THE SUCCESS OF 'AMERICAN PIE' WITH THE MASTER BAKER COOK-OFF
By R. Scott Bolton
It was nothing more than a shameless publicity event, but - like most of
them - it was a lot of fun anyway.
In celebration of the sell-through video release of their hit film, "American Pie," Universal Home video threw a huge graduation party on Stage 6 at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Hosted by Vic "The Brick" Jacobs of XTRA Sports radio and KIIS FM, L.A., the evening was a conglomeration of sex, food and rock’n’roll.
First, there was the food: In addition to the various food items presented by the finalists in the "Master Baker Cook-Off" (more on that below), Universal offered foot-long hot dogs, taquitos and tortilla chips. All were very good; however, there is something unnerving about eating hot dogs when the buffet table is littered with condoms bearing the "American Pie" logo.
The evening’s events began with Jacobs being led onstage by two voluptuous models from Perfect 10 magazine (http://www.perfect10.com). Jacobs threw out a couple of good one-liners and a handful of bad ones and then led into the "opening act" - "The Baker’s Dozen Fashion Show" - in which 13 well-formed models flaunted their stuff while wearing such sexy clothing items as bread pans, muffin tins and measuring cups. (?)
Jacobs quickly moved on to the judging of Universal’s national "Champion Master Baker" contest in which five finalists were flown in to Hollywood to have their original recipes - all of which were entered in the contest last year - tested by a celebrity panel.
The finalists in the Master Baker Cook-off were Chris Askew of Calumet City, Illinois and his "Deep Fried O-Reos"; Matthew Silifies of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and his "Mouthwatering Creme Delight"; Jeff Martens of New Olmstead, Ohio and his Tropical Six-Inch Chick-ka-bobs; Rob Sacco of Chester, Pennsylvania and his "Hittin’ Skins" and Andrew Kowalyshyn of Denver, Colorado with "The Morning Blaster."
The panel of celebrity judges then took the stage and sampled the various culinary offerings. The panel consisted of "American Pie" star Chris Owen; Roger Lodge, host of TV’s "Blind Date," Natalie Raitano of TV’s "V.I.P."; Danny Nucci of "Titanic," "Jason Cook and Jay Kenneth Johnson of "Days of Our Lives" and Ashley Cafagna" of "The Bold and The Beautiful."
When all was said and done -
the winner was Chris Askew and his Deep Fried O’Reos, which we can
attest were very good but extremely rich.
Finally, the highlight of the evening came when Universal recording artist TONIC took the stage. First, the band were awarded gold CDs for their work on the "American Pie" soundtrack and then played a full set to a grateful house including "You Wanted More" from "American Pie." Tonic rocked the house hard, playing a tight set with amazing sound. For more information on Tonic, please visit http://www.tonic-online.com.
The entire event was broadcast live over the Internet at http://www.lycos.com/getlucky.
"American Pie" is available for the first time on VHS in its unrated, uncut version. This version of the film has already sold over 1.2 million copies on DVD. For more information or to order the cassette, please click here.
Tonic photo by John DeRuvo