It's hard to say what all exactly constitutes the NBA All-Star Game's pregame festivities. It kind of went on forever and included multiple spoken-word montage things, a Bruno Mars set, a Lenny Kravitz performance that incorporated both team introductions, and red carpet interviews with Puff Daddy (that's what they called you at the Grammys, Puff!) and others, and Stevie Wonder singing "Happy Birthday" to Charles Barkley:
All-Star Game Pregame: Stevie Wonder’s Charles Barkley Serenade, Dwight Howard’s Chocolate Shoulders
There was also a second set of player intros, during which Dwight Howard introduced the rest of his starting lineup. He also did this (via @mad_marvin):
For his next act, Howard led half the East team in James’ powder throw routine and played some sort of air instrument during Kravitz’ performance that may have been an air hammer dulcimer.
Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Blake Griffin welcomed fans in a brief message that featured Gasol’s Spanish, but not Bryant’s Italian.
Most of the other intros passed without note, though Amare Stoudemire gave the crowd an elaborate bow and Joe Johnson somehow made walking down a flight of stairs even more boring than it should be. The Los Angeles crowd reserved its loudest boos for the various Boston Celtics and James, cheering for Bryant and Griffin and the other couple guys they were told to root for.
Melanie Fiona performed a decent rendition of “O, Canada,” an excellent national anthem that Twitter apparently hates, followed by Josh Groban’s “Star-Spangled Banner.” [Rich Rodriguez joke].
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