OK so this is super old news - at least where the internet is concerned where something that happened last night is already 'totes lame' by the all consuming blogging crowd - but as I have been working on some other non porn things over the past few weeks, well, I never post pics from a couple events I went to over Black Party weekend... and as they are some pretty nice pics, I figured you wouldnt mind a little nostalgic trip - you know, from like three weeks ago.
My first stop was the Hookies - the RentBoy sponsored escort award show. I never quite know how seriously to take the RentBoy events since they always seem to me to be an excuse for clients to meet their prospective hires in public. It's a testament
to how far we've progressed (or maybe how far under the radar the gay porn/rentboy industry flies) that the event can be so publicly promoted and so well attended (and not visited by the vice squad). It was also nice to see that two guests who'd been scheduled for Bingo and had flaked out were in fact alive even though repeated emails to them yielded no response. <shrug> Whatchagonna do?
Mike Dreyden and Robyn Byrd ran the red carpet inside the club interviewing porn stars and escorts and I ran into my pal Tony Serrano and his new boyfriend Marco Cruise.. hot.
The next day at the Black Party Expo, I popped a couple pics of hottie Jay Black manning the BP booth and then, later this group of rugrats (as my sister would call 'em) manning Mike Dreyden's booth (that's L to R Max Sinclair, Ricky Sinz, Mike Dreyden and SF leather Brandon Clark with Colin Steele towering above them all).
That night was the Black Party and I decided to skip it because when I woke up Sunday morning, I just couldn't get into getting myself to go. Maybe next year. But I did manage to get my bones down to the Javits Center for the gay life expo - and there was plenty of gay life going on - from Cheer New York springing to life doing an entire routine to a Lady Gaga song in the cramped confines of the video 'tent' to
amberRose Marie and crew (pictured down below) performing kickass numbers on stage. In between there were booths for gay travel, gay magazines and .. fertility clinics. We've officially made the transition from rainbow glow sticks.
The only thing that was kinda weird was the presence of an enormous double wide Camel trailer (it was off limits to anyone who didn't want to smoke) I couldn't help but think that maybe we've just run out of ways to kill ourselves so we're now inviting death in. Sorry if that offends anyone (and as I say, I say this as an occasional smoker) but at an event that celebrates marriage and adopting babies, why do we need a huge smoking lounge?
Probably the funniest thing though was seeing some Black Party guys straggling in to the Expo. After my own BP experiences, the last place on Earth I'd want to be is in a convention hall full of wide awake/sober folks not just because it would harsh my buzz but geez, I wouldn't want anyone to see the dark circles under my eyes (now what the Expo "should" have is a 'morning after' make-over booth with mudpacks and cucumber facials - to counteract the other kinds of facials the guys so often get at the Black Party itself).
Anyway, my weekend ended at Susan Morabito's dance party at Columbus72 which someone mentioned might be the old China Club space. I don't know but man, the space was excellent an of course Susan's spinning was fabulous and uplifting, the crowd very warm and inviting. I have to say that there are times when I want to promote Susan's event so that more people come but I'm also happy that the crowd, while not small, is no where near what an Alegria or those kinds of events draws. At every Susan event I've been to over the past few years, there's always room to dance, room to cruise, room to talk to friends, room to get drinks and take breaks, there's room for flaggers to do their thing (beautiful when the patterns are glow in the dark) and not be all bunched up in another person's space.
I understand the need to sell an event and for a promoter to make money, but I just really love the vibe of these dances where there are 100 people, not 1000. And after a really complicated and stressful past couple months looking for a day job and a roommate (groan, still looking), what I needed most was some uplifting high energy dance time with friends to shake it all off. And I did. What was meant to be a two hour trip, turned into six - it would have been five and a half if I hadn't gotten pulled in for another half hour when I first started to make my way out the door.
And that's how I rolled over Black Party weekend!