We'd started in late 2008 at Pieces after the 9th Ave. Bistro closed down and while 2009 was OK, it was more of a rebuilding year as we had to rebrand where we were. Eventually in late 2010 I would rebrand the event as The Will Clark Show feat. P*rno Bingo - as a way to appease some beneficiaries who didn't just complain that the name was a challenge for their board to deal with but would change the advertising and the name of the event with no word to me. That always struck me as bizarre. But <shrug> whatever. My view was always that if you don't like the name of the event, don't be a beneficiary (and I had a couple of orgs along the way that did just that, which I totally respected). Sigh.
Anyway, 2010 was probably one of the most vibrant years out of the run that we had - DJ Baker spun for us, I had a ton of really interesting guests from a variety of places - singer Jackie Dupree, Emmy winner Judy Gold, , singer Molly Pope, Doug and Bryan from the Big Gay Ice Cream, Apollonia Cruz, Murray Hill, singer Lovari, porn star Alessio Romero and one of my favorite people, Michael Brandon. Then there was DJ Jonny Mack who started out on the show as a go-bear-boy and became one of New York's best DJ's spinning for a few Bad Boys on the Hudson. 70s star Josie Cotton joined us for a night as did nightlife legend Sherry Vine.
I brought on up and coming porn star Max Sinclair who was one of the few porn stars over the past 19 to steal a little piece of my heart. He burned brightly and then vanished back to a private life (and I still miss him). I met cabaret singer Terese Genecco by Twitter and invited her to be a guest. I had no real knowledge how awesome she and her girlfriend Shaynee were.... and she joined us a couple times over the years (and it was always always always a pleasure).
Then there were the two female porn stars - Brittany Andrews and Savanah Samson - and yes people were pissy that I brought (gasp) female porn stars in to a gay bar. From my point of view, I couldn't quite get the objection and thought that the complainers should open up their minds a little. But I touched boob for the first time in my life and so I was quite happy (and to this day I still remember how HOT Savanah's boyfriend was).
But the best show by far was the night that Ilene Kristen and Randy Jones joined us. I had been a fan of Ilene's since the 70s when she was young and on Ryan's Hope. Then, later, when she joined One Life to Live as Roxie, I fell for her all over again. We had the best interview of my career - she has so many great stories and as I'd been a lifelong fan I knew what questions to ask to get the stories that I knew were there - the night was topped by Randy Jones doing an impromptu performance with half the cast of the off Broadway show we were both in at the time (When Joey Married Bobby). Probably one of the top three nights of the entire 9 year run. :)
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