Flashback to 2012 - Our Dream Year at The Ritz

Our year at The Ritz was kind of like the Dallas dream year - sometimes it doesn't entirely feel as though it happened, and we did have many great times and great shows there, but we were on a different night and earlier in the evening and the space was so different than any other venue we've been at over the past 9 years that, in retrospect, it was so not the right fit - and we and management all knew it but we gave it our all, and sometimes that does matter.

Along the 10 months we were there, I had quite a number of first time guests on the show - Collin Stone, Sam Colt, Ron B as Tina Turner, singers Matthew Hashimoto and Nick Park, Honey LaBronx, Beardonna, Vito Gallo, Landon Conrad, Farrah Moans, Antonio Manero, Jack Mackenroth, singer Joe Conti, Gerald McCullouch, soap star Tonja Walker and of course many others too numerous to mention.

The highlights of the year came towards the end - Beardonna gave me a framed pair of his underwear (complete with skid marks and pubic hair... what am I supposed to do with this? LOL), our "Night of a Thousand Santas", our 400th show and our final show there which yielded one of my all time favorite Bingo pics (the one with Bryan from South Africa AIDS Ride in the Spiderman outfit). We also made a buttload of money for the Kyle Spidle memorial fund after the Braking the Cycle rider fell ill and died unexpectedly.

Before I close out the dream year, let me talk a little about our DJ Chauncey Dandridge who joined Bingo while we were still at Pieces when DJ Chris Padilla moved to Florida. It was amid our departure and things were very hectic and complicated, but Chauncey rolled with it. We got to The Ritz and there were always things to fix and Chauncey rolled with it. When we moved to Uncle Charlies, it was obvious that there wasn't a place for a DJ there and once again, like when we had to leave Manny behind when the 9th Ave. Bistro closed down, we had to say goodbye to one of our family. And Chauncey rolled with it.

Chauncey provided a great soundtrack for the entire year and was a good pal throughout. Thanks, Chauncey, I hope to work with you again someday. :) (And btw thanks for introducing me to The Big Ragoo - he was our sort of an unofficial fourth Bingo DJ and just awesome!) :)