Good evening, peeps - hope you all had a great weekend - mine was fuck off the charts... and that's, of course, due to YOU. Many of you left nice comments on the Facebook post of Saturday's blog post. Really beautiful sentiments and I'll have you know, they made me well up. but uh, it was probably just my allergies or somethin' though.....
You may have noticed in Saturday's post that I mentioned that, at one time in my porn career - the first five years or so- I was kind of loopy/crazy about the whole awards thing within the porn industry. I mean, we all like to get recognized for our work - and some for bragging rights and some (like me) see it as validation and staying power in what was always an ever changing industry. In my head, I would be just one of the millions of guys that was in and out of the industry unless I won some Best Actor or Best Something award. Looking back at that now, with the hindsight of history and all these years, I kind of laugh and kind of feel sorry for that younger me - all that wasted energy on what really is nothing.
And, along the way, I did pick up a few awards. But here's the thing, as I accumulated them, they meant less and less to me. Oh, please don't get me wrong - I did appreciate them and while some were a kind of a joke (I was given "Best Bushwhacker" at the Men in Video Awards... what the fuck did that even mean? LOL) and of course some of them were the industry's highest honors (such as the "Performer of the Year" Award that I won with Cole Tucker at the Grabbys). And then there were the two awards that I got from the GayVNs and Gay Erotic Video Awards for the fundraising work that I'd done. No, I really appreciated those. But now they are all in a box in my storage unit and most people - even fans who really follow this stuff - probably have forgotten that things like the Men in Video Awards even existed (it was a show that lasted a very short time - intended on being a summertime "People's Choice Awards" thing... all done in fun).
But the awards that really matter are maybe the most unexpected. In the late 90s I produced and emceed a lot of fundraisers at the Castro street leather bar, Daddy's. Daddy Philip Turner and I had a mutual appreciation society thing going on and all sorts of amazing porn stars and leather folk would come out and have some fun with us and we'd raise some bucks for local SF charities. And it was during this time that I met one of the biggest hearts of San Francisco: Mama.
You can go to Mama's site and find out all about her, but the essence is that Mama rewards those that she thinks stand out in the community with induction to her 'family'. She picks out a name and then gives you a pin to wear with that name on it. You are always a member of her family and at last count, I think there are about 2000 members.
Back around the year 2000 or so, at one of these events at Daddy's Mama pinned me "Mama's Porn Star". I was #405. These many years later, I still feel the pride swell up in my heart at being pinned by Mama and being part of this little group. OK so maybe you think that a group with 2000 members isn't so little..... lol .... but it sure is special and you don't get it by just sitting around and being pretty. You earn it. You earn it by giving of yourself in one way or another and by inspiring others to give of themselves as well. Good God, I can't think of any better criteria, can you?
So, I have a few prized honors from the past 21 years - but being a part of Mama's Family - and that little name plate which is forever pinned to my favorite leather vest - is definitely one of them. Thank you, Sandy - I hope you know that you're part of MY family too! :)
You can read up about it by going to "Mama's Family".
This post is part of a series of blogs celebrating The End of Will Clark
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