The Glammy Monster, Part One

Each year, New York City nightlife's celebrities, celebutantes, and the paparazzi who love to capture them in megabytes all fill Splash on a December Sunday to celebrate Cherry Jubilee's Glammy Awards. This year's ceremonies started off with a bang--actually, two flamethowers from the amazing Modern Gypsies troupe--when Glammy Entertainer of the Year winner Peppermint (pictured below) opened the show. Once the fiery blasts tickled my face in the front row, I understood why security had been so pushy, inexplicably expecting all of us to keep moving back from the stage and through the tables set up on the floor for some nominees and their friends.

Sure, the festivities didn't kick off for over an hour after the advertised 9:00 p.m. start; but getting there "on time" meant experiencing the nominees' grand entrances. Some nominees were awash with the roving camera crew's white floodlight and sprinkled with camera flashes as they tried to find their to the bar to keep their buzz going. One of those nominees was Acid Betty (pictured below), who nabbed both the Best Dressed and the Best Alternative Artist Glammy for the second year in a row.

Someone certainly hit everyone with the gratitude stick this year. When Betty presented an award with her idol, the Chicago-based Jojo Baby (pictured below with Comedy Performer Glammy winner Bianca Del Rio to her left on the left, with Acid Betty to her right on the right), she told the crowd, "I am very pleased and excited to be here because I fucking love this event."

When Betty won Best Dressed, she confessed that her friend Anarexia Hurls dresses her and congratulated her for winning the award. (Anarexia's response? "Oh, Fuck off. I don't care.") When Betty won Best Alternative Artist, she was humbled. "Us queens," she explained, "when we go out--us drag queens and freaks and all that--don't really get people saying, 'Hey, good job!', 'You did good.', or 'We acknowledge your work.' And I think that's what the Glammys gives to us. So, thank you so much for giving that to me and all my fellow girls and boys because I think they're amazing. Thank you so much." It was a far cry from her acceptance speech last year: "I won, motherfuckers! I won!"

Even Epiphany was gracious when she presented two awards with Amanda Lepore (pictured above). She acknowledged that she may not have been the--um--kindest to everyone in the room over the past year but she wanted to let us know how honored she was to be with us, contributing to New York City nightlife.

Of course, we could count on Bianca Del Rio (pictured above) to dampen the love fest. On the back screens, we were treated to a hilarious segment called "Bianca's Minute of Hate," during which she read her fellow queens for their glamour handicaps. Hardly shy, Bianca continued onstage before she and Shequida presented the Best Dressed Glammy. Check out my Flip footage below.

One fantastical highlight of the night was watching my House of De La Blanca sister Celso win Breakthrough Artist. My Wonder Twin Brian Mills (pictured further below with Amanda Lepore) and I put our drinks down to appropriately carry on.

Stay tuned to PhDJ's NYC Nightlife for more coverage of The Glammy Monster, including my own awards for the night itself. It's a good thing I had the camera and the Flip going all night. All those cocktails--plus the ones I had just before the Awards during Mimi Imfurst's fabulous Christmas Celebration--are not the best memory aids. Until then, make sure you walk right up to the next queen or freak you see out and about, look deep into their eyes, and say, "I acknowledge your work. Thank you." For good measure, I'd throw in a "10-10-10-10-10's across the board!"