A certain amount of chaos attends any produced event. Finessing it does more that reflect prior planning; it douses whatever firestorm said chaos may spark in the event's attendees. Mismanaging it, as the people working the door for last night's 2009 Out Music Awards at Webster Hall did, left most people who waited up to 45 minutes to get inside hot under the collar despite the blustery night. I refused to let anyone disturb my night. I was there to accompany the fantastical Dina Delicious (pictured below left) and the gang to celebrate the year in LGBT music.
Apparently, however, no one seemed to know exactly where Dina's VIP list was. Each door person barked us toward another. Finally, we made our way inside, into the street level hall where the pre-show presentation was already underway. I managed to make out that Amanda Lepore didn't win Outstanding Video for "Cotton Candy" (although I'm not exactly sure who did) and to see Acid Betty's hair among the sea of people. Kyle, Demanda, DivaSteve, Heather, and I wandered about, lost each other, found each other again, and waited for King Ralphy and Dina to arrive. Betty said hi as she made her way to find some free booze.
My Wonder Twin Brian Mills (pictured above, far right) was texting me to tell me that he and Mike Diamond (pictured above, in the middle, with Jesse Archer) were on their way. Once Dina arrived, the list was still nowhere to be found; so she had to commandeer some OMA Special Invited Guests passes for us to get to the balcony. No worries, we thought. We'll just get situated, toast the evening with our bottle, and enjoy the show.
Once upstairs, we discovered that there were no VIP vodka bottles. At least we weren't told we had to move like the people seated in the first three rows by the stage. Even though they were not marked reserved, these seats were meant for presenters and performers, like Kevin Aviance (pictured above, with Dina). The show itself had its own mishaps, with microphones selectively working and video screens sometimes listing a different award than the one being presented.
Two highlights of the evening that we witnessed: a Gay Hip Hop Evolution performance featuring Tori Fixx, J.R., Mack Mistress, and Da Fresh Geex; and Acid Betty bumrushing the stage when Chelley lip-synced "I Took the Night." I wish I'd been able to get a good shot of Betty. I was laughing too hard, not only because she took the stage from Chelley's "Night" but also because of Chelley's false start. She was nowhere on stage when they first started the song; but her vocals were. I was also happy that Jasper James won for Outstanding Single of the Year for "Rocket." Check out the video, which made it onto MTV, here:
Two highlights of the evening that we witnessed: a Gay Hip Hop Evolution performance featuring Tori Fixx, J.R., Mack Mistress, and Da Fresh Geex; and Acid Betty bumrushing the stage when Chelley lip-synced "I Took the Night." I wish I'd been able to get a good shot of Betty. I was laughing too hard, not only because she took the stage from Chelley's "Night" but also because of Chelley's false start. She was nowhere on stage when they first started the song; but her vocals were. I was also happy that Jasper James won for Outstanding Single of the Year for "Rocket." Check out the video, which made it onto MTV, here:
We were excited to see Kevin Aviance receive his Lifetime Achievement Award. I also wanted to see the late Willi Ninja honored with the OUTMusic Icon Award. (America's Next Top Model regular Benny Ninja was in the house, no doubt to accept the award on his behalf). But we were feeling deflated since half of VIP had trickled out already and rows of empty seats below were looking up at us. Dina and I decided to go hit the VIP after party at the Grace Hotel before the show actually finished.
We were greeted by the gorgeous AlieNation duo (featured in Vogue magazine) who threw their suction cup arms up against the elevator doors. Later, as we sipped our cocktails at the bar, we noticed that AlieNation had jumped into the pool. Their arms looked like tentacles as they hypnotically drifted about. We shook off the Award show with a few more rounds and bonded with new friends over stories of our night.
I wanted to go to Amanda Lepore's (pictured below, with Dina) birthday party at BONBON. So Dina and I hopped in a cab. It was so packed that we could barely make our way through the crowd to find Amanda. Along the way we saw Ladyfag, whom I congratulated on her Best Host/Hostess Glammy Award.
Also there was Celso (pictured below with someone she was saying hello to at the time), grooving to a set of 80s electro funk. The synth driving Shannon's "Let the Music Play" slapped me as it always does.
I lost track of Dina for a bit but found two Danny's (pictured below) I hadn't seen out in a while. I also said hi to the rest of my De La Blanca family who was there. I found Dina, too, at a back table with Demanda, DivaSteve, Heather, Kyle, and Tiana.
After a bit, Dina wanted to go to Barracuda. Kyle (pictured below right), Dina, and I cabbed it over. Kyle got us a round of Stoli O shots. I'm not sure when Kyle disappeared or when Logan Hardcore (out of face) and Bianca Del Rio (still out from hosting karaoke at Splash earlier) appeared. Next thing I know it's last call, Logan's going home, and Dina, Bianca, and I are headed over to Cafeteria for a late night/early morning stomach sponge, or what some might call breakfast. Another complimentary round came to our table with our wonderful waiter named Cash, who was Indian; so, of course, Bianca told him how much she loved him in Slumdog Millionaire. Much to our delight, our carrying on about anything and everything seemed to annoy a senior and his several-generations-younger date. After all, Cafeteria is known for its quiet candlelit moments after last call. Then, suddenly, it was almost 6:00 a.m. I had to get a couple hours' sleep before talking to an NYU class about Michael Jackson. I bid Dina adieu to beat the sun home.
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