At the beginning of the month, Steve and I went to take photographs at the Hoedown, an ISCCA fundraising campout that took place at the Regency Ranch near Airdrie, owned by Brandy Bishop Towers.  Now, you might think that a campout is an odd event for a drag-oriented organization like the ISCCA to host, and though it was open to everyone, unfortunately not a lot of people gave it a chance.

Steve and I were not sure what to expect either, so we showed up with open minds, only planning to stay for an hour or two to capture the essence of the event.  Instead we ended up staying quite late into the night, having a total blast!

The event was along the same vein as Drag Queen H2O at the Backlot, and the ISCCA Dunk Tank at the ARGRA Rodeo – an opportunity for the drag queens to be silly with their art and find fun ways for spectators to participate.  Personally I enjoy these events because it shows, underneath all the glamorous outfits and diva bravado, there are some humble, fun, and interesting people.  People that the rest of us who don’t do drag can relate to, and even make friends with.

For the time we were there, nobody was actually in drag – it was mostly just queens hanging out as boys for a change, alongside other attendees.  Current reigning Duke and Duchess, Dennis Storm and Eunice Kong organized the day’s activities.  As usual, Eunice’s husband Les was right in the thick of things, eager to put himself out there and participate.  Now, I recall the first time I noticed Les was at last year’s dunk tank at ARGRA; I was taking photos as he bought round after round, demonstrating some pretty sharp aim and getting many a queen wet...perhaps figuratively, too.

It became clear to me at the Hoedown that Les enjoys challenging himself and honing his skills, something that, lately, I’ve taken to doing myself.  He helped to make the events of the day into a platform for some fun competition.

The first event that we witnessed was called "Run Bitch Run" – a relay race where the queens were tasked with collecting three bags of pearls and depositing them into a goal, all while wearing womens clothing (protective gear included).  What made this challenging, and profitable for fundraising, was that spectators could shoot at them with paintball guns as they ran the course.  You could purchase portions of paintballs to use during their run, and any leftovers would carry over to the next round.

There were also prizes for the relay runners who completed the challenge with the best time.  After watching Les, Brandy Bishop Towers, Victoria, and Shauna Starr compete in the relay with the fastest time being Shauna’s at 18 seconds, I decided I wanted to give it a try too.  I’ve never played paintball before in my life, so this was an exciting first.  Predictably, Steve preferred sticking to taking pictures.

I got suited up in drag like the others.  I put on a little black sleeveless dress, with a leopard skin poncho to protect my arms, and a pink wig over top of a protective helmet.  I described it to others as "Halo does drag."  Then I took my place at the starting gate and waited for the signal to begin.  When Les called "Go", I dashed as fast as I could go from barrel to barrel to collect the bags of pearls, occasionally feeling a light strike as a paintball hit me.  It didn’t seem too bad until I got closer to the end, when the rapid firing began.  The goal was a small basket on top of a pole, and I overzealously slammed the bags down into it, causing the whole apparatus to fall over.  I had to turn around, pick it back up, and get all the bags back into it before time was called and the bullets stopped flying.  This was when I really got bombarded, and a few bullets struck in painful places like the joint of my index finger and on my exposed forearm.  I would have scored 14 seconds if not for my mishap at the end, and had I not incurred an additional 10 second penalty for not closing the starting gate behind me (which I maintain I wasn’t told I needed to do).  It was quite a rush, and at least I had a nice red welt on my forearm that I could take away as a souvenir.

Doing the shooting was fun too, though after having felt the pain from the paintballs, I was a little reluctant to shoot too aggressively at the runners.  I fired casually as Sir Wayne made a run, at one point managing to nail him twice in succession on the helmet where it wouldn’t hurt.  I say that as if I did it intentionally.  I had ammo left over, so Steve and I took a few practice shots at the barrels on the course before the activity came to a close.

After this, we all headed back to the house to hang out, drink, and socialize before Dennis served all of us to a delicious steak dinner – included in the fee for the weekend.

As the sun started to set, Les informed us of another event that he had planned for the next day: "The Slippery Bear".  For the sake of us taking photos, however, he was willing to do a couple of rounds that evening.

Les, although straight, made a very good "bear" for this game.  The idea was that he would strip down to his underwear, slather himself in oil, and the ISCCA would collect donations for people to get in the ring and wrestle him to the ground, either on their own or in teams of two.

This took place in a little arena behind the "Run Bitch Run" obstacle course.  The dirt was soft enough that one could run around in it barefoot, and have a safe landing when wrestling someone to the ground.  Several people gathered their cars around the circular fence, using their headlights to light the arena.  After a few Mad Max references and a stimulating re-enactment of the old-fashioned Coppertone commercials, I, along with two of the three other competitors for the night, Makayla, and Brandy Bishop Towers, decided that we also needed to strip down if we were going to be tackling him, or else we would get dirt and oil all over our clothes.  Tyler was the only one willing to get their shirt dirty.

As a bonus, I got to help apply the oil to Les as we were getting set up; Brandy poured it over his head while Makayla and I helped spread it all across his chest, arms, and legs.  It was without a doubt the most homoerotic moment I’ve shared with a straight guy in...well...ever.  He was totally cool about it, even sort of enjoying the attention and the chance to flaunt his body.  This definitely advanced my respect and liking for Les.

Then came the actual wresting part:  I teamed up with Brandy for round 1, and Makayla for round 3, and while Les did a good job of evading and slipping out of our grasp, both times I was the one to take him down.  Though I put my arms around his chest, the oil made them slip down around his waist as I weighed him down.  I dug my knees into the back of his to buckle his legs, and brought him surprisingly gently down to the ground.

I felt proud that a smaller guy like me was capable of taking down the stocky ex-rugby player.  Of course, the oil made the soft dirt cling, and all of us got completely filthy.  It practically turned into mud wrestling, which would be another first for me!  We must have been quite the sight as we marched back up to the house half naked, caked in dirt and vegetable oil, queuing up to shower off and leaving muddy footprints across Brandy’s nice white basement carpet.  Even with soap, the vegetable oil didn’t come off easily, so poor Les had the worst of it.  All of us would have pretty soft skin for the next several days!

Steve and I didn’t really want to leave, but it was already nearly Midnight at that point.  Most people there were camping for the night, but we needed to get home. I made sure to thank everyone for the amazing time, the chance to socialize outside of the bustle of the bar scene, to try some new things, to challenge myself, to do some male bonding, and most of all, to get to better know some of the real people who are part of the ISCCA.

Steve and I had a very relaxed month of August, despite the ever stressful Calgary Pride looming at the beginning of September.

We attended the Bearbash in Edmonton, the last one scheduled to happen at the Junction before they close later this month.  For the first time we were able to stay for the whole barbecue in the afternoon and hang around with people, and then in the evening at the bar we were able to let our hair down and drink for once, thanks to our nearby accommodation at Coast Edmonton House Hotel.  Rather than being the outsiders with the cameras, we both felt like we were part of the event, strengthening friendships and even forging some new ones.  As I told my straight friends at work about it on Monday morning, I found it difficult to describe a parallel to the energy at a Bearbash.  Just about everybody in the room is attracted to just about everyone else – that’s not even possible in a mainstream straight context.

ARGRA has held a summer pool party in August for the past two years, but this year was the first that we were able to participate in.  Initially Steve didn’t plan to go swimming, but after seeing how much fun I was having in the pool and hot tub with ARGRA members and other attendees, he made a quick run home for his bathing trunks.  Lucky enough, we live no more than 4 blocks away from the location of the event, at the house of one of the ARGRA board members.  We floated around on water noodles, enjoying the sunny warm weather, drinking, socializing, batting around beach balls and squirting each other with water guns.

Although we were unable to attend Edmonton’s Coronation this year, we heard the news that Vanity Fair and JJ Velour were elected as Empress and Emperor of Edmonton.  Congratulations guys, we look forward to working with you this year!

This month of relaxation came to a close with the September long weekend, and Calgary Pride.  With so many events going on all over the city, this is our most hectic time of the year for LGBT event coverage.

On Friday we jumped between 4 events, starting with another fabulous installment of Drag Queen H2O at the Backlot.  Thanks to the new patio lighting, we were able to get some great photos and video of the performers despite the fading daylight.  Then I went on to photograph the Ladies in Labour drag show at the Texas Lounge, which started late enough to allow someone to tape condom packets to the wall, spelling out "OMG I’M LATE!"  Ever the fan of word play, I thought it might be cute to change the exclamation point into an X, and informed Ruby that in one of the photos she was ideally positioned so that it read "OMG I ATE!"  After that, I rejoined Steve at the Pride Calgary Kickoff Party at Hotel Arts where we stuck around to cover the Perry Twins, and then finally on to the Calgary Eagle for their Military Ball.

We started Saturday off with the Dyke March in the afternoon, which went down 4th Street and ended at Rouleauville Square with stage performances.  We stayed as long as we could, but with storm clouds starting to loom, we luckily made our way over to cover the Pride Pool Party at Hotel Arts before the weather began to turn nasty.  A little later we headed over to James Short Park for the Possibilities Bi-BQ.  Then in the evening was the much anticipated PURE Pride dance, which was a blast even for us, sober and behind cameras.  Organizers tell us the event sold out, even with a capacity of 1500 people!  The performances by April Storm, Argentina, Farah Moan, Mantra, Chad Michaels, and Spencer Reed were a whole new calibre of fabulous.  We and the majority of the crowd stuck around right until closing time.

Sunday was the craziest day of them all, with the Pride Parade at noon, followed by the Street Festival at Shaw Millennium Park.  Allison Redford showed up a bit late, but gave a well-received speech that showed support and respect for the LGBT community.  We covered some of the stage performances before striking out into the crowds to capture people showing their pride, and having a good time.  Then at around 4 we headed over to The Bank to get set up for the Les Girls dance.  I left Steve there while I popped over to the Backlot to grab a single burger as lunch and take some photos at the ISCCA Pride BBQ.  Then I collected Steve and we both headed over to Broken City for the Deep Roots fundraiser for SHARP foundation.  It was our first time visiting the venue, and we quite liked it, especially the huge rooftop patio!

Then finally we were able to make our way over to the Calgary Eagle closing party which had been going since 11am.  We took our time with photos, had dinner and a drink and socialized.  We ran into a number of people that we hadn’t seen in years – one I hadn’t seen in over 7!  The back patio was so packed that Steve and I had to aggressively squeeze past people to get to the food station on the other end.  Bizarrely, in the process my wallet chain hooked somebody’s sunglasses that were sticking out of their pocket, and I was a bit baffled to discover them hanging off of me a few minutes later.  Lucky enough, the owner found his way over to us and got them back – it was worth a good laugh.

As daylight faded, we had to break away to cover the Les Girls dance, which once again packed The Bank completely!  The dance was open to everyone but maintained a majority of women.  This time they had and a second DJ playing in the vault room of the basement, and an additional VIP area on the second floor at the front end of the building.  We were lucky that a friend of ours had a table in this area, and invited us to partake in some of the food and drink at his table, because we were getting dehydrated and our blood sugars were starting to dip by this time.

Finally we headed back to the Calgary Eagle to make the most of its last two hours in operation.  We wanted to stay right to the end but we were much too exhausted to pull that off.

My feet grew heavy as I took my last steps through the bar, wading through the history of the place.  I took a long look at the stage where I’d made my tough drag debut, where I had filmed year upon year of drag numbers, leather demonstrations, and wet jockey contests.  I passed through the area where the Chili Cook-offs had taken place, and where the tables had been set up for the Christmas dinners.  I looked to the back bar where I had first met Johnathan, dressed as a Vampire one Halloween, who had to find creative ways to apply a temporary tattoo to my arm in the absence of a damp cloth – and numerous others I had met or shared company while standing there.  I stopped to take a look at the painted portrait of Barry (Momma G) who stared out over the main bar where we would often see Ron, the anchor of the Calgary Eagle, working away alongside Kevin, and newer additions David and Joel.  I passed by the pool table where I’d experienced my infamous birthday mishap with Neal, and then the coat check where we’d carried on so many conversations on the way in, or as we were getting pushed out the door at the end of the night.  So many more memories came to mind as I would think about it over the next few days, a few bad, but most of them good.

But just like that we were out in the cool night air, walking down the street to our car as if it were the end of any other night at the Calgary Eagle.

Monday was our day for recovery.  We slept in, woke up to eat breakfast, and then, wonderfully, took the liberty of going back to bed again.  We must have slept for half the day to catch up on all the late nights we’d pulled since the start of the long weekend.  Come Tuesday, I was well rested and energized from the excitement and fun, mixed in with the sadness and chaos, of this year’s Calgary Pride weekend.

Photos and video footage from Pride and other events this month are available online at:

http://www.gaycalgary.com/photos

AIDS Walks are happening in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Peace River, and Fort McMurray.  Look for the articles in this edition to find out about ones closest to you.

As Calgary loses a bar, so too does Edmonton.  The Junction is holding their final closing party on Saturday, September 22nd.  GayCalgary Magazine approached the owners for an interview, but they declined.

Medicine Hat is organizing their first Pride celebration later this month.  See their ad in this edition for more details.

Also, make sure you check out the Calgary International Film Festival.  As we’ve done in previous years, GayCalgary is presenting a handful of LGBT-related films.

Bars and clubs have been a central meeting place for the LGBT community for decades, and the way people feel about them has an impact on it, if one will even be necessary in the future.

Earlier this month we launched our Alberta Gay Bar Survey to learn how LGBT individuals feel about the gay bar/club scene in our province.  The point of this survey is to help bring out some of the tough realities that people are too polite or too scared to voice in person, but that we all need to hear.

So far the response has been overwhelming, with more entries than we’ve ever received for any in-house survey we’ve conducted.  But we’re still looking for a good deal more respondents before we close down the polls and announce any results.

Regardless if you consider yourself a bar goer or not, this survey will target appropriate questions toward you, and ones that are not applicable based on your answers will not be shown.  So you don’t need to worry about answering questions specific to gay bars unless you indicate that you actually visit them from time to time.  Otherwise, we still want to know what you like or dislike about bars in general, and what factors affect your decision to go out to them or not.

So if you haven’t filled the survey out yet, please do.  It’s clear that attitudes are changing, and for LGBT businesses and organizations to continue to survive, we all need to know the direction that LGBT Albertans want to see the community going.

We’re sad to announce that Jack Fertig, Q-Scopes columnist, passed away at the beginning of August at age 57 after a battle with liver cancer. Prior to producing his horoscope column, he wrote for the San Francisco Bay Times and then the San Francisco Spectrum. He was also known as Sister Boom Boom, his famous drag nun persona that he adopted in the 1980s as an early AIDS activist, pioneer of queer rights and founding member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

At this time, GayCalgary Magazine is uncertain whether we will seek another author to continue publishing a monthly horoscope.