After coming out of press with the April edition, we didn’t have a single quiet weekend for the rest of the month. For better or for worse (but mostly for better), three major multi-day events would suck up practically every spare moment of our time:
Bears in Togas
First up was the much anticipated (by Steve and I especially) Bearacchus weekend, brought to us by the Fellowship of Alberta Bears (FAB) and ARGRA. Unfortunately as the timing turned out, Bearacchus was happening opposite Jasper Pride. For many reasons, including the fact that we had promised some friends from Edmonton a place to stay for this event, we opted to stay in Calgary.
It started Friday night with the Tacky Tourist party at the Ramada Hotel downtown (the host hotel for the weekend) where all the bears already in town got to wear their gaudiest Hawaiian shirts. Steve and I were in the mood to dress in theme for once, so we each wore our one and only Hawaiian shirts too. I went a little further, digging out of the closet a sun hat that I didn’t even know we had, and putting some of our old press passes to use to look like the kind of tourist who has to show off how many resort activities they’ve participated in. It was a nice evening of socializing, topped off with a hairy buns competition!
Saturday afternoon was the Bear-BQ at the Backlot, which coincided with ISCCA Voting Day. This was pretty convenient, as it allowed us to kill two birds with one stone. "Slippery Bear" Les was cooking burgers and steaks on the grill - and apparently with meat on his mind, Steve tried his hardest to convince Les to participate in the Jock Strap Auction that would be occurring at the dance later that evening. Les seemed up for it, until he realized it was a bit more involved than just handing over a pair of his underwear. Ah well. Nevertheless, all the hungry bears buying food at the Backlot raised around $700 for the ISCCA.
As opening time for the main event approached, the weather grew progressively worse, snowing heavily. Steve and I made our way down to the Arrata Opera Centre, where the dance was being held, to set up the slide presentation of bear eye-candy we had prepared. Steve had to forego dressing in theme for the toga party because it wouldn’t be practical for him to carry his camera, however I had done my research on how to wrap a toga and dressed myself up for the occasion.
The dance had a good turnout, though I fear the last minute turn of weather may have thinned the numbers a bit. While there were many familiar faces from both Calgary and Edmonton, this was the first Bearbash for a number of Calgarians, and even a few people from other parts of Canada and the US. DJ Phon3hom3 kept people moving on the dance floor, and contestants in the Jock Strap Auction circulated to sell tickets and strut their stuff (and a few of them had an obscene amount of stuff to strut). The auction fundraised for FAB and ARGRA, and according to organizers, Gay Friends in Calgary also raised over $400 on coat check.
The end of the night is never a pretty sight when you are one of the sober minority in the room, however I stuck around a little while after the doors had closed and people were being cleared out to make sure our guests from Edmonton got back to our place safely. Then Sunday morning, hung over or not, we all went back to the Ramada Hotel for some eggs, bacon, sausages, and more at the "Bear-runch" (brunch) and said our goodbyes to out-of-towners who were heading back home. With highways in dangerous condition after the previous night’s snowfall, we were kind of glad we had stayed in town.
Queens in Crowns
Pop Quiz: what comes the week after ISCCA voting day? The answer is: Calgary Coronation.
Due to the venue selection for the In Town and Out of Town shows, coverage of these events in the magazine were not required, so Steve and I enjoyed a drama-free Thursday and Friday night at home before the main event at the Westin on Saturday.
This year, Ball organizers made a number of changes to the performance order and other aspects of the night, in hopes of promoting a better flow for the audience. In some ways they were successful, such as taking care of the announcements and cheque presentations near the beginning of the night so that the rest, leading up to the Coronation ceremony, would be solid entertainment. From my spot behind the camera, the first set seemed very long, however the second and third sets went by surprisingly fast – and there wasn’t even a fourth set!
In other ways, the changes were not so successful, such as the tipping dish placed in front of the stage, designed to reduce the time taken for the tipping line to clear after each performance. It was apparent that people want to interact with the performers when giving their tips, so this measure unfortunately didn’t save much time. Lesson learned.
Despite things seeming to go by quicker, the event still breached midnight. Argintina Hailey-Dior was voted in as Empress, with Chris Tron stepping in beside her as Regent Emperor due to a "no" vote for the Emperor candidate.
This news caused a bit of a kafuffle, and there was much discussion about it the next day. Amidst it all, Steve and I felt a bit sad that a number of people were so caught up in the drama of it that they were forgetting to congratulate Argintina for being successfully elected.
It’s hard to comment on the no vote without stepping on toes or lending credence to hearsay. While Dennis was understandably discouraged, we still saw him at the Coronation after party and some of the Coronation week wrap-up events the following day, which speaks volumes.
From our own experience, we’ve seen that Arginitina is a really sweet and humble person who truly cares about the community. Over the past few months we witnessed her receive flack that she doesn’t deserve, not because she did anything wrong, but because she found success by doing things a little differently. So we hope that she and Chris are able to break the mould this year, to find success by following a slightly different path than previous reigns.
Geeks in Tights
After two busy weekends, I was determined to be in a bad mood over having to go through a third one. And in fact, I managed to keep this up for a little while on Friday until I reluctantly started enjoying myself. Even being stuck at our booth for a good part of the weekend, there was rarely a dull moment.
If nothing else, the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo is swarming with hot men. A straight man would likely say the same thing about the women...in fact, I’m pretty sure a few did. My theory on the men is that many of them have strived to model themselves after the hyper-masculine role models out of comic book lore – some quite literally dressed up as their favorite characters, while others more subtly incorporate it into their every-day "look". For Steve and I who like guys with bulk, beards, body hair and tattoos, it was a veritable smorgasbord of pleasing visuals.
The magazines went very fast, and our presence caused an explosion of traffic to our website and new followers on Facebook and Twitter. This was no surprise considering the Expo was sold out weeks in advance, with an attendance estimated at around 60,000! As an official sponsor of the event (we even had an aisle in the main hall named for us) it made us very proud to see the weekend go so successfully.
At certain points during the weekend, a superhero known as "Camera Man" could be seen as a black streak amongst the throngs of people. That was me in my hoodie, hustling to videotape some of the celebrity Q&A panels for some of our follow-up articles.
Of the panels that I saw, one actor in particular stole the show: John Barrowman, who is interviewed in this edition. The man had me rolling with laughter with his funny stories, crazy antics, and blatantly gay sexual innuendos. What I loved more was that the crowds were eating it up too, even encouraging him to get more bold with it. Barrowman proved to me beyond a doubt that straight men and women can not only embrace a gay character (as he played on Torchwood and Doctor Who) but also an out gay actor. He told an initially funny story, in which he was concerned he had caused a straight fellow actor to cry after their characters had done a kissing scene. But in actuality, he confessed the man was crying because his brother who was gay had committed suicide years ago, and was lamenting that at the time, his brother didn’t have someone like Barrowman to look up to. It brought tears to my eyes, but they were quickly wiped away by his next funny story.
Barrowman appeared that weekend on the Torchwood Panel (with Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd), and on another panel of his own. I returned from both with a big grin on my face. I can’t help but admire the guy – he has made a fan out of me.
Eve Myles, who made our cover last month, was also very sweet. I came along to film the follow-up interview and didn’t think to introduce myself, so she made a point of saying hi to me and asking my name. Casper Van Dien was very funny and raucous when Jason interviewed him, and I made a straight buddy from work a little jealous when I texted him a picture of Eliza Dushku from less than 5 metres away, as I was filming her panel.
Each year, the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo brings out talented, well known artists to showcase their work and in many cases take drawing commissions. Quite coincidentally, several weeks prior, Steve had connected online with one such artist that was being brought out for the Expo. After paying him a visit at his booth for a quick interview on Friday, he took Steve and I up on our offer to go out for drinks that night at the Backlot. We ended up having a really great time with him and a few friends of his from Calgary (a few of whom turned out to be friends of ours as well) and so made similar arrangements Saturday night, and Sunday after the Expo was finished before he had to catch his flight back to Vancouver. He was a really sweet and interesting guy, especially for me who dabbles in drawing and photography. I didn’t exactly grill him with questions about his profession, but a few things came up as incidental topics that I was fascinated to hear about. Being able to spend time with a new friend felt good, and really made our weekend.
Other Stuff
The SHARP Foundation held their annual Taste for Life fundraising event last month, so Steve and I tried something new by visiting Los Chilitos, a Mexican restaurant on 17th Avenue. As one of the participating locations, the restaurant donated 25% of their sales for the evening to the SHARP Foundation. Although the restaurant is a 10 minute walk from our house, this was our first time visiting. As someone who has eaten at restaurants in Mexico, I definitely appreciated the authentic atmosphere they have created. We ate a sampling of different dishes, of course including some tacos – all very delicious. Before we left, I got a picture of myself with one of the SHARP Foundation volunteers, and the handsome waiter who shares a name with one of my cousins from Spain.
For any women that felt a little excluded due to the primarily male-oriented Bearacchus weekend, Les Girls restored the balance with their Geek is Sheek women’s dance. It was surreal to see Vinyl, once the space of Boyztown, a private men’s club, completely taken over by women. We also got to see the newly renovated downstairs, now called Hyde, and I have to say I really like the atmosphere they’ve created with the bookshelf walls. We hung around for the first little while to get pictures, but as the girls started to really enjoy themselves, it was our queue to give them their privacy. *wink*
This Month
Thankfully we have a few weeks to breathe before the next major events. The North American Gay Volleyball Association tournament comes to Calgary from April 23rd to 26th, and the Fairy Tales Film Festival starts April 24th to 26th and continues April 29th to June 1st. We attended the launch party for Fairy Tales last month where they showed previews of many exciting new films that are coming to this year’s festival. We’re definitely looking forward to it! For more information, look for their itinerary of films as a sponsored spread in this edition.
The weekend afterward (in June) begins Edmonton Pride Week, and you can also find a sponsored event itinerary in this edition of the magazine.