GayVN Weekend 2008
It's not every day that someone offers me a kick ass plane ticket, my own hotel suite and a limo pick-up for a weekend in San Francisco. As I mentioned before, Jet Set Men is absolutely the most amazing company I have worked with when it comes to taking care of their own. I was really looking forward to this trip and to GayVN weekend. So why then, when Brandon Baker offered for me to crash with the RentBoy.com posse, four to a room, driving up in a packed 12 passenger van, did it sound like a good idea?
Because they're just that fun. And they're some of my best friends. Limos? I've riden in quite a few over the past ten years in this business. But a road trip with the hookers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a ghetto van spray painted with slogans like RENTBOY.COM, WEAR CONDOMS and CASH FOR TIME ONLY to catch fellow highway patrons (and patrol men's -- stay tuned!) attention? It's an experience I knew I wasn't going to pass up.
On Friday morning at 7:30 am, I piled into the van with Brandon Baker, Rusty (the face of RentBoy), Angel Benton, GayVN greeter/dancer Elias, Andy Kirra and Brandon's boyfriend Fabrice (Fabrice's friend Parks joined us on the way back) and we were off for a weekend of drunken adventure.
Here are our highlights:
- Just a few hours after we arrived, we attended the MaleFlixxx VOD Awards ceremony which was sparsely attended at best. I managed to confuse Stacey Bridges of The Grabby Awards with Jeremy Spencer of XBiz Magazine and I hadn't even been drinking yet. (That's what he gets for not putting me up in a hotel room in Chicago for the first time last year! hehe... Seriously, I love Stacey. I was just exhausted from the road trip. I hope I get to see him this May.) But the best moment was when Michael Lucas was not there to accept his award, one of his employees got up and gave this really brilliant speech about why VOD is so hot right now and how many people worked on the movie and who he knew Michael would definitely want to thank -- only to have Lucas walk in a few minutes later! The host says, "Michael, someone already accepted on your behalf, but I'm sure you have words far greater than any of us here today. Please, come accept this for yourself." Lucas walked up to the stage and said, "Thank you. Thank you." He took a long look at it and a long pause. "It is beautiful," he said. "Thank you very much." And walked off the stage.
- The Falcon Studios cocktail reception that followed was really fantastic! There were so many people there. I got to catch up with Jack Shamama, Erik Rhodes, Drew Warner, The Jarics, Chris Steele, Chi Chi LaRue, Jim Steel, JC Adams, Damian Rios and I got to meet my new lovah, Michael Stabile. I know I'm forgetting a lot of people too, but it was open bar so... I'd love to be filled in!
- I had an amazing dinner with the RentBoy crew (sans Angel, who opted for gym and a business meeting) at a quiet Italian place that was off the chain. It was a nice intimate evening with a lot of laughs. Cool Tom joined us there and that's where the photo gallery begins. It was great to catch up with him. Inside jokes that lasted the weekend began here as well: "See you at 2:09." ... "A li -- no!" ... "Nava - whoa!" ... On a personal note, this was probably my favorite part of the entire weekend. And thanks for picking up the tab for all of us, kind Sir. I won't out you by name, but you know who you are. ;-)
- It became clear at the two preceeding events that there was probably NOT going to be an after party for The GayVN Awards. And therefore, the "unofficial" pre-party RentBoy.com was throwing at The End Up that evening quickly became THE soiree to attend. With a guest list of over 160 names from the adult entertainment industry, I would say all but maybe a few of them actually showed up -- and that's not even counting the fans. This party has become the event to look forward to when the awards are held in SF. Two year's running now, it's been the best time anyone's had and the best attended of the weekend.
- Jason Ridge, Falcon publicist Troy Prickett and Chi Chi LaRue all hanging out as friends (after some screaming - both comic and dramatic) was quite a wonderful sight to see!
- Erik Rhodes met Blake Riley and I think the two of them would make a freaking awesome couple.
- Sister Roma was there out of Sister drag, but still in drag which was really interesting!
- I was so drunk by the end of the evening that I thought drag queen Jasmine was actually Lady Bunny and kept telling her what an amazing job she was going to do at the awards show the next night. We bonded for a good hour I would say. I think I even introduced people to her telling them it was Lady Bunny. She never corrected me once and it wasn't until the next day when someone told me Lady Bunny wasn't even there that I realized.
- The GayVN Awards themselves the following evening were far better than anticipated. Chi Chi LaRue was the first to get the crowd going who said, "So, it's The 10th Annual GayVN Awards and suddenly Chi Chi isn't looking like such a bad choice for a host after all!" She introduced a musical performance by Lady Bunny that was hysterical, a medley of song parodies that revolved around sex and bordered on disgusting, perfect for the gay porn crowd.
- Derek & Romaine did a wonderful job, poking fun in their opening moments at all the negative gossip by having house plants brought out on stage (ala TheSword.com's comments about them) and doing their intros from back stage where both Michael of the TheSword and I were referred to as "assholes" -- though I was referred to as "the good asshole." What I noticed is that they both learned very quickly. The beginning was a little shaky (basing nearly all opening material on stuff The Sword and I wrote about them was a risky move -- you know, we're not CNN, not everyone there reads our sites so half of the venue was a little bit like, "What the fuck are they talking about and what is going on?") It didn't take Derek long though to discover that all he had to do was act like an asshole to get audience attention and often applause, for example commenting on Jesse Santana and Guy Parker's tans with "melanoma" references. Perhaps now he better understands where we other assholes are coming from. It's the only thing that really works with this crowd sometimes, isn't it? Meanwhile, Romaine milked her tits (not literally thank God) for all they were worth, talking about them ad nauseum and even exposing them to the audience at one point. She knew it's what we were all fixated on, gay or not, and yes, I for one did actually want to see them. I don't know what all those jokes were on the show about her not being good looking. I thought she was really beautiful. And I thought they both did a great job with what they were given and considering how out of their element they were.
- Erik Rhodes got a blowjob while sitting in the front row.
- Matthew Rush was drunk as fuck when he presented awards, slurring his words like mad.
- The trophy boys for the evening really stole the show, especially the more naked they got. Falcon exclusives Aden and Jordan Jaric flashed their asses at one point as part of a Lady Bunny gag while Jet Set Men exclusive Aaron James walked around in boxer briefs with a boner (and some lipstick from being blown by Lady Bunny back stage, ALLEGEDLY!) and Rascal exclusive Josh Vaughn looked like a picture of twink college boy perfection.
- Gino Colbert's inductions into the Hall of Fame was really classy and beautiful as always. Rod Barry's acceptance speech was so emotional and moving. Barry told me that his friends had actually kept a tight leash on him, banning him from going to the bar or drinking at all during the day until his speech was given. "I'm glad they made me experience it totally sober," he says, "but I was so nervous. So much I wanted to say but forgot." ... The best line of his speech was the last: "It's been one helluva ride -- and I'm still drivin'."
- For a full list of winners, visit GayVNAwards.com
- Without an after party, I stopped by a bar with my friends for a little bit, which was a total drag, went back to the hotel and got a long night's sleep. Chi Chi called the next day and I asked her what she ended up doing. She said, "I stopped by a bar with my friends for a little bit, which was a total drag, went home and got a long night's sleep." I think we all did, really! And that was our rather anti-climactic end to the weekend.
Oh, if you don't count Brandon getting pulled over by the cops for speeding on the way back.
Or us getting a car full of hot college boys on the highway to take off their clothes while driving by us. They pulled off at an exit so that we could meet them (they were fascinated by the hooker ads on the van) and though they were straight, they later called Brandon and asked if he thought they had any future as escorts.
Ah, we all love our jobs.
Thank you to Brandon for really making the weekend so enjoyable. While I feel I am only a frequent "guest star" on the show that is The Rent Boy Posse, I feel a closeness with each of them always. They are my peeps -- real, loyal, looking out for each other and always down to host a party and become the life of it even at the expense of making fools of themselves. Naturally, that's a crowd I fit into quite nicely. And I always consider it an honor to be asked along for the ride.
posted by Jason Sechrest at 7:58 PM
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4 Comments:
I hope you're not drunk as you write this because it was actually Josh Vaughn, not Jordan Vaughn, handing out the awards in the part 2 of the show :)
Derek & Romaine briefly talked about you on their show and I called to weigh in. Derek plugged my youtube clips twice during the 4-hour show :P
Also, both Derek & Romaine were Gorgeous. Their promo pic from SIRIUS fooled us. I wrote in my blog that Derek is stunningly sexy, but I don't have lust for his sexiness because he's in the gay elite to me.
JimyVR - Really?! What all did they have to say about me? Would love to hear! I think I only spoke with them for about 90 seconds. Weird, you thought Derek was hot and I thought Romaine was hot. I would take her over him any day. I really thought she was stunning. Her face and her complexion, she freaking glows. Oh and thanks for the Josh correction. I knew as I was writing it that I had it wrong and then for some reason when I went back and looked I thought, "No that's right." xo L, J.
They were just saying that some people who were bitching about them hosting the GayVN wrote nice emails about them.
I will re-record the show sometime this week of them talking about it.
I think you're busy to read my blog, but I also wrote that Romaine was very cute when she was wearing casual clothing. And 1 hour after, boy, she's stunning. Honestly, I never really pay attention closely to a lesbian. As for Derek, because of the 4-year old promo pic and infrequent appearance on the studio webcam, I haven't really categorize him in the super hot category. Obviously I was wrong on Saturday.
of the pics one guy with total class as far as dress codes is concerned and that's jonathan v.
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