Pride Week in Toronto - June 2008

Whew, what a week... it started with the kick-off Xtra! party last Thursday, over 10 days ago, at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. It was a great way to start Pride Week, as everyone from Toronto was out that night, including all of our friends from the Toronto Pride committee, as well as the folks from Xtra! My friends from the IGLTA (George Carrancho, Richard Brower and Bryan Herb) were all there, as they just had a reception at Ric Tremaine's place over at Gloucester Square Inn for IGLTA members and their friends. Also at the party were Bruce McDonald of TravelGayCanada.com and John Kenyon of ProudFM.com.

The IGLTA gang stayed the weekend (we had board meetings through Saturday evening)... we were entertained with a wonderful dinner at CN Tower, as well as another over-the-top dinner at the nearby Sheraton Centre hosted by Loren Christie. We stayed nearby at the Hilton, host hotel for our 2009 IGLTA Convention in May.



Well, Sunday rolled along and the IGLTA gang departed, leaving me all alone here in Toronto just at the start of Pride. I made the best of it, checking out the shops at Eaton Centre, as well as a few movies as nightlife early in the week was a bit quiet.



By Wednesday evening, though, it was kicking in to high gear... I hung out at O'Grady's with Marc Warman and his bf, Scott. The next night I strolled along and found myself at an wet underwear contest at Zelda's... good times!



Then, the week continued with drinking at Woody's... and then Kevin Barry from LA showed up! Good times!!!!! We met at Woody's where he proceeded to meet both his new bff from Norway and make google eyes at Nate, the bartender.

I also attended a fun business party hosted by Sureflix.com... hung out with Brent as well as Todd and his boyfriend. The next day I was off to the Dundonald House where I met up with Alan Beck from FunMaps.com and was introduced to a new member of his staff, Jeremiah Robinson. Great guy!

From there, it was just partying and drinking on Church Street, meeting up with everyone in Toronto along the way (new friends and old!) Then the parade began on Sunday, where some of the floats were just incredible and over the top. But alas, as Sunday came and is on its way out, the partying will be winding down as well. There's a final party at Circa hosted by Steve Ireson tonight... everyone who is left standing is going. Church Street at this moment (Sunday afternoon) is a complete zoo, but eventually, like little kids high on a sugar rush, the zoo will die down and life here on Church Street will be back to normal again.

Check out all of the photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mattskal/TorontoPrideJune26302008

Pride Idol - Lincoln and Omaha - May 25, 2008

The PinkBananaWorld.com team drove from Kansas City to Omaha for Memorial Day Weekend, at which point we were greeted with incredibly open arms and warm hearts. This sentiment just continued to grow the entire weekend, as we had a fantastic time with everyone!

Friday night was Pride Idol Lincoln, where we had a great time at Q Club the entire night.

Saturday night was a pre-reception with Thea Austin as our guest. After the reception, we descended on gay Omaha, starting out at a fun country-western bar called DC Saloon and then ended up at The Maxx, a huge nightclub in downtown Omaha, where we proceeded to make new friends every step of the way.

Sunday night was the big Pride Idol Finals, where we were thoroughly entertained the entire night. With acts ranging from "You Spin Me Right Round..." to "I Drove All Night...." performed by some of Nebraska's most talented GLBT performers, we had a great time. Of course the spice added by Omaha's drag personality, Salsa, was over the top, and between our other drag performers including Monroe and Wendy Day and Salsa's witty and crusty humor thrown in along the way (if I had a dollar for every time the word "fabulous" or "anyway" was said, I'd be a rich man today!), it was a night worth remembering!

Oh, and did I say that Troy and Jason Feinhold-Haasis, the pair responsible for this event, were absolutely wonderful?


LINKS:

• http://picasaweb.google.com/mattskal/PrideIdolLincolnAndOmahaMay252008
• http://nebraskaprideidol.com/
• http://pdk.interactivemale.com