RUMOR MILL REPORT: Penny Tration Leaving Adonis

You read that right, my darlings.

I have it on good authority (very good authority) that Miss Penny Tration, also a contributor to this blog, will be leaving Adonis as show director and Monica St. James will be taking over in the future.

I'm pretty sure that Penny was a major component is the success of Adonis. I remember when the club opened (under the management of a former Carol's Manager, then a former Dock manager, then...) and Jessica Dimon was director. That separation ended very poorly -- the fact that the next director was named "Penny" was amusing. I think Miss Tration brought a certain class and respectability to the club that we were all sure no one would go to based on sheer geography. I know there have been many times I would travel to Adonis just to see her. 

Word is that she will have a few more shows as director, host Pride, and then she will no longer be the mainstay at Adonis that she always has been. :-( It's very sad for all of us, but word is that the break is peaceable and good feelings are had by all involved.... so maybe we'll see her back for a few guest shows? And, of course, I know I look forward to seeing her around town in her many, many, many endeavors.

Darling Penny, you will be missed; I hope you know how much we all love you. For all of you fabulous folks who read my blog, please take a moment and leave a little message in the comments telling her how much you love her... tell us a story of how you came to see her for the first time, why you love her shows, etc. etc. etc. 

On a related note, make sure you check out Penny Tration's "Private" Party tonight at Annie's, right down the street from Adonis. I can't say this enough OPEN BAR FROM 10pm-11pm. That should be enough to get the gays in the door. I know it's enough for me!

UPDATE: CONFIRMED! That didn't take long. Monica St. James, on my facebook announcement about this, had this to say: "As sad as it is , we will miss her. I am now the new show dirrector and MC I hope you all still come and have a wonderful time as always." *Sniff*Sniff* Monica, darling, you have huge shoes to fill, but I've seen your heels... and they terrify me. I have no doubt you'll do fabulously. Good luck, goddess bless, and don't forget the extra eyelash glue.

Calendar Update!

Time for a big ol'queer calendar update! I promise I'll try to cover all the big stuff for you guys! Please note that all images are from the website or the Facebook page of the event listed.


If you haven't heard about Penny's "private" party at Adonis now, clearly you have not been paying attention. Bitch is working her heels down making sure you join her and all five hundred of her closest friends at Annie's (right up the street from Adonis) this Friday at 10:00pm. It's an open bar from 10p-11p, so it is worth it to get their early. You just have to print off this flyer to get in and par-tay! Check out the event invite.


Meet Milk, Cincinnati's queer and queer-friendly summer underground party scene, debuting at Below Zero on May 27th. I had the chance to speak to the organizer this weekend at the Guerrilla Queer Bar party at Little Bit party, and, aside from being gorgeous, he's a smart guy who's dedicated to good music and great dancing. Word is that he's got some pretty cool shit lined up for all of us to party to; it's all about music, kids. He played a sampling, and it sounds like it will totally be worth it Add Milk: Summer Underground.


PrideLove -- Cincinnati's experiment with queer *gasp* dating -- is coming back, this time to BronZ. Fabulous Della R. (who says that she and I will be BFF's, which I'm totally down with), who owns the business, has a great event lined up: Speeddating! Take five minutes to go on quick dates with men you have never met before, leave perhaps with a husband! Add in some fantastic drink specials, and it sounds like it will be yet another successful event. Check out their event invite for May 30th from 6pm-9pm.


The HRC will be hosting its monthly First Friday event, going out to bars that you normally would not see them out.. making new friends and new connections. Next month, the event takes place at Crazy Fox Saloon in Newport at 8pm. Check out the event invite.


Below Zero Lounge will be hosting the Ohio LGBT Democratic Caucus, kicking off Pride on June 12th at 5pm. Cover is $35 and gets you membership into the caucus. Check out the event invite.


I am so excited to mention this event, as it's being hosted by our friends at the Kentucky Equality Federation and Marriage Equality Kentucky. Tickets are a little expensive -- $50-$150 -- but a portion of that goes to our local GLSEN, and the majority of it goes for fighting for marriage equality in the Bluegrass State. Pop Singer Briant Kent and Gay Comedian (comedienne?) Ryan Hill will be performing. Advance purchase is necessary for attendance, and I hear that they are selling like hot cakes! Check out the event, or the Facebook event, for June 20th at 8pm at Adonis, followed by an after party at Yadda Club.

Please note that Equality Ohio is looking for Pride Volunteers for the entire state, and Squealing with Pride here in Cincinnati is also looking for event volunteers! Pride is next month, kids, can you believe it????

CINCY GAY SCENE: Rumors abounding...

I didn't have my camera for this weekend, but a quick snapshot: crazy drunk in Columbus with KH on Friday night, including hanging out with a really really hot underwear model... Union Cafe was my bar when it was here in town, I now have a small circle of "favorites" there that includes Union.

Woof's, btw, SUCKED. Hated it. Lot of bears just hanging out staring at each other. We were after hot muscle leather daddies. None there to report of.

After a trip to the impound lot, came back to Cincy and went out with kids. That was fun. Bronz, Bullfishes, Adonis.

The Bronz show sucked, I'm sorry to say, even though the Black Mondays were in it. It was sad. Bullfishes was awesome as we gear up for Kristy and Vivica to host the first drag show there since it opened on August 15th (check out the Facebook invite here) And Adonis... well, I kinda love Adonis though it cost me and Tim $20 to get in... grrr...

But the big news of the night...

It's true. The Serpent, for now, has banned sexual activity in the bar. Rumor has it that there has been a bit of a crack down in the city on this kind of thing -- thanks, Simon Leis -- and Anthony has banned any hanky panky in his bar. It makes me kind of sad, but is anyone surprised? I mean, jesus, the crowd of men around pool table was almost obscenely in you face at times. Not that I haven't been found there sometimes, I just can't believe it's been going on as long as it has. (I mean, I was tied to a cross and bullwhipped at 19 there...). They've also started carding at the bar.

So something has happened, and John from BronZ made this comment: The lights were on and people were actually playing pool!

LOL. I know, I'm shocked too.

CINCY GAY SCENE: Pride Benefit

Went out to Adonis last night to perform at the ISQCCBE's annual pride comedy fundraiser. Unlike previous years with 300+ people and easily between $7000-$9000 raised, we barely made $2000 and I'll be surprised if anyone tells me more than 100 people were there.

All in all, I had a good time and there were some excellent, excellent performers. But it is, as always, dead.

ELECTION 2008: Interesting upcoming event

Off the QCityNews Blog via the Cincinnati Blog (www.cincinnati.blogspot.com):

Rally for Hillary

Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 3:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Where: Adonis, 4601 Kellogg Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45226

General Area: east side of town near near Old Coney, Riverbend, Lunkin airport

This Rally will be held on Sunday, March 2nd, to accommodate some special guests. This is just two days before the Ohio primary!

Doors open at 3:00 PM. $7.00 each person requested. EVERYONE is welcomed to join us in our big HILLARY rally just before the Ohio primary! This event is at an upscale night club, casual dress is OK! Everyone knows that Ohio will be a crucial battleground state, and Hillary needs your support for Ohio! If you're not in Ohio we still want you here, the more the merrier!

This will not be a boring political event, there will be FUN for everyone! We will have keynote democratic speakers, food, fun, dancing and lots of Hillary stuff for everyone! We are having this event in the mid to later afternoon so people from all over the state of Ohio can attend. If you would like to stay the night in Cincinnati please let us know if you need hotel information and we will forward it to you. More info at www.myspace.com/hillaryohio $7.00 each person requested donation. Camera's are welcomed!

Host
Jeff Harney
PS.
We'll pass along information a bout the local Clinton Campaign office as soon as we have it, at this wrting that information is not available.

You better believe I'll be there. :-)

CINCY GAY SCENE: Karaoke Night at BronZ...

...is a bigger success online than in real life.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love me some BronZ, and I love Karaoke Nights there -- DJ Waves is excellent. But, per an "internal memo" leaked to the media, it was one of the top ten most viewed items on the Cincinnati.com website in the week of Jan 27-Feb 2. It claims that it was viewed 50,000+ times that week. Which, btw, is a LOT of times (compared to the under 1000 times this blog has been viewed).

Now, the QCityNews Blog (www.qcitynews.blogspot.com) thinks the number is absurd. The Daily Bellwether (www.thebellwetherdaily.blogspot.com) is also suspicious of the numbers. I hesitate to believe that 500,000+ people actually are that interested in the CincyMoms website, but I'm going to say this:

The number is not impossible. Whereas QCityNews' editor has been involved with the printing and publishing industry for years, and I respect that, I think the internet can very much skew our perception of who is reading what. But, with the wonders of the internet, we have the ability to actually see what is being read and when and from where. It's not perfect, but short of tracking down individual computers, then the little clicker that's reading off in someone's office is the best we've got.

And I'll bet you this, QCity: Your own readership is higher than you expect. I don't know how you calculate your numbers, but I read a lot of your papers in the bar. Guess what I do with it when I'm done? Excepting those issues that pertain to me or have something really interesting in it, I put it back. So our dear local bartenders don't have to clean it up. And I'm not the only one. Papers left on the bar? Either thrown out or saved and put back. People reading while waiting? Thrown out or put back. I'm sure there's a really complex algebra to your circulation stats, but I'll bet it's higher than you think. (I know because I get phone calls whenever my name is mentioned :-))

First of all: the bit is found in CinWeekly, which I now see around town more a lot more than CityBeat, it's competitor. (SCF in Macon will remember a similar situation in his hometown where the major newspaper published an "independent" to compete with the actual independent paper... meet CinWeekly -- published by Gannett, which publishes the Enquirer -- and CityBeat -- the actual independent, that, I might remind, was pressured by Citizens for Community Values to pull the plug on Dan Savage's column... grrrr... but this is all tangential).

The point is: CinWeekly has a readership of mainly young urban white folks... the types that would have access to the internet on a regular basis. And I'm going to say, if I were in those photos, I would be emailing them to EVERYONE and showing them to the world to see just how cool I am. So assume, first, that maybe it was emailed out a bunch and that friends would pull up a page and say "ooo, look at me!"

Second of all: What is the effect of bookmarking? For example, that CincyMoms number, how many people have CincyMoms as their initial page when they open. I know I open an internet program 2-20 times a day. Multiply that out (I'm sure MSN wonders why so many people are interested in their front page :-)). Did the story appear on the front page, I wonder?

Third of all: Do not assume that Cincinnati is so small. The metro area... NKY to Dayton... is HUGE, with over 3 million people in it. 50,000 is a drop in the bucket, and I'm going to guess that Cincinnati.com is one of the most popular local websites. It is not entirely unlikely that people have perused through. Does that mean they spend an hour being affected by everything they read? Absolutely not. It just means that it is not unlikely that 50,000 people actually opened the page.

I think the QCityNews editor, and Mr. Bellwether for that matter, is under the assumption that Cincinnati is a small town with a limited number of "in" people that you are trying to grasp for everything. Please.

Fact of the matter is: This is a local gay bar -- that's not the typical ones that get played out, like Below Zero or Universal Grille or Adonis or the Dock -- and a local gay event that got some major play on a mainstream and popular website. So what if the number is a little inflated? We know the Gannett-Enquirer Dark Empire has pulled some crappy stuff in the past, and it is most definitely not pro-gay or liberal by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still kinda cool. Go BronZ. You got some publicity. Congratulations to you.

On the flip side, the so-called controversy drove me to the website. So maybe making a mountain out of a molehole is not such a bad idea.

CINCY GAY SCENE: Bar Closings

It's sad to say...

The Ohio Smoking Ban may have claimed its first victim. My dear, dear, favorite lesbian bar in the world, Bullfishes, is, indeed, closed. Donna was a dear friend and used to be my landlord. It is sad to see it go. What makes it even worse was the suddenness of it. No one knew it was happening, she let it go peacefully without a goodbye party.

I spent many Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights there. Rarely there on Fridays or Saturdays, but I will give it up for that fabulous Pink Dress Show back in February that raised $750 for Breast Cancer charities.

*sigh* It's sad to see you go, Bullfishes.

Also, per the QCityNews blog (http://qcitynews.blogspot.com/2007/11/northside-gay-and-lesbian-bars-for-sale.html), it appears another one of my favorite hangouts is for sale, the Serpent. Listing price at a million dollars. Now, I've had an AWFULLY good time at the Serpent, and I really hope it will be around at LEAST for their fabulous New Year's Eve clothing optional party, but I don't think (nor does QCity) that it is work $1m, even with the rentable space upstairs. The $200,000 price sounds reasonable, but Anthony and Ford have put years and years and years of their life into that business, I'm sure there is a huge personal attachment to it. I'm almost afraid that, should the business change hands, the cops will raid the place like crazy and close down what every one goes on at Serpent for good... which, btw, would ultimately destroy the business and destroy the Northside gay scene.

Where does that leave BronZ? Or, Club BronZ (I really do need to clean up my "labels")? Well, reported to my ear from one of the best bartenders in town -- a slight uptick in business. Of course, I'm sure much of that is due to the fabulously sociable attitude Brad and John have put out there, along with the fantastic work of DJ Waves in the production of the multiple karaoke nights. It doesn't hurt, also, that it's one of the few bars in town where you can sit at a bar and have a cigarette, there on the back patio. (The owner of Little Bit Bar was scathing in her attack of their patio, as it is really kind of enclosed, but open still. Please, let us just have one place to smoke and drink. You non-smokers have enough places in town.)

See, everyone is driving across the river. I have been in Rosie's and Yadda a few times, but they have been jumping since the smoking ban occurred over here. It really annoys me that the rest of the state, and the locals, can be so callous towards local business. After all, what Cincinnati really needs, is another reason not to hang out in it.

Has anyone wondered how long this Dock/Adonis thing can go one? Rumors are flying as to which one will go first. My money, actually, is on Adonis. I think they would have been long gone had it not been for Penny Tration and her amazing abilities as the most fabulous queen in town. Of course, I would not have put money on Bella Dolce, but she seems to be holding her own. I always liked her personally, I would have never thought she could handle that big of a venue, but she's proven herself quite well on a microphone.

And finally, Below Zero? Seriously. I don't understand the crowd. Do we need two uppity gay bars in town? Universal Grille is bad enough; I've not even been to Below Zero and I already hate it. :-) But I'll go soon, Nigel, and give you a fairer review, I promise.