Jessica Dimon on RuPaul's Drag Races

Thanks to Stuff Queer People Need to Know (damn, that bitch is good... I hate that she's faster than me on some stuff :-)):

More Gay & Lesbian Video At LogoOnline.com

That's only the first episode, you'll have to go to the website to see the whole episode (#7).

But Ms. Dimon, local fierceness from the Dock, appears twice. Can you find her? Congratulations, Jessica!!! (She is in this first section of the episode.)

It's like Where's Waldo, but for drag queens.

Also, thank god for RuPaul for actually going into the history of drag and the role drag queens have had in the gay rights movement -- a much misunderstood part of our history.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!

In Louisville for the day and going to see Lion King in Indianapolis tomorrow, but I'll be back on Saturday... in time for Stupid Joke Saturday (and for a night out at the Dirty Dirty Dock :-)).

But, for now, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!



MUCH LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!

(and watch out for your bikini lines!)

CINCY GAY SCENE: Dock still open

The story that never was...

Texted Joe from the Dock. His response to the rumours about the Dock closing? "Stupid rumor." 

Dixie Crystals sent me the MySpace bulletin about the same issue:

OUR DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILY ! I AM SURE U HAVE BEEN HEARING THINGS THAT THE DOCK IS CLOSING AND AS ALWAYS ITS NOT TRUE. WE ARE ONE OF THE LONGEST RUNNING GAY BARS IN CINCINNATI.

WE ARE GOING ON OUR 25 YEARS AND PLAN ON HAVING MANY MORE!! TO TO PUT YOUR MIND AT REST WE ARE NOT CLOSING ! AT THIS TIME WE ARE OPEN THURSDAY NIGHTS FOR YOUR EBM, 80'S , ALTERNATIVE NIGHT FROM 10 TILL 3 AM FRIDAY NIGHTS ARE THE SHOWS WITH THE GREAT JESSICA DIMON AND ALL HER GUEST ALOG WITH DJ DOUG STRONG, OPEN 10 TILL 4 AM

AND SUNDAYS IS DA BEST HIP HOP SPOT IN CINCINNATI WITH DJ BLAK CHERRI FROM 10 TILL 3 AM. SO NOW WE GOT THAT OUT OF THE WAY LETS PARTY AND HAVE A GOOD OLD TIME... SEE YA TONIGHT

So there. Case closed. Um. So... yea...

Non-story :-). Go, drink, dance, make-out. Have fun. 

And make sure you tip friends of the blog, Mykey and Dan, who bartend down there.

CINCY GAY SCENE: Word on the street...

... the Dock has closed?

I think the rumor is false, because the Dock is just closed on Tuesday (and Monday) nights, but if anyone can officially confirm/deny?

CINCY GAY SCENE: Coco Bliss comes to Cincy

One of Oxford's BEST performers, Coco Bliss, arrived at On Broadway this evening, which coincided with a fierce birthday celebration we had for Vivica LaCroix (another Oxford performer).

Quick rundown:

1) On Broadway was a little slow, though Brooklyn Steele-Tate maintains her rightful place as one of the best hostesses in town. Yves St. Michael from Lexington has some fierce outfits and a great southern drawl, but I think the little tiny stage at OB's scared her. Coco, of course, was fierce. Saw Santana Storm, who informed me she works weekends now so we won't see as much of her. Miss you baby.














Brooklyn spanking a birthday boy. Mama had to lose her hair and earrings.

2) Ended up at the Dock, the dirty dirty Dock :-) that we all love. Jessica Dimon and Bella Dolce finishing one of their famously long shows -- ended at 1:30? cut it short, girls we want to DANCE -- and I don't think a group number to Seasons of Love is the best way to end a show. But Jessica is always amazing, and everyone should vote for her on RuPaul's drag show, Drag Race, so that she can be seen by millions. Caught Bella after the show; we swapped phone losing stories, but it was nice to see her. Best part: seeing Mykey back behind the bar. Oh, and I saw Cassandra Mills-Best, my local fav performer, out of drag and she gave me the run down on her FIERCE schedule all over the midwest, which makes me very happy for her.














End of the Dock show. Does it seem like even Friday nights at the Dock are slow these days?

3) No alcohol -- lots of Red Bull, so I'm awake. But there is a boy sleeping in my bed upstairs. This is my version of whispering in the phone in the closet.














Queer Cincinnati, the Vinyl Polis, and Vivica LaCroix, out of drag. Don't kill me, darling!














The fierce Coco Bliss.

PS Catch Viv's first performance in Cincinnati this Friday with Truly Scrumptious at Shooter's at 11pm-ish.

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.