As the year comes to a close and we look to new adventures in 2009, we wanted to take a moment to look back at the fun we had in 2008 and thank everyone who made it possible.
It was a bit of a different year for us, with fewer parties in our own home, a few fundraisers hosted externally, sponsoring more community events, and the first for us: producing the revival of a favorite drag musical. But though the house itself was a bit quieter, we have still raised a net total of $30,000 for charity in just two years.
We including links to some of Kevin's Flickr photos so you can see more. To see the best ones, be sure to create a free Flickr account and then turn off SafeSearch in your account settings. Some of them are a bit racy and needed to be marked "restricted."
Our first event in 2008 -- and the last large fundraiser in our home -- was Flop House, a charity fundraiser in April for SF Boylesque, San Francisco's only male burlesque troupe. The event featured raffles, bachelor date auctions, face painting, our usual open bar, stilts-walkers, and some of the most innovative performances ever at the BGFH: male burlesque choreographed strip teases, jugglers, contortionists, and the strongest man in the world (we had to veto the fire breathing). A videographer was also on hand taking footage for a documentary about the BGFH (more about that later). Check out more photos from the event here, here, and here.
The very first fundraiser in our home was the Balls Out Ball, a 2006 fundraiser for the SF Fog rugby team headlined by Varla Jean Merman. One special highlight that helped set expectations for future BGFH events: we enticed a number of boys from the team to perform a choreographed stripping routine in which they did the full monty and got totally buck naked. It's a rugby tradition. In 2007, the Balls Out Ball 2007 was moved to another venue but the BGFH was a major sponsor. In 2008, we stepped back and watched them produce the best Balls Out Ball ever -- and yes, they got hot guys to once again get totally naked! We have more pictures here, and the Lavender Lounge even got video footage of their full monty strip routine.
Not every fundraiser needs to be big and splashy. In May, we turned over the use of our garage to the SF Fog for ... a garage sale! Over a thousand dollars was raised for the team from the sale of items donated by team members, and the remaining unsold items were donated to charity. It was a surprisingly low-effort way of helping out.
In June, right before Pride, we hosted our first event outside of the BGFH. Brent Corrigan (who emceed our Midsummer Night's Dream fundraiser in 2006) approached us about hosting a fundraiser at the LookOut. The event tied in with the film festival screening of Another Gay Sequel in which Brent plays Stan the Merman. It raised $2,500 for Community United Against Violence. More photos are available here and here.
In 2007, we sponsored the Miss Trannyshack Pageant by purchasing the winner's crown. In 2008, Heklina decided to bring the weekly club to a close (but there will eventually be special monthly events). The finale was an all-star Kiss-Off Party at the Regency Center, and we sponsored the Jungle Red Lounge, the dance club in the basement with eight go-go boys and music by DJ Earworm. More photos of the event can be found here.
In September, we undertook our most ambitious project ever: producing the revival of Artfull Circle Theatre's Jungle Red, a musical drag parody of Claire Booth Luce's classic play The Women. The production, held at the Victoria Theatre, was directed by Donna Drake and starred Varla Jean Merman. Other cast members included Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, Birdie-Bob Watt, Trauma Flintstone, Henna Rintz, Marqi de Sade, CoCo Royale, and Ethel Merman. Some cast photos are available here, here, here, here and here.
Last year (April 2007) we held a competition to see who would be crowned our Miss August 2008, the page we were sponsoring for the AIDS Housing Alliance's Desperate Divas calendar, and Artemis Chase won. For the 2009 calendar, we appointed the writer of Jungle Red and one of its stars, someone who has performed at more BGFH events than anyone else: Ethel Merman! You can get your copy here.
Our very last public event of 2008 was our sponsorship of Lord Martine's Gloss Sundays on December 21st. The event is Lord Martine's weekly Sunday afternoon/evening party at the LookOut with resident DJs Joseph Lee and Pornstar, along with other special guest deejays every week. It was our second event at the LookOut, which is rapidly becoming one of our favorite places. This time the event was a simple canned food and toy drive to help the less fortunate during the holidays. One of our friends brought a Wonder Woman statue that was coveted by the deejays and bar staff alike! A small handful of photos are available here.
One final exciting thing that happened in 2008: our friend Sean Chapin directed and produced a 30-minute documentary about us called My Big Gay Frat House. It is currently being shopped around to various LGBT film festivals for 2009, but in the meantime you can watch the teaser trailer here:
As 2008 comes to a close, we want to thank everyone who has performed in our home, worked with us on events, and above all, came out to support the charitable causes and community events we've participated in. It's been another amazing year!
We don't know what 2009 will bring, but no doubt there will be something different and new to surprise you. In the meantime, from all of us fratbois, have a fun and safe New Year's, and bring blessings for a wonderful 2009.
~ David, Jon, Kevin, Tim
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