Hey fan-tastic fans,
I want to thank everyone for coming out to my Soulforce benefit @ Touch Night club in NYC. The organization raised thousands of dollars that night and I felt so much love from the crowd. Thanks to Bopa King, Kelly King, Jason Walker, Adam Joseph and Kendra Ross for singing and playing with me. Also, big thanks to Jack Mackenroth, Judy Gold and Anthony Rapp for lending their support. It was a truly special night.
Another special night was when I recently got invited to LOGO's first annual NewNowNextAwards. I was up for "Because You Deserve An Award" award,which I thought was pretty cool, cause even if I didn't win it still means that I deserve one! Of course I was still nervous, as this was the first televised award I was ever nominated for and I knew if I won I wanted to make sure I thanked all the right people and didn't forget anything. That really is the best part of winning an award for me--getting to thank all the people in your life that support you and that you know it means something to them for you to win. I also wanted to thank Oprah, cause you know how everyone thanks Jesus? Well, Oprah is my Jesus. (Those free podcast classes she co-teaches with Eckhard Tolle are awesome).
There were like 3 different press rooms before we sat down for the award ceremony where my photo was taken in sort of a red carpet situation without the carpet.Then there were some on-camera interviews. I felt pretty fab in my Marc Jacobs suit even if I didn’t have nearly as many creative red carpet poses as Lady Ga-Ga (thanks to Casey and Matt for helping me pick out the suit at the Marc Jacobs store in soho). I was sandwiched between Laura Bell Bundy from Legally Blond the musical and Michelle Williams from Destiny's Child. I think I accidentally cut Laura in line (it was all pretty crazy), but she's got a Tony nomination under her belt so hopefully she will forgive me—if the gays cant cut the straights at the gay awards show then we’re in trouble, right? I was pretty thrilled to get my photo taken with Michelle Williams as I have been a HUGE Destiny's Child fan since the first album (granted Michelle wasn't part of the group then, but hey, I even own her solo gospel album!).
I finally sat down in the seat that had my name on it. Candis Cayne and Coleman Damingo were hosting and they were funny and charming. I just saw Coleman that week in Passing Strange which was probably the best musical I've ever seen in my life--a transformative and transcendental experience. Coleman plays a few different characters brilliantly (for one of them he was channeling Kevin Aviance at Arena circa 1997). Candis and I have known each other since the old east village Crowbar days (I was 12) and we were both recently in RuPaul’s drag/blaxpliotation/porn extravangaza. Seeing Candis co-host the show, brought back a memory of going to the GLAMMA’s (the Gay and Lesbian Music Awards which no longer exists)when Candis was the trophy girl, handing out trophy’s to the winners. I was so happy to see that Candis was no longer relegated to being just a pretty face and how our community has stepped up and given a voice to such a talented performer who deserves to be seen and heard. Candis even got choked up at one point and it brought tears to my eyes. It was an authentic moment in anotherwise funny and irreverent show. Love her.
At this point, I’m feeling emotional and vulnerable only to finally hear Cyndi Lauper tell us that she is announcing the last award of the evening. What happened with my category you may ask? It turns out they will be announcing some of the categories on June 7th when the show airs on LOGO. Nobody told me that though cause had I known I would not have sat there with shpilkis the whole time practicing my speech in case I actually won! Well, that’s show-biz folks! The good news is that I found out the next day when I bumped into Matt at Beige that Marc Jacobs didn’t want his suit back. My Mom will be quite pleased I have a nice suit for Shabbos. Maybe I'll put my suit back on when I watch the awards on LOGO from home on June 7th.
See you all on tour!
Much Love,
Ari