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March 2007 Edition Of Excellence
The "L" Word! (L for Love, L for Life and L for
Luscious)
It’s begun….chaos!
But I love it. It keeps
me on my toes and lets me know I’m still breathing.
I’ve had a fabulous
February. My travels have taken me to
Baltimore
,
District of Columbia
,
San Antonio
,
Dallas
, and
Memphis
.
On February 9th, I
had the pleasure of attending the Miss Gay Baltimore
America
preliminary to Miss Gay Maryland. I was excited to witness, the supreme
professionalism of our Miss Gay Maryland titleholder, Andora Tetee. This
girl was on it from contestant/promoter orientation to the crowning of the new
Miss Gay Baltimore. There were six lovely contestants and at the end of
the night Eva Couture was crowned with
Phoenix
as her first alternate. Both ladies will do exceptionally well at Miss
Gay Maryland. I was fortunate to be booked in DC with former
Miss
DC
America
, Kristina Kelly at Apex nightclub. It was good seeing so many MGA
veterans up in that area. Shout out to Truly Fabu, Ashley Bankks, and
Duwanna Moore (who offered her lovely condo at my disposal). This short
visit granted me the opportunity to meet several promoters from that area.
Shout out to the
Delaware
, DC, East Coast, and
Maryland
promoters. On a personal note, I finally had the chance to sit down and
chat with Sabrina White, MGA 2002. She offered some very sound advice and
great motivation that I know I will take with me through the entire year. I
don’t need to tell you that this lady can paint the house down!
I tried to represent for you
MGA supporters as I attended the Miss Tri-States USofA prelim in
San Antonio
on February 15th. Alyssa Edwards, Erica Andrews, Victoria
LePaige, Kathryn York, and Luscious on cast!!! It was awesome. The
next night I headed to a
Dallas
for a booking at the fabulous
Rose
Room
. I am absolutely humbled each time I get to work on their showcast.
They are a fabulous group of entertainers and they are rewarded with a fabulous
crowd. They are soooo spoiled…I’m jealous! I finally got to
spend some time with another one of my MGA sister’s, Valerie Lohr, as we
watched this past year’s MGA dvd later that night after the show.
February 17th
found me in flight to
Memphis
,
Tennessee
for the Mystic Krewe of Pegasus Memphis’ Heart and Soul event. This was
an elaborate, black tie formal fundraiser to benefit the
Memphis
Child
Advocacy
Center
. I truly enjoyed this break from the monotony of my regular performance
schedule. It was, also, an opportunity for me to “give back” to a good
cause. Many times in our fabulous careers we overlook opportunities to use
our talents for a non-personal gain. I was honored to have been offered
the opportunity and thrilled to have been a “hit” amongst the
“straights” lol. - I got me a little bit of “Lovin’ is
Really My Game”, flipped off the stage and broke both heels at the same time!
LOL….the show went on! Shout out to Miss Kym Clark, Mike Divoky, Anita
Cocktail, and Ashley LaMore. *wink*
I’ll let you all in on a little secret, Terry Eason can dance his tail
off! He’ll probably be in my
farewell dance production with the rest of the guys in thongs! :o)
Ladies and Gentlemen, the
pageant season is about to jump off with a bang. On Friday March 16th,
I will be administrating my first official preliminary, the Miss Gay Mid America
pageant. I’m soooo excited. This will be a regional preliminary,
so anyone that is eligible to compete within our system is able to come attempt
to secure a spot to MGA 2008. Also, on Saturday, March
31st Manakin Productions will be hosting the Miss Gay Delaware
America
prelim. Please log onto our website at www.missgayamerica.com
for additional information on each of these preliminaries.
I’ve gotten calls from many
entertainers that are interested in competing for a regional preliminary.
Many of them wanted to know what would be the best preliminary to go to
compete. Now, I can’t tell you
which prelim is best for each of you to participate, nor would I feel
comfortable suggesting which prelim would be best for you.
I will tell you some of the factors that led to my deciding on the prelim
that sent me to Miss Gay America.
I had to, first, look at my
schedule and see which prelim would not interfere with my work schedule.
I knew early on that I wanted to do a prelim on the weekend so that I
didn’t have to take any time off of work.
This would allow more time for me to attend Miss Gay America.
I, then, looked over my
budget to determine where I would be willing to drive or, worst case scenario,
fly. I must admit, I was a bit
enticed by some of the prize packages as well.
I’ll never forget how I
almost talked myself out of going to compete for my prelim because I heard, such
and such were going to be competing. I
actually found a little reassurance from a very good friend that pushed me
through this prelim and on through to Miss Gay America.
The experience at my prelim was great.
Heavy hitters came from across the country.
My winning the prelim created a buzz.
The buzz worked well in my favor as it got me bookings that helped fund
my Miss Gay America package. Just
think, I almost backed out. Who’s
to say the next set of heavy hitters weren’t going to be at the next Regional
I selected?
I shared this, only to prove
to you that preparation (selecting a prelim early on and planning for it) and a
little bit of faith can, indeed, go a long way!
If you are unsure, contact
the promoters to find out any necessary details with their contest.
Introduce yourselves. Allow
them to help make your experience as pleasant as possible.
Until next time,
Luscious
Hot Performance List
1.
J^Davey – Mr. Mister
2.
Cheryl Lynn – Star Love (12’ remix)
3.
Fiona Apple – Fast as you can
From the desk of Larry & Terry
Looking for a City……
We are
delighted to announce the return of the Miss Gay America pageant to the
beautiful
City of Memphis
,
Tennessee
. All of the events of the Miss Gay America 2008 pageant, including the Final
Night competition will be held at the incredible Holiday Inn Select-Airport
Memphis Grand Ballroom. The hotel staff was accommodating in every way, to make
last years contest one of the most “stress free” weeks of competition and
they are again committed to the same quality service. We look forward to another
incredible week of competition and to making this year’s competition, the best
yet! With its centralized location, the city of
Memphis
is sure to once again, prove to be a great venue.
Memphis
has seen Nicole DuBois and Luscious crowned as Miss Gay America….who will be
crowned next? Our excitement is growing as we near the first preliminary of the
year, Miss Mid America, which will be held on Friday, March 16, 2007 in
Memphis
,
Tennessee
(at The Madison Flame). Luscious has been extremely busy traveling and
representing this system and his official duties as Miss Gay America 2007 have
really yet to begin. It seems like
we have said, for the last couple of years, that
this reigning Miss Gay America will go down in history as one of the best, and
this year is certainly no exception. The positive comments continue to come in
and we anticipate another incredible year in the Miss Gay America pageant
system, partly due to our national titleholder. Now that we have made a
selection as to the date and location of the national competition, the cycle is
certainly in motion, concerning the search for the next Miss Gay America.
We have
been often asked, if we plan to move the national competition to a different
city each year…our reply has always been, that, yes, we would like to move the
competition from city to city each year…. That still holds true. We would not
mind moving the national competition each year but we must keep this business
profitable and we refuse to move the national contest to a city whereby we will
loose money or have a fear of things “falling through the cracks” as we
would not be available to directly manage the very many details of the national
pageant. There is no particular reason to move this contest. Many have said that
it would be nice to go to a different city each year however those that are
directly affiliated with the contest (i.e. contestants, entertainers, promoters,
on-stage performers, dressers etc) find very little time to wonder about the
city, during the week of competition. As we can all attest, the national
competition week seems like a blur as it passes too quickly and we all find
ourselves struggling just to be able to get an appropriate amount of sleep, thus
leaving little or no time to roam about the city. We have had a couple of
proposals from cities, who desire to host the nationals however, after
consideration, we determined that those proposals would not be in the best
“current” interest of the national contest.
We are also
asked, what we look for, when considering a city to host the location of the
nationals. There are many things that have to be right, in order for us to move
the national competition to a certain city including but not limited to: a
location that is cost effective and capable of hosting the Preliminary
competition, the Revue Show and Final Night competition, hotel accommodations
that are both adequate and affordable, a willing support staff to do whatever
necessary to ensure a smooth experience for the week of competition and a
general public, large enough to patron the pageant for the week. All of the
aforementioned must be adequate, in order to consider a movement of the
location…and thus far, all of the requirements have not been sufficient to
warrant move of the national competition.
We continue
to make known, that any city, interested in hosting the national competition,
should contact L & T Entertainment for more information.
We find it
hard to believe that in a little over seven months, we will be in the midst of
another national contest, but it is with great excitement, that we focus our
immediate attention on yet another tremendous pageant season. This time next
month, we will have four contestants qualified for the Miss Gay America 2008
pageant and we will be well on our way to our goal of at least 60 qualified
contestants. Last year we were
fortunate enough to attend 11 preliminaries and this year we are attempting to
attend at least that many, therefore we hope to see you soon.
We look
forward to hosting you in our great city of
Memphis
, October 17-21, 2007 as we celebrate the 36th annual Miss Gay
America pageant.
Until next time,
Larry and
Terry
From
the Promoters Perspective….
By
DRS Promotions (Daniel Eckstrom and Danny Scott –Promoters of Miss Gay Arizona
America
and
Miss Western States
America
)
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T”
What it means to you???
The
definition of respect is, “to show consideration or thoughtfulness in relation
to somebody or something”. What
does respect mean to you? All to
often we do not stop to show consideration or thoughtfulness to each other.
Sometimes we are blogged down by he said/she said gossip that we do not
realize the people we are hurting in the process. As the pageant season gets
into full swing, let us all remember that we are working toward the same goal,
Miss Gay America. If we all work
together, this year will be an even bigger success than last year.
Last year we had the opportunity to attend 4 other preliminaries to Miss
Gay America and they included: Miss Gay Mid-America, Miss Gay Louisiana, Miss
Gay Southern Elegance and Miss Gay Arizona.
During our travels we made so many good friends who just like us, had so
much passion and support for the America system.
Opportunities and friendships like that come along once in a lifetime so
we hope that everyone can get out and support at least one preliminary in their
area.
We are so very excited for this upcoming year.
We are so proud to see Luscious, our reigning Miss Gay Western States and
our reigning Miss Gay America take this country by STORM and show everyone what
talent he has. It is equally
exciting to have our Miss Gay Western States be Miss Gay America.
Back in October we were happy to witness Luscious being crowned Miss Gay
America. That night showed to all
that with hard work and determination, anything can be accomplished.
On April 7, 2007 in Tucson, Arizona, Luscious will be crowning the new
Miss Gay Western States America. We
are thrilled to have our next winner and first alternate follow in the footsteps
of some amazing people. We hope all
the contestants from last year that are serious about being Miss Gay America
return and never give up on their dream.
This year is doubly exciting for us as we are now the promoters for Miss
Gay Arizona America. August 4, 2007
is the date set for Miss Gay Arizona America and we are excited at the
possibility of launching this State Preliminary into the spotlight of other
great state preliminaries.
In closing we would like to wish everyone much success in the upcoming
pageant season. Everyone get out
there and support the system and the art of female impersonation.
Danny and Daniel
DRS Promotions
_______________________________________________________________
From the Promoters Perspective
by: Michelle Leigh Sterling-
Promoter of the Miss Gay Pennsylvania America pageant
Greetings Everyone,
My name is Michelle Leigh Sterling-I am a "Super-Sized" Drag
Queen who likes eating, pudding and owls!
Now that I have your attention, I am also the promoter for the Miss
Pennsylvania America Pageant, under Raving Diva Productions.
I became the brand new promoter for the pageant in December of 2005,
after having been involved in the America system since 1995, and winning Miss
Pennsylvania America in 1999. This
first year was filled with ups and downs-great support from my friends, and some
harsh words from my detractors. In
my eyes, I believed that the Miss Pennsylvania pageant was a success simply due
to the fact that I had so many believers in me.
I was TOTALLY unprepared for the phone call that I received from my good
friend Brian Alexander (promoter for East Coast) saying that I was nominated for
Best State Preliminary of the Year. I
was stunned, to say the least, and it didn't quite register in my mind.
I attend and/or participate in two pageants every year-Miss Maryland and
Miss East Coast-and they are simply the Best competitions that I have seen.
I am not sure if it is because of everything that I had to do to run Miss
Pennsylvania, or the fact that I just enjoy myself at the pageant, but to be
honest, I didn't see my pageant at that level as those two.
Although promoting may seem easy to some people, let me tell you the
truth! It is easy when you love what
you do! Don't get me wrong-there are
some issues in dealing with city/metro preliminary promoters, host bars,
corporate sponsors, airlines (I can boast that my preliminary is the only
preliminary last pageant season to lose Nicole's luggage!)-the list goes on and
on. However, I had one of the best
support systems in my former Miss Pennsylvania America's-they all rallied around
me and helped me to make sure that everything ran smoothly. Here is a hint from
me to you-if you have City/Metro Preliminary Pageants, assign a former
titleholder to "oversee" the handling of that pageant-to be a liaison
to the promoter-it sure took a lot of the stress off of me.
This year, I plan on following the same formula, with a few
additions-Will Kern is new state pageant liaison.
Tony Sylvester will be handling hotel and travel arrangements.
Debra Youngblood will be host bar liaison/set manager.
Those three areas alone took a lot of my time and energy last year-I have
learned that one person can't do everything and still remain sane doing it!
My philosophy has always been do something right the first time, and you
save valuable energy and time. And
never forget to ask as many questions as you can if you don't know, or are
unclear how to handle a situation in the America pageant system.
(Larry and Terry can attest to this fact with all my emails and phone
calls!) They have been such a
Godsend to me during my times of frustration, and also during the scattered
moments of elation.
I cannot express enough gratitude to Nicole Dubois for being the Miss Gay
America during my inaugural year of promoting.
Someday soon, I want to sit down with her and get her insights on what
were the key points that helped me to be one of the nominees. (I honestly think
it was the 3 am Wal-Mart shopping spree to buy some panties that helped
"push" me to the top!) Regardless,
it only helped to extinguish any misgivings I had concerning my taking over as
the pageant promoter, and strengthened my beliefs in this pageant system.
This
coming pageant season is going to be better than last year-I have some great
returning promoters, a few new faces, and a group of very eager contestants
vying for the title of Miss Pennsylvania America 2007.
Much success to everyone this pageant year!
Remember…Watch out for the Big Girls!!
Michelle Leigh Sterling
Miss Gay Pennsylvania America
Promoter
Raving Diva
Productions
www.myspace.com/MissPAAmericaPageant
A Note From The Editor
The Excellence strives to be an informative newsletter delivered to the promoters of the Miss Gay America Pageant System throughout the year. Should there be any issue or topic of discussion a promoter would like to see addressed (or to write an article to be published) in a future newsletter, please contact the editor via
Email.
Please note, any article, comments, or opinions faxed, mailed, (postal or electronics),
or otherwise sent to any of our "addresses" become our property and carry an implied consent of publication should we choose to do so. No articles will be published in which one or more of the following occurs:
- complete identity of the author is not known
- plagiarism
- defamation of an individual or company
- false or misleading information (as we are able to determine)
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