Roland Michely - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

On August 8, Roland Michely and Joe Anania welcomed the Cherry Grove community to Hi-Fidelio in order to introduce the book “The Mind and Life of Glen Boles,” which Roland and Tim Steffen put together to frame the previously unpublished autobiographical writing of Roland’s late partner, Dr. Glen Boles, who passed away on July 24, 2009, less than two months before his 96th birthday.
Glen Boles’ life had encompassed a Broadway and Hollywood acting career, United States military service as a counter-espionage agent, and a career as a psychoanalyst. He was a longtime resident of Manhattan and Cherry Grove.
The book, nearly 500 pages long and priced at $25, is, at present, available directly from Roland.

http://www.fireislandqnews.com/2010/08/chriseileen/554.jpg Chris & Eileen Alley, Queen Beach DeBree, Mr. FI Leather 2010 Rob Ferri & James Hughes - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Homecoming Queen Beach DeBree and Mr. Fire Island Leather 2010 Rob Ferri attended the August 8 Arts Project of Cherry Grove Bingo Game, at the Community House, in full regalia to honor the 45th wedding anniversary of cherished, community-spirited Grove couple Chris and Eileen Alley.  Later, the regulars at Sunday night Bingo surprised the Alleys with an anniversary cake.

new Miss Cherry's Epiphany & Ms.Cherry's Mary Ooofaaa - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

The Miss Cherry’s pageant was held at Cherry’s at the Bay on August 8 and singer and former Miss Fire Island Epiphany was selected as the new Miss Cherry’s titleholder.  Mary Ooofaaa, named Ms. Cherry’s, and Dallas Dubois, retaining the title of Miss Cherry Lane, were runners-up.

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Harold Seeley greets his public - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

On August 7, the Arts Project of Cherry Grove (APCG), the Grove’s theatrical community, saluted Harold Seeley, creator of the Community House proscenium and the Cherry Grove Archives, designer of sets for shows and balls, “professional volunteer” and Disney fan par excellence-”Cherry Grove’s Mouseketeer”-for his 34 consecutive years of service to the Arts Project.  The evening made for a moving and fitting tribute, and raised over $12,600 toward the $20,000 spent, this season, on securing ropes, pipes and rigging in the theater.
After the entrance of Homecoming Queen Beach DeBree and opening remarks by APCG President Michael Coffindaffer, Robin Kradles, in a Cinderella ball gown, escorted the man of the hour, sporting his signature Mickey Mouse ears, to a ‘box seat’ on the stage, and the audience awarded him a standing ovation and donned mouse ears of our own in his honor.
We saw Bradshaw Smith’s videotaped interview with Harold, about the making of the proscenium and the archival materials incorporated into and secreted within it, including Teri Warren’s fan, props from shows, and a flyer for a Bella Show at the Ice Palace.  Then, on behalf of APCG, Michael presented Harold with a framed copy of his original blueprint for the proscenium and the design for a plaque honoring Harold that will hang in the Community House.  Michael also showed off the theater’s first ever scenery pipe, with two statues of Harold-as-Mickey hanging from it.
The evening’s hosts, Drs. Rick Byrd and Patrick Frattelone, and Sylvia and Shirley Shapiro, all elegantly garbed, were introduced, and the performances for Harold, most with a Disney theme, began.
Embodying Ursula the evil Sea Witch, from “The Little Mermaid,” Bella yearned, “I want the good times back,” recalled the day Harold was given the key to the Community House, and declared, “Harold, you have become the Community House.”  Like Bella, Margo impersonated a Disney villainess, and offered the song of Dalmatian nemesis “Cruella DeVil.”  Linda Dickerman and Barbara Hirsch, as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, offered “United we stand, divided we fall,” and gave Harold a white rose.  Clips of Harold, as Mickey, in APCG show “Minnie’s Girls,” and of Ruth and Susan Freedner, as “Two Lost Souls,” in the show “French Twist,” followed.  The twins shared memories of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” their first Arts Project show, as well as Harold’s, in 1978, and aired Harold’s motto about recycling scenery and props: “Save everything, use it and reuse it, and use it again.”  Keeping that motto in mind, Dan Daly, singing and playing the piano, dedicated, “Everything Old Is New Again” to Harold, with additional, topical verses.
Dominic DeSantis spoke of Harold’s participation in the House Blessings, as Cherry Grove’s Bishop, then Archbishop; of suggesting that Harold create the proscenium; of their getting the theater’s red curtain, donated by late owner of the Monster, Joe Scialo; and of Harold’s performance, in the show “Circus Circus,” as the clown Emmett Kelly.  Sylvia Shapiro disclosed that Harold gave her a first job in design and that, “after one week, his hair turned snow white,” and Shirley Shapiro recalled the King Kong set-the New York City skyline and a huge paw-that Harold built for her scene, as Fay Wray, in the 2003 Doctor’s Fund Benefit.  Tim Webster spoke of Harold’s puppet show for wily rodents in Sal Piro’s “Pros and Cons” and of Harold’s efforts, preserving Grove history, in the Archives.
Angela Mercy portrayed Barbara Streisand as Snow White, doing an enchanting, “Someday My Prince Will Come.”  Luisa Verde and Gary Greene recreated a beloved non-Disney number, playing adult dolls come to life, a lusty Barbie and a leather-clad Ken-”I’m a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie World (Come on, Barbie, let’s go party”-which they introduced in Sal’s “You Go Girl!!” in 1998.  Sylvia introduced Philomena, whom Harold had called “the original Cherry Grove beauty queen,” who spoke of enlisting Harold to decorate the ballroom for Night of a Thousand Gowns in 1995, when she was Empress-he “filled the stage with jewels and stars and every wish that an Empress drag queen could want”-and, by borrowing and soliciting donations, accomplished the whole thing for about $12.50.  Her number here was “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
Beside the Freedners, Harold met Thom “Panzi” Hansen in 1978, and Panzi was Mary Poppins here, mixing “A Spoonful of Sugar”-or some snorted white substance-with Lucy Ricardo’s Vitameatavegamin, with the potion coming in increasingly larger Dewar’s bottles.
With Dan at the piano, the full company sang “The Mickey Mouse Club” theme, substituting H-a-r-o-l-d S-e-e-l-e-y for M-i-c-k-e-y M-o-u-s-e,” for the finale, and Harold told us, “The theater has literally been my lover for 30 years,” and invited the assembled to give the performers a standing ovation.  We were then asked to the stage to sign the back of the one of the Harold-as-Mickey figures being given to Harold, with the other going into the Archives.

Breast Cancer Benefit - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

The Concerned Women of the Grove (CWOG) held their 15th annual Breast Cancer Benefit, on the luxurious grounds of Heaven ‘n’ Earth, at the east end of Bayview Walk, on the perfect summer afternoon of August 7.  The event benefited Gilda’s Club New York and the Stony Brook Center for Breast Cancer Research.  Pink, the color of the breast cancer awareness ribbon, was the de rigeur hue of the day.
There was a silent auction of donated items such as theater and opera tickets, gift baskets, autographed baseballs, a cap and a CD signed by Lady GaGa, t-shirts and scripts signed by television series and movie casts, artwork, jewelry, and gift certificates for restaurants.
Hot and cold hors d’oeuvres flowed from the kitchen, overseen by Mella Yodice.  Young Korissa Falco raised $600 for CWOG by kayaking across the Great South Bay.  Representatives of the two beneficiaries spoke informatively to the assembled about the work of their organizations.
Donna Piranha returned to Cherry Grove to host a show as part of the benefit.  She had tambourines distributed to the crowd and we accompanied her in a gospel-style number and in the apt “Soul Survivor.”  She also brought brave survivors of breast cancer and tireless CWOG volunteers to the stage.  Bella contributed her Carmen Miranda tribute medley, “Weekend in Havana,” and Mary Ooofaaa also did a number.  CWOG has raised over $600,000 for the fight against breast cancer in the past 15 years and, with Bobbie Green costumed as a birthday cake, Donna led us in singing “Happy Birthday” to this worthy organization and closed the show with “Proud.”

Daisy Spurs - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

On August 6, Daniel Nardicio presented his “Wizard of Oz”-themed underwear party at the Ice Palace, with a green-faced Bianca Del Rio in the role she was born to play, the Wicked Bitch, I mean Wicked Witch, of the Deep South, and a couple of Tin Woodsmen, and lots of Emerald City-green balloons, hanging from the ceiling.  DJ Bill Coleman was responsible for the music.

Capturing the attention of the crowd, however, was a performance by the Daisy Spurs, a troupe of young, sexy, gender-and-ethnicity-diverse, in-your-face, confrontational, punk dancers and singers, giving an exhilarating performance.  Those of us who had been to Daniel and Go Go Harder’s “boylesque” show, “The Island of Misfit Boys,” the night before, had already seen some of them in action and knew that they were exceptional dancers, but their appearance at the underwear party, showing them and their colleagues working together as an ensemble, was a wild horse of a different color.

Cherry Tarts frolicking with Copettes - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

On the sunny afternoon of August 4, the Grovettes, under Captain Sue Panzer and Coach Andy Porzio, beat the Suffolk County Copettes, the police team under Captain Rich, in the Cherry Bowl Volleyball Tournament once again.  The teams played two 21-point games and a 15-point game.  The Grovettes bested the Copettes, 21 to 15, in game one; the Copettes beat the Grovettes, 21 to 13, in game two; and the Grove team won the deciding game, 15 to 10, and won the tournament.

Mark Atten, who was in the first games in 1984, continued to play for the Grovettes and Steve Baldassare returned to play for the team.  Sal Piro and Paul Jablonski called the games and Doreen Rallo served as referee.

After the opening parade of teams, cheerleaders, band, and colors, Porsche kicked off proceedings on the volleyball court by singing the “Star Spangled Banner,” assisted by DJ Chuck McTague, and Cherry Queen Dallas Dubois threw out the first ball.  Between the first and second games, the cheerleading Cherry Tarts relieved several of the Copettes of their shirts and convinced them to dance; Lavinia Draper sang “Let’s Hear It for the Boy;” and the Suffolk County Emerald Society Pipe & Drum Corps played patriotic songs and “Amazing Grace.”  Between games two and three, Dallas offered “Dance Ten, Looks Three” and Ariel Sinclair, head Tart, confided, “My Vagina is Eight Miles Wide.”

After the games, a collection was taken up for absent Grovette Fran Reinhardt, whose father died earlier in the week, and a poolside victory party, complete with complementary hotdogs and hamburgers, was held at the Grove Hotel/Ice Palace.

Matt Alber in FI Pines - photo by CJ Mingolelli

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By CJ Mingolelli

Matt Alber, as many of you know, is a wonderful artist, who happens to have been gifted with an incredible voice. I had the opportunity to speak with Matt today and found him to be a very friendly, down-to-earth person, and thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

He’s really taking pleasure in his visit to Fire Island, and is looking forward to returning for future events, and of course, to relax and have fun.

He’s also here on Fire Island (for his first time) to entertain us all with his music and message… not to be missed! Matt will be playing at Whyte Hall’s Brandon Fradd Theatre, FI Pines, at 9pm. One time only! Tickets are available on line- visit FIPPOA’s website at http://fipap.org/fiptix.php

Click on the video below to hear the interview, and one of Matt’s favorite songs. ( A special thanks to Jim Bozzi for being my camera man! )

Matt Alber interview with CJ Mingolelli

Dancer - photo by Koitz

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bobby McGuire

The Fire Island Dance Festival, Dancers Responding to AIDS’ (DRA) signature event, celebrated its sweet sixteenth year in Fire Island Pines with an undisputed artistic and financial success.  This year’s festival, hosted by two-time Emmy Award winner Bruce Vilanch, presented eleven dances by world renowned, established and emerging dance companies and choreographers.  The event, twice hailed by the New York Times as “the charity event of the season,” was held on the weekend of July 17 to 18, outdoors at the Fire Island Pines home of Jon Biondo, Tim Horman and Ryan Coutou, against a backdrop of the sun setting over the Great South Bay.  The three sold out performances drew record breaking crowds and raised $260,000  for Dancers Responding to AIDS, a fundraising program of Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS.

Fire Island Dance Festival Sixteen  (FIDF16) featured the innovative work of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; American Ballet Theatre principal Marcelo Gomes; Joffrey Ballet Chicago principals Fabrice Calmels and Erica Lynette Edwards; Mark Stuart Dance Theatre; and San Francisco Ballet principals Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith, performing choreography by Christopher Wheeldon. FIDF 16 also showcased a pièce d’occasion by Shea Sullivan and featured a “Legacy Tour” performance by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Continuing the tradition started in 2006, DRA offered choreographic sponsorships to foster the creation of new dance works, an effort that yielded four new dances, which had their premieres at this year’s Festival by Stephen Petronio Company, Travis Wall, Camille A. Brown and Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance.  MOMIX presented a special performance as part of an exclusive festival kick-off party on Friday, July 16.

dancing at the Pines Party - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

On July 31, the 12th annual Pines Party, descendent of the GMHC Morning Party for volunteers, took place on the beach, down the walk from John Whyte Hall, the Fire Island Pines community center.  Entitled “Poseidon: an Underwater Spectacle,” the event benefited the Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association (FIPPOA) Charitable Foundation and its philanthropic partner, the Stonewall Community Association.
A spectacle it was indeed, presented by the FIPPOA Charitable Foundation and Josh Wood Productions, with two dance floors, one adjacent to a huge main stage, and the other, with a huge recreation of the Greek sea god’s temple looming before it; beautiful people in costumes in keeping with the theme, sea creatures and deities, pirates and sailors, dancing till dawn; and a tent city midway, with businesses and organizations offering food, drink and massage.
Moto Blanco, Corey Craig, Warren Gluck, DJ Lina, and Chuck McTague were the designated DJs, and Alexis Jordan and Porsche, the scheduled performers.
“The Sunken Treasure Casino,” a joint effort of the Arts Project of Cherry Grove (APCG) and FIPPOA, on the 31st and August 1st, and “Aqua Fever,” the winding down party on the 1st, both at Whyte Hall, were further components of the “Poseidon” Pines Party.

Corey Corey at the underwear party - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

The last week in July, at the Ice Palace, which kicked off with Brandon Cutrell and Ray Fellman’s Broadway at the Beach and the Shequida birthday gala, at which the diva essayed “O mio babbino caro,” from Giacomo Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi,” and DJ Lina did a lively lip-synch number, continued with events highlighted by the welcome return of burlesque queen and ‘female female impersonator’ World Famous Bob and performances by model and go-go dancer Bulldog from New Orleans.

Bulldog - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Considered in the pages of QNews early in the year for his appearance at one of Daniel Nardicio’s Speakeasy parties, in the East Village, Bulldog made a breathtaking cowboy, dancing on the bar at Ken Braun’s Whip It Out Wednesday on July 28.
The next night, Daniel presented World Famous Bob and her young tranny performance artist friends, Glenn Marla and Dave End, in compelling excerpts from their one-person shows, under the rubric “Gender Fabulous.”  DJ Chuck McTague was in charge of music.
Wryly introducing himself as “your fat tranny performance artist for the evening,” Glenn discoursed creatively on the meaning of the title of his show, “Tragic Magic;” the myriad shades of yellow; and, as he tap danced, the idea, “I find formal wear challenging.”  Having begun swathed in white and continued in colorful male attire, Glenn ended by successfully wriggling into a girdle and showering himself with glitter.
Variously accompanying himself on accordion, guitar, and Casio keyboard, Dave offered diverse responses to being called a faggot, including considering its plural an acronym of “Fabulous Artistic Guys Get Over-Traumatized Sometimes;” observations on growing up gay in; and the proclamation, “I Am a Dead Give Away (so you may not want to hang around with me).”

World Famous Bob - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Bob favored us anew with the opening of her autobiographical “One Man Show,” remembering a youthful daydream of encountering her ‘real mother,’ who would sweep her off to Hollywood to become a movie star; recalling having to distinguish pet animals from food animals on the California farm where she grew up; and celebrating meeting her first gay friends when she was 15 and coming to find her own identity as “a faggot.”  She ended with a striptease to the iconic opening phrases of Richard Strauss’ “Also Spracht Zarathustra.”
It was Mardi Gras in New Orleans in July at Daniel’s “Nardi Gras” underwear party on July 30, with Mardi Gras beads and pennants, balloons and streamers in traditional carnival colors gold, green and purple abounding.  Chuck was the DJ for his first Nardicio underwear party, playing Dixieland jazz; Corey Corey, dancing in revealing grass skirt and wielding a spear, evoked the spirit of the Krewe of Zulu; Bulldog danced in an elaborate black leather mask and black leather hood; and Bob performed a “flash dance” to “Maniac.”  Pixyish Bryan Cash, from Late Night Kitchen, deep-fried beignets, rolled them in powdered sugar, and made us feel like we were at Café du Monde.  A clothing-optional pool party came near the end of the evening.

Casino volunteers - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

The Arts Project of Cherry Grove’s (APCG) annual two-night Casino, at the Community House in the Grove, has long represented one of the organization’s major fundraising efforts of the season and some of its movers and shakers have sometimes gone east, to Fire Island Pines, to run a casino as part of the Pines Party.

This year, for the first time, the Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association (FIPPOA) and APCG, major organizations in our neighboring communities, collaborated on a “Sunken Treasure Casino,” at Whyte Hall, the Pines community center, on July 31 and August 1, as an official part of the “Poseidon” Pines Party, subtitled “an underwater spectacle.”  The Pines’ Ellen Feldman and Hal Hayes were Casino Co-Chairs and APCG’s Mary DiFede and Troy Files, AKA Homecoming Queen Beach DeBree, coordinated the Grove effort, with the assistance of pit bosses Bobbie Green and Sue Panzer, and many volunteers from both communities.  The proceeds from the two nights, benefiting both organizations, totaled approximately $7,900.
Casino staffers, dressed as fanciful sea creatures, pirates, and sailors, dealt cards inside Whyte Hall, and spun wheels of fortune and tended bar on the deck, on the first night, as a prelude to the 12th annual Pines Party.  On the second night, Casino, in the theater, coincided with “Aqua Fever,” the winding-down party, on the deck.
Caesar’s, Atlantic City, donated cards, a raffle prize of a vacation in Atlantic City, and the presence of two go-go boys to the proceedings.

Under consideration for the future, according to APCG President Michael “Coco Love” Coffindaffer, is establishing a pattern of holding Casino in the Grove one year and in the Pines the next.

''Roaring 20's'' speakeasy scene - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Source: www.fireislandqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert

The Doctor’s Fund Benefit show, “The Roaring ’20s,” conceived and directed by Donald Labohn and produced by Meryl Facterman and Lois McIntosh in association with the Arts Project of Cherry Grove, at the Grove Community House on July 17, raised $7,520 for the Elmer A Lindsay Memorial Center, the Grove Doctor’s Fund, according to Joanne Tavis, the Lindsay Center’s President.

Joey Adami - photo courtesy of Joey Adami

Source: www.newyorkqnews.com
By Joey Adami

“Well, check the bathroom. Is he hanging from the shower rod?” Luke asked, talking into his cell phone.
“He’s in the tub-no slit wrists-just sitting there.”
“This is…going to kill him,” Grady whispered to Luke. He unconsciously bit his lower lip, tasting blood.
“Saw the invitation and, blaaahhh, all over himself,” Will said, giving a first-hand account, complete with extra-added sound effects. Grady put his phone on speaker for Luke to hear. Luke, put his hand over his mouth in a sudden dry heave motion. Even Jinx, my cat, raised his head at the sound of these uncommon vocals.
“And on such expensive stationery,” Grady protested, holding up the soiled invitation.
“Guys, I’ve got to split.”
“All this talk is killing my hard-on.” Luke tossed his phone on the bathroom sink, splashed cool water on his naked body, and returned to his “fourgy.”
“I’ll be right out,” Luke called toward the door. Even in the middle of sex, an orgy for four, there is always time for a friend in need.
The pleasantries of a bum stomach and swollen brain didn’t make a long train ride back to the Sayville terminal, to catch the ferry, any worse than complete death. To add to my morning marriage-misfortune, it was another sweltering ninety-five degree day.
Ryan Green. I scribbled that name, my first to his last, like a heartsick fourteen-year-old, enough times to still see the indentation on my desk blotter. My first love came swiftly, like a change of season, and stayed long after the usual off-to-college, Indian Summer goodbye. It was the great romance of my life-the one you never forget, for better or for worse. Right now, it’s worse.
I watched Finn enter and, pushing back the shower curtain, step over the bathtub edge. His bright blue eyes danced under the fluorescent overhead fixture.
“The guys said something about an invitation and your upset, and pointed to the bathroom door.”
“It’s just a old boyfriend and I’m invited to the wedding.”
“First love. I kind of figured,” he said, with the hint of a question, as he rested his hand on my knee. “I had one of those, too, you know. Don’t give me that face. You think you’re the only guy that has ever come along and swept me off my feet,” he laughed.
Finn turned on the shower nozzle, lifting me to stand. Finn marveled at the warmth of my body in his arms, as the icy water sprayed down. Saying nothing, I peeked out, pulling the shower curtain to the end of the rod, all my insecurities leaving with the warm fancy of a much-needed, afternoon delight.
“I love you”………..

Gear up for the next installment in the GuyFriday Summer Series of.  With a unexpected wedding on the heels of a fleeting Summer, one new found love must return to his call of duty while a friendship is tested for the first time. Who really makes it to the altar in time? Catch GuyFriday every week in New York Q News!