The 2009 QueerClick GayVN Awards Recap!

2009 GayVN Awards Recap!
Didn’t get to attend the 2009 GayVN Awards? No worries! QueerClick’s ace reporter was on location and gave a full first-person report (with links to your favorite stars):
You could feel the buzz in the Westin, just off of Market Street, on Friday. People were frantically checking in, while others were doing their best to pose and be seen in the front lobby. But by far, the best part of checking into the official hotel of the 2009 GAYVNs was seeing all the unsuspecting guests who had no idea what was going on—they were just visiting SF.
Cody Cummings and Tommy Dixx
Cody Cummings and Tommy D
FRIDAY NIGHT
The weather was fantastically warm and sunny. And San Francisco was chock-full of porn stars. So why not party? The big event of the night was The Tailgate Party. This wasn’t just one party, but a collection of venues with hot men to check out. I started at Lime to see the stunning threesome, The Visconti Triplets. They’re simply adorable, but not a peep out of them. Not because they weren’t friendly, but because they’re still attempting to learn English. Oh well, I wasn’t there for the conversation, and their translator was stunningly handsome too. We also had fun partying with Cody Cummings, Tommy D, and Mason Wyler too. Although we were sad we had to leave town and couldn’t make Mason’s gay porn blog bowling throw down, we enjoyed finally meeting him in person. He’s a funny guy and sexy to boot. Lime was a blast, but it was time to move on.The infamous but delightful Sister Roma interviews Mason Wyler. Nothing’s off limits to Sister Roma but Mason comes off as friendly and well-grounded guy!
We headed down Castro and walked past Twin Peaks Tavern (aka. The Glass Coffin, due to the age of the clientele) and saw The Dirty Boy Video guys… on tramp-olines out front. It was ridiculous and the bar was packed with boys (maybe this bar just has a bad rep sometimes, because it didn’t seem like a glass coffin after all!). The place was hopping with “Show your butt” contests and plenty of give-aways. I then stumbled may way down the Castro, walking past the beautiful Castro Theater where the GAYVNs would be tomorrow night. The Castro was a-buzz, and the reputation that the GAYVNs are like the gay porn Oscars definitely rang true on Friday. You could feel the anticipation in the air.
We stopped in at the Falcon Party at QBar. Got a hug and some smile with legends like stunningly beautiful Roman Heart, smoldering TJ Hawke and then there was the fantastically do-what-I-want Erik Rhodes. Once again, I was star struck by the guys. This party was hopping. And loved spotting and saying hello to other hotties (Kyle Gillum) who were there to partake in the fun too.
Lots o gay porn stars
Needless to say, we stopped in at the Cockstar Party at Moby Dick and saw a moby dick and the man behind it, Barrett Long. He was signing autographs and the crowd was loving it. The Titan Men party was fun at Harveys, as was the Raging Stallion Party at The Edge bar. The buzz was that Raging Stallion’s To The Last Man was gonna win big. (Have you seen it? Sure a few love to say that Raging Stallion has influence over the GAYVNs vote, but the fact is: this movie is actually amazingly well done. Little details are spot on. And the sex is raw and delicious.) Don’t forget the Jet Set Men party, where we spotted Marcus Steele and David Dakota among many others. The Jet Set Men party was hopping when we rolled in and we were loving it. From there on out, we stumbled over to the Hot House party at the Lookout. The place was packed (maybe it was the free porn they were giving away). It was crazy fun. We saw Kyle King, Ethan Wolfe, Johnny Gunn, Vince Ferrelli, Luke Cassidy and Evan Matthews. At this point, we were a complete mess… so many porn stars, so much fun to be had. So, we made a point to stop in at just one more – the Bel Ami Party at 440 Castro. These boys, Dolph Lambert and Luke Hamill were jaw-droppingly beautiful and fun to hang out with. We ended up going back to a few of our favorites and loved that everyone started mingling and hopping from bar to bar. Although we didn’t see it, we heard the Bel Ami boys actually snuck out and were out most of the night. You can’t blame ’em, we all were. This Tailgate Party was fantastic. With speciality drinks to be found such as The Golden Shower (made with Jack Daniels, 7-Up and lime), The GAYVN (a strawberry lemonade martini), and The Casting Couch (sort of a Tequilla martini). Oof. My head hurts just thinking about it.
This was all great, until we realized I needed to be functional and get up at a reasonable hour on Saturday.


Visconti Triplets in QueerClick T-Shirts are three times the fun!
SATURDAY: We were scrapped ourselves together and met in the lobby and headed to Sister Roma’s Pre-Show Brunch Fundraiser at the Lookout. (Weren’t we just here a few hours ago?! Oh yeah. Yes, we were). I think there will be YouTube footage of this… but this was pretty cool to see Tim & Roma film their famous interview show right in front of us as I gingerly nibbled on some food. There was lots of gossip about who would win and what people were up to. In the afternoon, I met up with Visconti Triplets again to see their new Visconti-branded Fleshjacks. I loved the video that was shown showing how they molded the Fleshjacks (I will never understand how anyone could stay hard when molding a cast of one’s cock or lips!). The boys were good sports too… and I loved it when they stripped down and busted out their QueerClick tees. Wow! They never looked better. … but I needed to recover from the night before… with a little shopping. Simon from Buddy Profits joined me and we had fun checking out the gorgeous men of San Francisco and finding good deals.
After a good nap, I showered and got ready for the big event. And I got asked to join the Next Door studs and yep, those Visconti Triplets along to the show. Everyone looked incredible with their own red carpet look. The Visconti Triplets caused quite a buzz as they worked their way through the crowd in their white, backless vests and beautfiul bare chests. It’s hard to explain but to mingle among legends like Ty LeBouf, Matthew Rush, and hotties like Ricky Sinz… and then to see legendary directors like Steven Scarborough and Dink Flamingo.
gayvn2009_dinkbarretbrent.jpg
Barrett Long with Brent Corrigan and Dink Flamingo, among others
And then the show began…
The 2009 GayVN Awards was held at the Castro Theater
The red carpet was ridiculous. Crowded and filled with swoons and gasps. With the Visconti Triplets, and the Next Door boys right in front of me, it was fun to overhear the comments “Hey boys, c’mon a my house.” (sang a’la Rosemary Clooney) “Oh my god, they really are triplets. WOW.” and other comments like, “Mason looks so hot in person” “Fuck me, Ricky Sinz” … Of course to see Matthew Rush, Ty LeBeouf, Brent Corrigan, Roman Heart, Scott Tanner (who looked like James Bond and I nearly jumped on him and made out with him right there), Ricky Sinz, Eric Rhodes, Trevor Knight, among a million other favorites and yes, even Michael “I am a misunderstood Derek Zoolander” Lucas and his always amazing suits. I was in porn star heaven. I could have been trampled and killed by Bruce Vilanch and I would have died a happy man. It was amazing to be in that small lobby or up at the bar and find myself thinking, “Oh my god, Barrett Long just rubbed up against me!” “There’s Logan McCree and Vinnie D’Angelo. Mmmm, mmm, mmmm what I wouldn’t do….” It was also fun to be amongst the creators of porn too, Phil St. John was his wonderful crazy self. Mr. Pam was fantastic as always. Dink Flamingo looked stunning as well, by which I mean that you’ve gotta admire a man who knows how to accessorize with military men on either side of him, (not to mention the fucking dreamy Cole). And amongst all of the oooh-ing and ahhh-ing, I found myself just as amused and delighted by the shows hosts Alec Mapa and Margaret Cho. How fun to see them before the show started and have comments to share with them like, “Oh my god, look at that ass!” and Margaret would say, “Grrrrl, I know!” I wouldn’t see the other host Janice Dickinson until later. We were all told to take a seat. Did I mention I could have died right there and been totally happy?
Our power naps (from the tailgate party’s craziness) had worked and the energy was fantastic. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. The theme (which I still don’t quite understand) was that of a football game. A big game. Hmmm… insert your own conclusions about that. Anyway, the show started off on the right foot—with a ridiculous, over-the-top bang! A gay marching band and SF Cheer, the city’s talented group of gay cheerleaders ran up on stage and performed behind a screen of a crowded stadium. It was loud, boisterous and fun. The cheerleaders were awesome, doing flips and forming pyramids and the crowd went wild.
Lots o porn stars
One thing you have to understand is the GAYVNs are a ridiculous mess. Like Showtime at the Apollo. There are cat-calls, people get up and scream, having not had a chance to eat, Mason and Tommy D. actually grabbed a slice of pizza across the street and came back. People get drinks. And the show sometimes just falls a part, where no one is sure where the next nominee card is or who’s doing what. And criticize that all you want, I absolutely loved, LOVED how irreverent this show is. It should be… I mean, its motherfucking gay porn for god’s sake. And Alec Mapa (in my opinion) stole the show. He was spot on and made the awkward moments hilarious. Like when a break in the award giving that involved football players charged the stage formed a huddle and revealed their was a cheerleader giving fake blowjobs to the team fell completely flat and left people scratching their heads… Alec called it out and found a big laugh from it. Loved that. And lets not forget the excitement of seeing Margaret Cho who would stand and wave every time she got mentioned. Loved it. In addition to her song written to Ricky Sinz’s 9-inch cock. Her guitar (which “if Madonna can do, it can’t be that hard to learn”) playing was adorable. Let us not forget the I-am-sober Janice Dickinson who at one point was just jumping around stage like a crazy woman, unable to keep her hands off the beauties on stage. Who could blame her. She is ridic, but you’ve got to love her. I admire anyone who can rock heels like hers, let alone anyone who can make us laugh over just posing and stumbling over the hot men. (I just wish she would have brought JP Calderon with her!) And we loved her joking about who would be the top or bottom with Margaret Cho— Margaret was declared the power bottom.
To The Last Man
I don’t think anyone was too surprised that Raging Stallion had a landslide victory with To The Last Man. There was even a comment made about “how this was rigged and Raging Stallion didn’t deserve to win.” Ahh, sure… sure. Create all the conspiracy you want, but the fact is… if you go and watch the film (even the 4 disc super set), you’ll realize the production… everything from the quality of the cinematography to the music were spot-on incredible. I’ll stand behind this statement: It absoluetly deserved to win. The movie is a call to others and proof that a high-quality production can reap rewards (and recognition).
I eluded to it earlier. But I absolutely feel like Michael Lucas’ calculated charge on stage to call out Brent Corrigan as “almost sinking the industry” or his comments about a video-taped Chi Chi LaRue being hypocritical about supporting testing and safe sex was classic-Lucas PR/attention getting. When you’re not the big draw this year, why not kick up some dirt to get the spotlight turned on you. While his comments caused a few to boo or nearly run on stage to attack him, as an observer, I have to admit he helped make the show more interesting. And like him or not, what he called people on are truths. The industry has had some big missteps. And in a show that encourages cat-calls, random unscripted and uncensored moments, and intoxicated co-hosts (where’s Janice now?)… Lucas adds to the overall charm of the show. While over the top, there is some truth in the things he pointed out. And while he too looks a little hypocritcal saying such things, we love that he isn’t afraid to endure the criticism. It makes our jobs and lives far more interesting. And in reality the squabble wasn’t THAT big of a deal on stage. And it didn’t unhinge any part of the show.

The half-time show was a drag performance that including a hysterical strip-down to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” with our three performers in a strap-on dildos with diamond rings on ’em. They brought down the house with laughter and kudos for their interpretation. Ms. House of Dereon should be proud.
Much like the Oscars, the show ran long. And up at the bar or the bathroom, you could overhear a few grumbles. But the reality is, the show moved along. They mixed it up and kept things going. In fact, the Internet awards were simply announced as a group with no one coming on stage, and winning envelopes thrown onstage. Did I mention this show was irrreverent? At that point, I appreciated them keeping things going (and so did most everyone else_.
However, there were touching moments with sincere thanks yous and a very human, fun side to all of these performers and producers of our favorite pasttime.
Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho (thanks to AVN for the pic.
So many anticipated Margaret Cho’s appearance and she killed as expected. She was hysterical and including one of her classic mom jokes: Something about how sexy texts to a lover are great, but you’ve got to be careful about accidentally sending them to someone right below the person you intended. Especially, when you accidentally send it to your mom and the resulting phone call back, “I am so exciting you are cumming over.” Margaret did not disappoint, none of the celebrity hosts did. I still contend Alec Mapa and his cute black shorts stole the show with the best jokes and laughs. They were all unique and so fun to laugh with. Janice included too, who I thought had left the show… ran back over by Margaret Cho after someone joked about Margaret doing bumps of coke to stay awake toward the end of the show. Hilarious comedy. Wow, once again… I contend what makes the GAYVNs unique and fantastic is it’s a show not afraid to “embrace the mess” that it is. It may be the “Oscars” of the gay porn world, but it clearly doesn’t take it self that seriously… and I’ll keep going to them for that very reason.
Quite frankly, I think this show just keeps getting better, year after year. Seriously. Although some were bitching (because thats many like to do). Overall, the crowd was charged and happy. And as we all walked out, headed to the after party, there was much happy buzz about the perfomances, the laughs (and there were many) and the award winners.

Apr 01, 2009 By paperbagwriter 1 Comment