Date 3/WinterPRIDE

I went on my last mystery date for Xtra West yesterday. The article is going to be amazing. I’ll post links to the teaser interviews here on Up Your Alley when they appear on Xtra.ca next week. Here’s Bachelor #3:

I’m going to try to get my hands on some photos from last night’s Rock the Hem Line event as well. I LOVED emceeing and so many hot models. Congrats to Rob Trinh and Brandon Howe for throwing a successful charity fashion event. Thanks to Celebs for hosting and to DJ Jeffrey for burning it up on the decks.

I promised some WinterPRIDE coverage, and here’s my newsy piece for Xtra, with photos by the incomparable Brandon Gaukel:

Oh, look at cover models Mark W and Sean L… so hot and beardy!

And here’s a text version of my Cocked & Loaded column for those of you who don’t get the hardcopy Xtra in your area:

Cocked &
Loaded

How easy is it to play spot the gay in Whistler
Village during WinterPRIDE?

Shit girl! Some days I was trying so hard it felt
like gayzers were going to shoot out from my eyes and wreak rainbow havoc
throughout town.

The problem with Whistler is, of course, the snow
gear and goggles and toques. They are like sunglasses… in the way they make
most people uniformly attractive.

Yet still, wandering through the Whistler Village
and checking out guys, I was left wondering: are they gay or straight? Fat or

thin? Old or young? Hot or hideous? After four days, I was ready for a head
explosion… a clear sign that I will never live in a ski resort town and amen to
that.

Which is why it’s important to go to the Après Ski
and evening parties during WinterPRIDE, which ran from March 1-8 this year. If
you’re looking to meet other gays and lesbians during a Pride festival, these
are some of the best places to do it.

The fantastic programming — which expands every
year — provides mixed events as well as parties targeted specifically to men,
women and bears, which I’ve decided is the new third gender (sorry, trans).

One of the new offerings this year from
Gaywhistler.com and Alpenglow Productions Corp was an indoor pool party at the
Meadow Park Pool Recreation Centre.

It’s hard to imagine that after 29 years on earth,
I’ve never been to a recreational centre with drag performances and a live DJ.
I’m also pretty sure that I got herpesiphighonorritis from an over-capacity hot
tub, living proof that what happens in Whistler doesn’t stay in Whistler.

On a side note: I don’t mean to be a bitch, but “You
have a lot of tattoos” as a conversation opener at a pool party full of
skimpily clad men is a sadgedy of epic proportions. I get it. I have a lot of
tattoos. I can see my arms, right?

WinterPRIDE’s Friday night, just like last year’s,
presented an event showdown that left many visitors playing picky-choosy. On
one side of the plaza, the Priape-sponsored Furrocious party at the Longhorn
Saloon. On the other side, the Celebrities Nightclub-sponsored Snowball at the
Garabaldi Lift Company.

This year, I modelled some leather gear for Priape at
the Furrocious event and let me tell you, parading around in a leather
jockstrap in a packed room full of men with mountain fever is a recipe for
disaster.

Still, the hour I spent at the sold-out Celebrities’
event in the DJ tent on the patio (also new this year) was the best dancing and
best crowd I saw all weekend. Promoter James Steck, you’ve figured out the
right recipe. Keep it coming.

Despite its expanded programming, WinterPRIDE’s
roots are in its skiing and the big Saturday night circuit party. Olympic
restrictions left organizers with no choice but to hold this year’s circuit
event at the Roundhouse on top Whistler Mountain, and the $90 ticket price
included dinner.

Dinner at a circuit party? That was another first
for yours truly… sort of like offering a buffet at a bathhouse (which happened
at a Queer Film Festival 2008 after-party…does anyone remember that one?)

I was happy to leave the venue at 1am when the
lights went on and Hex Hector played the infamous buzz killer “You Got A Feeling”
by the Black Eyed Peas. Next year, my only request is for a different venue

with a later closing time, something I’m confident Gaywhistler.com will
provide.

Despite venue restrictions from the Olympic and Paralympic
Games, WinterPRIDE being held two months later than it normally is and
Games-related burnout, I think Dean Nelson and Ken Coolen did an amazing job.

If you want more information on this year’s event or
to start planning for next year, visit www.gaywhistler.com.

Some things I’ll be checking out over the next two
weeks:

Rock the Hem Line at Celebrities Nightclub on Thu
Mar 11 will feature collections from four local designers. I’m hosting this one
and all proceeds go to the Play 4 Phil Foundation. Come out and support a great
charity.

The newly redesigned J-Lounge (formerly Jupiter) is
launching a Sunday brunch and T-Dance series this month. I’ll be at the launch
on Sun Mar 14 with Vancouver’s first gay top model Aaron Ursacki.