Gay Days Expo at Doubletree by Hilton

Gay Days was held in Orlando from June 3rd to June 9th. There were pool parties galore but each had a rather pricy cover. I decided to document the Gay Days Expo at Doubletree by Hilton Orlando (10100 Universal Drive Orlando FL). The expo featured vendors of all shapes and sizes. I discovered that the hotel charges for parking, so I drove down the street to an office complex I had once worked in and borrowed their garage. I had to walk maybe a quarter mile over to the hotel. This is the way I work exercise into my daily routine. It was of course a hot sweltering day, but the rad near Sea World cut through ancient palmettos and palms. It was like taking a stroll through an undeveloped Florida landscape. The view was only occasionally interrupted by harsh stylish hotels.

When I got to the Doubletree, I noticed someone painting a curb yellow on the opposite side of the driveway. I could small the paint. As I walked toward the hotel entrance, I glanced behind me and was horrified to see a trail of yellow foot prints leading back to where I had stepped into wet paint. The guy had painted the curb I had stepped on and not bothered to put any warning tape around it. Who in Florida would ever walk into a hotel? It is unheard of I suppose. My yellow foot prints were fading as I walked. Hopefully all the paint would were off before I entered the hotel lobby. Just to be sure, I scuffed my souls several timed.

It turned out that the expo hadn’t started yet. Today was the day that vendors set up their booths. I was given a swag bag with condoms and other information for safe sex and invited to look around if I wanted to. Only a few booths were set up, but in a separate room, the sex toy paraphernalia was almost ready. Fairvilla Megastore had a booth that was ready for business. A mannequin wore some strange briefs that hugged the glut muscles. The vendor made sure the packaging was tight in the crotch. Another vendor unwrapped and hung his merchandise carefully. Several muscular men came in from the hotel pool and started asking questions. Their skin was still wet and glistening. The product the vendor was hanging is used to somehow stretch a mans ball sack. I never knew that a large and sagging ball sack was an attractive thing to strive for. One of the bathers noticed me and said, “He must be hearing everything we are talking about.” I shouted back, I sure can, why do you think my legs are crossed?” Everyone laughed and they continued to discuss the best way to stretch sacks. Now I have to wonder if my own sack lives up to the ideal.

Other items on display included blowup dolls, dongs, items in leather and lace and feathery masks with Viking horns. Now the Viking horns were an item that I add spice in my day to day life. There were Midget dolls, Milf dolls, and dolls named like Big Jon, Jack, Miss Anna, and Bareback. Boxes were unpacked with care and time was running out. Vendors were told they only had 15 more minutes to finish for the day. Plans were made to go to The Parliament House for a party that night. There were parties all over town, but this would be my small taste of Gay Days for this year. When I left, my yellow footprints were still visible in the parking lot, but a warning sign and tape were now around the painted curbs. “Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints.”

Girls at Gay Days Kick-Off Party “One Hot Mess”

Drip, ( 8747 International Dr. Suite 102, Behind Denny’s and Senor Frogs, Orlando, Florida), has been hosting parties and performances for Gay Days all this week.  I was slated to do a painting live of two Drip dancers in an erotic embrace, so I went to the women’s kickoff party, “One Hot Mess.” I arrived at around 10pm and the 8:30pm performance had just wrapped up. After a performance there is a monstrous amount of clean up work that needs to be done. Wet sand has to be shoveled aside and all the water has to be removed.

I settled in a chair near the Drip T-shirt paint station where red, blue and yellow paint is available. As I started this sketch of a body painter at work, I got pelted with blue and then red paint. Women were slinging the paint at each others shirts, and I was in the line of fire. The blue and red splotches can still be clearly seen on my sketch. One woman apologized and I said it was fine. You know going in to a party called “One Hot Mess” that things could get messy.

The woman whose body was being painted didn’t have a top on, yet the Drip logo across her chest hid any signs of nipples. She checked her cell phone often as swirls and wings were being painted on her back. Jessica Mariko‘s voice announced that the dance floor was now open.  Two drip dancers worked their magic in the center of the room while the DJ cranked up the eardrum splitting beats. Jessie Sander did a solo rain dance performance standing in a kiddie pool under a Drip paint can chandelier. The crowd of 50 to 75 women were loving it.

Later three Drip dancers performed a new number I had never seen before. They each had a sack filled with white powder that covered their bodies and filled the air in rich thick clouds. After that, Jessica wanted me to do my live painting In the main dance area. Lights pulsed green blue and yellow. Painting under those conditions would be a challenge. Regardless I set up my portable easel and the dancers, Meagan Nagy and Paige Metelka, posed in front of a back lit screen. The canvas was more textured than expected and the paintbrush would run dry too fast. Regardless, I just tried to cover the canvas as fast as I could. Surprisingly this was the one time when I felt that acrylic paint was taking to long to dry. Whenever possible I shouted to the intertwined dancers to take a break. I was sweating up a storm and they had to work hard to keep the pose. When I stepped back, the canvas was a hot mess but I learned a lot doing it. A woman asked if it was for sale and I sold it on the spot. In my rush to clean up, I forgot to sign the painting. Painting on a crowded dance floor pushed me out of my comfort zone but sometimes, that is a good thing.

Two shows for the Ladies remain…

8:30PM-10:30PM $35 DRIP Shows- for the ladies (all female cast). Drip 8747 International Dr. Suite 102 (Behind Denny’s and Senor Frogs), Orlando, Florida

11:30PM-1:30AM $35 DRIP Shows- for the ladies (all female cast). Drip 8747 International Dr. Suite 102 (Behind Denny’s and Senor Frogs), Orlando, Florida

Drip Gay Days

Through June 1st, Gay Days is being celebrated at Drip on International Drive (8747 International Dr. Suite 102, Behind Denny’s and Senor Frogs, Orlando, Florida). Tonight, May 31st, there is an all male cast performing at 8:30PM and 11:30PM. On Saturday June 1st at 8:30 and 11:30 there will be performances by an all female cast. I had seen the all female performance before, so I wanted to see how the tragic love story played out for the men.

The band got on stage and soon the room was ripped open with the ear splitting riffs of David Traver who also is the music director for Blue Man Group. Quickly the room was filled with men. The male dancers performed inside a makeshift inner structure where paint and sand flew. Jeans were suspended from the ceiling and when tugged they became erotic showers of sand. People were screaming and shouting.

Overall the show’s story remained the same, Blue and Yellow spark a romantic dance and as they smear their colors together they turn green. There is infidelity and a very sexy scene performed under pulsing strobe lights. With the men there was a bit more masculine shoving and athletics. Yellow was left to wash away the past to find some sense of self.

I found out that Jessie Sander who usually dances the part of yellow in the production was seeing the show for the first time as an audience member. I saw her watching the male Yellow’s every move and she shouted encouragement at the top of her lungs. The male cast had three weeks to rehearse and fine tune the show. Jessica Mariko, Drip’s founder stood on the side lines watching the show unfold. At one point she whispered to a male dancer in the dark offering advice.

There is no passive seating for the show. The audience stands on either side of the huge performance space. Everywhere inside Drip is a splash zone, everyone gets wet. I knew when to close my sketchbook this time to preserve the sketch. When water balloons were handed out to audience members, a big bear of a guy hid behind me to try and avoid getting pelted by his boy friend. I ducked left and right and he followed my every move. Ultimately he was pelted.

Weekend Top 6 Picks. 

Saturday June 1, 2013 

6PM-9PM  Superman Art Show, Acme Superstore 905 E. State Road 434 Longwood.

8:30PM-10:30PM $35 DRIP Shows- for the ladies (all female cast). Drip 8747 International Dr. Suite 102 (Behind Denny’s and Senor Frogs), Orlando, Florida

11:30PM-1:30AM $35 DRIP Shows- for the ladies (all female cast). Drip 8747 International Dr. Suite 102 (Behind Denny’s and Senor Frogs), Orlando, Florida

Sunday June 2, 2013

 8:00AM-10AM Free Total Body Transformation Workout. Gaston Edwards Park – Lake Ivanhoe Boat dock / next to Gargis 1414 North Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL

7PM-Midnight Free Jesse and Amy get hitched and reception/open jam all nite! On the Rocks, Lake Eola Park 195 N Rosalind Avenue, Orlando, Florida 32801.  Everybody is welcome! Only request is that everyone wear some sort of white shirt (for photographic reasons). We’re def not expecting wedding gifts (gravy boats, microwaves,etc…) but if you’re so inclined, we are trying to get a house, so any cash donation would be welcome (again, not in anyway necessary). We just wanna have the coolest wedding/jam fest EVER!! Bands are welcome to do 2-3 song sets, but must use stage equipment (except for guitars, if u want your own) and notify Jeremy Hagen so he can organize the chaos. We’re hoping the jams just materialize outta the insane assemblage of all the musicians in the house.

10PM-Midnight Free Sick Of It Presents: Rancid Karaoke Cover Set. Will’s Pub 1042 N. Mills Avenue, Orlando, Florida 32803. You come up out of the crowd and sing your favorite Rancid songs with a live band…YOU’RE the singer!