Lola's Page
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
THE GOLDEN HANDBAG AWARDS - 18TH MARCH 2007
Following weeks of voting on realbrighton.com, in categories set by GScene Magazine, the winners of this years awards were announced at a star studded ceremony, held at the Hilton Metropole.
The awards were first held in 1995, and organised by Brighton Cares as a fun way of raising money for HIV/AIDS. But it was 3 years ago that the event became annual and took a front seat on the Brighton gay calender, when I was asked to help organise the show held at the Old Market Theatre, Hove. In previous years only the winner was announced, which reduced some of the excitement, and gave the impression that no one else was in the running for the award. So, the top three nominations were read out and the winner announced from them. This helped give people ideas of where the LGBT's loyalties were lying, as well as giving the awards more of an 'Oscar' feel.
This year, there were 17 different categories and more competitiveness between the eligble than ever before. We also had a new goal for the money raised through ticket sales in the form of a permanant memorial for victims of HIV/AIDS. This would be only the second of its kind in the UK, with the other being in Manchester, and the decision on what and where this memorial would be, will be decided after consultation later this year. So it was fabulous to see more interest shown to the awards by businesses and the public than before, and we had an audience of over 400 in attendance.
The setting was the Hilton's Oxford suite, which is a massive room and needed careful planning. ARENA ENTERTAINMENTS, provided our sound and lighting with a fabulous stage layout., and we were blessed by donations of floral displays and decoration of the room from FITZHERBERTS OF BRIGHTON and MANDY, FROM DECORUM. These had actually been provided for a separate event the night before, and kindly donated to us when they learnt of the cause for fund-raising from our show.
So the show arrived, and I must confess that organising the cabaret tent at Brighton Pride is a piece of cake, compared to the Handbags. I get soooo nervous, as we are putting together a show, which people are paying good money for, so we have to impress. The Hilton also need to be impressed, given the fact that they are a major hotel in Brighton, and donated their room for nothing. In the audience are the Mayor of Brighton, David Smith; Simon Burgess, leader of the Council; plus Gordon Astley from BBC's Southern Counties Radio. Plus, my first 10 minutes involves parting of information, plus new jokes! So, no pressure then!!!
Despite a delay in setting the room up, and disappearing sound men, the show started just after 7.30pm and got off to the best possible start as my new jokes went well! I was very proud of the fact that I managed to continue my running gag, at the expense of the Aquarium, Steine Street. It's nothing personal, guys. Promise! We honoured the ladies of the gay scene with awards for GIRLS NIGHT OUT, BAR GIRL AND FEMALE DJ, which was won by the delicious DULCIE DANGER for the 3rd year running! Then the Brighton & Hove (actually!) Gay Men's Chorus entertained with a very pleasant set, before our next presenters took to the stage.
They were the Mayor and former 80's pop star and one half of Dollar, Mr David Van Day. This was quite ironic, as he had managed to upset a few people at a ball in February with comments, meant as a joke, and aimed at the Chorus. The story had made the Brighton local paper, the Argus, and we were quite worried by the reaction that he would get with his arrival. However, I did defuse the situation by announcing him and asking the audience to put their backs to the wall, proving that some people are better at humour than he is!! Mr Van Day and the Mayor announced the winners for BUSINESS, DOOR WHORE/HOSTESS and MANAGER. I was delighted that JOAN BOND won her first (and long overdue) award as Hostess. The manager award provided the first twist of the evening as it was a tie between CHRIS MARSHALL of CHARLES STREET and ANDY FEEST of the QUEENS ARMS.
Our next artiste was DAVE LYNN and you never know exactly what's going to happen when he appears, so he delighted the audience when he decided to perform 'Roxie' from 'Chicago' complete with male dancers. When one of those dancers was PETE BENNETT, winner of BIG BROTHER 7, you knew to expect the unexpected. We certainly got that when Pete and his fellow dancer picked Dave up and paraded him around the room!! This was just what we needed as we approached 3 of the biggest awards for the night - BEST BAR, CABARET BAR and FAVOURITE ENTERTAINER, with the winners being CHARLES STREET, THE QUEENS ARMS and MISS JASON.
I have to tell you that I felt a sense of relief at not winning the entertainer award, despite being a two time winner and nominated, in the top 3, for the 4th year in a row. This was one of the fiercer contested categories, with all eligble contenders going all out to win! The DRAG WITH NO NAME, JAMIE WATSON, DAVE LYNN and myself had all put voting links on our respective websites, however, Miss Jason had paid for a sticker and flyer campaign, which resulted in her face appearing all over London and the South Coast!!! After showing initiative, as well as being thoroughly deserving of the award, it would have been a shame not to see Miss Jason win. Hopefully it answered a few questions about supposed 'fixing' of the results at the same time too.
The presenter of those 3 awards was COLIN FRY, psychic and star of Living TV's 'Sixth Sense'. He bought the audience to their feet with an impassioned display of emotion about a close friend he recently lost to HIV/AIDS and pledged 3000 pounds to the fundraiser. After such drama the audience had excellent entertainment in the form of GARETH SEVERN and his tribute to Robbie Williams, with a stunning vocal impression as well as an excellent performance.
Onto the second half and awards for SAUNA, HOTEL and OUT OF TOWN VENUE were duly presented before the 'listed building' of drag, MAISIE TROLLETTE took to the stage. I do sometimes forget how loved Maisie is, but was reminded by the response she got and would be reminded of that again,a bit later on. It was time for the next 3 awards honouring BAR MAN, MALE DJ and SCENE PERSONALITY. There was another tie in the barman award and the gorgeous TONY B picked up the dj award. It was then I realised that I would probably be nominated for scene personality, as James Ledward's twisted sense of humour saw that the presenters were Pete Bennett and his friend, and so NOT my friend STEPHANIE STARLETT. Not only was I nominated, (along with Miss Jason and Miss Joyride), but I WON!! Despite Stephanie's reluctance to pose for a photo - cheers for persuading her, Sam! - I smiled sweetly, but I genuinely meant my thanks to the audience and to those of you who voted, as I picked this up for the second consecutive year. Andy Feest said earlier in his speech that some people consider these awards a bit of fun, but it does mean something to win, and I, like him, thank you sincerely.
Our next artiste was the supremely talented PAUL ZERDIN, comedian and superb ventriloqist. Despite humble beginnings in Brighton, guesting with Maisie at Secrets and Revenge, Paul's star has risen and shone, and will continue to do so as he stole the show with his 'friend' Sam. With 3 Royal Variety Shows under his belt and regular headling spots all over the world, Paul took the room very quickly under his command, with Sam subjecting Gordon Astley and companion, Marie, to a torrent of abuse, albeit very funny, before magically coming to life all on his own. The audience lapped it up and gave him the ovation he deserved.
The two big awards followed for CLUB NIGHT and CLUB and were won by RELIGION @ CHARLES STREET and REVENGE. Both of these were the other categories most contested, and I was surprised that MONKEY didn't feature in the top 3 for club night, given it's popularity. But Religion was a worthy winner and provided us with our 'Gynneth Paltrow' of the night with promotor's Ben's speech. He was still talking as presenters GABBI and BILLIE moved him away from the microphone!! Revenge simply carried on reaping the awards as it has done for several years. We had one final artiste, the DRAG WITH NO NAME to perform, and with a special performance he'd put together for the night, he finished the main part of the show on a high. With a very tongue in cheek nod to his not winning an award, a fabulous in your face version of 'Grace Kelly' by Mika, and an affectionate (I hope!) dig at yours truly, he left the audience wanting more!
However, the purpose of the event is to bring the Brighton LGBT community together, and celebrate, as well as honour, our scene, and this was truly done by 3 special awards introduced by James Ledward. The first was given over to the voluntary sector and BRIGHTON & HOVE'S GAY SWITCHBOARD. Despite many obstacles and lack of funding over the years, they have fought to provide a service to those who most need it for roughly 30 years, whether it be a telephone number for a venue or service to something more important to help someone in trouble for whatever reason. The second award was to recognise the fundraising efforts of PAUL KEMP and his team at WILD FRUIT. Over the years, they have continued to donate money from their hugely popular club nights and have reached over the hundred thousand mark. The final award was for LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT and was given to Maisie Trollette aka David Raven. This bought everyone to their feet, as David made a heartfelt speech thanking everyone for their support. When I returned to the stage, I added my own personal tribute to a man who I've known for 20 years, and as James Ledward stated in his speech, gave encouragement to those starting out, not just as acts but as gay men or women. His committment to helping those around him, particularly those suffering with HIV/AIDS is so commendable, and I shed a few tears whilst doing this. And I'm not ashamed of that, although I told David that was the first and last time that that would happen!!!
And then it was all over. The awards had been given out. The winners and nominees had been congratulated, and more importantly the bar was shut! I said in my final words that I was so proud to help organise, present and be part of this event, and I've probably never said a truer word in my life. The atmosphere in the room and at the venues afterwards was fabulous and gave us another reason, apart from Pride to be really proud of being gay and being part of a community, which like anything, has it's downsides but ultimately is a rewarding exerience for all concerned.
# posted by Lola Lasagne : 6:06 PM
