Leaving THE PLAYGROUND

I know for the past month I have been trying to promote my being one of the dancers at Splash's new Sunday night basement event, THE PLAYGROUND, but I must now inform you that I am no longer one of their dancers. I did nothing wrong, so I wasn't told not to come back. In fact, the promoter, Bobby Austin was very much hoping I would come back. And due to my respect for Bobby, let me firmly state that my leaving has nothing to do with Bobby Austin. The choice of me leaving is mine. Now, if it was my choice alone is what stands to be investigated, because my leaving is totally about the venue, Splash.

If I didn't believe that Bobby had a good idea of having a variety of dancers, I would not have promoted my being one of his dancers so heavily (this blog, my website, my MySpace and DList bulletins), or even agreed to being one of his dancers for that matter. The problem is that his idea that invites variety was held at Splash, which is a place that (as I have written before) does not embrace variety.

Bobby Austin's great idea was not promoted well on Splash's end as any competent management would have. If you saw my update page, and how often the date and design of the ad for my appearance at Splash changed, that fault lies with Splash, and the aggravation I'm about to express towards that are my sentiments alone.

Bobby Ausitn emailed me one day to inform me that the date had been moved up a week. OK. So I changed the date on the ad on my website and bulletin posts. THEN Bobby emails me to inform me that Splash had a problem with the original name for the night, "HARD Attack Sundays". They wanted something more generic.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE.

Splash also didn't want any advertising for the night that they didn't OK. Now even though my website is self-owned and self-maintained, I would have no problem with removing the ad IF the promoter and venue both took some iniative in promoting the night. Therefore, while the event may be at your place yet you take no initative, where do you get the fuck-faced audacity to say do not to promote my part in it on my website? But since Bobby did take the iniative, out of loyalty to Bobby, I reluctantly removed the ad until I heard otherwise from him.

And it's not like I didn't give Splash a chance to correct themselves. Every week before the debut of the night, I checked Splash's ads in HX and Next Magazine. If (and that's a big "IF") I saw anything about HARD Attack Sundays or THE PLAYGROUND it was only mentioning that there were lap dances (with no mention of the low cost compared to other places) and the letters were small enough to not catch your eye. So it was if we were being set up to fail. This led me to have to decide whether or not I should stick with an event I believe in, even though it's not getting the proper promotion it should from the venue.

At first, I was also a bit annoyed by the fact that none (if any) of you showed up, but I had to realize that whenever I said something about Splash being Chelsea Boy Central, and no longer being the NY gay mecca that it once was, many of you agreed saying how you didn't like it anymore either. With that in mind, how can I blame you for not showing up? I'm not arrogant enough to believe that as much as you may be fans of mine, that my presence can make you want to spend a cover charge to see me at a place that has over the past few years fallen beneath your standards.

I guess the reason I was so willing to give Splash a chance is because if you recall, Splash is where I had my sexual awakening. But back then, a variety of types of men were more accepted. It was almost like the 70's revisited there. What is such a shame is that those days was just 5 years ago. And since then, Splash has become a place where the only ones extremely welcomed are gymrats and twinks, and of course the old men who believe their lives are so empty that they allow themselves to be financially drained by either one or both. So I now have to realize that the hey day of Splash is an important part of my personal history and growth, instead of it's present day incarnation.

As they show the show must go on, as the show "THE PLAYGROUND" still does - just without me. And I feel no regrets about my decision. I have a great deal of respect for Bobby Austin, and I am very willing to dance for him again. Just not at Splash, or a venue I know to be managed as poorly.