| September
2001
By Barry
Jones
 "As
another summer draws to an end I look back and reflect all
that has taken place and the new relations that have formed."
Well, it has been a most busy and eventful summer. I personally
have been all consumed with Dock and felt we needed
a day away at the Grove. So I phoned some friends who had
never been to Fire Island and took them to the Ice
Palace for the fundraiser for GOAL (the Gay Officers Action
League). The event was exciting with various raffles and networking
going on. Hats off to Maggie Arroyo and her people for their
years of support to Long Island's gay and lesbian community,
especially in assisting all of us with our fundraisers
In planning
another day, I had remembered my old friend Priscilla was
at the Grove for a couple of weeks, staying at the Belvedere.
So, I gave her a call and made plans to dine together. I also
called old friend Michael Pepito of the Bunkhouse fame and
asked him to join us at our favorite restaurant, "Top
of the Bay." "My God," exclaimed Michael,
"This should be interesting Priscilla's Poop and Scoop
meets Socially Speaking!"
Well,
I explained to Michael that Priscilla (AKA Jim Pizzo)
and I had become very close during the planning of Dock
of the Bay and that Ms.
Priscilla had single handedly
taken on the task of laying out the Dock of the Bay
Journal for GALFOLI.
I also added that the poor creature spent 3 days at our home
perfecting the journal with marvelous results. Of course I
kept interrupting the poor dear with community conversation
and note comparison.
I kept
spraying the poor dear with every perfume ever made to see
if she like them while I was making silent auction baskets
for Dock. I also added that at one point we were having
so much fun I was going to ask her to move in with us. This
shocked poor Michael. The dinner at Top of the Bay
was superb as always. I go there so often that it has such
of feeling of being at home. We had a fun and interesting
conversation over dinner although I do feel that Priscilla
and I gave my poor partner, Jim and Michael a headache with
our constant jokes and laughter.
Priscilla
wears quite a few hats. The most notable the hat is that of
the Executive Director of the Long
Island Pride Parade. Jim Pizzo and the board have a lot
to be proud of between the parade, which is a major undertaking
and their other events. They have an upcoming fall dance on
Saturday September 22at the VFW hall in Sayville plus the
"Fabulous Winter Ball" on Sunday, December
2nd at the WestLake
Inn at Patchogue. Their plate is full. So along with all
of these fundraisers, her bi-monthly Priscilla column, her
real job, her personal life and some upcoming GALFOLI
fundraisers that she is helping out with Ms. Priscilla is
a very busy girl. And speaking of Ms. Priscilla's personal
life, does anyone know who that young man is that she was
lip locked with in the Dock of the Bay Silent Auction
Tent????
The community
was out in full force for GALFOLI's Dock
of the Bay (DOTB) 2001. The weather held out and so
did I. The Board of Directors consisting of Bill Borman, Jim
Coppola, Veronica Phillips-Moreno, Tony Scardace, Pat
Perry, Walter Jackson, Peter Miller, and Dennis Mannarino
did a superb job as a team hosting this annual event.
 This
year's DOTB honorees, Jon
Cooper, Camille Gnolfo,
Tom Maligno and Helen
(Club 608) Radziewicz were applauded for their years of
dedication to Long Islands gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
community. This years sponsors, Fleet
Bank, Art Trap Productions,
LIPP Magazine and of course, The
Bunkhouse are also applauded for their continuous
support to our community. Special thanks to Michael Pepito
of The Bunkhouse
for handling and dealing with various issues that take place
when planning an event of this size.
 The
attendees were a who's who of the community with people like
Sara Woolf, Kathy Rosenthal, Maria
Mezzatesta, Stephen
Sebor,
David Kilmnick, Ken Shanahan, Frank Lapple, Joan Bloodgood,
Susan Patterson, Jed Ryan, Rob Mellilo, Ralph Colamussi, Louis
Trapani, Venise
Charles, Paul Paquette, Maxine
Postal and many other leaders and supporters of our community.
The dance floor was elbow to elbow thanks to DJ Terry and
the "Fabulous Jimi LaLumia."
 The
bar at DOTB, orchestrated by The
Bunkhouse was a positive joint effort by the best of our
Long Island bars and bartenders. Bars that participated included
Club 608,
Forevergreen,
Auntie M's, Blanche,
Thunders,
Luxe, Shi Bar, The Long Island Eagle and of course The
Bunkhouse. These businesses provided liquor and/or their
services for the event generating over $2,000.00 in donations
to GALFOLI at the bar.
The event
took in over $30,000 for the Gay
and Lesbian Foundation of Long Island (GALFOLI). GALFOLI
provides funding and fundraising support for other grassroots
501(c)(3) organizations that improve the quality of life of
the GLBT community on Long Island. It also should be noted
that this year's Dock of the Bay has also shown how
cohesive our community on Long Island can be.
"Community
Connection" is a name that you're going to hear
a lot. Louis Trapani of Art Trap
Productions is a volunteer and supporter of every organization
and person living on Long Island. He came up with this wonderful
concept. An online GLBT interactive publication, the website
consists of local news and events, world news and events,
a discussion line and miscellaneous columns by various Long
Island writers such as  Jed
Ryan, Rick Cullen,
myself, soon to come Ms.
Priscilla Pride's "Poop and
Scoop" column and others are signing on as we speak.
As I said before, Louis has volunteered or donated his services
pro-bono for years to our community now lets help support
his endeavor and make it a huge financial success if you would
like to advertise, or contribute in any way please go to licktheweb.com.
I
spoke to my friend Bill Borman. Or should I say everyone's
friend, Bill Borman? Bill, who is the President of the Nassau
County Lesbian and Gay Democrats, wants the community
to be aware of their "Meet the Candidates"
night that will be held on Tuesday, September 25th from 7:00
PM to 9:00 PM in the Democratic Headquarters at 300 Garden
City Plaza Suite 240 at Roosevelt Field. Admission is Free
and refreshments will be served. All democrats endorsed by
the Nassau County Lesbian and Gay Democrats have been invited
and several will attend. Hey Bill, as I told you my friend
Priscilla and I were speaking and we are anxiously waiting
for you to run for office. I am quite sure you will have the
entire support of our community. How about it???
Upcoming
events:
"Men
in Rouge" on Wednesday, September 12th at The
Bunkhouse benefiting Long Island Fights AIDS; LIFA is
3 organizations, AIDS
Care, Thursday's
Child & Positive Rainbows (FEGS's Gay HIV+ Support
Group)
"The
Long Island Pride Parade Fall Dance" on Saturday
September 22nd in the VFW hall at 400 Lakeland Ave in Sayville;
www.liprideparade.com
"The
Rocky Horror Floor Show" on Friday & Saturday,
September 28th & 29th; $10 Donation for Breast Cancer
at Forevergreen
in Lindenhurst; www.liforevergreen.com
"The
Fifth Annual Breast Cancer Fundraiser" on Friday,
October 5th is "The Auction" and Saturday, October
6th is "The Benefit"; both at Forevergreen
in Lindenhurst; www.liforevergreen.com
"The
Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival" is
Wednesday, October 11th thru Sunday, October 14th at the Cinema
Arts Center in Huntington; www.liglff.org
Please
email me at SocialSpeakingLI@aol.com,
if you have any comments about this column, questions about
any of the people or organizations mentioned or would like
an event covered.
Till
next time...…Barry
Photos
by Louis Trapani © 2001
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