Drama Dupree » Are Celebrity Hosts A Necessity During Black Gay Pride/Circuit Party Events… I Think Not

Are Celebrity Hosts A Necessity During Black Gay Pride/Circuit Party Events… I Think Not

Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The 2012 Year has officially begun and its no longer new. MLK weekend marked the first official Holiday of the year and thus marking the year for LGBT Pride And Circuit parties for the African American set. Atlanta hosted its ‘Unofficial Mini Winter Pride 2012′ weekend with a lack luster of fanfare and too many events to count which lead to mass confusion on the part of the patrons. Which brings me to the reason for this post.

During major Black Gay Pride/Circuit Events club promoters in major cities, Atlanta, D.C. Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston scramble for various club locations throughout the city and begin booking a list of celebrities from musical acts to B-list reality stars. My question to the those that hold our fun in their hands is WHY? Why are club/promoters spending thousands of dollars on acts who will be in their clubs for 20 minutes, won’t give us a concert, won’t allow us to take pics of them, won’t sign our favorite cds, posters, t-shirts, etc. showing our support of them? I will tell you why, its because of the all mighty dollar or so they think. If a club promoter gets lucky enough to book a major act it means they can charge outrageous prices at the door and we will line up like solder army ants waiting to meet our favorite queen of entertainment; keeping in mind that we will most likely get no showcasing of the artists talents, if they even have any.

In the past, clubs/promoters like Traxx Atlanta, Xtreme Entertainment, Lion’s Den and Wassup N Atl have booked major acts like Fantasia, Lil Kim, Nicki Minaj, Amber Rose, Evey Real House Of Atlanta with a booking agent and Dondria and we did what we do best, lined up to pay our fee to get a view from the back of the room and witness their 5 minutes of stage time. The only ones who seem to benefit from this is the actual promoter themselves and their best friends. They at the least get their pics taken with said artist to post on facebook and get bragging rights for the next 2 months until the next event. While you the lonely soul who stands in line for hours get NADA… I take that back, at least you were in the building.

Is it even worth it? This MLK Weekend, I will go out on a limb and say no. I heard through the grapevine that several club/party promoters actually lost money and were in the rears due to them booking B-List celebrities thinking it guarantees them a crowd. It was also stated that the most successful events this past MLK Weekend were those that had no celebrities and focused their funds on actually ensuring their patrons had a great time as opposed to them spending their monies on some b-list reality star with a ghetto name whose talent is fighting and reading.

Are club/ party promoters actually doing this for the crowd or doing it for bragging rights? I will say bragging rights. Not one celebrity that has been booked over the past 5 years has actually entertained us as paying fans and party goers. The only thing we as patrons got out of it was the fact that we could brag to our friends that we were in the building and leave YouTube and Facebook comments stating the same thing. So why book celebrities at all?

One of the most popular circuit events for African American LGBT set would have to be Dwight Powell’s Sizzle Miami (and no I am not promoting him nor his events). Dwight’s formula is so simple in design it begs to wander why the most well known club/party promoters in Atlanta haven’t thought of it… Cater To Your Patrons And Not To Your Egos. I know right, I am gagging. Dwight does hire celebrities to host his events and most of the time they are of the comedy set; people who actually know how to entertain a crowd without someone yelling action or without the major ego because they have one top charting single on Bill Board. No big name overly paid celebrity has yet to grace his events with their presence and guess what… NO ONE CARES! He and his staff do such an amazing job planning fun filled events for their patrons that no one notices that Nicki Minaj, Lil Kim, Kimbella or Dondria are not even in the building; they are too busy having fun instead of standing around waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting on the celebrity to show up, surrounded by 6 body guards, serving major attitude, bad weaves and more make-up than a drag queen on crack and graces our presence with 5 minutes of their time. This is of course after the fact they are 4 hours late from the announced time of arrival.

If MLK Weekend is any indication of what we can expect from our major party/club promoters in 2012 I will advise my readers to gather up a few of their friends and take trips to some dreamy location preferrably with a beach and have the time of their lives. I am sure they will get more out of that adventure than the adventure of standing in long lines, paying high ass door entry fees, waiting around on b-list celebrities, wondering why its so hot up in the club and why are Amaretto Sours now $20. Or they could go to the pride and circuit events and just make sure the event you attend is actually catering to you and not the celebrity who probably doesn’t really support you, your lifestyle or your cause.

WHAT EVENTS WILL YOU BE ATTENDING THIS YEAR AND WHY?

Tags: KANDI, KIMBELLA, Lil Kim, Nene Leakes
Posted in fashion,featured,music

Comments (11) Tweet
- Ascott1881
  
  This sums up the reason why I do not go out during pride all that hustle and bustle for nothing
- Chadd Cal
  
  Love everything about this. I would rather spend my money on vacations with people I love and know personally.
- http://twitter.com/jimmievalentino Jimmie Valentino
  
  I love the article. I’ve been to other black gay events/prides and it seems like Atl is the only city that seems to go all out to get these so-called celebrities. The last five years, ATL promoters seems to battling over who has the biggest ego and who can get the latest reality star. I will go to black gay events but I don’t think I will do Atl this year because it has gotten lame to me and I live here.
- http://twitter.com/RonaldMatters ЯonaldMatters.com
  
  In a smaller setting on a random night, sure… a celebrity is cool. But when you have BIG events like ATL Pride or Sizzle there’s no need for celebrities. When I go to those cities I know the Top 3 clubs where the crowd will be and if any of my friends will be there. Honestly if I know Nicki Minaj is going to be at Club XYZ we all pick the club across town anyway.
  
  I’m not here for her showing up hours late to perform ALL her features in 15 minutes. Last ATL pride I didn’t see Ameriie at Club Cream (not that I cared she was coming). It was SO hot in Cream I stood outside the WHOLE night. And to think, I paid money for that… I didn’t see Marsha Ambrosius or Letoya Luckett either.
  
  I go to the events for men. Why do we have so many WOMEN celebs anyway?
- Ohboynpa
  
  Great article brian that is so true. If i had the money id throw a party and charge less than 15. We need to hook up and get this thing jumping instead of paying 100 dollarsfor a celebrity u see for 5 mins if that and to come around only for money…its a waste…..btw this jonathan…..
- http://twitter.com/Nvncyble nvncyble
  
  Somewhere along the journey of entertaining the gays someone said hey get celebs to come to your spot. I think it started with just rap or r&b artists. Then for those who could not afford them then it was the B listers of TV show who has an attitude or loves the gays. I think that ATL and other big cities don’t need celebs any more. Atl promoters have shown they are capable of showing the people a good time with the right amount of space, bars, and good music….
- Anonymous
  
  LAWD LAWD LAWD! You should have done a sermon (via Youtube) on this subject and wake up these lazy queens UP. I don’t even club on a normal night anymore because I feel that it is no longer fun anymore. The clubs are overpriced and overrated. Very few club promoters gets it right these days. What happen to the good ol days where they hired divas we actually respected and OUR entertainers, and of course HOT MEN! I am sick of seeing these cypress street regulars on the stage and these 15 mins of F.A.M.E. divas.
  
  I will take this conversation a step further though! WHY is it that we can pack the clubs (and the venues are getting smaller and smaller btw) but we can’t seem to make it to the Bayard Rustin breakfast or the march? Why is that we can run to Lenox Mall but we can’t make it to the SBGA Summitt? I ask this question EVERY year but can’t seem to get an answer to that.
  
  Furthermore, these so called supporters won’t even let us take a damn picture with them but we can pay an arm and a leg just to be in the same room with these losers. I will say that I did get to meet Kandi and she was sweet and we even took a few pictures. Do these divas actually give a damn? Would they speak in favor of OUR issues? Most of these ‘divas’ are relevant for ALL the WRONG reasons and that is sad.
  
  Black Pride has indeed lost its meaning here in the ATL and that is SAD. We have all these clubs but we don’t have a GLTBQ friendly shelter. We don’t have many resources at all. Have we forgot what ‘our people’ had to endure JUST so we could party and be ourselves in peace? We have to step our game up or we will repeat history.
  
  I aint mad at these promoters for trying to make a buck but donate some of that money to the non profit organizations in those cities that are making a difference (and literally keeping some of us alive to make it to the next year). Support the LGBT bloggers out there who are supporting and posting your events! Continue to promote safe sex and invite organizations to do FREE testings!
  
  I am not attacking ALL promoters because I do know of a few who know better.
  
  I have been boycotting Prides every since because I (nor can http://theluckeystar.com) stand behind that kind of foolishness. I would rather support the ma and pop promoters is about making a difference in our community and not pacifying us with these C-list celebrities..
  
  Just my rant..
- http://twitter.com/3LWTV Lonnell Williams
  
  Wow, you really took it there! You bring up some excellent points. However, I would love to hear from some of the promoters. I saw Fantasia a few years back in ATL during MLK weekend and quite frankly, her 30 minute performance was best thing about an otherwise horrid evening. So I’m glad the promoter booked her! On the other hand I’ve seen one of those classic celeb walk thrus and all i could say was, “gurl..bye!” I’ve worked closely with Dwight (Sizzle Miami) and Will (InfenoDR) and I think you are absolutely right about the promoters like them who truly understand their audience. More recently I’ve worked with other promoters including The Lions Den in ATL and they too seem to really foucs on giving the kids a good time without pricing it through the roof. I can’t speak about anyone I’ve never worked with but there is certainly a valuable lesson to be learned from the promoters who are leading the way. Are celebs really NEEDED at a black gay pride? Probably not. Do they add a sense of urgency to the hype when creating a draw to a particular party? I believe so. At the end of the day I believe its up to the patrons to communicate what they will and will not have at any event. Your dollars speak volumes…make sure you are heard. Thanks again for schoolin the kids. You know i love you!
- http://twitter.com/dramadupree DRAMA DUPREE
  
  I am not saying that every promoter mentioned or every celeb mentioned did not serve the kids when they were at said event. What I am saying is, are they needed, who are they really there for? It would be nice if the promoters could come together as one unit on one night and book an artist to actually give us a concert during one of our many major events. Alas, I know that is like asking Keri Hilson, Beyonce and Ke$ha to do an album together and that aint happening any time soon. Does the mention of a celeb whip the kids into a frenzy, yes a top celebrity does, i.e. Mary J. Blige (and that’s all I am going to say about that).
  
  In the end I want our events to be about US and not all the time about THEM. We are celebrating pride within ourselves and our communities let us not forget that as a people… PARTY ON CHILDREN PARTY CHILDREN!!!
- Jmoore Xtremeentertainment
  
  Thank you for this post Drama Dupree. As Vice President/COO of The Lion’s Den and Xtreme Entertainment, Inc. we started in October of 2002 at Tower II (which was a lesbian bar big ups to Rachell & Angie-owners) a weekly promotion on Sunday Nights. Was a very successful night and well known within our community. Some of you may be too young to know about that. Our company was the first to be a Marketing, Promotions, and Event Planning company here in Atlanta for our community catering to professional brothers our age and I must say sisters as well at that time.
  
  We as 4 partners at that time wanted to bring something different to the nightlife here in our community, a new experience, production, something that we didn’t have. As Event Planners we came together and said this is what we’re going to do, give them production and bring in celebs. We were hearing from our customers and ourselves, were tired of going to straight clubs (Visions, 112, Velvet Room, Vegas Nights etc.) to see our favorite celebs and getting that great production partying experience, so why not bring it to our people that want to see them, that may not be comfortable going to a straight club back then and a lot of us were going to straight clubs with our heterosexual friends. We did that with no intentions on boosting the door price up to gain more money, because we all had successful careers, doing very well personally before we started and still maintained those careers while doing promotions and event planning. Most of our friends were our customer and we knew a lot of people, so money was not the excitement it was seeing the excitement on our customer faces. At that time on a regular night door price was between $7 – $10 on a major holiday $20 at every club with no artist. We kept our price at $20 with an artist.
  
  For the new kids that really don’t know The Lion’s Den/Xtreme Entertainment, Inc this is something that we’ve always done for MLK and Labor Day Black Gay Pride since 2003. This set us apart from the other promoters. We were all about Event Planning giving the kids events not parties, excitement, production and that’s what we were known for. The only ones at that time bringing in artist and celebs. Our first artist 2003 was Rah Digga at Tower II for MLK the entire parking lot was tented. Our first Pride 2003 the artist was Kelly Price and LaTocha Scott of Xscape. We did a Street festival with tents, vendors and a entertainment stage at Tower II and over 2500 people attended. Having events at other locations introducing our customers to different restaurants and venues outside of club environment. No other promoter or promotions group has ever done that here in Atlanta. For us again it was all about giving our customers an experience, something different, to walk away and say “NOW THAT WAS A PARTY OR AN EVENT” because we as gay people deserved having a good nightlife.
  Anyway without going on and on it has gotten ridiculous. After we started it other promoters caught on and used it as going after one another, how can we shut them down, how can we be the best promoter of the year and who can we bring in to still there crowd. That’s where this thing has gotten too, which is crazy and our customers are paying for it. We didn’t start this for that reason. Everyone is going after each other instead of working together and I must say that our company was the first to reach out to other promoters many times way back then and a couple of years ago about coming together. Everyone has their own agenda; egos are too big, too busy trying to be number 1. Now that some promotion groups are suffering, you somehow now want to work in unity. When you were riding high being number 1 you didn’t want to hear us or work in unity. Everyone has their season.
  
  To speak on raising door pricing some do take advantage on that. I can truly say for some of us that have been in the game for years, is not the case. Just like everything else in the world price goes up. Times has changed not only artist and celebs fees are gone up so has venue rentals, bar guarantees, security, dj’s, mc’s, photographers, stage, sound, lighting, staff, etc things that makes an event. People, being real doing an event is not cheap. It’s not just club pricing going up everything is going up food, clothing, tuition, gas and utilities you name it. You can’t pay all the expenses at the end of the night off of $10 entries. All some people see are lots of folks standing in line, that place was packed so I know they made lots of money. Little do you know at the end of the night there’s a lot of money that goes out paying people to make this event happen. Even when you throw a fabulous party at your home it cost. Some of us go in to our mortgage or utility bill money to make a house party happen. So just imagine if you host a major event, the expense is high.
  
  There was a time when money was to be made when every promoter had their own night and we were known for Sunday nights here in Atlanta, Traxx had Saturday nights, Colors and or Reggie Thomas Production had Friday nights. No one is making any money because the crowds are now split. You have 4 to 5 different parties going on each night. Everybody wants to be a promoter or Events Planner. I want say anything else about that because again I can go on and on about that subject.
  
  We didn’t have any artist at our Friday night event @ the Jungle or Saturday night event @ Club 595. Which were both successful, as for Sunday night @ Club Europe we did because that’s what we do and been doing it since we started in 2003 our signature night. We had Kandi who was one or the best celebrity host we’ve had throughout the years. She took pictures with some of everyone, VIP’s and Non VIP’s. She even stayed over her time to please the customers. This is our 2nd time having her and she was very gracious and kind she’s not money hungry at all. Love you Kand!
  
  We will continue to do what we’re always known to do or to be, innovators and creators. Making sure that our customer’s leave with a great experience at our events. For other company’s I can’t speak for.
  
  I do tip my hat off to Dwight Powell of Sizzle Miami and been knowing him for years, a very good guy. He does an excellent job and hosts a phenomenal event in Miami. He sometimes bring in some artist but he does not have to focus is energy around it because he’s the only Event Planner in Miami for our people. He does not have to worry about the crap that we go through here in Atlanta, fighting over nights by bringing in celebs to shut someone down. Once again hats off to Dwight.
  
  Being in this industry for years, it’s a lot that goes on behind closed doors, the truth of good and bad that our customers do not see or hear. People can take things and just twist it all around to give bad press without knowing the truth. Things that will blow your mind and the things that we go through as Event Planners to make a great party so that you can leave with a good experience.
  
  I tried to keep this as short as possible which is very hard to do when you’re one of the Event Planners. I’m pretty sure that my business partner President/CEO of The Lion’s Den/Xtreme Entertainment, Inc will respond. I just so happened to run across this post.
  
  Oh celebs do enhance a party or an event to give it a great experience. It just depends on the way you use them and what are your intentions or motives are on having a celeb to host your party or event. We get lots of calls and emails from customers wanting to know who is coming to Pride or MLK, so I agree with Lonnell Williams “Are celebs really NEEDED at a black gay pride? Probably not. Do they add a sense of urgency to the hype when creating a draw to a particular party? I believe so.”
  
  Thanks Drama Dupree for this post
  John

Are Celebrity Hosts A Necessity During Black Gay Pride/Circuit Party Events… I Think Not

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