Party on

Well, there’s a fresh breath of life in the old girl after all. Saturday’s Mardi Gras party was top fun, and will go down in history as both a return to form and the one where NMG chair Marcus Bourget stood on stage and basically begged someone -“ actually, anyone -“ to have sex with him.

You’ve got to give him credit. Calling for a root in a packed RHI still reverberating to Jimmy Somerville’s glittery rainbow-flagged show is a lot more direct than putting up a Gaydar profile and waiting for hits.

And my sources tell me it worked, as well. Thank god. What would it have been next? Sky-writing? An infomercial?

Speaking of our wee lad Jimmy Somerville, Saturday was the second time in as many weeks I’d seen him sing. Though he was in good voice both times, I think he was a bit confused by the exuberant Mardi Gras dancers on Saturday night. Anyway, he didn’t seem to object to being pushed and pulled around the stage.

Unlike several other SSO staffers, I didn’t quite make it to Ibiza’s stilt-walking drag artiste Baby Marcelo. I have, however, seen enough impersonations to make the following report: Baby Marcelo walked on stilts and screamed in Spanish and said Up Your Ass! A lot.

I also missed the Queen of Trance Jan Johnston’s shows, but apparently I wasn’t the only one. Even the people in the Hordern when both shows were on seem to have missed them as well.

Whoever decided to turn The Venue Formerly Known As City Live into My High School Formal should be congratulated, and how. It was the most ridiculous fun I’ve ever had at a Mardi Gras party, and I never thought I’d see podium dancers going off to Phil Oakey’s Electric Dreams.

Anyway, a small number of knockers started typing early Sunday morning. Apparently the party was too crowded and too straight. Oh, and some straights were laughing at some gay costume choices.

Actually, that was me. I always marvel at the people who lose their pants at a party. Do they check them in?

As for the crowds, they’re the whole point. If we didn’t have a crowded party, we couldn’t have a crowded festival and we wouldn’t have a city as gay as it is. And I, for one, like it just like it was on Saturday night.