On Saturday, September 17, Cherry’s threw its traditional, end of season Christmas Party and Joyce Rogers posed for pictures with the poinsettias.








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Fantasia (Mark Costanzo) and Cherry Grove’s own Gefil Tefish (Jeffrey Wallach) were elected as New York’s new Emperor and Empress by the membership of the Imperial Court of New York on September 7. They will be crowned at the next Night of a Thousand Gowns, in Spring 2006. Fantasia beat additional Emperor candidates Elias and Peter B. Gefil Tefish had run for Empress unopposed. Panzi continues as President of the Court and, in a result that has been hotly contested, Danny Gonzalez won the post of Vice-President.
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Members of the NEPA (Northeast Pennsylvania) Leathermen, whose home bar is the Silhouette in Scranton, put in an appearance at the Grove Hotel on September 3 to promote The Leathermen – 2006 calendar, in which they appear in erotic leather, S&M, and bondage photographs by Tracy Applegate. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the calendar will benefit HIV/AIDS research in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the NEPA Leathermen Benevolent Association. The calendar is available at Rainbow Dreams at the Hotel.
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Miss Sweetie opened with a frantic folk melody, beginning, “The children dance and sing,” and calculated to melt the frozen tundra. She invited us to reach for the razor blades as she turned to a torch song, declaring, “All I need is time/then I’ll get over you.” Thinking of her ex, with whom she’d had a temporarily satisfying reunion, and Arnold and Ed’s situation in “Torch Song Trilogy,” in which she recently starred, Sweetie delivered a kicked up version of “Maybe,” the doo-wop number.

In a more upbeat mood, she insisted, “it’s my turn now.” “I’ll be a queen/I’ll find a king,” she offered, during a remake of a Led Zeppelin song. Bidding the city to “open your Golden Gate,” Sweetie closed with a rousing salute to “San Francisco.”
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Linda Dickerman, long-term life partner Barbara Hirsch, and their many friends and neighbors, including much of the company of the show “Way Overboard,” celebrated Linda’s 60th birthday at her home with Barbara in the Grove on August 24. Linda, who was chosen Cherry Grove Idol in the summer 2003 contest at the Grove Hotel, is a past president of the Arts Project of Cherry Grove. At the party, tasty hors d’oeuvres were passed by Rocky, of Island Breeze, and Meryl Friedman, Barbara’s erstwhile At the Bay Realty colleague; drinks were poured by Danielle; photographer Lorraine Michels sprinkled glittery confetti on shaved heads and hirsute shoulders (very photogenic); Rose Levine wore matching lavender sweater and pants; and two festive birthday cakes, one vanilla with chocolate icing and the other chocolate with vanilla icing, decorated with rainbows, helped Linda mark the milestone.
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In a pageant at Cherry’s, hosted by Charity on August 14, Titania Tides, close personal sister of J.B. McLendon of the Tides, was crowned Miss Cherry’s 2005.




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Esteemed artist Ira C. Smith, whose business card reads “Alternative Illustration: ‘Take it all off’,” came to Fire Island, for the first time in 20 years, for a show of his erotica at the Tides, on August 6, as part of Cherry Grove Arts Festival weekend.






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Sean, a Fire Island virgin, and Walter were visiting us from Pennsylvania and the hottest thing in town, on their first night, seemed to be Kenny Dash’s Wednesday night Bitchy Bingo at Cherry’s. Despite gale winds, Kenny, assisted by the invaluable “Vanna Whitefish from the Jewish deli” (our own Sue Panzer), bravely soldiered on, peppering the games with witty repartee and trivia about Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, Madison Avenue, literature, science and geography.

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Homecoming Queen Ivanna Cocktail hosted a late night Blackout Party and pool party at the Grove Hotel on July 21.

photo by Joseph R. Saporito






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The hostess for Hot Dog Night at the Grove Hotel on July 19 was Jeanne Skinner, our community’s Post Mistress, who posed for a photo for Q News with Chris Laffin, AKA Ariel Sinclair.







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In an interfaith ceremony, sponsored by PAWS, the Pines Animal Welfare Society, on the deck of the Grove Hotel on July 17, Rev. Eleni O. Marudis gave the third annual Pet Blessing—and first Bark Mitzvah—to 38 dogs and 2 cats.
(photo by Joseph R. Saporito)



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The Cherry Grove Fire Department held its 11th annual Pancake Breakfast benefit at David’s Grill & Martini Bar on July 10. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, juice and coffee were served at this popular community gathering and several of the firewomen sported mustaches for the occasion.





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Based on the premise that two Tallulahs are better than one, the Duelling Bankheads, a pair of Tallulah impersonators swathed in black, put in an appearance at the High Tide, Low Tide event, hosted by Sweetie at the Tides, for a bit of comedy and song on July 9. Experimenting with a mnemonic device to try to remember all our names, they began, through almost impenetrable bass drawls, with “The Name Game,” which recalled a rhyme associated with jumping rope. The Bankheads congratulated Spain on approving same-sex marriage, saying Canada would be next—“everywhere but Bizarro Land” (the U.S.). When one proposed to the other, it inspired a song, after Billy Idol, “It’s a Nice Day for a Dyke Wedding,” which they volunteered to repeat at Republican conventions. The duo offered its answer to the Village People’s “YMCA,” as “Why Am I Gay,” including such jolly lines, not in the original, as “You’re a big, fat, stinking nelly queen.” “Born to Be Wild,” complete with somersaults and bumps and grinds was their encore.
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“Funderwear,” the Friday night underwear party at the Tides, presided over by Sweetie, has become a popular staple of Cherry Grove’s weekend. Tides impresario Miss Sweetie posed for a photo with some of the dancers who entertain at the parties.






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The community turned out for an outdoor barbecue to celebrate “the 36th anniversary of Jack Ebert’s 35th birthday,” on June 18 at Jack’s Grove home, Fantazia, at the invitation of his friends Bob Lerch and Jim Fitzgerald. Jack had been President of the now defunct Long Island Spuds Motorcycle Club and was a contestant in the first Mr. Fire Island Leather contest in 2001. At the afternoon party, there were good company, great food, and a decorative bartender with a knack for mixing drinks with his own special stirrer.
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On June 18, Jumping Jack’s Seafood Shack hosted the Pink Party, the first of a series of theme parties to be held on the third Saturday of each month. Pink was the theme and pink the preferred garb. Featured were open bar for an hour, dancing to the music played by DJ Bart Drago, and some surprise guests.




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Miss Sweetie played host to several parties and shows at the Tides during the third weekend of June, including a first Friday night underwear party of the season, without untoward incident, and first High Tide Low Tide, which featured an appearance by Da Lipstyxx, a hot new singing trio, assisted by DJ Texxx. The singers shared with us their “illusions of reality;” with irony, rapped energetically, “I wish I was Eminem;” urged “let’s go faster and faster, never slowing down;” and, clearing the center of the room to create a runway, for an encore confessed, “I’m a fashion ‘ho’.”
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Much of the community turned out, on this sunny Sunday on the deck of the Grove Hotel, looking for bargains at Empress Billie Ann Miller’s annual pre-Invasion benefit Drag Tag Sale, which helps pay for the Imperial Court of New York’s float in New York City’s LGBT Pride Parade. We saw many works in progress there that we’re sure we’ll be masterpieces by the Fourth of July.
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Our new Homecoming Queen Ivana Cocktail, in highest drag, all blonde and swathed in red, was the hostess for an afternoon tea at Cherry’s on June 11. Accompanying Ivana was an entourage that included Bella, Panzi, Angela Mercy, Billie Ann Miller, Peter B, and Paul and Michael, none of them in drag at all.




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An exhibit of Scott Parent’s idyllic nude paintings of men, on display at the Barbara Ann Levy Gallery at the Grove Hotel from June 10-July 4, had its official opening on June 11. The artist has also shown his work, which, he says, reflects a “sex positive attitude” and “ironic humor,” in New Orleans, Provincetown and New York City.




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It was late Sunday afternoon at the Ice Palace, at the end of a busy weekend—the PAWS benefit and two memorials. A satisfied customer amused himself on the dance floor and Ariel Sinclair posed for a picture.




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