- Beautiful People at Table 15
- LI Gay Mens Chorus Member and Best Bud Enjoy a Moment
For the past four years Outlook-Long Island and the Thatched Cottage have collaborated and held The Outlook Awards Dinner & Dance to celebrate the advances of our community, its groups, and its movers and shakers.
My partner and I were to have attended the 2008 awards ceremony, but he had taken ill and we could not attend - Walter had 7 heart bypasses less than a week later. (Last year we also missed the event.) So the award for Best Business that I won is probably still somewhere in Outlook-LI’s office … I will collect it one of these days.
Due to the health reasons mentioned earlier, my partner Walter Ratuchny and myself have (regretably) not been in attendance at many community events since 2008′s Endless Summer Party and that year’s Long Island Pride Parade. However we were determined to attend this year’s event for a much needed night out (and to cover it for both Pride Entertainment Online and this blog.) We are very pleased that we attended as we got the chance to meet a lot of wonderful people and see many friends we’ve not seen in a while … As I said, we don’t get out much.
With international cuisine and impeccable service provided by Ralph Colamussi and his team at the Thatched Cottage in Centerport, the event was a fabulous evening that annually brings many people together within our community. (I even learned that Colamussi will be opening Jellyfish, a second eatery specializing in Seafood cuisine down the road from the Thatched Cottage within the next few months.)
As I have already done so elsewhere online, I will not go into detail about the show except to say that Mistress of Ceremonies Ariel Sinclair’s performance was, as always, crowd pleasing and DJ Harry Zebroski of In The Mood DJ Productions was awesomely good.
During the dinner itself, Walter and I had the pleasure of being seated at ‘Table 7′ with the proprietors of The Bunkhouse and the effervescent and adorable Ian Crawford (who is one of our favorite people). Elaine Shapiro of the Bunkhouse and Elaine Petzold of Video Magic and their friend George Leppla were also a lot of fun to be seated with. Throughout the evening we shared many laughs, and we feel grateful to have made some new friends. Across the aisle from us at “Table 15″ were several old friends we also hadn’t seen in a while … Nick Montalbano and Vinnie Maita. Nick once volunteered for CommUNITY House of Long Island (CHOLI) on Movie Nights and at other CHOLI events; I used to sing with Vinnie in the Long Island Pride Chorus … Lord how I miss those days!Next to us at “Table 11″ were several people who I believe may have been with LI Crisis Center/Pride For Youth as they gave such a raucous cheer when Pride For Youth was mentioned as a nominee for Best Health and Human Services Organization. Thursday’s Child of Long Island is another Health and Human Services organization that was another nominee in this category – Greg Noone serves as E.D. for this fine AIDS Charity, that has helped many people (myself included) here on the island.
Glenn Hanson and Pete Daly both got their start with CHOLI; Glenn as part of the Fundraising Committee, Pete as a CHOLI support staff member. It is very satisfying (at least to myself) that Glenn and Pete have gone on to remain active in the community with the award-winning Monday Night Fourplay and the Human Rights Campaign of Long Island.
- Sharon Gillen, Madison Mansfield and Ian Crawford
Political officials and candidates (and/or their reps) were also present.
One such candidate present was Regina Calcaterra who is running for New York State Senate in the first district against Ken LaValle. Calcaterra gave an impassioned speach as to why she is a more logical choice to unseat Senator Ken LaValle.
On the other side of the dancefloor Suffolk County Legislator Jonathan Cooper and his husband Rob Cooper were seated. Jonathan Cooper has sponsored many environmental, human rights, housing, and child protective bills that are geared to improve the quality of life of our community.
Near to the Coopers were the owner of the Long Island Eagle, Al Lawrence; and Helen Radziewicz former proprietor of the legendary Club 608. Both as business people and as individuals have been active in the community for decades
The Two Eileens: Eileen Shapiro of the Bunkhouse and Eileen Petzold of Video Magic
It is also nice to see that music has once again become such a vocal part of our community [Couldn't resist that silly pun]. The Long Island Gay Men’s Chorus has made great strides since their formation 2 years ago. The stylish musical group under the Executive directorship of Carlos Serano delights all those who attend their concerts and public appearances. Mike one of the chorus members that I met at the awards) also has a style of his own. His long white coat brought him many admiring glances, and reminded me of Boyzone’s Stephen Gately who frequently sported a similar styled coat as well – Mike even resembles the late singer.
Former CHOLI board-member Stephen Flynn has also been very active in recent years – as chair of the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Although the LIGLFF was once a project of CHOLI, it has gone on to be one of the most attended and most popular cultural event in the community, something that serves as a testament to the hard work of all those - past and present – who have been involved.
The Long Island Gay Mens Chorus
