With more than 900 articles penned for the
Bay Area Reporter, I feel a strong connection as the newspaper celebrates its 50th anniversary this week. I ve written columns, listings and reviews since 1992. Having assigned and edited the expansive features in this section, I thought to share some behind the scenes tales as well.
My career in journalism started in 1989 in New York City with
OutWeek, the revolutionary weekly publication that emerged from ACT UP, Queer Nation, but didn t last long.
After a 1990 visit for the OutWrite literary festival, my second working visit to San Francisco was in early 1992, on a freelance assignment for
SoMa Nightclub Oasis Surpasses Fundraising Goal at Telethon With $270K Raised
Oasis appears to be saved, after a 12-hour telethon last weekend that brought an entire community of drag queens to its SoMa stage, and raised over $268,000 in the process. Now I have so much hope and courage, not just for Oasis. We want a real San Francisco to be here when this is over, said Oasis owner D Arcy Drollinger from the telethon stage on Saturday, as the total raised tipped $150,000 with the original goal of the event being $100,000. What we re doing now is banking on the future, so we can keep the rent paid, the bills paid, and weather the storm so we can be here when this is over.
In what will undoubtedly be recalled as the biggest drag fundraiser in local history, Oasis nightclub s 12-hour three-camera marathon telethon more than doubled the initial goal by raising more than $253,000 through the club s March 6 online event.
Streamed live from Oasis, the benefit, whose original target was a mere $100,000, also included several recorded tributes from celebrities, dignitaries and drag talents. Host and owner D Arcy Drollinger was joined by a bevy of guest-hosts, Dot Comme and Afrika America among them, with Mama Celeste and God s Little Princess, both injured, who nevertheless provided hilarious snark late in the event.
Just offstage, heading up the call center, Patti from HR (aka Michael Phyllis) offered witty comments as gogo guys and dragsters took donor calls. More funds flowed in through the online link as the entertainment cavalcade continued, with merely a few technical glitches.
Bay Area Reporter :: Oasis 12-hour telethon surpasses $250,000 goal ebar.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ebar.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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