Mr. Paddles 2016

On May 18th, at New York City's most exciting BDSM hotspot, the Wednesday night men's party Handsome NYC hosted the "Mr. Paddles 2016" Contest! The event featured an underwear fashion show featuring Modus Vivendi, a contest, and a play party all at the same time!  Sexy full time socialite Andres Fabian hosted hosting the search for the new Titleholder as the current Mr. Paddles Rob Ordonez passed the sash to Michael Russnak!  The evening included myself as a celebrity judge along with Ambrosia Amore, Joe Manetti, Scott Reynolds, Hunteur Vreeland and Jed Ryan. Alexis Flame was MC and official photographer was Lester Blum.  The unforgettable evening took place a the City's most notorious adult playground, Paddles at 250 West 26th Street in the Chelsea section of New York City. 

AIDS Walk New York 2016

I had a wonderful experience being part of the 31st annual AIDS Walk New York 2016 on May 15, 2016.  The event raised over $4.5 million and drew an enormous crowd of over 30,000 participants.  Hundreds of corporate sponsors, teams, organizations and tens of thousands of individual walkers collectively raised critical funds to support people living with HIV and AIDS and to stop new infections.  The 10-kilometer walk benefits GMHC and nearly 40 other vital AIDS service organization throughout the NYC tri-state area.  The millions raised today demonstrate the true New York values, and American values, of everyone who walked today: compassion for people in need and a deep love of their community.  I had a great time working with my friends from the Imperial Court of NY, Empress Sugar B Real, Emperor Tree, Audra Fox, Miriam Makeda, Tatyana Monet, Stefani Victoria Spears, Zondra Fox, Kevin and many others. 

Mother's Day at The Ritz

I had a wonderful time making a special appearance and performance at Mommie Dearest, a charity fundraiser that celebrated Mother's Day on May 7th at the legendary nightclub, The Ritz in midtown Manhattan's Times Square area at 369 West 46th Street.  We celebrated all kinds of motherly-love including birth mothers, drag mothers, theater mothers, movie mothers, and all the nurturing and inspiration they provide.  We did this with a fun, camp comedy performance while screening the classic Mother story film of all time, Mommy Dearest.  The wire hangers that decorated the club that evening gave a nice touch.  I live sang the classic "Don't Tell Mama" from Cabaret. Other performers from the Imperial Court of New York included Emperor Tree, Empress Sugar B Real, Emperor Ritz Kraka, Empress Madison Mansfield, Princess QT Pie, Billy Little, Chocolatina Q Dessert, Giovanka De Medici and many others.  The fantastic event provided us all with a mother of a memory! 

INVISIBLE Media / Art Project

I want to tell you all about this exciting and fascinating new project that friends are working on. Creative director, Vladimir Rios and photographer, Lester Blum have teamed up, once again, to  work on a new photo/video documentary – Invisible.  Last year this team brought focus to HIV/AIDS with their powerful photography narratives – Warrior of Hope and I Still Remember.

Invisible focuses on individuals who either feel invisible themselves or feel that society treats them as invisible because of physical or mental disabilities, disease (HIV/AIDS), age, weight issues, gender, sexuality, etc.  This documentary is an educational piece that will bring awareness to those who feel invisible in a multifaceted presentation of still photography, testaments from the individual as to why they feel invisible or why society treats them as invisible, and a video presentation where the individual will tell their story.

Invisible is scheduled for a gallery exhibit opening in August, 2016 in New York. We are seeking a diversity of individuals to be included in the project who would like to share their story of invisibility. With the presentation of Invisible we would like to increase awareness of how society treats and reacts to people. 

To see some behind the scenes images and learn more about the project, see the Facebook page, Invisible https://www.facebook.com/photographyinvisible/ 

Contact Lester Blum at lbphoto18@gmail.com if you are interested in being part of the project.