Daytona Gay Nightclub Update?
A contact on WatermarkOnline.com asked us about the status of Club Zeba, the Daytona bar known for its strippers and outlandish female impersonator shows. Attempts to contact the bar were unsuccessful, but we tracked down former manager Neema Bahrami, who informed us that Zeba quietly closed its doors some time ago. He and associate Paul Anderson are now working on various ventures, including a new gay club—Rain—in Orlando. They are also promoting gay Fridays and Saturdays at the Hollywood Cantina in Daytona.
Early to Rise
You may have noticed that rainbow-striped LGBT Pride flags were already adorning street poles surrounding Lake Eola more than ten days prior to Come Out With Pride. Josh Hoskins, the ace who handles logistics for COWP, worked closely with City of Orlando officials to ensure that flags would appear throughout the parade route this year. The flags weren’t scheduled to go up until Oct. 1, but due to a full schedule of events the city went ahead and placed them early. Watermark purchased the flags in 2006 and donated them to COWP last year. Come Out With Pride organizers paid the $1700 bill for installation.
Don’t Rain On His Parade
Orlando local and former Disney talent casting director, Kevin Keyser made a dream a reality after winning a “cutest pet photo contest” on BarbraStreisand.com. Out of hundreds of entries, he and a select few others were treated to an intimate concert with Babs at the Village Vanguard in New York on Saturday, September 27. The show was to promote Streisand’s new CD, Love is the Answer, released September 29. Also in the select crowd of fewer than 200 were the Clintons, Sarah Jessica Parker, Donna Karan and Nicole Kidman.
Keyser said that leading up to the concert hehad received rude Facebook messages about his dog, a Chihuahua named Punks. “People said, ‘Your dog looks like a deer on Xanax,’ ” Keyser told The New York Times. “It was shocking.” Bitter queens notwithstanding, Keyser clearly enjoyed himself. He can be seen proudly donning his Barbra-embossed VIP lanyard on his Facebook page.
