Manes moves to the front
Orlando Weekly featured writer Billy Manes will soon retire his popular back-of-the-book “Blister” column. The dishy slice-of-life diatribe has poked fun at local LGBT celebs from Patty Sheehan to Michael Wanzie. But the bitchiest barbs were reserved for Manes himself, who often shared his misadventures in the tragic underbelly of Orlando’s club scene. Manes has recently carried most of the Weekly’s investigative cover stories, and he told Watermark he found the assignments incompatible. “It didn’t seem right for me to talk about serious topics like homelessness or politics on the front pages, and then spilled drinks, poppers and sex on the back page,” he said. Upward and onward, Billy.
Ba’aser Birthday
It seems like just yesterday that a fresh-faced strawberry blonde funny man emerged on Orlando’s LGBT scene. But believe it or not, actor-comedian-radio personality Doug Ba’aser turns 50 at the end of the month. To celebrate, his friends will roast him at the Parliament House on Monday, March 29, from 8-10 p.m. The event is a fundraiser for the Paul Wegman Memorial Scholarship Fund. Participants promise to rip Ba’aser a new asshole—because the old one is on display at the Orange County History Center.
Bookstore gets bounced
Since Out & About Books closed almost a decade ago, Orlando hasn’t had an LGBT bookstore. The closest thing was Urban Think! in Thornton Park, and now that trendy retailer is closing its doors at the end of the month. “We’ve never been able to make it profitable,” said co-owner Bruce Harris. Most of us associate the bookstore with its longtime manager, the very literate Jim Crescitelli, whose wonderful blog can be found at
JimmyBoi2@WordPress.com.
Kudos and condolences
Local actor/designer Jesse LeNoir was eliminated from Project Runway two weeks ago, but it wasn’t all bad news. He was married to fellow actor Brittany Berkowitz last weekend. Asked about his experience on the Lifetime reality show, LeNoir was diplomatic if a bit cagy. “It’s not for everyone,” he said.
