2022 - You Were A Mean One
2022 was quite the year. I kicked it off by opening the first date of 50 Shades of Gay at Pangea in NYC for a special love edition for Valentine's Day on February 12th. The night was incredible. Little did I know, 48 hours later, on Valentine's Day, I would lose Tyrone Desperado. His passing is such an epic loss for me, that in order to shade my grief, I've booked many dates for the show this year. Immediately following the NYC gig, I then put together a memorial tribute for Tyrone at Pangea. It was a night I will never forget. We celebrated his life with songs he loved and had some laughs too. The talent that came from near and far was exactly what he would have wanted: Tym Moss, Miz Cracker, Jeza Belle, Coby Koehl, Margoh Channing and Gio Michaels. Shout-out to Albert for providing so many great pics of Tyrone during the memorial, they were truly beautiful creations, loved them.
Following that night the tour continued, 50 Shades went to the Magnetic Theater in Asheville NC for 3 nights selling out. Off to Spotswood, NJ where we did the show for a benefit for veterans, selling out and adding more seats and selling out again. In June we hit The Annoyance Theater in Chicago for 3 more nights. In July we were lucky to perform at The Lounge in Boise, Idaho for another 3 nights selling out and we truly had a ball with founder Jen Adams and her incredible staff! October we hit NYC again at the Copacabana, where after 6 years, finally got to sing my Copacabana parody without changing the venue name! Our last stop was a Christmas version of the show for two nights in Fort Lauderdale in December.
Of course it doesn't end there, I was able to bring back Lube: The Gay-sical for 3 nights in Providence, RI with the mega talents of Tym Moss, Sam Oz Stone and Isaac Ryckeghem. There was one point in July where we had 6 performances in 10 days with 2 different shows.. I was also able to finally bring my new Holiday show, " Mary, What Child Is This" to the Triad Theater. This show was originally supposed to come out in 2020, but finally seen the light earlier this month.
Tym and I had another great year with Season 2 of Loose Lips hitting record number of viewers in new countries and cities and we will be back for Season 3 in February!
Thank you to all the incredible hosts who invited me on their shows/podcasts! I would also like to thank my super sponsors, E. Martin Davidoff, Attorney At Law and Uberlube for their support and giveaways this year as we would not be able to go around the country to entertain!
Last year, I was working with the incredible Suze Stuzman of Suze "GX" Designs for a couple of costumes with 50 Shades of Gay, and this year she nailed it again with 'two costumes in one' for my new holiday show. She brought my vision to life on many occasions, but this was a showstopper! She created beautiful GAY fans for our trip to Florida and provided lovely giveaways for the show. Thank you! And to Angel Elektra who I have been wanting to work with since 2017, and created a costume for me, also in the Holiday show.
My love to everyone who shared a stage with me this year: Tym, Miz Cracker, Jeza Belle, Margoh Channing, Gio Michaels, Coby Koehl, Wendy Stuart, Jacequline Dupree, Spjork, Derry Queen, Viktor Grimmm, Danielle Mayes, Sam Oz Stone, Isaac Ryckeghem, Riley Burrows, Angel Elektra and Shay D' Pines. Many thanks to Jed Ryan, Joesph Aiello and Joe Preston for also lending their talent to my Christmas Video this year.
Thanks to Shannon for helping on many occasions this year on tech, you have been a dream to work with since 2017!
Our love to Nancy Kucharski who we were able to hang out with on two of our stops in Asheville and Chicago!
What is in store for 2023? Well, I should be traveling with 50 Shades of Gay again to a few cities (check the website for dates), but I will be bringing to the stage, FINALLY, a short play I wrote, my 14th original show, at some point to a venue in the city by spring, and perhaps a new book!
Thanks to Tyrone Desperado for all the incredible pics/posters throughout the years, all your encouragement and faith in me since I began this journey. Your work will be missed. I want to send my appreciation to Nina, who immediately took the reigns and has been taking pics and creating the new posters.
To Nick Lion for always dressing me in the BEST clothes and jewelry and making me look like I know what I am doing in the wardrobe department.
But most of all, thank YOU for your support and making 2022 a great year, by coming to my shows and traveling out to see us do what we love to do. Hope to see you in your hometown next year!
Have a HAPPY and HEALTHY NEW YEAR!
Peace and Love,
Ike
