Gay Games Closing Ceremony

Saturday afternoon concluded a great week in Chicago, as we were privileged to be the host city of the Gay Games VII. At 3 pm, I joined my brother and my visiting friend Melo (pictured above) for the closing ceremonies of the Games at Wrigley Field.

Now, after the problems of the opening ceremony, in which the program started out great but quickly lost steam and became quite boring for far too long, I was a bit concerned about whether or not they would learn their lesson and make the closing ceremony any better.

And, I will gladly say that they did a much better job in most respects. Personally, I would have been happy for the program to be entirely entertaining without any of the "political rally" stuff, but I understand and appreciate that there were likely many there who felt that to be very important, and I think they did a good job of keeping it in balance and not letting it go on and on and on and on like in the opening ceremony. In particular, the speech by Leigh-Ann Naidoo I thought was captivating and powerfully-delivered.

But, I am getting ahead of myself. The ceremony began with the entrance of all the competitors from the games. Unlike the opening, where each country or US state was introduced individually (which took a long time but had a wonderfully-satisfying conclusion with the pride flag of lights that they created), this time they just all came out in a huge stream from two entrances in the outfield.







And, the procession was the very first thing while spectators were still coming in and getting settled, done while the Gay Games VII Mixed Chorus sang several very nice and fun songs (though when they sang 'Seasons of Love' from Rent, that got a little bit too gay for my taste...just kidding, of course).



Following the processional, BETTY performed a unique and very cool version of the US National Anthem, certainly not your typical performance of the tune, but far more entertaining than most.



Next, Dylan Rice and Chuck Panozzo performed a song called "The Faces of Victory" that was written for this ceremony. It had a nice tune, but they were apparently having problems with the sound set-up, because most of the words were kinda muffled. After the song came one of those moments when you have no doubt this is a gay event, the performance by the various cheerleading teams that had come in for the Games, presented ever-so-stereotypically to the song "Dancing Queen." Actually, although the cheerleaders get their fair share of ribbing (humorously, even from us gays), the performance was well done and quite impressive.


*Note - The video clips in this post were not filmed by me, but all the photographs were taken by me.

Then, just as the ceremony was hitting full stride, they brought out the two directors of the Federation of Gay Games who gave their obligatory welcoming speeches (i.e. - 'pat ourselves on the back' speeches). They spared us from the tediousness of the opening ceremonies, but they still had nearly killed the momentum of the program when Poppy Champlin came out with a great comedy routine (the second-best of the night).



We breathed a sigh of relief as Poppy kindly got us back into the spirit of fun in which we came to the ceremony. But then, they brought out the cast members of The L Word (Pam Grier, Marlee Matlin, Daniela Sea), and they were awful. For people who supposedly are so talented and are in the business of entertainment, they were one of the most boring and unprepared parts of the entire show. It seemed as if the only reason they were out there was because they were famous, so write-ups about the event would mention they were there.

As we were about to doze off, they introduced a group of belly dancers, who might as well have been a Cubs game for all the interest it generated from the crowd. By this time, I was about to have flashbacks to the interminableness of the opening ceremonies, especially when I saw the next program item was greetings from about 10 politicians. Mercifully, only one spoke, and her job was simply to introduce each of the others for applause, after which they left.

Desperate for something to salvage the show before it became as uninteresting as stories of Rosie O'Donnell's love life, we found ourselves looking to a very unlikely hero, Chicago's very-own and oft-mocked ROTC (Righteously Outrageous Twirling Cops), who performed a routine to "Don't Leave Me This Way." All I can say is, I offer public apology for any disparaging comments I made about the ROTC in the past. They were thoroughly entertaining.



Next came a short speech by Billy Bean and his introduction of South African Olympic volleyball player Leigh-Ann Naidoo, who gave a powerful and moving speech about the need to continue working for equality around the world. It accomplished in five or six minutes more than about two hours' worth of the opening ceremony that was dedicated to the same topic.

Her speech was followed by the ceremonial ignition of the flame (I'm not even going to joke about that, way too easy). This may very well have been the low point of the ceremony, as some group banging drums (I think they were at least; we could vaguely hear something coming from the field) stood out there and pounded away with no audio support from a single microphone. The sound was almost completely lost and certainly had no impact when, in their dramatic conclusion, they all lifted their hands simultaneously and the little flame popped out of the torch. Instead of being dramatic, it was almost comical.



Fortunately, during these intermittent dull moments, we were entertained by a couple drunk guys who seemed to be enjoying every moment of the show, so it was bearable.



Finally, we got to the stuff that can make any gay event successful: divas, dance music, showtunes, sexual humor, hot gay cowboys, and Cyndi Lauper. The run began with performances by Ari Gold and Kristine W (I hate to suggest she was overdressed for the occasion, but I'm sure she wanted to look fabulous).







Sharon McNight performed "Impossible Dream" (beautiful) and "Stand By Your Man" (fun, especially watching the guy in the row ahead of us trying to sing along when he knew only about half the lyrics). This led in to one of my favorite moments of the ceremony, the DC Cowboys. As Sharon McNight left the stage, the theme from Brokeback Mountain came over the speakers, and two cowboys came from opposite sides of the field, met, and made out passionately, to the cheers of all of us who still fantasize that someday, somehow, our Heath Ledger will come. They were joined by the rest of the DC Cowboys who did some totally fun dances, including one to (of course) "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy."





They were followed by the comedy of Ant, who was very funny. I loved his arguments that gay people, rather than being inept at sports, very likely were the originators of many of the sports (such as boxing... "two topless guys, in silk shorts, fighting over a belt and a purse" or baseball..."nine men running around diamonds, trying to get into a batter's box").

Next were two guys that I have never heard of before, Eric Himan and Levi Kries. Perhaps I am just ignorant about them, but neither of the two who were with me knew who they were either.



The songs were fine, though it would have sucked to be them, since everyone in the place knew what was coming next...



Yes, Cyndi Lauper, the headliner of the show, came out in a dress that the Statue of Liberty would wear if she was a lesbian, performing "True Colors" and "Shine." Interestingly, she was the only part of the ceremony that was not announced by the PA speaker. I thought that was a pretty cool compliment, as if to say, here is someone who needs no introduction. The crowd loved her, of course, and she was a great way to close out the entertainment of the show.



The remainder of the ceremony was the routine that closes out events of this type. The Federation of Gay Games flag was brought out onto the field by representatives of Chicago, led by Mayor Daley, and it was passed to representatives of the city of Cologne, Germany, where the 2010 Gay Games will be held.









Mayor Daley said more well-prepared and thoughtful remarks, receiving the warmest ovation he has received recently, I am sure. He then declared Gay Games VII to be over, at which time the unremarkable flame unremarkably went out. He then passed off to Elfi Scho-Antwerpes, the Deputy Mayor of Cologne, who gave a speech that went a bit too long. However, I had to admire the courage of someone who would stand up in front of such a large crowd to give a speech in a language that was obviously not her first.



As the flag and representatives left the field, the chorus sang "Take the Flame", the official anthem of the Gay Games. Then, in what may very well be the most anti-climactic (and, frankly, odd) conclusion ever, interpretive dancers performed some sort of dance, after which they grabbed armfuls of little pom-poms that were supposed to look like torches, I guess, and handed them to people in the first rows of the stadium seats, as "Amazing Grace" was sung. The pom-poms were, of course, immediately swallowed by the size of the crowd, and then it was over. No big impressive finale, just the PA guy thanking us for coming.=





All in all, though, in spite of a few hiccups, the ceremony was enjoyable, entertaining, appropriate in length (just under 3 hours), and memorable.

I left the place feeling rather melancholy, knowing that such a time I may never see again in this life, but yet I was enriched by the experience and determined to be a more involved and dedicated member of the gay community.

Just kidding.

Actually I was just dying for a drink by that point.

In conclusion, here are two final video clips. The first is a nice 8 minute montage someone put on YouTube that shows highlights from the entire ceremony. Nicely done:



And then, because you can never have too many Brokeback Mountain tie-ins, here is a clip of a male couple competing in the figure skating competition this week: