On Friday, August 8th, 2008, Bruce Yelk & http://www.nightlifegay.com/ , in association with BUCKmonkey, presented the 2nd Annual Mr. Gay Philadelphia contest at the University of the Arts’ Levitt Auditorium. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was there I ran into my old friend actor Jesse Archer who hammed it up for me, on the otherhand maybe he was just being Jesse.
I also ran into a columnist i love to love and hate, who told me he was dreading the upcoming NYC Fashion Week. Looking at his sense of footwear fashion I could see why. What the hell is this?
He was being interviewed by an equally put off interviewer from New York Edge, I can’t recall his name, but anyone who starts a conversation with “Does Philadelphia have an inferior complex to NYC?”, well I stammered in shock and said it’s not that we have inferior complex, it’s the fact that people constantly compare us to the #1 largest City in the country. I futher explained, having lived in NYC, that Philly is the way NY was 10-15 years ago, the way New Yorkers with NYC was like still; plus it’s much more manageable. If anything we complement NYC, but don’t call us the Sixth boro, that my friend does irk some people as I have found out. He did say that Philadelphia is a cleaner version of Boston, so I will give him that much.
Bruce Yelk of NightLifeGay.com produced the Second Annual Mr Gay Philadelphia contest hosted at the Gershman Y on the Avenue of the Arts. Here he instructs the judges on what to expect for the evening. Thank GOD Jesse brings the color to Philadelphia.
Bruce walks by Michael Musto and his look alike younger version. MM spent most of the time away from the other judges, maybe it was old hat to him, maybe he thought he was the star billing, maybe he was staring into the eyes of his new young love, who knows, but I didn’t get a lot of dirt out of him because of his distance. A few of the guest enjoying their Smirnoff. Mr. & Mrs. Dino & Carrie Minelli and Scott Barnes. Carrie & Scott are from Cashman & Assocs. A major PR Firm in the City. A lot of the events I cover are via their agency. http://www.cashmanandassociates.com/
Wayne Bowman & Mr Philly Gay Calender Ric Andujar
If there’s one good thing about gay people it’s about judging, whether someone is judging us about our lifestyle, or we are judging them about what the hell are they wearing? Tonight’s contest brought it home as these contestants will be judged on formal wear, swim wear and of course Q & A – it’s not all about looks, it’s about personality too, and these are the folks that will be doing the judging. Not a bad looking group to be judge by (missing Mark Segal, and Michael Musto who both seemed to be preoccupied with the company they brought, and I don’t blame them) Judges: Dr Frank Spinelli, Project Runway Jack Mackenroth, actor David Moretti, actor Jesse Archer, 1994 Olympic Gold Medal Winner Bruce Hayes,

Project Runway Jack Mackenroth and 1994 Olympic Gold Medal Winner Bruce Hayes. Since 1991, the two have been good friends having met when Jack begun swimming ith The New York Aquatics (TNYA) team, among the largest and most respected in the country. Largely gay, the squad competes regularly at age-appropriate mainstream competitions. Mackenroth was honored as all-American three times and ranked 22 times in the top 10 by the national adult league, United States Masters Swimming, which comprises all U.S. teams. Bruce was glad to spend tonight participating in tonights Mr Gay Philadelphia, but his mind was on the Olympics, as he won the 1984 Olympic gold in Los Angeles, anchoring the U.S. men’s 4 x 200 m. freestyle relay team in what is widely acknowledged as one of the most exciting races in Olympic history, coming from behind to out-touch West Germany’s Michael Gross by .04 seconds and setting a word record of 7:15.69

Michael Musto scribbling notes as Jesse Archer tells him of one of his many wild adventures; You can read some of them here: http://www.jesseonthebrink.com/
Jack & Jesse camp it up as Bruce looks on. This was the “Backstage” area. Although the auditorium has new a/c this room was hot on many different levels. The Philadelphia Mr. Gay competition is Philadelphia’s premier one day event – garnering more press and celebrity than any other event in the region. The winner will go on to the U.S. Nationals and represent Philadelphia in the competition.
This is a shot about an hour before the show. My friends thought because I had to show up at 7:30PM, the show started at 8PM, but the show started at 9PM and they enjoyed thier cocktails before hand. Last year the event sold out, this year the City was full of competiting events, firstly Laura Burkhardt’s 2nd Annual Big Bang Birthday Party, then of course it was 08/08/08, the first week in August where everyone goes to the beach, and the biggest crowd drainer, the Opening Night of the Olympics. All in all it was a good crowd, but a big venue.

The co-hosts for the evening were Brittany Lynn and Sirius Satellite Radio Frank DeCaro, who is also on the Game SHow Network’s new program “I’ve got a Secret”. It was no secret that night, that Frank declared he lost 35lbs on Weight Watchers and is happy as a clam about it.

The contest was broken up into three parts, with entertainment in between segments. The University of the Arts Dancer’s were amazing
Then the contestants were introduced. Jason Brown representing Matthew Izzo clothing store and hair salon. Here is Ken Medley doing his best tribute to Bernie Mac Dennis Kinney represents STIR Philadelphia.

Derek Gibson represents the 12th Street Gym.

Matt Vlahos says if Derek’s a trainer, he will be switching his membership because he wants that body, er he want’s his body to look like his body.

You will see more Speedo bikini swimsuit swimwear in the next few photos than on any other beach besides Rehoboth Beach “Poodle Beach” Here’s Matthew Maguire in his Speedos;

Neil Grieves – His Myspace pages says: “they say that I’m cruel and I’m evil but how else can a starving boy be??”Male 28 years old Exeter (not too far from philly), PENNSYLVANIA United States. To say he’s a huge Vanessa Williams fan, would be an understatement.Ric Andujar representing http://www.phillygaycalendar.com/ and John CaputoRepresenting: Joe Pesci with Mr Gay Philadelphia 2007 Andrew Petruzelli 2007

31 year old David Bolduc Representing: Tavern on Camac Thom McIntyre Representing: Pure showing his sense of street style. Check out those boots. Tim Laskey

Ken Medley wins for Mr Congeniality

I was backstage when Steve McCann of http://www.phillygaycalendar.com/ interviewed the constestants, and msot of them said “I can represent Mr Gay Philadelphia because I am not your typical gay man, I am just a man who happens to be gay.” ie their Match.com ads probably say “Straight acting gay man date me”, this was also a question put forth to one of the constestants. According to Angelo Pezzote’s new book Straight Acting: The Truth Behind the Myth “I think there’s basically two camps of the young generation. One that fully embraces who they are, censoring nothing about themselves, and wanting to be recognized and treated just like anyone else—which represents progress.However, other gay youth ditch the gay label, wanting to be seen as “normal” from that place of shame I’ve been talking about.”
One of Philadelphia’s most dynamic performers, Marisa K. Devine, is performed at the event. The performance featured an exquisite set design, Asian themed resplendent costumes,
The judges hard at work
At one point Brittney Lyn played I’ll show you mine if you show me yours…

The rules to enter the Mr. Gay Philadelphia Contest are stricter than the Big Brother or American Idol shows.

Mr. Gay competitors.
-The Contestant must be 18 years of age by the date of the competition.-The Contestant must self-identify as a gay or bi-sexual male and sign a Release Form that assigns rights to all images including film of his participation in the contest series to Community Promotions & Nightlifegay.com. -The Delegate is not currently in open criminal proceedings, on felony probation and does not have a felony record.
-Contestant must provide attire for the following competitions: Evening wear and swimwear – both of the contestants choosing.
-Photograph for pre and post promotions.
-Biography
-Contestants may participate in the contest from any region of the country.
-Contestants must report to Gershwin Hall by 5:00 p.m. the night of the event.

tension mounts, Johnny really wants this to happen

Brittney passes her magic hand over the contestants heads
and settles it on Johnny Caputo the new Mr Gay Philadelphia 2008
Johnny’s sister is very proud and was part of his rooting section all night. She told me that he worked out hard to get in shape for this contest, and that he deserved it.
it was really wonderful to see all the support he had.His 15 Minutes of fame begins NOW. Here three of his new fans want to pose with him, David . writer Gary Kramer, and director Robert Gaston, who should probably get Johnny’s infor and cast him in his next film.
Congratulations to John Caputo Mr Gay Philadelphia 2008