Happy Hallowe’en and Samhain

Michelle and I want to extend our thanks to everyone who attended La Bal Masqué Nocturne! We may have been the ones to put it together, but YOU made it happen! We had an amazing time because we saw so many friends, and made new ones, all of which had a good time. This was the best weekend of my life!

To answer the many questions, yes, we do intend to make this an annual event. It will remain in Arizona for now, but with enough interest, you could find LBMN appear elsewhere. We had so many — SO MANY — people come to us and ask us if we were doing it again next year. It WILL happen again, likely October 2007, just probably not Halloween weekend again. When a new date is chosen, it will be announced.

Second, yes, there are photos. My digital camera didn’t handle the dark well, and later in the evening when the fog was thick, the flash caught all of the fog and washed out. I’m bummed about that. However, we had five cameras around the Ball and folks took pics with those. We’ll get them developed ASAP (i.e. when we find them all, LOL). Photos are already being added to our flickr account.

We learned A LOT doing this event. This was our first year. They say there are always problems and mistakes made in the first year. We also came nowhere close to breaking even. There will STILL be a donation made to the American Cancer Society. We will do our final tally and once the bills are paid, we will present them with a donation.

All I can say though, is if the turnout this year is any indication, next year’s La Bal Masqué Nocturne will be a force to be reckoned with!

Special thanks and mad props go out to the following amazing people:

May, for being the poor victim of a reanimated vampiress statue’s mad quest to find the sexiest, smartest, most incredible young woman to be her heir. All hail DarknessBound, our beloved Comtesse Desiree!

Dee, for always being there, emotionally and spiritually, even when the phyisical world is pushing your buttons. You are a goddess, and you are loved. You’ve been a huge supporter of the Ball, and more importantly *us*, from day one, been our ally and procurator of the coolest stuff. We owe you more than we can ever say.

Brianne, for being another rock, nay a jewel, in our world. Beautiful and unbreakable.

Billy, for being there not only as a guest, and someone I’ve wanted to meet forever, but who was by my side practically the whole night setting up and tearing down the Ball. Thank you for the wine, too, my friend.

Chuck, for being an ever-present source of inspiration and information. Thank you for the AMAZING VR Hummer to Trans Friday night! I may have sat outside that night instead of dancing the night away, but that’s my pace and I got to hang out and chat with folks and ride in a f’n sweet limo!

Tom, not only for being a great help this weekend, but I have not laughed so hard in my life. You were the best stress reliever I could have asked for.

Jason, you rocked that kilt man! Thanks for your help this weekend, and for being the hoopy frood that you are!

Jason, aka Maxwell, thank you for your help also.

Shannon, thanks for the decorations and for pimping the ball.

Karl, Nikki, and Krystal for being our sounding board and support in planning from the beginning. Special thanks to Karl for stepping up as our Registrar, Cashier, and M.C. for the costume contest and raffles.

Noah, and the great staff of the Universal Disc Jockeys, for spinning our favorite tunes and bringing out the "lasers".

Pam, for the donation that gave us our first push into the insanity.

Dave, for letting us make use of the wonderful throne, and for the impromptu jam sessions.

Jack, Michael and Evo for playing the promo on your podcasts.

Wade for helping us get some sweet ads out to the valley in the New Times.

Sprouts Farmers Market at 19th Ave and Northern for FINALLY bringing Vampire Vineyards wines to the valley!

We thank you all for your help and your support. Thank you for coming, from all over, to meet a couple of people with a crazy idea — to throw a party with a purpose.

Stay tuned to this blog for more from us about coming events and news.

Have a safe Halloween, Samhain, Dia de los Muertos, and Hallowtide!