Gay Forums - All Things Gay - Hey kids, it's Uncle Bob! EDIT: OMG, Scroll Down For The Update At 3:47 PM!!!

Hey kids, it's Uncle Bob! EDIT: OMG, Scroll Down For The Update At 3:47 PM!!!

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Oct 08, 2013 3:22 PM GMT

But don't expect any lollipops, this clown only passes out booze.

Pic snapped by gay community social photog "Pompano Bill" last night, at a fundraiser for my SMART Ride bicycle team. We had a really great drag show with a circus theme, lots of auction items, and the employees of our host the Village Pub did a "turnabout" (everyone crossdresses, men as women, women as men). We raised a ton of money from VIP seating, auction items, a portion of the liquor proceeds, sales of popcorn, candy, cotton candy & Cracker Jack, and all the tips the drag queens earned. South Florida RJers can see more pics in the local gay rags published next week.

The SMART Ride

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Oct 08, 2013 3:30 PM GMT

*helpless laughter*

I'm sorry, but the expression on your face is priceless.

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Oct 08, 2013 3:35 PM GMT

meninlove said

*helpless laughter*

I'm sorry, but the expression on your face is priceless.

It was painted on by someone else.

We had a makeup lady there who clowned the faces of all of us who were working the event, plus the audience could get painted for a cost, too, another money maker for us.

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Oct 08, 2013 3:36 PM GMT

ART_DECO said
meninlove said

*helpless laughter*

I'm sorry, but the expression on your face is priceless.

It was painted on by someone else.

We had a makeup lady there who clowned the faces of all of us who were working the event, plus the audience could get painted for a cost, too, another money maker for us.

No, I meant the expression on your face under the makeup makes a hilarious counterpoint to the expression that was painted on.

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Oct 08, 2013 3:41 PM GMT

meninlove said
No, I meant the expression on your face under the makeup makes a hilarious counterpoint to the expression that was painted on.

Yeah, that was a candid, didn't even know Pompano Bill had snapped me until I got his email with it this morning, can't say what I was looking at or thinking. He took a number of posed pics of me with others, hopefully my expression more appropriate to my clown persona.

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Oct 08, 2013 3:47 PM GMT

ART_DECO said
meninlove said
No, I meant the expression on your face under the makeup makes a hilarious counterpoint to the expression that was painted on.

Yeah, that was a candid, didn't even know Pompano Bill had snapped me until I got his email with it this morning, can't say what I was looking at or thinking. He took a number of posed pics of me with others, hopefully my expression more appropriate to my clown persona.

Actually I think the pic's (the two expressions) perfect. It's an example of the funniest thing I always found about clowns when I was a kid. OK, I'm weird, lol.

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Oct 08, 2013 3:54 PM GMT

Nothing's sexier than a clown in glasses. Love it!

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Oct 08, 2013 4:17 PM GMT

eagermuscle saidNothing's sexier than a clown in glasses. Love it!

LOL! Well nothing would have been more UNsexy than THAT clown stumbling around blind in dim lighting.

It almost looks like the frames have no lenses, but they've got an anti-reflective coating that worked well in that shot, plus they're progressive no-line bifocals.

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Oct 08, 2013 4:43 PM GMT

A pic I took, with a weak flash at a distance so not too sharp. These 3 guys to the right are all club owners, the principle one appropriately dressed as the Ringmaster. Not clear here in this angle is that the middle guy portrays a sideshow attraction, half man-half woman.

PR_GMR

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Oct 08, 2013 4:50 PM GMT

If they find twenty boys buried in the crawlspace under your house... I'm just sayin'.

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Oct 08, 2013 5:08 PM GMT

What scared me was "Mr. Peanut", the symbol for Planters Peanuts. In the 1940s & 50s guys would walk downtown sidewalks dressed as Mr. Peanut to advertise the brand. As a pre-schooler I was absolutely terrified. Here's an archival photo, although in our area he wore snugger black pants, rather than these loose trousers, closer in appearance to the company logo.

planters_peanuts_toy_walker_mr_peanut_pl

Shops selling Planters also sometimes had a peanut roaster drum, that during the day might operate in an opened entryway visible from the sidewalk to attract customers. A large Mr. Peanut figure rode on top, appearing to be cranking the drum as the peanuts inside tumbled. That gimmick didn't frighten me. But a walking Mr. Peanut would have me screaming. I thought he was a monster robot.

Mr. Peanut sitting astride a roaster drum as he "cranks" it -

Hothouse

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Oct 08, 2013 5:50 PM GMT

Aristoshark saidThis clown scared the shit out of me when I was a little tyke.

I think it was those big bunches of phallic symbols - that would scare any young gay boy.
Talk about a cluster f**k.

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Oct 08, 2013 5:54 PM GMT

Haha love it, Art! Uncle Bob sounds really scary though :O!

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Oct 08, 2013 5:57 PM GMT

Hothouse said
Aristoshark saidThis clown scared the shit out of me when I was a little tyke.

I think it was those big bunches of phallic symbols - that would scare any young gay boy.
Talk about a cluster f**k.

I just wonder how he could even hold that many real bananas and still perform. An unpeeled banana of that size is close to 1/2 pound. He appears to be holding well over 100 of them.

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Oct 08, 2013 6:24 PM GMT

JumpMan_Josh saidHaha love it, Art! Uncle Bob sounds really scary though :O!

Yeah, a parody of kids TV programs from my youth. There were plenty of Uncle Bobs, Uncle Freds and others on early television who hosted kids shows, some with live children audiences on the TV set in bleachers. And there was Buffalo Bob on the Howdy Doody Show, along with Clarabell the Clown, and another kids program with a Claude who always wore a circus ringmaster outfit, almost identical to the one pictured above, who teamed with a hand puppet I think was named Clownie.

I suppose after last night's circus theme, with ringmaster & clowns, I was reminded of that 1950s TV era, and so jokingly called myself Uncle Bob, after my real name. Those kinds of early TV kids shows were also parodied to some extent by Paul Reubens in his Pee-wee's Playhouse TV series.

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Oct 08, 2013 7:47 PM GMT

UPDATE: Just got a phone call from the Village Pub where we had the circus fundraiser last night, and I won 2 of the auction items myself, that I was helping to sell!

They are a $350 cocktail & dinner party at our favorite local Asian restaurant, and a $750 2-night, 2-person stay in the best suite at a clothing optional Key West gay guesthouse! Both of which, BTW, we ourselves had solicited from those business owners to donate.

I replied to one of the Pub owners who phoned me about it: "Damn! Now I'll probably owe taxes on them!" LOL! Actually not, I believe, since it's for an IRS 501(c)(3) not for profit activity, so even what I spent in auction is itself tax deductible.

Well that was a pleasant surprise. And just minutes earlier before that call, a friend who had been our guest last night at the VIP table I bought phoned us that he himself had just been contacted, because he also won an auction item.

So we called him right back, to give him a bit of one-upmanship, with news of the 2 items we got, to his 1. If this gets out I'm afraid there may be suspicions that the thing was rigged, when we and our friend get some of the top items. Of course, we did make legitimate bids, everyone had the same chance, but you know how queeney the gays in our community can be.

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Oct 08, 2013 8:08 PM GMT

ART_DECO saidUPDATE: Just got a phone call from the Village Pub where we had the circus fundraiser last night, and I won 2 of the auction items myself, that I was helping to sell!

They are a $350 cocktail & dinner party at our favorite local Asian restaurant, and a $750 2-night, 2-person stay in the best suite at a clothing optional Key West gay guesthouse! Both of which, BTW, we ourselves had solicited from those business owners to donate.

I replied to one of the Pub owners who phoned me about it: "Damn! Now I'll probably owe taxes on them!" LOL! Actually not, I believe, since it's for an IRS 501(c)(3) not for profit activity, so even what I spent in auction is itself tax deductible.

Well that was a pleasant surprise. And just minutes earlier before that call, a friend who had been our guest last night at the VIP table I bought phoned us that he himself had just been contacted, because he also won an auction item.

So we called him right back, to give him a bit of one-upmanship, with news of the 2 items we got, to his 1. If this gets out I'm afraid there may be suspicions that the thing was rigged, when we and our friend get some of the top items. Of course, we did make legitimate bids, everyone had the same chance, but you know how queeney the gays in our community can be.

Oh goody!

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Oct 08, 2013 8:29 PM GMT

ART_DECO saidBut don't expect any lollipops, this clown only passes out booze.

Pic snapped by gay community social photog "Pompano Bill" last night, at a fundraiser for my SMART Ride bicycle team. We had a really great drag show with a circus theme, lots of auction items, and the employees of our host the Village Pub did a "turnabout" (everyone crossdresses, men as women, women as men). We raised a ton of money from VIP seating, auction items, a portion of the liquor proceeds, sales of popcorn, candy, cotton candy & Cracker Jack, and all the tips the drag queens earned. South Florida RJers can see more pics in the local gay rags published next week.

The SMART Ride

So you're a "big top" huh ???

Oh what I could do with that pic with my new photoshop (semi) skills.

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Oct 08, 2013 8:37 PM GMT

ART_DECO saidUPDATE: Just got a phone call from the Village Pub where we had the circus fundraiser last night, and I won 2 of the auction items myself, that I was helping to sell!

They are a $350 cocktail & dinner party at our favorite local Asian restaurant, and a $750 2-night, 2-person stay in the best suite at a clothing optional Key West gay guesthouse! Both of which, BTW, we ourselves had solicited from those business owners to donate.

I replied to one of the Pub owners who phoned me about it: "Damn! Now I'll probably owe taxes on them!" LOL! Actually not, I believe, since it's for an IRS 501(c)(3) not for profit activity, so even what I spent in auction is itself tax deductible.

Well that was a pleasant surprise. And just minutes earlier before that call, a friend who had been our guest last night at the VIP table I bought phoned us that he himself had just been contacted, because he also won an auction item.

So we called him right back, to give him a bit of one-upmanship, with news of the 2 items we got, to his 1. If this gets out I'm afraid there may be suspicions that the thing was rigged, when we and our friend get some of the top items. Of course, we did make legitimate bids, everyone had the same chance, but you know how queeney the gays in our community can be.

I have an idea.

Why don't you:

1) Donate your prizes to some needy people

2) Pay the tax on your prizes anyway - the government desperately needs money and you would be helping out.

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Oct 09, 2013 2:59 AM GMT

freedomisntfree said
ART_DECO saidBut don't expect any lollipops, this clown only passes out booze.

The SMART Ride

So you're a "big top" huh ???

Oh what I could do with that pic with my new photoshop (semi) skills.

The gay guys who thought up the T-shirt deliberately intended that double entendre, why they made it "...UNDER A BIG TOP" rather than the more common "...UNDER THE BIG TOP". Everyone who was working the event and not in some kind of circus costume wore one.

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Oct 09, 2013 3:38 AM GMT

franktats said
I have an idea.

Why don't you:

1) Donate your prizes to some needy people

2) Pay the tax on your prizes anyway - the government desperately needs money and you would be helping out.

Sure. And why don't you pitch in and donate their transportation, luggage and resort wear, and meals for their 3 days in Key West at the gay guest house? Because if they're needy they would need those related items provided, in addition to the room itself, or else an out-of-town vacation wouldn't be useable by them, would it?

Or you could do what I do: donate to charity and HIV/AIDS organizations, and let their experts direct the money to the needy in the ways it does the most good, for example for essentials like food & medicine, rent assistance, etc. I suspect gay resorts and cocktail parties at upscale Asian restaurants would not be their first choices to help the needy, so I don't think they should be mine, either.

And that's what this fundraiser event Monday night did, because all the money raised through auctioning those donated goods & services is going to 7 non-profit HIV/AIDS agencies in Florida. Who know more about what services the needy really require and how to administer them than I do.

As for the taxes, when multi-millionaires stop taking deductions for their own charitable contributions, and using off-shore tax shelters and tax dodges not even available to someone at my lower income level, then I might consider it. Though I wonder if it wouldn't create an IRS conflict for the donors of those gifts we got, since the merchants claimed them as tax write-offs themselves.

But since I'm not a tax attorney, maybe you could also donate the fees for one so I can get a qualified legal opinion before I decide if your advice is sound.

turtleneckjoc...

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Oct 09, 2013 3:39 AM GMT

Priceless!

Thank you for posting this. I know this was a great event for everyone "down south."

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Oct 09, 2013 4:00 AM GMT

turtleneckjock saidPriceless!

Thank you for posting this. I know this was a great event for everyone "down south."

Thanks! And we did have fun! And though I used to think fundraisers like this were a rather convoluted, work intensive and overly complicated way to bring in donations, as opposed to just asking people for money directly, the reality is that in some charity fields this approach is the most productive. Reasons include:

- People often spend money more freely on their entertainment than on more somber pursuits.
- There's peer pressure in the presence of others to match their donations.
- When items for sale, raffle or auction are donated for free the attendees see the potential for getting bargains.
- A party atmosphere, and admittedly when alcohol is served, helps break down sales resistance.
- The item donors may take tax breaks, plus they get favorable community publicity and word of mouth, earn good will, and more people will sample their goods & services to become potential regular customers. Which sets up a self-reinforcing cycle of recurring donations, rather than these being one-time gifts.
- Donors of services often can't comfortably set aside cash for charities, or the service may not suit the needy, but they still wish to help. This way their services can be converted into dollars by others through devices like auctions.
- Likewise some goods can't be donated directly to the needy, for instance liquor. But a liquor store or bar can convert their wares into cash for charity when placed in an auction gift basket.

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Oct 09, 2013 5:09 AM GMT

ART_DECO said
freedomisntfree said
ART_DECO saidBut don't expect any lollipops, this clown only passes out booze.

The SMART Ride

So you're a "big top" huh ???

Oh what I could do with that pic with my new photoshop (semi) skills.

The gay guys who thought up the T-shirt deliberately intended that double entendre, why they made it "...UNDER A BIG TOP" rather than the more common "...UNDER THE BIG TOP". Everyone who was working the event and not in some kind of circus costume wore one.

I was hoping that you didn't think I would miss the 'A' .... not me .... lil miss innocent.

Sounds like a fun event. Good causes are always fun events!

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Oct 09, 2013 4:00 PM GMT

You look fantastic, Art!
Who was ur makeup artist?

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Hey kids, it's Uncle Bob! EDIT: OMG, Scroll Down For The Update At 3:47 PM!!!