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raannt would like to extend our condolences to the family and friends of Mel Simon who passed away today at the age of 82. He will be remembered as someone whose positive influence, personal and professional, helped Indianapolis become the city that it is today!

For more information on Mel Simon please read this link at The Associated Press: “Mall Magnate, Pacers Owner Melvin Simon dies at 82”

You will be remembered Mel…

Eyes Open, We’re Watching…

October is almost here! Time to begin pulling out those tweed scarfs and argyle socks to pad the inside of your Chuck Taylor’s! And…begin planning your Halloween Costume! We at the raannt offices are filling our bowls with candy corn and beginning to pull our costumes together as we speak!

Which is why we here at raannt are just a little exhausted from our long weekend of events, parties and planning and are now, settling into catching up on our t.v. shows, and planning out the rest of our social month. (Trying desperately to get out to Las Vegas to visit with our good friend Brittany Mason and to see the final show of the Britney Spears “Circus” tour at Mandalay Bay!)

While you’re waiting for our list of events to attend for the rest of September, enjoy this Kathy Griffin clip we found, “Kate is Enough”, of her parody of Kate Gosselin! Hilarious! “(We personally love the hair parody, especially since it can be found here in Indy in every aisle of every Walmart or at the counters of the Speedways and Gas America’s!)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1gqLERzk_w]

Eyes Open…We’re Watching!

Just moments ago, Taylor Swift was shooed aside by Kanye West while she was accepting her award so that Kanye could pump the genius of Beyonce’s video for Single Ladies, which would win Video of the Year moments later. Seconds after Kanye was booed while being announced as a nominee for Video of the Year, Beyonce won, handing over the microphone to Taylor Swift, giving her back “her moment.” Congrats Beyonce…not only did you show what a class act and premier diva you are, you also showed how important you are as a role model in the music industry and how, just maybe, you are way, way underrated.

Taylor then took the microphone, smiled and said, “Maybe we could try this again?”, showing that class and style isn’t something learned, but something inherent! Standing ovation by Perez Hilton, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Pink and the entire crowd brought celebrity alike together as they figuratively pushed Kanye out to pasture…(although Lady GaGa, who you couldn’t see through her atrocity of a costume, and Perez dressed just as ridiculously, were sincerely moved).

While we impressed with Beyonce’s win and Taylor’s class…we at raannt still believe the award for video of the year should have gone to…yes folks, Britney Spears! If you want to see the Kanye moment…we’re sorry, we had it up for awhile, but is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Viacom. Hmmm…the people want to see Kanye’s Craziness!!!But as long as it stays up…we have the moment that Beyonce gives the mic over to Taylor! Watch it here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLhlbypk9Lw

Eyes open, we’re watching!

So…Is it Lucky 7 or End of a Winning Streak? Hmmm…We’re not sure. But after our engagement party, we went out to Talbott Street last night, looking for a good time, especially since it was their 7 year, anniversary party and we felt it was a sure thing that the place would be packed…uhhhh, not the case. For the record, we did have a great time, but only for two reasons. First, because all of our closest friends were together in one place. And second, special guest DJ Twisted Dee was absolutely amazing and played it up most of the end of the night. At the beginning of the night, well…never mind. But she was great and we danced pretty much the entire time she spun. Right on sister! We loved ya. We were told by a bartender at Talbott that DJ Dee is extremely well known in Florida and that an Indy local dj is going to be spending some time with her in Florida, learning a few tricks. We think this is a very good idea and can’t wait to hear a new spin on an old song! Mentorship is always a great thing!

But in all honesty…Talbott was pretty empty most of the evening, which has somewhat been the case the last several times we’ve been there, which makes us a little worried. Everywhere we go anymore, people stop us and give us their feelings about certain clubs in Indy and what they want us to write. So, let us just fill you in on what we heard last night at Talbott, because honestly, it was everywhere we turned. “The drag show is lame and the same every week. They shouldn’t have fired Alana. No matter what the business problems were, she at least knew how to keep a big crowd entertained.” And, “D.J. Deane needs to retire. Either decide if you’re going to tend bar or D.J., but it looks bad for Talbott to have her do both.” And, “this place has been empty all night and it’s always empty anymore. We’d rather go to Broadripple, and that’ saying something.” And, “they had this guest drag queen two weeks ago that was great and if she was here every week I’d come, but it’s boring and I don’t think I’ll come to the show anymore.”
Now…mind you, WE have been extremely supportive of Talbott Street and continued to say we had a good time, but please give us a leg to stand on.

Here…let us give a few suggestions…Hire someone to turn the show around. We really do like Vicki and Asia and think they’re great, but the show doesn’t have much cohesiveness. Think The Connection. Talbott has the room and the stage to do this and back in the day, this was the case on a little stage at the Metro, and Wednesday nights were packed. Promote the hell out of your events. We’d be MORE than willing to help you with this since our readership has quadrupled in the last month, but we’ve never been asked. Be creative…Think outside of the box. Think Studio 54 and make Talbott amazing again. We know you have it in you.
We would like to say that MOST of the staff is more welcoming than ever…unless they feel that our comments are personal and then we just go to a different bartender. We would like to throw out a huge kudos to Shai who is always friendly and who we personally witnessed taking care of a patron who was passed out on a couch. She explained to us the personal attention they give to patrons who are in trouble, calling a cab or holding someone’s drink while they go to the bathroom. We would like to just add how impressed we are, especially since we have witnessed other club’s doormen or bouncers laying drunk patrons outside the front door of their club. Good going lady and thank you for always being so friendly and quick!!! You’re amazing!!! Also, we were impressed that $2 of our admission went to the Indiana AIDS Fund AIDS Walk!

We would like to just put one rumor out there that we have heard over and over and over again lately. And that is that Talbott Street is either closing or going under new ownership??? We’re just putting it out there since that’s what we’ve heard. Maybe someone would like to fill us in on the truth…Love one another!
Eyes Open…we’re watching!

We’ve had a busy, busy schedule this weekend, but we wanted to put a HUGE thank you out to our friend Gracia and our bevy of beauties who threw us a small, intimate engagement dinner at Bella Vita on Saturday night. Not only did we get to have dinner with 12 of our closest, but we were able to celebrate our wedding engagement and begin the countdown to our wedding next August. Thanks all who came out and helped us celebrate…

and especially Silver Carpet Alum and Indy elite hair stylist at Salon 01, Stephanie White who danced it up with us after the dinner on the patio at Bella Vita to their live band. (Really, try to get out there before it gets cold and enjoy the last days, or nights, of summer! The patio is still open and it’s a pretty amazing setting for being in the heart of the northside of Indy.) And the bar INSIDE Bella Vita is one of the coolest bars to just sit around and have a drink. The atmosphere is extremely relaxed and loungey, and we noticed some pretty amazing looking people, just hanging out, socializing. Reminds us a little bit of old, hotel bars in Chicago…

Also…look for our new blog, The Road to Hell documenting the year leading to our wedding…
Remember,
Eyes Open, We’re Watching!

Yeah…don’t freak out or anything, but we have a question for you. What do David Letterman, Vivica A. Fox and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds have in common??? That’s right folks. They’re all from Indianapolis. And…who else is from our fair city? Brittany Mason. And she’s about to explode. We’ve been trying to tell you this for some time now and we’re getting the feeling that no one believes us…so be forewarned. Your own Miss Indiana USA 2008 is about to be HUGE!!! And this little piece of humble pie is someone we can truly be proud to claim!!!

And when she gets famous…and makes us all proud…and reminds us that Indiana is a great place to come from…remember…

There’s more than corn in Indiana…
We love you Brit Brit and can’t wait to show all those disbelievers what an amazing person you are!!!
Eyes open!!! We’re Watching!!!

Ahhhhh…what a great summer it has been…especially if you’re a RAANNT boy!!! We’ve had so much fun and been able to experience so many events and been able to meet so many great people. And we’re sure this is only the beginning. So, as summer comes to it’s final days, falling away into cooler temperatures, and Heidi Klum’s voice can once again be heard on Project Runway whistling “Auf Wiedersehen”, we’d like to recap some of the finer moments of the end of our summer.
The last Friday in August found us at the Moto GP party, just hours before the race, partying at one of the most amazing houses in Indianapolis off of Kessler Boulevard. We don’t think we’ve had so much fun in a long time. Proceeds, we were told, went to the Marion County Humane Society. This was a party not to be missed with local photographers, a fashion show, several bars, several dj’s, and partying late into the night.

The previous Saturday, we were at the White Party at Talbott Street. Although it didn’t seem as if it were as crowded as the previous year, we had just as much fun and stayed almost the entire night. Although Kathy Griffin was performing that night down the street, there was still a good turnout and most of the people attending stayed true to the theme of the evening and wore white. We, of course, wore white, as should any good boys attending a White Party.

Tony Moran was the guest DJ that night, and played consistently well all night long. Consistently well? Uhhhh…he was amazing. Even more amazing was how friendly he was when we went up and introduced ourselves. He was chatty and answered our questions, even took his picture with us and introduced us to his boyfriend. It’s really nice to be treated well by a DJ, not to mention a NATIONALLY acclaimed DJ, who by the way, said he would take any requests we had, but we couldn’t think of anything we wanted to hear that he hadn’t already played or had on his playlist. Needless to say…he was a class act, an amazing DJ for Indy and an awesome choice by Talbott.
And while we’re giving out awards to Talbott…

Gotta love the boys in the drag bar…B.J., Nate and Tim, for always being in costume, being quick and lighthearted. They make the whole experience so much more fun. We don’t know if they’re asked to have a different costume or not, but we are always delighted to see what they have in store for the weekends we come to Talbott. It’s small added touches like that which make some clubs stand way out in front of the others. Way to go boys!!!(One small question…what is that we see in your parking lot? No, no, no!!! If you’re that hungry, please refer to above articles highlighting Red Eye, Denny’s and our favorite waitress Constance at Steak and Shake, not to mention our dear Willow will be returning. But no, no, no to the cart!!!)

Summer has ended at Rehab at the Palms of Bella Vita and went out with one last event, highlighting Salon O1 in Carmel. Although it rained last Sunday, the girls and guys of Salon O1 were out at Bella Vita, enjoying the last Sunday. And for those that waited around long enough, it got really nice around 5:00, and as usual, the pool at Rehab was busy and crowded.
The folks at Salon O1 were able to hand out some cards and free massages to lucky participants and one such young lady won a bag worth $100 of Salon 01 products and a free massage. But…sad to say, the lazy summer Sundays of laying around the pool at Bella Vita, or in a cabana if you’re lucky enough like us, on most days, are over.

We would most graciously like to thank the Bella Vita staff and patrons who made our summer so wonderful. (And the bikini clad wonders who we loved hanging out with and sharing their shrimp salads…haha!) Especially J.R. Peare, owner of IndyScene, who made us feel special every Sunday we were out there, and everywhere else we happen to run into him these days. Hopefully next year, we’ll be able to do a little bit more with you and Bella Vita and make it even greater than it was this summer. And just to get out a promo for J.R…this Friday, September 11th at 7pm is Indy Vinos at Blu Martini. Please attend if you can!!!
So…there are so many other small things we’d like to fill you in on…but, we’re super busy planning our fall and all of the things we have to do. Look for many more updates and hopefully more intriguing gossip, although we’ve chosen to try and stay away from that sort of trash…(hmmmm…) And as the cooler days fall upon you, the leaves change to the color or your tweed, Prada jackets and thoughts of the perfect, Halloween costume fills your every waking moment, always remember…

Eye’s Open…We’re Watching!!!

It’s stupid to even assume otherwise, right? Haha…Well, we’ve been extremely busy, so we apologize for not updating more often. And just a quick recap to let you know what you’ll be reading this week…The White Party at Talbott…The Moto GP Party…Brittany Mason’s return to Indy(and all of her exciting gossip)…Several new places to eat and a few new local establishments we really like…
What is interesting is that we have been gaining a lot of local and national attention about our engagement and our “coupling” so to speak, so we have also been working on our new blog…The Road to Hell…which will count down the days to our wedding and bring much needed awareness and attention to GBLT centered issues. Nonetheless, we’ve still been having lots of fun…maybe too much fun, which is why we haven’t written as much lately. So we are making a commitment, dear fans, to write more regularly and keep you up to date and this week, we will fill you in on what’s been going on this summer. Hope you had an amazing labor day and end to your summer!!

Eyes Open…We’re Watching!

What do you say when your 23 year old best friend asks you to write about a fundraiser bringing awareness to suicide prevention because she lost her mother to suicide three years previously? Last year, my mother died from a rare disease which “allowed” myself and my family three months to find closure before she died. I have another close friend, who is also young, who lost his mother to breast cancer almost exactly a year ago. Death is the only certainty we have in these crazy times, and although it is difficult, many of us are given the chance to say goodbye. But not for my friend Lis Crosby and her family.
Eerily, it seems like only yesterday that I received a call from our mutual friend telling me that Lis’ mother had suicided and everyone was over at Lis’ granny’s house. When I arrived, Lis and her brother were angry, lost, emotionally distraught, deeply saddened and confused. Although her mother, Nancy, had fought suicide for many, many years, the realization was more painful than ever imagined. And worse still, they were unable to have closure and they were unable to say goodbye. Questions flooded the minds of everyone around. What were her last thoughts? What made her finally make this decision? Could anyone have done anything and could it have been prevented. The reality to many of these questions will forever go unanswered, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn from this and help others in the wake of depression and suicide. Raannt made a decision last month to focus on one fundraiser or charity each month, bringing awareness to needs that might be previously unaware or resources for others that are readily available. On our main page, you will find the links to The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Also, in talking to Lis, she was extremely concerned about the impact of depression and suicide on the GBLT community, and gave me the link to GBLT information on suicide.
Every year, more than 33,000 people die from suicide in the United States and is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States of adults between the ages of 18-65. Today, someone will die in the United States from suicide every 16 minutes. An attempt will be made every minute. 90% of all people who die from suicide have a diagnosable, psychiatric illness. The statistics are even more drastic for youth, with suicide being the 3rd leading cause of death between all 15-24 year olds.

What I remember, is a vibrant woman, who cherished her children, had a quick tongue, was not afraid of strangers, loved to party and have a good time and would quickly put you in your place. She was beautiful and challenging, intellectual and hilarious. She was a true storyteller and an amazing life liver. I think about her alot on days like this, when it’s beautiful outside and trouble stirs in the air, and long for the days when my phone would ring with her on the other line…”Peter Monn…Nancy Crosby. What are we going to do about Elisabeth.” And the truth of the matter is, Lis and her brother are just fine. But they are forever without a mother. And forever without answers.
Help silence the stigma about depression and suicide. This Saturday marks the 2nd year that Team Nancy will march in The Out of the Darkness Community Walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. For more information on the march, or how to donate to Team Nancy, all money going to the AFSP, please see the link on our main page. If you have questions or concerns about depression or suicide, please contact a local mental health agency or see my link Thoughts From The Couch on our main page as well.

Let’s be honest folks…money makes the world go around…and a little donation is all it takes to help out the cause and possibly save a life. In dedication of Nancy Crosby, lost on 9-30-06, give a little or give a lot, or just help out a friend who needs a little comfort or understanding!

Eyes Open…We’re Watching!

Deuces baby! If you can’t handle what we have to say…oh well! We’ve been so busy lately we haven’t had a second to sit down and gather our thoughts. We must first say we are SO excited to have our dear, dear friend Brittany Mason, back in town with us for a few days…for what she calls a vacation. A vacation? She’s been so busy working since she’s been home she hasn’t hardly had a second to enjoy herself. But we love that she’s home, even for a little bit, that we even took off our beloved John Deere hat and let our country girl wear it for a few…Like we said in previous blogs, she has so many exciting things in the works, when she actually allows us to begin telling everyone, we’ll definitely have the inside scoop which will be exciting to read. It’s hard to hold to something you know everyone would want to know, but needless to say, we adore her, so we’ll keep her business a secret…

It was interesting though that while Brittany and several other people, including ourselves, were talking about our night at the Fantasy 500 party, we were talking about how a local radio celebrity stated on the air that when requested, they gave out a fake phone number to Mario Lopez, who apparently was hitting up on this local radio celeb. Tisk tisk. We hear that’s not quite the case as several people saw you that night standing at quite a distance in the VIP room with a watchful eye on Mr. Lopez while he dealt with other business. I think “oggled” is the word which one person used, but we won’t quote them. We don’t know if this is true, but we found it interesting nonetheless since our inside sources aren’t really the lying type. Were your feelings hurt that Mario couldn’t be bothered or did we get the whole story wrong entirely?

We had a great time at the Indiana State Fair and although we aren’t really country boys at heart, even in our western shirts and trucker hats, we fit right it. And it wasn’t Pride day at the fair when we went! We hung out with friends, ate a corn dog and lemon shake up and saw Kelly Clarkson. Ok, first of all, let us just say we were a little amazed the concert wasn’t more packed. Honestly, American Idol winner or not, she’s still a mainstager, but the bleachers weren’t even filled, and most of the audience was early high school girls and their gay boyfriends who knew every word to every song. The amazing part was that she is absolutely an incredible performer. She played to the audience the entire night, reading fan’s signs, singing happy birthday with the crowd to a fan…even pulling a fan onstage to sing the entire set of “Since You’ve Been Gone.”

She played about 20 songs, even adding in an acoustic “Walking After Midnight” by Patsy Cline and a powerful rendition of Janet Jackson’s “If”. We would never have gone if we hadn’t been given free tickets, but we’re extremely happy we did. What a great night we had with our friends! There’s still a few days left so make sure you make it out to the fair before it’s gone for another year. Let us know how the chocolate covered bacon is…we’re just not that country, sorry!

Hmmmmmm…scratch our back and we’ll scratch yours? Ever heard that saying? Well, we’re tired of scratching some people’s backs and giving props where they aren’t deserved and getting nothing in return. So before we put this out there, let us make this loud and clear. This is not about Talbott Street. At all. We just think you need to take a look at your dance floor last Saturday night and think about a few things. First of all, when we arrived at Talbott at 12:00 A.M. it was packed. The drag room was packed. We had a nice conversation with BJ and the show director, who had sent us a wonderful, unsolicited message thanking us for our reviews. Before and shortly after the show, we were upstairs and it was packed and then BOOM! Empty. No one dancing on the dance floor…nothing. We happened to check our facebook at that time and noticed that the DJ of the moment had just updated her status; while spinning above the dance floor. Ten minutes later…another update. We were utterly amazed. Could not believe it. Here you had a grade A DJ, who we have loved in the past, spinning downstairs, with an emptying crowd…

…and nothing near the DJ booth, but an empty set…literally!
Ok, we probably would never have even said any of this tonight if one of Talbott’s employees and close friend of the DJ’s hadn’t commented to us that we should “be nice”…That is a load of crap! We are being nice. We should have walked back up front and demanded $3 of the $5 we payed back for the poor music and the lack of attention. The drag show was great. We were excited to see Alyssa Edwards here again(Hello folks…do you know who she is! This is a big deal! She’s a National title holder! And quite possibly the next Miss Continental!). Everyone at Talbott was wonderful. But we had several straight girls with us that were ready for a fun night of dancing and there was none to be found. We danced anyway and made the most of it, but come on! We had been asked to go to some other places and decided to come to Talbott because we wanted to be surrounded by people we knew and have a good time and hear good music, especially since she has been so consistent in the past. But really? Let’s not beat a dead horse…It’s just not the same as it used to be and we’re not sure what’s happened…but that’s none of our business. Give DJ Jackola a chance…

Next Saturday is the White Party at Talbott Street and we’re sure it will be packed again and will be just as much fun as last year…uhhhh, wasn’t that where we met last year? Yeah, I think it was…Ahhhh, a year in romantic bliss. (If you have questions about the White Party at Talbott, just hit the link on our page)…but back to what we were saying…Don’t tell us to be nice! You may go to the June 24th issue of the NUVO and read their review of Paul Van Dyk at Talbott and see that the NUVO, like raannt, just gives a review. It has nothing to do with being nice. So here’s the truth…

Saturday, August 15th, 2009 at Talbott, DJ Deanne was not herself. Or, actually she was herself as of late. Yawn! She did not have a posse of dancers around her DJ booth, only people grabbing her attention away from doing what she does best. She played a lot of old music, somewhat in the style that DJ Jared Curry has done lately, but not as well. The beats were not as deep or house played as we had loved in the past and she didn’t seem to exhibit the same spirit as she usually does. What’s happened Deanne? Where did you go? And why oh why would you be on facebook while spinning…major DJ’s don’t do that, right?(We actually just sent out several emails to some of close friends who are well known national DJ’s to make sure, and if we’re wrong, we will retract our statement.) We’re confused. We’re used to seeing you grind your fist down, get into the vibe and really feel it…but the past several times we’ve seen her, there’s been no vibe. And everyone we encounter says the same thing. In fact, some of our friends won’t go when DJ Deanne spins because it’s been so bad this summer. So pick it up so we can write a good review. (And if Kelly had sucked, we would have said it, and she would have gotten over it!) And that is exactly why, instead of going to the Vogue tonight, as we were asked to do, we chose to stay at our friend’s house, barbecue and play Wii…and honestly, it was more fun. Because last night, we wanted to move, but there was death on the dancefloor…

And that, children, is the truth…
Eye’s open…we’re watching!