Thursday, Mar. 04, 2010

A matter of lust

Let's see, what do I remember from the inaugural Lust List Party?

It seems like yesterday, but also so long ago.

Weekly Surge's inaugural Lust List Party was held October 2008 at Hard Rock Café at Broadway at the Beach, and I recall people actually heeding our call to dress sharply to attend - a tricky proposition here at the always-casual beach.

The pictures were pretty cool from this event as we had the pyramid-shaped venue decked out red carpet-style, hired photographers to give it a paparazzi feel, and many of these images live on in Facebook infamy.

We didn't do the Lust List in 2009 as we struggled with the downturn in the economy like everyone else and saw our resources stretched while sponsoring other events such as the beer-based festivals at The Market Common, and since that inaugural Lust List shindig, two more of the original Surge team have moved on (although Chris Rudisill remains our A Gay in the Life columnist as a freelancer).

But, hey, it's time to shake off the cobwebs and kick-start some optimism, so we're back with Lust List 2010, and in this issue, you can meet the seven finalists drawn from a pool of 30-plus nominees by turning to page 12.

You can find out more about the methodology of this list by turning to the cover story as well.

This pack of lusty Grand Strand residents were honored Wednesday night (March 3) with our second-ever Lust List Party at Tunnel Ultralounge in Myrtle Beach.

I get a lot of questions from folks who don't remember our first stab at this and didn't attend the 2008 party either. "What is the Lust List?" they ask.

It is hard to explain succinctly when put on the spot, but also one of those things that you'll know it when you see it.

The Lust List is a group of locals that were nominated by their peers for possessing attributes that make them desirable. Those assets can be physical, mental, based on accomplishments, personality, or whatever makes the heart go pitter patter - or a combination of any of those qualities. It is undeniably subjective, i.e. lust is in the eye/heart of the beholder. So if you don't agree with the choices and want to whine about it or think somebody else should be on the list, my reply is: Tough titty. You had plenty of time to nominate someone, so I have zero sympathy.

Anyhow, my favorite part of this endeavor is putting together the mini-profiles of the Lust List finalists and getting an insight into their personalities, quirks, likes and dislikes, and attitudes about life along the Grand Strand.

At the end of the day, I think it makes the folks on the List feel good about themselves to be recognized in such as fashion, and if we can spread a little joy in these hard times, then we've done our jobs.

HOT TRAX RELOADED

Last week, the CEO of Surge's parent company visited from California, and he's a huge Rolling Stones fan, so I decided to burn a compilation CD of Myrtle Beach area music to give to him. It was admittedly thrown together quickly, but I think I came up with a fairly kick-ass disc featuring the likes of Ten Toes Up, The Necessary Band, Wicked Gift, Grace Cathedral Park, Not Yet Rated, Steve Bailey and several more local artists.

It got me to thinking: You too can listen to your own Myrtle Beach music mix by going to our Web site, www.weeklysurge.com, find the music page and click on the "Hot Trax" music player, which has been recently updated with 16 fresh songs by 11 different artists.

If you're a local band or artist, there is also detailed instruction listed on the site on how to submit your MP3s to be included in this pretty cool feature. I've even got a couple of tracks on there, too - look for Brainsquid.

Rock on.