Prior to the start of the program at the Outfest Honors event Friday night, a gala to benefit the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation, I slurped down a diet coke then set off to work the room at the Pacific Design Center. Had already said hello to Miss Faye Dunaway outside during the photo op and was taken aback when she looked at me, fire in her eyes, and screamed: "Don't f**k with me fella!" OK, she didn't say it, she was perfectly gracious but wouldn't that have been great? Any gay man would know that is a classic line from "Mommie Dearest" when Faye, as Joan Crawford, stares down the entire board of directors of Pepsi Co.
So who to talk to. Scanning the room. Hey! There is Tony Tripoli, an actor on "Fashion House" who used to be Kathy Griffin's best gay friend and was on her "D-List" series. We hadn't seen each other since summer when we did an interview at The Abbey for a Frontiers cover story. "I loved it!" he says of the magazine piece. We hug, kiss on the cheek, and I'm off to the next handsome actor: the talented and inspiring Chad Allen, an out actor who was happy to show up and support the legacy project. "It's extraordinarily important for our art to express who we are as a culure and to show where we've been and for it to be saved for future generatons," he said.

Chad also told me that he, Robert Gant and Judith Light (one of the best friends gays have ever had) just wrapped their indie film "Save Me!" and submitted it to Sundance with the goal of releasing it in theaters next year. The movie has Chad as a gay man who seeks to be "saved" at a rehab facility run by Judith's character. Gant plays a fellow rehab resident with whom Allen falls in love. The talented acting trio put the project together, nurturing it every step along the way. "It's hard work!" says Chad. "We worked three years on this project but it's exhilarating to bring stories you want to tell to life." Chad is also helping to write a script for the third movie which has him playing gay detective Donald Strachey. Turned around and there was Gant, the handsome star of "Queer as Folk." He is always unfailingly polite and thoughtful at public events and gave me his thoughts on the preservation of GLBT films: "When I was in college (at the Univ. of Pennsylvania), I took a film class on gay cinema, they called it 'cruise for credit,' and I remember seeing films like 'The Children's Hour' and all these other older movies. It's vital that we have examples from the past at which to look back on and recall to see how far we've come and how far we have to go."
And shortly before we all entered the Silver Screen Theater for the award presentations, I chatted up "Dante's Cove" star Charlie David (Toby) who I had met and talked to at-length last year in Chicago. He told me that it looks almost certain that "Dante's" will return for a third season and that making the second season's five episodes was a blast with the cast having a lot of fun between takes. "I had a wonderful time doing it, shooting on the North Shore of Oahu. It's such a fun sbow, very sexy and soapy. People are enjoying it." And what about all those love scenes with on-screen boyfriend Kevin (played by Gregory Michael). "Greg is a real sweetheart," Charlie said, laughing. He's too much of a gentleman to kiss and tell.

After the program, chatted up Brett Chuckerman, one of the leads in the gay comedy sequel "Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds." The title is horrible in my opinion but the movie is not. It will hit selected theaters the first week of December. Brett told me the cast had a blast time making the indie movie and it shows. He promises a good time for all: "It's funny! It's a fun crazy
little romp guaranteed to make you laugh and turn you on at the same time."

And finally, my biggest star encounter of the night, the one that really had me tickled: celeb chef Susan Feniger, one of the "Two Hot Tamales" who had several shows with business partner Mary Sue Millicent on the Food Network several years back that I never missed. The pair are still running the successful restaurants Ciudad in downtown LA and "Border Grill" in Santa Monica. Susan and her partner Liz were seated right behind me during the program so when I turned my head around as she took her seat, I startled her when i blurted out: 'Susan Feniger!" But she was so cool and we talked about her shows and her restaurants. I told Susan that the Santa Monica place was absolutely the favorite restaurant of my friend, Tim Fairholm, who died unexpectedly earlier this year. A group of his friends went to the restaurant on what would have been Tim's 41st birthday in April to toast a wonderful person who we all really miss.