Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 09:38:50 -0800 From: Eros Publishing Subject: Press Release Dragon Xcalibur wins Seattle Leather Ambassador Dragon Xcalibur was selected as the first ever Seattle Leather Ambassador, after an awesome performance both on stage and in the non-show portions of the contest. The audience laughed when Dragon talked about public toilets, then the judges squirmed as she answered the surprise question, "Which judge would you like to play with and what would you do?" by announcing that contest judge, Executive Director of the Pride Foundation, Ted Lord, would be her choice to have an SM scene with. In the final judged category, Fantasy, Dragon raised $333.00 in five minutes by selling play piercing needles and being pierced by them. "I've never seen anyone pierced by so many needles so quickly!" gasped an audience member moments before fainting. "All of the contestants did an excellent job," states Generic Leather Productions of Washington president, Greta Schwerdtfeger, "I would have had a tough time deciding if I were one of the judges." First runner-up, Mouse, did a fantasy with some dramatic cuttings on her face. canth? did a hot fantasy where she played a wild animal and was captured by a barbarian. And Ash, the fourth contestant, performed a ritual invoking the god Pan. Hellena Handbasket started off the show with a bang by introducing the audience to the four contestants, then Mighty Hermaphrodite rescued transgendered judge, Ilya Pearlman, from the gender police, played by International Mr Leather, Joe Gallagher, and TK Cuellar. With a bit of Yiddish Cabaret to entertain the audience while the scores were being added up, the crowd was kept well entertained. The job of the judges was to select a person to raise funds for charitable organizations in the Seattle area, to be a visible part of the community for the next year, and ultimately to compete in the Mr/Ms Olympus contest held in New Orleans during Mardi-Gras 1998. Judges included, from the California desert, Sky Renfro, substituting for Pat Califia (who was unable to attend due to a bout of pneumonia); nice guy, Scott Smith; aspiring trapeze artist, Ava Apple; 1994 Seattle Mr Leather, Aubrey Hart Sparks; alternate judge, Misha Williams; and Head Judge, Allena Gabosh. Contestants were judged in the categories of Speech, Leather Image/Surprise Question, Fantasy, and two additional categories not seen during the show, a pre-contest interview and Social Interaction, in which the judges scored the contestants on how well they interacted with people associated with the contest, such as stage crew, producers, etc. Displayed on stage before the contest were photographs of the contestants and a short contestant bio describing their kink. Produced by Generic Leather Productions of Washington, Seattle Leather Ambassador is the first ever truly pansexual title, with men, women and others all competing together. The BABES Network and YouthCare were chosen as beneficiaries for this contest. Generic Leather Productions of Washington is a 501c(3) non-profit corporation comprised of volunteers from Seattle's Leather community committed to raising funds to benefit small, direct-service, non-profit organizations dealing with health and related community issues. For more information about GLPW, or their events, please contact them at GLPW, 1122 E Pike St #800, Seattle WA 98122, or call (206) 233-8527, or e-mail GLPW@aol.com.