For the first time in years, D-Money’s Players Ball was not held at C2K in The Venetian Hotel, but at Prada in The Aladdin, and the party was definitely better off for it. No one as far as I know had to bribe security to get into the gig, and if there was a bit of wait at the front door, it lasted minutes instead of hours.
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| Penny Flame and Stacy were among the guests at the Player's Ball. |
The venue is smaller than C2K, but the intimacy worked for the show. People up in the balconies didn’t have to use binoculars to see the stage, and if you were down on the floor you could literally reach out and touch the talent. In fact, a bottle of Hennessy was liberally passed between audience and performers during the Naughty by Nature set, performers and performees swigging at will.
The opening act was Too Short, returning again to the Players Ball, and he did a fine job warming up the house for the aforementioned Naughty by Nature, a duo I had never seen before. If I wasn’t a fan before, I am now. It was an inspired performance.
The Players Ball also features the Big Woody Awards, which are huge wooden phalluses handed out by D-Money to people he thinks are deserving of the honor. This listing is not complete, but among the winners this year were Kimmy Kim from Epassporte, Ken Lawson from Hustler, J-Styles from Content Blowout, Ron Jeremy from… uh, Ron Jeremy, and the entire Video Secrets crew. A special Big Woody was also awarded to Darren Roberts from AVN. Even though not every winner was on the premises to accept their award, that didn’t prevent the crowd from responding with hearty applause.
The party was sponsored by Epassporte and CECash.
