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About 4500 revelers crowded
into the Spanish-courtyard-styled Aragon
Ballroom Saturday night for an eight-hour dance
party to raise funds for Chicago AIDS programs. |
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Fireball, an all-night,
thumping groove-fest, served as the culmination
to the week-long gay and lesbian festival of the
same name, according to Hearts Foundation
President Allen Lungo, whose organization
sponsored the week’s |
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02.13.03 |
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Hearts'
Charitable Party |
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by
Jon Groat |
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events. Hearts Foundation uses the
festival, and its weekend full of dance parties, to help
raise funds for local gay and lesbian groups as well as
AIDS-related charities, Lungo said. |
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“It’s a family party with values that we
consider to be family values,” Lungo said of the main event.
“We want to make sure that our friends and our family
[others in the gay community] are honored in our
commitment.” |
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“It’s just a
place where you can go and be yourself and be free,
no restrictions,” 32-year-old Tony Tzakis said of
the party. Todd Israel, 25, agreed, “These events
allow you to open up more than under normal
situations in terms of your personality and what
you’d say to people.” Israel added, “You don’t have
to hide anything.” |
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Lungo was quick
to point out the mission behind the good times,
“We’re trying to bring back the remembrance
associated with these parties, that people died from
AIDS.” |
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The Hearts
Foundation and its Fireball party, originally called
“Hearts Party,” were started in 1979 and grew
rapidly during the ‘80s and ‘90s AIDS crisis as a
fundraiser for HIV/AIDS research and health care
programs. The foundation plans to donate |
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Rob flagging
@ Fireball |
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photo by:
Dave Ouano/cfp |
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$150,000 from this year’s party to 16
organizations including AIDS Legal Council, Howard Brown
Health Center, Test Positive Aware Network, AIDS Foundation
of Chicago and the Chicago Department of Public Health/Faces
of AIDS, the Hearts Foundation website shows. (www.heartsfoundation.org) |
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This refocus may have come at a
particularly appropriate time for the community. Reports
Monday showed that AIDS and HIV cases have risen in the U.S.
for the first time in a decade. Reuters reported a 14
percent rise in cases associated with men who have sex with
other men. |
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“I like knowing that whatever money is
spent there is going to a good cause, to research,” said
Tzakis of those charitable intentions. Tickets to the main
party cost $105 at the door while weekend passes to all
parties cost between $150 and $250. “It makes me feel like
even though I’m spending as much money as I am, that it’s
not a waste and that there’s something to show for it after
the end of the weekend,” Israel said. |
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Mom @ Finkl
on Friday |
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photo by: Dan
Stella |
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“It makes going out and spending that
much money easier knowing that the money is going to
charity and to our community,” said 31-year-old Laryn
Litchfield. “And I actually like that I can go out and
have an amazing time and it’s still benefiting people.
It’s great that my having a great time actually helps
somebody else instead of it just being all about me.” |
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National party-throwers like Hearts
Foundation, often called “circuit parties,” have come under
heat in recent years from others in the gay community who
claim the organizations spend too much money on elaborate
parties and not enough on the charities themselves. |
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“We have about a
40 percent return on the net proceeds which we
donate to charities,” Lungo said. “About 25 percent
of that comes from corporate and individual pledges
and 75 percent from ticket sales.” |
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“We’re raising
money that would never go into AIDS programs
otherwise. If we didn’t do it, the money would just
go into the bars and clubs.” |
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Others have
criticized circuit parties for an acceptance of
prevalent illegal-drug use, which some say leads to
promiscuous behavior, possibly even deterring from
the HIV prevention the parties claim to embrace. |
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“That is a cheap
shot to me,” said Lungo. “We don’t apologize for out
parties anymore. It’s not the only place in the
world where people use drugs.” He added, “These are
not raves. My perception of a rave is that it’s
underground and spontaneous. Our parties are
planned, licensed to fully serve liquor and operate
under police scrutiny. We have police present at all
of the parties. And we don’t allow minors.” |
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Hearts
Foundation President Allen Lungo (left) and partner
David. |
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photo by:
Michael Snell |
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The Hearts Foundation president pointed
to the festival’s Party Health Summit on Friday where some
of the nations largest party producers met to discuss harm
reduction and drug policy issues. “Can anybody tell me when
any of the major sports organizations, the NHL, the NFL, the
NBA, had any conferences about reducing substance abuse at
their events? We’re educating people about partying
responsibly.” |
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Lungo sees the criticism as a double
standard and form of gay prejudice. “I think gay people
become a target because they party with great liberation.
They go shirtless and they dance for hours. If you went into
straight clubs and straight parties, you don’t see anybody
screaming about their behavior.” |
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As an example of Hearts commitment to
partying responsibly, Lungo said the foundation would no
longer officially endorse any after-hours parties, events
that often start after a circuit party’s main event and last
the entire morning. “We want people to go to our parties, to
have a blast and to go home to bed.” |
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“People don’t know when to stop,
especially the younger set. It’s hard to stop being
fabulous, even though it’s five in the morning.” Lungo said not
endorsing the after-hours was “the responsible thing to do.”
He added, “It’s bad health policy. These [after-hours]
parties encourage people to use amphetamines and GHB.” |
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photo by Dan
Stella |
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Many who attended the event said
they were impressed and the party was better than
the previous year. “Coming off the whole 9/11 thing
last year, I just thought everything was lighter
this year,” Tzakis said. “The turnout was phenomenal
this year, many more people.” Litchfield shared a
similar sentiment, “Last year was so tribal and
dark, especially after 9/11.” |
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post your take on fireball |
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Israel was also sold on his
second visit to the party: “It really meant a lot to
me. This year I knew a lot more of the people and I
saw some that I haven’t seen in months or years.
Last year, I just stood around and smiled at people.
This year, there were people smiling back, and I
knew where their smiles came from.” |
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