The VivaWildSide Story; 2008

Hey y'all,

I was going through some old files today and ran across something kewl! At last year's VWS, I met one of my tg "heroines" Marlayna Lacie. She is a pretty famous TG writer; she was one of the main hostesses at the famed Queen Mary night club, down in So. Cal and she now is writing for TRANSFORMATION magazine. Anyways, she had founded, ran and wrote for an ultra kewl magazine called TV Epic that was one of the first TG publications I ever saw. That magazine and Marlayna were both big influcences on me. So, when I told her my story about TV Epic and all that, she was very gracious. Well, to make a long story short, she asked me to write an article for TRANSFORMATION about Vegas last year. It hasn't been published yet, but still it was an honor that she even asked.

I had totally forgotten about the article until now, so I thought this would be an appropriate time to post it. I hope you like it!

Enjoy...

The WildSide were friends before any of us had ever really laid eyes on each other. We all met through a web group on a big fetish site. I joined in March of 2007, just as talk of the first WildSide trip to Vegas was starting. I took a gamble and went. I didn’t really know anyone other than through the brief interactions we had on the message board. It turned out to be a mega-jackpot, because the people I met on The WildSide 2007 Las Vegas trip were the most wonderful, supportive, open, and classy people I had ever met, and I knew I found a place to belong. I also found a best friend…a real one! Nikki and I hit it off from the word go, and we have been best friends ever since. She gave me support and love I had never felt before and that opened my eyes to so many new wonderful things that I was changed forever!

The “official” hosts of the Vegas party were a touch too conservative for our liking. So that is really where the whole concept of the WildSide really took off. We sort of hung around the fringes of some of the “official” events and met some really cool people, but we mostly did our own thing. We held our own themed hotel parties; we had lingerie night, fetish night and glam night (complete with a professional photographer) and though all were sort of small in numbers, they were huge for the quality of the people and the positive vibes they brought. After the second hotel party, I remember being at some “official” event somewhere, and one of their members said to me, “Oh, you are with that wild group that has the parties over at The Sahara, aren’t you?” I was beaming, inside and out. I said yes hastily and ran off to find Nikki and tell her that we now had a rep. It felt good! It was like being in the bad girl clique that gets noticed for smoking in the girl’s room.

Out of those experiences came the idea that The WildSide wasn’t just a web group. It was now real people sharing an unbelievable experience together. I dare say Nikki & I took the most away from the trip, because we came away with a best friend and a sista for life. The bond we all formed on that trip was super tight. There was such positive energy radiating off of us, it was hard not be touched by these people. So knowing what that experience had done for me, and for Nikki, we wanted to share that awesome feeling with as many as we could.

We talked a lot over the winter about going back to Las Vegas. Since we had the experience from ’07 fresh in our heads, we did a lot of “wouldn’t that be cool”s and “what if’s” as we talked about what to do. One thing led to another and we ended up planning a few small events, sort of like the “official” Las Vegas hosts do, except ours would be fun! We had learned a lot about what not to expect from the “official” hosts during our 2007 trip. So we just decided that we could do it better, even if it was only for our benefit.

Nikki had been around the group for a long time, so she had some pull. I made lots of new friends after Vegas 07, so we became the “keepers of the Vegas flame” so to speak. Plus the stories and photos of our lil soirée had captured people’s imaginations. The first announced posting of our desire to go back to Vegas was in November 07. We started hammering home the virtues of the trip, although no one was really paying that much attention to April during the holiday season. But as time ticked by, this party just took on a life of its own.
We wanted as many people as possible to be able to afford this, so we stayed away from trying to book places like Paris or The Bellagio, and searched more manageable mid range hotels. Nikki came up with The Tropicana and it couldn’t have been more perfect! Nikki is the negotiator of the group. She loves it and she does it very well. She worked out an awesome group rate at the hotel for everyone who was recognized as a The WildSide member. I was basically the leg person. I found out the hotspots we might like, and what was happening around town on any given night.

As our little lists became clearer, momentum started to build within the group. People were genuinely excited and better yet, people weren’t just talking about it, they were booking! Our first Vegas trip only brought out maybe seven actual WildSiders, but by the time we would make our final tally this year, 27 members, some from as far away as England and Australia had a room booked either at The Trop or were in condos close by.

The group’s excitement kept sparking our own excitement as we continued to plan, and the ideas were now flowing like the wine that helped inspire them. As events and schedules started to unfold, and with the size of the group, we realized that we could add our own little special touches that would really spice things up. We could throw in a few “higher ticketed” items that none of us would have probably been able to do on our own.

One of our members is a major shutterbug. She shipped out all kinds of equipment and we were able to offer a “professional” style photo shoot for anyone who wanted the experience of being under the lights. We had two big themed hotel parties planned, deciding to bring back Lingerie Night and of course, Fetish Night. Then one of the girls brought up an event called “Tranny Love” at this new dungeon in Las Vegas called Libertine. It was hosted by Shavonna Starr and Marylana Lacie. There was a lot of buzz surrounding that event and besides, who hadn’t heard of Shavonna & Marlayna? So that quickly made our list of things to do.

Nikki, myself and a couple of other girls arrived on Monday, while the bulk of the group wouldn’t be getting in until Wednesday. The suite was GORGEOUS with a post card view. We had a few semi-quiet days & nights, which included Cirque Du Soleil/Beatles: Love, manicures & pedicures, laying out in our bikinis by the Tropicana pool, and of course, shopping. It’s not a WildSide trip to Vegas without hitting some of the awesome shopping spots in town. We love Studio Lites and always make sure we get there at least once, but usually it’s like twice.

On Wednesday, a lot of the group was in town and by the time our Lingerie Party kicked off on Thursday night, The WildSide was at full force. The Lingerie Party was a big hit; everyone was in the swing of things. You can see all the shots at http://www.myspace.com/vivawildside. We set it up so that Lingerie night would morph into a late night, old school Vegas glam outing to The Bellagio. You know what they say about Vegas, it doesn’t start happening until at least midnight or later, and we proved that theory as our two ultra stretch limos rolled up to The Trop promptly at 12:05am for the freshly changed from lingerie to the mega-glammed out hotties of the WildSide. We toured the town for a couple of hours, stopping here and there for some “refreshments” before making our final stop at the gorgeous Bellagio. That “official” group was hosting an event there, and we thought it would be cool to go over a drop a few jaws in all our glammed out finery at two in the morning. The event was much less exciting than we had imagined it would be. Lord knows what it would have been like if we HADN’T shown up! When a group as electric as ours gets out & about, the current is flowing and plugs are being sparked! We must have been on all cylinders because one of our own was rather unceremoniously and comically “thrown out” of the event for not being “appropriately dressed”, whatever that meant. In typical WildSide fashion, our Am-Ba gave them a good giggle, which really got them going, cause after that she became the first tg ever “banned” for a certain event in the desert. We were all so proud!!!

We looked and felt surprisingly good the following morning, considering what we had been putting our bodies through. About eight of us were heading down for some breakfast when a very familiar face came down our hallway. It was none other than writer and party planner extraordinaire, the fabulous Miss Marlayna Lacie. She was looking for one of our group who was going to do a photo shoot at Libertine that afternoon. Marlayna, as it turned out was old friends with one of our girls, Cami from the Queen Mary days. I, of course knew of her from her days when she published “TV Epic”, which was a very inspirational publication to me, so I was just thrilled when she said she’d join us for breakfast. We had a grand old time and I got to thank a real icon of the community for all her work, which was one of the highlights of my trip!

I had mentioned in passing that we needed to make a stop at Studio Lites for a last minute garter belt. Marlayna graciously offered to meet us over there and snap a few shots of us for a story she was doing on Studio Lites. What do you think we would say when Marlayna Lacie asks a bunch of cameraly wenches if they wanna pose for some pics at a hot lingerie boutique? What time and what do we wear?! We hooked up with her at Studio Lites and clicked off about 25-30 shots. It was a really wonderful experience meeting Marlayna! It was the cherry on top when she asked us if we wanted to be in TRANSFORMATION, but best of all, we had made a really cool new friend. Another special trip highlight for us!

Friday night’s fetish party picked up right where the lingerie party had left off. This night was fabulous even by our standards. In my opinion, it was the best party we had ever thrown. We had naughty nurses, and dom cops and we even had an award for the Diva of All Divas, which went to a really wonderful girl who brought gaming at the Trop to a stand still with her Playmate bunny costume. We had enough “refreshments” & snacks to stock a small bar for at least four days. We even came up with our own special cocktail that we called the “glowing school girl”. It’s just Rockstar energy drink and vodka. It got its name from the outfits we wore through the Sahara casino in ’07, and the fact that Rockstar is like fluorescent when you see it out of the can. It also comes in really handy when you are running on an average of 4 hours sleep a night!

This night however, we didn’t need any stimulant to get charged up because we had two VIP cabanas rented out at Club Piranha. Piranha is a hot lil nightspot where celebs pop up from time to time. Everyone chipped in and we had exclusive access all over the club! The WildSide was getting wild and we danced and groped our way to the break of dawn.

A definite buzz was swirling around the group over the “Tranny Love” event at Libertine. Everyone was out the door in their heels & pvc by 11pm. It sounded like a great time. I say sounded because I lost my coin purse with my id, credit cards and money in a cab. So I spent the night chasing taxis and trying to speak to cab folk on the phone until 4:30am on a Sunday morning.

After a restless few hours of “sleep” I awoke to deal with the mess that is losing all your stuff. Cancelling the cards, figuring out ID, all that fun stuff. Well, as I’m on hold with my bank, I got a call from the auto club telling me that the cabbie found my purse!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would have kissed him, but he probably would have fallen over. Instead I gave him a nice reward and some good WildSide karma, thank you Mr. Girhman! We spent our last day out by the pool at The Trop. It was a perfect way to end seven glam pack days of fun and more fun in Sin City.

It was EXTREMELY hard to start saying goodbye to people. We had bonded into this unbelievably close network of friends and it just seemed way too soon to be already saying goodbyes to these people we had so quickly come to adore.

As I look back on our Sin City Soiree, the memories all seem to blur together, but the one thing that stands out crystal clear is the fact that Nikki & I did what we had set out to do. Show people a time they’d never forget. Mission accomplished, Sista!! The heartfelt gratitude we got from everyone was overwhelming, and it touched us right to the core. But what people didn’t realize is that without them, this was just Gina & Nikki’s vacation, but with them, it was THE WildSide rocking Vegas with enough memories and pictures to hopefully hold us until next year when we take this whirlwind of glam on the road! Hello Hollywood!

Viva WildSide!

Gina, what a fabulous story! You gave me a good feel for what to expect this year and raised my excitement level even a few notches higher, if that is possible. Thank you so much for posting it.

After reading your account of last year, how could I miss Lingerie Night? I'll now be coming in Wed. Can't wait to meet you and Nikki, and everyone else!

Warmly,
Kay

Thanx Kay. Not just for the kind words, but for all your participation around here! I really appreciate it.

Can't wait to meet you either!!