Tom of Finland Prague Party Cancelled

Chicago, IL - The Tom of Finland Party scheduled for September 16 in Prague was canceled just hours before doors were to open when Mr. Circuit Party producers, egayworld.com, declared a last minute bankruptcy and were taken into custody by authorities for possible charges of fraud. As a result the 6 day, 12 party event had the 4 main parties canceled and promoters, DJs, performers, and sponsors from all over Europe and North America were left, unpaid, and/or generally shocked by the whole ordeal.

The Tom of Finland Party was to benefit the Tom of Finland Foundation. The name had been licensed by egayworld.com for their event. It was to be the first of the 4 big parties scheduled for that week. It was basically setup and ready to go after months of planning, preparation and hard work by the small Tom's Party Team who had been hired and flown in for the event by egayworld.com , the producers, under the licensing agreement. When the party was canceled the team was left only to tear everything down.

"It's a shame," said team member Mike Peyton, "It was going to be an amazing party. We were all pretty excited. The Industrial Palace was one of the best spaces I have ever been in. We had two 25' foot diameter portals projecting this amazing video, incredible lights and a great sound system checked, programmed and ready to go, works by different erotic artists hanging all over and a lineup of great DJs and dozens of performers ready to put on a very sexy show. Then pretty much out of nowhere they pulled the plug."

While many participants had already begun to question the professionalism of the promoters due to many arriving performers having problems concerning travel arrangements and lodging, no one saw - or imagined - how dire the situation had really become. No one expected the parties were going to be canceled and the Mr. Circuit Party promoters arrested! Especially since they kept adding such world class talent as DJ Abel and making additions such as expensive lighting equipment right up to the end.

"They kept assuring us that everything was in order" said tomsparties.com promoter Peter Sparrow. "As far as parties go they had booked the best, but when all was said and done they didn't have the funds to pay for it."

Some of the gay community's sponsors, promoters and talent which were left burned and/or stranded by Mr. Circuit Party cancellation included:

Sponsors: MTV, American Airlines, Queer as Folk, Gay Fuel, E. Recht Underwear, Circuit Noize, HX Magazine, Pjur, Masterbeat, BoystownChicago, Gaydar

Promoters: Circuit Mom, the Tom's Parties and Queer as Folk Teams, Pavel Stanek

DJs: Brett Henrichsen, Tracy Young, Hex Hector, Abel, Eric DeLaune, Miss. Thunderpussy, Loutka

Performers: Quentin Elias, Ari Gold, Amber, Abigail, RKM, Chris Geary, Tony Serrano, Tattoo Chris and dozens of dancers from all over Europe

Companies/Suppliers: Prague Exhibition Center, Prague Sound, Creative Events Consulting, Partylist.com, Circuit Tickets

Fortunately, the weekend was not a total loss. Tickets were refunded and with so much talent congregated in one city (and a beautiful one at that), a number of impromptu parties featuring the talents of many of the originally scheduled DJs and performers and hosted by local Prague promoters and establishments were hastily scheduled and helped ease some of the pain and entertain the stranded.

The impact this will have on big gay dance parties in terms of host cities and potential sponsors is unknown, we all remember the problems with Mardi Gras Australia and it has survived and flourished. The locals and many traveling guests said it was the most fun weekend in years and would we please come back. "We intend to come back and produce a party ourselves," Peter Sparrow said. "Prague is an incredible destination for an event."