XS Entertainment

UPDATE

So we did the Cindy Mackenzie Breast Cancer Foundation Gala Ball – A Night in Monte Carlo! A fancy affair, recognised as the biggest ticket event each year on the Sunshine Coast, in honour of Cindy Mackenzie’s memory and held as the major fund raiser for the year so that the foundation may continue to provide support for those families on the Sunshine Coast who have been affected by breast cancer. The Gala always attracts the major sponsors and boasts fine attendance for a great cause so we were proud to be associated. And after donating $1 000 from La Ronde (Mooloolaba) ticket sales, we felt it was just as important to give of our time…and our booty!

The biggest challenge? The freezing conditions, in our cute little Lycra costumes and in a state of rapidly depleting health, it was looking to me like a long night ahead. We met at the Hyatt Regency Coolum for a 6pm call and all I wanted to know was, “When do I have to turn it on?!”

A punter strolling by, on the way back to his room (and clearly not attending the Gala or else he would have been dressed already) asked us how much we were getting for such a crazy stunt and when we told him it was a charity gig he laughed and laughed. Sadly, for the charities, we won’t be able to offer our talent and services gratis for much longer. In future, some of the things we do will be at a reduced rate for charity events (after all, everybody has a budget). The whole point of building this little company is to raise expectations on the Sunshine Coast and have the talent appropriately paid. As we’ve so often said, everybody else gets paid; why not the actors? Sadly though, for the punters like him, some people will never get it. Some things you just do.

And what we did was…

Pose with the car maserati…

Pose with the car maserati and the other talent (who were warm in their tails)…

and pose with the guests and organisers.

Can you see how sick I am in these pics? No. That’s right. A consummate professional.

I thank you.

We also posed for more photos by the stage, by the media wall and inside le grand pavilion.

We also accompanied the notable TV and radio personalities as they worked the room and talked more than they actually worked, meaning we had a whole heap of raffle-ticket-gambling-chips to sell to the guests! And they bought them! It’s a fund raiser, after all; everybody was very generous, as you would expect from such a crowd and it had nothing to do with our persuasiveness. Though, we were…persuasive.

And we were…freezing. By the time we started actually visibly shivering (I think the guests were getting cold just looking at us), we knew we’d sold enough raffle ticket chips for one chilly gala fund raising night! I believe Min and the boys sold the rest before the party really started!

As for me, I had to rest, before the next day’s event in Eumundi, where I would be standing in the cold air all day, wearing even less at The Australian Bodyart Carnivale.