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Belladonna & Kimberly Kane's 'Winter Wonderland' Benefit @ Busbys East 12/05/09
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"Winter Wonderland" hostesses Belladonna and Kimberly Kane flank AVN Live interviewer Lexi Belle
As mentioned earlier this month, pornstar-directors Belladonna and Kimberly Kane organized the "Winter Wonderland" fundraiser, benefiting the besieged Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation, at Busbys East.
Adult performers in attendance included Lexi Belle (who was the interviewer for AVN Live), Burning Angel's Joanna Angel and Brian Street Team, Andy San Dimas and Kristina Rose, Dana DeArmond, Mandy Morbid and Zak Sabbath, Brooke Hunter, Aiden Starr, Syd Blakovich and Carson, Satine Phoenix, Nina Hartley and Ernest Greene, Roy Karch, Angelina Armani, Charlie Laine and newly-crowned 2010 Penthouse Pet of the Year Taylor Vixen, Wicked Pictures' Jessica Drake, Alektra Blue, Kaylani Lei, and Brad Armstrong, Zoe Britton, Angela Aspen, Kiara Diane, Sasha Grey, Faye Reagan and Dane Cross, Georgia Jones and Alex Gonz, the original Tommy Gunn, Alexis Texas, and Lexi Love. Also present were comedians Ari Shaffir, Brody Stevens, and Steve Agee (who assisted with the raffles and group dinner date auction), Free Speech Coalition's Joanne Cachapero, Evil Angel's Karen Stagliano, and AVN's Gia Jordan (who had a writer and photographer following her for an upcoming Hustler article) and Peter Warren.
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The highlight was the group dinner date auction with Belladonna, Kane, Grey, Angel, Reagan, and Jones at the Rainbow Bar and Grill in West Hollywood. Unfortunately Reagan and Jones were cut due to time, but the others fetched nearly $1,000 each, which comprised the majority of the $7,500 that was raised altogether for the evening.
After the jump, more about that dinner date, which LAist attended.
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Sasha Grey, Kristina Rose, Belladonna, and Kimberly Kane at the group dinner date
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Joanna Angel, Sasha Grey, Kristina Rose, Belladonna, and Kimberly Kane at the group dinner date
Coincidentally, all of the winners of the auction already knew each other -- Belladonna's winner was Rose, Kane's winner was her boyfriend (but chaperoning was Gram Ponante), Angel's winner was Warren, and Grey's winner was LAist -- so the dinner wasn't so much an event as it was an get-together amongst friends punctuated by humorous and engaging conversation.
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Ponante reminisced:
It was the type of low-key Hollywood affair that helped me remember my love for Los Angeles. We met at the bar at 5 on a rainy afternoon, logs burned in the fireplace, parking was simple (L.A. has already started to empty for Christmas), and I demanded Belladonna and Kane drink Toasted Almonds because those are girly drinks that fill one with three kinds of alcohol and Christmas spirit.
Kristina Rose escorted Belladonna's sporting a moustache. While there was never a reason to not like Kristina Rose, she shot up 25 spots on my Favorite Porn Performers list that day. She walked into the Rainbow just daring anyone to mess with her. Joanna Angel, who is both the darling of Heeb Magazine and celebrating her birthday the same day as the Messiah, was the lone Chosen person at the table. She told us that the opening 7/8ths of Hanukkah weren't big present days while she was growing up.
Sasha Grey ordered clam chowder. The rest of us had ordered large pizzas, but Grey said that she’d had pizza earlier that day. I mention this not because it was noteworthy to either Grey or anyone else at the table but because I am sure at this point that there is a small network of people who are looking for insights into their own lives by following everything that Sasha Grey does.
Then there was Belladonna, who had nice things to say about everyone and who laughed at everyone’s jokes. She’s special. I think people are a little starstruck by Belladonna because she is so positive and kind. Rose had given Belladonna a corsage and the latter looked like a 40's blonde bombshell in the red Rainbow booth. I ducked out to put quarters in the meter and the busboys were whispering that Belladonna was in the restaurant. Then they gave me a dirty look. I was fleetingly grateful I hadn't valeted my car.
Kane was my official date, and she expressed sorrow that I did not have an iPhone to retweet everything that was happening.
Our pizzas arrived and we ate them solemnly, knowing that the next time we were all in the same room it would be in Las Vegas [for next week's Adult Entertainment Expo and AVN Awards], and I would be running around with a horse's head, Belladonna would be flanked by bodyguards, Sasha Grey would be enveloped by a ring of documentarians, Kane would be inaccessible in New Sensations' Sex Files stretch Hummer, Kristina Rose would probably have a full beard [as she donned a moustache for the dinner], and Angel would be immersed in her family's genealogical data to see just how we are related. As the rain fell outside, we thought of the Season 1 finale of "The Sopranos," where the family eats together in a candlelit restaurant. My eyes began to mist as I looked at the picture of Ronnie James Dio watching over five of our nation's most riveting porn stars.
Belladonna would be leaving for Fitchburg, MA the next day.
"Someday soon, you're going to have families of your own," Belladonna did not say. "And if you're lucky, you'll remember the little moments, like this, that were good."
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