Dictionary Definition
grabby adj : immoderately desirous of acquiring
e.g. wealth; "they are avaricious and will do anything for money";
"casting covetous eyes on his neighbor's fields"; "a grasping old
miser"; "grasping commercialism"; "greedy for money and power";
"grew richer and greedier"; "prehensile employers stingy with
raises for their employees" [syn: avaricious, covetous, grasping, greedy, prehensile]
User Contributed Dictionary
Extensive Definition
The Adult Erotic Gay Video Awards, better known
as the Grabbys, are presented annually for gay
pornography by Gay
Chicago Magazine. The Grabbys
website is hosted by the online version of Gay Chicago
Magazine.
seealso Grabby
recipients
Beginnings
The first Adult Erotic Gay Video Awards were
given in 1991,
when the awards were listed in the year-end issue of Gay
Chicago Magazine. Awards given that
year included "Burnout
of the Year", "Comeback of the Year", "Fresh Surprise
of the Year", "Best Supporting
Actor", "Best Newcomer", and "Best Overall Performer".
According to Hank "Big Daddy" Ferguson, founder of Gay Chicago
Magazine and creator of the awards, the Grabbys are "...our way of
highlingting [sic] certain aspects of the past year's videos that,
in our opinion, are worth[y] of special notice."
The awards have evolved as they have matured; the
second year, 1992, saw the addition
of some more traditional award categories, such as "Best Video of the Year"
and "Best Screenplay";
"Best Overall Performer" was shortened to "Best Performer". The
unique awards continued, however, with the presentation of the
"Pull-Lister Prize", given to
Gay Sex: A Manual for Men Who Love Men.
The first live show took place in the Music Hall
of Man's Country, a gay bathhouse in Chicago's Andersonville
neighborhood. The event drew a capacity crowd. Fans, gay "adult
male erotic performers", directors, other industry people, and
national media came from all over the United
States to attend. Well-known Chicago performer Honey
West and prominent porn
director Chi Chi
LaRue served as co-hostesses for the evening's
festivities.
The creator of the Grabbys, Hank "Big Daddy"
Ferguson, (sometimes referred to as the "godfather" of the Grabbys)
welcomed the crowd to the first live presentation of the awards.
Award categories were once again expanded with the addition of new
categories or subdivisions of previous ones. Changes included "Best
Video: Romance", "Best Video: All Sex", "Best Video: Fantasy",
"Best Actor: Dramatic", "Best Actor: Action Hero", "Best Duo Sex
Scene", "Best Group Scene", "Best Ethnic Video", "Best Fetish
Video", and "Best Leather Video".
Unlike the similar Gay Video News
(GayVN) Awards, which are open only by invitation to
participants and journalists, tickets for the
Grabbys are available for public purchase, allowing fans and
performers
to mingle and network
directly. The event also includes a "People's Choice" category, though other
awards are given by a committee selected by the
magazine. Additionally,
the Grabbys show x-rated video clips
of the nominations, while the GayVN Awards don't.
The show also saw the creation of a "Wall of
Fame" to honor industry legends, awarded for their impact on the
industry rather than the length of time they had been involved in
it. Relative newcomers to the industry Ken Ryker,
performer, and Bob East, the Executive Director of the Men
of Odyssey Studio, were inducted alongside long-time directors
Jim
Steel, Toby Ross, and
co-hostess Chi Chi
LaRue. The creator of the Grabbys, Hank "Big Daddy" Ferguson"
was also inducted into the "Wall of Fame" despite his protests; his
staff insisted that he be honored as the creator of the
awards.
LaRue also won awards for "Best Ethnic Video" and
tied with Kristen
Bjorn for "Best Videos". Commenting on the award for "Best
Ethnic Video", LaRue remarked, "With 10 hot black studs and a white
bottom boy,
how can you miss?"
"Trophy Studs", very scantily-clad men, were on
hand to hand the awards to the presenters. The inaugural year's
Trophy Studs were Peter Dixon
and Robby
Taylor. During the evening, porn performer Mitch
Allmond performed a rap piece, Happiness is a Big Cock, the
title song from a video by Toby Ross.
During the performance, former Falcon
Studios exclusive Christopher
Scott joined Dixon and Taylor onstage for explicit oral sex to
prove the point—Dixon is noted for having a large
penis. That wasn't the
only explicit
activity during the show; the Trophy Studs were joined at one
point by award-winning porn performers Tony Acosta
and Dr. Feel Good for additional sexual
activity; and the closing number quickly morphed into a
group
sex scene involving many of the performers and even some of the
fans.
For the 1999 Grabbys,
additional awards for "Best Actor: Fantasy", "Best
Actor: Romance",
"Best Screenplay: Fantasy", "Best Screenplay: Romance"; "Best
Solo
Scene", "Best Threeway
Sex Scene", and "Best Twink
Video" were added. Once again, Chi Chi LaRue and Honey West were
the co-hostesses. The award ceremony, held over the Memorial Day
Weekend of 2000, also included a
surprise appearance by comedienne Judy Tenuta,
in town doing promotional work. She delighted the crowd and, as
Hank Ferguson remarked in his report on the event, "it was a great
treat to have her come out to support the gay porn industry. People
like that have a lot of class, because they risk a lot to come to
these events, and God love 'em, if they're gonna support us, I'm
gonna support them!" Other highlights from the show included the
use of a dildo on stage on
Trophy Stud Robby Taylor (who wasn't expecting it), and a closing
orgy with porn performer
Spike
ejaculating off the
stage onto the audience.
The awards evolve
For the 2000 awards, Zak Spears and
Addison
Scott were added as co-hosts with Honey and Chi Chi. The awards
moved from the prior shows' location, Man's Country, to the Circuit
nightclub in the heart of the Lakeview,
Chicago Northalsted
district, fondly known as Chicago's "Boystown".
Award title changes / additions included "Best Actor"
(with no other qualifiers), "Best Comedy Video", "Best
Newcomer: Director", "Best Video of the Year" simplified to "Best
Video", "Best Videography", and the debut of Editor's Choice
Awards: "Documentary",
"DVD—Classic",
and "DVD—Extras".
Due to the change in location, there was more
clothing visible than in past years and the closing orgy was
omitted. However, Jeff
Stryker, on his way to sign the "Wall of Fame", managed to
"lose" his bathrobe and strut
across the stage naked—his
body well-oiled— and proceeded to stroke his erection for the appreciative
crowd. Chi Chi LaRue exclaimed, "OK, we're all going to jail!"
For the first time, the Trophy Studs for the
2001 awards
were selected during the previous few months at events at Chicago's
Lucky Horseshoe nightclub. The evening's ceremony, held again at
the Circuit nightclub, included Editor's Choice Awards for "Classic
Movie Remake", "Best
International Screenplay", "Best International Actor", and "Best
International Director". Addison
Scott returned as a co-host, along with
Christian Taylor, both joining Chi Chi LaRue and Honey West,
veteran co-hostesses. Unlike previous years, there were no
outrageous occurrences.
The award titles continued to change for the
2002 awards:
"Best Solo Scene" became "Best Solo Performance"; "Best DVD Extras"
(previously an Editor's Choice Award) was added to the regular list
of awards along with "Best Classic DVD". The Editor's Choice Awards
for the year were "Best Bisexual Video", "Best Reviewer Promo
Package", and "Special Achievement
Award", presented to Bob East, Executive Director of the by-then
defunct Men of Odyssey Studio. The event took place on May 24,
2003, at the Circuit nightclub for the third year in a row, and was
once again hosted by Chi Chi LaRue and Honey West. They were joined
by Kelly Love and their male co-hosts Matthew Rush
and Kyle
Kennedy. The show was interpreted for the hearing impaired by
porn newcomer Dillon
Press. Jason
Sechrest, of JasonCurious.com, was on hand to
present a gift basket of several types of sexual
lubricant to super-bottom
performer Bret
Wolfe.
The 2003 award ceremony
was held at the Park West
theater on May 29, 2004, moving to a well-known professional
concert / event venue. This was further evidence of the
growing prominence of the Grabbys and their significance within the
gay porn industry. The perennial Chi Chi LaRue and Honey West were
joined in co-hosting duties by Chris
Steele,
Michael Brandon, and Bret Wolfe,
with sign language interpretation again provided by Dillon Press.
Awards added to the year's gathering were surprise awards "Hottest
Cock", "Hottest Ass", "Hottest Versatile
Performer", and "Hottest Cum Shots". The Editor's Choice Award for
the year was for "Hot New Directors".
Jason Sechrest was in attendance again to present
the basket of lube and was joined by the previous year's recipient,
Bret Wolfe. The basket was presented to the individual they felt
was "most likely to use this entire basket" in the very near
future. The recipient, Michael
Knight, was called to the stage and the popular bottom
thanked "the endless number of inches who have entered me".
A return to the Park West for the 2004 awards brought
Honey West and Chi Chi LaRue together with co-hosts Tag Adams,
Michael Brandon, and Zak Spears for
host / hostess duties. The "Best Video" award was
apparently renamed "Best Gay Video"; the "Hottest" awards from the
previous year remained, and the "Maleflixx.tv Peoples Choice Award"
was added. There were no Editor's Choice Awards.
On May 27, 2006, the 2005 Erotic Gay Video
Awards—the "Grabbys"—were presented at The Vic Theatre. Chi Chi LaRue and
Honey West once again led the ceremonies; their male co-hosts for
the event were Rod Barry,
Brad
Benton, and Chad Hunt. This
was the last Grabbys attended by Hank "Big Daddy" Ferguson, the
founder of Gay Chicago Magazine and the Grabbys; Ferguson died in
June 2006.
See also
References
Note: Some references contain adult content.
External links
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
a hog for, acquiring, acquisitive, all-devouring,
all-engulfing, avaricious, avid, bloodsucking, bottomless, coveting, covetous, desirous, devouring, esurient, extortionate, gluttonous, gobbling, grasping, greedy, hoggish, insatiable, insatiate, itchy, limitless, lupine, mercenary, miserly, money-hungry,
money-mad, omnivorous, overgreedy, parasitic, piggish, predacious, predatory, prehensile, quenchless, rapacious, raptorial, ravening, ravenous, sharkish, slakeless, sordid, swinish, unappeasable, unappeased, unquenchable, unsated, unsatisfied, unslakeable, unslaked, venal, voracious, vulturine, vulturous, wolfish