Frank Nowicki is happy to talk about some of the sordid moments he considers the highlights of his long tenure as host of the Mr. Mid-Atlantic pageant.
“1 year [when Mr. MAL was] In the Temple of Alma,” Nowicki says. I was reading his bio during the jockstrap contest and thought he would be cute. He started crawling up and tried to hump my leg. Of course, I immediately picked up the flogger and hit him with it. ”
Another year, Nowicki made a fuss by pressing himself against headline entertainer Lolita Holloway. “I was on stage with her, because there was a podium, and she grabbed me and I just jumped up, and she kept singing. I was hitting her on stage,” he says. “Lo and behold, she demolished the house. She had so much fun. There was a huge uproar.”
And then there was the time, after Kathy Najimy’s headline performance, that Nowicki returned to the stage to help announce the contest winner. He then began to tease Nowicki with an Oprah-like attitude that rattled off that year’s winner’s prize. Sex-positive, fetish-oriented brands include Nasty Pig, Dick Wadd, and Priape. Nowicki recalls Najimy chiding him, saying that Najimy “loves to say it like he’s saying it for Macy’s.” “Oh, there’s a brand new car key under the seat!”
Nowicki and MAL’s history dates back to the mid-1980s, when Centaur Motorcycle Club began producing weekend events. “I’ve been participating since the first contest 40 years ago,” he says. For the first few years, he also worked as a volunteer. “I planted flowers on the weekends, helped in the kitchen, worked, and did whatever they needed.”
Ten years later, two years after defeating 24 other contestants to become Mr. MAL in 1993, Nowicki made his debut as a host, and in his first year defeated two other former Mr. MAL, in 1989. He shared hosting duties with title holder Dan Noel and Kelly Richard in 1991. Nowicki returned the following year, and every year thereafter, to oversee proceedings. This year marks the 30th anniversary of his debut.
Nowicki is a natural emcee. “I’ve never been shy on stage,” he says. I don’t get nervous even when I’m in the spotlight. “No, not at all. In fact, it’s the opposite. When I get on stage, I feel kind of calm.”
Reflecting on how contests have changed over the past 30 years, Nowicki says, “In the early years, it was basically held in bars.” The bar-based phase included repeated annual stints at the now-defunct DC Eagle and The Exile. Trucks and Nation, two legendary warehouse nightclubs in then-run-down neighborhoods in southeast Washington, D.C., also hosted the event.
“It was a pre-internet era, so people would go to bars and find out about events from posters on the bars,” he says. After years of success at downtown’s Alma’s Temple, organizers moved the contest venue more than a decade ago to the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, MAL’s official host hotel since 2011. Moved to the large banquet hall.
Another dramatic change since the early days of MAL has to do with the once-forbidden but now greatly diminished fear of AIDS. “When I won this contest, all our friends were dying of AIDS,” he says. “So it was important to do a fundraiser, and it was that time of year for me too. [third] Gay March on Washington. So it all worked out at once and we were able to raise money for Brother Help Thyself, BHT. ”
Nowicki emphasizes the influential role of hosts in guiding and supporting each contestant and keeping viewers in line. “One thing I can’t stand in the audience is rudeness,” he says. “You have to respect them because they sacrifice themselves for you.”
Nowicki, 68, says he has no plans to retire, but that doesn’t mean it’s not on his mind. “I’m aiming for 70. It’s always good to have a transition plan.” In his case, that means considering who will succeed him as host. For the 2025 contest, Nowicki has enlisted MAL 2020 Mr. David Spivey to host the event. Spivey is “my dear friend and like my child.”
Asked if he plans to return as host next year, Nowicki said yes. “if [the Centaurs] I want it it’s anything to them [want]. “I don’t want to be like Dick Clark, who gets wheeled away after having a stroke,” he says with a laugh. “Change is good. And if you don’t train someone to work with you, how are they going to do it?”
The Mister MAL contest will be held on Sunday, June 12th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom, 400 New Jersey Ave. NW, Capitol Hill. Contest and exhibit hall access is included in the $45 3-day pass package or the $30 Sunday 1-day pass package. Passes can be purchased at the venue. visit www.leatherweekend.com.
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Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
