Dressed for success

It’s good to step out of your comfort zone every now and then. Do something different — just because it’s different.

It’s even better to step out of your comfort zone for a worthwhile cause, which I’ll be doing this Friday night at the Palace Theatre.

Modeling is a career I’ve never considered, primarily because I’m ugly and out of shape. But it’s what I’ll be doing Friday as I grace the runway at the Palace Theatre as part of the Peaches-N-Crème Fashion Show and Comedy Hour, a fundraiser for Relay For Life.

As if being a male model weren’t out of my comfort zone enough, I’ll be donning a dress to do it in.

Yup, Scott Leffler in drag.

Fortunately, I’m not alone. There’s about a dozen other guys joining me in gender bending for a cause.

For me, it started about six weeks ago when I got an email from Anne Scinta LaSota, team captain of Maurice’s Relay For Life.

Anne told me she was trying “to recruit men that know how to have fun, have great personalities, are well known to the community, secure enough in their manhood to wear women’s clothes and willing to help me make this a great and profitable night.”

She went on, “While I was talking to people this evening your name came up as someone that not only fits the type of person we’re looking for but also someone who would love to do something like this especially for such a good cause. So ... (with my fingers crossed) what are your thoughts?”

I was at first taken aback by the fact that my name came up in a discussion of guys who might like to cross-dress. But after the initial shock passed, I thought, “Hey, it’s for charity.”

The reasonably priced tickets are available at a reduced cost in advance, or buy them at the door. They can be purchased at Maurice’s on Transit Road, Caruso’s Hair Salon, Peer Plumbing and Heating or from any of the MANgels (that’s what they’re calling us models).

The MANgels include myself, David Hinton, Jay Zimmerman, Dick Scinta, Jerry Buzzeo, TJ Gray, Tommy Shanley, Joe Runfola, Kyle Greiner, Brian Hopkins, Brian Bailey, Andrew Mullen, Zak Persichini, Mike Gagliardi, Andrew Rodems and Rick Leiker.

Although the event starts at 7:30 p.m., doors open at 6 to allow people to look over the baskets in the basket raffle, purchase 50/50 tickets and presumably get good seats for a show that I am quite certain will only happen once — at least with this particular cast of characters.

Aside from the fashion show, there will be comedy provided by Nick Siracuse, and the whole thing will be hosted by Kiss 98.5’s Shannon Steele.

And, of course, all proceeds from the event will benefit the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, to be held at Emmet Belknap on June 18.

So to summarize, if you want to see me in a dress, come out to the Palace on Friday night.

And to make sure I never live it down, we’ll be sending a photographer so there will be thousands of copies of it.

Hit me up for tickets at my email address found on the "contact page." And thanks.

Reflections on bin Laden

It was really the plane going into the second tower that got everyone’s attention.

I had gotten an alert on my computer from MSNBC about the plane going into the first tower and thought it odd. Details were bizarrely sketchy at the time. Was it a real plane? Or just a prop plane?
Obviously it must have been an accident.

But then a few minutes after 9 o’clock, Flight 175 out of Boston crashed into the second tower — and all hell broke loose.

I was home with the kids. We lived on Niagara Street in Lockport at the time. We were safe. But as the morning progressed, panic swept across the country. Everything seemed like a potential target.

My wife worked in Niagara Falls and all I wanted was for her to come home where it was safe. I remember fear unlike any I’d ever felt before. The sky was falling. All I wanted was for my family to be safe, and I felt like I had no control over it whatsoever.

America changed that day.

I have to imagine that most people feel like Sunday night was the other bookend to Sept. 11. What began with planes crashing into buildings, ended with Navy SEALs and CIA paramilitary forces killing the world’s most famous terrorist following a firefight in Pakistan.

That chapter of our life is complete.

I’m glad he’s dead. But I don’t feel any safer.

•••

The president was barely done speaking Sunday night when the conspiracy theories started to fly saying that we’d had bin Laden for a week, but were waiting for the right time to announce it.

Apparently, according to the nut job conspiracy peeps, we held off announcing it so we didn’t ruin the royal wedding. And the best time to make such an announcement? Sunday night during “Celebrity Apprentice,” of course.

Also, I saw some opining that it was “convenient” that President Obama would make this announcement when his numbers were in the tank. Maybe he should have waited to catch bin Laden?

I did notice the president himself doing a little politicking. Anyone else notice the emphasis of “at my direction” during his announcement Sunday night? He wanted no one to doubt that he gave the word. Over time, I imagine the story will morph just a bit and the president himself will have caught bin Laden bare handed and taken him out personally, despite having only a pointy stick.

Speaking of politicking, I got an email from Kathy Hochul’s camp Monday morning.

It said: “I commend President Obama for his decisive leadership and the special forces who carried out this operation for their tireless work.”

Note to Kathy Hochul: No one cares if you commend the president. His coat tails will not get you elected.

I hadn’t gotten a press release from Jane Corwin as of the time I was finished writing this column.

Obviously that’s because she doesn’t share Hochul’s glee in the world’s top terrorist being caught. Or at least I’m expecting to get an email from Hochul soon, stating as much.