Pride is being celebrated in many cities this month. Nicole and I are emceeing the San Diego Pride parade this year. So I’m eating my own words. I will be wearing something multi colored. Now that Mark Felts had admitted that he is Deep Throat, I hope all of you hot guys out there will not stop hounding me to confess. But do keep sending me your photos. As of press time, the jury is out on the Michael Jackson case. If Jacko goes to jail, who’s going to do his daily make-up? Congratulations to Norbert Leo Butz, who just won the Tony Award for Best Actor for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which originated at the Old Globe Theatre. New Paltz Mayor Jason West will lead the first-ever Pride parade this weekend in this small sleepy town north of New York City. Mayor West was in San Diego at last year’s Nicky Awards, and is hailed for allowing 24 same-sex couples to get married on the East Coast, for which he is facing trial. Last week, Christian Slater was arrested for allegedly grabbing a woman’s behind after a fight with his girlfriend on a Manhattan street. Now Russell Crowe was booked for second-degree assault for throwing a phone at an employee of the Mercer Hotel in New York City’s SoHo district. Never a dull moment in the Big Apple! Two more weeks to go, E!

I flew back to New York City on Memorial Day weekend in time to greet thousands of sailors from all over the world for Fleet Week. OK, so I wasn’t the official greeter, but I smiled nicely at every guy in white uniform from Times Square to Greenwich Village. Those that I met at the bar, I smiled at a little more – just doing my civic duty of entertaining the troops.

Manhattan was so swamped that weekend that it took me almost an hour to find a cab to get to my home bar, The Web, and host the “Few, Proud and Gay” party. Digging out the old Bette Midler song “Stuff Like That There” from the movie For The Boys, it didn’t matter that Antoine from the French frigate Jean Bart didn’t understand a word of the song; I made sure he could read my lips.

New York City never sleeps, and that rings more true at about 3:00 a.m., when you’ve just come out of the club and you’re starving. Despite the fact that I know the city well, I would not be caught dead in certain neighborhoods for a late night meal. I knew that I could always find food in Chinatown at any hour, but I’m not sure that my compatriots will take too kindly to serving an Asian drag queen and her “white devil” date.

So if you are ever in Manhattan and have just left the Roxy or SBNY (Splash Bar), you can always find food in the neighborhood. In the village, both Tiffany’s on Seventh Avenue (not the jewelry store) and Manatus on Bleecker Street are well-known institutions for diner food. Just remember not to order any cream soup, because they tend to be thick as paste at that time of the morning.

If you’re in the East Village, Round The Clock on Ninth Street is a good choice. But if you’re feeling très chic in Chelsea, there are two great places to go to – and not just for the good food, but because the crowd is also pretty to look at. Diner 24 on Eighth Avenue and 15th Street is my new favorite, but it was too far to walk in heels on that night, so my date and I went to Cafeteria on Seventh Avenue and 19th Street. Both places offer excellent breakfast food, and other anytime-favorite food like burgers, salads, great sandwiches, meatloaf and very good mac and cheese. For some reason, both the hostess and the bartender that night were sour-looking, as if they hated being there. But I was not about to let them ruin my evening, so I feasted on scrumptious chicken Caesar salad and ended with a brownie fudge sundae.

While in N.Y.C., I always make a point to visit the old World Trade Center site and see what’s new. In the last month or so, there have been some setbacks to the Freedom Towers designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, so not much has changed on the site.

But thousands of people continue to visit the site, years after 9/11. It is a very moving experience just to see so many people come together and share this common bond. The day of my visit, there were four busloads of folks from a church in Knoxville, Tenn.

Also as part of my New York City ritual, I ended my visit with a trip to Century 21 across the street. Century 21 is one of the best-kept secrets in N.Y.C. for shopping for off-price couture outfits: from Dolce, Versace, Armani and Gaultier to my new favorite label, Queen Save the World. It is also a great place to buy designer underwear inexpensively.

No trip to New York is complete without taking in a Broadway show. Tickets to Spamalot and Wicked are impossible to get – unless, of course, you’re willing to pay about $300 for tickets. In which case, you can always call Broadway Cares, and they can get you house seats for twice the ticket price; 50 percent of it goes to Broadway Cares and is tax deductible.

Otherwise you either pay full price at the box office or get half price tickets for same-day performances at the TKTS booths. Stay away from the long lines in Times Square; instead go to the Wall Street area for the downtown TKTS booth, which opens at 11:00 a.m. If you get there by 10:30 a.m., you’ll be near the front of the line instead of among several hundred people who start lining up at the Times Square location two hours before they open. The downtown location is at the South Street Seaport on Front and John streets. Both locations only accept cash or travelers checks.

For this trip, it was a toss-up between yet another revival of Sweet Charity or the new buzz, A Light in the Piazza. I opted for the dance hall girl with the big heart. Obviously I never got to see the original version with Gwen Vernon, but I loved the movie version with Shirley MacLaine. When Debbie Allen played Charity in the 1986 revival, I wasn’t convinced that she fit the role. But I had the good fortune of seeing a memorable anniversary concert many years ago, which benefited Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and brought in many Broadway divas, some of whom had previously appeared as Charity Hope Valentine, including Ms. Gwen Vernon (she passed away shortly after), Bebe Neuwirth and Chita Rivera.

My curiosity was piqued with how Ms. Applegate, of “Married With Children,” would tackle such a demanding role as Charity, having to be on stage practically 85 percent of the entire show. I was pleasantly surprised with her singing and limited dancing skills; especially after her injury while the show was on tryout in Chicago, which almost prevented the show from opening. But her persistence and hard work paid off, and Christina is delightful as Charity – the hopelessly naïve young girl who falls in love at every turn – for which she earned herself a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.

Of the show’s 11 Tony nominations, sadly it did not win any awards. The show will probably do a decent run with Ms. Applegate as the lead draw, but it will probably not last beyond one season considering it’s already on half price, barely two months after it opened. But this production has many redeeming graces, such as the notable performance of Denis O’Hare (Tony and Drama Desk awards for Take Me Out) as Oscar, the outstanding costumes by William Ivey Long and the wonderful choreography by Wayne Cilento (Wicked and Aida). Catch it if you can.

The fabulous Needemann Brothers are performing at Schroeder’s Cabaret on Friday, June 10. The following evening, Todd Schroeder hosts the one-year anniversary of Schroeder’s Cabaret at the Westin Horton Plaza. For those of you who’ve never met Todd, this piano man extraordinaire is like Billy Joel, Ray Charles and Elton John all rolled into one! He’s also pretty hot!

Also on Saturday, June 11, it’s Club Sabbat at Rich’s – San Diego’s hottest Goth, fetish and industrial night.

And don’t forget about Fabulous Bingo with Nicole on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Bourbon Street.

The “Divas Las Vegas” review, featuring illusionists from Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, is this Saturday, June 11, at 9:30 p.m. sharp at Patty’s, located at 3829 30th Street in North Park. The event benefits the Dillingham Community Fund, and is also a birthday celebration for Robert Rodriguez, former Mr. SoCal Latin Leather.

So you think you’ve got what it takes to be a star? Pack up your music and sexy gown and join “Show Queen of the Year” on Sunday, June 19, at 7:00 p.m. at Numbers. A $6 donation benefits Equality California. Call (619) 521-4851 for info.

The GLBT Community Tribute Banquet honoring City Commissioner Julia Legaspi, sponsored by the Imperial Court, takes place on Saturday, June 26, at the Westin Horton Plaza. Call Jess San Roque at (619) 229-2822 for tickets.