No Place Like Foam

Theres lots of foam at Akrons Big Fag Party.

Chris-Anthony Gonzalez has been making dance floors frothy since the mid-'90s. Now the godfather of foam is bringing his 2,500-square-foot "vertical bedroom" to Akron for the Big Fag Party at the gay club Interbelt. At a recent event in Detroit, dancers were stripping to their birthday suits, Gonzalez says. "They went crazy. They just whipped off their clothes. The club told us to tell the girls to put their clothes back on. I told him, 'Do you see any of my guys telling them to take them off?'"

Here's how it works: Gonzalez and his crew rig a bubble-maker next to his transportable pit. Every few minutes, they pour a soapy solution and scented extract (vanilla's the favorite) into the machine and bury dancers under a 15-foot wall of suds. "It's very euphoric when you got two people dancing next to each other, and they're smelling good, and they're all frothy and lathered, and their clothes are tightly clad to their skin," he says. "It definitely brings out a libido." The Big Fag Party is at 10 p.m. at the Interbelt, 70 North Howard Street in Akron. Admission is $5 to $7; call 330-253-5700. -- Cris Glaser

Bevy of Bava
The Cinematheque salutes an Italian horror maestro.

8/10-8/31

Mario Bava is Italy's premier horror director. His moody, atmospheric films blend Universal's creepy chills with Hammer's sexy thrills. The Cinematheque's Mario Bava's Black Sundays series kicks off this week with Bava's first (and best) movie, 1960's Black Sunday -- a period frightfest about a witch who returns from the grave to seek vengeance on her executioners' descendants. The Cinematheque is showing a pristine print -- complete with its rejected original U.S. title, The Mask of Satan -- that adds some gore trimmed by prudish censors. A half-dozen more Bava films play over the next few weeks. Don't miss 'em. Black Sunday shows at 7, and Bava's sword-and-sandal fantasy Hercules in the Haunted World is at 8:50 p.m. Sunday at the Cleveland Cinematheque (11141 East Boulevard). Admission is $7, $4 for members. Call 216-421-7450 for a complete schedule, times, and more information. -- Michael Gallucci

Rust Never Sleeps
Crappy cars make the grade at the scrapheap auto show.

SUN 8/10

The 23rd annual Concours d'Ordinaire pokes a rusty wrench at highbrow car competitions. "Basically, the worst car wins," explains Rich Novak, vice president of Friends of the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum, the event's sponsor. Neglectful car owners enter their junkiest jalopies, and the rewards go to the worst of the lot. (Beware: Vehicles must be driven to the event . . . and preferably away from it.) Last year's winner, a Chevy Nova, was so rusty, the body dropped through the frame. Style points! Concours d'Ordinaire takes place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the James A. Garfield Historic Site, 8095 Mentor Avenue in Mentor. Admission is free, but car entries are $10 and $12; call 216-496-1078. -- Chris Miller

Monica Patter

WED 8/13

It takes Hillary Rodham Clinton 440 pages to get to the good stuff: Monica Lewinsky. And then she cops out: "[Bill] said that [Lewinsky] had misinterpreted his attention, which is something I had seen happen dozens of times before." It's the sole moment of denial in Living History, Clinton's otherwise honest book. She's at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (13217 Shaker Square) at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Admission is free; call 216-751-3300. -- Michael Gallucci