Mahogany Browne – Queen of Sodom
Mahogany descends from a royal line: her great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother was Maho, the love child of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Maho opened a small tavern called The Last Supper where the original biblical city of Sodom once flourished before it was destroyed by God. She earned the nickname “Maho” from a Persian general who told his troops, “That’s ‘my hoe.’ ” He later died when his wine was poisoned and all his possessions went to Maho, who then got herself some new Egyptian weaves and Israelite dresses. Her tavern shows soon became legendary. Kings and queens would arrive and mix with goat herders and temple hookers in what could only be described as a Studio 54 BC. Today, Mahogany Brown continues in the tradition of Maho, bringing positive energy to one of Toronto’s most eclectic parties, Sodom at Goodhandy’s. Mahogany attends Church regularly and holds the record for longest confession, beating Friar Francis Tucked in 1203 AD.
Sumation – Sodom resident DJ
DJ Sumation (Sum Wong) has been DJing since 2001. He has touched many with his uplifting happy vibes and energy. His wide-ranging musical knowledge has helped shape and develop his own unique DJ style and sound. His current residencies, in addition to Sodom, include College Night at the Barn Nightclub and Essential Fridays at Xyclo Lounge. As well, you’ll find DJ Sumation spinning at events like the WinterCity Festival Skating party at Nathan Phillips Square, SNAP, Walk for Life, FashionCares, ACT events and numerous charity bashes in the city. He has his own DJ services and party events company, White Tiger West. His venues as resident and guest DJ have also included El Mocambo, Circa, fly Nightclub, 5ive Nightclub, Buddies in Bad Times, Voglie, Fuzion, Alibi, Vice, Byzantium, AsianXpress parties, Joseph Patrick’s Beachball and several PRISM Pride parties; he has worked the Pride Toronto Polar Ice Stage many times. When he spun at a swingers’ club, he would play 50 Cent’s “Hot in Here” and everyone on the dance floor would take off all their clothes. His favourite drink is vodka with anything. One of his top songs is Daft Punk’s “Around the World,” and his favourite dance artist is Janet Jackson because she has more dance-move variety than most artists, including her brother Michael. www.djsumation.ca
Woodrow Monteiro – host/Prince of Sodom
Woodrow came to Toronto when he was eight years old from Aveiro, Portugal. When he was 17, his international modelling career took off when he landed his first contract in Spain. He has modelled underwear and was once body-painted with a suit and walked the catwalk naked. He has danced his way through the popular weekly dance TV show Electric Circus and travelled across the globe as a headliner go-go boy in some of the world’s biggest clubs. While living in Milan, he worked the catwalk for such design houses such as Versace, Miu Miu, Calvin Klein, Ferrucci and D&G. Many women know him as a popular cover model for Harlequin romance novels, on which he has appeared as a cowboy, angel, marine and CSI agent, once holding three babies while leaving a burning building. He has a tattoo of the rosary on his right arm because his mother forced him to go to Sunday school. It reminds him that no matter how free he is now, there was a time when he was forced to do something against his will. Woodrow stays humble while close to home with friends and family in downtown Toronto. Woodrow’s favourite quote: “It’s not what you do, but how you do it!”
Joey Wargachuk – Sodom webmaster & designer
Just a small-town boy form P.E.I., Joey moved to the big city for the bright lights because good lighting is key to everything. He currently runs his own web/design business (www.joeywargachuk.com), but has in the past been spotted steaming a variety of beverages for Toronto’s hip and powerful. He plans one day to publish his autobiography, called OMG My Life, which will be followed by a second book entitled Don’t Even, a stern warning to those people who dissed him because of his first book, even though only first names were used. The foreword to the second book will be written by Anne Murray. Joey enjoys butterflies and buying Coca-Cola for friends.
Mitchel Raphael – creative director/producer
From fetish parties to federal parties, 24-hour raves to 24 Sussex Drive, drag queens to the Queen’s representative, Mitchel Raphael is a journalist/photographer who has acted as cultural ambassador between readers and subjects when it comes to politics, pop and alternative cultures. Mitchel is currently a columnist with Maclean’s magazine where he writes the political scene column Capital Diary.
Before Maclean’s, Mitchel was editor-in-chief of the Toronto-based gay men’s magazine fab for four years. He brought on board such power writers as Nina Arsenault, Todd Klinck, Paul Bellini and Rolyn Chambers. He produced the enormously successful 10- and 11-year anniversary parties with the now infamous 10-drag-shows-in-10-minutes formula. He is also known for his home rooftop patio parties with their mixed crowd of drag queens, lawyers, artists, politicians, activists, academics and dominatrices (some fall into more than one category).
Prior to fab, he was at the National Post as an arts/life feature writer from its inception in October 1998 until September 2001, as he covered such things as drug cultures, electronic and mainstream music, pop culture, hip hop, politics and shemales.
Mitchel holds an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies from York University, where he completed his thesis, entitled “Drag Queens, Sissy Boys and a Virus Called HIV.” His BA was in Western Literature and Civilization from the University of Western Ontario. He divides his time between Toronto and Ottawa and often heads over to Hull, Quebec, to eat at Chez Fatima.
