NOVEMBER 10, 2009 -- Question: What do Kid Rock and Earl Hickey (Jason Lee) from My Name Is Earl, have in common?
Answer: They’re both characters I’ve imitated at the annual Movember party, held the past two years at downtown’s Bondi Australian Bar & Kitchen.
Question: What in the world is Movember?
Answer: It’s a word—a movement, actually—that combines Moustache and November. During the month, men grow moustaches (or mos, for short) and collect donations that go toward prostate cancer research. It’s like a walkathon for breast cancer, but instead of pink ribbons, Movember’s symbolic icon is an ugly patch of facial hair.
Question: Is this whole story going to be in Q&A format?
Answer: No.
Movember was dreamed up in 2003 by an Australian innovator named Adam Garone. It was Sunday afternoon in a Melbourne bar. Garone and mates were downing Victoria Bitters and chatting boozily. After four or five beers, the boys got to wondering: What styles from the 1970s never recycled back into the mainstream? Why, moustaches, of course.
Mos were something they could literally sink their teeth into. The boys rounded up 30 friends and held a mo-growing party. Prizes were given. And an odd tradition was born. The next year, Garone got a charity involved: the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He handed the foundation a check for $55,000 after that year’s Movember party.
The Movember movement is growing unabated. To date, the fundraiser has raised $47 million around the world. This year, there will be more than 75 Movember parties held at major cities all over the globe.
Talk about a dream occupation? This is how Garone describes his job as head of the Movember Foundation: “I travel around the world and encourage men to grow moustaches.”
More seriously, he adds: “When you look around at all the fund-raising done for women’s health issues, it makes you wonder why there isn’t more done for men’s health issues. Movember is really helping fill a void.” (Annually, nearly a quarter-million U.S. men are diagnosed with prostate cancer.)
This year’s San Diego Movember Gala Party is December 3 at Bondi. Prizes are given out for several categories, including the Best Costume. I’m looking for something different than Kid and Earl. There’s always a bevy of Tom Sellecks. I’ve been leaning toward Ron Burgundy, but Albert Einstein would be fun.
Got any ideas for me? Post a comment and help me face the month proudly, albeit with a fuzzy, itchy, nasty patch of follicles on my upper lip.
(To donate to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in the name of my soon-to-be-named moustache, click on this link: Movember Web site, and type in “Ron Donoho.”)