1999 NPC Heart of Texas (The Guest Poser(s))
By -jabber


Surely, you didn't think I went to Temple only to see a relatively low level
show, did you? :-)  Although, going to as many shows as I do in Texas, Betty
Pariso is a very familiar face in the crowd, when she does a guest posing
routine, it's something not to be missed.  Plus it's always neat to see
Vickie Gates in the audience, too - giving out trophies to bantamweight men,
lightweight men, even middleweight men with smaller arms than her. :-)  

What I really want to see is Lesa Lewis give out trophies to heavyweight men
with smaller arms than her (at that show I refuse to review, the Lone Star -
Lesa Lewis and James Hanlon, a decent size mbb, were on stage together, and
her arms were noticeably larger - lovely!).

Back to the celebrity from the Dallas suburb of Bedford, Betty Pariso.  It
was basically a four-part guest-posing routine.  First Betty came out in a
bikini, showing her very large muscles to an appreciative audience.  Once
her biceps at a show were flat.  Luckily that problem has been fixed.  Her
upper body, particularly her upper back and shoulders, are indeed poetic in
their mass.  Then, everyone was wondering why was Ed Pariso (Betty's
husband) wearing a blue suit!

He donned a big fake furry head when he came out, to look like the beast in
Beauty and the Beast.  Not my favorite song, it was nice to see the female
bodybuilder being looked on as the Beauty and the male as the Beast (as it
should be).  You can tell Betty and Ed are close - the warmness was sweet.
Ed, through his blue suit, did some poses.  I've never seen Ed in anything
but a sport coat or suit at any and all of his appearances at Texas
bodybuilding contests - he always accompanies Betty - whether she's guest
posing or they're simply there to take in the show.

So I was curious if he was going to do any kind of tandem posing with her,
as he looks like an ex-bodybuilder (as you know I'm not as well-versed in
the history of male bodybuilders).  Nope, he just continued to flex his arms
through his blue suit - guess he didn't want to be embarrassed next to
Betty. :-)

Then Betty went off stage, and Ed was there alone.  Although I stopped
snapping pics, I was curious what Ed would do.  In his suit, he then did
some funky dancing.  I laughed despite myself - the music was pretty cool,
and this was just so incongruous and unexpected from this usually staid
gentleman.  The audience was cracking up - funny stuff.  He had pretty good
rhythm for a white guy, too. :-)

Then Betty came out in a spaghetti strap dress, her upper body looking
tremendous in it.  And then I ran out of film!  She did some more gentle
posing as I silently cursed my poor judgment in film - this was a small show
- no reason to take oodles of pics here!

Glad I made it, fun show, even if at a lower level,

Until next review, I still am...

-jabber

Sidebar:

At that show I won't review (the Lone Star Classic), when Lesa Lewis (who's
abs looked like glistening black steel plates although her outfit only had a
hole in it to reveal them) was posing with James Hanlon on stage?  They did
some impromptu couples stuffs - I don't think they've practiced together.
The neat thing was, she did the male poses, while he was kneeling on the
ground and such.  You remember the mixed-pairs divisions in the days of
yore, right?  Where we always hoped that the woman in the pair would be the
bigger more muscular?  Or at least more defined and peaked?

Can you say dreams come true?  That happened with Lesa Lewis and James
Hanlon - pictures at 11 (October 11th if we're lucky - ha!).

On the way home (it annoyed my friend), I sung an impromptu version of "God
Bless Texas"...  wonder why...