Anyway(sss), I just keep my photos in shoe boxes, none are in order so it is always a fun stroll down memory lane when I am on the hunt for a photo. I actually love it, because I get to hold my life in my hands as I flip back and forth through all the years of good times and laughter.
I have always loved a good party! Seriously. It may have started when I was a young one mixing 7 and 7's for my great aunts and uncles while they played cards and listened to music on the record player, cigarettes burning. It was all so fancy to my eyes. One summer, I scored a serving cart and some amazing crystal decanters at the rummage sale and I would have friends over and serve us up fancy drinks, just iced tea or soda with rocks, it was really just about the container and getting to roll the cart into my room and I would push in the 8 track of Abba or Jesus Christ Superstar and have a happy hour dance party. My room was always a gathering place for dance parties. When Purple Rain came out, I just about lost my mind dancing to that !!! Fun times.
It has been said in more than one occasion that if you are looking for a party, ask me. Flipping through those boxes, I get to see how fortunate I have been to have had the party pulse as my pulse for so long.
When my brother, Ken, and I are together forget about it... We can bring it in ways you never dreamt possible. We used to have so much fun in Manhattan. Our favorite was always happy hour. There is something so sexy about watching the transition from work to play. Especially in a gay bar midtown.
Barrage was our favorite gayborhood bar. So sexy, usually always great music and they served the Crystal Gayle, a frozen cosmopolitan, a total treat. The bartenders were so sexy and sweet and that always loved our party antics. Mario would always line up shots for us, yummy, and we would watch the parade of men come in and after the first drink the tie would come off.
One thing that has bothered me in recent years is that the bodies, although beautifully sculpted and nicely dressed, have lost the beat of the music. I would often marvel at how anyone could stand still when 'that' song was on. I mean we are gay right, we should be dancing and spreading joy and opening our hearts. Sometimes I felt like I was dancing around a wax museum of porn stars and brokers. One of my favorite things to do is to break down those barriers. I would just start dancing at my seat, try to get the chair dance going, such resistance. Ken would always join in, we would let out a few 'woops'and try to engage the people around us. Some people were just too cool for school. I always say it is because we are all afraid of our swish, however it may manifest and when you are looking for a hook up, forget about it, the photo can not blur; they must stay stationary and work their best angle.
Truth is, when we are getting nasty there is no perfect, there is just the moment we are in and it can get sweaty and nasty so why not bring it from the get go..
I don't know. It reminds me of my early gay days and going dancing at the Brig and sometimes it would just be me on the dance floor and men just standing looking so hot and sexy leaning on the wall or pressed against the bars, watching .. Baby, pull yourself from the wall and press on me. I want to see how we dance together how does your body find rhythm with mine?
I've only had a few takers over the years, generally I am dirty dancing with my friends, and we dirty dance.. It really is the best. Work it out, dance it out! On my 25th birthday I took myself out for drinks and dancing. I started at the Duplex, loved watching people sing and the scene was always so bright and fun. I took a seat in the corner and watched. The bartender would have none of it, he was beating me at my game. He bought me drinks and made me move to the center of the bar, said I was too beautiful to be in th corner. Then, this gal comes running in from the Monster, across the street, for a quick drink. She was all confused as to why I was all alone and was determined to get me a man and yanked me across the street to go dancing. Her plan was we would dance and when I saw someone I liked we would circle it until he ended dancing with me.
The plan worked! Before too long my arms were wrapped around a super sexy Latin man and our hips were moving in synchronized thrusts, swivels and sword fight. He went in for a kiss, alright. The best part was that my bracelet was stuck in the knit weave of his sweater vest (it was sexy) and I didn't want to snag it (I'm a real piece of work) my only option was to get closer to free it without being obvious. That involved more kissing which was one song too much and now we had to visit. We went out for pizza and rode the subway together. He had to go back to Queens, he lived with his grandma.
Another great moment of photo delight was from my last year at UO and we had a going away dance party at John Henry's. It was 80's night, our favorite. That was the place to go to cut loose and I was with my dance and theater friends and we could let loose. The family we have and how we can be that free and trusting with one another, such joy it brings my simple little heart.
It is what I love about our shows and dance parties and skate nights. Our community is so supportive and loving that we are able to go places most never do and let our hearts open and sing in all the delights this world has to offer!!
Ken finally made it out for one of our dance parties. It brought us back to our purpose in life: to spread laughter and love. We may have cried a few times. The reality that this was us and we were out and celebrating and in our home town where none of this was ever possible for us growing up. It was a profound moment for us.
It is so awesome and strange having a gay brother and having us both traveled through our lives in such different ways. He has an incredible partner of almost 20 years, they have their house upstate and a booming business there and their place in the city and they are always so to the nines with every step they take. Then, there is me, the gypsy queen, I have so much and nothing at the same time, I'm single always, except every 7 years. Yet, with our connection, I feel like I have had the longest best relationship ever, is it possible to be a soulmate to a sibling?, because that has how we have always felt. So connected. It is tough living so far from him. But we have our own journies and our paths pull us together as often as they can.
Which makes me so happy to think about being with him In The city mid-October for a week!!! My soul jumps thinking about our walks in CentralPark, going to Barrage, sitting together and spreading our joy the only way we know how one smile and hug at a time.
