Up The Neck

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Well it’s a chilly yet sunny afternoon in Hoboken. No Manhattan today, no thanks. No new York. Staying out, staying local, staying alive. Ha ha ha I’m staying alive staying alive. Pretty mellow. Last night I watched Wristcutters: A Love Story which I liked a lot more than I expected to. I’d give it four stars out of five. Patrick Fugit is the lead. I last saw him in Almost Famous, a five out of five stars movie. He played the Cameron Crowe character. He was adorable in that and he still looks good.

I won’t give too much away in telling you that the story takes place in limbo and all the inhabitants are people who killed themselves. Now that you know the premise I think it would be worth your while to check it out. Tom Waits is also in Wristcutters and that was fun to watch, though when Tom appeared I had to put the subtitles on so I could decipher what he was saying. I like Tom Waits. My sister was into him first back when he was on Asylum Records, but didn’t quite get his stuff. It wasn’t until I was sharing an apartment with Jimmy Lee that I actually got into him.

That was with Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits first release on Island Records. Tom was producing himself and using various household objects as musical instruments, which definitely got my interest. I remember hanging out with Jimmy Lee and I was moved to tears when the song In The Neighborhood played. Not a terribly sad song but an air of melancholy and day dreaming throughout. Almost mournful horns playing in the background. The bladder moved up to the eyes.

After Swordfishtrombones, came Rain Dogs and that seemed to be a record that everyone I knew had. I saw him on tour for that album, mid-eighties at a theater on Broadway. A celebrity studded audience, we had better seats than David Byrne. A great show, or rather a concert. Tom was a bit theatrical on stage, quite magical actually. I’d love to see him should he tour again but last time he was in New York the tickets were quite pricey. David Byrne pricey.

Walked around Hoboken for a spell this afternoon. Walked up to the Burlington Coat Factory where they just had a grand re-opening. That means they moved a few racks around and added some white paint on top of the depressing battleship gray inside. It was a confusing visit. Almost bought a tie but wound up buying a pair of black jeans for 20.00 since the blue jeans I was wearing had developed a nasty tear right in the crotch.

I walked back home after that, running into a neighbor who has a singing engagement on Tuesday and has a very scratchy throat today. I wished her well, telling her to break a leg. Just watched Waitress which was cute but ultimately sad. Sad because of Adrienne Shelly who was murdered soon after she directed the movie. It’s definitely light fare and would play nicely on Lifetime.

Here are some Hoboken snaps.
Me and my shadow
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Someone loves Jim
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Spring springing forth
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Mystery Dance

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Just got back from Manhattan. Just wandered around, stopped by Farfetched saw Lois and Harpy. It’s funny, usually when I go there it’s often Harpy by himself. Today Lois was there and I love Lois but it was like there was no cutting up while Lois was running the show. Lois, I guess plays the more mature role, the schoolmarm. Susan I suppose would be the hip teacher and Harpy plays the role of Karen Valentine, the substitute or rather, the student teacher. It was a nice chat with the two of them, Lois asking about various people in my life, who happen to be going through tough times of their own.

After that I wandered over to Whiskers, the holistic pet store and visited with Kathe, my former next door neighbor in Weehawken, also Chaz’ estranged wife. It was great to see Kathe, it had been a number of months. She was glad to see me as well. But it being a nice Saturday afternoon everybody seemed to be shopping for holistic items, lambs lung and other disgusting items that dogs like. Too hectic to hang out so I said good bye, agreeing to meet for a drink sometime one day when she’s not working.

Before I went into the city I watched Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. I saw it when it came out in the theaters and I liked it but didn’t get most of it, one of the first instances where there was so much going on, on the screen that I couldn’t figure out or even remember different parts of it. The first Lord of the Rings movie was the same. So much going on, but seeing it years later on video made me ask where was I when I first saw this in a theater?

Cloverfield was the latest movie, though I think it would be better to watch it on a TV since it was filmed on a digital camera. Watching it on a big screen was a little too much. That bothered Pedro when I told him about the movie after I finally saw it, weeks after he saw it and months after I originally hyped it up. He really wanted my opinion and all I could say was I’d rather wait for the DVD. It would be better to watching it on his giant flat screen TV in Otisville.

Tonight is the infamous Black Party at Roseland in midtown. It’s a 36 hour bacchanal,and for me occasionally tempting. But I always remind myself that it is nothing but club music and I generally dislike club music. That would be hell for me, though when in the act, I’d rather hear something I don’t know. But me and club music? Forget it.

One blog that I read had an article about the Black Party, the blogger had gone a few times already and posts something about it every year. This year while hyping it, he followed that entry with one about HIV infections being up 48%. Now there’s a reason NOT to go.

Potential anonymous sex with a thousand men? Hmmm… and even if you don’t get HIV there are a few other STD’s that you might catch. Not to mention the headache of club music. I don’t know what it is, but I am out of step with most of the human race and definitely out of step with most of gay men. I don’t dress like them, I don’t listen to the same music, I don’t go to the same bars. Just about the only thing I have in common with them is a predilection for play mates of the same sex. And it’s always safe, by the way.

It’s always been like that. From the early 80’s when I was attending meetings for the Gay Activists Alliance of North New Jersey or GAANNJ, even though I tried, I just couldn’t connect with my fellow gay men on a social level. True, I was young and impetuous and they were in their 30’s and 40’s but there was nothing at all that could form a bond. I never really talked to anyone, they didn’t talk to me. I would sit in the back and listen to whatever was going on, close to the exit.

It was there that I first heard of AIDS, in 1982 when it was called GRID, or gay cancer. But no one asked my name and I didn’t ask for theirs. I am usually the invisible man at gay bars, that is when I actually go. I’m often ignored by bartenders. It generally provides me with a reason never to go back to that particular bar again, only I rarely go to bars these days. Maybe once or twice a year.

McSwells was a cool bar, listed in the Gay Yellow Pages back then as a gay/straight bar and it was. Most of the guys there were gay, and there was some cliquishness but overall it was a friendly spot. Never had any hook ups there, by the end of the night we were all more interested in getting party supplies to the after party. I started out going to McSwells for the music, and while it was the main reason, at some point I was spending more time socializing in the front room rather than the back room where the music was.

Still I am a gay man and the LGBT are my people. I will march with them or cheer them on and stand with them should the need or outrage arise. I am also part of the generation of LGBT people that have buried quite a few friends.

And here is my gayest look for Jay Leno
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cut n’ paste
http://www.mygayestlook.com/