Tag Archives: Alphonso Portillo

Razor Face

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Nothing much happened today. Did some laundry. That’s about it. I may have another Susquehanna Investment Groups job coming up from another refugee from the jungle where I used to work. That remains to be seen.

I do have a job on Saturday, hanging some pictures in an office. That should take about an hour.

Tomorrow will be the trip to the Metropolitan Museum with Harpy. Then Hurricane Danny might hit here this weekend, making it an indoor weekend which is no fun. But I won’t know until I get there.

I hope it doesn’t happen. My friend Excer is supposed to play the Central Park band shell on Sunday afternoon and I would like to check that out. So fingers are crossed (which makes for difficult typing) for Sunday.

Time for you to roll your eyes since I’m about to write about the iPod shuffle.

Smalltown Boy- Bronski Beat
This came out in 1984. Jimmy Somerville’s falsetto. Patrick Morrissey and Alphonso Portillo’s apartment at 201 Madison Street. Crashed my last car in the afternoon, Patrick took me in and made me dinner. He and Alphonso lived on a floor below. Meat Loaf with cream cheese inside. And white wine. A good way to end a terrible day. A song about coming out and leaving home. It was a hit in the UK and got some airplay here on New Wave stations.

Towers of Dub- The Orb
A 10:24 track on a CD that Bill gave me as well as giving me an iPod one Christmas years ago. Fun trippy dance oriented stuff. Sounds great on headphones. Maybe in a club as well. But I’m not clubbing anymore, Blow Off was more than enough for me. I’ll be in the chill out room if you need to find me. Actually this would work better in the chill out room.

Filthy/Gorgeous- Scissor Sisters
From their first and best album. They are a fun group. Juan had a crush on Baby Daddy. Baby Daddy would probably have a crush on Juan if he ever met him. This album reminds me of being with Annemarie and Earl driving from the Saddle Brook A&P.

99 Problems- Jay Z & Danger Mouse
Most everyone knows who Jay Z is. Danger Mouse is a producer who is also one half of Gnarls Barkley. This is from the Gray Album which was Jay Z’s Black Album, mixed with the Beatles White Album. In this track, it’s Jay Z rapping over Helter Skelter. Of course it’s a totally illegal release, but it was everywhere a few years ago, and could be bought on Canal Street for $5.00.

Change- Killing Joke
Killing Joke was a band that a few people told me I would like since I liked Gang of Four so much. I couldn’t get into them. This is the only song of theirs that I like. Youth who was in Killing Joke is one half of the Fireman with Paul McCartney. I think it’s the right half since Macca is a lefty.

1/2- Brian Eno
From Music for Airports. Definitely a chill out track. I think the first time I heard this was when my brother Frank had a cassette of quiet songs to help with his wife Elaine’s delivery of their first daughter Meghan. I don’t think it was played since Elaine wound up having a caesarian section. I think it was played at La Guardia Airport for a time to help passengers relax.

Robber Dub- The Clash
I know the first time I heard this was when Laszlo Papp bought the 45 when it first came out at St. Mark Sounds. Then we traipsed over to some friend of his apartment and played our latest purchases. My purchase was Private Idaho by the B-52’s. Summer of 1980 it was. I was learning the truth at 17.

Get on the Good Foot (Pt 1) – James Brown
I never really heard James Brown when growing up. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that I really discovered him and that was mainly through the use of his beats and the sampling that went on in Hip Hop. I did go to see him once or twice at outdoor concerts. But I was so far away I couldn’t see him, only hear him. Would have loved to have seen him at the Apollo in the 1960’s though.

Be Here- Raphael Saadiq
I love Raphael Saadiq. He has one of the best voices out there and his music these days is very soulful, like in a 1970’s vibe. This also features D’Angelo who used to be the sexiest man in music 10 years ago. They also sang ‘She’s Always in my Hair’ by Prince together. Raphael Saadiq is always worth checking out if given the chance, especially if you like soul music.

Coal to Diamonds- The Gossip
From a collection of songs that Juan made for me when we first started hanging out. The Gossip are fronted by Beth Ditto and she’s a sensation in the UK. Here she wouldn’t get arrested, much like Scissor Sisters. I can easily picture Juan singing this song onstage. He’s be a good performer I think. Does he think so?

That’s it. Nothing more to see. Move on.

Pictures of You

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Well it was back to work today. I couldn’t fall asleep last night, wound up staying up until the ‘oh so late’ hour of 12:15. Not really that late but later than I am usually accustomed to.

Wound up sleeping until 6:45, which is way later than I usually get out of bed. Still I was in the office at 8:30. Second one in.

No crazy Asian woman with messages filling the mailbox, though she did call today and asked me why I haven’t married her yet. I told her I am gay- G-A-Y. Still she calls, still she cries and still she screams incoherently.

The day crawled somewhat. Vivek told me he had a rough weekend, he was acquainted with some people that were killed in Café Leopold in Mumbai. I was wondering if he was affected and here it turns out he was. I felt bad for him.

Here we are now in December, 24 days until I see my family in Hillsdale on Christmas Eve with Bill and his mother. And then it’s off to Garfield on Christmas day, once again with Bill and his mother. But that’s a few weeks away.

Today is World AIDS Day, a day of remembrance. I lost a few friends to that disease. But it’s all about celebrating their lives, not mourning.

Alphonso Portillo, who was Patrick Morrissey’s roommate/ex-boyfriend, was a designer. Did some pretty cool things. Made me a shirt type garment that hung down to my thighs with a paisley collar and cuffs and triangular buttons. I wore it once or twice and lost it during a move. That’s a bummer.

John Iserra was a waiter at McSwells and also worked in the Macys offices. He was a real sweetheart when I started working at McSwells. It was sad to see him go out like that.

Ricky Wilson, the excellent guitarist of the B-52’s, Cindy’s older brother passed away, went into the hospital on a Friday, and was dead on Sunday.

I remember I was still living with my family in Lodi when I went to a Gay Activists Alliance of Northern New Jersey (GAANNJ) and heard about GRID, Gay Related Immune Deficiency.

It was also known as the gay cancer. No one knew much about it in the early days, which added to the fear. I hardly ever had hook ups with anyone in New York City where along with San Francisco, most of the cases started to appear.

I lived with the fear for years, one time freaking out since I had a spot on my back. I could have sworn it was Kaposi’s Sarcoma. It was a pimple, which of course was a relief.

My dear friend Jet Watley also passed away from AIDS almost 20 years ago around the holidays. There’s a picture somewhere of me sitting on my parent’s couch, completely gutted with my mother standing behind me with a look on her face showing her concern for her youngest who never looked as bad as this before.

I wish they were all still alive, still around. They were genuinely good people.

It’s a damned shame that President Fucktard Reagan didn’t do a thing about the disease. So many lives could have been saved if only he would have released the funds for research, but he was of the ‘mindset’ that since it was only junkies and gay people dying from this disease, why say or do anything?

The disease is still here, millions lost partially due to the inaction of our then commander in chief and his cronies and his plans are still implemented to this day under the present fucktard in the White House.

Faith based initiatives, abstinence only sex education, life saving medications that ordinary people cannot afford while bastards like Rumsfeld sit on the boards of BigPharma making money off the suffering of people.

Now there is a chunk of a generation of gay people that are gone. Watching ‘Milk’ the other day I coldn’t help but wonder how Harvey Milk would have dealt with the AIDS epidemic. With that bullhorn he was loud enough to certainly have gotten attention on the matter.

It’s hard to believe that these friends have been dead for almost 20 years, sometimes more than that.

They say ‘get back, we say fight back!’

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