McSwells | johnozed

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

cut n’ paste
http://www.mygayestlook.com/

Saturday, definitely out of the ordinary. Started out ordinary. Slept really well. Watched TV last night, of course since I hardly ever go out anymore. Not that I watched much of anything of importance. Do I ever? That’s a good question. I think occasionally in the wasteland called television, I find an oasis from time to time. Bill came home as I was watching Led Zeppelin live at the Royal Albert Hall in like 1969, a period where I don’t really care for Led Zeppelin wise. Bill thought it was the Who or Nirvana, might have even guessed the Stones, but the long hair on Robert Plant and Jimmy Page had him stumped. Just as well since Zeppelin are relatively unknown to him. Pink Floyd would definitely leave him in the dark since they were even more faceless than Led Zeppelin.

I stayed up until around 1AM, watched the Simpsons and Scrubs before turning in. Slept really well. Woke up around 8:30, Bill was running off to the Bronx to get some stuff from his cousin’s house. She sold it and Bill has to get his crap out of there, or at least throw it out. I woke up, made some coffee, showered and even shaved. I wanted to look good for the afternoon. A nice breakfast followed. Read the papers and did some laundry. Then it was just a small matter to kill some time before I went over to the Hoboken Historical Museum. It’s been a day I had been looking forward to since the summer. My brother Frank was supposed to come by but he was fatigued.

You see today at the Hoboken Historical Museum, it was all about McSwells, and XXXXX was coming to town. I have to admit, I really love and admire XXXXX. He was always very supportive of not just me but a lot of other people in Hoboken and around the country. New and upcoming bands from the eighties from this country and beyond. I hadn’t seen XXXXX since about tens years ago. He was a great boss who could have fired me a few times but always gave me a second, third and occasional fourth chance. I walked up Hudson Street towards the museum and saw XXXXX with Chaz Charas, Todd Abramson and Steve Shelley as well as Geri Fallo headed in that direction.

I called out XXXXX and XXXXX turned around and we greeted each other with a hug and a kiss. He mentioned the blog actually, specifically mentioning the entry where I wrote about if you saw XXXXX at McSwells smoking a Newport and drinking a Rolling Rock, it meant it was going to be a long night. He mentioned the circumstances that that would happen, and I was glad I didn’t write about that. He wasn’t the only one. I know that I participated as well and that’s all I have to say about that particular subject. It was all a lot of fun.

The presentation was funny, XXXXX was talking so fast he was losing his breath. Not one for public speaking, not our XXXXX. But he was entertaining nonetheless. The introduction was lifted from Wikipedia which is where XXXXX was getting his speech from. So that was scuttled and he had to wing it. He did an admirable job, he explained that McSwells was so successful was because of the bands that were able to play there cheaply, since they weren’t playing in Manhattan. Also the club was a favorite for the music press who could focus on the music since there were very few distractions. But ultimately a good part of the success was because of the staff, some of whom, myself included, were in attendance.

Todd Abramson also had a few remarks about when he and XXXXX were running the show, before XXXXX walked away from it. It was an overwhelming hassle dealing with the task of running a club six night’s a week. I’ve butted heads with Todd a few times, but basically he’s a good egg. XXXXX had a loyal team supporting him and that is hard to find nowadays. Back then it was organic, it seemed to spring up all around him.

After the museum a few of us made it down to McSwells, Chaz and I had pints, everyone spread out in the restaurant. It seemed like old times. XXXXX made a point to say that it was important to still support McSwells, that it’s a good thing to have. I had to agree and decided that though I won’t be going there like I used to, at one point even having my mail delivered there, but a pop in for a pint every now and then wouldn’t be so bad.

Tonight, some bitch was the richest man in Hoboken.

Here’s some pics from the past few days. I hope Annemarie gets her computer fixed.

The Watcher