Tag Archives: Remember the Upstairs Lounge

For Once In My Life

You’d think that since I got my OB/GYN license and will start my practice next month I would be in a good mood. And I was in a good mood for most of yesterday. Pretty much happy, texting with friends and generally living in the moment.

I sat on the front steps, smoking a cigar and reading Uncut magazine with Kate Bush on the cover. Saw Rob La Rosa walking by and chatted with him. Talked to Julio on the phone before I came upstairs to watch some comedy on NBC.

Community was good, but not as good as the Paintball episode. Parks and Recreation was OK, merely OK. The Office was good, mainly because of Kathy Bates. That was also when Bill came home. Sitting on the couch he remarked how that woman reminded him of Kathy Bates.

Then came 30 Rock which was pretty funny, perhaps the best of the four. Had the classic line, ‘I’m suing you, I’m suing Vagisil and I’m suing this baby.’.

I saw that there was a documentary on Tito Puente at 10:00 so I changed the channel so Bill would enjoy that. He did. It was his father’s era, and apparently his father grew up on the same street as Cuban Pete who it was said was the greatest dancer back then.

Bill went to bed after that, I stayed up and watched whatever was on. A little before 1:00 I decided to go to bed after taking a melatonin.

It was quite warm and with my thick hair, (hair, not head) it wasn’t easy to fall asleep. Bill was feeling cuddly last night for the first time in a while and after a half hour I got back out of bed, argued with some Libertarian online and took another melatonin.

When I finally did fall asleep it wasn’t restful. In fact I had some awfully violent dreams. Too gruesome to write about, I’d rather forget them.

In the morning, as he left for work, Bill was a prince, kissing me goodbye and telling me how happy he was that I found a job as an OB/GYN.

Eventually I got out of bed and started my day, but a melancholia settled in and I found myself terribly depressed.

I decided to head into the city and check out some art, specifically the ‘Remember the Upstairs Lounge’ at the No Longer Empty art space on 447 w 16th street, next to the Highline Ballroom where Bill, Juan and myself had that ‘ecstatic’ night last summer. Or rather Juan and I had the ecstatic night and Bill chaperoned.

Remember the Upstairs Lounge was based on a fire at a second floor gay bar in New Orleans in 1973. 37 people died in the fire. Gasoline was in the air, leaving people to think it was arson but the New Orleans Police didn’t care enough to pursue any detective work and the case went cold.

The exhibition was a recreation of the Upstairs Lounge, photographs of some of the patrons and some 1973 beefcake photos of Burt Reynolds and Mark Spitz.

Since it was 1973 and gay liberation hadn’t really caught on besides NY, San Francisco and Los Angeles, no identification was found on the bodies since the victims were more than likely closeted.

Another sad fact was that the Catholic diocese absolutely would not allow any church services for the victims. Scumbag motherfuckers they were and still are. Actually that’s not right, they’re not motherfuckers, they’re child fuckers.

The Reverend Troy Perry of Bill’s former church, the Metropolitan Community Church stepped up and performed whatever religious requirements the community need. Bill and I met Troy Perry a few years ago.

Nice guy, has to travel with bodyguards since an out gay man ministering to the LGBT community might as well have a target on his back, even though I think he might be retired now.

I definitely did the right thing, heading into the city and seeing some awesome (in the truest sense of the word) art.

It was a beautiful day and not too many people around. And I’m feeling a lot better.
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Fortune (cookies) on the go

Fortune (cookies) on the go

Snowman

The day after the major snowstorm. It’s been reported that about 14 inches fell but I really couldn’t say. I’ll have to take their word for it. Just found out that NJ Transit has sent me a bus pass for the month of March.

I suspended the account last year, thinking I would be back at work by March. Well I was wrong on that count. So now when I get it, I have to return it in the blue envelope they supply. It was a good deal but obviously not needed at all these days.

I hoped they would send an email saying that the account was about to be activated again, that would be the ‘nice’ thing to do, but NJ Transit is not in the business of being ‘nice’. I won’t get a full refund, a deduction of $3.00 will be levied for all the trouble I put them through.

Nasty me, spitting in the face of NJ Transit.

Where do I get off? Next stop, please. Proxima parada, por favor.

It finally stopped snowing at some point last night. I had gone to the supermarket with Julio and never went out to shovel again after shoveling in the afternoon. I stayed in all last night, driving Bill crazy and being driven crazy by Bill.

As I wrote last night, we watched Eyewitness News at 5:00 hoping to catch Stine and Alexander. I gave up at 6:00 which is when they made the news. Julio called up and mocked me and Bill spent a good couple of minutes telling me ‘I told you so!’

We watched Keith Olbermann as usual, and then at 9:00 we watched 2 hours of Lawn Hors d’œuvre SUV. I had seen both episodes before, it took Bill until the last 10 minutes to realize that he had seen the first one.

The second one he remembered since it featured Rosie Perez. I reminded Bill of the time I worked with Rosie Perez as her escort for the AIDS Dance-a-thon in the 1990’s. She was with 2 of her friends and I was pretty much wired for sound.

I’m pretty sure we all had a good time, quite a few drinks were enjoyed by the 4 of us. Madonna even stopped by. She looked weird, shaved eyebrows and dressed like a fallen Swiss Miss, hair in tight buns on the side of her head.

She stopped by our table and said hi. Rosie looked up to her and said, ‘How you are?’ Then we all laughed at Rosie’s gaffe. That’s how I remember it.

I had done the AIDS Dance-a-thon a few years, then they stopped asking me. Not because I was wired for sound. Most everyone else was. I think it was because at the end of the night I said to the other volunteers that I hoped we don’t see each other again, explaining that I had hoped there would be no need for the Dance-a-thon, that there would be a cure for AIDS.

Well, there is no cure for AIDS yet, and there is no more Dance-a-thon either.

Bill was off to work this morning, I as usual slept in. He did call later on saying that the front of the building was caked with ice and that I should be careful. By the time I had left the apartment, it had all melted away.

I took a stroll along the waterfront. Not many people around. I enjoyed that. Took some pictures which are below. Saw quite a few snowmen and took some photos of them. I did see what, from a distance was a near perfect snowman.

2 teenagers were approaching it, and one of them decided to take it down with a flying tackle. I was pissed off at that, figured that someone took the time to make the snowman, but didn’t say anything, though I did secretly wish him harm on behalf of snowmen all over the world.

I know I wrote an entry called Snowman back in February 2006. In fact it was on the 12th., almost 4 years to the day.

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A job you won't see me doing.

A job you won't see me doing.

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Happy birthday Madelyn Powers Brozis!