Another year and another gay pride and 2009 turned out to be great one despite the heavy rain.
I began celebrating my pride by spending the day with my mother. After all, had it not been for her I wouldn’t be around to celebrate gay pride. I was up early on Saturday, and made my way to the gym for a few hours before heading over to mom’s. After I arrived at mom’s, we chatted for a bit and then drove to where her house is being constructed so she could show me the progress. Nearly everyday she’s calling me to let me know how far along they’ve gotten and each week she wants me to come out to take a look. She really is very very excited.
After, mom and I went shopping. She purchased some baking items and I… well, I bought a memory foam pad for my bed. I can report this morning that it felt great sleeping on it. Mom and I went through the check-out and we stopped for a late lunch at an Ale House. My mom has never been to an Ale House before. For some odd reason, yesterday I had this urge for fish and chips… you would think with it being gay pride and all the last thing on my mind would be fish. But I digress. Mom, fearing that the fish would be too greasy, ordered a burger with sautéed onions, provolone cheese, etc. and I ordered the beer-battered fish and chips. Guess what, mom took one taste of my fish and loved it. I must admit, it was delicious- lightly battered, very fresh, flaky… yum. I drove mom home, spent about another hour and left so that I could go out with friends for pride.
My first stop, last night, was Flex. For those who aren’t familiar with Flex, Flex is a “bear/daddy” bar. By that, I mean, you tend to see guys that are either “larger”, older, and more into the leather scene there. Of course, you will also find a few younger guys who are drawn to those type of men. Thursday is an exception to this rule, however, has many go there for ‘Trailer Trash Night’. Now some of you may be asking… John why did you go to Flex. One of my very best and closet friends is the manager there. Also, one of my very good friends was DJing. Plus, they had a porn star giving away free DVD’s. I spent a few hours talking to friends, hanging out in the DJ booth and chatting it up with a porn star who’s been featured in “Broke Straight Boys” and “Guys Over Thirty”. I didn’t want to take away any attention he was getting so I didn’t share my porn star credentials. After all, let him have his 15 minutes, right?
I left Flex and headed over to the Borough where I met up with a couple of friends. To be honest, it was soooooo very busy in there that I didn’t even give it a thought to ordering any food less even a glass of water. Finally, we rolled into Legends and it was packed solid. And why shouldn’t it be. DJ Escape was spinning and Robin S. was the guest performer.
When I lived in South Florida, I would go to Crobar on Sunday in Miami just to dance to DJ Escape’s mixes. He’s one of the best in the business. I don’t mean to stereotype, but typically straight DJ’s just don’t know how to really mix music. DJ Escape is one of the exceptions. He once remarked while in Miami that he loved playing for the gay boys, because they could really appreciate his mixes and he loved taking them on the musical journey throughout the night. He never disappointed.
As for Robin S., I haven’t seen her for 14 years. Here’s a little history. While in the military, I used to dance at this gay bar in Fayetteville, NC. One day this guy who managed male dancers saw me on the dance floor and asked if I would join his troupe. For months I declined and finally, one day, I acquiesced. Any way, long story short, Cybil Sheppard was throwing a huge Halloween party in Memphis, Tennessee and hired our dance troupe to perform throughout the night and to be the back-up dancers for Robin S. That was back in October 31, 1994. It was one of the best times I had. Robin S performed her hit, ‘Show Me Love’ and it brought back a lot of memories. In fact, last night brought a whole lot of memories.
I saw my friends Jim and Jeff. They were my first two friends when I came out. We’ve known each other for 15 years. I saw one of the guys I used to dance with when I performed in Myrtle Beach 14 years ago. I saw another guy that I was in the military with 17 years ago. I ran into the guy who used to bartend at Legends 15 years ago. I saw my first crush, Dayle, who I brought to Connecticut with me back in 1995 and introduced my mother and family to. To this day my mother still talks about Dayle. Of course, back in those days, Dayle was still discovering himself and trying to convince himself that he was bi.
Last night was just so much fun, reminiscing about the days passed and talking how much some people have changed. Of course, needless to say, I haven’t changed much at all and that was the census. So what else went on… I met this really nice guy by the name of Michael, who wore these red Puma shoes. He and I talked for about 30 minutes and we exchanged numbers. I really liked him a lot, but I played it very cool… I told him I was going to walk around and maybe see him later. I mean, he has my number and if he’s interested he’ll call me. Plus, my boy toy Alex was waiting in the wings. My iPhone was being burned up with text messages from him asking “where are you”, etc.
I spent my night with Alex, dancing, drinking, talking, kissing, hugging, rubbing…. Alex and I had a great time. And this kind of gets to the crux of my love life. I don’t know what it is with these 20 something year old guys and their attraction to me. Listen, I’m not complaining nor am I bragging. I being very serious here. My friends will tell you the same thing, the 18-28 year olds are always hitting on me. And before some of you say that they’re looking for a sugar daddy, let me just tell you how wrong you are. That is not the case at all. Sure, the young guys are great eye candy and are fun, but they lack the maturity and stability that, at my age, I’m looking for. Alex, who’s in his mid-twenties, is stable, mature, extremely nice, well-spoken, etc., but lives about 90 minutes away and I am NOT having anyone move in with me. At least not until we’ve been courting for some time. Which now leads me back to the red Puma wearing Michael who I woke up thinking about. Did I make a mistake by walking away after 30 minutes? Maybe not. While standing at the bar waiting for a drink order, Michael came up to me and said, “you have my number, don’t forget to use it”. Hmmm… could gay pride result in a love connection? Who knows, but at least, at a minimum, it resulted in another good friend and that’s really what celebrating pride is all about- making great friends.
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