I think that this weekend past was the MOST COLORFUL weekend of my life thus far...lol! This was Gay Pride Weekend in New York City and I simply ADORE the "Pride Parade". But I kicked off my weekend by attending a surprise birthday for my home girl...the fabulous Miss Eda Francois! We arrived at this club called Rebel on 30th St at 11:30pm sharp for the surprise. The first person I saw was Eda's roommate Denise, who always greets me with love, and tonight was no different. Also in attendance was one of my favorite designers Douglas Says along with two friends. There were about 15 of us lined up and we were escorted inside the club. It was "ladies night" of course....cuz it was pride weekend ya'll!!!...lol and the ladies came out in full force. There were some absolutely stunning women out that night and they represented to the fullest. The club used to be a rock club called Downtime back in the day, I used to sing there when I sang with a rock band called The Thrill Cycle. The club has been completely remodeled and is absolutely beautiful. It has three levels, comfy seating and sexy lighting. The guest of honor...Miss Eda beautifully attired in black, arrived with her partner Becky(who arranged the party) and to say she was surprised was an understatement. The sight of all of her friends brought tears to her eyes. We were on the third level where the dj was spinning primarily house music (which is my favorite as well as Miss Eda's). We partied until the wee hours of the morning (okay, i'mma keep it real....I partied until my damn knee gave out AND the DJ went for the record with the FIFTH REGGAE SET!!!! and I decided it was time for me to depart....lol (I don't particularly care for reggae music....after about 4 songs....I am ready to go...so you can imagine what FIVE SETS was doing to me). I said my goodbyes and quickly caught a taxi uptown.
For those of you who don't know it yet....I am a big ol' "Fag Hag" at heart. I have spent many a Halloween down in the village with my late "big Sista" Tommy watching the boys in drag carry on on the streets of Christopher. I remember the year me, Tommy & his friend Darnell went to the Halloween ball dressed as Dreamgirls (well,THEY we're dressed..lol..I wasn't!!!) and his other friend Miss Landy was dressed head to toe as Miss Coco Chanel (and Landy had the best legs I had ever seent!!! (yeah...I know that's ebonics!). It was hilarious (because women just don't over exaggerate everything like that) but it was also always a learning experience for me too. It was "the kids" on the pier along with Tommy who first encouraged me to walk a runway! I learned (and stole...lol) quite a bit from the boys at the balls who would "vogue" and "pose" on the runway back in the day. Lol, it was also Tommy, after a trip to the extremely popular (but now closed) gay bar, Two Potato and seeing more 6'8" straight looking dudes coming out of that bar, that I began introducing potential dates to and then wait for him to tell me his thoughts after they'd leave. He was always on point and had the best "gaydar" around. Unfortunately, all of my mentors are all gone now. But the memories of them and the wonderful times we shared always bring a smile to my face.
I picked up my home girl Deb at 103rd st and we took the #1 train down to 14th street where I stopped off to have a drink with my girl "Q" who was hawking copies of her new erotica books "Orchids" & "Orchids II". We sat at Merchant's bar on 7th avenue and had a couple of beers. We stayed and chatted for about an hour and the we (deb & I) walked the rest of the way downtown. We were headed towards the pier when I realized that PRIDEFest (the festival AFTER the parade) had been cancelled this year because they couldn't get permits from the city. So we made a U-Turn and headed back towards Seventh avenue (and back towards the parade)when I ran into jewelry designer Beverly Carter...who I hadn't seen in a very long time. Introductions were made and we decided to head over to Dragonfly where Eda, Becky & Denise were having brunch. I was really surprised to see Eda (because I thought she would never recover from Saturday night's events. But there she was looking as beautiful as ever and chowing down, getting prepared for the final night of Pride festivities. I chatted with them for a minute and then headed over to Crazy Nanny's where all the girls were hanging outside. And there were some beautiful sistas hanging outside ya'll! Of course as always I ran into some folks I knew and even some ladies who recognized me from the show. They all showed me mad love and it was real cool ya'll!! I saw more boys (all shapes & sizes) in 6 inch pumps this weekend, serving it up complete with legs to DIE FOR that were absolutely hurting my feelings!! I mean these kids had better bodies than I have had MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!! Legs for days!!!! The floats were colorful and fun, the music was loud and up beat and the entire Village was transformed into one big dance party!!! This year I saw floats from Brazil (the Brazilians must have used all the silicone left in the country cuz they had more booty & boobs than most of the chicks I know!!!!), Peru, Canada, Italy, Venezuela and (a first for me....) even the RUSSIANS had a float! It was phenomenal!!! The parade and pride weekend have always been an event to look forward to. You walk around and run into folks you haven't seen in years who also came out to view the parade and to celebrate the history of being gay in New York City. It has always been the best time for me!
But alas, time has a way of changing things and although the spirit of the parade and the festival that follows is the same....the people who hang out on the pier now have changed drastically. The crowd is much younger with lots of attitude and just a little too quick on the draw to fight for me.....so hanging down on the pier like I normally would is not as appealing as it used to be for me. Just way too much drama from the younger folks. So I ended my Sunday watching the parade, having a few cocktail with my friends and heading home before the sun set (which for me, is usually when the drama begins).
But the weather was absolutely gorgeous (as opposed to last year when it rained all weekend) and folks were super friendly and gracious enough to pose for me whenever I wanted to take a picture, and that helped to make it a phenomenal weekend for me.
I am completely tuckered out but it's a happy kind of tired...believe me. I Wish you all coulda been there!
Smootches!
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
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