Last night I hung out with my new "boyfriend" Bleu Magazine's (www.thebleumag.com) Publisher, Devon Christopher. My first encounter with Devon was when we were sat next to each other at the African American Literary Show a few months ago. We bonded at that table and made plans to hook up in the near future (his actual words were "I'mma fight you if you don't call me") lol...
Well the near future came a few weeks ago, when after sending him a "it's time for a cocktail" e-mail he responded and asked if I'd like to join him at an event at the LGBT Center (where he was a panel speaker) and then join him afterwards at one of his "Hot Boyz" parties downtown in Soho. I happily agreed!
I got down to the center a few minutes before the panel began. Devon's publicist, Ra-Fael Blanco met me at the door and quickly found me a seat down front.
The first thing I noticed as I sat down was that there was a TON of boys in the room but very few girls. The moderator was kind enough to give me a shout out before beginning the discussion. The panel discussion was mainly about HIV/AIDS in the African-American community. The panel was mixed with people from different walks of life; including folks currently living with HIV/AIDS, a brother who was a minister (I loved all that he had to say) and of course Devon.
Well, the panel was coming along nicely and I found most of what the panel speakers had to say very interesting (although I was seriously alarmed at the lack of female presence in that room and on the panel). Unfortunately, the moderator made the unfortunate mistake of opening the floor up for comments too early; and boy did he ever light a powder keg by doing that. The back and forth verbal exchange between the panel speakers and a few of the folks in the audience got very heated really quickly. I swear I was ready to send out for popcorn when Ra-Fael came over and whispered that it was time to go.
There was about seven of us in the group and we decided to split up into two taxis to head down to FR.OG down in Soho. We chatted about that panel conversation all the way down town! As our taxi pulled up I saw the handsome faces of the fabulous Sam Fine & Oscar James!
I broke my neck trying to get out of that taxi!!! (I love me some Sam Fine ya'll!!) I was so excited to see Sam that I nearly forgot all about Oscar.The party was held in the downstairs lounge, that was already beginning to fill up by the time we arrived.
I took a moment to say hello and talk to my old friend from my Curves at The Lyons Group days, Jones; who is now well on his way to becoming The Next Food Network Star!!!
Devon got me a glass of wine from the bar (I had forgotten how nasty FR.OG's Chardonnay is and I had to send it back for a Riesling!) and I began to work the room and chat with folks. I said hello to Josh Smiling (who's mom Sandy is a retired educator in the NYC School System and a friend of mine!), three young sisters (who's lives are much more interesting than they think!) and I talked to a VERY interesting brother, who's in book publishing and was here in NYC on holiday from Amsterdam.
Devon is a "Worker Bee" and before long he was running off to his nearby office to finish up some loose ends. He was a little concerned about leaving me so quickly into our "date"...lol but I assured him that I didn't need babysitting and he was off!
I chatted until my glass was empty and my feet began to hurt and then I said my goodbyes to all of the cuties in the room (there were a lot) and made my way towards the exits. On the way out I picked up a the latest copy of Bleu Magazine and a cute lil goody bag; which included a bottle of the latest in flavored water...a brand called "hint"; which bills itself as "Premium Essence Water with mango, grapefruit and other natural flavors. Sort of like an iced tea with no sugar - it's an acquired taste. It has no sugar and no sweeteners....which is probably the reason I didn't really like it. I would have preferred some more "Essence"...and maybe a teaspoon of sugar...lol. I also got a small jar of a product called "Miss Jessie's Baby Buttercream", which is a hair pomade of sorts. I immediately took it to her, washed her hair that same day and added a little - her hair was nice and soft and it smelled really good!
Until we meet again Devon!
"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud."
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