Reading between the lines...

A friend sent me this:

THOSE BORN 1920-1980

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants &children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because,
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.And we were OK.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or chat rooms......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good .

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

I loathe shit like this...What's really being said in a nostalgic piece of crap like this is, "Remember the Good Ole Days, when Women knew their Place and Stayed Home in the Kitchen, and the Darkies knew to stay at the Back of the Bus, and Faggots only lived in a couple Big Cities and worked as Hairdressers or Florists, and White Heterosexual Men could safely and confidently Rule The World without any Interference? Do ya? WELL, DO YA!?!?!?!?!?"

But, I will say, I do miss the Good Ole Days when I would hitchhike to Grade School with that kindly ole bachelor who lived down the street...However, I hated Go-Carts and only Retarded children would actually eat a worm or a mud pie or a Clark Bar.

I also remember, as a kid, being bored out of my mind because there wasn't anything interesting to do, just like kids do now, and would have given my left nut for Nintendo or a DVD player.

Oh, and, I still have my BB Gun...it's in the closet of my ultra-fab apartment on Capitol Hill but I never take it out for fear that my more mean-spirited neighbors would want to borrow it to shoot the pesky squirrels that live in the eaves above their apartment. I only used my bb gun to shoot beer bottles, in the house, when my parents weren't home...It was hella fun.

boom

Press notes for boom state, "A marine biologist calculates that the end of the world is near and posts an online personals ad, hoping to find a girl that will help him ensure the survival of the species. But when push comes to shove, saving life on earth on the first date proves to be a bit of a challenge."

I'm going to see this on the 30th at Seattle Rep primarily for the divine actor pictured, Nick Garrison who plays the GAY marine biologist. Chelsey Rives also stars as the girl he meets along with Gretchen Krich. I haven't heard of any reviews yet, but I have high hopes...Mr Garrison is one of our best local actors.

For tickets and more info, (tickets are priced $29-$45) phone (206) 443-2222, toll free at (877) 900-9285 or online at seattlerep.org.

Photo by Chris Bennion.

Stitches

Update to my below post on Travis Young's horrific injury at The Skylark on Halloween night. To catch those of you up too lazy to scroll down to the previous post, Young, the singer for We Wrote The Book On Connectors, (a band name that is entirely too long), went crowd surfing during his set and despite his diminutive frame, the inebriated hipster audience was unable to adequately support his body weight and he fell on broken glass and slashed open his thigh. (Strangeways is still recovering from the sight of blood gushing from Young's leg in a scene that recalled Sam Peckinpaw at his best...) I'm happy to report that Young made it to the emergency room in time and didn't join Kurt, Jimi, and Janis in the Rock Star Enclave in the Sky, but he did receive 28 stitches, or so I hear...

The best of luck to him on a full recovery and hopefully, a valuable lesson learned, (don't expect drunken, aging hipsters in smelly Red Light costumes to catch you, if you should fall...)

It was a good weekend...

1)Went out to dinner with friends on Saturday and ate at Senor Moose in Ballard, which is a brilliant Mexican restaurant on Leary across from the Olympic gym, then had drinks at Hattie's Hat. The food at Moose is not your typical burritos/tacos/enchilada fare; I had a dish with chicken livers, bacon and jalopenos that was out of this world...(yeah, and probably not the best thing to eat cholesterol-wise, but damn, it was good...)
2)I had some burning down the house sex and it had been awhile since that had happened...there's nothing better than sex with someone you have excellent sexual chemistry with...
3)And, most importantly, I finally got my McRib I've been fantasizing about ever since they started running the commercials a couple weeks ago. It was delicious, but I have to admit that it wasn't as great as I remembered it...maybe, they're using a different kind of "meat" or maybe I just have more sophisticated tastes now...

I loved her last week, and...

...I love her more even now.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2008/11/wanda-sykes-wif.html

Burn.

I'm gay and happy to be gay and I want to be treated with respect and have the same rights as any other citizen. Yes, I'm appalled by the anti-gay legislation that passed on Election Day. Yes, I'm angry at the people and organizations trying to deny me my basic rights. Yes, I want to see positive change in my lifetime.

What I don't like is a lot of the rhetoric coming from the lgbt community. I don't like the blame game and the finger pointing: "Blame the Blacks!" Blame the Mexicans!" "Blame the Mormons!" And, I really dislike the ongoing blacklisting and witchhunting. The names of people who contributed to the Yes On Prop 8 campaign are being published and the lgbt community is going after those people and hounding them. A restaurant manager. A theatre manager. Average citizens being threatened with the loss of their jobs and their businesses, which they don't own, facing boycotts because these people contributed money to a political campaign, despite the fact that the businesses themselves might be pro gay rights and employ lgbt employees. It doesn't make much sense and it's very frightening and I'm afraid that if it keeps up, someone is going to end up dead, either a victim of violence or by their own hands. Is that what we really want? And while I may not LIKE these people, and to be accurate, actively dislike them for supporting legislation that persecutes me, I don't wish them dead, or homeless, or unemployed. Blacklists and witchhunts, regardless of the reasons why they are being done, or the perceived justification that it's for a good and just cause, are just bullshit. For me, it's the equivalent of saying it's ok to use a machine gun to massacre a Mormon Sunday school class because the ends justify the means and gosh darn it, they deserve it because they are oppressing me! And, I don't think it noble and just to use a tool most famously used by the McCarthyites to wipe out THEIR perceived enemies and promote their own agenda with the justification that's it's ok because we're "The Good Guys" and they're "The Bad Guys". Just because our side IS the good and just side doesn't make it morally right to destoy other people's lives because they oppose us, in order to reach our objective. "The Bad Guys" thought they were right when they went after Alger Hiss or the Hollywood 10. (And, if people were supporting denying us our jobs, or evicting us, or putting us in a prison camp, then that's another kettle of fish. The right to get married is of the greatest importance, but, for me, it's not the same as the right to be employed or to have a home, or to be allowed to live...)

I don't have any problem with people expressing their disapproval at other peoples actions; if you don't like the fact that Suzi the Waitress gave money to a cause that oppresses you, then don't sit in Suzi's section at her restaurant, or, better yet, open up a dialogue with her and find out WHY she acted the way she did...maybe she'll change her mind, but, if she doesn't, that's her own fucking business. She can give money to whoever she wants and support whatever cause she likes because that's her right, the same as it's your right to support whatever cause you might choose to support. It's freedom, stupid.

Yes, I hate the Mormon church and yes, I like seeing them sweat a little, and I do think their generous financial support certainly helped Prop 8 win and no, I don't think non-profit churches have any fucking business getting involved in politics and spending their non-taxed money on government issues and political causes. If they want to pull that shit, then they can pay taxes. But, I also have to point out a couple things: the No on Prop 8 people ran a bad, lameass campaign. It wasn't well organized or well-funded and the commercials were for the most part, terrible and ineffective if not detrimental to the cause. Nobody wants to admit that the ball was dropped when it came to the campaign, but then it's not fun to point fingers at yourself...

Secondly, where were the fags and dykes BEFORE the election? There's shitloads of outrage NOW, after the fact, with tons of demonstrations and protests and rallies but hardly a peep BEFORE the election. Maybe a big, loud, peaceful march of a few hundred thousand fags and their supporters in every major city in California might have got the point across to the rest of California that our voices are many and strong and united and it was time for THEM to take notice of our presence in their lives and respect us with dignity and equality. And it wouldn't hurt to let the Sweaty Masses know that unless they wanted to live in a world without cute hairdos, tastefully designed clothes, vibrantly decorated homes and wittily written/directed/designed/produced/acted entertainment diversions, they'd better pony up and Do The Right Thing...

All the protests going on now, seem like they are a week late and a few million dollars short...It's great that we are making our voices heard, but we needed a bit of this hoopla a month ago.

Bloody Fun

I've been meaning to post this for days, but I've been busy at work and too lazy at home...I went to The Skylark in West Seattle/Delridge on Halloween to check out some friends that were playing there that night, (the details of which are down below in my Halloween post). Basically, what they booked was a bunch of different bands to do short sets of covers from famous bands. The results, weren't very surprising; most of the sets were of the wedding band variety or steep descents into Karaoke-ville. They were entertaining, but there wasn't much effort from any of the musicians to put their own stamp on the songs. Only the girls from Danielli/H is for Hellgate/The Hungry Pines bothered to funk up some classic Nirvana songs and make them more contemporary and modern; they did a great job, (and obviously I'm biased since I'm very good friends with Danielli, but still, these girls rocked it out...).

But the biggest crowd pleasers were the dudes from "We Wrote The Book On Connectors" who went to town covering The Beastie Boys, complete with multiple costume changes, robots, backup dancers, props and a lot of general mayhem...the audience went nuts and people began crowd surfing, which may or may not have been partially pre-aranged, and towards the end of their last song, co-lead singer Travis Young decided to join in the fun and leapt from the stage and onto the crowd. Only problem, the crowd was insanely drunk and despite Young's diminutive stature, no one was apparently able to support him and he fell and landed on someone's glass or beer bottle, thereby inflicting a long and deep gash into his thigh. Young quickly leapt back up on stage, finished the song and began removing the pants to his costume to get a better look at his injury. I was standing with my friend Kerri behind the stage area and we were fortunate enough to be close enough to the stage to witness a foot long gush of blood shoot out of Young's leg after he took his pants off. Kerri and I simultaneously looked at each other in horror and said, "That's fucking bad...that dude needs to get to the ER immediately". Meanwhile the band is tearing down their equipment and props and someone hands Kerri some costumes to take downstairs to the musician's holding area and eventually Young gets off stage with his guitar and limps downstairs. No one in the band seems that alarmed at their bandmate's injury, so I made a point to tell the bass player, (or maybe it was another guitarist) that they need to get their buddy to the hospital as soon as possible but he just kinda shrugged and mumbled at me as he walked by. Fortunately, Kerri was downstairs when Young showed up and Young's girlfriend as well, and Kerri was able to play grown up and convince them to go to the ER and to apply some pressure to the wound to staunch the bleeding. It also helped that Young and his girlfriend realized that a huge gash in your leg and blood soaked clothes are not a good sign of long term physical being, so they quickly left for the hospital. I'm not exactly in the loop when it comes to long music news and gossip, so I didn't hear how it had all turned out, but I finally found out on Monday that they made it in time and he was ok, so that's good.

It was a fun and exciting evening, but I have to say that The Skylark needs to get their act together. The place was packed and it had to be over their occupancy limits; if there had been a fire or an earthquake or anything that would have caused a stamped to the exits, a lot of people would have been killed. And, they also didn't appear to have any security, just a woman at the door checking I.D. As a result, the crowd got way too rowdy and The Skylark is NOT the ideal location for crowd surfing; people were throwing stuff around and spraying each other with beer and at times, it seemed like it was verging on the edge of getting past the point of no return. The bar staff seemed overwhelmed and a little freaked out and no one seemed to be in charge. Hopefully, the management will have the sense to hire some security for big events like Halloween and New Years. I think they were just lucky this time that something really awful didn't happen.

The picture of Travis Young is from the We Wrote The Book on Connectors website: http://www.wewrotethebookonconnectors.com/bio.htm

Auntie Mame is Hung...and so am I.

Due to the celebritory consumption of vodka Gimlets last night, Strangeways finds himself feeling achy and tired...also, generally happy over the various outcomes but annoyed with California and other states idiotic anti-gay initiatives.

Also, why the fuck is Ted Stevens doing so well? Are Alaskans that stupid?

Oh.

Yeah.