Belinda's Son is Out

While I'm not fond of Perez Hilton, this was posted on his page the other day and one of my Facebook friends posted it.

Belinda Carlisle has a gay son, James. He's very vocal about it and outspoken when it comes to gay rights. They recently were both interviewed for Attitude Magazine. An excerpt from the interview was posted on Hilton's website, Belinda talks about the day James came out to her. Read it here.

The magazine is a UK publication, I haven't found it in Chicago, yet. I'm still looking...

Here's a picture from the article. Sweet, huh?

Have you missed me?

Hello...I'm back, sort of. I'm going to try to get back into a regular routine of blogging again. For some this may be a relief. For others, a curse but too damn bad.


So, to catch everybody up on what's been going on, I'll summarize. Early in October, my mom injured her leg but didn't quite know what she did to it. For two weeks she hobbled around on a walker, thinking it was a pulled muscle. Finally the pain was unbearable and I had to take her to the hospital. Turns out she broke the head off of her femur. The femur is the bone that connects to the hip socket. She had surgery to repair the break and was hospitalized from 10/19 to 11/3. She's home now, and able to get around the house with a walker. For at least the next month, she'll have a nurse and a physical therapist visiting twice a week. Her goal that she has set for herself is to be without the walker by her birthday, 12/11. It's an ambitious goal but a good one to set for herself.

Meanwhile most of my time has been spent going to work, then going to the hospital, then going home to cook or clean or just try to have a bit of quiet time. It has been a lot to try to process. I let my workout routine go, and my eating habits changed. My big meal for the day was lunch at work, Dinner was usually something small since I was geting home at around 8 each evening.

Not that there hasn't been some play time. I did enjoy the fact that I was alone, something I don't often get to experience. Mind you, for the most part I was too busy to care about entertaining. Still, it was nice knowing that I could.


For Halloween weekend, I spent the afternoon and evening at Dan and Luis' house. However, they weren't home. Our friend Tina was house sitting and taking care of Ozzie, the bulldog. Last year for Halloween, we learned that their block is very into the holiday so to get into the spirit (no pun intended) we all dressed as pirates. This year, since they weren't going to be home, they left it up to Tina, Denise and I to protect their reputation (and their home from eggs and toilet paper). Tina and Denise chose a witch theme, I was a warlock. Two of Tina's Valpo gal pals joined us and we had a good time handing out candy to kids, althugh I'm still a bit miffed that they wouldn't follow my suggestion and hand out broccoli and tomatoes to kids without costumes or ones that didn't say "trick or treat." Oh well... Over the course of 4 hours, I believe we handed out about 900 pieces of candy.



Two of the Valpo Girls (it pains me to say that I can't remember their names because they are super-sweet and so much fun!), Denise and I. Three Witches and a Warlock, or three Witches and the lead singer of The Killers. You decide. Tina managed to not be in this picture she took it.

On Thursday 11/5, Reeling - The Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival began. Over the course of 10 days, a bunch of theatres in Chicago will host screenings of gay and lesbian themed films from around the world. I attended opening night and saw "The Big Gay Musical" with my friends Steve, Vahona and Anthony. In the audience was Jane Wiedlin, who was in town for the Chicago premiere of her film "Stuck!". Afterwards there was a fun party at Architectural Artifacts with a performance by The Joans, a Joan Crawford tribute band. Visit their website here!



Friday 11/6 I attended the Chicago premiere of "Stuck!", a women in prison movie shot in black and white. As mentioned above, one of it's stars is my friend Jane Wiedlin. She invited us to attend the film and the after-party. Vahona, Anthony and my friend John were along for the festivities. The movie was really good (and I'm not just saying so because Jane's in it, I swear). Afterwards, the party was held as a club named Circuit, which on Fridays hosts a lesbian themed party. this one was billed as as "lesbian lockdown," so we didn't know what to expect. When we got there, it was nothing I hadn't seen before. It was actually a lot of fun. Jane came over and talked with us for a while. We did shots and took pictures. She thanked us for being there for her. Honestly, I would not have missed it.


Pictured left to right is Vahona, John, Anthony, Jane, and me. We're about to down a round of delicious lemon drops. Photo courtesy of Anthony Meade/Bear Lens Photography


Open enrollment for benefits began at work today. I held my first three meetings today. I fared better than last year, when I had to hold meetings on the same day I had to present benefits at orientation and participate on a conference call. I lost my voice that day. Not to say that it won't happen at some point, it usually does.

Did you miss me??

The Colors of Pride

File under: There's Always Room

Tina made these for our post-parade festivities. Aren't they pretty? They were potent, too!

Pride in Chicago

File Under: Bursting With Pride

June is Pride month in Chicago and it all culminates in a big celebration weekend, beginning with Pride Fest, a street festival in the Lakeview neighborhood. This year marked the 4th year that Pride Fest took place, and it was the first year that the festival was two days long.

I attended Pride Fest on Saturday, the second day of the fest. It’s not much different than any of the other area street festivals. There are food booths, booze vendors, merchants selling clothing, jewelry, accessories and piles upon piles of useless crap. There are stages and numerous performances took place both days. Saturday’s big name entertainment was Thelma Houston, Crystal Waters and Deborah (DEBBIE) Gibson, as well as local favorites The Joans (a Joan Crawford Tribute band) and 16 Candles. The Joans were a hot trannie mess, they were fun and I’ll happily see them again. Deborah (Debbie) Gibson was a major disappointment. Perhaps it was the sound mix, or perhaps it was a 40 year old woman singing songs that were cute when she was 16. Back in the 80’s when she worbled about heartbreak and lost love it was cute and sweet, now it’s kind of sad.

Dan, Luis, Polo and David, our friend from DC, joined me at the festival later in the day. We wandered a while then found a cool corner of a bar where we sucked down a bunch of drinks. Then, it was time to see 16 Candles. It began to rain but we managed to dodge a major storm, we enjoyed the show regardless of the weather. What I didn’t enjoy was the full glass of beer that was spilled down my right leg and collected in my shoe. I took my shoe off and poured a bunch of it out. I should have offered to pour it back into the glass from where it came.

After the show I met up with my friends John and Vince briefly. We chatted a few minutes but I was tired, sweaty and beer soaked, so I really needed to go home.

Below are some pictures from the day.

The Joans

Debbie Gibson

Boys having drinks

16 Candles

The crowd enjoying 16 Candles

Polo, Dan and I

Bad Gay!

File Under: Fight for the right

Yesterday, in cities all throughout the United States, rallys were held protesting California's passing of Proposition 8. My best friend Dan, his partner Luis and good friend Polo attended the Chicago rally. I was asked to go but did not. I'm a little ashamed that I did not go and voice my opinion. It's not that I don't agree, I just didn't go.

True, I had other things that I needed to do - my mom didn't feel up to grocery shopping so it was up to me to take care of it. True, I needed to go and have my glasses adjusted, they had become bent. True, I wanted to go to the gym, I've been slacking this week. I did those things, but I could have found time to do those things later in the weekend. I could say that I'm uncomfortable in crowds, which I am. But that never stops me from going to street fairs and concerts, which sometimes are more rowdy than protests. In the back of my mind, I was picturing the Chicago riots of 1968, when the Democratic National Convention was held here. War protestors clashed with the police and things got ugly. Silly, I know.

According to the Chicago Tribune "thousands" were out there. Would my presence have made the difference? Perhaps, or maybe not.

I feel a bit like I let my friends down and I'm sad about that.

I vow to do what I can from a behind the scenes, to show my support for this cause. If that means writing letters, I'll do it. If that means additional support for the HRC, I'll do that, too.

To those of you who attended rallys, I love you for doing it, I thank you and I won't let you down.

Congratulations, Kim and Melissa

File Under: Friends

Pictured below are Kim and Melissa. Today is their wedding day.

I met Kim a few years ago, she's one of my Go-Go's friends. She and her friend Glenn live in San Francisco. We all became friends thanks to a message board. The Go-Go's played a couple shows in Vegas so a bunch of us went to the shows. I met a lot of people but there were a few people with whom I bonded with. Kim is one of those people. She's got the same twisted sense of humor, she's smart, she's fun to be around and she's gorgeous.

This morning on our QTS message board, Kim posted an announcement. She and Melissa decided to get married today. I'm guessing there was a bit of planning on their part, I'm sure there are things that need to be done before you can just walk in and get married but we found out about it today. They decided to do it before the November 4 election because they understand that it can't be made retroactively illegal if the law is repealed. They will have a big party later at their leisure.

So, on this important day, I wish my dear friend Kim and her beautiful partner Melissa all the best. I congratulate them on being a part of history and wish them a lifetime of love and happiness and laughter.

XO

The Adventure - Day 4

File Under: Princesses, Queens and Aunt Fay

Our fourth day began a bit differently from the others. During the previous day, it was decided that we would try to have breakfast in Cinderella's castle. Dan made the call and due to the weather, they had a cancellation and were able to accommodate a party of six. When asked how many children were in our party, Dan replied "none, we're all over 40." We laughed, the woman on the other end was silent but gladly took Dan's information and gave him a confirmation number. Breakfast with the princesses would happen at 9:00 am.

We arrived at The Magic Kingdom just a few minutes shy of 9. Since this was before the park opened it was fun to race through the park and see it nearly empty. We arrived just in time.




While we all posed for a group picture with Cinderella, Denise also posed for an individual picture with the Princess. They also had a lovely chat.


Our server approached our table and was quite pleased to see Denise and Tina. He announced "I see we've got a couple Princesses at our table." Dan quickly replied "and four queens, too!" Everybody laughed.

Assorted Princesses make the rounds and visit tables during breakfast. We enjoyed meeting them, and we're sure they enjoyed meeting us.

Here I am with Belle.


Tina, with Snow White.

Polo, enjoyed meeting Princess Jasmine.

Dan and Luis had the pleasure of posing with Sleeping Beauty.

Breakfast was a delicious meal of scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon and sausage, juice and some delightful deep fried sweet rolls. These were very popular at our table.

Children are given toys at the castle. Boys get swords, girls get princess wands. Luis and Polo were pleased when they were offered swords.

After breakfast, we met the evil step-sisters. Dan felt a connection so he went right over to talk with them. They took a liking to him, too.

Polo, with his "cape" and sword.

The cool thing about being at the park during a storm is that the crowds were down. Coming from Chicago, where we have some pretty extreme weather, this was what I would call an inconvenience. But others must have decided it was not an ideal day to visit so the park was relatively empty. The longest wait for a ride was about 20 minutes. All of the favorites were visited - The Haunted Mansion, the Teacups, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dumbo, It's A Small World.

Dan, Denise, Tina and Polo whizzing by on the Teacups.

Everybody's favorite ride "It's A Small World!" Notice Luis protecting us from whatever evil may lurk in the ride.

(wonder if Heidi Klum knows that Walt Disney stole her "Project Runway" catch phrase?)

Time for funny hats!

Their hats aren't supposed to be funny, but their patches and earrings are meant to make them look fierce.

Tina and Denise on the Dumbo ride, Luis and Dan are in the paciderm behind them. Neither of them ever got their elephant up.

Tina, with Walt and Mickey.


Rain or not, we decided to stay and watch the Main Street Parade.

Miscellaneous dancer. GAY! GAY!! GAY!!!

Brooms, or penises?

Mickey!

Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale:

Tina and Polo, on Main Street, at dusk.


Dusk created new photo opportunities, the castle was glowing and the buildings outlined in little lights.

Mickey balloons, blurred but a uniquely perfect photograph.

A purple/blue castle

A lovely turquoise castle.

With that, we made one last visit to the large gift shop on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom and we headed for the exit.

Tired but hungry, we headed back to Downtown Disney, again, for dinner. This time we dined at The Rainforest Cafe, where we were treated to a table-full of screeching kids sitting at a table in the bar. Thankfully we had a sympathetic waiter who poured us some strong drinks.

Fed and with drinks in our tummies, we went back to the villa for our final night of sleep in Florida.

The Big Adventure - Day 1

File Under: Arrival

As you may recall, the task was to deliver to Dan 40 envelopes over the course of 4 days, the final envelopes would be given to him throughout the day on his birthday.

Sunday morning, Polo picked Denise and I up, then we waited around the corner from Dan and Luis' house for the limo to arrive. Envelope # 30 was forgotten by Polo (left in his hallway when he locked his door) but luckily he had extra blank envelope parts and were able to make another one. This one said "Get in the car!" We gave it to the driver, told him to ring the bell and give it to Dan. He did. Later we learned that the driver said "The people in the car told me to give this to you." We also figured out that Dan knew we were in the car because our luggage was in the trunk. However, at this point, he still didn't know where we were going. We arrived at Midway airport, where Tina was waiting, with the next envelope, telling him that we were off to Walt Disney World.

An interesting aside regarding the limo driver, Dan identified him as a stripper that we used to see perform at our favorite hangout, Jackhammer. However, we did resist tipping him by stuffing dollar bills into his pants.

The flight was completely uneventful, save for the fact that we had an attractive flight attendant and we asked him to hand Dan his next envelope. It really didn't have much to say, it just told him to relax and enjoy, perhaps the flight would sing "Happy Birthday" to him. They did not. That was fine with Dan.

We arrived at our destination mid-afternoon. Luis had a lovely villa reserved for us at Saratoga Springs, one of the Disney World resort properties.

Happy travelers, waiting in the lobby.

The view from our balcony:



Luis and I went grocery shopping, the remainder of the bunch went out to the pool to relax. We took full advantage of the fact that we had a kitchen and we planned on using it.

Luis made reservations for us to dine at Bongo's, a restaurant located in Downtown Disney.




Our waiter was cute and fun, and at the end of our meal Dan was serenaded with "Happy Birthday" from a group of wait staff. Our cute water was banging on his tray. I think Dan wished he was spanking his ass.



After dinner, we walked around Downtown Disney, visiting a number of stores, looking at everything from Mickey Mouse clothing, Christmas ornaments, kitchenware, stationery, jewelry, and bedding. Lots of mouse stuff.



We ended our evening back at the villa, and gearing up for our first full day in Florida, and Dan's 40th Birthday!

The Collective - Update

Last night, Dan, Luis, Polo, Denise and I, along with our friend David had dinner at LaDonna. It is one of Dan's favorite restaurants. Absent from the table was the charming Tina, who had 2 other celebrations to attend. She's quite the party girl. Anyway, dinner was nice, so was ice cream afterwards. Then Denise went home, so did Polo, leaving Dan, Luis, David and I to go home and rest. But no, they decided to go out for a while. I went with them but started feeling sinus-y so I left about an hour later.

Where will today's adventure lead...stay tuned.

One more day...

Today is Madonna's 50th birthday. I'm sure I could do a search and find thousands of blog entries from her adoring fans wishing her a happy birthday. That's cool, I'll mention her too - Happy Birthday, Madonna!

But this posting ain't about Madonna. She's got enough devoted and adoring fans. This is just a reminder that tomorrow is Belinda Carlisle's 50th birthday.

Here's another clip of her from the Regeneration Tour. This is from the Los Angeles stop. It's a portion of her song "Live Your Life Be Free," and it's the first time I've seen her perform it live at a show where the song sounded true to the original. In recent years she performed it in sort of a modified acoustic style. It was great but there were no big kicks as you'll see in this clip. Enjoy!

The Collective - Update

It has been revealed to Dan, via one of the envelopes that he is going somewhere, tomorrow. He came home from Target and was told to pack a bag for 5 days, 4 nights. He doesn't know where he's going. He's not pleased but a stiff drink helped settle him down.

We all met at Sir Spa for some well-deserved pampering. Dan, Luis, Polo and David got massages, I got the hand and foot detail (manicure and pedicure). Afterwards we all met in a room at the spa and had champagne. Polo enjoyed his massage. He was hard the entire time. Really, he said so. Probaby didn't need me mentioning it here though. Oh well. He's scheduling another massage this week.

More to come... (no pun intended)

The Collective - Day 2

File Under: Dan's 40th Birthday

Last night was Dan's birthday party at their house. Luis organized a cookout. It was a perfect night. Clear, mid 60's, perfect for just relaxing outdoors.

Dan was sent on a number of stops after work, each stop had a series of envelopes waiting for him. He would ask for them and the envelope would send him to the next place. At the last stop, he was told to "Text the Collective" and we went to pick him up. Tina and I drove him around for about a half hour, blindfolded, before returning to the house. Once there, he was surprised and he could finally enjoy his party.


Polo had napkins printed for the occasion:





Tina created "butt-ons" for everybody to wear.





All of the buttons featured Dan's prominent ass crack.




The yard was glowing with lights and you can see that it was full of friends celebrating the special event.


One of his envelopes contained a riddle about his friend David, who lives in Washington, D.C. who flew in for the occasion. Here's Dan with David and me.




The "cake" was actually cupcakes. Tina added some pig cookies for good measure. Dan loves pigs.




Not sure what's going on here, so we'll just say that upon learning that Belinda Carlisle is celebrating her 50th birthday on Sunday, Luis and Dan began singing "Vacation, all I ever wanted" while doing the arm movements she does when she performs the song in concert.


Friend of Francesca's, who spent most of the evening asleep in the basement. He was festive, but not as festive as Dan in this picture!




Tina with the fantastic and festive rainbow Jell-o shots that she made for the occasion. Aren't they beautiful?


This morning, the festiveness continued with a Mexican-themed "Fiesta" at a local pancake house. We took over their party room and had a grand old time with Luis' family. We had a delicious breakfast and concluded with a pinata, inside was yet another envelope.






The message said to go home and relax. Of course, that was short-lived as when he got home, another envelope was wedged under the front door. The message in that envelop told him to go to Target, purchase some travel items, including a rain poncho and bug repellant. Hmm...

To be continued...