THURSDAY, 03.28.02 paul writes:
"I'm actually writing as a reader of your estimable "blog", to say - you went
to a circuit party and are posting no details for the benefit of us
non-scene queens who have no idea what one is, but always wondered? you
damnably reticent handsome enigma, you."
dear paul,
there you have it... my night at the black party and what i've taken from it... you're welcome...
MONDAY, 03.25.02 i feel like a full-membership fag now... i've been a part of a circuit party... and i had a BLAST... what a pleasant surprise... thank you for the magic... you know who you are... *wink*
THURSDAY, 03.21.02 oh my god, i'm going to the black party... pray for me...
SUNDAY, 03.17.02 wow!!! what a fun night!!! had a great group of friends over to the apartment tonight to watch laramie... they responded every way an audience should!!! (i love that)... even after several dozen sausage and cheese balls i still feel all good inside... now, what to do with all the leftover beer... *raises an eyebrow*
FRIDAY, 03.15.02 i'm sure that you've noticed that there hasn't been much going on in my life lately... no work... no play... in times like these i'm glad that i know how to make hot dogs...
MONDAY, 03.11.02 so today is the whole six-month anniversary of the wtc attack... kinda weird how time went by so quickly... i'm not sure if i'll like this temporary memorial of lights that is being put up... kinda spooky... i guess we'll see...
in other news, howard's boyfriend was in brooklyn for a few days between a trip he just had to france and his return home... i'd never met the boy before and was busy all weekend... we finally got to meet today before he got on his plane back home... so we spent an hour or so at the port authority bus station and i had a blast... he's so adorable!!! here, look for yourself...
FRIDAY, 03.08.02 this is sooooo funny!!! thank you blake!!!
THURSDAY, 03.07.02 this is insane!!!
WEDNESDAY, 03.06.02 thanks conrad... this really is a great one!!! (and i do love jeff buckley)...
- from the new york times
Waiting for the A Train, the Sophisticated Pigeon
In the annals of strange subway stories - some pure urban legend, some alarmingly real - there has always been a menagerie of animals.
Stories of alligators roaming the tunnels, of pet snakes loose on trains, of rats tough enough to survive the third rail. There have been eyewitness accounts of live chickens, on their way from poultry market to soup pot, escaping from sacks and running amok through the cars. Recently, someone posted a story on the Internet about a man in the subway walking a dog that was being ridden by a cat, the dog and cat dressed in matching Uncle Sam hats. (The story was accompanied by a photograph to prove that it was not made up by Dr. Seuss.)
But one subway animal story has been so persistent and widespread that it simply cried out to be investigated: the case of the train-riding pigeons of Far Rockaway.
A little more than a year ago, a motorman and a conductor on the A line, which terminates at the Far Rockaway station, swore to this reporter that it was true. They said it was common knowledge among longtime riders and those who worked on the line. Pigeons, they said, would board the trains at the outdoor terminal and step off casually at the next station down the line, Beach 25th Street, as if they were heading south but were too lazy, or too fat, to fly.
The inquiry began the other afternoon, when the question was put to a car cleaning supervisor at the terminal. He appeared suspiciously nervous about the subject. "Oh, no," he said. "Our trains have no pigeons."
But Andrew Rizzo, 44, a cleaner sweeping in a nearby train, looked around and smiled as if he were finally going to get to reveal his secret.
The birds ride the trains all the time, he explained, motivated not by sloth but by simple hunger and ignorance: when the trains lay over at the terminal to be cleaned, for about 20 minutes, pigeons amble through the doors, looking for forgotten crumbs. But being pigeons, they do not listen for the announcement that the train is leaving, and the doors close on them. They ride generally for one stop, exiting as soon as the doors open again.
"If you don't know what's going on," said Mr. Rizzo, pushing his glasses up on his nose, "you'd think they knew what they were doing. It's a little freaky."
Mr. Rizzo has a soft spot in his heart for pigeons, who helped him make a living in Central Park in the late 1980's when he was less gainfully employed. He would wear straps with tiny cups of birdfeed on his arms and head and would soon be covered with pigeons, Hitchcock-style. He would put out a donation box, and pull in $200 a weekend. "I still feed them sometimes," he said. "I feel bad for the little guys." But he also admitted: "I run them out of the train. I don't want them to make no mistakes, if you know what I mean." Despite his efforts, they make many little mistakes.
Mr. Rizzo and many of his fellow employees at the terminal have become amateur ornithologists. They said that pigeons - known vulgarly as air rats, more elegantly as rock doves - ride trains at several outdoor terminals and stations, like the Stillwell Avenue station in Coney Island.
Francisco Peņa, a conductor on the A, said he watched them step off his train and promptly fly back to the Far Rockaway terminal. Perhaps not quite as impressive as the blue homing pigeon reported to have flown 7,200 miles from France back to Vietnam in the 1930's, but still, Mr. Peņa said, not bad.
Frank Maynor, a car cleaner, noted how the sparrows and seagulls, also plentiful at the terminal, are never bold enough to venture into the cars. The sparrows can be seen hopping onto the threshold, looking longingly inside. The gulls loiter outside, like thugs, waiting to tear pizza crusts from the bills of unsuspecting pigeons as soon as they carry them out.
"They shove the pigeons around," said Mr. Maynor, disapprovingly. "But they're going to evolve and start going into the trains, too. They're giving up a lot of food to the pigeons."
On the subject of evolution, Sarah Canty, another cleaner, said she had noticed that the pigeons might be evolving into more alert straphangers. "When the bell goes off, you watch them," she said. "They know the bell like we do." And indeed, when the next bell rang, signaling that a train was about to depart, several pigeons could be seen high-stepping it out of the trains.
But there are those who have either not learned or are yearning to break free from the nest. And at 10:45 yesterday morning, it finally happened: a dark, plump bird with iridescent purple feathers around the neck took a ride. Alone with the bird in the car was Eduard Karlov, a retired procurement officer for the United Nations.
Mr. Karlov, originally from Moscow, glanced over at his fellow passenger and smiled. "He does not bother me, and, in fact, I find him rather amusing," he said, adding, "I cannot give you any more details with respect to pigeons, however."
TUESSDAY, 03.05.02 here are pictures from tonights premiere party... i hate to think that i could be such a braggart, but, eh well... i guess i am... *shrug* anyway, i didn't take a lot of pictures, but of those that i took, these are definitely my favorites...
SUNDAY, 03.02.02 i'm so excited!!! tomorrow is the special new york city premiere of the laramie project... brian and i are dressing in crazy twists on "the tuxedo" (his is pleather; mine is velvet)... will take pictures and post them... don't worry...
also found out tonight that my grandpa back in texas was put in the hospital on friday (yes, TWO days ago) for major surgery... *sigh* i love how my family remembers that i still exist, even if it does take them a few days... well, he's okay and should be home tomorrow... i'm sure my grandma is thrilled that he'll be "back in her hair" as she puts it...
also had dinner with my new friend conrad tonight... it's fun to find someone that likes to laugh at my jokes... a thrill for my ego which has really needed some stroking lately...
please notice the background images this month... i'd like to thank my friend daisy for giving me these amazing hand puppets that have to be at least a decade older than i am... brian is scared to death of them and hates the idea of sleeping in the same room with them... isn't that adorable???
SUNDAY, 03.31.02 so i've been working for the last few weeks on the graphic re-design of www.arigold.com which went public today... this was a pretty easy job as i wasn't dealing too much with the html of the site... all i really did was re-design the navigation graphics and come up with a new graphical theme to carry throughout the site... in fact, the only page that is completely my own design is the "gallery" page... there were a few updates i had to make to the html which was a sort of mild nightmare... the guy who designed the site originally used one of those web page design software program things that i just never learned to use... i've always hand-coded everything i've done (yes, even this site is completely hand-coded)... dealing with html that is spit out of one of those programs is a bitch... i bet that most of today's entry means nothing to most of you, but i think that any of you that saw the site before today will agree that it's much nicer... i love how i can say that and not be conceited because i know it's true... *grin*
my experience at the black party was incredible... before my friends and i left for the party we sat around the apartment chatting and waiting for the car to pick us up (as we decided not to take coats or hats or anything else that one would have to check at the door since, i was told, coat check at a circuit party is a nightmare)... as i sat there waiting i remained somewhat panicked because i didn't know exactly what i was getting myself into... when the car finally did arrive we ran out like four naked girls into a bitter cold and squeezed into the back seat... as our car got closer to roseland (the midtown theater where the party was held) my stomach was twisting and turning and i just knew i was going to poo in my pants... but i played it cool (i think)...
we arrived quite early (around midnight, i think) and found that not many people were there yet... within an hour the place was full... i had one tiny little 8 dollar cocktail and said to my friend, "okay, i doubt i'll be drinking much tonight." it was my only drink. we sat at a table for a while and man watched... the spectrum of body types there was mind blowing for me... you had everything from scrawny barely legal (if at all) twinks to mildly/obsenely overweight men in their 60s... not something too uncommon for any gay party here, however this was a collection of around 4500 men... it was interesting to see someone walking around in a white t-shirt or anyone wearing anything that wasn't black leather or vinyl or rubber... these people stuck out like shindler's red dress (and they looked just as ridiculous)...
the music was amazing... well, it could have been the methylenedioxy methylamphetamine, but it was great nonetheless... first of all, the most i had danced in one night for the last few years was maybe two hours... this night i didn't want to leave the dance floor... music here was definitely going to be the make-or-break ingredient for me... well, i danced really hard for about eight hours straight...
there were sex shows and back rooms behind a large black curtain that i never made it to... i understand that it was entertaining, but i really didn't have a desire to go there... that isn't what i went to the party for and, plus, it's available every weekend for 3 dollars at the cock so.........
i was also really afraid that the entire party would turn into one big anonymous orgy but it didn't... yeah, of course there was the occasional sex act happening right beside you, but nothing that got out of hand... it was nice to be there with someone that i could trust to make out with me all night and keep the skeezies away from me... (the making out was incredible, also!!!)
the level of drug use was a little unsettling for me personally... i mean, yes, i did do some drugs, but i don't think that i was out of my head... there were so many people walking around with eyes opened so wide that i was sure their eyeballs would just fall out if someone bumped into them with enough force... gay naked sex-crazed zombies can be a little frightening... especially when there are several thousand of them coming in your direction...
all in all i had a wonderful experience and would love to make this an annual outing... i was very lucky to have such nice and trustworthy people to go with... i feel that if it had been any other three people i may not have had the wonderful experience that i did...
i would like to mention some of the survival tips that we discussed throughout the night that could help make anyone's circuit party experience a little easier:
something to keep in mind - always
our attorney general loves eagles...
By RANDY KENNEDY
