jerryskater

Agree it's an great novel.  I was sorry when I finished reading it because I wanted to spend more time with Cal and his family and the people on the island.

Agree it's an great novel.  I was sorry when I finished reading it because I wanted to spend more time with Cal and his family and the people on the island.

I'd really apprciate recommendations for Montreal twink escorts as well.
Thanks

Back from 4 nights in Montreal -- good, bad and ugly (in the eyes of the beholder).  I went to to both Campus and Stock on Thursday night.  Campus has a decent line up of athletic guys, some of whom can also hold your attention with their pole gymnastics, but none were as stunning the dancers from the past.   The line-up was the consistent the four nights I was there with little variation.  Almost half of the dancers were Latino or non-French Canadian.  More surprsingly was that the dancers didn't all come out naked for their 2nd song on stage, which was customary before.  And more distressingly, the number of female patrons was at least 30% on Friday and Saturday nights, and as has been noted, the dancers gravitate toward the shreiking girls in the audience.  The vibe at Campus has changed along with the gay village itself...there were many more younger patrons on the weekend nights, but they seemed less interested in the dancers on stage than the older patrons were.  Unfortunately, the younger crowd doesn't seem to be there for the spectacle of swinging dicks and hot bodies on stage.  Sunday was very slow, and one of the dancers I spoke with said he dances at Campus on Thurs - Sun, and does Only Fans the other nights of the week - so the trend isn't looking good for live 7 days a week nude entertainment.  
As for Stock, I ventured in on Thursday to see the "Boys Boys Boys" they advertise on their neon sign above the lobby, only to be met with two performers on stage who were definitely not boys...but rather boys who identify as women dressed in S&M leather gear.  It wasn't my cup of tea so I left and returned to Campus almost immediately.  I decided to give a second chance to Stock on Saturday night and they had male dancers who were mostly average looking.  There was one who did a Cirque du Soleil inspired pole dance, and was quite good, but I'm not going to a strip bar for circus acts.  There were also bachelorette parties in the club which made the whole vibe less than appealing.  Stock is nothing like it was in its heyday or even worth a trip to Montreal in my opinion anymore.  Sadly, the new owners have completely strayed so far, that is is unrecognizable as the pantheon it once was for perusing the male physique.  

I agree. A really good episode.

I agree. A really good episode.

I won't spoil anything but.......
Holy cow, Epi 5 was the best by far. ❤️
Make sure to watch it before someone spills.

 

i noted that a few weeks ago Bjorn Andresen died at age 70. He was the blonde teenage actor (on the right in photo) who played Tadzio, the lissome highly sexualized youth in (openly gay) Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice, based on the novella by the same name penned by (bisexual pedophile) Thomas Mann. 

This naturally bring my mind back to Venice, Italy, often called La Serenissima. Serene, my foot. It is no accident that Venice is known variously as the City of Love (move over Paris) and the Queen of the Adriatic. Casanova, Ernest Hemingway, and other authors far and wide have sung of Venice's seething sexuality.
In my experience Venice is full of queens of the Adriatic. I was first there when I was 20, going across Europe with a backpack, and trying hard to avoid all the feelings that kept welling up about my peers and their cocks. My goal was to not jerk off all summer. Enter Venice...and..."the best laid plans of men," and all that. My friends and I were staying in a cheap pensione, with "shower down the hall." As it happened, there was a window in the shower, looking out on a small light well, chest height up. As I was showering one afternoon, there was a youth in the building across the light well also showering...a blonde northern Italian, maybe my age. Our eyes locked on each other, and soon we were both jerking off, imagining our lips interlocking and our penises rubbing together. Wham. Bam. Pow. So much for my summer resolution.
One of my favorite Venice destinations is the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, housed in an 18th c. unfinished palazzo. This was the home of Peggy, and a series of artist husbands and lovers, and is now a museum that is home to her extensive collection of modern art. When you disembark from the vaporetto, you are greeted by a bronze statue, Angel of the City, of a man on horseback with his prominent erection begging you to grab it. (There is a similar one in the Getty Center in LA).

The artist was Marino Marini, one of Peggy's many lovers, who was "artist in residence" in Peggy's bed for a while. Angel my foot. The story is that the phallus was originally removable (to function as Peggy's dildo when Marino couldn't get it up?) but it kept getting stolen so he had to weld it in. Peggy bragged that she had slept with over 1,000 men. Gay guys take note: we don't have a monopoly on that delightful hobby. 
The only piece of furniture in the museum is, tellingly, Peggy's bed...the headboard designed by another lover, Alexander Calder. It may be said that the history of modern art was written on this bed. 
Peggy was perhaps inspired by the once-popular Venetian practice of cicsbeo, where young women married older wealthy men, and by agreement, kept a young male stud close at hand for sexual services for the woman. Except in her case, she was the money, not some elderly cuckhold. 
Venice is a tight-knit renaissance-18th c. agglomeration of buildings and islands of no particular geometry, leaving corners and crannies just made for casual hookups. Knowing this, Venetian sidewalks are better lit at night than any other city I have visited. One night, some decades ago, I was prowling the city looking for a blowjob. And finally I found it...the cranny where some enterprising queen had unscrewed the light bulb. And indeed, when I arrived, he was lurking there waiting for his next victim. I was one happy victim. 
For all the seething sexuality of the city, there are no overt gay bars much less sex clubs, although of course the more stylish hotel bars attract birds of a feather. At some point, I was given (by a fuck buddy) a now-lost sex travel guide written by two gay Americans who had a van they traveled the world in, screwing locals day and night. The book pointed me to a public toilet just off the Rialto Bridge. This is the area of a busy public market and throngs of locals and tourists. Indeed, there is a proper public toilet nearby. But for the cognoscenti, there is (or at least was) a filthy (you're standing in urine) toilet literally attached to the side of a church, at which a jerk off, if not a blowjob, was virtually guaranteed. I loved that it was hiding in full view, and attached to a church to boot. Of course, we have since learned that were there are priests there is a lot of gay sex going on. 
But back to Death in Venice. It takes place in the Lido, one of the outer Venetian islands reachable by vaporetto. In the story (novella, movie, and opera all by the same name) an elderly German composer (played by Dirk Bogard, who himself was gay and living with a lover) is smitten with the youthful somewhat flirtatious Tadzio, which leads to the elder's throwing caution to the wind and ultimately dying from the plague.
A couple of decades ago I had my own Lido Death in Venice experience. No, I didn't die of the plague, but I went to the Lido both to take in the rays and to cruise the nearby woods (as noted in that gay sex travel guide). On the beach there was a remarkable scene...seven or eight teenaged Tadzio's, in the skimpiest of Speedos, playing, dancing, wrestling, and literally dry humping each other on the beach for all to see. I snapped a bunch of pictures, lest no one ever believe such a sight. (Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I threw out all my sex pictures in a fit of housecleaning at the start of the Covid lockdown.) I was however unsuccessful in luring any of them into the woods. They undoubtedly were going to one of their houses to fuck each other's brains out. If I were them, I wouldn't have paid any attention to me either. 
The next morning, I took one last cruise around the city before I left. Not a block from my hotel, I saws a magnificent specimen, tall, dark, handsome, black curly hair, wearing a tight body shirt and revealing pants advertising his significant bulge. We took one look at each other, and he signaled me to come down an alley and into his workplace, a clothing warehouse. We instantly tore each other's clothes off, and my god did he have the dick of death. There among the racks of women's frocks, he fucked me mercilessly, and I limped out one happy camper. This was years ago, but it is one of those experiences I will never forget.
Yes, Venice, Queen of the Adriatic...a city of fond memories that continue to inspire the occasional jerk off. 
 

Google Maps
MAPS.APP.GOO.GL Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.  

At the turn of the 20th century Montreal was one of the most elegant cities in North America. It was the centre of finance and industry headquarters and had a strong cultural life.
If you notice the architecture in this picture, nothing was ignored. Only the finest materials and little details like stone walls and wrought iron fencing around the church to separate it from its commercial neighbours. 
And lovely elm trees which once adorned the city. 
I was fortunate enough to grow up seeing the last of this urban cityscape before a lot of it disappeared in the 60s and 70s. Fortunately some charm remains in pockets here and there.

At Union Avenue. Henry Birks & Sons Building (1894) and Christ Church Cathedral (1859)

Rue Sainte-Catherine Montréal 1916

 

We were there last Thursday thru Sunday and agree Campus was great.  Very crowded Friday & Saturday with lots of dancers.  Sunday not as crowded but still a good number of dancers and very attractive.  Maybe a little  beefier than my ideal.  Fabio was great in private as was Raymond.
Campus was so good we didn't even think about Stock or Taboo. Although back in the day Taboo was my favoriite they don't seem to able generate much anymore.
To answer my own question above about the elevator.  My husband would take the stairs and ask the busboy to bring me up.  They were absoutlely great about it.  Always with a smile and made me feel comfortable.
Highly recommend Campus.  Get there while there is some summer left.
 

Thursday was great.  I acually preferred it to Friday and Saturday which tended to be too crowded and you really had to get there around 9:30 to find a seat.  Maybe a few fewer dancers on Thursday but not noticeable.  You should have a great time.

We were there last Thursday thru Sunday and agree Campus was great.  Very crowded Friday & Saturday with lots of dancers.  Sunday not as crowded but still a good number of dancers and very attractive.  Maybe a little  beefier than my ideal.  Fabio was great in private as was Raymond.
Campus was so good we didn't even think about Stock or Taboo. Although back in the day Taboo was my favoriite they don't seem to able generate much anymore.
To answer my own question above about the elevator.  My husband would take the stairs and ask the busboy to bring me up.  They were absoutlely great about it.  Always with a smile and made me feel comfortable.
Highly recommend Campus.  Get there while there is some summer left.
 

Thursday was great.  I acually preferred it to Friday and Saturday which tended to be too crowded and you really had to get there around 9:30 to find a seat.  Maybe a few fewer dancers on Thursday but not noticeable.  You should have a great time.

Thursday was great.  I acually preferred it to Friday and Saturday which tended to be too crowded and you really had to get there around 9:30 to find a seat.  Maybe a few fewer dancers on Thursday but not noticeable.  You should have a great time.

We were there last Thursday thru Sunday and agree Campus was great.  Very crowded Friday & Saturday with lots of dancers.  Sunday not as crowded but still a good number of dancers and very attractive.  Maybe a little  beefier than my ideal.  Fabio was great in private as was Raymond.
Campus was so good we didn't even think about Stock or Taboo. Although back in the day Taboo was my favoriite they don't seem to able generate much anymore.
To answer my own question above about the elevator.  My husband would take the stairs and ask the busboy to bring me up.  They were absoutlely great about it.  Always with a smile and made me feel comfortable.
Highly recommend Campus.  Get there while there is some summer left.
 

We were there last Thursday thru Sunday and agree Campus was great.  Very crowded Friday & Saturday with lots of dancers.  Sunday not as crowded but still a good number of dancers and very attractive.  Maybe a little  beefier than my ideal.  Fabio was great in private as was Raymond.
Campus was so good we didn't even think about Stock or Taboo. Although back in the day Taboo was my favoriite they don't seem to able generate much anymore.
To answer my own question above about the elevator.  My husband would take the stairs and ask the busboy to bring me up.  They were absoutlely great about it.  Always with a smile and made me feel comfortable.
Highly recommend Campus.  Get there while there is some summer left.
 

Just got back from Montreal. Wad there from Wed to Sun.
Wed, don't bother with Stock Bar. Campus was fire.
Taboo is lame. Mostly malnourished twinks.
Stock Bar generally seems gayer. Dancers are more effeminate. Didn't bother to do any privates. Had reserved tables for hen's nights on Fri and Sat, and the only straight hunks will gyrate towards them. Dances on stage were mostly covered up except for quick peeks and the one shower show I saw.
Campus on the other hand. FIRE!!!! So so so much fun and full on erected cocks on stage. Go after 11pm and all the dancers will be full on horny. Like pretty much anything goes. Fabio from Stock Bar works there now Thur to Sun.
Have fun, and people in Montreal are really nice and friendly too.

A few immediate thoughts from my trip
- The Village was really cleaned up.  Not sure if that was because of pride or just general increased policing.  Police were definitely trigger happy on Saturday night when they tear gassed the Rad Pride parade basically right outside the Hyatt Place.  Fortunately I couldn't get a room at the Hyatt that night so was staying elsewhere.  No reports of injuries and no arrests, but at least one Stock dancer got sprayed on his way to work.  Unfortunately for Red Pride's socialist ideals, the proletariat dancer made it to the means of productions club that night to earn money for Stock's Bourgeoisie owner.
- Many new dancers from two years ago, include at least one dancers who switched clubs. I think Gatuso who was at Stock is now at Campus (not 100% positive on this). Stock's talent pool greatly increased, and they had temp dancers who were visiting from the DR and Spain for the summer.  
- Not as many women in the clubs. Stock bar has stopped "catering" to hen parties by ending their exclusive early access hour.  There were parties there, but they were small and relatively quiet.  In Campus, there was one or two hen parties in the corner past Daddies Corner (worst name), but not right in front of the dance floor. I didn't see any women get dances.  
- There might be a woman dancer at Stock.  She was dancing outside on the pole placed on the St C avenue for pride, and the male pole dancers eventually moved inside to work.  She was inside, but I didn't see her do any dances inside (neither private nor on stage), but I wasn't always watching.
- The $18 covers at both clubs was annoying.  I wish they sold a weekend pass so I could go back and forth easily.
 

You deserve a medal! 👏👏👏

Glad you’re back.  Thanks for your hard work in keeping this valuable forum alive!

Was in Montreal a few weeks ago.  No problems with politics at all.  Hotel, restaurant and bar staff very friendly.
Although the weather was just as hot as the NYC area.

Was in Montreal a few weeks ago.  No problems with politics at all.  Hotel, restaurant and bar staff very friendly.
Although the weather was just as hot as the NYC area.