Merboy

Theatrical genius? ?

Hi Guys -- Upcoming book about the history and culture of the gay bar - looks interesting! https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316458732/?coliid=I95NZO39D7EN4&colid=1OC6HGRPETRJS&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Just a few thoughts I had during my nearly ten year stay here: No spring - it goes right into summer - and the fall is getting shorter and shorter every year. The weather tends towards the extreme --- Pennsylvania, my home state, had much more moderate temperatures in my opinion. An old friend of mine once said that Boston was the city with the worst dressed people. I'll refrain from accusing it of that, but in the areas that I've lived, people are struggling to just make ends meet. The Bernie Sanders look is very popular here too. The general population is much more liberal and much more Democratic than in Pennsylvania, where I would say most of the older people are very conservative. I have met a good share of Republicans here though and they've been very vocal about expressing their views. (Might be because I don't limit who I talk to about politics with just people who share my views.) Parts of it are dominated by the colleges (of which the Boston area has possibly the most in the nation taken together)... lots of college students. I never went to college here so I really don't know what the atmosphere is like, but back in the early 2010s, long before COVID, there was a lot of activity at night. As far as the men are concerned, most I come into contact with are older and have a worn-out, exhausted look about them. There's a lot of people up here who speak in foreign languages and more immigrants than even Pennsylvania has. I think it's wonderful and adds to the diversity but it can be overwhelming for someone from a more rural, 90% white background. I would argue that Boston is not a "gay city" - but then again, what cities are anymore? Even the exalted San Francisco I have heard from a few men is beginning to lose a little of its gayness. Boston has a very good medical center for LGBTQ (Fenway Health) but it has no community center and the one gay bar I went inside was as dead as a doornail - I mean, even the bartender was asleep (j/k). Ironically very few Boston Markets in Boston. And lastly, no Sheetz. ? What about your thoughts about where you live? How does it compare and contrast to other places you've lived?

Who's Shaun Cassidy? Nah, I know who that is. It's the teenage boy from The Partridge Family?

In my opinion one of the best overtures of all time.

Did anyone here see the original cast of A Chorus Line?

I love her rendition of "Oom Pah Pah" and "It's a Fine Life"...

Georgia Brown was wonderful on the cast recording!

Oh it wasn't so great then?

Was the guy that won "best body" really smokin'? We had a guy in my high school who was ripped beyond belief and he insisted on wearing a plain, skin-tight white T-shirt EVERY DAY. He would walk across the cafeteria and I swear everyone's eyes went to that bod.

Wow you should definitely write a book! Sounds like a fascinating life story

Who's Sheena Easton? (Sorry I only know of "Sheena, Queen of the Slut People" from The Golden Girls but I'm assuming that wasn't Sheena Easton.)

My high school did this for the seniors and gave certain students titles, like Most Likely to Succeed, Best Smile, Class Clown...and oh yeah. Most Quiet. That was me. There was also a male beauty pageant they did for the seniors the year before me. I think there was a swimsuit competition but I never would have gone to that. I was way too conservative and way too closeted to even entertain the notion.

Every time I would go to a gay bar, I would ask myself the same question - "Why isn't anyone in here talking to one another?" Then after ordering a ginger ale and asking if there was going to be a male stripper (which usually was responded to with "No, I wish") I'd tip the friendly bartender and leave, taking some local gay publications with me as I went out the door.

Had wanted to see "Gypsy" (Bernadette Peters version), "The Producers", and "The Normal Heart" but never got to.

So far I've seen about 10... Carousel (1994) - the best - the Best - the BEST I tell you. My favorite childhood memory. Beauty and the Beast (1994) - a 90s Disney kid's Dream Come True. Grease (1994) - Rosie O'Donnell played Rizzo. The cast was nice after the show. Show Boat (1995) - excellent as well, fabulous company Ragtime (1999) - incredible, moved my mother to tears 42nd Street (2001) - fantastic, just a grand ol' time from start to finish The Phantom of the Opera (2002?) - mixed feelings - set and costumes were superb of course but there were areas that bored me to death. Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 or 2003) - good, I don't recall if I saw it with Sutton Foster or not but the guy that played Jimmy was the understudy Wicked (saw it twice) - Fun, creative - the book is hilarious at parts Pippin (2013) - Just wonderful, so glad I was able to see it.

aw Thanks for sharing that story! 19 - meaning you came out before Stonewall then! That's incredible! Courageous young guy you must have been. I proudly voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton, my dad not really that proudly voted for Donald Trump. What was the 1964 election like when the both of you watched it on TV? Did you talk about gay rights issues at all and if so what were those conversations like?

Hi - I just feel some days I'm so busy and so tired that I have no energy to even have any relief at all. I totally agree that it's very important to have a healthy sex life!

awww I can really relate to that in a little way, but that must be awfully hard to deal with. I think it's so important to come out but it's just not easy.

omg thats terrible! Yeah I was born the next year. Was he very popular at the time with the gay men of the 1980s?

Wow - These are heartfelt, poignant stories fellas! thank you for sharing.

Constantly. He's a very clean guy

More pecs and chests for y'all...

More pecs and chests for y'all...

Oh my relationship with mine is certainly complex. We're at a point I feel where we are worn out from so much. It's been a long, hard ride, and it's not over yet. In fact it's just really beginning, even though he's now 60 years old. I never got to tell my mother about myself, but maybe she knew in a way. My father has been the dominant parent in my life by now and he can be very controlling at times - he's cranky at times. It all depends on the day and the mood he's in. I think I share some things with my father... I am sorry your dad died so young, David1024. I lost a parent very young as well.