HooBoy and me

[Rick Munroe]

I would not have such a successful career in escorting (I probably would have stopped soon after I started) were it not for HooBoy. That is just a fact.

 

I decided to try escorting in late '99, which is I think around the time that HooBoy started up this site. I'd only planned to do it for a few weeks or months...just a lark. Soon after, I received an email from someone, telling me I had a "great review on hooboy." I had no idea what a "hooboy" was, so I asked and that person explained. I visited the site, and was a bit horrified. It was something I hadn't imagined: someone was describing my private sexual activities and grading me on them! I felt somehow violated. Yet, when the emails from prospective clients began pouring in, I realized that this wasn't necessarily such a bad thing.

 

I wrote to HooBoy after I read the first review, and asked him if he could make some changes (I didn't know what the policy was or if there even was a policy at that point). He wouldn't edit the review, but he did correct the misspelling of my last name, change my photo and a few other (OK, maybe a dozen) things I'd requested. It was at that Streisand Moment of mine that HooBoy gave me the nickname "Babs," which he continued to call me in emails right up until a few days ago. My nickname for him was "Lucy," because his travel mishaps were just so Lucy Ricardo (btw, I am really glad I'm typing this and not speaking because I'm really choked up right now.)

 

We only met face-to-face 3 times (he often joked that Derek and I were avoiding him like the plague) and our emails/calls were not very regular. But I always felt his support (he recently told me again that he thought I was wasting my writing talent and encouraged me to do something with it...the project he was developing for me was one aspect of that) and his friendship. I know I'm not the only escort or client who has felt the same thing from him.

 

Yes, he could be a bit over-dramatic at times (that's one of the things I loved about him...even when he was mad at me), but mostly he was a warm, caring person who really seemed to enjoy every single moment of the day. And we each really "got" each other's humor, you know?

 

Not only did HooBoy give me (and Derek) a successful career through the exposure here, but he gave me a voice and the freedom to express myself here on the Message Center. As Juan beautifully put it in his post, "...you have given us escorts a face, a mind, a heart of our own. We are not just a cliche name printed on a seedy publication wanting to use a John... we are people, who think, love, like our jobs (or hate them), but PEOPLE at last! And all that because of you." It's so true. As others have noted, I wonder if HooBoy really knew how much he has done for the industry, and how indebted so many of us are to him.

 

Two years ago, when HooBoy came to support me in one of my non-escorting endeavors, I had the chance to introduce him to a close friend of Derek's and mine (a straight woman). As I've said in the past, our families do not know we escort, but all of our friends (most of whom are not gay) do. When I introduced HooBoy and said that he'd created the top gay escort site, the most-used resource and the source of most of my popularity, it was at that moment that I realized how important he was, not just to me but to all of us escorts/clients. I guess I'd taken him for granted until that moment.

 

As I said in another post, I was in shock earlier today and was hoping this was an Andy Kaufman-esque stunt...that HooBoy would reappear and say, "Y'all been Punk'd!" but I see now that that isn't going to happen. But if perhaps I'm wrong, I'd like the opportunity to tell him something I never did:

 

I love you.

 

-Babs

[Boston Guy]

Nice. :-)

 

BG

[eastbayguy]

What a beautiful post. One of the just plain nicest to grace the M/C in a while.

 

After the little gathering in Palm Springs a few weeks ago, I'd decided one of my projects for this year was to somehow engineer meeting Hooboy in person. Rarely have so many described one guy in such different terms. Now I'm sadder still I didn't get the chance.

 

--EBG

[HotdadENYC]

Sweet post, Rick. Very nice indeed.

 

Like everyone else here, I was emotionally affected by the news we received earlier this morning about HooBoy's passing.

 

Your tribute amplified my emotional reaction and at the same time, honored a man who met few but touched many.

 

Thank you.

 

hd NYC

[FourAces]

Very heartfelt, thanks for sharing these memories.

 

RT

[Guest Mikel]

Rick:

 

I think you and Vincent have captured, in relatively a few words, the essence of his magic and mystery. Thank you.

 

Mikel

[KY_TOP]

Nice story Rick. Thought you might want to know about the first time I actually talked with Hooboy. Something was going on here in the Message Center and I got an e-mail from him saying call me with a number. So I called him and after talking about whatever it was for a few minutes we ended up talking for over an hour. During that conversation I mentioned I would be in NYC in a few weeks and that I was hiring you and Derek to be my tour guides for the day. He then talked very fondly of you, mentioned one of your stories, which he laughingly said you probably made up, and of having dinner with you and Derek. He did not just think of you guys as great guys, but he honestly considered you both his "Friends". To me that is the ultimate compliment.

[Candyman]

Rick

Your thoughts of Hooboy were very sweet kind and gave us all a further insight into a man that we all wanted to meet. Not only did he give the escorts a chance to be more than just a name. He gave us a brief insight into himself. Having lost a sister to cancer I felt a deep contection on what he went thru at the time. Yes he could be a pain when he didn't like how you wrote your review but it was only to keep improving his site. Hooboy will be sorely missed but we all know that he would want this site to go on and improve. We can all do that by continue to write and share our thoughts and opinions. And you better do a good job since he will be looking down keeping track on what we're up to.

[jimbeaux]

Rick, that's one of the most honest and moving tributes I've read here. You have always been first-class and I love remembering how much you and Derek, perhaps unknowingly, helped me put the pieces of my life back together. I never knew I could be so happy. I'm glad HooBoy was the conduit by which we met.

[Rod Hagen]

Wonderful post Rick.

 

Add me to the list of those who would not have been escorting nearly as long as I have (6 years this May, I'm surprised and pleased to say) without this site, without Hooboy. Based on the first few years of my behavior in the Message Center, I could almost say I succeeded in spite of it.

 

But because of this simple, smart, necessary idea Hooboy had of "reviewing escorts" I, and many others, have had a very very good run. For that I am very grateful. In the beginning of this site and my years of an escort Hooboy made several efforts for the two of us to meet. After a few years of missed opportunities, we slowed down the efforts with the cliche', short-sited attitude that there would always be time. We were wrong. Damn.

 

He was a mystery, a good man, and truly an innovator. I'm sorry he's gone.

[+ deej]

GREAT post, Rick.

 

>As I said in another post, I was in shock earlier today and was hoping

>this was an Andy Kaufman-esque stunt...that HooBoy would reappear and

>say, "Y'all been Punk'd!" but I see now that that isn't going to >happen.

 

I had the same first thought. I was certain it was some sort of joke when I first read Daddy's announcement. It HAD to be.

 

Then my cellphone chirped telling me I had voicemail. Uh oh, it's from Daddy. Timestamped 4:30am. That's when it sunk in. It's not at all unusual for me to hear from Daddy, but he KNOWS better than to call me at 4:30am unless it's urgent.

 

It STILL doesn't seem possible.

[Athan]

>Wonderful post Rick.

>

>Add me to the list of those who would not have been escorting

>nearly as long as I have without this site, without Hooboy.

>

>He was a mystery, a good man, and truly an innovator. I'm

>sorry he's gone.

>

>

 

For once I am speachless. All that can be said is not enough to express the loss we feel. ;(

 

I morn his absence and feel sorrow for all who loved him...but I also rejoice in his freedom from this plane to the next...whatever it may be.

 

He is Loved.

[BgMstr4u]

Thank you, Rick, for putting words around an emotion so many of us must feel.

 

HooBoy created something magical. He created a world of dialogue and discourse around a taboo subject which, thanks to him, is now a community of people -- at least a cyber community -- who share an interest in escorting and from that can branch out in a hundred different directions. The seed he planted grew in to a large tree, and a lot of birds have come to roost in it.

 

I imagine I am not completely alone when I say that this site has allowed me, as a professionally closeted man with a strong sex drive, to find new ways of being human as a gay man in my circumstances. Reading the stories of clients and escorts alike has opened my eyes to so much beauty, so much grace, so much joy.

 

Thank you, HooBoy. Bless you. You did a good thing for hundreds, maybe thousands, of people, and all our lives are richer because of you.

[Rick Munroe]

Thanks, guys, for appreciating my post. I feel a bit guilty even saying that, because this wasn't supposed to be about me (then again, "me" does appear in the title of the thread...and yes, I can hear HooBoy laughing and telling me just that). Like many of you -- those who knew him closely and those who only knew him from his posts -- I have been really sad the last 2 days. It's so odd not to be able to write or call him and get his take on all of this -- I'm sure he'd have some sick joke to make us smile.

 

Btw, one of the last emails I have from him gives you an idea of his twisted sense of humor. If you haven't noticed, he placed the photo of Derek and me (on our duo review page) upside down, after I said I wanted Derek to have first billing. He did that so Derek would be on the left in the photo, and I would be on the right. It made us both laugh. Well, last week when we got some new reviews, people apparently wrote him to complain, which he loved. He wrote, "People are dogging me about your picture being upside down....lol." It was just the reaction he'd wanted. }(

[Rick Munroe]

>He did not just think of you guys as great

>guys, but he honestly considered you both his "Friends". To me

>that is the ultimate compliment.

 

That meant a lot to me; thanks for this post, KY.

[Rick Munroe]

>you and Derek, perhaps unknowingly,

>helped me put the pieces of my life back together. I never

>knew I could be so happy. I'm glad HooBoy was the conduit by

>which we met.

 

As I said, I took him and this site for granted before but now I totally see what a debt I owe him for, as Derek said, all the connections he facilitated. And I'm really glad to hear about your new happy life.