Forgot to mention, Ford on the Radio! Oh, Oooooh!

Our dear U.K. friend, Ford has given up his visual presence on the web! No more juicy sweet semi-real time web cam visions of him, no. (What he did for love....) Now we must imagine or perhaps, intuit his wonderful self via the magic of internet radio and the whispered words to those listeners out there in the dark!

Believe me, it's a totally charming and very entertaining aural, (that's aural, not oral!) experience. Ford is a man of many voices.

Check it out at Radio GayCams and at his Web site.

On The Cover of the Rolling Stone...



Our friend joop posted this 1972 cover picture of David Cassidy from Rolling Stone magazine on the message boards recently and it brought back some very steamy memories. David Cassidy was a big teen idol then due to the popularity of the TV show, The Partridge Family and he was kind of cute and all, but this was a very hot new image of him. At the time, I don't think any other pop star posed for such a revealing picture, let alone a cover picture for the biggest music mag in the world. It was taped to my bedroom wall for years. There was a lot of speculation at the time about his sexuality; he was almost never seen in photographs with a woman and there seemed to be the same "good friend" in the back ground of most of his pics, (although that might have been due to the standard sort of way than teen idols were handled then; they had to be available for everyone's fantasy.) He's aged well, you know, not bad for 50+....


While his career is perhaps not what it was once, he's still out performing and there are fan sites all over the internet. His Official Site.


Travelogue, The Wonderful World of Oz.



My dear friends David and Glennie sent me these pics of a recent walk they did near the base of North Brother Mountain a couple of miles from where they live. The "Three Brothers Mountains" sit on the north coast of New South Wales in Australia and Captain Cook used them for navigational reference points when exploring the coastline. He named them "The Three Brothers" but the name was also used by the Aboriginal people going back to the ancient "dream time" in their history. No one knows if he adopted the local name, or if it was just an amazing coincidence.



David took this wonderful shot of these two kukuboros. It's mating season and he said they were making a lot of noise. The first time I heard the kukuboro's distinctive call when I was staying at David and Glennie's house, I thought someone was watching old cartoons on a near-by television set; the call they make was used by the people that did sound for early cartoons. I had no idea that the sound came from anything real and was totally stunned when I finally met one of the 9 inch tall birds beak to face! (I mean it was sort of like meeting Woody Woodpecker in the flesh....)

BTW, I might add that these pics do very scant justice to the paradise that David and Glennie live in; while I stayed there for three weeks, we went to a different place to walk every day and each one was incredibly beautiful; mountains one day, beaches the next and a rain forest walk the next. All within a few minutes drive from their home. ~sigh~ (They will be here in New Orleans for a visit this year, late summer! Can't wait to see them again!)

Hell, Perhaps.
I have been waiting for two weeks for a background check to be completed before I can start my new job. Don't get too excited about this fact; it's just a simple look up to see if I have ever been convicted of murder or drug dealing, etc., just standard pre-employment stuff. But thanks to some new system in the city records department, this simple check, which used to take a couple of days, is now taking for freakin' ever! Our new mayor is very high tech and somehow, I am sure that the records people are trying some scheme to prove that they are indispensable and that they can not be replaced by one computer with internet access, sort of like a very unromantic civil service version of that classic Tracy/Hepburn movie "Desk Set"! My natural inclination is to try and expedite the situation, but there is absolutely nothing I can do. It is a bit like my version of a personal hell.

Oh, and Finally, a Broken Bone and an Uncle's Sorrow.
My totally fearless 2.5 yr. old niece, Emma, in total disregard of her parents repeated warnings that she might hurt herself, jumped on the bed last night and bounced off and broke her elbow! Doctors and X-rays this ayem and an appointment with a kiddie ortho-specialist this afternoon. (I am told that she has been very brave and for the moment a bit subdued.) I personally think that they are unnecessarily coddling the child! Why in my day, we'd just go down to the pond and make a cast out of the mud, let it dry and then it was back to work!

bwahahahahaha! If I had been there I would have been awash in tears for her discomfort! I am so besotted; she totally has her Uncle Bunny's number. My bro just e-mailed me to tell me that her cast is a lovely shade of purple and that they had opted for the special Gortex waterproof upgrade. U.B. approves because he totally loves his neice.


Do you wonder why?

durlx

pee ess, remember, you're encouraged to make a comment on these entries... just click on the word "comments" and let me know what you think.

Durlx Does The Dome



I worked at huge party at the Super Dome last night which was kind of fun. I love the Dome; it's such a huge building, extremely well designed and maintained. While most of the big stadiums that were built in the 70's have become outmoded and have needed to be torn down or replaced, the Super Dome is still going strong, a monument to the good sense of the people who designed and built it.



The temp company that I was working with brought 167 people to work the event and the Dome had about 200 of it's own people on. Fortunately, I got in with a good group of people including my old friend Miss Kitty, with whom I've worked many times over the years.



The floor of the Dome is a huge space; in the picture above, the stage, (with those circles above it) is over two blocks away. I probably walked 6 miles during the evening! The space filled quickly enough once the party started, with over 12,000 people from HerbalLife, (Lose Ten Lbs! Ask Me How!) Our side was near the entrance and we got slammed for 45 minutes until the food for our side ran out; we fed about 5,000 during that time. It was an amazing mess, but the people were very polite and easy to please. We broke down our section while the other side continued for another hour. This gave me some time to swan around the floor and spend some time patrolling near the stage area. There was a disco/seventies theme for the event, (the one guy dressed as the native american from the "Village People" was hot!) and the entertainment was suitable: Thelma Houston, Kool and the Gang, (surprisingly enjoyable) and The Pointer Sisters who can still kick after almost thirty years. The pics I took of them just didn't turn out well enough to post; I had my lil camera cause it fit in my pocket, but it doesn't do well in that kind of light.

It was an enjoyable night, mostly. It's been interesting working these temp jobs; I used to hire temp workers from this company when I was running catering events and it's very different to be one of the workers, hehe! The money sucks and I'm physically sore as hell by the end of the evening, but I find it generally amusing watching other people make the management mistakes I used to make and there's a sense of freedom with temp jobs; you don't have to do it again unless you feel like it. It's been a good way to ease back into the world of work, a world that I will be immersed in again soon.

We Do Lunch.

Unokhan, who posts on the boards, popped into New Orleans today with his significant other to take me to lunch. We toured the back yard, then walked about the neighborhood and ate at a local spot, then walked a bit more before they took off for some shopping. Always a pleasure to see uno... and he brought me a prezzie, the Captain Beefheart Trout Mask Replica CD that I mentioned last entry! I have so craved this music! Thanks unokhan!

Chat

The Friday nite chats continue to be great, (although I totally missed it last night! Got home too late.) It's a really diverse and interesting group and it's always fun. Lately, some of the cam guys have been on cam during chat, most notably that shameless Brit befog! I know he must own a pair of pants, but I have yet to see him in them! Also, Mikey and Dazed have made simultaneous chat and cam appearances. Stop in some Friday night at 10:30 PM CST and see for yourself.

durlx

Weblogs of the Rich and Famous.

This journal is also known in computer terms as a weblog, or simply, a blog, and there are hundreds of thousands of them on the net. The software I use to do it is called Blogger which makes the whole thing rather easy to do; it takes care of most of the formating. While most of the people that publish a blog are just ordinary folks, some very well known people also do them. Check these sites out.

For instance, former Star Trek cutie, Will Wheaton.


And Sir Ian MCKellen.


The fabulous Ru Paul.


TV weatherman, Al Roker


And brilliant author and TV journalist Michael Moore. Do check out the rest of his site, he's a clever and irreverant critic of government and business; one of the good guys, I think.


.


Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band.


Who? Hehe, you may not have ever heard of this group, they're from the seventies, and one of my favorite groups from that period. Unokhan posted some lyrics on the board recently and brought back a whole flood of memories. I actually saw them in concert in a small club in Ithaca, NY and got to meet Captain Beefheart, aka Don van Vliet. The music is fairly avant garde, (was at the time, still is now...) and probably not to everybodies taste, but very brilliant in it's way. I rarely meet Beefheart fans, so it was a kick to talk to uno about the group. The lyrics that van Vliet wrote to accompany this strange music are stunning; you rarely find pop or rock lyrics that can be read as poetry, but his words are wild and beautiful with or without the music. Pure genius. You can read his lyrics at the The Captain Beefheart Radar Station.

Sweet Home New Orleans.
As some of you know, I have been on the verge of leaving New Orleans for a while now; it has been impossible to find work. While the idea of moving to Upstate NY had its appeal, (being closer to my Dad, and sibs, a big change and an adventure of sorts), the prospect of leaving this town was a very sad one indeed. I've spent hours agonizing over it, sailing through black fits of depression, anxiety and tears...and as of last Wednesday night, I had resigned myself to the fact of the move. I would have been on the road by the end of the month.

But then I got this phone call from a friend... went to a couple of interviews...and it seems that I will be able to stay here after all. (I am stunned; talk about yer "down to the wire", last ditch effort, hail mary pass... hehe...)

Details to follow...

durlx

The dog ate my journal entry.

I'm a little zoned out today (but in a good way) and I can't seem to get the journal together. I will have it done tomorrow.

durlx

Glitz


There have been drag queens in New Orleans for centuries and there have been drag shows in New Orleans since the late nineteen thirties, but this recent production probably tops anything that has gone before. This show at OZ, the huge Bourbon Street dance club has all the trappings of a regular theatrical production; show poster, glam shots of all the cast, reserved seats and ads in the Times Picayune. It was even reveiwed in the theatrical section of the paper today, something that most certainly wouldn't have happened a decade ago. The cast for this show is a talented bunch and the emcee, Bianca Del Rio, is in "real life" Roy Haylock, who does costume design for the local theater groups and who often appears in local productions. He's incredibly talented and wickedly witty and does the only Cher impersonation that I can stand to watch.

The review in the paper today was very favorable, btw. I can't wait to see the show.



Filler


O.K. This hasn't been the most exciting week... so I thought I'd just throw this pic in. It's some kind of Chinese good luck poster, but really, what is going on here?



Post Gay

I've been hearing the term "post gay" being used more recently. If you haven't heard about it yet, the term seems to refer to a time when gay rights are all acheived and society at large accepts homosexual behavior as normal. People are even writing articles about this time as if it were already here and we can talk about it now. Personally, I think it's a tad too soon for this kind of ruminating and I imagine that most of it comes from people who haven't had to live through much of the fight for gay rights and acceptance. When I look back on the last 25 years, I find myself amazed at the differences between then and now, but I don't think we've reached the promised land yet. There's still quite a bit of ground to be covered; I mean where are the gay characters in Star Trek?

One point about this "post gay" world discussion does interest me. Gay historians think that before WW 2 and the beginnings of gay awareness, sex between men who led mostly heterosexual lives was more common place. In the absence of any public gay identity that kind of buddy sex didn't have as much of a stigma attached to it, so it supposedly happened more often. I have no way of knowing if this is true, but it seems likely to me. What do you think?

What do you think?


I've added a comment feature to the journal so you can post your thoughts and opinions. Just click on the word comments at the bottom of each entry and a new small window will open up where you can post your thoughts and read what others have said.

I mean really, what is going on with that baby and that fish?


durlx

Comment feature.

I saw this on Mikey's board and decided to try it. At the bottom of each post, next to the date, is the word comments. Simply click on it to post a comment.

durlx