Westward Ho

There is an extra fun gay event this weekend and it's not Macho City!  Macho City has been scuffling with the R&R over sound system details, so they have canceled this month's event and will be celebrating their big One Year Anniversary in April with something undoubtedly amazing. 

Your Saturday night has another great option though, the One Year Anniversary extravaganza of Elbow Deep in Ypsi, which has the Macho City endorsement as the place to be this Saturday!  Read on for details...

Every once in a while I like to get out of Detroit and head west to Washtenaw County for a break from the routine.  Having lived in Ann Arbor for so many years, it sometimes feels like being home even more than Detroit does, although with the changes downtown has seen since I left (those awful LED street lamps!) and the fact that most of my friends have moved away too, it's really more a case of going to back to visit some of my favorite haunts.

This past December I was flying solo one Saturday evening, so I zipped out to Ann Arbor for a brilliant dinner at Eve.  Eve is, hands-down, my favorite restaurant in the world (which is not to slight some of my other favorite places including Atlas in Detroit or Cafe Zola in A2), and when I am feeling like I deserve a break today, Eve is where I go.

This particular visit was notable in part because Ari, the bartender who bought the greatest thing I ever sold at a yard sale back in the day (a large crushed red velvet bordello-chic hanging light fixture), was so attentive with the wine tastings, and also because I saw another celebrity there. 

This guy was walking toward the door as I was getting situated and he was literally so good-looking I was craning my neck to get a better look at him, and Ari goes, "Stare much?"  And I was like, "Who is that guy?" And he said "Clive Owen."  And suffice to say he is even better-looking in person.  Possibly because he was smiling and laughing instead of brooding, and is pretty tall.  Holy crap.

Anyway, following that brilliant portion of the evening I headed over to Ypsilanti's Elbow Room for a special Saturday night edition of Elbow Deep! 

I am kind of obsessed with Ypsilanti, and Elbow Deep is an Ypsi queer monthly put on by my pals Dave & Kurt, or as they are professionally known Push/Pull Productions and DJ Humanfly.  Elbow Deep is usually a Tuesday night affair, and my Doggy Style obligations had prevented me from attending before this.

Elbow Deep (or in this holiday instance, Noel-bow Deep) is a super fun dance party, but it's also got fantastic visual displays created for each event and drag performances by the House of Chanel!  It makes for a full-featured gay night out on the town with the kind of eclectic crowd you'd expect:  some college kids, some Ypsters, some older guys, some straight folks, some grrrrrls, some twinks.  But you know Ypsi has its own brand of cool, so maybe a few style touchstones will help define it for you:  think sideburns and coonskin caps and leopard print and pink hair and flannel.  All on the same person.  OK not really.  But super cool, and boy I love a gay crowd switch-up!

Anyway, I had a great time AND I got turned onto a great fun song that I subsequently played at Doggy Style:

This month Elbow Deep is once again on a Saturday night, and they are getting a little Detroit Love in the form of Special Guest DJ Super G (that's me) and the comedy stylings of Robert M. Nelson!  Robert and I are taking our show on the road to Ypsi!

Robert, you may recall, had the crowd in stitches at the Astro Coffee Talent Show (another recap is up here), and I did what was hailed as a "passable" and "innocuous" DJ set at Macho City last fall!  The Elbow Room is a great bar (Concentrate media gave it some love here).  And there seems to be a growing contingent of Detroit gays set to descend on the Elbow Room (map) this Saturday for a groovy time.

Me, Robert, Mike from Macho City, Dave and Kurt all hope you can make it out for the big celebration!  That's like 90% of the people defining the alternative gay scene in SE Michigan currently save Adriel and Darren at Atlas, and they're talking about coming too, I just didn't ask if I could have an endorsement!  See you Saturday!

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Three Important Events

Thre are three important events in Detroit this week I need to tell you about, and there are two alternates for you Washtenaw County-based folks.  Sorry for the double-posting today, I don't want to confuse all of you, but really, who doesn't enjoy a little DP every now and again?

Tuesday
Tuesday Nights Doggy Style at the Park Bar continue unabated, although I know you know I know you forgot.  It's been a mixed bag this season, some nights are me and Jack (Daniels) and some nights, like last week, are cram-packed with life-affirming Detroity-crowd goodness.

I should probably tell you that when this season ends the first week in April, Doggy Style is being taken out back and shot. It takes a lot of time to do these video compilations, and while I do enjoy hanging out and watching them with my friends and the intermittent crowd (the straight guys at the Park Bar seem to particularly enjoy them, oddly enough), I don't see a regular season down the road.

One friend suggested just playing re-runs to take the pressure off, and I tried, but it went against everything I set out to do here.  This is supposed to be the anti-Pronto - new videos all the time, more informed, broader in appeal, more fucked up.  Even though there is now a library of 30 compilation DVDs, it just felt wrong.

So come and enjoy the tail end of Doggy Style on Tuesdays this month.  It actually is fun, even if you just sit and watch tv and get a buzz.

Alternate:  If you can't or won't make it to Doggy Style, maybe you should check out Elbow Deep at the Elbow Room in Ypsi this Tuesday!  It's Ypsilanti's own indy gay night, put on by DJ Humanfly and Push/Pull productions the third Tuesday of the month.  They really go all-out and have fabulous production values and great music and drag queens and kings. I will write more about them in the future, because I went in December and it was a great time, but put it on your list of Ypsi things to do this week!

Thursday
I have been involved with the Detroit Institute of Arts through the Founders Junior Council - the young professionals auxiliary - since long before I moved from Ann Arbor to Detroit.  It's a wonderful group of people whose goal is to engage the under-40 (and sometimes over-40) set at the DIA, as well as to raise some cash for the museum.

Attending their events regularly was a fantastic way for me to extend my network of friends outside of downtown, since it's a mix of city and suburb, east west and northside.  It has also been an opportunity to dress up a bit for events, which every once in a while is a refreshing change for a downtowner.  I have met some of my best friends in the area through the FJC.

Membership in the FJC is an auxiliary membership that you purchase in addition to your DIA membership, and it provides member-only events and an additional level of support for the museum.  This Thursday at 6:30 the FJC is hosting the first-ever (in my long history) promotional membership event in conjunction with the Detroit Film Theater.  For $57.50 you can get your DIA membership AND your FJC membership, as well as attend a members-only screening of this year's Oscar-nominated film shorts.

 

If this is remotely your bag, I really cannot recommend taking advantage of this strongly enough!  It's basically a free FJC membership!

Alternate:  The Last Bookstore Standing is an event to help increase awareness (and cash flow) for the Common Language bookstore in Ann Arbor.  With the internets and the rise of the big booksellers and increased acceptance of gays et al, the GLBT bookstore is becoming an increasingly rare asset to the community.  (This really deserves its own post as well, all in due time.) We are fortunate to have a full-on literary-focused bookstore in our area, but the times are tough. 

For the price of just a few pounds of coffee you can help invigorate Common Language and enrich your own GLBT life, and this special event is a really good opportunity to do that. Won't you please show your support (in person or online?)  If Common Language goes, it's gone for good.

Friday
Hey remember Mercury Coffee Bar?  There were a lot of awesome things about it, but the best thing was the coffee.  It was amazing.  AMAZING.  Well the good news is the coffee guru from MCB is working on opening a new coffee outpost across the street on the Slows block, called Astro Coffee (read his blog here), and there is a fundraising event 9pm this Friday at the Polish Village Veterans Hall to speed things along.

Admission is $20, $10 for performers.  Motor City Beer will be provided, and there are prizes!  Naturally I am thinking of performing because I can save $10 and, well, there is a stage.  You should think of performing too, or at least attending, because I predict this will be some homegrown good times.  And I suspect it might have a bit of a Gong Show vibe, which is always good!

Well that's it for recommendations this week.  Quite a variety I'd say, and you can't go wrong with any of them.  Make the most of your February, and see you out and about!
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And we're back

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. Mine did not disappoint in any way, thank you very much.

Best part was the weekend, went back to Ann Arbor to see many of the friends that have trickled away over the years. Friday night was possibly the funnest night I've had all year (nothing personal to anyone I've dated who might be reading this). It was the full laughing until you couldn't breathe kind of party. Then heading out to the /aut/ bar which was, well, weird (one friend commented on the fact that all the upstairs bartenders were straight, after complaining his drink was really weak). And the Necto always seems to be a fun time, especially since I'm usually plastered by the time I get there. Necto is a great place to watch the guys you wanted to make out with in college make out with each other.

It was all so fun and so effortless, it was just like the old days, plus Ann Arbor is so pretty, Once again I found myself thinking about why I can't really find equilibrium here in Detroit, and I started to worry about the ways in which I think Detroit has changed me. When I'm in A2 with my friends it's a fun hanging out thing, but when I'm here I feel like it's all about how can we change our section of the world, there's a lot of trying hard and frustration along with the intermittent fun successes.

On the one hand, how can any imaginitive person not try and do stuff when presented with what is essentially a blank canvas? But on the other hand, sometimes it's just nice to hang out and booze up with your friends who all think they're comediennes (and kind of are) and enjoy the nice things in the world around you.

I was telling some friends about it the other night and the verdict was that this is pretty much my problem. Apparently I need to rebalance my priorities.

I just want fame and fortune like everyone else, is that so wrong? I just want a fun mellow home base too.

Obamarama?

The Obama win tonight was exciting.

I went to Ann Arbor to my friend Eve's house to watch the election because (a) I spent all the Bush years in Ann Arbor and thought it would be nice to celebrate a shift back to reason in that town, and (b) she owns the amazing restaurant Eve and I knew the food would be worth traveling for.

It was, of course, a lovely time, and so great to see an awesome collection of people I've known over the past ten-plus years. And even more exciting to see the Obama win! Yay America.

It wasn't until the way home, when I received a text response from CA friends to my inquiry about the status of the gay marriage ban that the whole night imploded. California was set to ban - and abolish - gay marriage.

Furious doesn't even begin to describe my reaction. I can't tell you the last time I pounded my steering wheel and screamed in rage, mostly because it has never happened before. It was only a stop by the Park Bar and touching base with some unaware but sympathetic friends that prevented this from being a post that consisted of the giant words "straight people, go fuck yourself." Sorry, but it's true.

You have a straight, white, wealthy, Mayflower-family, Yale-educated male to thank for talking me down.

So straight people, don't go fuck yourself. But please pay attention to what is happening. Michigan was disappointing. Arizona, Florida and Arkansas not surprising. But California was really unexcusable.

At least their "Stop Animal Cruelty" inititative passed by a 3-to-1 margin. Oh yeah, and Obama won.
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Hey, is that ... ?

Went to Ann Arbor tonight to see a friend back in town for a bit from NYC. A trip to A2 is always a treat for me, having lived there so long and loved it so much. They get a lot of things right.

One of those great things is the foodie culture that flourishes there, and I was a beneficiary of that tonight having dinner as the guest of two old friends, one of whom works for Zingerman's and one who is a wine consultant. Yeah baby.

Aside from the amazing food there was speed-round witty banter at the dinner table. Seriously, six people all talking over each other and everything making sense like it had been scripted. Loved it.

And just to bring it all home, as we were departing one of the friends pulled out his man-satchel (not a metaphor) and as he put a few things in it I stared as if vaguely recognizing a friend from grade school.

"Hey, is that ... ?"

Yes, yes it is. The J. Peterman Counterfeit Mailbag. Ten years old, looking like I wanted mine to look when I got it.

Guess I should have been patient.

The Week That Was

Another great gay high holy day has come and gone. It was full of excitement, but shockingly free of drag queens. I was a little disappointed.

There was a twist to the Guerrilla Queer Bar last Friday night. It was held at Illuminate, one of those loft events we get periodically around town (which, despite my original expectations, usually turn out to be pretty fun). This event was held at Willy's Overland Lofts, which is the loft project next to Avalon International Breads in Midtown. The building is cool and the penthouses are AMAZING (well, the unfinished space is). The model, well, you know, it was model-y. I think my only hearty endorsement was for the shower and for the hot guy leading our tour. It's a little upsetting to me to see these cool projects underway and to see the absolute lack of interesting interior design or space planning. I mean, these aren't cheap places. My advice is buy early so you can control your space completely and avoid the heartbreak of hollow-core doors.

You really get two kinds of Guerrilla Gay Bars - there is the fancy bunch and the regulars. The fancy bunch only shows up at places they are familiar with, but those bar nights tend to be really amazing and cool, with a great vibe and interesting mix of folks. The recent Town Pump event was like that.

When an event is held someplace a little off-beat, or at a dive bar, or features karaoke, attendance tends to be a little lower with a lot of familiar faces. It's kind of like an off-night at a regular bar. But those are fun because you get a chance to check out someplace different, talk to people you don't see all the time, the people tend to be a little more adventurous, and you can let your hair down a little because you aren't trying to impress some cute guy you just met. A "regulars" night might have about 50 folks show up, where a "fancy" night will get upwards of 100. Both are great.

The Illuminate night was a "regulars" night. Oddly, everyone seemed to show up at the exact same moment, like it was a gay flash mob or the rainbow bus just pulled up. The gays mingled, drank, toured, judged the model unit, and were a major presence at the party. They loved the fashion show, and it was declared by boys decidedly fitter than I that the pink "Bad Kitty" sleeveless hoodie is the gay fashion must-have for winter. I'll be sitting that trend out.

When the fashion show ended the band started up. They were kind of cool in a retro Carrie Nation/Beyond the Valley of the Dolls way. And they were loud. And that's when we lost the gays.

Unfinished drinks were set down. Conversations were abruptly curtailed. Your friends waved good-bye across the room. And they were gone. It was as if someone had dropped a giant vagina in the room, they couldn't get out fast enough.

So it was fun while it lasted, and of course we're all eagerly awaiting the next occurrence of our only decent downtown gay bar.

Moving on with the weekend ... a very fun gay-hosted Halloween costume party was on the docket for Saturday where I stayed MUCH later than I'd planned. I ventured out from there to meet a friend for last call at the Town Pump. While parking I watched a group of very macho types lining up to get in the TP and reconsidered my decision to enter the bar alone, in costume. A gal doesn't really like to get harrassed. Then I thought fuck it, I'm Supergay!

Predictably, hilarity ensued and I made it home intact, if not a little inebriated.

Sunday featured an amazing jaunt to Ann Arbor for dinner, drinks and a show, and it couldn't have been better. The details are really not relevant, but I'll just say it is an amazing thing to have a city like Ann Arbor so nearby. If downtown Detroit could just catch a hint of that foodie, intellectual vibe, it'd be a better place. The complacent smugness can stay in A2 though (I love that city, but let's just be honest).

Monday's highlight was lunch at the Caucus Club, as covered previously, and Tuesday's feature was a reception followed by a lecture by Julie Mehretu, hosted by the DIA's Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art. Mehretu's work is one of the exhibitions when the museum reopens - kind of nice to have something contemporary, no? Of course we ended up skipping out on the lecture because, hi, don't serve drinks and then make me sit in an auditorium for an hour. We cut out to meet friends cooler than we are at Cliff Bell's.

And in what has become a tradition, I went to Grosse Pointe Park to dress up like Betty Butterfield and pass out candy at my friend's house. They get tons of kids from both GP and Detroit come through their neighborhood, and originally I came to help "manage" the older non-costumed teens. It's amazing the power a man in a wig and a face smeared with lipstick can have over the youth of America.

What was great this year is that it was way more little kids out with their families. When teens showed up in street clothes, Betty forced them to sing a song, which was great because mostly they just turned and walked away. A lot of the kids get excited, trying to figure out if it's actually a woman passing out the candy. One tenacious little girl of about 8 in a Spider Woman costume came back three times, asking, "What you is? What you is?" She was excited beyond words to figure out I was actually a man in that pink Wal-Mart robe. She ran away yelling "It's a man!" and I had to fake heart palpitations to distract the other children at the door from the truth.

The night ended with a viewing of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," a nice cabernet and child's candy sorting, and it all seemed, in a very strange way, like a perfect gay Halloween. Well, perfect in the absence of anything gay besides me. Sometimes that's plenty.