1-21-08

I just read something disarmingly brilliant in one of those various rags you find in gay bars everywhere like this one.  The publication was Gloss and the piece i’m speaking of was written by none other than the always charming and effervescent Sister Roma, her regular columnentitled Drag It.  As with many people at the beginning of a new year, Sister Roma listed her new years resolutions and generously offered them up for all to adopt and I’ll be damned if the always non-judgemental former glass-pipe-toting sage of smut and fearless self-expression advocate has come up with the most anarchistic list of resolutions i’ve ever seen.  Hats off to Roma, a woman of the cloth no less, for suggesting that its time to stop shopping and start shoplifting, start lying like a psychopath, most importantly to yourself, hang out with people who are unhappier, uglier and more desperate than yourself, enter the witness protection program, marry a rich old person and wait, adopt a baby and sell it, join the armed services, and commit a crime and go to jail, the last two offerings bearing the same justification, a place to live, three square meals a day but one provides a gun while the other provides getting fucked up the ass!  As she eloquently puts it, they’re both win-win situations.  These are truly words for many to live by, and bless her for being brave enough to tell it like she thinks it should be.  This world is a better place with fertile minds like hers spewing out some hard and fast guidelines for the more tame or docile to adhere to.  I feel better already about the new year, which at the outset has so far been consumed by some horrible killer cold that has kept far too many people down for far too long.  Is this the year that bird flu is supposed to kill us all?  I’m definitely sick of being sick, and i really need to get well here pretty soon because i have some international travel plans.
Yes, it’s true and it couldn’t have come at a more unexpected or better time for me. In february i’m being flown to london to do a guest dj spot at my very favorite club there The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, home of the world famous club Duckie  where the always incredible Readers Wifes spin their indescribable magic.  I’m being invited to spin at a new once a month club there called Guns that promises to be dirty hardcore fagrock and invites us all to get banged.  I am very honored to be invited to take part in such an event and feel it necessary to say that if it weren’t for the long-running legacy of the Hole in the Wall Saloon and its persevering internationally reknowned reputation for a consistent style of music this wouldn’t be happening.  Yes it is true all you nay-sayers and foes of free expression, colorful gathering places for alternative, artistic, creative and non-cookie cutter queers, and true lovers of Rock and Roll music, the appeal of the Hole in The Wall has crossed oceans and international datelines and we’ve been summoned to spread the magic in another country.  So those steadfast forces who have shown unfounded and selfish opposition to the hole in the wall over the past few years, and i’m sure you know who you are, take that and your stunted notions of what belongs south of market and as Leonard Cohen says, “stuff it in the hole in your culture.”  Ah, that felt delightful to say.
It has always been my personal crusade for almost twenty years to bring rock and roll to the queers, to show that disco and techno and show tunes are not the only types of music that move or matter to us.  However, i am told by nearly everyone i know who travels abroad that nobody seems to do what i do almost anywhere else so i’m going to try to travel to other european locales like Berlin and see if i might carry on with my crusade.  This might be a rather ambitious notion but i’m putting out my feelers and emailing many contacts in preparation just to see.  I may find a less than welcoming response, in which case i’ll simply enjoy traveling abroad for awhile, but i’m feeling pretty inspired.
Speaking of inspiration, the other night at the Eagle Tavern I had the extreme pleasure of catching a set by a band who has been on a similar crusade for as long as i have and that band is Pansy Division.  Replete with a new guitarist, Joel, the band played a set that was one of the most rocking and finest i’ve ever seen from them.  It was pure ecstatic joy to watch this combo of excellent musicians really pound out a fucking smutty hilarious unhinged set, the most unhinged and punk rock I’ve ever seen from them.  The crowd was absolutely riveted and one could see that these fans in the crowd had come to know Pansy Division at different times and different places throughout their lives and they had made a considerable impact on many.  I heard more than a few snippets of stories about when and where they were when they first heard the band and how very much it changed their lives, be it in a small town in kansas or a queer radio show or whatever.  It put it all in perspective for me just what a truly important groundbreaking band they are and what a local treasure we have in Pansy Division.  What’s more is they rocked my fucking world that night, jumping up and down in unison, laughing at their own ribald and hilarious pervy lyrics, just having a great time onstage.  I’ll not soon forget what a great show it was nor will i miss other shows in the future.  Pansy Division rule, and this world is a far better place with them in it.