Tag: Utah

I’m trying to write everything down but somehow the past few weeks have blurred into one long delicious adventure.

NYC and back again in the car.

Let me remember.

I drove east through death valley and this was the temperature:

I drove through Utah during the day which was very wise.  Utah is very beautiful.  Devastatingly beautiful.

You see.  I can’t find the words.

I stopped in Des Moines and enjoyed the state building and the wonderful contemporary sculpture park given to the community by John and Mary Pappajohn, a Des Moines venture capitalist and his wife.

I met a young hair dresser with blue hair.

I stopped in Chicago and met a huge football player.

I spent the 4th July in Chicago. The Fireworks terrified Dude, my little brown dog.

I arrived in NYC.  Just in time for the horrible heat wave.

It was so hot I had to leave the dogs inside the apartment during the day or risk them dying of heat exhaustion.

I sat uncomfortably in AA meetings.

I stayed on the upper west side.  A block from Central Park.

We walked every day off leash at dawn around the Great Lawn.  We saw beautiful young men exercising.  We, being me and the dogs.

I explored Red Hook and saw a band at Dustin Yellin‘s place called Guerilla Toss.

I met a beautiful man in the street and kissed him.

Why was I there?

I had gone east to reclaim my gayness after months of feeling like an ex-gay.   Hanging onto the word queer as the only way to describe my isolation from the gays.

New York.

I spent my birthday at the cloisters with Richy.

I read from my blog at a Lower East Side gallery and they paid me for doing so.

I met more interesting people on the street.

I helped a friend edit his movie.

Then, unable to stand the searing heat a moment longer, I drove to Sayville taking the first ferry to Fire Island.  The Pines.

I rented a small house on Cedar Walk but didn’t spend any time there at all.

From the moment I arrived I had one extraordinary experience after another.

I met cool people,  and coveted their things.

I was invited into their homes and onto their yachts, I met their friends and ate their food.  I returned their hospitality by paying for them as and when they would let me.

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I walked to Cherry Grove where I had breakfast with John Walters.

I had dinner with Andy Tobias…

… in my favorite Fire Island Pines home.

I met a gang of charming gay men from NYC who were kind and considerate.

I spent time with all of them in the city once I returned.

This one is called Jon.

As I let myself fall into the gay Fire Island days I began to remember how much fun being gay is.  Even if I was sober and a little bit older.

I walked the beach.

I had a huge old man crush on this beautiful boy:

Who worked here:

I saw Justin Bond.

I looked in at the house where we lived for so many years.

And I met more men.

I spent time on my own.  I found an abandoned cock ring on the board walk.

I walked miles of boardwalks with the dogs who came home covered in tiny ticks.

I finally met a beautiful man who left for India but lives in Paris who stole my head/heart.

I was so god damned happy.

The morning after the Pines Party I prepared to leave.

After ten days I took the ferry, then another ferry to Provincetown.

I rented a small apartment on the beach and met more men.

I hung with my friend Benoit Denizet Lewis but the sparkle that used to exist between us has gone.

We explored the graveyard.  We found Norman Mailer’s grave and a pretty headstone with a small dog carved into it.

I ate a great deal but didn’t put on any weight as I walked so many miles every day.

I found this beautiful ceramic mirror frame:

I met more men.

Eventually I drove back to New York and stayed with friends.  This is their view:

I partied with Jeremy Kost…

…and his friend.

I had dinner with Dan at Mary’s Fish Camp.

I had dinner with Thom at my club on the roof by the pool:

I wore this chic watch:

We worked on my film.

Then, after another week in the city I took the car all the way home again.

I met a hitch hiker who travelled all the way to California.  His name is Albert.

I stayed in The Lincoln Hotel in Chicago.

I stayed in Denver.

I stayed in Utah.

We drove from Cedar City to LA in half a day.

We drove up the mountain in Malibu, up the drive and finally slept in our own bed.

It has been misty and cool.