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October 5, 2006
"the essential gay experience"
With the promise of a spring 2007 launch of the off-Broadway musical version of 'Xanadu', my early 90s gay genes kick in and start screaming "OMG fabulous"! But what Olivia Newton-John, Kylie Minogue, Madonna and Xanadu mean to me may not mean very much to either the young'uns or the older folks amongst Our People.
Uffish had an interesting post where she talks about a young gay coworker who didn't know who Erasure was. Yes, it's a ghastly crime to be ignorant of such things, but when Chris and I proselytize about "the essential gay experience" required to retain your 'gay card', we are being no different than those who forced me to suffer though the two-hour movie classic 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' and memorize all the crazy one-liners, or a grating all-night Norma Shearer film festival. Yes, they are camp classics, I understand. But camp is...so 70s. I came out in the 90s, where Vogueing, Freedom Rings and spiked hair was the thing. I could not relate to Bette Davis films, the importance of disco classics, and speaking with a constant stream of sexual innuendo inserted into every conversation. People my age and younger less likely to act like Charles Nelson Reilly or Paul Lynde. People my age are different, and people 10 years younger than me are different too. "The gay experience" means something different to each new generation of queers that comes out - which kinda proves that subscribing to any such set of cultural artifacts and norms is kinda moot. In a conversation last night with a very handsome and insightful bearded hottie, we talked about the things we did when we came out, how hard we tried to "be gay," only to find out in the end that we still liked the things we used to do when we thought we were straight. In the end, you still are who you were, just with a taste for man-cock and hard, hairy bodies - at from my experience anyway.
And for the Celtic experience, I'm going to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this Sunday with Chad for some kilt action hopefully as hot as this: 
Anyone got a kilt or two me and Chad can borrow? Hot picture of woofy drunk kilted hottie stolen from Josh & Josh Are Rich and Famous, top ON-J photo by Blogstar Brettie taken last year at the fucking awesome Olivia Newton-John concert in Baltimore.
Posted by jimbo at October 5, 2006 10:25 AM
Comments
I liked hairy guys even in the mid-80s to mid-90s when we were all 'sposed to like uber-smoothies.
Posted by: homer at October 5, 2006 11:53 AM
I am glad you said this. I was telling some of the guys in my circle of friends this past spring, that I just didn't relate to the older ideas of cultural references and socially accepted norms in the gay world. I have lots of examples but lets just say in my experience, there is very much an age distinction between how older gays and younger gays relate.
I feel like I am caught someplace between the two. I am old enough to remember Queen, Xanadu and Erasure just fine but, I think I appreciated Hedwig more, and not because of the drag thing. Hedwig was punk and had an edge.
There was a great line in "The Fluffer" (I think), where one character says something along the lines that being gay today means we don't HAVE to like Cher. (And I mostly don't, even tho' when I was 5, I had a Sonny and Cher album on 8-track, and I remember their show.)
Posted by: MalaJustin at October 5, 2006 1:44 PM
I was never issued a "gay card" I guess my proclivity towards Punk & Metal kinda made that null and void. I get weird looks from gay folk when I ask them "who is that or what is that"
I had to look up atlot of stuff you just mentioned. I did hear of Erasure, but only when I got out of college and my roomate was a big fan of them, she was an obsessed woman.
But at least my geekness is with out question. I got issued multiple geek cards :-)
I got 8 kilts. :-)
Posted by: Dax at October 5, 2006 7:58 PM
Hey Jimbo, I have an extra ticket to ONJ up in Atlantic City in early November. Would you be interested in going?
Posted by: Dennis! at October 6, 2006 12:22 AM
Jim!
First Kylie, then Stevie, now Olivia? We love the same divas :-). I too was at Livvy's concert last year in Baltimore. Or was in late 2004? The days just run together now. I wish Livvy would come back to this area. Did you get "Grace and Gratitude" yet?
Travis
Posted by: Travis at October 6, 2006 2:12 AM
This makes me think of a line from "Love! Valour! Compassion!"
"I long for the day when somebody says, 'Who's Madonna?'"
We're almost there.
Posted by: Eric at October 6, 2006 1:53 PM
WOW, I can't even express how much I approve of this photo! mmmmm
Posted by: Scott at October 6, 2006 8:01 PM