Tales of Our City: Our Lives, Our Heroes

Dick and I had a wonderful evening at Davies Symphony Hall listening to the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus with special guest, Armistead Maupin.

Kudos to the Chorus and the Rainbow Symphony for a wonderful and jiving performance.

Flower Power

Many stares, and a few smiles at the airport today. I think I may need to start wearing a rainbow flower crown in my hair every day. :)

Update from the plane:

Flight attendant just asked me why I had flowers in my hair. He asked if I was getting married today. 

I told him that I just came from the Castro in San Francisco, and that I am celebrating *many* marriages today. ❤️💛💚💙💜

Uber Pride!

Even Uber's App is celebrating Pride!! My driver and I were talking about the Supreme Court Ruling and about Pride weekend on my way to the airport, when he asked, "So, why are you leaving?"

Fair question.

LOVE WINS!!

Today is an amazing and historic day!! Equality and LOVE for ALL!!! Happy Pride!!



Why yes, I am going to wear my fabulous rainbow flower crown all day long: down to the Castro, to the airport, on the airplane, back to Seattle, around Bellevue....

If I can't stay in San Francisco all day to celebrate Marriage Equality and Pride, I'm just going to have to take the party with me.



Can't stop smiling! I feel like my Facebook Feed is the Happiest Place on the Internet today!

I just came back from the most epic walk around the Castro (before I leave for the airport in an hour). I bumped into several friends, one whom was leading her group on the Cruisin' the Castro Tour. I also saw a group of school kids on a field trip in front of the Harvey Milk Civil Academy. They were getting a lesson on Harvey Milk and the History of Gay Rights.





"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."
- THE US SUPREME COURT

Matt Alber Concert

On the Eve of Pride Weekend, and hopefully a favorable Supreme Court Ruling on Gay Marriage, I got to experience an incredible and magical evening at a Matt Alber concert in San Francisco. I even had the opportunity to spend time in the green room before the show with Armistead, Cleve Jones, Matt Alber and his (adorable) band of musicians.

It's an amazing life, and I'm enjoying every minute of it.


Before the show with Chris, Armistead and Curt


Armistead and Chris


Armistead and Trina


Matt Alber and his band with Armistead before the show


With Cleve Jones, the founder of the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt


Armistead, onstage and accompanied by Matt Alber and his band, reading an excerpt from his new memoir.


Matt Alber and his band


Matt Alber


Hanging out in the green room with band member, Patrick, who is a band/drum corps/guard person!


after the show with Armistead and Matt

More Pride Celebrations

After Saturday morning's hot 12-mile training walk, Dick and I managed to muster up enough energy to head down to the Castro for more Pride Celebrations. We hooked up with Pete, Richard and Blane at Toad Hall. We met around 3:30, so it was busy, but not yet crazy. :)


Dick, Richard and Blane at Toad Hall

After a couple of drinks at Toad Hall, they started clearing out the tables and stools, preparing for a larger crowd. We decided to take our party over to Twin Peak Tavern at the heart of Castro and Market. We figured it would be crazy-busy, and that it would be unlikely to find a table for 5 of. Amazingly, we found a table on the balcony, overlooking the crowd. It was a little hotter up there, but away from the crowd - but great people watching!


our view at Twin Peaks

We left around 6:15, as things were really getting crowded, and decided to have everyone over for pizza and Star Wars!
I mean, that's how everyone celebrates Pride on Saturday night, right?


Star Wars!

Celebratory Night in the Castro

It was an amazing night in the Castro! So much energy, so much happiness, and so much love!

I walked down around 6:00 to meet up with David and Miguel and Pete & Richard. I got there a little early, and enjoyed strolling down the street, taking in the moment. Everyone was smiling. People were holding up flags and signs for equality. Gay people, straight people, families with children. We were all there together to celebrate this historic day.

Here are a few photos that I took along the street. (Castro Street was closed off from Market through 18th)









I eventually hooked up with David & Miguel. We asked a nice police officer to take our photo. I'm not sure how it is that I'm standing in complete shade, while David and Miguel are in the sun.


Miguel, Trina & David


David and Miguel looking stud-ly in front of Harvey's

We had some great people watching while we waited for our table.


Some Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence walking by. "Hi, Sisters!"

Pete and Richard made their way down, and we were able to score a table at Harvey's right next to the window! It was the perfect spot to watch the developments of the street, all from the comfort of our table, with drinks in hand.


Pete, Trina, David, Photobombing Girl, Miguel & Richard

Andrew and Barry posted a photo that they had taken on Castro Street. I told them I was there, looking for them and never found them. They managed to find me after I posted a photo of our group at Harvey's!


Andy and Barry! Happy Anniversary (tomorrow)!!! What a celebration it will be!!

Blane and Christopher both made their way over after work. Our party size expanded!


Pete, Blane, Trina, David, Photobombing Girl, Spencer, Miguel & Richard!

We had the perfect table at the window to watch the crowds go by.


Flags!

We started heading home around 8:30. The party was still going strong, and the sun was just starting to set.


The party just keeps on going!

I came home and took a photo of the City from our deck. It was a perfect and gorgeous night. Warm, clear, happy.


the end to a joyous day

Love and Equality for ALL

This morning, I woke up to the sound of helicopters flying over my neighborhood, and for once I know it's for a GREAT reason!!! Wonderful, amazing day for equality and justice for ALL!!!


headline news online

Today, I reminded of an afternoon in February, 2004 when Dick and I were asked to be witnesses of the marriage of our friends, Pete & Richard. I was already blogging way back then. Here's the post.

My thoughts that I wrote on my Facebook wall today:

Friday, February 13, 2004: Dick and I had the honor of witnessing the marriage of our dear friends, Pete & Richard, at San Francisco's City Hall. We waited in line for over four hours with hundreds of gay and lesbian couples waiting for their turn for equality. It was an amazing, joyous day, and an important day in history. It's been a long and bumpy nine years since that day, but TODAY we made tremendous strides. Welcome to the beginning of a future of equality and justice for ALL!

"Filling in for the role of Trina's Husband..."

Jason!!

Dick left early this morning for a fun-filled weekend in Vegas with Martin.

Lucky for me, the always-effervescent Jason is in town for a visit this weekend! He'll be staying with me all weekend!

I drove Dick to the airport early this morning, came home, then picked up Jason.

First stop: Bakery Tartine for a couple of morning buns, and a chocolate croissant to share.

As good timing would have it, Jason's flight leaves Sunday afternoon, just as I will be at the airport to pick Dick back up. :)

DCI at the Movies!

Freddie, Mike, Philip and Greg

I had a super, fun-filled night last night at movie theater. I met some great guard/corps friends for an evening of drum corps for DCI's "The Countdown" at the San Francisco's Center's theater downtown.

Oh, what a ball it was. There was much laughter had by all.

Because I'm a geek, here's a photo of the theater marquis:


of course, Philip spotted this sign first, and thought that perhaps we were being directed to theater 7 instead:

:)

Not including the five of us, there were probably about 20 other people in the theater.

Philip led the way and decided it would be best for all if we sat at the very top - as far away from other people as possible. Knowing this group, our "out loud" voices were sure to come out, and we didn't want to offend. ;)


DCI on the big, BIG screen

It was a fun show to watch the show. They showed top 5 from last year's DCI, as well as a sneak peak of 3 corps for this season, and 5 "classic" shows from the past.

...and when I say "Classic", I mean shows from "our" era - from 1985-1987. ;)

The best part was watching all of these shows with this group of friends. All of them marched in different corps for several years (including Sky Riders, 27th Lancers, Cadets, Cavaliers and Mandarins) and some of them are still very involved in the activity. So involved, in fact, that one of them even had his named mentioned by one of the DCI commentators. You can bet that got a good giggle out of our crowd. :)

It's been years since I've been to a live drum corps show. I can't even remember the last time. I did go to the DCI Tournament of Champions Show (or whatever it was called) about 5 years ago in San Jose.

For those who were wondering (and I don't think there's many of you who are) I'm certainly a drum corps fan (started going back in 1983 or '84) but not nearly as much of a fan of drum corps as winter guard. I never marched in drum corps (although I did have a 6 week stint in the Blue Devils in 1991, before I figured out it wasn't my thing) but many, many of my friends marched in drum corps. I certainly have a HUGE appreciation for it, and always enjoy watching a good show.

I'm planning to go with a bunch of friends to the Drum Corps show at Stanford at the end of June. It'll be good to see a live show again.

After the movie/show, we headed out to the Castro for a quick drink. Again, much laughter ensued, and we had a great time. As Greg said, my abs hurt from laughing so much. :)

Thanks, boys, for a fun evening! Let's do it again sometime soon!

Sneaky Gays

My gaydar has been broken for years - and now I have to worry about "Sneaky Gays?" I'm in big trouble. ;) I ♥ Glee!

SF Gay Pride Parade, and a great big shout out to Andrew & Barry!

It's that day/weekend again! The weekend when gays, lesbians, trans genders, and folks of all kind come flocking from across the globe to San Francisco to celebrate Gay Pride.

This year, it's even bigger than usual (and the largest turn out ever) because it coincides with the recent legalization of same-sex marriages in California.

Dick and I didn't go to the parade or festivities this year - we usually go, but for one-reason-or-another didn't go today. Instead, we strolled around the neighborhood last night and this afternoon, which was still quite hustley-bustley.

Anyhow, we just came home from our walk, and I hopped on my computer to see what's going on in the world today.

One of the sites that I routinely check is msnbc.com.

Here's what I saw on the front page:

Hey, I know those guys!

Here's the fun part:

I recognized those two guys in the photo immediately! That's Andrew and Barry! They are two of my dear friends who just got married (again) at SF City Hall on Friday!

What a great photo! I was so tickled when I saw it! I immediately took a screen shot of my browser window and sent it to them, in case it's not still up when they get home.

Barry had just sent me this photo of he and Andrew in front of SF City Hall after they got married on Friday.



Congratulations to Andrew and Barry (again!) and to all of the other happy couples who recently got married, or will be getting married soon.

Happy Pride Weekend, Everyone!

Gay Marriage Ban Overturned in CA

This is a sign that was on the store front of "Under One Roof" on Castro Street today

I'm so proud and happy to live in San Francisco and in CA today!

Calif. Supreme Court rejects gay marriage ban.

We're one step closer....

Update:
We just got back from having dinner in the Castro. As we left the restaurant, we saw that the city had just blocked off Castro Street for an impromptu celebration party! This was the very early stages of it (around 7:45pm). I expect it'll be going on for a long while. I love this town. :)

True Colors Tour

Come to me, cover me, hold me
Together we'll break these chains of love

Last night, I went to the Greek Theater with my sister, her friend Jason, and Christopher to see the True Colors Tour to support the Human Rights Campaign.

Oh, what a night! What a great concert. What a fantastic venue to see a concert! I know I said that I enjoyed The Police concert a couple of weeks back, but frankly, this concert experience blew that one out of the water.

This concert was alive and full of heart. The performers that we saw were all amazing. The show started at 7:00, but we didn't get there until 8:30 - just in time to see Debbie Harry wrap up her last song. Luckily, we were in time to see Rosie O'Donnell take the stage. I admit it, I'm a huge Rosie fan. Have been for a long time. It was pretty cool to see her performing stand-up.

Next up was Erasure!! Oh, I love Erasure. I've been listening to them since the late 80s, and haven't stopped. The Innocents is still one of my top 10 favorite albums. I've always wanted to see them live in concert. They were fantastic. They sounded great (how can their lead singer still sound that good after all these years?), and they are such great performers. Brought back many a memory from my old gay-bar days in Ohio.

Margaret Cho was the host for the evening, and I know that we had missed one of her earlier sets, which is really too bad. We did see her do a skit though, and she was hysterical! Love her.

Last up was the woman who put this whole show together - Cyndi Lauper. Again, I've always enjoyed her, and appreciated her immense talent. But let me tell you, seeing her live is unbelievable. Girl can sing! She's got the chops. What a voice. And talk about heart. (and, she's hysterically funny.) Her love for what she was doing and for the community was just enormous. What an incredible performance.

I left the evening feeling "even more gay" - a sentiment that I heard several times from many people. Seriously, there's nothing like seeing a concert with Cyndi Lauper, Erasure, Margaret Cho and Rosie O'Donnell with a bunch of gays. I felt so very much in my element. Actually, between seeing this concert, and re-reading the last few books of the Tales of the City series, I kind of feel like a gay man trapped in the 80s. (But, what a fun place to be!)

update
Here's a review (and photos!) of the concert from sfgate.