What are YOU doing this New Year's Eve? I know I won't be out in the streets that's for sure. One of the greatest disappointments of my life was discovering that Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve was all smoke, mirrors and hype, and that no matter how hard I tried - and I certainly would try - I'd never be able to find that level of hysteria and excitement in the Greater Cincinnati area of my youth.
How well I remember as a little boy watching my mother get dressed to go out for New Year's Eve with her friends making sure she had all her little pointy party hats and feather boas. My father just lay on the sofa watching both of us already having discovered the bogus truth a long time ago.
Eventually, the time came when I just couldn't wait anymore to get out and shake my groove thang with Peaches & Herb only to find a bored, jaded, often lonely and disillusioned bunch of thrill seekers drowning in their own beer and tears. Is this what I overdressed and tricked my parents and the bar owners to get in underaged for? On second thought, maybe that's why they let me out and let me in - to burst my bubble!
I understand my experience isn't your experience nor was it my mother's. I recently asked her if she really had as much fun on New Year's Eve as it seemed and she gave me an unequivocal YES! My experiences were totally opposite and a decade later, New Year's Eve would find me shaking and quaking in the Holy Ghost but that's another story, too. Suffice it to say that I won't be in church either!
But this crowd looks like they're having a good time supposedly at the Cotton Club around 1938. But this isn't 1938, and I can't go back in time with my low-down hoochie coochin' ass to beg Cab Calloway for one more round of Hi De Ho, now can I? I wonder if anyone at this party ever asked IS THIS ALL THERE IS?
Tonight, so many years later, I'll find myself laying contentedly on the sofa just like my dad used to do. I won't be alone. I've got my own husband and we'll be eating and drinking and watching Dark Shadows and Bewitched and Sherlock Holmes and kissing and praying and being quiet and thanking God and calling friends and relatives and then calling it a night. Or at least I think we will. Is this all there is? Yes and it's more than enough!
Happy New Year, my friends! Be Safe!
Hey, wait a minute! I thought the legendary Cotton Club was a bastion of blackness! Them folks there is all white folks, lol. What gives?
Isn't it funny how after the struggle and strain we end up filling our parents shoes afterall, lol?
Happy New Year to you, too, Corey. All blessings and love!
Posted by: Thomas | January 01, 2012 at 05:50 PM
@ Thomas, Happy New, my FRIEND!
Now, WHO told you that the Cotton Club was a "bastion of blackness?." Maybe ONstage and BACKstage but not out in the club. Patronage was strictly WHITES ONLY up until about 1936 or so, when only the upper echelons of black entertainment were welcomed into the club proper. And even then their tables were relegated to the dark corners and kitchen seats! Them folks were NOTORIOUS but they had the BEST IN BLACK ENTERTAINMENT!
Posted by: Corey | January 01, 2012 at 08:06 PM
Hello
I love your blog.
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What I like is that you can meet other gay bloggers with similar interests,
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I just add my blog.
That 's why I give you the tip.
;)
Martin
Posted by: martin | January 02, 2012 at 06:41 AM
Dear Blogger,
Since it would appear you are an expert on Ms. Washington and her music as well as her mystique, perhaps you could explain the impact her music has on my spouse. As soon as I hear the strains of of " Evil this Blues " or "Evil that Blues" I know I'm in for a rocky, unpredictable, volatile few hours. I often label her music "MUSIC TO GET/ACT EVIL" by. As soon as she hits the turntable my spouse gets as mean spirited and evil as the women she sings about. Fussy, Cantankerous, belligerent, cursing, screaming, criticizing, finding fault, complaining, arguing all while trying to supposedly " satisfy the soul" Why does her music seem to channel her spirit all up in my house? Maybe Dick "Night Train" Lane could deal with it but I can't. Please enlighten me Oh lover of all things DINAH.
Leroi "Big Daddy" Lionades
Posted by: Leroi Leroy Lionades IV | January 03, 2012 at 07:33 PM