Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Oh, If Only I Could Be Eighty Again!

I need to stop fooling around here and finish reading Queer Questions, Clear Answers so I can move on to something more interesting. So here's a video clip by the band Jive Grave.

JIVE GRAVE at rockwood music hall from Geo Wyeth on Vimeo.

I confess I found the bandleader Geo Wyeth at EastVillageBoys, a site that is one of my guilty -- well, not quite pleasures. Yes, I sometimes like to look at pictures of scantily- or un-clad skinny pretty boys (though the "overly friendly park employees" they encounter during their photo shoots interest me more), and the New York queer/art vibe that informs EVB has pointed me to artistes whom I feel I ought to know about, but can't ... quite ... muster ... much ... interest. If I were twenty instead of nearly sixty, would I connect better? I doubt it. Though I read the Voice, I never felt much desire to move to New York or the Village when I was a kid either. But I might just track down Jive Grave's music now that they've got a recording out.

I also liked the conclusion of the interview with Wyeth:
Cole: ... Moving on, when was the drunkest you’ve ever been?

Geo: My friend Keltie has a Bi Bim Bop birthday party every year where we do Karaoke in Korea Town and get Korean barbeque. It’s amazing, but they serve this drink called Soju that is basically grain alcohol (I think it’s literally used to clean the bar at night). Whatever, that is definitely the LAST time I got so drunk I couldn’t remember how drunk I got and I glazed over watching this very impressive girl sing Christian rock. The time before that was New Years Eve at the Grace Hotel, I ended the evening by taking off all my clothes, throwing down my accordion, and jumping in the hotel pool. Then I sliced my toe on a sliding shower door and limped bleeding to the train, but not before spitting in a cop’s face who was pushing around this ag butch dyke in the street - she took the train home with me and promised me courtside seats at a Knicks game (she works at Madison Square Garden).

A middlin' cute gay musician who wears a harmonica holder, drinks soju and goes to GLBT Die-Ins at Grand Central! Maybe we've made some progress after all.