Halloween 2006 – Halloween 1978
The past couple of weeks have been chaotic but mostly fun. I’ve been busy organizing the latest DarkRay production, Halloween Party II, the sequel. I decided to hire an event planner this year. Today the house and yard are being over run by a team of decorators and special effects people. Special night time outdoor lighting, fake tombstones, and fog machines are being installed in the front and back yards as I type. I’m just trying to stay out of the way. The cats are hiding under the bed.
Tomorrow the caterers, waiters, bartenders, valet parkers, florists and a makeup artist arrive. Funeral wreaths will be in the main rooms. The planner has a photographer coming and party photo CDs will be mailed to the guests. Fuck, they’re even getting gift bags when they leave. It’s all for the bf. As I said last year Halloween is his favourite holiday so this is all for him. He becomes such a kid this time of year ... and frisky ...
Tomorrow the caterers, waiters, bartenders, valet parkers, florists and a makeup artist arrive. Funeral wreaths will be in the main rooms. The planner has a photographer coming and party photo CDs will be mailed to the guests. Fuck, they’re even getting gift bags when they leave. It’s all for the bf. As I said last year Halloween is his favourite holiday so this is all for him. He becomes such a kid this time of year ... and frisky ...
Grab ass anyone?
But last week had its share of sadness. We had to make a quick trip to San Francisco. My old friend, Kerry, died and we went to his memorial service. Kerry had a bad heart for years and this wasn’t entirely unexpected. He’d given me plenty of scares over the years about his health. He was one of the first gay men I ever met. I met him in my teens doing musicals at Theatre Inc. in Houston. Kerry was a dancer, a true chorus boy. He was also the funniest person I ever met. He was a gay Robin Williams. He could riff on anything. His delivery was rapid fire. You had to keep up with Kerry because he never repeated anything. I have cried more tears from laughing at and with him than any other person. He was also the gayest man I have ever met.
One of my favourite memories of Kerry was spending the night at his apartment in Houston one in the 70’s while BC was out of town. Kerry appointed himself my chaperone and baby sitter. After much laugher and way too much to drink we were lying in his bed as I stared at his “woman’s wall”. He had a huge collage of black and white photos of old female movie stars, divas, and female celebrities on one wall – floor to ceiling, totally camp. In my stupor I mutter that most of them were dead and promptly fell asleep. I remember hearing him laughing several times while I slept. I woke with a hangover and it took time for my eyes to adjust to the sunlight pouring through the window. The rays landed on Kerry’s “woman’s wall” which was oddly glinting. As my eyes focused I noticed there were bright shiny pennies taped over the eyes of the photos of the stars that were dead. ... Kerry had found inspiration in the middle of the night. I howled with laughter!
Halloween 1978 found BC and I in San Francisco. Kerry had moved there a few years before. He invited us to a party Halloween night where all the guests drank, put on their makeup, and got into drag before heading to the bars on Castro. It was hysterical ... and once I was drunk I started saying things like “pass me that lipstick ... think those heels will fit me?” For the very first and last time I got in drag. It was bad drag too. Picture a 6’6” man with shoulders like a linebacker in a fringed teddy, fishnet stockings over tights, wig, and in heels. *shudder* When everyone was ready we headed out to the bars. Kerry had found the perfect dress for him. It was a 30’s style gown with a short bolero jacket and he wore a cloche on his curly wig. He made a very good Ginger Rogers. As we walked awkwardly and drunkenly in heels downhill on Delores St. to 18th a car slowed down. It was packed with teenage boys that suddenly started shouting insults and throwing eggs. As most of us scattered Kerry started twirling and time stepping downhill. His arms akimbo upturned at the elbow, all the while laughing and hurling insults back at the kids and dodging their eggs. Soon the kids had stopped and were laughing right along with Kerry. Straight/Gay détente had been achieved in the Castro. It was a great Halloween.
After the service we went to the apartment where he lived with his last lover, George, and I shared those stories with his other friends. Each one had his own story about Kerry. As we got up to leave George went to the bedroom and came back with a clothes bag. Inside was the very dress Kerry had worn in 1978 and gave it to me. “It’s yours now” he said. On the flight home I told Dark I wished Kerry had been able to come to our Halloween party. “He’ll be there in spirit” was his reply.
Last night I went to bed early exhausted from the party preparations. I left Dark watching a DVD. This morning when I got up he was still sleeping. I started down the front stairs on my way to the kitchen when I stopped. There on the lower floor in the curve of the stairs was something new. There was a small platform with a mannequin on it. The mannequin was wearing Kerry’s dress. Someone had staged it in a dance pose, arms bent up at the elbow. The hem of the dress was wired as if twirling. On the face of the mannequin was a blow-up photo of a smiling Kerry fashioned into a mask. Curving up from the platform were thin wires with Styrofoam eggs attached to the tips as if in flight. ... I doubled over laughing. That brought Dark out of the bedroom. “Told you he’d be here in spirit” he said. That’s what comes with having a great bf that used to be a props master.
It’s going to be a wonderful Halloween and tonight after Dark is asleep I’m going downstairs and tape pennies over the eyes on Kerry’s mask.
One of my favourite memories of Kerry was spending the night at his apartment in Houston one in the 70’s while BC was out of town. Kerry appointed himself my chaperone and baby sitter. After much laugher and way too much to drink we were lying in his bed as I stared at his “woman’s wall”. He had a huge collage of black and white photos of old female movie stars, divas, and female celebrities on one wall – floor to ceiling, totally camp. In my stupor I mutter that most of them were dead and promptly fell asleep. I remember hearing him laughing several times while I slept. I woke with a hangover and it took time for my eyes to adjust to the sunlight pouring through the window. The rays landed on Kerry’s “woman’s wall” which was oddly glinting. As my eyes focused I noticed there were bright shiny pennies taped over the eyes of the photos of the stars that were dead. ... Kerry had found inspiration in the middle of the night. I howled with laughter!
Halloween 1978 found BC and I in San Francisco. Kerry had moved there a few years before. He invited us to a party Halloween night where all the guests drank, put on their makeup, and got into drag before heading to the bars on Castro. It was hysterical ... and once I was drunk I started saying things like “pass me that lipstick ... think those heels will fit me?” For the very first and last time I got in drag. It was bad drag too. Picture a 6’6” man with shoulders like a linebacker in a fringed teddy, fishnet stockings over tights, wig, and in heels. *shudder* When everyone was ready we headed out to the bars. Kerry had found the perfect dress for him. It was a 30’s style gown with a short bolero jacket and he wore a cloche on his curly wig. He made a very good Ginger Rogers. As we walked awkwardly and drunkenly in heels downhill on Delores St. to 18th a car slowed down. It was packed with teenage boys that suddenly started shouting insults and throwing eggs. As most of us scattered Kerry started twirling and time stepping downhill. His arms akimbo upturned at the elbow, all the while laughing and hurling insults back at the kids and dodging their eggs. Soon the kids had stopped and were laughing right along with Kerry. Straight/Gay détente had been achieved in the Castro. It was a great Halloween.
After the service we went to the apartment where he lived with his last lover, George, and I shared those stories with his other friends. Each one had his own story about Kerry. As we got up to leave George went to the bedroom and came back with a clothes bag. Inside was the very dress Kerry had worn in 1978 and gave it to me. “It’s yours now” he said. On the flight home I told Dark I wished Kerry had been able to come to our Halloween party. “He’ll be there in spirit” was his reply.
Last night I went to bed early exhausted from the party preparations. I left Dark watching a DVD. This morning when I got up he was still sleeping. I started down the front stairs on my way to the kitchen when I stopped. There on the lower floor in the curve of the stairs was something new. There was a small platform with a mannequin on it. The mannequin was wearing Kerry’s dress. Someone had staged it in a dance pose, arms bent up at the elbow. The hem of the dress was wired as if twirling. On the face of the mannequin was a blow-up photo of a smiling Kerry fashioned into a mask. Curving up from the platform were thin wires with Styrofoam eggs attached to the tips as if in flight. ... I doubled over laughing. That brought Dark out of the bedroom. “Told you he’d be here in spirit” he said. That’s what comes with having a great bf that used to be a props master.
It’s going to be a wonderful Halloween and tonight after Dark is asleep I’m going downstairs and tape pennies over the eyes on Kerry’s mask.
posted by Ray @ 12:56 AM
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