TRUE COLORS

I do not even know where to begin with how FABULOUS the True Colors concert was. Maybe it was the weekend, getting away from home and restrictions and being able to be myself with a great friend of mine. Maybe it was being in Boston, far away from the smallness of CT. Maybe it was the cute outfit Regina Spektor wore. Who's to say? Maybe we'll never know. (Her cute outfit certainly had something to do with the awesomeness of everything).

Well, we got very lost trying to find our way there. Very lost indeed. But we were soon found by my gps (if it said "recalculating" or "lost satillite reception" one more time I would have thrown it into traffic). The show was at the T.D. Bank North Center out by Logan, a very nice venue if I do say so. I was impressed. The views were very good from basically anywhere in the theatre, even in the back where all the smokers and too-drunk-to-stumble-back-to-their-seats people congregated.

The opening act was a woman named Kat Teluga (spelt phonetically) and she was good. She was full of energy and excitement, everything an opening act should be. There was definite hesitation with the crowd to get too into her performance, for whatever reason. She did two covers of some Jennifer Lopez (I think...) whilst bouncing around the stage in a poofy little blue number.

Next were The Cliks, a phenomenal band from Canada. I very much admire their lead singer (actually all of the members of the band) Lucas for his determination. He has a rockin voice too. Very Janis Joplin-esqu, if that makes any sense. I recommend buying their new album Snakehouse, it's definetly worth it.

Next was... and my heart flutters a little (a lot)... REGINA SPEKTOR. Oh my gosh it was craziness. She had an AMAZING red dress on that matched her hair and her makeup perfectly. She is so gorgeous, such a marvelous singer and musician. Apres Moi may be my favourite of her songs, but it's a tough call. Actually, on second thought, Better is definetly my favourite. It's just so... I don't even know how to describe it. She has a way of being upbeat and funny about the most sullen, borderline morbid (if not completely morbid) things. It's really an art in and of itself.

Carson Kressley hosted the show, and he did a great job. I was telling the friend that I went with that Carson definetly made fun of lesbians A LOT, and as amusing as it was it teetered on annoying. I was quick to say, though, that making fun of lesbians is probably my favorite thing to do in the entire world. If you can't make fun of yourself, who can you make fun of?

Rosie came out at intermission (no pun intended). She was looking amazing!! She lost so much weight, I'm very proud of her. Rosie is one my personal heroes. I ADORE a League of Their Own (what self respecting, softball playing, woman-loving lesbian doesn't adore that movie? I want a list!) and think Rosie is one of the funniest women in the entertainment industry, the fact that she is an out lesbian and a very outspoken woman only add to how much I love her. I cried when she was talking about her mother and their relationship and how her mother died when she was barely 11. At the end of her wee interlude she said "and if you happen to see an old Irish lady walking around, smiling, send her backstage and tell her I've been waiting for it." I completely lost my shit when she said that. Just thinking about it now makes me get all misty.

The B-52's were next. In the mean time I putzed around, enjoyed Boston and the rowdiness of hundreds of 20/30/40/50something homos. I swear if I saw one more man stick his hands down another man's pants I was gonna drag him home to his mother by his ear. The lesbians were CRAZY. I know we're crazy but really ladies, REALLY?! It's all in good fun, I know, but spill your beer on me one more time and I'll make you go pay 3 bucks for one for me. I'd much rather be drinking a beer than wearing one. I loved it when my friend thought some guy was cute and soon discovered that that "guy" was in fact a girl. We also noticed how every single lesbian/lesbian couple knew every single other lesbian/lesbian couple. It was like a big family reunion. Clearly we were not part of the immediate family, kind of the new kids on the block so to speak.

Oh lesbians, I love you all so much. The gay men have a special place in my heart too. Well, I'll revise that statement. Everyone has a special place in my heart, except haters. They can just go to... somewhere toasty where they will be poked with pitch forks. Nah, I'm not exactly sure what I think happens to people in the afterlife; either people who have led upright, loving lives or people who have spouted hate. It's all for God to decide.

The B-52's were very good. I felt like most of the people in the audience were far more familiar with them that I could ever dream to be. I know Love Shack, and some lyrics to some of their other songs. Otherwise I'm clueless. They were very good, very good at getting the crowd involved.

When Cyndi came on, all hell broke loose. Everyone was singing and dancing and screaming and jumping around (myself included). I'm not going to lie... I did know pretty much every word to every one of her songs, and I let it be known by singing (erm.... screaming) said words the entire time, much to the dismay of the rather intoxicated people in front of me. OH WELL! I LOVE Cyndi, she is SUCH a performer. I've seen Elton John and Celine Dion in concert (so sad that Celine's Vegas show is over...), and Cyndi is definetly right up there with them in terms of the performance she puts on.

They ended the concert by having all the performers come back on stage (including Regina Spektor... by now the people in front of me were horrified by my behaviour and gave me dirty looks, however I continued to scream at the top of my lungs "REGINA I WANT YOUR BABIES!!" and my personal favourite, for anyone who was unsure of my sanity "REGINA WHY WON'T YOU RETURN MY CALLS!!" not that I have ever called her... cause I haven't, but I love creeping people out) for the grand finale. Rosie and Carson and Regina and the B-52's and the Cliks and everybody were all up there, with the great Cyndi, to sing the final song. In the spirit of the concert, and the sum up the message of the concert, they sang "True Colors." Oh how I loved that song. It speaks for all of us, in any given moment of our lives. When we're down and out, we just need a friend or a kind word, or a line in a song or an inch of hope to pull us back up and out of the despair. Well not to worry, I see your true colors, and I know mine, and I'm damn proud. Whether you're straight, gay, bi, trans, whatever you are: BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE!!!!!!!! And respect everyone else for who they are. Peace and Love!

P to the S: the only thing that would have made this night even better would have been Rosie singing the song from A League of Their Own (We're the members of the all American league, we come from cities near and far, we've got Canadians, Irish ones and Swedes we're all for one we're one for all we're all American), or if she had whipped Madonna out of her back pocket or something. Ugh... I really was a gay man born in a Lesbians body, I'm convinced (well besides the fact that I have 0 fashion sense).

P to the SS: I GOT THE JOB!!!!

P to the SSS: I'm going to Disney for the last weekend of Gay Days!!!!!!

P Town!!

Alright, oh my gosh I can barely contain my excitement, wooo gotta chill out.

P Town... it's just... it's so amazing... I don't even have the appropriate word to describe it. Fabulous comes close, but it is truly and sincerely AWESOME. I've had lots of really good days in my life:

Like the time my mother rented a bounce around for me and my friends and we went to town.

Or the time my lacrosse team and I went to the gay bar and got verbally assaulted (in jest of course) by drag queens.

Or the time I went to River Rat in Athol, MA (GOOO!!!! it's SOOO much fun!!).

But honestly, none of that compares to the day I spent in Provincetown with my mother and our friend yesterday.

We woke up between 8-9, were on the road by 9:30. The car ride out to the Cape is between 4-5 hours, and it being a holiday weekend traffic vacillated from sparse to no wiggle room at all. We talked in the car for a good long time, took lots of pictures, made lots of stops. I've only ever been to the Cape really (and I consider the beach to be the Cape, since I go to Nantucket fairly often, but I don't consider that 'The Cape') two or three times. One of those times I was incredibly drunk and passed out in the middle of a street in a residential neighborhood. Good times, but that's a story for another lifetime.

We talked a lot about gay marriage, and how my mother is basically indifferent. She believes in equality but she wouldn't stick her neck out for it, which I find to be without tact but that's just me. Our poor friend is very new to this country and, as far as he knows, has never seen a gay person before. What a shock he had.

We went to the beach in P Town, paid $15 for parked but it was sooo worth it. The water is FREEZING this time of year, but I went in anyway cause I'm a rebel, of course. There were girls in bikinis playing rugby in the sand (a dream come true, I nearly cried with joy) and two mothers with their kids playing in the sand and talking to other parents. The bathrooms were atrocious, naturally.

We went into town after discovering that we really were very hungry. I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant where we ate, but the people were SO friendly. They love their customers, and their customers love them in return. I had fish and chips, which were not very good, but the service made the meal. Our friend kept poking me saying "Hey... is he?" or "Is she..." causing me to burst into a fit of laughter without fail every single time.

The HRC store is amazing, go there. It was simply amazing to me to see so many happy couples walking around, with children or with each other, hand in hand, arm in arm, laughing, smiling, enjoying each others company. To me it really is the most perfect place in the world, where anyone can be themselves.

Unfortunately, because I'm not out to my mother, I couldn't chase after the hot young things walking around in bikinis or kiss the ground every time I saw a rainbow flag waving proudly (not that I would have... but I certainly wanted to).

When we piled into the car to head back home when the sun was just setting over the sand dunes everything felt so right with the world. I wanted every single person there to know that I love them with all my heart, for who they are, for what they are, because they are being themselves. I wanted to stay there forever and bask in its awesomeness, but daytrips, much like vacations or Christmas or high school, must come to an end.

As we were pulling away, my mother touched my shoulder and said "I think you and I were the only two straight women there." A little piece of me died, but hey, if she wants to think I'm straight let her. I'm not hiding it, I wear it proudly, and I haven't dated a boy in four years. Even when I did date boys, it was fairly obvious to everyone that I never really liked them very much romantically. Give me a basketball-playing boy or a swimming boy any day, someone to have fun with or to open up a beer with and talk about women, but other than that boys are pretty useless.

Some part of her must know, and if it doesn't then it's her problem for being blind. Though I've never explicitly told her (and I don't feel I should HAVE to tell anyone), I'm pretty gay. I would describe myself as your almost-stereotypical dyke (in that I love and can very often be found wearing polos and board shorts/long plaid shorts, my hair is never not in a pony tail, I don't let people hold the door for me, I hang out in gay bars, oh and I DATE WOMEN). Basically I fit right in at P Town, except for the stars in my eyes when I walked down the street.

Anyhow, Provincetown is AMAZING. Go. Go with your partner, your kids, your mom, your grandma, your dog, your great aunt Sally, your best friend (ALL your best friends!). I definetly recommend it. Provincetown, you have this dyke's seal of approval!