Over the weekend my friend Nelson came down from Connecticut to help me pass the time while Wei was busy with his family in Queens. We were fortunate to have the use of my friend Paul's condo in the Village and we went sunbathing over by the River and over-indulged in calories at Manatus and The Village Den. When you are hosting a younger guest you are liable to be roped into doing something out of your normal sphere of activity. And so when I asked Nelson what he would like to do on Friday night he said: "Let's go out dancing!" My first thought was to give him the keys to the condo and send him out to dance the night away on his own somewhere; but that would not have been very gallant of me as a host. Back in the 80s I spent a lot of time at dance clubs - in fact that is where Kenny & I first met Nelson in 1990. So I know my way around a dance floor though I guess you could say my dancing is more notable for it's stamina than for any particular assets of style or technique. My plan was to accompany Nelson to the bar and let him do the dancing while I watched the crowd from the sidelines. Nelson is one of those people who is unabashed by the idea of dancing by himself; in fact he tends to turn away anyone who might ask him to dance and to simply keep on grooving in his own private world. I knew he'd be fine on the dance floor on his own.
So I threw on my Winger tee and we walked over to The Monster. I'm sure Nelson would have preferred a younger and more buff crowd, but The Monster was close, inexpensive, and I could feel comfortable there because it is not a youth-and-beauty oriented establishment. We got there around 10:30 and I said we would stay til around midnight. We sat in the corner; neither of us were drinking. The music was heavy on the oldies; I was hoping to hear Taylor Dayne's TELL IT TO MY HEART unearthed, but the closest we got was the Annie Lennox monumental hit SWEET DREAMS (Are Made of This). {Photo: my Winger T always attracts attention; at my age I need all the help I can get...}
Being back in a dance bar was an amusing experience for me; I surveyed the crowd and the darkened room with memories of other nights and other times flooding back. After a while we were bopping and stomping in place and then Nelson said "Let's dance!" I felt at ease as I was neither the oldest nor the clumsiest person on the dance floor. People danced up to us, trying in vain to get Nelson's attention. They must have thought it odd that he would go out dancing with his father. We danced in two 45-minute streaks and around 2:00 we decided to leave but then a song came on that Nelson liked and we danced on til 3:00 AM. Getting back to the condo I felt exhausted and knew I would sleep like a log but - just like in my younger days - the beat doesn't subside in your head for several hours. I didn't sleep at all.
Nelson reminded me that the last time I was on a dance floor was in 1997 at Tea Dance in Provincetown. It was always fun to walk into Tea behind Nelson; he is so modest and genuinely unaware of the commotion he can cause. That afternoon as we passed by, someone yelled at him: "You are gorgeous!" and later a man came up and presented his business card, offering Nelson $200 on the spot to take his shirt off and be photographed. His camera was at the ready, but Nelson only smiled shyly and turned to me and said "Let's go dance!"
Haha, Nelson is cute so I can totally believe such things have been asked of him! It's funny, a new Rhythm champion was crowned Sunday night at the ballroom competition I spent all weekend at, and he totally looks like Nelson -- I almost thought it was Jose (the champion) when I first looked at your blog. I'm glad you guys had so much fun!
Posted by: tonya | July 09, 2007 at 02:18 AM
What you can't tell about Nelson from the picture is that he has a great body. He doesn't go to the gym but maintains a strict regimen of working out with weights at home.
Most gay guys who have this kind of physique like to parade it around but Nelson's never blatant. I suppose that is part of his appeal.
Posted by: Philip | July 09, 2007 at 06:57 AM