Let's see, where was I?

I was able to entertain myself quite easily but it was dawning on me that I was becoming drawn to certain types of programs on t.v.  I distinctly remember being about 4-5 years old and The Addams Family came on and, having never seen it before and having had my fill of The Munsters, I sat down it give it a try and after a week, I really grew to like it....especially the theme song!  And all as a result of a "misheard lyric."  There are some famous ones, the most famous probably being Jimi Hendrix's " 'xcuse me while I kiss the sky." which is sometimes heard as "'xcuse me while I kiss this guy."  And personally it was MONTHS before I knew that in "Lucille", Kenny Rogers' wife didn't leave him with "400 children and a crop in the field," but "4 hungry children....."  See how easy it can happen?  But I digress.  Back to The Addams Family...if you run through the song, you come to the line, "a roost that you can crawl on," well what my little 4 or 5 year old mind hear was "a Bruce that you can crawl on."  And at the time, being really into the Batman tv series, the only "Bruce" that came to mind was "Wayne" and all I can tell you is that, even at that age my "spring" was "sprung"!  I was also very aware and even looked forward to the rerunning of the episodes of Gilligan's Island, where "The Professor" had a nightmare and rips his shirt open; or the "Surfer Dude" washes up on shore; or the episode of Fury where Peter Graves ran outside shirtless.  But by far the character who made the most impact on me I happened upon by accident while I was changing channels (we didn't have "channel surfing" in those days).  "Cheyenne Bodie" as portrayed by Clint Walker set an archetype for me that endures to this very day.  Tall, rugged, masculine, muscular, handsome, hairy chest...the WHOLE NINE YARDS.  In this month's OUT magazine, Maroon 5's lead singer Adam Levine talks about his gay brother and makes this comment to Shana Naomi Krochmal:  "I can single-handedly dispel any ideas that sexuality is acquired.  Trust me, you're born with it.  My brother is gay, and we knew when he was two." (p.109).  Sooooooo...a 2-year-old and myself a 4-year-old...too young to be "indoctrinated" and certainly, in my case most definitely, NEVER being around any other of "those sick disgusting people" at that point in my life, how else would you explain it?  Like Lady Ga Ga says, I was Born This Way, Baby!  My paws are up!!

Starting here, starting now

So many of my Brethren, or Sisteren as the case may be, were heavily influenced by Hollywood, movies, big musicals, and bigger stars I sometimes feel I was born a couple of decades too late because I missed the Golden Age of the Hollywood Musical.  I got the Progressive 70's and the New Wave, whatever the hell THAT was; and Mother and Daddy weren't big "movie people," except whenever Disney came out w/anything new, that was top of the list!  And the 70's were the 'Disaster Era' w/"The Poseidon Adventure," which I was too young for in 1972 and "The Towering Inferno," that was my first "PG" movie in 1974.  Also LOTS of 'horror': "The Omen" and "The Exorcist" and 'gritty realism': "Serpico", "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Straw Dogs".....none of these the stuff of which a young gay boy's dreams are made from.

So I immersed myself in television.  I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Batman, and The Addams Family....and that was just weekday afternoons!  Weeknights I had The Bionic Woman, Charlie's Angles (the REAL ONES!!!!!), Dallas, and Knots Landing. And Saturdays.....Saturdays were Mary Tyler Moore and The Carol Burnett Show!  There were Movies Of the Week, Miniseries (Oh my GOODNESS!!! Scruples, Princess Daisy, Hollywood Wives!!!), and I lived ALL of them!!  I'd act out different scenarios either w/myself or other kids in the neighborhood.  There was an entire year that the movie "Escape to Witch Mountain" was a shared obsession of me and my best friend in middle school.  And I'd be committed to whatever "part" I was playing.  And when I wasn't "bringing art to life," I was doing drag in my room before I knew what "drag" was.

Records.  Those old-fashioned, large, black vinyl discs that used to be how we listed to music, were always quite prevalent in our house.  My first forays were Tony Orlando but I quickly graduated to Barry Manilow, where I plateaued until I discovered Olivia Newton-John.  Olivia!!!!  I found her and my course was set!  It was me and female vocalists from that moment on: Linda Ronstadt, Pat Benetar, Sheena Easton and finally, ultimately.....Celine!  It would take me a decade to move my "Pat Benetar" from my bedroom onto a Ft. Worth stage, but  that's a story for another post.