A Return to the Interior Illusions Lounge

Catching up with my dear friend Paul the other night, I learned that the second season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" has begun on Logo. While I do not watch much television at all (I'm one of those freaks who doesn't have cable), I love, love, LOVE this show. Fortunately Logo puts the episodes online, so those of us who don't have access to the channel can still enjoy the show.

The format is fairly simple: 12 drag queens from around the country compete in various challenges to win a title, some cash and to participate in a tour around the country. Of course, when you get that many big personalities in the same room, drama and hilarity ensues. Personally, I felt that last year's winner should have been Nina Flowers, but at least she was the runner-up.

Having spent a fair amount of time around female impersonators, I find the show to be a pretty accurate depiction of these queens. Lots of attitude, bittersweet tales from life and egos that are only outsized by their hairdo's. Once the eyelashes and heels are stashed away, most drag queens are really decent people, and their commitment to perform and support all kinds of causes for the gay community is quite admirable. I love to watch a good drag show and shower the talent with dollar bills.

It's a bit early in the Drag Race to determine who the frontrunners are, but I'll be glued to my laptop each week to see the glamour and drama unfold. Trust me, it's worth 45 minutes of your time.

The Sybarite Returns...

Greetings and Happy 2010 everyone!

I'm back after a long hiatus. Looking at the Blogger dashboard this morning, it's been over two months since I've made a post--eek! Rather than offering some long-winded apology or vow to be more on top of things, I'll say that I took a much-needed break from pretty much everything.

The holidays in 2009 were not a particularly luxurious time for me as I was consumed with an overwhelming work schedule. Fortunately I parted ways with the Roosevelt just before New Year's and landed a job at Stanley, located in the French Quarter on Jackson Square. So far, the job has proven to be a great fit--reasonable hours, a five day work week, and enough business to keep up with food, rent and other financial obligations. It's nice to wake up not dreading to go to work. Once the new gig was in place, I enjoyed a month of rest and leisure. As I've said before, many of life's luxuries are small and/or intangible, and the luxury of a return to sanity and happiness has done much to improve my outlook on things.

I'm not one for making tons of New Year's resolutions, but I made a conscious decision this year to learn more about my current city of residence and enjoy the history and rhythm of New Orleans. The Saints are playing in the Superbowl on Sunday for the first time in franchise history and Mardi Gras is less than two weeks away, making an already festive city more ebullient. While I haven't followed enough football this season to become an official member of the Who Dat Nation, I am looking forward to cheering on the team at my local watering hole this weekend.

So this post hopefully signals a return to more regular updates on life in the Crescent City. I have committed to making this last year of my 30's the most productive, enjoyable, and fabulous year that I've experienced so far, and I look forward to sharing many tales of luxury and enjoyment with you.

Remembering My Friends

It's the first day of December, which marks World AIDS day. Not wanting to be maudlin or get political, the friends I've lost to this insidious disease are on my mind today. Men who were taken away from the world long before they should have been, each of them contributed much to my life and made me a better person for knowing them.

So Ernest, David, Brian, Larry, Sergio, and Mark, I hope you found peace and happiness in the great beyond. And for my friends who are still here and dealing with HIV on a daily basis, I applaud your courage and resolve to fight the good fight and I support you in every way I can.

Slinging Turkey at Shenanigan's

A chill is in the air here in the Crescent City as the holiday season is upon us. I hope that my legions of readers all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. My celebration and gluttony was relegated to the later hours of the evening as I had to work at the restaurant, ensuring scores of families had an enjoyable holiday meal.

I've taken to referring to my place of employment as Shenanigan's in homage to the restaurant portrayed in "Waiting", starring Ryan Reynolds. Those of you who have spent time in the hospitality industry should give the movie a screening; overall the movie is just ok, but you'll recognize the archetypes of the servers and managers and may find (like me) you've worked with all of these people at one time or another.

So yesterday at Shenanigan's was a typically over-hyped affair. We had lots of reservations on the books, which meant management freaked out and overstaffed the floor. I was fortunate to do fairly well money-wise and had gracious tables with no major meltdowns. My schedule impeded my typical litany of holiday phone calls, but friends and family were on my mind as the day progressed. I am very fortunate and grateful for the people in my life, and I realized that I can do more to demonstrate and communicate my appreciation for them every day, not just on holidays.

After work I stopped for a much-needed libation en route to Peaches for a delightful repast. Peaches hosted an intimate gathering of friends earlier in the day, and I was happy to see that there was plenty of food left for me to enjoy (although considering the size of the bird he purchased at Rouse's this week I knew there would not be a shortage). Everything was delicious and we chatted and laughed as I ate and helped with the clean up of the kitchen, delighting in the music and magic of the Living Legend as is typical of our holiday (or any day)gatherings. We called it an early night as I was tired from work and needed some rest before entertaining an early morning visitor today.

This weekend the city hosts Bayou Classic, which I understand is the ignorant cousin of Essence Fest. I doubt that we'll get much traffic out of it at Shenanigan's, which is fine by me as the group we had in-house last week was ill-mannered, cheap and rude. I love the international travelers who still feign ignorance at our system of gratuities in the service industry; more than once last week I was prepared to hand back the 2% tip and let the customer know that it was obvious they needed the money more than me, but I decided better of it. Even with my disenchantment at Shenanigan's, work is work and money is money, and until I figure out the next step in my career path I need to make sure I keep the lights on and the rent paid. In fact, looking at the clock I see that it's almost time for a shower so I can go and sling again. Here's hoping for a profitable weekend...

And Ringo was his name-o

After a week of lying low and dealing with getting things put together in the new place, I went out last night to host Ringo at the Lantern. Ringo is Bingo but apparently the Catholic church in Louisiana has copyrighted the term Bingo, so no one can use the name for a game that is not affiliated with them. Lance typically hosts the weekly game as Sister Mary Isawhore, donning a habit and eye makeup and ever-changing pairs of outrageous glasses. As the good Sister is currently out of the country, I was asked to host this week's game and had a delightful time.

I've always enjoyed a good round of Sissy Bingo. We used to play every week in San Francisco (where one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was the hostess), and from time to time the St. Pete Single Ladies Card Club would venture out to partake in a round in Florida. In my youth I was a Bingo caller for a company that provided carnival-style entertainment for corporation's employee picnics, so I'm no stranger to picking up the mic and spinning the cage.

While I did not employ a festive outfit for last night's game, I did manage to impress the crowd with a fantastic pair of oversized cat-eye glasses that Peaches had given me several months ago. Pictures to follow. It took a game for me to get warmed up, but everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, and as the night continued and the liquor flowed, things get rowdier and raunchier. Just the break I needed on a Thursday.

So Now I'm a Statistic

I awoke this morning to a gorgeous fall day with a heavy heart; I was robbed at gunpoint last night on my way home. Not even two houses away from my home I was forced to the ground with a gun put to my head while my assailant got away with my phone, the backpack containing my work shoes, and a wallet containing a dollar. Yes, a dollar...

Fortunately I was able to go to Brandon's house to call the police and NOPD responded reasonably fast. I couldn't really give a vivid description of the attacker; as horrible as it sounds he was a typical dreadlocked black guy that roams around this city.

This is not the first time I've been involved in a random act of violence. I was bashed in Boston almost 20 years ago and attacked in Florida in the mid-90's. I am grateful that last night ended with nothing more than a sore foot and a couple of bruises, but I'm confounded by the randomness that accompanies these acts. Was this guy so desperate that this was his only way to get ahead? Is he lazy and does this sort of thing instead of working for money? Do I give the appearance of an easy mark?

So now I have to deal with replacing ID's, getting another phone and all of the bullshit that comes with getting back on track after an event like this occurs. I'm angry but know that this could happen to anyone, anywhere. I can't blame this on New Orleans, and will continue to explore the city and look for the good in the people and places here.

Keys to the Kingdom

I am happy to report that I picked up the keys for my new place yesterday. I'm about to head out to gather some cleaning supplies (the last tenant's idea of "move-in ready" and mine differ quite a bit) and scrub everything down before emptying out the storage unit tomorrow. I'm very excited to have a space of my own and very, very grateful to Peaches for the limitless hospitality that's been shown since my arrival in New Orleans.

The streets were packed with costumed revelers last night for Halloween, but I opted out of the festivities because of work. By the time I left the hotel, the party was in full force, but I was not in the mood to join the drunken masses in the Quarter. Came home and watched "Elizabeth" instead--with my recent introduction to the wonderful series "The Tudors", the Anglophile in me has been reawakened with a vengeance. I fantasized about applying white makeup and a starched collar to announce my debut as the Virgin Queen, but realized that nobody would believe me...

Not much else to report. I will post some pictures of the new place over the next few days.