Monday, August 17, 2009

Our Social Calendar Was Full.

Hi Bloggy Friends,

I hope you're doing well. I just walked in the door from spending nearly two hours in the park. I've been reading a fantastically scintillating book called Another Country by James Baldwin. Baldwin recently appeared on my radar after reading Nina Simone's auto-biography. He was a gay, African-American man who wrote mainly on the taboo subject of being black and gay in the 1950's and 60's. I'm not usually a big fan of fiction, but this one has me hooked.

We had a great weekend full of friends and good food. On Saturday we had dinner with some of Alan's colleagues at a French restaurant called Bistro St. Tropez. We were leery upon walking in because the restaurant is located in the middle of nowhere and the decor was uninspiring at best, but the food threw us for a loop. I had an unbelievably tender piece of sushi-grade salmon which was placed on a bed of some type of mushroom mixed in some type of sauce. It was as rich as it could be, but every bite left my mouth quivering for the next go round. Alan had some type of fresh fish, but I was so busy with mine that I didn't ask him how it tasted. Later we walked to Rittenhouse Square to have dessert at my new favorite yogurt stop, Yogorino. It's nothing short of pure bliss.

We skipped Salmy Night this Sunday because Bloggy Friend Bill and Gary came for a quick visit. We had a lovely brunch at Kanella, a Greek restaurant I've mentioned before. Later we went to a local, gay bookstore called Giovanni's Room which is, ironically enough, named for James Baldwin's most famous novel. Bill was slated to do a reading there from a collection of short stories he contributed to. The anthology, My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them, was published earlier this year. Bill's creative essay, which has garnered a ton of good press for the book, is about culinary goddess Julia Child. We also heard passages from writers who wrote about Stevie Nicks, Nina Simone, Jessica Lange and Björk. They all did an excellent job, but Bill was by far the best. This book will touch the heartstrings of any of my gay readers. I was moved to tears at least three times during the course of the readings. You can purchase a copy of your own by clicking HERE.

I hope you have a wonderful evening. I have two weeks until school starts. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also happy to have two full weeks of rest before it begins. Everything is going well with the house. To help pass the time until the closing date, Alan and I have been throwing ideas around about how to decorate the house to make it our own. We are both so excited.

I'm attaching a few pictures below of our weekend, but you can see the rest in THIS photo gallery. I'll chat with you soon.

Love, Josh

Dinner with Alan's colleagues at Bistro St. Tropez.

On Pine Street with Bloggy Friend Bill and Gary.

Bill in the midst of his moving performance at Giovanni's Room.

7 comments:

Bill Fogle said...

No kidding about the location of Bistro St. Tropez! Back in my day 2400 Market Street was nothing but offices, a Salvation Army, and XXX movie theaters.

But how great that you discovered something enjoyable. And how fabulous that Kaushiki (I believe that is the same woman?) cooked something extra for you ... and joined you, wearing that stunning and rather mod black & white outfit that my mom would have coveted! Chic!

Thanks for blogging our Sunday together. I thanked Tim (on his Facebook page) for coming to the reading. Thanks also for your typically generous blog giving all the links for the book, etc. The editor (Michael, who I ended up thinking was extraordinarily nice and just a little bit cute in his plaid pants) liked Giovanni's Room and sent an email to the readers saying how much he enjoyed the event and wished well for the oldest gay bookstore in the U.S. He agreed that the "Endora" essay was touching.

For me it was a treasured opportunity to see both of you after such a major, joyful event in your lives (the new house). The timing (in that regard, and all others) was nice. And I loved the place we had lunch.

I can picture you sitting in the park reading "Another Country" just as you were so absorbed with the Barbara Walters autobiography in Maine. I, too, prefer nonfiction, but I have sworn to finish a novel before the end of August ("Light in August," by William Faulkner).

Our lives march on ...!

Rick Watson said...
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Rick Watson said...

Wonderful weekend! Wish I had been there with you!

Bill-- did you record your reading? If so, I'd love to hear it! I'm sure it's nothing short of fabulous!

Josh-- I still cannot get over how your mouth 'quivered' anticipating each new bite of that deliciously prepared sushi! 'quivered' ?????? Haaaaa! I was thinking dirty thoughts and I was thinking.... remember that drag queen from Seattle who quivered her big lips uncontrollably unable to stop! I love her! I'll send you the video again just to remind you of what I'm thinking!

Rick Watson said...
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VN said...

You should read "Going to Meet the Man" by Baldwin as well. It's a really short read.

Bill Fogle said...

OMG! I love how Rick has removed not one but two posts from here. He's just like me. I write something and then think ... Oh God, I can't believe I wrote that ...!

I just made a big huge video and you're in it beotch. What's up with the internships, butterfly socialle?!

Anonymous said...

ehh.. good text ))