Sunday, September 27, 2009

It's A Beautiful Day In The Gayborhood.

Hi Bloggy Friends,

I hope your having a sunny Sunday. We're not. It's been gloomy here all day, but we've had enough sunshine lately to sacrifice one day to the clouds. I always feel so mellow on days like this. It's kind of nice. Besides heading to the terminal to pick up our weekly stock of produce, we spent a large portion of our afternoon packing boxes to take to the new house. We hauled a pretty sizable load of books, wall hangings, photographs and holiday decorations. These are the first pieces of "us" that we've moved in so far. It feels good. The apartment on South Street is starting to look a little more bare, which makes the fact that we're moving seem that much more real. Alan's in the kitchen making dinner. It's a good thing 'cause we've worked up quite an appetite schlepping all those boxes to south Philly. Whew.

Last night we went to a new club in town called Voyeur. They had their grand opening extravaganza on Friday and last night they continued their celebration by holding the first ever Gayborhood Games. If you read my piece on the City Paper website you'll know that the Gayborhood Games was a competition of seven categories seeking the best of the best in Philly's gayest part of town. I decided to sign up for one of the categories, outstanding vocalist, because you guys know I'll take any chance I can to get a song in. There were two other competitors in the vocal category. They were both extremely kind, talented fellows. I sang a song by Lauryn Hill called "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You," and had a wonderful time doing it. I did my thing on a circular stage completely surrounded by spectators. The sound in the bar was amazing. Everything went very well. I was pleased with my performance. When the time came for the winners to be announced, however, my name wasn't called. A guy who sang a remarkably brave, acapella version of Jeff Buckely's "Hallelujah" ended up taking home the prize. I was a little disappointed of course, but he deserved it. Sometimes I think losing can be even more enlightening than winning. It helps put things into perspective so much more than always ending up on top. I am thankful.

Alan and I both had a great time. We don't go to clubs very often, so we enjoyed the chance to mingle with new people and watch some of the other performers. I'm attaching a video of my performance and a few other snippets I captured. I didn't take too many photos or videos on my own, but I've accumulated some shots HERE that were taken by local media outlets. If I find more I'll be sure to post those too.

I hope you have a lovely evening, Bloggy Friends. Thanks for stopping by to share this experience with me. I'll chat with you very soon.

Love, Josh

My performance of Lauryn Hill's version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You." The sound quality isn't great, but you get the picture.


This table
was set up with cakes prepared by chefs for the Outstanding Chef competition. We were able to try as many as we wanted.


This is one of the competitors in the Outstanding Drag Act competition. She was performing a medley of Lady Gaga hits. Just Dance.

1 comment:

Casey said...

Awesome! I loved your performance. You did a great job. I love, love, love that song. I wish she hadn't flaked and had stuck around a few years ago.