My big gay June

So Pride was actually last month and it coincided with a lot of other fashionista business I had to do, so it all goes in the same post.

The month actually started with the amazingness that was the True Colors Tour. I wasn't that jazzed about it first, because I try to avoid the kitschy, overpriced packaged gay thing, but since I am the epitome of kitcshy, campy, and over the top, I was actually really excited. Erasure, for goodness sake! Plus Debbie Harry, Rosie O Donnell, and even Margaret Cho couldn't messit up for me (it's true, I don't like her much. Does that make me a bad queer? I think it probably does). Plus the Gossip was playing and I've loved them for the last 7 years and I wanted Anne to see them, so I was psyched to go. I am so madly in love with Beth Ditto's skills and the huge sound the three of them produce with just a bass and drums. And Beth puts on one hell of a show. As an inveterate femme, it is hard for me not to drool over the new drummer, but as a feminist I had to maintain my integrity and also my girlfriend was there. We danced to Erasure and later we slow-danced to "What A Wonderful World" and someone took our picture.

On the 18th, Erin and I had to be on the 3 am bus to Baltimore for the Ladies Independent Design League's visit to Pile of Craft, thrown by the Baltimore Craft Mafia. I went to sleep; Poor Erin immediately got accosted by some random lonely guy who talked to her the entire 5-hour bus ride. Sorry lady!
We arrived at the church at 8 am, ready to set up and get going.
Slight problem - No Carrie. No Carrie means no garment rack, no hangers, no set-up, NO!!!!!! Of course she arrived eventually, newly married and brimming with gossip about the people we went to high school with, some of whom were there (YIPES!).

The day before, my awesome mom came up from DC to help me sew some new pieces, ncluding the Strawberry Shortcake dress.
When we weren't furiously selling our little hearts out, we spent the day among the cream of the Chesapeake Bay craft scene, marvelling at the creativity of our fellow vendors.

The Craft Mafia ladies were incredibly nice, giving us food and helping us with directions and setup and everything. I will definitely be doing their events again! Baltimore is gorgeous, and now I feel a little bad about not allowing Anne to consider moving there. It was also really fun getting to hang out with Sarah and Kim from Crafty Bastards and play with Kim's sweet kitty cat, who remarkably didn't mind being on leash in the middle of a crowd of thousands. Even I was kind of freaking out.

Just a few hours later we were dodging cars on our way back to the Greyhound station, excited to be on the bus and heading back towards the city. Laden with custom orders and kind of sticky, sleepy, and chilly (boo to A/C), we were mostly excited about showering and sleeping in our own beds. And there were no talkative guys on this leg of the trip.

Happy Pride!"

I won't pretend that Pride isn't sort of exciting for me, as well as completely scary, overwhelming, obnoxious, and fun. Heck, last year I went all the way to SF to celebrate, so I guess I secretly love it, even though I also consider it to be a exploitative excuse to drink and hook up with people that we've never met and will never see again. Queers drink too much and Pride is just an excuse to get fucked up for the sake of forgetting. Anyway, the girlfriend and I were debating whether or not to make an appearance at the NY parade this year. We decided to take a little trip on the Hetrick-Martin float, hopping on at 8th street to perform our duties as go-go dancers for the thousands of queers lining NYC's streets.

We jumped on next to our friends Abby, Deanna, Gina, and Eli, and proceeded to make dancing fools of ourselves. It was nice being back among the HMI crowd, saying hello and giving hugs. Here are some pictures of Pride from the HMI float. I am bummed that I didn't get one of those yellow tee shirts. Anne and Eli spent the parade setting little butch hearts aflutter while Abby, Gina and I dirty-danced to Madonna songs. All in all it was just like when I worked there. Afterwards instead of hitting the bar we...oh wait, we did hit a bar. But then Eli, Anne and I drove to the Brooklyn waterfront to eat ice cream and watch the sunset. It made the fact that I had to help him move to Philly a week later especially poignant.

Hooray for gay!

The week after that I was one of three "Design Prodigies" on TLC's new show "I've Got Nothing to Wear". We had a little party to celebrate my appearance and luckily they didn't make me look too foolish! Being on the show was incredibly exciting - we spent 3 days locked in a room in midtown with nothing to do but sew our little hearts out. I was kind of annoyed that the woman we designed for didn't pick my outfit, but I'm glad I got be on the show because I met George Simonton, the lovely and wonderful FIT professor and designer who I hope will be my new best friend.

Afropunk!

The following weekend my dearly beloved nephew came up to NY to hang out with us and help me get ready for the AfroPunk Block Party at BAM. Anne left for her uncle's house in New Jersey (we respectfully declined), and Malcolm and I went to the beach with my friend Eliza. We rode the ferris wheel, which was lovely and which I won't do again. :)
I was going to post a picture of Eliza in her bikini but then she would retailiate. :) I forced everyone to sit in a stable car and wouldn't let them move in case the car started to swing. I realy hate heights. :) Here's the ferris wheel instead.


Later, after dressing him up in Anne's clothes and dragging him to a bday party in Chelsea, he was a remarkably good sport about me forcing him to learn to sew and then, even worse, forcing him to model the girly creation he made:


You have to admit, the man is a good sport. And a darn good seamstress too!


The next day Eliza, Malcolm, Ella, Rudy, and Anne joined me for the First Afropunk Block Party.

I managed to make a ton of money, meet some great people, hand out lots of business cards, and hear great music to boot. Afropunk is my favorite movie, I like to think it was a love letter written expressly for me. And for once, though I heart James Spooner, I managed not to leap on him the way I usually do. He appreciates that, believe me.

Just a few days later, the month ended with Anne and I on the 3 am Greyhound from Port Authority, a place that at the best of times isn't especially pleasant, but at 3 am is really no fun. We took a trip down to DC to visit the Folklife Festival, which really meant that Kpoene' wanted to go check out the Hope Diamond, and everyone else had to follow. Aren't we a cute family? We are a cute family.