Road Trips

In the past couple of months, I been doing lots of traveling. Here's a rundown of the places I've been and what I've found to do there. You might use this as a jumping off place for things to do (or not to do) on your own trip.

see sidebar link at the end. Madison, Wisconsin: I don't much like Madison -- too much tie die. But it's the only city in the country with an openly gay Republican city council member. You might go to Club de Wash, near the State Capitol. Uh, and there's a leather bar in the basement. Gosh, I'm just not that up on Madison. To me, it's just a place to take a load off my ass on the way to Chicago.

Chicago, Illin'-noise: A huge, huge city. The weight of the city just presses in all around you. I stayed with friends, visited art museums and galleries, went to bookstores (People Like Us and Unabridged Books are both good), ate out (at restaurants, that is), went to "Berlin" kinda a trendy college-kid type of fag bar.

see sidebar link at the end.
Ann Arbor, Michigan: Kind of like Madison, only I like it. I got there on a Tuesday night and disco-ed at the Nectarine & that should also be poss. a couple other nights. I wandered around and bought junk and pink hi-tops. Went up in the bell-tower and saw the carillon being played--it's a keyboard instrument played with your fists, ringing huge bells.

Denver: Wax Trax Denver is way more happening than the one in Chicago. Real great T-shirt shop there too, where I acquired a SWANS greed shirt emblazoned with gold "$". Invisible gay community. Ya could rock out at the Rock Island or 23 Perish. Or ya could don yer luv beads and tie dye and hitch-hike to Boulder.

Toronto: I hung out w/ G B Jones, publisher of JDs, and her friend Anita, who's got a story in issue #6. Considering I was there on a Tuesday, I had plenty of fun. We visited a variety of night- spots. Of course, I wasn't present on a Friday, when the Rock & Roll Fag Bar rules. And it was night-time, so I had to be content with looking through the window of "This ain't the Rosedale Library," underground bookstore extrordinarie. A really clean and nice city -- Canadians are very outgoing and friendly.

Minneapolis: Yeah, this is where I live, but so what? There's fun to be had here: sev'ral groovy record stores, dull bars, Riflesport & Speedboat art galleries, the Avalon Theatre/Sonic Warp rock'n'roll shows, Ballet of the Dolls, 2nd Saturday Cabaret, Psycheteria, Fresh Fruit Radio, Radical Faeries -- there's no reason to be bored ALL the time here.

photo of Larry-bob

Larry-bob, chillin in Chicago

I don't know why i didn't mention in the zine that the most lunkhead thing about this roadtrip was that on the way home, driving from Madison to Minneapolis, I fell asleep at the wheel, rolled and totalled my car. I survived, my only injuries cuts on my left little and ring fingers, which required stickes. The tips were a bit numb for a few years but the nerves grew back. The moral of the story is, if you're tired, don't try to stay awake by rolling down the window to feel a cool breeze. Instead, pull over and get some sleep.

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