For those who are not friends with me on Facebook -- remedy that HERE -- I wanted to include a recap from my long weekend in Provincetown. My pals Andy Towle and Michael Goff, who are also my colleagues through the Towleroad ad network, had been kindly inviting me up all summer, but getting three days off in a row at work proved to be nearly impossible, so I kept having to graciously decline. But suddenly last Monday, I got word that they had an opening that week, only to find there was still no way to get Friday off. (Thursday and the weekend were fine.) For reasons that are not entirely clear to me -- call it a Hail Mary pass -- I went ahead and asked one of my coworkers who had already jumped through hoops to get Friday off if there was any chance she'd be willing to give it back. She was! (I love you, Michelle!)
Next thing I knew, I was having coffee with my friend Sergio, who has been taking time off from working, He is also in the midst of planning a possible move to Sydney -- and baby -- with his Aussie partner, Adam. For the hell of it, I asked Sergio if he'd like to come along as my wing man. He was!
Twenty-four hours later we were on the Northeast Regional Amtrak to Boston. A quick lobster roll near South Station -- followed by an even quicker rain shower -- and then we were on the Ptown ferry with a bunch a Ptown fairies. Before long, Goff pulled up to greet us at the dock in his VW camper bus -- just like Barbie's, only white -- then quickly drove us to the house where we were staying, which has a impressive pedigree that includes Salvatore Del Deo, Robert Hatch and Norman Mailer. (David Dunlap of The New York Times is including it in his upcoming book about Provincetown.)
With no time to waste, Goff dropped us off at the Boatslip, where the famed tea dance was in full swing. And who is the first person I see when we walk in? Time -- aka that "uptight, short-lived boyfriend" I was with the other time(s) I was in Ptown in the '90s, whom I mentioned in yesterday's Cape Cod post. (It's a very small gay world, isn't it?) It was fun catching up with an old flame and his new beau, then it was off to dinner followed by a night of bar-hopping.
The Wave Video Bar was by far my favorite, with its endless array of '70s ("Rock the Boat," "Soul Train" clips) and '80s favorites, including an alternate version of "Our Lips Are Sealed" by the Go-Go's and a video of "Dirty Back Road" by the B-52's that I've somehow never seen before, either! (We miss you, Ricky Wilson.)
Lest you think Ptown has no culture
Although I was easily turned around the first day, I quickly figured Commercial Street out ..
With the Towleroad pop-up booth being an easy marker of the halfway point between the strip's east and west ends.
After having a delightful lunch at the Canteen with Goff and his friend Jeff (who is sooo New Haven), we met up with the adorable Patrick, whose skill at manning the Towleroad table was rivaled only by his ability to work the crowd.
Huh-huh
Lest you think this wasn't a business trip, the nearby Provincetown Bookshop is carrying "Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?" ... now. (I meant business.)
Friday and Saturday included returns to the Boatslip tea dance ...
Hunk sightings ...
... Fun time with Frankie and Taffy, whose Blondie obsession gives me a run for my money
Blog like nobody's watching
On Saturday night, we got together with Andy and Goff for dinner at Mac's, one of the town's best new restaurants. With the drinks flowing and the gossip spewing, we had no choice but to continue on into the night. After originally watching videos at Wave, the boys left me talking with a couple of New Yorkers and headed to an adjacent dance club that I didn't even know existed.
With their sexy just-turned-50-year-old pal, Brent, along, we danced into what Ptown calls the wee hours (11:30, maybe even midnight) before heading to the Porch bar for a nightcap. Michael Cunningham was holding court at the top of the stairs -- Barney Frank, Tony Kushner, Andrew Sullivan and John Cameron Mitchell were my other bold-faced sightings, and Marc Almond and Murray Bartlett were rumored to be town, too -- and Billy Hough was tearing it up on the piano. (We'd seen him do his Kurt Cobain tribute at Grotta bar the night before.) At some point Sergio and I were dancing on a box -- egged on by Andy -- which probably played a part in my sudden need for a hip replacement. At some point we all headed home, but not before one more slice of pizza at the Spiritus sidewalk sale, where I met a cute KIT212 reader.
Getting up was hard on Sunday, but we eventually met up with Taffy and his partner, James, to see their fixer-upper, which has been fixed up rather nicely so far. While my overall impression of the town hasn't changed much, being there with good friends made me realize that it's a place I could grow attached to. (It's pretty great: There, I admitted it.) That we finally found the "homemade" Pop-Tarts -- whose sidewalk sign it turned out was removed periodically when they ran out, but which left Sergio and me thinking we were imagining the whole thing -- was only icing on the Ptown cake, a cake I hope to have another slice of again soon.
5 comments:
Glad you had a good time! I've been the past two summers and love it!
I must say- that was the epitome of a perfectly written blog entry.
Andrew Towle will always be an anti-Irish out-of-towner (to New Yorkers like me) vicious dirtbagn no matter what you try to pretend.
And I DARE you to ask Towle to write a public apology for what he wrote about Colin Finnerty and Finnerty's family when he took the side of the accuser Crystal Mangum during the Duke lacrosse case in 2006. That could have been YOUR boyfriend's Long Island family he caused such harm to, you know. Notice how he hid from the truth, including Mangum,'s murder conviction, later on ? Towle deserves to have his own family terrorized after what he did.
Anonymous: I know we've chatted before but for the life of me I still don't know what you're talking about. Andy IS Irish and has nothing against the Irish!
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