Scenes from a Summer (2012)

The season got off to a slow start.  Andrew & Steven skipped the month of May entirely, so we pulled out the appetizer stops their first weekend.

Who could blame them?  The harbor was still a construction site, with Sip 'n Twirl a lot farther along than the Pavilion.

Curtis made himself useful prior to the arrival of his nemesis but I think even he is appalled by the plastic cocktail glasses.

Thom got custody of Vita this summer.  She can be quite a handful.  And she loves her puff pastry!

Neither Chris nor Varick, our resident dog whisperers, could get the dogs to declare an indoors truce.

As usual, we ate very well.  Is there anything better than Thom's focaccia?

Varick loves to cook.

Andrew not so much.

Lots of long walks to Cherry Grove helped burn off some of the calories from all that eating and drinking.  The contrasts range from the sublime

. . . to the ridiculous.

Everybody spent more time than usual in the Grove this summer.  The Saturday pool party at the Ice Palace was a regular destination for my housemates thanks to Logan Hardcore.

 

She and Ginger Snapt ended up in the pool after doing "My Heart Will Go On Forever."

An honest-to-goodness bride-to-be enjoyed the show, too.

The invasion always brings some pretty ladies to the Pines.

Our house had more than its share!

Eve Harrington and Margot Channing did a number from Wicked.

A dominatrix can liven up any party.

Margo took her cue from Logan.

For some reason, however, the ladies only rarely visited during the day.  Maybe the combination of appletinis and Beyonce's "Love On Top" were irresistible.

We had to tell Mateje "no heels in the pool."

Girl, your handbag don't match yo shoes!

I love the concept of drag detritus.

Which can be found everywhere.

Guests always are welcome at our house.

We had such a good time, it's a wonder we got to the harbor at all.

At the end of the summer, we ran into Dan, Randy's former boyfriend.  That relationship brought Andrew & Steven into our house, so we owe him big-time.

Our Dan comes and goes, but Chris, Thom and I have spent more than 20 seasons together.

Chris says 2012 was one of the top five summers ever for reasons I won't go into.  Let's just say he's still recovering.

And it's almost Halloween!

Avicii @ Radio City

"Levels"and "Fade Into Darkness" are so amazing that I swallowed my extreme discomfort and purchased four orchestra seats to Avicii.  On a school night no less. Of course, I brought along a couple of beards in addition to Thom, who enjoys EDM as much as I do. 

I could have grandfathered much of the crowd. But even Magda and Joe are a little long in the teeth compared to most of the fans.

It's hard to photoblog about a concert although thousands of people with mobile phones had plenty to say throughout a 90-minute performance. 

Suffice it to say that I'm probably one of the few people in the audience who recognized "Baba O'Reilly" as Avicii welcomed the crowd with a keening sample from Roger Daltrey, woven into "Fade Into Darkness" that totally nailed the audience:  teenage wasteland indeed!

I wondered how a very young DJ would hold the attention of an audience in a venue as large as Radio City, where ushers made sure that no one could rush the stage.  Avicii's production team did it by putting his booth atop a huge head and a light show every bit as psychedelic as an acid trip.  

Everybody went crazy when Avicii played "Levels" and the purple lips on the head began lipsynching Etta James.  Girl could sing even if she wasn't as pretty as Beyonce in Cadillac Records (great movie, btw)!  Too bad the photo doesn't quite capture the artistry of the effect.