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Hello I'm Rich Brown and this is my personal website and blog. I'm just your simple, average, down to earth, professional, out gay man and aspiring circuit boy, living in Phoenix, Arizona with a few things to say while trying to find my place among all the scary, conservative, religious nuts in this sick and twisted world.
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Thursday, September 29, 2005 |
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Where Does The Theatre Fit Into The Homosexual Agenda?
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@HOME. Again ... not really anything new to report, I've just been busy working. I think I mentioned already that my Mother is going to be here in October for 2 weeks. I bought tickets tonight for the three of us to see Carmen the Opera presented by the Arizona Opera in Tucson, and also tickets to see Camelot at the Broadway Palms Dinner Theatre. It should be a fun trip for her as I know she doesn't get out to do much back home and she really wanted to see a show when she was here. I actually enjoy going to these events (hello I'm a homofabulous gay boy, so of course I do, duh!) Last month, Justin and I purchased tickets for Evita in December and Mama Mia in March. I've actually seen Evita once before when I was at University, but neither of us has seen Mama Mia. It's one of those shows that we've been meaning to catch but just never got around too it, so when I saw they were coming back to Phoenix, we immediately acquired the tickets.
Speaking of shows, I see that Rent the movie is about to come out. I saw the previews and it looks amazing. I think Rent is one of the best and most moving shows that I've ever seen. My first time at a Rent performance was with Mark and Andrea in Tucson, and then again with Justin in San Francisco for our anniversary. Both showings were really great, so I'm looking forward to the movie and seeing how true they stayed to the original script. Hopefully it will live up to all the high expectations.
Alright, well I'm off to bed as I have an early day tomorrow. Cheers!
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Wednesday, September 28, 2005 |
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The Good Life
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@HOME. Due to lack of photographs, I'm putting up some of the cartoons relating to Gay-Marriage that I've been finding on the net. Anyway, It's been a long day. Andrea came over this afternoon and took Berg over to their house to play with the puppies, which was mighty nice of her. After Mark and I finished up at the office we headed back to their house to hang out and chat for a while over a few beers. I love the fact that we live only a few blocks from each other because it's never seems like a chore to have to travel anywhere for all of us to hang out. Justin finished up with work and then headed over as well. We grabbed some pizza for dinner and watched Nip Tuck and the Amazing Race. Both were pretty damn good. Whenever we hang out there is always an interesting conversation about live, love, politics and religion. It's these times that I really enjoy hanging out with my friends and having these intellectual conversations. I guess we all better make the money we paid for University really work right?
So I guess I feel like my life is a little boring right now. Well not that boring is the correct word. I'm certainly not bored. I'm actually really enjoying things right now and I couldn't be happier. I guess rather then 'boring' I would probably describe it as 'devoid of any interesting stories.' Which is actually ok with me, because I guess our lives can't be Danielle Steele paperback novel fabulous every day, can they? Everything between Justin and is going well and everything with the rest of our lives is going well too. We've been doing a bunch of work around the house, and just had the pool redone, so we're pretty excited about finally moving into fall here soon.
As for the pool. Well that dilemma is pretty much over now. The chemicals stabilized and the color of the water actually turned much bluer over the past few days. My friend, Mark Chase, said to me today ... "You are so incredibly GAY bitching about the color of your water ..." Yeah well all I have to say to that is ... I know you are but what am I BIATCH! I guess he's right. I'm really happy with the way the interior of the pool turned out and overall I think Shasta did a pretty damn good job. All my friends will be very happy to know that their will no longer be 'itchy-butt' syndrome going on in the Brown-Chanley pool from here out.
So I can hardly believe it's going to be October. This year just really flew by without hardly a headspin. I remember we just finished Christmas, it quickly rolled into January, and here we are in October. For the rest of the North America they are starting to have those beautiful fall days and temperatures that I miss so much. For those of us here in Phoenix, well, lets just say it's still sort of hot, but not quite as hot. I told Justin this morning that the water coming out of the tap is starting to get cold, so that means it's going to start to cool down pretty soon. I'm honestly looking forward to a nice fall here and being able to relax with our friends and family. My Mother will be headed out for a 2 week visit in October, and I believe Justin's Mother will also be coming out for a visit. It should be an interesting month.
Well that's about all I have to talk about for tonight, it's 1am and I'm headed to bed. I have a long day again tomorrow. Cheers.
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Tuesday, September 27, 2005 |
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Love the Canadians
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@HOME. I'll be short and sweet as I don't really have too much to write. It was a short weekend as always. Justin and I went out to Amsterdam and Charlie's on Friday night and both places were dead. We were home and in bed by 2 AM. Saturday we went to the Phoenix Home and Garden show in the afternoon and then did some shopping. We actually stayed in for the evening and relaxed a bit. Sunday was spent sleeping in, cleaning up and picking the Meury's up from the airport. The four of us headed over to Old Chicago for a beer and a bite to eat before wrapping up the evening sitting next to the newly filled pool with a few beers and chat. It's going to be a another busy week. Cheers!
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Wednesday, September 21, 2005 |
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Tuesday, September 20, 2005 |
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The Pools Almost Done
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@HOME. The pool finish was applied on Monday and today it was acid washed and the filligg process began. It will be ready again in no time. Whoo Hoo! And to answer Jude's comment from the other day, yes 80 degrees is nearly too cold to go swimming in Arizona, hell that's almost long john's weather down in these parts ;-) Luckily for us it's been back in the 100's this past week. The water dosen't feel all that cold so I'm sure we'll be able to squeeze in a swim or two before the seasons officially over.
So we went with what was supposedly the 'Cabo White' Shasta Stone (Shasta Stone is Shasta's PebbleTec equiv), but Justin and I believe they actually made a mistake because the finish is more sandy then white. It's not exactly the same as the color place we picked out. I guess we'll see once it's filled up. They did do a good job with the finish, aside from the color it looks great.
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Sunday, September 18, 2005 |
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The Boys At Costco Are HOT!
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@HOME. Oh where was my camera today? Justin and I decided to make our weekly trek to Costco this afternoon to once again be wow'd with the joys of warehouse club shopping. The only establishments in the world where you can pick up a 100 pack of almost anything, even when the reality is that you only need one of those items. Seriously, who really needs a 100 pack of Hershey bars, the 20 gallon drum of pistachio nuts or the box of 10,000 frozen hamburger patty's? Besides those scrumptious frozen hot pockets, there are actually a few reasons to go to Costco. The main and indisputable reason is CHEAP LIQUOR! Yes that's right folks, for anyone that shops at Costco they know that it's the best place to buy beer, wine and liquor at a most reasonable price.
Another reason to shop at Costco, and back to my original point of this post, the HOT boys. It has occurred to me in the past that their have been some really good looking boys working there, but I realized today that there are ALWAYS a lot of really good looking boys working there. Good Lord, I could have sat in the parking lot and watched the hot blonde cart boy for hours.
It seems that among the few slightly overweight, middle aged men who seem to have full-time jobs there, Costco always has a crop of fresh clean cut, muscle-toned, young, athletic boys. I presume they are there to work, but it seems to me they only succeed in wondering around the store distracting all of the women and gay male clientele. It really is a complete joy to the senses ... The smell of food, drink and hot boys.
Honestly as I was walking into Costco today, the first though that leaped into my head was "Hmmm ... if I wanted to find some really hot boys to make a gay porn, I could probably recruit them from here ..." At that point, I just smiled to myself and walked inside to began my shopping experience.
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Saturday, September 17, 2005 |
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The Old Spaghetti Factory, Falsettos & Drinks
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@HOME. After an afternoon of rest, Justin and I started our evening early. We headed up to have dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory on Central Avenue. Justin used to frequent the one in San Jose, and I this one here in Phoenix, but neither of us has been to one in several years. We decided it was due time. We arrived around 5 PM and the there was already a 30 minute wait. I thought to myself "What the hell is wrong with these people? No one eats before 8 PM in Phoenix without a good reason" Of course our good reason was that we were headed to see a performance at 7:30, so dinner had to be early.
As my memories served me correctly, the Old Spaghetti Factory was no less scrumptious then it has been in the past. Justin had the Spaghetti, Meatballs & Sausage and I had the Chicken Parmesan with a small side of Spaghetti. We both overindulged on the garlic cheese bread as an appetizer. The meal was both fabulous and completely filling.
As we wolbled ourselves, and now bulging tummies, out of the restaurant we had a little time to kill so we headed up to Unique on Central to do some gay shopping. Unique is always, well, unique. It's the only place in Phoenix you can listen to the latest club music while shopping for trendy underwear, men's sized women's shoes, cards, candles, gay porn and poppers. It's truly a gay man's paradise. Other then Justin being tempted by the fancy Ginch Gonch underwear (Which he already has 4 pairs of I might add here ...), we were just browsing to kill a little time.
Soon enough it was nearly 7:30 PM so we headed out the door and over to 'The Space', which was literally next door, to meet Bruce & Tracy for the performance of Falsettos.
 
Falsettos is a former Broadway musical that is being put on by the Arizona Alternate Theatre Company this month. Falsettos is described as:
"A 1992 Tony Award winning, charmingly, disarming musical, in which William Finn
tackles a variety of challenging subjects with wit and intelligence. The characters are members of the Â?typical modern American nuclear familyÂ?; a son,
his mother, his divorced father, his fatherÂ?s gay lover and the family
psychiatrist who makes house calls and marries mom. This play is filled with
warmth, love, resilience and affirmation of life. Everyone is a human being,
feeling hearing, living intensely emotional upheavals as honestly as they know
how, and coping with the consequences." The show lasted for 2 hours with a brief intermission and it was quite nice. We enjoyed the story, the singing and the performance.
Following the show we parted ways with Bruce, Tracy & Friends as they were headed over to their usual Saturday night hotspot of PadlocUnfortunatelytly Justin and I had left the chaps and leathharnessesses at home *WINK*WINK*, so that spot was pretty much out for us tonight. We decided to do our usual circuit of Amsterdam and Charlie's.
We arrived at Amsterdam and it was completely packed. We ran into Mark, Gilbert, Steve and a few others as we made our to the bar and then over to the Club Miami side to hangout. I don't know if it was the new bright blue floor, or the shitty DJ, but we just weren't feeling the thumpa thumpa. We quickly finished off our drinks and left for Charlie's.
We arrived at Charlie's only to find out that parking was completely nexistentant. What in GAY-HELL was going on here? Did the Big Gay Bus let out all the homosexuals in Phoenix at Charlie's. Well apparently it wasn't the Big Gay Bus because they all DROVE. One word ... CARPOOL people, CARPOOL. We can usually find a spot in the parking lot, or at the worst, just out on the street. Well tonight, we were not only on the street, but we were all the way UP the street, almost a full block away from the place. Good heavens, this is Phoenix, they don't actually expect us to WALK from there do they? Apparently so because we did. Anyway once inside it was completely packed to the dirty dried out walls. I swear, one day that place is going to catch fire and the entire Phoenix gay community is going to be wiped out in one fell swoop, but I digress.
We made our way through the bar and ran into several friends including Dirk. Surprise, surprise, that boy is getting as bad as us, he's always there these days too. We headed out to our usual gawking area, the back patio, and ran into Brett, Lance, Nate and Kevin.
Justin and Brett. Check out those fancy, schmanspectaclesals on Brett!
Nate (Lance's new, umm friend *wink*), and Lance (a fellow co-worker of ours).
Kevin, Nate, Lance, Justin and Brett hanging out on the Charlie's Patio.
Justin and I stood and chatted with the boys for a while over a few beers before everyone started to part ways for the evening. Right before we left we ran into Firefighter Don and friend, so we stayed to chat for a little longer. I believe it was around 3 AM when we finally called it quits, trekked back out to the car and headed home for the night. I know I always say this but yet another fabulous evening in Phoenix. Ta Ta for now, Cheers!
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Long Week, Night Out, & The Pool
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@HOME. Justin and I just got back from a few drinks at Charlie's. We were sitting around watching some TV and we realized it was getting quite late, so we decided to go out and grab some dinner. On the way out of the sub-division the car mysteriously took over and drove us to Charlies. Go figure! Actually it's been a long week at work and I just wanted to go out and grab a beer this evening. We ran into a few friends, but Friday's at Charlie's is sort of a wierd mix, so we didn't stay very long before heading over to Genny's for a quick bite. We're heading up to see 'Falsetos' tomorrow evening with Bruce, Tracy & friends, which I'm sure is going to end up in us going out tomorrow evening as well.
Good News! The pool just got released yesterday for the final finish work. The plumbers installed all the new equipment, and the electricians finished up all the new electrical work this week. If all goes well we should have a fully filled and functional pool again by the end of next week. Too bad it started to drop down in the 80's now, I don't think the water's going to be warm enough again this season to go for a swim, but I'll be glad to finally have it done as I'm getting sick of looking out our windows at a big concrete hole in the ground.
The Mark and Andrea left for the burg (Pittsburgh) today for 10 days so we have the poochies here with us. It's not a problem at all because they're good and I know Berger enjoys the company. Anyway, it's getting late and I just finished up on some BLOG reading, so I'm going to head to bed here in a few minutes. I'll post more tomorrow. Cheers!
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Thursday, September 08, 2005 |
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Gay Marriage in California to be Vetoed
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@HOME. I really don't like to get bitter and political with my blog but I'm going too, because I have to remember the one reason that I write is for myself, and not for the muse of anyone else.
So California voted in both the senate and house this week to allow gay marriage, however it appears that Arnold has vowed to veto the bill. This is another sad day for the rights of Gays & Lesbians in this country. Passed, this bill would make marriage a civil arrangement, non-gender specific and not require religious organizations to either marry or recognize same sex marriages. What it does do is create and give Gays & Lesbians all the civil rights afforded to everyone else that can marry.
I knew that the excitement of everyone in California would be short lived, as there was no chance in hell that Arnold was going to let this bill pass without a veto. He's basically in a lose / lose situation. If he passes the bill he's going to be scorned by the conservatives and religious right. If he veto's the bill he's going to be hated by the liberals, gays and lesbians who are in favor of this passing.
I just can't belief that after 30 years of fighting for our rights in this country, we will still continue to be treated as 2nd class citizens.
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Sunday, September 04, 2005 |
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A Party, Shrimp, and a Few Familiar Faces
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@HOME. Well Sunday was spent as a day filled with excitement and fun. Justin and I headed up to Bruce & Tracy's place for a little get together before going down to Nu Towne Saloon for Beer Bust ($1 Beers) Bruce cooked up some wicked burgers while some of the boys went swimming and the rest of us sat around and chatted. Around 6 we headed down to Nu Towne where it was hot and crowded. Everyone was coming out with trays of beers for the group, and before long I was completely bloated and couldn't touch another drop.
Justin and I told Darin we would meet him at Charle's for the Rocky Point Shrimp BBQ, so we packed it up, called Darin and headed over for some shrimpies.
 
Well lets just say that the shrimp was amazing and better yet, free. Although this was my first time at the Charlie's Rocky Point Shrimp BBQ, apparently the owner of Charlie's goes down to Rocky Point, Mexico every year for Labor Day weekend and gets a ton of shrimp to cook for everyone. They had so much shrimp that the guys were begging people to come and get more. Mmmm ... I love shrimp.
So after some shrimpies, and a few drinky-drinkies we were well on our way to another fabulous drunken evening. Darin found himself being tormented by this really hot guy who I'll refer to as Mr. A, I think his name is Aaron or Adam or something with an A, I can't keep track of all these people (Who just happened to be the same guy from Amsterdam last night that came up to Darin and started talking to him) So before long Mr. A, who totally knew he was hot as hell, basically because everyone at the bar was staring at him, had Darin sucking on his nipple. Let me tell you, Miss Darin isn't afraid of anything.
 
Mr. A & Darin, Mr. A having Darin suck on his nipple.
Mr. A, asking Moma Darin for a spanking.
So the night progressed and after a few more drinks we once again ran into Mr. A out on the back patio. He ever so nicely took off his belt and asked Darin to put his hands in the loops ...
Darin wonders why Mr. A is asking him to put his hands the belt ...
Oh my, what's going on here? Darin is getting hog-tied up by Mr. A just like the prize county fair piglet. Just between you and me, I think Miss Darin kinda liked it.
By this time it was around 10 PM so we decided to head over to Padlock, the local leather daddy bar, to meet up with Bruce, Aussie Bruce and Tracy. As it may seem, Padlock is one happening place on Sundays, especially on a 3 day weekend. It was 1/2 price drinks if you took your shirt off, so of course we all shucked our shirts and threw pride out the window in lieu of cheap drinks. Hey! A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do to get cheap drinks, mmm kay.
After having a few drinks and in the mean time finding Bruce, Aussie Bruce, Tracy and a myriad of other familiar faces *AHEM* you all know who you are you dirty bitches, Darin, Justin and I decided to pack it up and head back over to Charlie's. Apparently on 3 day weekends, Charlie's has afterhours, who knew?
So back at Charlie's again, we ran into even many more familiar faces and friends. It was about 1 AM so we had enough time to grab a few drinks before last call. Right around 2 AM, Tyler and Sam showed up, and shortly after that Tracy, who took the Bruces' home and tucked them in (to separate beds of course), showed up for some dancing as well. The evening or should I say morning wound down and around 3 am as we all said our goodnights and headed home. Another fun filled evening in the valley. Cheers!
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Saturday, September 03, 2005 |
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Another Night On the Town
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@HOME. Justin and I met up with Darin at Hamburger Mary's. Late as usual. Long story short, it started to rain, Justin fell outside the restaurant and got his shirt totally dirty. Anyway that's another story better told on Darin's blog (See This Post). So following Dinner we headed over to Old Navy to get Justin a new shirt and then head out for some drinky, drinky.
We started out at Roscoe's. The verdict is still out for me on that place. We walked in and my eyes felt as if I had just stepped out of a over chlorinated pool, it was so hazy in there with cigarette smoke. Now if only they would ban smoking from in the bars here in Arizona too ... but I digress, that's another days rant. Anyway we had a few drinks, and chatted with a few too many gay boys who think that hanging out in a gay sports bar makes them straighter ... honeys, let me tell you, the swish and the lisp just doesn't go away, especially when your bent over straddling the pool table trying to hit the ball and screaming like a sissy. With that we headed down to our old faithful, Amsterdam.
Fabulous as always Amsterdam was packed with pretty boys and girls. We grabbed some cocktails and proceeded to mingle with the crowd. Darin was on a mission, he wanted to talk to hot boys and that he did. The one he was oogling all of a sudden came up to us and was like "Hey Darin" apparently it was an old trick or something of Darin's that he just didn't remember. LOL. J/K it was a friend of a friend, who knows, everyone in Phoenix knows Miss Darin.
Justin and Darin being sassy Sally's. Look at Miss Darin with her Martooni in hand.
One of his *AHEM* other acquaintances Chad, and Darin
 
Amsterdam's new outdoor side patio, and Rich decides to take a quick disco nap against the pole.
We were standing outside watching the cute boys walk in when we decided it was time to make our migration up to Charlie's. We grabbed the kids, packed up the minivan and headed out. We got to Charlie's and of course it was packed. We could barely find a parking spot. We headed in and waded through the crowd.
It was some benefit for the IGRA and there was a drag show going on. We headed out back to grab some drinks from the back bar and watch the drag show. While standing out there we ran into a few people.
Gilbert, Rich & Justin after a few too many drinky drinky.
Gilbert and Justin being a little sassy himself.
At some point in the evening, Miss Darin decided to pick up all the leftover props from the Beach Party drag show and walk around the bar pretending she was drowning, hoping for some hot boy to come over and give her mouth to mouth.
Bruce and Tracy arrived to do some dancing with us.
Bruce was really, REALLY hungry, did you see him eat that hot dog in one bite? The man is amazing!
Anywho, another fun night on the town with Darin and the boys. We'll be headed up to Bruce and Tracy's for a bit tomorrow and then out to beer bust ($1 beers) at Nu Towne Saloon. Should be another adventure. Cheers.
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Our Government and Katrina
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@HOME. I haven't posted in the last few days because we've been pretty busy. My heart goes out to everyone impacted by Katrina, but I'm not going to write a long and drawn out post about it. You all know what you can do to help.
What I am going to post about is my frustration and anger at our government in the way this whole thing was handled. My friends and I have had some long discussions over the past week and it's just unacceptable how George W. Bush, and the U.S. Government reacted. I've heard on NPR this week many people calling in to say that they are upset because they voted for Bush and they are finally realizing that this administration has done NOTHING for the people. Well you know what, for all you fucks out there that voted for the talking monkey, I don't want to hear it and I don't feel sorry for you at all. You were the stupid assholes that put us back into this position by re-electing him. We have people dying unnecessarily in the south, we have soldiers dying unnecessarily in the middle east, and our economy is about to take a shit again, and the bottom line of all of this is because you voted for the asshole. All this because of the 'gay' issue. You overlooked public safety, economics, and human life because you were told by GW that the 'gays' are evil and could be allowed to marry. Well please explain to me how 2 consenting adults who wish to share their love with each other can cause as much damage to our country, our citizens and the world that this administration has caused? I just don't get it. Shame on you GW and shame on all you fools that voted for him. We're all left with a mess to clean up now.
Anyway I just wanted to vent about that for a second. I know that the people of Mississippi and New Orleans will pull through because we're a strong country with strong people. It will take time and much effort, but it will happen. Peace.
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Friday, September 02, 2005 |
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Dinner and Drinks with the Boys
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@HOME. Justin and I met up with the PB Loco Boys, Keith & Anthony, and Little Keith and his b/f Brad for dinner tonight at Corbin's in North Phoenix. We've never been to Corbin's before and it was pretty damn good. A nice little trendy place with a bar & grill menu. Following dinner we headed down to Cheuvront's on Central Ave. for some wine and cheese and to meet up with Bruce, Tracy and their friend Bruce who was in from Melbourne, Australia.
The PB Loco Boys, Keith & Anthony .... so cute together.
Little Keith and Brad
Bruce and Tracy
Following some wine and cheese at Cheuvront's we headed over to Amsterdam and Miami so that the boys could check out the new digs at Amsterdam and also do some dancing.
Justin, Bruce, Aussie Bruce, Tracy and Tommy
We hung out at Miami until around 1 AM and then headed up to Charlie's for one last twirl around the dance floor. It was a pretty 'different' crowd at Charlie's. We don't usually go there on a Friday night, so we didn't recognize too many faces. Well that's it, more tomorrow. Cheers
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Thursday, September 01, 2005 |
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