"HOLD ON TO YOUR FRIENDS"

I spent all day yesterday with my dear friend of many years, "Captain Fusha" (his spelling). The entire day felt like it was underscored with Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life", as we covered so much in so little time. I mean, we did, after all, only have about four hours to cover a lot of ground.

We started at Kitsch'N for lunch, a fantastic place in my neighborhood covered in kitschy, campy memorabilia and complete with the kind of tables and chairs your grandmother had in the 70's and centerpieces made with old toasters. We ate and talked and it was hard to believe I hadn't seen him in almost five years because it felt like we never missed even a day. (The last time I saw him, he came to see me in Manhattan and we stood in Central Park in freezing weather for a tribute to John Lennon on the 20th anniversary of his death. Then, we went to a coffee shop to warm up and both swore we saw Ozzy Osbourne.)

Then, a fast scour of the area boutiques for "anything fabulous, anything fuschia", a camera pic of a Paul Frank pink bicycle, and a laugh about a day in the west village years ago that we stumbled across a princess-style telephone, covered in pink feathers ("Fusha Hotline. This is your Captain speaking.") which led to him showing me that the voice commands on his cell includes "Fusha Hotline" to call home.

Then, we headed to Boys' Town, to hang out of the sunroof and circle the main drag to enjoy the pride flag bunting and hustle and bustle of day-before-the-Pride-Parade. We photographed the giant almost-the-size-of-a-city-block Pride Flag outside of Spin, he reminisced about a night at the now-closed Manhole (now Hydrate), we photographed the fuschia shack of a parking attendant, more pride bunting, the pride flag-a-palooza of the Melrose Diner, discussed local real estate and laughed as Captain Fusha made declarations on the main drag like, "My People! This is your Captain speaking! You're faaaaaaabulous!"

Then, we went by my apartment to download photos of Captain Fusha (see above), discuss some decorating issues I've run into (I'm re-doing my place), and play with Chairman Meow. Then, a quick tour of my neighborhood before a mad dash back to his hotel just out of the city with only moments to spare to get him into his black and pink suit, styled, and into the limo for his family wedding. Whew.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. Captain Fusha is welcome here anytime.