Wednesday, March 19, 2008 | by nathan

Ass City

At the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Dallas, TX., March 15, 2008.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 | by nathan

“I Am Here Because of Ashley”

If you haven’t yet heard or read the speech linked above, please take 35 minutes of your time and listen to it. If you don’t have a 35-minute attention span, you can read the entire text of the remarks at Salon.com.

I took a speechwriting class in grad school, and beyond that I have a fair amount of practice and experience writing speeches. This one blows the very practice out of the water. It really is amazing and transformative; I really want this man to be my president.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 | by nathan

The Sculpture On Our Hotel Room Wall

Monday, March 17, 2008 | by nathan

Dallas Update

Friday afternoon I left work early, ran home to finish packing and was on the road by 5:30. For the first time in six days I was going to see Brian, and I was sort of panicked to get there as quickly as possible.

The drive from Oklahoma City to Dallas is remarkably easy and fun, and this time of year it’s especially beautiful on the plains, as the winter wheat is coming in and turning everything a really vibrant green. I had the music on loud and made excellent time. I spent the last hour of the trip talking to Woody on the phone; it was perfect.

Arrived at the Belmont, greeted Brian with affection enough to kill a normal human being, and then we decided to mix Buffalo Trace with Coke - who knew? - and then go out. We spent a few hours at J.R.’s talking up some very nice fellow Okies and doing a bit of really quality people-watching, our wit assisted by various and sundry libations and also by Mary J. Blige.

Saturday was surprisingly consequence-free, as we had no hangovers and enjoyed a brunch of chorizo tacos at Cafe Brazil before taking off for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Mockingbird Station was packed, and it took us almost half an hour to find a parking space, but the parade was fantastic. My camera went dead halfway through it and I was tired by the end, so we decided to escape the post-parade traffic and go in search of food.

We got back over to the Dallas Observer After-Party just in time to get in the beer line, which is where we were when Ghostland Observatory hit the stage. It was a fantastic show, but I came to the awful realization that Dallas is, in fact, America’s preppiest city. The realization first started when, as we were standing in line and watching Ghostland take the stage, people kept asking, "Now, who’s this band? When’s Ghostland Observatory coming on?"

Okay, now - I’m not hardcore by any means; a reasonable case could be made for labeling me a "poseur," but the fact is that when I go to see a band in concert I try to find out a little about them beforehand. In this case, Ghostland has been one of my favorite new-to-me acts since Jonathan demanded, on this very website, that I get into them. And get into them I did - muchly. I love them rather rabidly. Turned out most of the people at their show only had a passing familiarity, which I suppose is fine - hopefully they went home more appreciative.

But the preppiness - OH MY GOD THE PREPPINESS. I saw more Ralph Lauren clothes in that place than you find in most Dillard’s stores. People were dressed like they were on a freaking yacht rather than at a rock concert. Is this the new thing? Is preppy back? Pleated shorts, God help me. One guy had on pleated shorts and a PASTEL YELLOW SWEATER. Seersucker, and golf visors and loafers without socks and sweaters tied around shoulders - it really did look like a Young Republicans convention and not a rock show. I need someone to reassure me that these were just a bunch of rich, white-bread SMU kids and that they’re not indicative of some national trend somewhere. Because - dear lord. Seersucker?

Whatever, fine. Ghostland played an awesome show to a so-so crowd, and I realized, for the millionth time, that drinking beer in the sun does, in fact, screw with your body a little. At any rate, I got a few cool clips of the concert:

Ghostland Observatory at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade After Party in Dallas from Okay City Nate on Vimeo.

Oh, and yes, I KNOW that clip is very very blue - I forgot to white balance my camera before taking it. Please don’t leave comments telling me how to do this BECAUSE I KNOW ALREADY.

Afterward we headed back to the hotel, planning to change and then hit the English Beat show at the Grenada Theater. But - sun and beer - I was tired and really just wanted to order some room service and chill, and, it being our vacation and us being adults, that’s exactly what we did. We skipped the show altogether, despite the fact that I’ve been dying to see the English Beat live since high school. It just felt like the right, relaxing thing to do.

Yesterday was an orgy of shopping - West Elm, Urban Outfitters, Crate & Barrel, because, after all, WE ARE WHITE PEOPLE, AND WE ARE RIDICULOUS. We hit IKEA last, where we somehow ended up with a new bed, new dresser and a whole bunch of various and sundry crap which I’ll be glad to photograph for you once it’s all assembled. We felt pretty sick on the drive home, and while I’m feeling better now, Brian took today off work.

I don’t speak for him on this, but as far as I’m concerned, some major stomach discomfort is worth every second of this weekend - it was exactly what I needed.

Monday, March 17, 2008 | by nathan

Belmont Pool

Friday, March 14, 2008 | by nathan

Could My Weekend Possibly Get Any More Awesome? Why, Yes. Yes, It Could.

So, this weekend is already going to be hella-awesome. Brian’s been gone on business since last Saturday night, and now he’s in Dallas. I’m driving down tonight and we’re staying at the Belmont; awesome. Last time we stayed there was during our vacation last year. I plan on ordering blackberry mojitos from room service, lounging by the pool in the expected record high temperatures, and doing a fair bit of shopping at West Elm, Restoration Hardware, IKEA.

I plan on hitting S4 and JR’s for drinks and dancing. I plan on shaking my ass at the English Beat show on Saturday night.

AND NOW?

I just bought tickets for the Dallas Observer St. Patrick’s Day Parade after party…

FEATURING FREAKING GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY.

I’m in some kind of nirvana from which I don’t plan to emerge, possibly ever. At least not until Monday, and considering that next week is Spring Break and my workplace will be uber-relaxed, I might stay in this euphoric state for well over a week.

Friday, March 14, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: A Bathing Beauty

This is another of the photos I took while off sick a couple weeks ago, when Sam was very patient and kind with me as I snapped a hundred photos of him as he tried to get some damn sleep in the office and OH MY GOD WOULD IT HAVE BEEN TOO MUCH OF ME TO ASK FOR ME TO JUST LET HIM SLEEP? Yes, it would’ve; he has to earn his keep.

You guys were so stoked about the idea of a regular Sam feature that I decided to throw in something a little extra:

A couple weekends back we took Sam to the dog park and finally dared try out the dog-wash place down the street. It’s almost exactly like a car wash, which provided no end to chuckles as we tied poor, unwitting Sam up on a raised metal grate, inserted $5 in quarters and proceeded to pre-wash, soap, rinse, and hot wax the shit out of him. We had gone to Bed Bath & Beyond to get some cheapy towels to dry him off with, but they weren’t enough, and we ended up running out of quarters before we could get him good and dry. So this was what happened on the drive home:

He’s been pretty put out with us ever since.

Friday, March 14, 2008 | by nathan

On An Evening Walk With Sam

Thursday, March 13, 2008 | by nathan

Re-Entry Burn

The bottom of one of the Apollo mission capsules at the Oklahoma History Center.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 | by nathan

The Crazy Lady Isn’t One Of Us

People are constantly asking me what I must be smoking that I, as a gay man, live in Oklahoma. Similarly, most of the gays I know endlessly bitch about how awful and repressive and stupid Oklahoma is, what with its megachurches and Hummers and lack of decent public transportation and endless suburban sprawl and with neighborhood after neighborhood of identical houses with GOP signs in their yards. Most of these people then move to Dallas, with its megachurches and Hummers and lack of decent public transportation and endless suburban sprawl with neighborhood after neighborhood of identical houses with GOP signs in their yards.

This week one of our state legislators, a lovely, crazy woman named Sally Kern, went on a tirade. You’ve probably heard - she said that homosexuals pose a greater threat to America than terrorists or Islam and that they’re busy in the schools recruiting two year olds. Though to be fair, that’s only so we can eat them. BECAUSE NOTHING GETS YOU READY FOR A NICE BOUT OF SATAN-WORSHIPING, WESTERN-CULTURE DESTROYING GAY SEX THAN THE TASTE OF A TWO YEAR OLD SMOTHERED IN BARBECUE SAUCE.

Anyway, here. Have a look:

As I get older I find myself less and less angered by things like this. If Sally Kern wants to let something that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with her life get her that much in a frenzy, fine. I hate what she says, but she does, in America, have a right to say it, and if someone hears this and can come up with no better response than to send the woman a death threat, then, well, that’s where we part ways.

I think what makes me the most irritable about this is that it makes Oklahoma look like some backwater place where homos are hunted down and lynched, where creativity is stifled and we don’t want anyone in our midst who is even the slightest bit different than us. Oklahoma’s not like that at all - it’s not gay hell, it’s not bereft of artistic or creative people and it’s certainly nowhere near as boring as, say, Connecticut. But to the degree that it is unable to attract a higher caliber of creative and productive people, businesses and industries, it is because of people like Sally Kern, who are constantly going out of their way to make people feel as unwelcome, unwanted and unloved as she possibly can. You know. Just like Jesus wants.