What Happened To House

DJ Jeffrey Jacobs

DJ Scott Mann

Once upon a time there was a magic world called Circuit. And in this world boys & girls, but mainly boys, gathered in cities around the globe to dance in great big groups at parties where they would spend the weekend enjoying the local culture, amazing music & each others ummm, company!? The driving force behind all this merry making was House Music. The sound of House came out of the clubs in New York & Chicago. It tends to be upbeat, vocal music that lends itself to a tribal feel amongst its fans both on the dance floor & off. In this ongoing series “What Happened To House” we will be looking into the state of the dance scene in different cities. And Boy About Town will be doing tireless research for you, my fabulous readers. I will be chatting with the hottest DJ’s, hitting the hottest clubs & some of the not so famous ones to find out where we are and where we are heading as we take to the dance floor! Our first stop is a nod to my summer spent in South Florida as we check out Miami’s famed nightlife as well as Ft Lauderdale’s quiet, yet very fierce attempt to become the king of the south! 
me set the scene, the tiny dance floor is packed with big hairy muscle men, a few leather Daddies & their boys (some Daddies are hunting for a boy or two but that is for my other blog) & girls that have packed themselves into Ramrod in Wilton Manors, Florida. Located just down “The Strip” as the Wilton Manor Dr is known to everyone in the know. This tiny bar bills itself as a Leather & Levi bar. And it is, where else could you buy a Bud Lite in a can and a 12 inch dildo all at the same place? But tonight the crowd is focused on the tiny DJ booth located just inches above the dance floor. In that booth , while not greeting his many friends & followers, DJ Jeffrey Jacobs takes the crowd on a trip with many peeks & valleys as he reads this group of hardcore music

fans. DJ Jeffrey Jacobs who hails from NYC came to SoFla (South Florida) about 10 years ago with a simple mission….bring the action! Well mission accomplished! You see while Ft Lauderdale has the largest Gay population percapata in the USA and a very upwardly mobile straight group as well there are very few true dance clubs. And those that try fail in spectacular fashion. So DJ Jeffrey Jacobs and his fellow Leather DJ’s , Scott Mann & Herbie James, countine to be the DJ’s that saved our lives in a tiny bar right off “The Strip”. Make sure to watch for DJ Jeffrey Jacobs on an upcoming segment of “In Bed With Boy”! Do you all see the lengths I am willing to go for you? Something that Ft Lauderdale has made big inroads into is the afterhours scene which at one time belonged solely to it’s neighbor to the south Miami Beach. Torpedo Afterhours offers a mix of all genres. While a bit off the beaten path it is the only game in town & worth the trip. But people, take a cab if you’re even thinking of partying hard because it is located right next door to a police station. And Broward County is no place to run afoul of the law.



DJ David-Tort

About 10 or 15 years ago South Beach was THE place to go if you wanted to sun yourself during the day & dance to big name DJ’s in super huge venues. Well sweet readers those days are behind SoBe. Now the clubs are packed with a weird combo of Jersey Shore wannabe’s & teenage rappers that still live with Mommy and work at Blockbuster. So Downtown Miami, once a dead zone, has stepped into the void with surpising results.  has given birth to great art galleries, shops, café’s & yes nightclubs! Most famous among them is Space. I remember when Space open way back in the late 90’s and my group of party friends & myself dragged ourselves across the Bay to the party that kicked it all off! We being SoBe boys & girls gave the place 6 months tops (it is worth keeping in mind that most of us worked in clubs on the South Beach, Boy at Liquid, Justin at Score & Robin whenever she could pick up work) Well many years later Space in all it’s hugeness is still there & if the night I went is anything to judge by it is doing fine! There are 2 dance floors with enough room on each to play a game of football. And an outdoor area that while it does have music the vibe is much more chill. The crowd had plenty of the clueless, messy when partying crowd but there was also a lot of fun loving, crowd hopping party people that made one remember the glory days of house. The DJ that saved Boy’s life that night was David-Tort. He read the crowd like a dirty paperback romance novel & then like a true man left me wanting more! I swear I needed a cigeratte after his set. The hours of Space go hella later then most any other clubs in SoFla so make sure to bring your sunglasses for when you stumble out into the blinding Florida sun in the morning.

While House Music is no longer the celebration of life, love & diversity it once was these mix masters are leading the tribe back to solid ground & we should all keep our eyes on them…and it is not because they are all very hot men! Well maybe it is a little! So next time we visit the majic land of circuit it will be a bit more…well fabulous! In the meantime boys & girls play nice!  And if you have been enjoying the background music for this posting...no folks it's not all in your head...visit the Mix Master himself DJ Jeffrey Jacobs.

Stay Fabulous!
Boy About Town
 

The Great White Plague

 
Heads Up To My Many Fans...All 2 Of You!
 
Tina, tweak, speed, glass, ice. Whatever you know it as it is all the same, Crystal Methamphetamine. Once a drug used by bikers & streetwalkers these little white crystals have made their way into mainstream culture in a big way. And they show no signs of leaving. Now before we go any further along lets get something outta the way. Yes, your very own Boy About Town has had a very public battle with Ms Tina though the years. And yes I have at times slipped in my long, never ending road to recovery. That is what makes this posting personal, painful & necessary.

First a science lesson. Anyone that watches the hit show “Breaking Bad” knows all about this part. Meth is a man made drug. There is nothing “all natural” about it. In other words you will not find it in your local Whole Foods. Meth is made up of many different ingredient's including but not limited to, nail polish remove, lithium, hydrochloric acid, red phoshorous & our friend sulfuric acid.  After taking the drug the user experiences a sudden "rush" of pleasure or a prolonged sense of euphoria. Think of it is as a really long orgasm. The price of this high becomes painfully expensive to ones life after awhile, but in the meantime the user keeps coming back for more of this feeling.  Lets face it people, if it didn't feel good at first some many would not become addicted.


Boy About Town In His Addiction

Now for the street level part of our journey. Crystal is sold in different amounts & done by many methods. The smallest amount you can buy is “a quarter” which retails for about $25 here in California but in places like Florida can sell for up to $60. Mostly our insidious little friend Ms Tina is made in the deserts of California, Arizona or down in Mexico. Supply & demand, so that explains that. Donald Trump would be proud! Anywho, the prices go up from there. About $200 for an eight ball in Cali ($500ish in the crystal starved places). An 8 ball (not the type you play pool with) is made up of 14 quarters. You all are smart enough to break it down from there, this is not meant to be a how to guide. The most popular ways to do crystal is snorting it like the cocaine in “Boogie Nights”. Smoking it out of a glass pipe like Whitney & Bobby. Or injecting it also called “slamming”. This last method is the most hardcore and is favored by porn stars & meth cooks the world round….And by the end it was my norm.
How you do it is up to you and the effects differ from one form to the other but what remains the same is the results. Poor decision making, wreckless behavior & a sometimes slow, sometimes fast slide into an oblivion that is hard to get out of. In all fairness my road to ruin was long & at times fun. Come on people I would not have spent years doing this if the high was not wonderful. But what dawned on me, slowly at first, then VERY quickly was that the price I was paying was becoming just to great. They say jails, institutions & death are all that await you if continue on this road. Well that may not be true for everyone it was clearly my truth. I had the first 2 down pat and the last on scared the bejesus outta me.


With the increase in meth use in America so to has come a spike in the number of crimes to fund the habits of these new addicts. There has also been a BIG increase in new HIV  & HEP C infection rate. This is seen to be true in places that for whatever their reasons refuse to see the writing on the wall. With meth use comes those piss poor choices to have sex, lots of meth driven sex, while not even thinking about any type of protection. And where needle exchanges are not allowed due to out dated laws, needle sharing is very common. I am not passing judgement on anyone, let’s face it I have no room to. But if you put all three of these things together you have my story in a nutshell. And my story is being played out over & over again all across the richest country in the world. Listen, I know we all make choices and have to live with the fallout from those choices but at a certain point there has to be a way out of the darkness. There has to be someone, somewhere that says “hello people, we are paying no attention to a growing problem”….And we are. So while meth heads continue to lock themselves away from the world & destroy their families, communities & dental plans we will look everywhere but at the situation. That is until it comes in our homes.
Stay Fabulous!
Boy About Town



Bullying On The Bus

By now everyone has heard some heart wrenching story of childhood bullying. Some kid that for whatever reason does not fit in with his or her “peers”. Maybe it’s that they are “geeks” or “goths“ or it is thought that they might be Gay. Sometimes those stories play out in dramatic fashion like they did in Littleton at the now famous Columbine High School. Or in California, where Larry King, was gunned down by a fellow teen for giving him a Valentine's Day card. These CNN worthy stories are without a doubt awful but rarely, if ever, focus on what the far reaching effects of bullying have on the people that endure it.

Your very own Boy About Town went through this hell all during high school, which should shock nobody that has ever met me. I don’t fit into any of those groups that define high school life. Hell I still am a square peg in a world of round holes, that did not sound so dirty in my head…anywho! What many of you do not know is that I too grew up in Littleton, Colorado just a few short miles away from where 2 young men gunned down helpless students in the middle of the school day. And while I in no way condone or agree with what happened that day I do understand the environment that lead to feeling so hurt & alone that those 2 young men struck out at those that they thought had wronged them. At my school, Arapahoe High, the issue of being different was a non-issue. It did not happen. At school we had about 2000 plus kids running around this lily white suburb of Denver trying their hardest to NOT stand out in any way. And I played along. I DID TOO! I wore the right clothes, my family lived & (and still does) in a very respectable upper middle class neighborhood and I played the right sports. Not well, but I did play. But even then my inner diva was starting to shine though. And this was where trouble started. There were 3 main guys that wet outta their way to make my life a living hell. Allan Blood, Chris Weed & Tom Wilson. These 3 caused so much pain & drama in my household that 20 years later I have still not spoken to my Mother or Father. Crank calling the house, egging the house and the teasing in the hallways! It was outta of control. Last heard Allan Blood was in Africa spreading the book of Mormon & doing his best to ensure that we have lots of new little closed minded morons running around. Chris Weed was living up to his last name & was bouncing from one dead end job to another. And Tom Wilson was living with his BOYFRIEND in Denver. Come on folks, there had to be at least one in the group. Yes these are their real names & please boys threatened to sue, please I could use the press! After leaving school & Littleton behind and never returning for more then minutes at a time I truly thought I had left all that in my rear view! I went to school in Chicago & London. Partied my 20’s away with everyone who was anyone on South Beach. And now, after wrestling my demons, have returned to my life in Hollywood where while not at the top of the heap I am a player. Everything is golden. And then I met a little girl.

 

My friends Jessica & Jay have a 8 year old daughter that we are going to call Lady M. Lady M is many things but calm & quite are not on that list. Now a lot of you will say she is an active child & that is normal. True, it is. But at a certain point there becomes a difference between active & performing. I know the difference, I never pay attention to it myself but I do know it! When I first heard about her I thought ADHD! Then one day on the phone her Mom told me that Lady M had not gotten on the school bus in years. Ummm, what now?! It seems that while in the first grade & on the bus Lady M had been the subject of many hurtful, cruel, child like verbal attacks. Kids will be kids, right? Well Mom Jessica pulled her little girl off the big yellow bus & became Lady M’s driver. That was till the other day when The Lady boarded the bus and rode all the way to school sans any bullying! You see the same people that had chased Lady M off the bus years earlier were now her friends. Ahhhh, kids being kids. But I think our Lady M launched a charm offensive that proved she was not going anywhere & she was not a girl to mess with. Enter her inner diva! Now all of the sudden this loud, little girl had a special place in my heart. You see, Lady M and Boy About Town went the same route, granted she is a bit ahead of the curve! We have both said never again. I am different & damn it works well for me! But there are many people that can not get past the fact that at one time, whenever it was, they did not fit in. That awful feeling will creep in to their thoughts and make them second guess themselves. It can lead to addiction issues, acting out sexually and either over achieving in everything one does or floating through life with no sense of purpose. The pain goes on but how one deals with it is the true test.

Boy About Town & Lady M

Stay Fabulous!
Boy About Town

Farewell To Florida

To some it's the Sunshine state or home of Mickey Mouse. Or maybe God's waiting room, amazing fishing or Margaritaville.   How ever you know the state of Florida the fact remains you know it because this state can promote like nobody else.  I have spent the summer here taking care of wreckage from my past & closing the door on a part of my life REALLY needed closing. However, while spending my 3 months bouncing around being fabulous & fun...and yes a bit annoying (I am not blind to myself people!) Boy About Town has found that this little corner of the world seems to be a war with it's self as Florida struggles to find an identity.
We all know that the world loves to flock to the beaches of Ft Lauderdale & South Beach to partake in all the fun both of these places offer, which Boy has enjoyed this summer to the dismay of his dermatologist.  But are most of these fun loving adults aware that Broward County (Ft Lauderdale) & Dade County (South Beach) have rated number 1 and 2 in the nation for new HIV infections?  And with a system that is already overwhelmed with huge numbers of people in need the local, as well as federal, goverments have picked now as the time to cut budgets that help combat this very issue. And these people come to enjoy the sun & nightlife only to find that the famed nightclubs and dance scene no longer the celebration of life they once were. The employment front is not a whole lot better.  The largest employer in the southern most state is non other then the state it's self! And within this machine The Department Of Corrections is the king of the hill.  Which is easy to understand since 1 in 5 adult males in Florida has or will be incarceted or on some kind of supervision.  And that fun fact is easy to understand when you consider that Florida is at the LOW end of the high school graduation scale while at the HIGH end of the drop out rate.

With all this said I have to say congrads to those that fight the good fight both on social issues as well as the dance floor!  Poverello, in Ft Lauderdale, provides life-saving food and basic life essentials to almost 2500 youth, women and men living with HIV/AIDS. This much needed & much loved agency has been backed by the local community, which defines the word diversity, for the past 25 years!  Save Dade is an organization working to defend the Human Rights Ordinance which opposes discrimination, because this is the south & Florida does have it's own ghosts in that area. The Department Of Corrections is in an ongoing and never ending battle with the federal goverment as well as the ACLU over it's criminal treatment of the state's inmates and the EX offenders that find their road to rehabilitation blocked at every turn.  And outstanding DJ's like Jeffrey Jacobs, pictured here with Boy, are leading the way back to the tribal feel of house music at smaller and yet fabulous venues like The Ramrod & Torpedo.  And in all fairness, what was one of the most amazing parties Boy About Town has attended in years was Ryan Salazar's B-day bash this past weekend right off Ft Lauderdale Beach.  So there is hope for Florida & I am praying the good guys win this one....Yes I do pray!

I am throwing in some of Boy About Town favorite photos from this summer...enjoy!  Next stop California!

 

 

Sounds Like Love To Me!

We have all seen the late night rerun of "Ozzie & Harriet" or "Leave It To Beaver".  The American family as seen in the golden age of TV.  Dad off to work each morning as Mom packs up the kids for another day of school in which some trouble along the lines of a bad haircut will get everyone worked up. But don't worry folks Wally's crazy hairdo will be back to normal within a half an hour.  But now-a-days a snap of our American clan looks more like a "United Colors of Benetton" ad than those old, yet fabulous reruns.  So Boy About Town has chatted with 3 families of our modern world....by that I mean I bummed rushed them and asked a bunch of really personal questions!


In 1967 the United States Supreme Court heard the case "Loving vs. Virginia".   The short version of the story is this ruling at long last lifted the long standing law which made it illegal for 2 people of different races to marry.  This was 46 years ago!  That is not a long time .  My friend Carrie is an outgoing, fun loving Southern California Gal that is 31 yrs old (sorry Carrie)!  To meet her you would have no idea that her family is STILL at war with it's self over this court ruling, You see her Mother, Sue,  is White & her Father, Frank , is Black.  No biggie right? Wrong!  Her Maternal Grandmother is still so upset by this that she does not acknowledge the fact that Carrie's Father is Black.  She will not even speak his name.   But Carrie & her sister are the "apple of their Grandma's eye".  Makes no sense, right?  So how does Carrie deal with the odd vibe at holidays? Pretend it is not there & waits for things to blow over.  Sounds like love to me.

Some people try to have a family the "natural way".  Enter Ginger & Rich,  Ginger was my "girlfriend" when we were in middle school in rural Pennsylvania.  After the heartbreak of losing "Boy About Town" to another boy, Ginger settled on the love of her life Rich, got married & started right away on trying to make babies....SEX.  They had lots of sex.  But nothing.  Now image knowing you were meant to be a Mother.  Imagine it was your life's dream.  But you cannot produce.  Who's fault is it?  How do we fix it?  So after several doctor visits & even more tests they started trying the not so natural way.  First it was Intrauterine Insemination, also known as IUI. This including non-stop shots & "mating" according to one's body temperature.  After four failed attempts there, they moved onto the more invasive & more costly IVF (In Vitro Fertilization).  After $15,000, which is on the low side of the scale, and years of pressure & stress Ginger & Rich (Boy's replacement) had not 1 but 2 lovely babies.  A boy & girl (proudly pictured above, this is what $15,000. looks like).  Ginger informs me in very clear terms she is done.  No more. But she also made it very clear that she was meant to be a Mom and if this had not worked then she would have done something, anything else to be a Mom.  Sounds like love to me!

Quick fun fact, there are 401,000 kids in foster care in the United States, of those children with no home & no family fit to take care of them, 72% are minority kids.  By this I mean they are not white, heathly, english speaking kids.  This is my definition nobody elses. These children can drift from foster home to foster home for years until they "age out"of the system, which is what happened to Boy About Town but that is a different posting.  Some of the kids get lucky and find a great nurturing foster family that they stay with.  And if you are Zachary, not only are you amazingly cute, but you are placed with Frank & John Duffy! (Please note I have not used anyone's last name until now but John Duffy just has a ring to it, and shy he ain't....just saying)  John Duffy & Frank opened their home in Wilton Manors, Florida to a wee little baby that needed a home.  At the time these two stable, kind, wonderful men had to pretend to be "roomies" due to Florida's rule of not allowing Gay couples to adopt, which was their goal in fostering.  At the time Frank was learning how to heat a bottle and John Duffy found a stroller that matched his shoe's, Florida decieded to make a leap into to 1980's and allow Gays to openly adopt. This epiphany came in September of 2010, which was only 3 years ago.. Frank and John Duffy, not being 100 percent sure of the Florida government and its shifting laws,  fools they are not, still kept the "roomie" thing going until such time as the ink was dry on the papers! Mission accomplished! Family formed.  I am pleased to say that little Zachary, who by the way has a very cool trampoline in his bedroom, is a funny, outgoing, shockingly smart kid of 3 years old that Boy About Town thinks will one day run a major network like CNN, NBC or CBS.....Remember kid Boy About Town loves ya!  Today John Duffy (told ya it has a ring to it) and Frank happily rearranged thier lives around a 2 foot tall CEO in training in the Gayest town in America.  Life moves on at a crazy, yet fabulous pace.  Sounds like love to me!

So, these 3 families are not the families of American yesteryear, they are America's families today. They are America's furture.  They all deal with their stories in different ways, but they deal with them.   Each of these families are based on love....
Stay Fabulous! Boy About Town
Boy is pictured above with THE Zachary with his 2 Dad's John Duffy & Frank.