UPDATED Gay of A Certain Age - Broadway Brake Lights!

Tonight I'm driving to Palm Springs to celebrate Gay Love with a married pair of friends.

The drive from L.A. to Palm Springs can be rather torturous.  If one leaves at the wrong time, it could mean making a usual 2 hour drive into a 5 hour trickle through a sea of bumpers.  I, for one, find it difficult to enjoy making a long drive.  Sure, I have enjoyed an aimless drive around from time to time, thinking about stuff with the wind blowing through my scalp.  There's something about a distant destination with signs every couple of miles letting you know you're not nearly as close as you thought you were to your landing-place that gets me very antsy.  I just want to be there.  I may speed.

Fortunately, I am hyper-aware that this drive may be a mini-series in the making, or even half a season of GAME OF THRONES, so I have prepared myself.  As a Gay of  A Certain Age, I have learned to pass the time of a long journey with the help of my iPod, the shuffle function and over 500 upbeat showtunes!  That's right, I'll probably get to my hotel thinking, "Wow! That drive was a breeze!  It's like I just saw a Broadway double feature!"   My friends, Cheyenne Jackson, Michael Ruppert, Marc Kudisch, Faith Prince, Patti  Lupone, Laura Benanti, and others will grab me and take me away from the wheel of my Palm Springs bound chariot and place me center stage with them as we sing about Xanadu, Zorba and Xanax! (I love NEXT TO NORMAL, do you know?).  My eyes will be on the road, but my voice will be in the sky, mostly because I 'll drive with the moon roof open!  So if you're on the 10 or the 60 (I'll decide when I get to that juncture) and you hear some asshole scream singing about Hoping He Gets It, That's me!!  Say, "hi!", or applaud, just don't let me see your brake lights!

UPDATE!

With all the hoohaw I made about what time I should leave, you'd think I planned everything carefully.  Apparently I didn't.  I didn't plan on leaving a light on in my car and completely draining my battery.  Luckily my friend, Chetto (not his real name) from AAA was able to give me a charge (intended) and get me going (Intended again) on my way with only a 40 minute delay.  By the time I got on the road, it was very close to 10:00.  

My drive was a breeze!!  I got to my hotel by 12:30 and was pleased to find that I had been upgraded to a jr. suite.  

Ain't that nice?

Gay of A Certain Age - A Gay Old Time

My time in Palm Springs has been a fabulous mix of relaxation, activity and gayness!  

One of my favorite things to do is go to Wang's for dinner with the fellas, then off to the Spurline for drinks and videos!

This bar is great because they play showtunes & videos all the time!  The videos featured are old & new and everyone seems to enjoy them whether they know the songs or not.  You can walk in and have INTO THE WOODS on the screen and have HELLO, DOLLY bid you farewell as you head back to the aparment of the showtune loving lover who has seduced you during XANADU. 

That Dolly Levi, ever the match maker!

But, where else can you go that the entire bar grabs napkins and literally waves "Bye Bye, Birdie"?

It's always a great night, because I find that, as a Gay of A Certain Age, some of the uniquely gay experiences are fading away.  Gay bars are more inclusive now and you have party girls in there, followed by the straight guys who realize there's less competition at the gay bars and the music is better.  So, because everyone likes to dance, it's easy to go the gay bar.  Showtunes have not seemed to have caught on in the party girl world, nor with the straight guys who follow them to gay bars.  This place is a little haven where a gay can enjoy bonding with everyone else singing OKLAHOMA!  It's also refreshing to see gays of every age there, appreciating the old stuff, or learning about it, along with the newer things.  It is a unique experience that still feels uniquely gay.  I like that.  I cherish this little bar in Palm Springs because the L.A. gays can't seem to support even one night dedicated to showtunes, so it's on these sparse visits to the desert that I can truly enjoy myself.  I even stay at the bar when my group goes to the dance club across the street.  Maybe, this is why I'm single, too, but I like this reason.  I'll take SWEENY TODD over Justin Bieber any day!!