Sorry, sorry. I swear I haven’t been lounging… Much.
I’ve been delayed in updating 15MM for the past month thanks to a seriously heavy travel schedule, but I’ve got a window this week and wanted to get up to speed. At the moment I’m on 20-hour flight back to the States from the Middle East (Dubai/Abu Dhabi), so there’s no time like the present to get some traveloguing done.
From spending time in sunny Mexico, I headed to London for a week to work a bit, but also catch a longtime friend, Randy Roberts, making his West End debut at The Crazy Coqs (aka, Live at Zedel), a small cabaret club in St James known for hosting some of the UK’s best vocal talent. Flew business over on American and while there was nothing criminal about the experience, the whole thing felt like a waste for the amount of money they charged. American has quickly gone from being my favorite airline to one I dread flying: Even as an elite with their program, I feel as if management and employees are working against fliers in the times I’ve needed help the most. Morale at AA is at an all-time low and their upper management team continues to make cuts to an already threadbare frequent flier program. If I weren’t based out of DFW, I’d have left them already (I’ve got lifetime status). As much as it might be out of the frying pan and into the fire, perhaps it’s time to status-match to Delta and start flying out of ATL on a more regular basis.
Bottom line: For a $6k J-class ticket, I was treated to a surly flight crew, a beat-up looking cabin, shitty food/beverage and a DFW international terminal premium lounge under construction for the next year. American Airlines can suck it: They’re a waste of an airline to me at this point. What good is having status or miles if your airline won’t let you use them?
Moving on. Got into the city and situated myself in an apartment a friend had set up for me- For London, it was palatial- 2500 sq ft, full kitchen, modern finishes, in the heart of St James and a quick Uber to London’s new Equinox E-level club. I can handle a lot of things in life, but not having a spot to workout is one thing that would require me an emotional support animal. While I can’t get an Equinox club everywhere I travel, I’m really happy when I can. I love my gym. Funny to say, but the experience is always quality and across the board, they do a great job. I can’t argue with these results:
On this visit, I caught the 9000th revival of 42nd Street and the limited summer run of Lincoln Center’s The King and I with most of the Broadway leads flown over. Both shows couldn’t be more different than each other, but they each were brilliant examples of knowing their characters and beautiful stagecraft. Kelli O’Hara (King and I) was once again a pitch-perfect Anna: Her performance even more layered than what I saw at the Beaumont. 42nd Street was cotton candy in the best way… A near-cartoon revival of what’s always been just a silly tap musical. David Merrick would have eaten his hat watching this, as it was clear that very little expense was spared on this production. Great sets, huge orchestra, beautiful costumes.
Speaking of Merrick, if you haven’t read his bio The Abominable Showman (by Howard Kissel), I recommend picking up an old copy. It’s a great read and a very entertaining showbiz tale. I don’t think that 90% of what he did could be done in the business of Broadway today. He might have been a gigantic asshole, but he was a gigantic brilliant asshole. He knew how to keep butts in seats, which is more than most Broadway producers today can do.
Randy’s debut at Zedel was a big success, attracting a diverse audience of Tony and Olivier winners, oddball artists, British personalities and close friends. It was one of those evenings you’d imagine Truman Capote could wax poetic about when sitting and being interviewed by a guy like Dick Cavett. Just very interesting and I felt fortunate to be a part of it.
The rest of London was a pretty low-key. The Grindr scene in that town is flakier than Grands biscuits and the common phrase you hear from most guys is ‘not right now, but let’s definitely plan tomorrow.’ Wanting to fuck is sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing, so I resigned myself to relaxing on this trip and just hanging out with friends.
Came home from London and had to head right out to Houston, which meant getting another crack at some late night fun at Club Houston. Got there a little later than usual and the place was packed. It felt even more busy as a major portion of the facility was under construction, so the dark cruise areas remained suitably packed.
Got a room, got changed into my usual bath outfit (snapback cap, tiny pair of skintight briefs, thick silver chain, metal cock ring) and went out to see what was up. The vibe felt immediately sexual (good), but also overly aggressive (bad). I tend to stay in darker corners of a room until I know what- or who- I’m doing. Almost as soon as I was outside of my room, I had a few guys following closely and no matter how much I tried to shake them, they stayed as close as they could for most of the night.
I’ve consulted Judith Ivey about this and she confirms it’s definitely bad bath manners: If someone doesn’t want to fuck and is polite about it, don’t tail them. Move on.
I watched a couple of guys try to work into a public scene in one of the sling rooms, but it looked as if the top couldn’t get hard with an audience. The bottom was cute: Twentysomething hispanic guy in good shape, well hung and looked like a natural in a sling. While the top fumbled to figure out his pivot, I stepped up, put a few fingers on the bottom’s hole and started to warm him up. The top smartly moved his soft dick to the bottom’s mouth while I slid my tool into him, pumping in slowly. It didn’t take long for the audience to grow and we now had about 20 guys, all standing around us, some jerking off and some just watching.
I always enjoy when guys watch me in a sexual situation- It turns me on knowing they’re turned on by what they’re watching.
Five minutes into what I hoped would be a slow, rhythmic, build-up fuck, I felt aggressive hands in the crack of my ass. Total buzzkill. This was one of the same guys who was following me earlier and clearly, he was an uninvited party crasher. A couple of firm ‘no, thanks’s’ and he still didn’t get the picture. It wasn’t worth getting angry about, so I just pulled out, peaced-out and went back to my room. Jerked off a load to some hot Latin bareback porn and went back to my hotel.
When a bathouse becomes less than fun, it’s easier for me to just cut loose. After all, it’s only sex. Guys tend to ruin the experience for themselves and for others by putting far too much pressure on that scene. I think a lot of it has to do with ridiculous expectations from years of watching porn.
Not that I need to tell you brilliant readers, but porn is not actual sex. Porn is a highly edited, highly coiffed form of reality. Confusing that with real-life sex only leads to inauthentic expectation, depression and a likely inability to connect to the people you’re sleeping with.
I updated my online gallery with some images from London, as well as some of my other recent travels. If you haven’t checked it out in awhile, why not go sneak a peek.
After Houston, I had another quick turn, this time to to Tokyo and thankfully had the good sense to avoid the non-stop from DFW on American Airlines and take JAL’s service instead. I’ll get into the trip on the next edition, but for now, I’ll say it was a lot of fun and sexually memorable. It’s pretty awesome how sexually-free Asian guys can be once you get them over the cultural shame that’s heaped on them.
I also just got back from a week in Dubai and Abu Dhabi: Look for pics on my Twitter feed and a full wrap-up here in the next post.
Be well,
