A Funky, Funky Weekend

Fire, Fire Island
It's a funky weekend
A funky funky weekend
Don't go in the bushes (Don't go!)
Don't go in the bushes
Someone might grab ya!
Someone might grab ya!

-Fire Island, Village People, 1977

Summer season commences today and already the morning 6 train was noticeably empty. The destination of choice for the A-Gays continues to be Fire Island, a place I've only been to once, for a birthday party a few years ago. At that party, when I mentioned that it was my first visit, some of the guys there were intrigued that anybody of "my age" could have never been out to The Island, a term that I find massively more annoying than refering to Manhattan as The City, but whatever.

Then they all crowded around me, demanding to know my first impressions, whether I got "the magic" of it all. I responded that visiting Fire Island for the first time, after hearing about it all your life, was somewhat like finally sitting down and watching a very famous movie, one that you'd never actually watched. Sure, you know who's in it and you know what it looks like, so when you finally do watch it, it all feels vaguely familiar. Eh. The only real surprise of my visit was learning that Fire Island actually has a dozen or so towns on it, as I'd only ever heard of The Pines and Cherry Grove. Well known trivia: Fire Island was originally named Five Islands, but the maps were mistranslated from the original Dutch.

This weekend, instead of being on The Island with the A-Gays, I'll be in The City with the fey-gays, probably dropping in at the Bingham Cup at some point, to support the blogging ruggers I know. Sunday night, I'll be at the XXL party at Webster Hall. Please say hello if you see me, I'll be the chubby hairy guy. Oh...wait.

(Fire Island, Village People, Casablanca Records 1977. Download Fire Island here. Purchase Best Of Village People here.)
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