Remembering Fort Lauderdale's Glory Days

For 25 years my Orlando pal Tony Hayden has chronicled his life on videotape. Over the last few years Tony has published his stories on his award-winning website in what he calls his "ME-ality Series. Today he published a five-part series on his coming to terms with his gayness via his discovery of Fort Lauderdale's now-legendary early '80s beach/bar/boys culture.

If you remember the Marlin Beach Hotel, Backstreet, Tacky's and the rest of that glorious period, start with Part 1. And even if you weren't there, what Tony Hayden has created is surely a unique historical and amusing document of a special and fun time in gay culture. The production values are quite good and each segment is about five minutes long. Highly recommended.

Thomas Does Decadence

My dear hometown homey Thomas, who as "Terrence" was the title subject of my portion of the book linked in my sidebar, has long performed as the host of BoyTV, a traveling videography of gay events and parties. The eternally fabulous Thomas just returned from New Orleans' notorious Southern Decadence and with the help of our friend, vlogger Tony Hayden (also of Orlando), he has posted a six-part hilarious recap of his adventures, most of which involve Thomas stopping hot men on the street to chat. Check out the clips on Tony's vlog. Warning: here be nudity, drag queens, go-go boys, leathermen - so it's waaaay Not Safe For Work. Tony characterizes his vlog as a "me-ality" series. Love it.