a 6 foot 8 drag queen and JJFad & FamilyForce 5

My friend and former roommate planned a night out..  It had been a while since we’ve been out together.  The last time we were out  we stopped at the Touch Club and listen to live blues, the club was the second choice but neither felt dressed up enough to step into Dreams next door.

After a late start, we found ourselves on J Street, where do you want to go?, I asked. Anywhere she said, well do you want to sit,dance, what do you want to do?(I wanted to go to  MIX) oh I don’t feel well and not up to dancing.

As we where driving up J, I started naming clubs.   At 16th, she turned left and left again on  G Street and another  left of 15th,

Theres Avalon, no……Dreams...were not dressed for Dreams …..  Capital Garage…. don’t like the looks of the people.…..(jeez I thought to myself)   The park….oh hell no!

Now on to K Street, there the new hot spot..Lounge on 20..…..FACES let’s go to  FACES! she screamed

Faces was the last place, I wanted to go….so I convinced her to at least check out Lounge on 20…. they have dancing here I said,   its nice, let’s go to Faces.

What was he thinking? He wanted to be outed, I said to myself about the California Senator Ashburn as my friend and I were walking in Faces friday.  Of all the gay bars in Sacramento, why didn’t he just wear a rainbow suit in the halls of the capital.  Faces has three dance floors, a VIP lounge and a swimming pool, its also one of those bars where one wants to be seen.

As we entered the bar on 20th we passed a hopeless  blonde ,drag queen (a dark skinned black man with a ton of light powder on his face-if he shook his head he could start a dust storm)

I visited Faces last summer with a group of friends….while there were a lot of women, there was also a lot a thin young men, I saw a few men my age who seemed to be staring  at the young boys… not my place at all.

While my friend was all smiles, my legs grew heavy….   I immediately hated to music in the first dance floor., on this evening the only skinny boys were the dancers on platforms wearing skimpy undies.  My friend  seem to be in her  element her eyes were all smiles as we watched the people on the dance floor. ….you know, I could be home watching Judge Judy on You Tube-I said to myself.

Let’s walk around I said…. on the the next room, as we walked through this huge drag queen( 6.8 or 7 feet in heels) a blonde wig  nearly knocked me down…   Ok I said to myself…….   I’m not feelin this…..    I don’t like this music in this room  either….. lets move,( I was really in a negative mood)in the front room, are heads responded to an oldie . “Supersonic”  oh shit, as we both moved towards the dance floor. . There they were on the huge video display  JJ Fad and the Family Force five in their eighties hairstyles. On the floor everyone seemed to know the words to the song.

see the S is for Super

and the U is for unique

the P is for perfection

and you know that we are freaks

the E is for Exotic

and the R is for Raps

so the those noisy people just to stay the Hell Back!

I was gone, the clouds parted  JJ Fad and Family Force was on a wall in front of me.  D was on my left, two sleek power lesbians dressed to kill was on my right.   We had taken over the center of this crowded floor, arms up fingers snapping.   Keep up or get the hell back!!!

On the floor mixed in with the twentysomethings I spoted some forty, fifty somethings. (What the hell!!)  I danced as she  was ordering her drink, I rocked with people as the walked by..   The giant drag queen (with great legs) danced  from room to room..    I held my stomach in as this muscled fiftysomething walked by in tank top (damm him-go eat some cake)

The crowd and the bar was fun.   There seemed to be a lot of  straight couples, and straight men on the prowl in this gay bar.   On this night , I observed a lot of thugged out gay men and women, baseball jerseys and caps, gold chains. and while there were quite a few gay men,  it’s a mix not expected.   I’m from San Francisco and I’m a part-time New Yorker and one rarely sees straights in gay clubs and openly gays in straight clubs….

No fights broke out in the four hours we were there,  no one was offended at the sight of two men or two women kissing.  That’s is the way it should be…. And there were men and women my age!!!!

My friend , who is from New Orleans said this was the most fun, she has had in Sacramento.

A few years ago, Time magazine said Sacramento was the most integrated city in the nation, perhaps the most sophisticated.

I left Faces, exhausted ..and proud of the people who live in this city.

and for the last time SUPERSONIC………….

C.F.