Thanksgiving Thankfulness

HERE ARE A FEW THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR......

The Health and Love of Mama and Papa Guru and Family

The New Friends I Have Made Here Thru This Blog Becoming My Family

Finding Out Who My True Friends Were NOT, Before It Was Too Late

Hero's Like Judy Sheppard, Teri Yale, and The Millions Behind The Scenes

Learning Who I Am More Each Day

The Chance To Serve The GLBT Community In Some Small Way

That Although Less Equal Than Some Places, I Am More Equal Than Others

Democracy Can Work, Now Will It?

Thin Is In, But Big Is Still Beautiful To Some

Rosie Returned To Daytime

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Are In Nighttime

AIDS Has Touched Me And My Friends But Not Defeated Our Hope

Dare To Dream and Dream To Dare

Happy Thanksgiving Blogger Friends and Readers

Not sure if I am going to have time to post tomorrow or not blogger friends. I hope all of you in the U.S. have a very Happy Thanksgiving, and for the rest of the world, this start to the holiday season brings you good tidings. I will try to get a post up tomorrow morning of things I am thankful for, but for now, know that the Gay Guru would not be possible without you dear friends and readers. I am very blessed and am looking forward to growing and expanding and seeing what the rest of my blogging year has in store for me.

SORTING THRU THE "GOBBLY" GOOK TO WISH YOU A HAPPY THANKSGIVING. THANX FOR BEING MY FRIEND, LOT'S OF BLOGGER LOVE FROM THE GG

Hmmmm, Could Rosie Be Right?, Buying For Equality with the HRC, MTV Real World Denver

Homophobic or just Hypocritical?? Hey blogger friends, I was called to the carpet and found wanting this morning with this picture I received in an email. Yesterday, I posted on the whole Kelly Ripa/Clay Aiken/Rosie O'Donnell fiasco over Aiken's covering Ripa's mouth at an attempt at humor. To counter the joke, Ripa gave Aiken the tired line of "Oh no you dont, who knows where that hand has been." Rosie percieved the comment as homophobic, prompting Ripa to call in and chastise RO's stance and say it was the germaphobe in her with cold and flu season going around. Personally, I did immediately feel the context in which it "could be" homophobic, based on assumptions about Aikens orientation, but I really felt that it was just a tired joke off the cuff after an unexpected play by Aiken. So that was my thoughts then. Now I get this picture of "vintage" Regis and Kelly, and have to concurr that while I still dont believe Ripa meant it as a homophobic remark, the picture makes the argument more plausible, or at the very least, very hypocritical. Thanx for the imput Steve and other readers who gave their opinion.



Maybe I am only half gay, or it could be because I am chubby, lol, but while I am thinking about stuffing and dinner tomorrow, a lot of my gay and str8 for that matter, friends, are thinking about the "Black Friday" after Thanksgiving shopping deals. I have many a friend, caught up in that whole 5am onslaught for the 19 dollar DVD player with 50 dollar color tv and 10 dollar jeans. As one who gets most of his shopping done within 36 hours of December 25th, I just don't get it, LOL. Anyway, if you are a tried and true shopper, I do suggest browsing thru the HRC's "Buying For Equality" guide. I believe this is the third edition of the guide that is available as a printable .pdf file online, or you can have it shipped to your home, free of charge. Every day, you make decisions about whom to support in corporate America. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Buying for Equality can help you easily support companies that support equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. A record 138 companies scored 100 percent on this year’s report, which is a significant increase from the 101 companies that earned a perfect score last year. Every day, from enhanced domestic partner benefits to transgender inclusion in non-discrimination policies, we are seeing a revolution in the American workplace. Check it out before you hit the shops on Friday. Don't deny your shopping gene and miss out on a great buy because it's not on the list, but wouldn't it make you feel better to support gay friendly businesses when you could.



Hey, if you havent fallen asleep from all of that turkey tomorrow night, the new season of MTV's The Real World debuts at 10pm from Denver. I have been very lucky that Victoria has been sending me all the new events at MTV and I have been pretty bad about posting them all. She is a sweet person for giving me the information to get out to you all and I am going to start posting all of it here as I get it. The new season of Real World in Denver, looks like one of the most drama filled years since Hawaii. Davis fills this years "gay" role, and he is very cute and seems to be pretty outspoken. Here's a few clips from the trailer to the season, and also some highlights of the casting reels. Real World Denver moves from the traditional Monday night time slot to Thursdays, so if Grey's Anatomy is not enough drama for you from 9-10....be sure to switch over to MTV for the season premiere tomorrow night.





More later blogger friends, brother Guru comes in with his wife and my nephew today, and I will add some captured cuties and a couple more things later tonight....GG

Daveys Basement Interview Below, Light To Unite, The Event, In The News, Captured Cuties

Back again blogger friends. If this is your first visit to the blog today, you should scroll down to the entry before this first. I posted my interview with Teri Yale from Davey's Basement today. A big thanx to blogger friends over at Queerty, for linking the story, I really appreciate it.


I got an email last night reminding me that the drug group Bristol-Myers Squibb is sponsoring the third annual "Light to Unite" campaign. Light to Unite is an initiative the drug group coordinates with the National AIDS Fund to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS in the U.S. Every year around and culminating on World AIDS Day, Light to Unite brings together sponsors for a virtual candle lighting event online where the proceeds go organizations in the US fighting this horrible disease. The organization guarantee's $1 dollar per virtual candle lit, up to $100,000 dollars each year, plus whatever the other sponsors bring in. You can attach your own AIDS story to your candle, or just light one and read the stories on some of the other candles. I lit candle number 19,823 and as of just a little bit ago, there were about 23,000 candles lit. Do you your part for a good cause and all you have to do is GO HERE and light a virtual candle in memory of AIDS fallen bretheren.



I also had a friend email me last week on a movie that I missed out on and I really enjoyed the trailer link he sent me. It's Called, "The Event", starring Parker Posey and Olympia Dukakis. It won lots of awards but the gay community sort of missed it. With world aids day approaching, as we talked about above, I thought it could help raise awareness if people went and rented it. It's at netflix and all the video stores...more on imdb too. You can check out the trailer by GOING HERE.





And In The News thats interesting to me......I wish someone would just give him a big box of "shut the hell up" for christmas, Anti-Gay Mass. Gov. Presses Ahead With Presidential Aspirations; and they call the courts activist? some legislatures just dont get it, maybe it's the cold, Senate Vote Sets Alaska Lawmakers On Collision Course With State Supreme Court; I just dont think those candles up above are enough, let's all pray together on this one, Worldwide 39.5 Million People With HIV; me thinks we are getting much smarter every day, Gay Student Named Rhodes Scholar; and finally, Rosie Rips Ripa Over 'Homophobic' Clay Aiken Remark Okay, here's what I have to say about this last one.....I watched part of the opening of "Live" when Clay guest hosted with Kelly last Friday. I have to say that I thought he was being extremely rude and mean spirited during the opening, "coffee klatch" segment where they talk about yesterdays events. I did not stick around watching the show and missed the mouth covering incident, so I saw it on the View today, and it DID get heated between Kelly Ripa and Rosie O'Donnell this morning. You all know I LOVE LOVE LOVE Rosie, but I think she was off on this one. Coming from our gay standpoint, and with the controversy about Aiken's sexual preference, I definitely see where Rosie was coming from, and how it can be interpreted as a homophobic remark. But the tired phrase, "who knows where that hand's been", has been around for decades as an all-purpose joke and put-down, and I dont believe Kelly Ripa meant anything overtly homophobic by it, it was just the first thing that popped into her head. Aiken was rude and wrong to just cover her mouth on HER show. That is just plain disrespectful, and it didnt seem in the small clip I saw, funny at all. Add that to his very rude remarks in the opening of the show, and I don't see anything wrong with Ripa's remarks....what's your take?? And before you believe all of the tabloids out there, Rosie writes on her own blog that she and Kelly talked today afterwards and all is well.




Todays daily Captured Cuties, comes from blogger friend Leonard. I hope you all in the states are getting ready for a nice Thanksgiving Holiday, and for my worldly readers, I hope your stores are filling up with the same seasonal holiday crap thats over here, LOL........Take it easy and enjoy blogger friends........GG

Helping The GLBT Community: An Interview With One Of My New Hero's Teri Yale

Happy Tuesday Blogger Friends and Readers, I hope you have pulled out the turkey to defrost in time for the big day. I have a lot on my mind, and have an unexpected day off work, so there will be a couple of posts today hopefully. I am rather proud of the fact that this blog and accompanying website can be read by not only our GLBT community, but also our str8 friends and family as well. It's when we all get over these imaginary boundries of sexual stereotypes and prejudices that we can really come together as a town, state, country or nation. I have mentioned to you a couple of times this past week about Davey's Basement, an indie record and vintage concert t-shirt shop in Mason, Michigan. Here is a little more in-depth into the story and an interview with the shop's owner, Teri Yale.



Some background....Teri grew up in San Francisco, California and was taught early on to look for goodness in people and not what they do behind closed doors in the privacy of their own lives. She has tried to instill these values into her three daughters, and the family, with husband and father Ken, try to live these values daily. This openness and warmth, must also spring from the fact that Teri's brother-in-law, and her own middle daughter are gay.

Davey's Basement, came from the name of the lead singer of the punk band AFI, Davey Havok, and the basement from "That '70s Show". The stores inventory consisted mostly of records, cd's, vintage and concert t's and some various other merchandise. She has also stocked a small selection of rainbow stickers and Pride merchandise without incident. Teri expected maybe a small amount of controversy, not from the Pride merchandise, but because she set the shop up to replicate the classic head shop setting from her youth - ("Other than the fact that we don't have the drug paraphernalia, this is what I grew up with in San Francisco," she says.)



The story here (click here to see the original story,) is that a little while back, Davey's Basement ended up sponsoring the Gay/Straight Student Alliance's float in the Mason High School homecoming parade. An Alliance her straight daughter helped co-found a few years back. Since the parade, the store has been in essence, boycotted by the community. Sales have dropped dramatically, and all for the support of kids who want other kids to have a safe place at school to talk about their feelings and their friends and not feel the prejudice of the outside world. We in the GLBT community MUST support those that support us, and I hope you will all take some time to show your support for this great family and this great cause. Send support through words of encouragement, and hopefully by buying some product from her store. The holidays are here, and this could be a great place to do some of your holiday shopping. I talked to Teri Yale on the phone the other day, a very sweet woman and she was kind enough to let me ask her some questions about all of this. Please read my interview with Teri........



How long have you lived/worked in Mason, Michigan, and who all is in your immediate family?

>>>we (as a family) have been in Mason since 2001, but my husband had lived here for since 1996. Our family consists of 3 daughters, Nikki, Briana and Becky, my husband Ken and myself.....oh yeah, and Little Miss Crazy (our cat)



When did the idea of the record store/t-shirt shop originate, and how long have you been in business?

>>>I was getting pretty sick of being a Banker and REALLY needed a career change. In our house we all have such a passion for music.....it's very diverse.....but my girls were raised on more music than TV. My daughter Becky and I came up with the idea one weekend in June of 2005. We opened our store in Oct of 2005


Have you always sold GLBT friendly merchandise?

>>>>Oh yes....I thought it was very essential to have merch for EVERYONE.....our store is tiny, so we can only stock a little bit of everything. In recent weeks, I have had to increase the "Pride" line of stickers and buttons.



What motivated your daughter to start the GSA on the Mason High School Campus? When?

>>>>My oldest Daughter, NIkki, got involved in Sept 2001. She didn't start it per say.....but more as a co-founder. A friend of her's was openly gay and was being harrassed and he wanted to start this. She joined him and others followed. It started with approx. 50 kids and then as the yr progressed, many dropped out. Interest has come and gone over the yrs. AT one point a few yrs ago, a school offical (and I do not recall who) asked they changed the name from th GSA to the Diversity club. Altho they said it was to increase enrollement, I really don't think that was it. I think some people didn't like the fact that the High School had a GSA.


What was the make-up of the alliance when your daughter started it, and where is it at now?

>>>> At that time, it was mostly straight girls, who were very supportive. Also many kids were Seniors so when they graduated, that left a huge hole the next yr. This yr, from what I have been told, there is one openly gay male and some still trying to figure things out. The bulk of the group are incoming freshman and straight girls. Most of the kids are regular customers of mine. Last I checked there was about 25 kids in the group.


How did your store come to sponsor the Homecoming Float that has started the uproar?

>>>>The kids came to me and asked if we could donate money so they could have a float in the parade, but in talking with them, what they really needed was a trailer. My husband took the day off work, and drove our Company Van and trailer to the school so they could decorate it. He also drove it in the Parade while I stayed at the store to operate it. I honestly didn't think it was even an issue.....anytime kids asked for help, if I could, I help them. We have donated to groups from the 4-H, Little League, the Christian Youth groups....I mean, the list is endless. I have never said no yet. Just 2 days ago, I donated gift certificates to the local Youth Hockey and the 1986 Mason HIgh School Class Reunion


How did the controversy come about? How did it affect Business? What has been said or done to your family and or the business?

>>>It started with rumors I heard from a couple kids in the Middle school....and then other started asking if it was true what they were hearing at school. One girl who came in everyday said her friend wasn't allowed in my store anymore cuz we were a faggot store. She said her friend said that she was going to be grounded if she came back in. She did sneak in once after that.....but I told her I didn't want her to get in trouble so both girls left.
Basically our local customers stopped coming in. Our sales dropped 86%. We didn't even make expenses. I had placed several large orders for X-mas, and they couldn't be stopped by the time I realized what was going on. I had to take personal funds to make expenses. Most everything that has been said and done has been very subtle. We did have one man come in the next day after the parade and ask what the GSA stood for. WHen I told him.....he said that he doesn't shop at Target since the support "the gays". He didn't return to our store for almost a month. He used to come in on a daily basis. I really don't miss him. Everyone kept saying that it must havebeen the economy....but when I'd look out the window and see many people walking the streets, going into the other business on my block, and they'd pass me up, I knew something was wrong. Our store is across the street from a restaraunt that is a huge favorite with the towns people. We'd see tons of peole not only park next door to our store but park right in front of our store, glance over and walk away......we track the customers who come in. The week following the Parade, we had 2 days when the doors didn't even open. I kept going outside to make sure my lights were on.


When did your story first break to the GLBT press?

>>>>I am not too sure to be honest.........it was about 2 weeks ago I think.


What has the reaction been so far?

>>>>I have been amazed at the out pouring of support from all over the world.
On our home front, we have had many people stop in and help us out by shopping and spreading the word. MIchigan Pride have been awesome....Doug, John and Dan came to see us after they heard what was going on and helped us a great deal with contacts and just spreading the word.


What would you like to say to your GLBT Fans that think what you did was heroic and are very proud of you and your family?

>>>>I am far from being a hero. The heroic one is a kid I know who at 15, has come out, is proud of who he is, takes such crap from so many in this town yet manages to keep his head up and is just the most adorable boy I know. He is so kind hearted, a great student and I would be so proud to have him as my child.


How can we continue to support Davey's Basement?

>>>>As long as we stay in business....they don't win. Keep in touch with us....join our mailing list so we can let everyone know what's going on. Hopefully we can stay in business and continue our store and not let ignorant people rule the town. They would love nothing more than to see us fail and leave town. But my goal is to stick around for these kids, move into a bigger building and have a safe place where they can hang out after school......hold a meeting if they need or have a band play for some entertainment. So if anyone knows a "rich" person who is dying to spend some money (because there is a building for sale around the corner from our store)....send them my way!!!! *hehe*


Any other comments you want to share??

>>>>So many non-local people have asked when we will have Merch on our web site, because they want to help us by buying stuff. We are working extra to put it up there.....it's slow going since my husband does it all after he gets off work. I have an awesome Webguy who tries very hard not to charge us much and allows my husband to help out when he can to keep costs down. We are hoping to have more items added by this weekend.....so people need to check back. I also will be sending out email to our mailing lists to let everyone know of new merch.

On another note, I want you to pass along a HUGE thank you to EVERYONE who emailed, us, who bought something, or who called. I never relaized how powerful Blogs were, nor did I know too much about them. I have net some incredible people in the last 2 weeks. Such a humbling experience.



I want to thank Teri Yale for taking the time in all of this to talk with me. I am sure it is stressful enough trying to be a business owner, raise 3 children, be a good wife, and get ready for the holidays, without the added stress this has all brought with it. Teri and her husband, along with their helpful web guy, are trying to get merchandise up on the website, so be patient and I recommend buying a gift certificate or just calling and seeing what they recommend for a fun gift for someone or yourself. Let's show the Yale family that our community is strong and we support each other. To add insult to injury, the website was even hacked into recently but is now secured. You can also visit them at their MySpace page and ask them to be a friend and send them comments of support. My best wishes and support go out to the Yale family, and I will be calling soon to try to find a Journey t-shirt, Yes I am just that old and unhip, LOL............More to come laterz blogger friends.

Last Minute Airport Plans, Daveys Basement Has More Woe's, Brothers and Sisters, Mac and Brokeback

Monday morning blogger friends and readers and I am back from the airport, thus ending my chauffeur duties with no loss of life, limb or property. Some last minute drama on it however, is that the horror convention was dead on Sunday, (and not in the good way that horror people like dead,) so Dee really wanted to try to sneak out so she could have all day today to get ready for her daughters 18th birthday. Mission Accomplished! On a quick maneuver, I was able to take Dee to the airport
yesterday afternoon and Adrienne and Chris this morning. This made for a fantastic one on one talk with Dee yesterday and a groggy one on one talk with Adrienne this morning as Chris went back to sleep in the back seat. Both celebrities sooooo exceeded my expectations, and Adrienne is even calling me later in the week to give her some advice for her MySpace page for her CD and Audiobook of her Autobiography......kewlness..........


A quick update with more to come on my new hero Teri Yale over at Davey's Basement. The small business owner who is facing homophobia and boycott's for her indie record and vintage concert t-shirt shop's sponsoring of a float for the GSA student union in the Mason High School homecoming parade. She received my questions for her interview, but sent me a distressing email back that now someone has actually hacked into her website and caused all sorts of problems. She is dealing with that this week and will get to my interview soon I hope. In the meantime, show her all the support and love you can by visiting the Davey's Basement MySpace page, sending words of encouragement and support, and tell her The Gay Guru sent you.



Have you seen ABC's "Brothers and Sisters", I have been telling you about?? I keep forgetting to post reminders about it on Sunday. Next week, they are not showing it, but the week after is a new episode. I LOVE these characters!!! The stories are average, but the characters just rock my stuff!! ***SPOILER ALERT*** Last night, Kevin, my future imaginary husband, the gay brother, got put into a bar full of army boys and lo and behold, he finds the one gay soldier in the group. They then make jokes about it, and it is inferred that he slept with the guy in a one night stand. Now there is serious debate about this being good or bad PR for our GLBT community, but just the fact that they are showing it and adding the dialogue to the show is pretty important and monumental in it's own way. Have you seen the show yet? What do you think about Kevin's character? Is he hurting or helping homosexual stereotypes? In general, is it good for gay character to be sexually active on prime time Sunday night? I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and emails. And here is the romance that started it all. Check out these videos, THANX YOU TUBE!!





And in case you think playing the part of driver took up all my weekend, au contraire, it was full up with an evening of macaroni and cheese, brokeback mountain, and live jazz/blues music!! I am still trying to figure out how to load the mini-movies I made at the jazz jam onto here, so will post that later or tomorrow, but I can tell you about the other. My crazy friends Jon, his lover Greg, and Seth and I had a "Mac Attack and Brokeback" night on Friday. Greg made his famous Mac and Cheese casserole, I brought the wine, Seth brought fresh baked bread from Panera, and we ate large and spent the rest of the evening chatting and then settled in for a screening of Brokeback Mountain on the boys new 52 " television. A good time was had by all. So good a time, and since YOU have been soooo good with me not posting some hot captured cuties for a couple of days, I give you an EXPANDED edition of Captured Cuties, Brokeback style...............yahoooooo, giddy up pardner....GG

Last Post About "The Girls" Adrienne and Dee

Well, the weekend's about over blogger friends and readers, so that means my chauffer days are coming to an end. Yesterday turned from dinner into coffee and dessert at a local coffee house I told you about and some more great stories and conversation. We never seemed able to get rid of Chris for too long of periods, so I decided against asking for the whole interview thing. I am not dissappointed, I heard and learned enough, just in our regular conversations to give lot's of insights, so it was fun for me and we will leave it at that. I did figure out the "queer quotient" of Adrienne was VERY high, so I did come out to her, and she was very sweet about it, I just didnt mention wanting an interview for it and I admitted I did gush a bit on it, and she thought it was cute.


Here's a couple of fun or interesting factoids about Dee and Adrienne and will drop the subject, dont want to bore you all too much. Adrienne's mentor when she started in entertainment, and led to quite a few pivotal moments in her life, was a gay man named Richard. They were friends, mentor/student, co-dependants and co-enablers, and at times even lovers, though he always went back to men. I told you about Adrienne's having twin boys, William and Walker, at the age of 51 and they are now 9 years old. Their pictures are cute and they are currently rehearsing for their school "band". Adrienne had stories about a 9 year old with a drum set at home, and about their upcoming performance. Too Cute!! She also gave me some inside scoop on the book she is writing, "Vampyres of Hollywood". She is writing it with a co-author, and the process has slowed down a bit because he has a book coming out soon that the publisher Random House thinks may be as big as Harry Potter. Keep your ears open for a new book by author Michael Scott.



Dee started as a dancer, but is an actor's actor. She loves the business and is a bit disappointed she is not working more than she is. She absolutely loved doing the recent "without a trace" episode, and is thinking of putting her hat in to the ring for some more episodic television. Her biggest goal of the weekend was to get out of here on time Monday morning. Monday is her daughters 18th birthday and she has been planning a party for weeks, and is doing all the final preparations by phone this weekend and needs to be back in time for her daughter and 30 guests Monday evening. One of the most interesting conversations we had, was that Steven Spielberg was NOT her favorite director ever to work with and I will save myself and her some trouble by not going into that. Dee is evaluating with her management company what she wants to pursue and has a couple kewl little projects coming up, and possibly one big one. Dee actually gave me her cell phone number if I ever visit L.A. Tomorrow ends the weekend as I bring them back to the airport for an 8:30am flight, and I have some awesome memories and am ready to move back to California again, now more than ever!!

Lot's Of Thank You's, More To Come.........

Happy Saturday blogger friends and readers.  Thanx for all of your nice comments and emails about my "roadtrip" with the girls yesterday.  It was a blast and I am going to visit them in a couple of hours. I hope you are all enjoying the weekend before Thanksgiving, time to eat lite for the next 5 days so we can gorge ourselves on Thursday, lol.

Lot's of stuff to talk about lately, and today is no different.  First I want to thank a special MySpace friend who nominated me for something I didnt even know about. I guess MySpace is taking nominations for the MySpace Impact Awards. They are asking people to nominate their favorite MySpace pages that impact Poverty Relief, Health and Safety, Environmentalism, International Development, Social Justice and Community Building.    My friend nominated The Gay Guru for the Community Building catagory.  I really appreciate the nomination, and though that is my ultimate goal, to build the GLBT community into a confident, respected environment, where our sexuality is just a non-issue and our humanity is what people are talking about, I am not sure if I am in the same league as a lot of organizations around MySpace.  If for some minor miracle I get enough nominations to be in the running, I do appreciate any of your efforts, it is very heartfelt, and again, I am grateful.



In some bad news about good news for a good cause, between myself and a couple other bloggers talking about the boycott against her business, Teri Yale of Davey's Basement, (that I talked about here,) has received a lot of love and support from our GLBT community, that her website has temporarily crashed, due to exceeding it's bandwith.  More good news is however, that I called Teri yesterday to let her know that her site was down, and we had a terrific talk.  She told me of the love and outpouring of support she has gotten from the community, that her web designer is out of town until Monday or Tuesday, but she will have the site back up then, and to thank all of my readers for stopping by, and hope they do again soon.  She also agreed to do an interview with me for an upcoming post that I will feature here and on the website.  Thanx again for activating the "Guru Wonder Powers," you guys and all those that support our community, are the BEST!!  More to come on this.



I have even more thank you's to dispurse to all of you that commented and emailed me about my search for a new logo here for the Gay Guru.  I got some great advice, some commiserating support on how hard Flash is, and I am in big trouble if I try to do it myself, lol, and some awesome entries and suggestions.  So far, I have to tip my hat to my favorite, submitted by good friends Mike and D from Dareya Wear.  Oh My God!!! Tell me if this isn't wicked kewl!!  I am always looking for more help and submissions, there is room for lot's.  A super big thanx and hug to Mike and D for this fantastic flash logo.

I have much more to talk about blogger friends, but I can't keep the "girls," Adrienne and Dee, waiting much longer.  I will share pics and more stories later tonight after work or tomorrow.........enjoy the weekend...........GG

Driving Miss Dee, (and Adrienne) Continued......, Captured Cuties

Okay, got called into work too early, got to leave extra early, BONUS!! Now back to our story. If you missed the first two paragraphs, (and if you missed it, shame on you, subscribe to the feed already, lol,) scroll below or click here to get you up to speed.


I have explained a bit about the hotel owner and manager and our relationship. So Wednesday afternoon, the hotel manager calls and asks me if I would like to go pick up Adrienne and Dee at the airport Thursday, yesterday, one days notice, uggghhh. Ummmm Hell Yea, fun!! Now knowing these two at the hotel as I do, I start to get more nervous as it gets closer to picking them up. These are bonafide celebrities and I want to make sure all is going well. I call up yesterday afternoon to make sure no plans have changed. Yup, new plan, they are bringing a hollywood manager with them and I will now be picking up 3 people, yippee. I again tell the manager my nervousness about picking them up in the buick and ask is she SURE that they will be okay with this arrangement. In true Italian matriarch fashion, she says they should be happy if I pick them up in a pick-up truck......uh oh! She tells me not to worry and it will all be fine. She calls me again on my way to the airport, "I will call you on your drive home, if they have a problem with being picked up in your car, just tactfully say yes, so I know what to expect when they get here." GOOD GRIEF!!



I get to Pittsburgh airport about 20 minutes early and park the car and head to baggage to wait. Their plane lands and about 15 minutes later I see them walking the concourse towards me. Adrienne has the same face, is still beautiful, especially for her age, but is much more thin and petite than I expected. Not unhealthy thin, but VERY thin, looking great. They were told it was going to be cold here in Ohio so she was in a fur lined and trimmed coat and cute fur trimmed ski boots. It was 58 degrees, LOL. Dee looks absolutely beautiful, straight out of a headshot photo and smartly dressed in slacks, a colorful tee, and a cashmere pancho. The manager Chris was regular guy, my age, suffering a cold and looking comfortable for a plane trip, lol. Remember in the original post, I told you they are here for a horror convention the hotel puts on and this is the third year. Adrienne, bless her heart, has the forsight to ship all of her things for signing, etc, ahead of time to the hotel. Dee brings two MASSIVE suitcases with her stuff. Thank God they all had small carryon's for clothes or we could have had a luggage problem, (okay buicks huge trunk space came in handy after all.) I go to the baggage carousel with Dee for her two huge bags and sheepishly mention that I hope they are not dissappointed and that she realizes this is pretty much a low budget convention and that we all will be riding back in my buick and one will have to ride in the front seat. I sensed a momentary glimpse of "oh my god, what have I gotten myself into," but the actor in her and graciousness in her, quickly overcame and she assured me that whatever would be fine. I brought Dee's two bags to the parking deck with me, (let's hear it for rollers boys and girls,) and told them I would bring the car around and pick them up in just a sec. Adrienne had a humorous "one eyebrow lift" as I pulled up, but was just as gracious as Dee. Chris the manager got a little silent, LOL.



Off we go.... It is now 8pm Ohio time, 5pm or dinner time for them and Dee is starving. Too add insult to their injury, they were flown in business class and got the same skanky box meal everyone else gets. Chris and Adrienne dont care and say sure, take us to a restaurant, just not Denny's, (oh my god!) Here is where the magic of the Internet comes in..... Thanx to your comments and emails and my own lil googling time, I had some good ammunition. I could tell the Gay Guru thing was pretty much out the window with the advent of Chris, and there was some disappointment on their part with the accomodations, (Dee asked me if there was room service, and I had to tell her, not since I left the restaurant there,) so my goal now was "operation turn-around." I pretty much drove quiet and let them small talk a bit, but you know a good Guru cant keep his mouth shut. Adrienne took the front seat, she was my first mission. Michael from Manhatten Chowder Blog, told me about a play Adrienne was in this past March in New York, that some fellow bloggers had written about. I tore it over to those and got some great scoop!! "So Adrienne," I said, "Some friends told me you were fantastic in the play your husband wrote, this past March, did you enjoy doing it?" BINGO!! PAYDIRT!! A great conversation ensued. Next in my arsenal, from the Internet, "How are the twins, William and Walker doing, I bet you hate leaving them for a few days so close to the holidays." HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!! I hear all about the identical twins she had in her mid 50's, and how great they are and that they are in a band believe it or not with a recital in a couple of weeks. We laughed at 9 year olds in a band and the joys of a drum kit the past 6 months in her house. ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO!!



A lull in the conversation in the back of the buick. Thanx to blogger friend Jimmy, "Dee, I thought you were excellent on the "Without A Trace" episode you were on the other week, how was that to work on, I love Anthony Lapaglia." ANOTHER DIRECT HIT!! Another great conversation. and from the Internet, "I am sorry to hear about you closing your acting studio in Burbank, I used to manage Bobby Mcgee's Restaurant there in Burbank. Do you like offering your acting classes over the Internet?" TWO DOWN, ONE TO GO, and if you ever want to learn something or two about acting, you really should check out her courses. Ice is now officially broken except maybe with Chris, everyone is now chatting and it's a great drive to the restaurant. I am in heaven.



With the "just not Denny's" line still in my head, I went for the gold and took them to one of my favorite restaurants, and probably one of the best restaurants close to home, The Springfield Grille. Not wanting to impose or press my luck, I ask if they would like my cell phone number and just call me when they are done eating. Dee and Adrienne together, immediately, insisted that I join them, (the night has just hit stratospheric proportions.) A fantastic meal, a fantastic conversation, and I even turned around Chris. Dee had me recommend a Cabernet, which she loved. Adrienne shared her Bruschetta with me. Chris and Adrienne use chopstix for their Thai Calamari like seasoned pro's. I was enable to engage in some great conversation, being from L.A. and following the entertainment business very closely as a hobby of mine. We talked about L.A. restaurants that I miss or should try when I go back to visit. We talked about all of our favorite shows on television right now. (Adrienne really misses Carnivale on HBO, filming it and then watching it put all together.) Two hours later, we are off to the hotel. Sheer Bliss!!


There is more to tell, and will be more because I am going tomorrow to see them at the horror convention and take my pictures and get my autographs that I want with them. We tentatively even have dinner plans again for tomorrow night, (pinch me I know.) This post is long enough, and I will share more soon. Thanx for being along for my ride, I appreciate all the supportive and informative comments and emails leading up to last night. Enjoy your weekend blogger friends and readers, so far, mine is divine!


Okay, for you that come here just for the hot guys, lol, here is a couple captured cuties for you from blogger friend Marko at Marks Planet, enjoy...........GG

Driving Miss D. (and Adrienne too) lol, thanx muchacha

Hello blogger friends, and welcome to the weekend. Well my big moment as a chauffeur has come and gone and it was a rousing success and good time had by all. So here's some background on the situation. As I said, I used to own the restaurant and bar in the basement of this hotel here in NE Ohio. I leased the basement for a year and tried to make a go of it. What I thought would be a great investment, really was not so much and I ended up losing about 40 thousand dollars and got out of it. I am still friends with the owner and general manager of the hotel. I need you to understand that I use the term hotel very loosely here. Oh it is charming in it's own way, and very historic, it was built in the late 1800's, and let's say that it is comfortable, but definitely does not have the bells and whistles of the finer hotels. The owner is an Indian man, very nice, but you cant understand what he is saying half the time, and definitely it is all about him and making a buck. The general manager is sweet as can be, but to call her an older italian matriarch, is to not put enough emphasis on older, lol. Neither really have the sense of class or statesmanship to be running, let alone owning a nicer hotel, and this place kinda works for them. I will leave my whole story about how I came to be there for another post.

So the closer I am getting to play chauffeur, the more nervous I am getting. Neither Dee or Adrienne, (they asked me to call them that, sigh,) are in the prime of their career, but have had some damn fine careers, (hello, the mom in ET one of the biggest selling movies of all times and Cujo and Howling, both cutting edge of the new horror genre, and Adrienne in groundbreaking Maude, originating Rizzo in Grease, 3 Seasons of Carnivale on HBO!!) I was a little intimidated about showing up in the trusty comfortable Buick. DAMN!!! Work called, got to get in there NOW!! More to come late night tonight blogger friends and readers, sorry...........GG TO BE CONTINUED.......................

WHICH WOULD YOU PREFER??

Small Town Boycott Needs Our Support, Political Quiz, American Smokeout, Captured Cuties

Hey Blogger Buddies and readers, it's Thursday and I have to get ready for my drive with Adrienne Barbeau and Dee Wallace Stone. So much to do, gotta change the oil, vacuum the inside, armor all the leather, and it's raining here in NE Ohio this morning, so a car wash is out of the question, let's hear it for Mama and Papa Guru's garage, since I dont have one.


I want to try to activate the Guru Blog Wonder Powers again, and tell you of a story I read about over at Gaywired and Bratboy School. It seems that Teri Yale, the owner of an alternative record shop in Mason, Michigan, next door to my exiled state of Ohio, has been the subject of labeling, accusations, police visits, and even a boycott. What has aroused all of this outpouring of emotion? Has she bribed public officials, had a sordid sexual scandal, or terrorizing neighborhood puppies?? Nope, Teri Yale had the nerve, the audacity, to use her one year old business to sponsor a float in the city's high school homecoming parade. Whose float did she sponsor you ask? The high school's gay/straight student alliance that her eldest daughter began at the school, several years earlier. According to Ms. Yale's daughter, “Ever since the parade, the record store's business has been non-existent.” “Several of our regular customers, who previously ignored the fact that we carry gay pride stickers and other (similar) items, now have informed us that they will do everything in their power to boycott and hurt our business. We are now known amongst the town as the store that publicly ‘promotes queers.’ These ignorant people have been spreading vicious rumors about our store and a mass-scale boycott has come into effect, courtesy of these parade-goers. " Blogger friends, boycott's are effective ways to get notice against stores like Walmart, etc, but a boycott to a rural, family business can be devastating. I would like to direct you to the store's website, Davey's Basement. How about you my wonderful fellow bloggers and readers go visit Teri Yale and offer her a quick note of support. Better yet, she carries awesome concert t-shirts, incense, stickers, and more and you can buy yourself something, or some early gifts for the upcoming holidays. They are not all shown on the website, but I am sure you can write her with what you are looking for and she will find it for you. Gay/Straight Student Alliances in high schools, are one of our best defenses in curing homophobia where it starts, in peer-pressure ridden high school. Someone who supports this effort should be praised, not called names and boycotted against. If we can boycott a landscaper that wont cater to our community, as in Austin Texas, we should sure be able to "reverse" a boycott, to a gay friendly shop owner in Michigan. Go to the website, offer your support and tell them the Gay Guru sent you. Thanx blogger friends and readers, Wonder Guru Powers, De-activate!!



The election season is over, (except for all the newly launching presidential exploratory committee's, jeeeesh,) and hopefully next month we will get a workable proposal from Jim Baker's group, for how to change course in Iraq. For those of you who accuse me of being ultra-liberal, a badge I grudgingly sometimes concurr with, I took a fun little quiz today, to let me know where I stand on the political spectrum. Much to my surprise, I am just left of center with a score of 15, proudly equal with President Clinton's liberalometer, LOL. Want to know where you might be sitting politically?? Go on over and try the quiz, it's fun and informative if not entirely "UN"scientific. I enjoyed it.



Did you know that today was The Great American Smoke Out?? You can click on that link to find some great stop smoking hints and helps. Having never been a smoker, I cant speak to the addictiveness of smoking, I am just able to watch the bi-products of it from growing up and around smokers. Papa Guru smokes an easy pack a day, and that's AFTER having 2 heart attacks and a stroke!! I guess they must be pretty addicting eh? Mama Guru smoked for 37 years and quit cold turkey about 12 years ago. I have been very proud of her. Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer at this time for both males and females. The Gay Guru is not here to preach, just to advise and offer commentary. I hope my smoking blogger friends and readers will weigh the health risks and the cost, (dem sticks are damn spensive!), and decide what they want to do. I would like to urge and challenge you all, just for 24 hours of reading this post, prove to yourself that you are strong enough to quit smoking if you want to. Good luck with it, it will be hard, but I hope you try, just to know you can.



And finally, for a little eye amusement, here are todays captured cuties, brought to us by my blogger friend over at One Third Basketi. Have a great day, and wish me luck with my airport run this evening. I will tell you all about it tomorrow....GG

Petition For Disheartened Conservatives, A Musical Number, LOL, "HUMP"day Wednesday Expanded Captured Cuties

Second post, had to get that blurb about Adrienne Barbeau and Dee Wallace Stone. I pick them up at the Pittsburgh airport tomorrow night at 7:15 and am still pretty excited. I got some great feedback already, but am looking for lot's more, thanx blogger friends and readers.


My fave girl I brag about all the time, SoCalMuchacha, sent me a nice email today and let me know about Michael Moore's latest project. I appreciate Mr. Moore being on the Democrat's side, and I have enjoyed his expose's, but do feel at times, like he can be the liberal Rush Limbaugh and kinda make up some facts to support his liberalism. That being said, I really enjoy this "Liberals Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives", that he has created. I strongly recommend friends that you go read this and sign it, it has many truths to it. I was the 12,825th signature, and am proud to have done so. Although it is somewhat tongue in cheek, all the points are very valid and it can be thought of as liberal's "Contract with America", if you will.



And for a little filler today, here is a fun lil musical number from John Cameron Mitchells, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". I wrote about his new project, "Short Bus" a while back, and I cant wait to see it, but I really enjoyed this movie.



And of course, lets finish off with some extra expanded "HUMP"day Wednesday Captured Cuties from hot boy blog, Muscle in Progress. Enjoy the rest of the week blogger friends.............GG

Excited, Scared, Sad; Guess Who I am Seeing Tomorrow Night??

Okay blogger friends and readers, here's the deal....I was all excited to post this morning and blogger was down, and could not post before I went to work. Luckily I am off a little earlier tonight and can get this post up. I have some exciting/scary/sad news, lol. I am not sure what of my life I have posted on here non-gay guru'ish', (and that's pretty sad when I think about it,) but anyway, I used to own a restaurant and bar that I leased in the bottom floor of a local hotel here in NE Ohio. I am still good friends with the owner and general manager of that hotel. Every November, for the past few years, the hotel host's a horror festival. They bring local and national movie companies to the area and have signings with horror stars, and memorabilia for sale, and continuous horror movie showings. Anyway, this thing is happening again this weekend, and I usually pop by and have met some very kewl old movies stars of the genre and a little mainstream. This morning, I get a call from the hotel general manager, asking what I am doing tomorrow. It's my day off, and though usually busy, said I am free for whatever she needed. Turns out, tomorrow night I am going to the airport and pick up Adrienne Barbeau and Dee Wallace Stone, and bring them back to the hotel!!! How crazy is that?? In case you dont know or remember who they are, (and shame on you,) Adrienne created the role of Rizzo on Broadway in Grease, Was daughter Carol to Bea Arthur's Maude, was in the recent HBO series Carnivale, and has been in many movies, (including some classic horror, which is why she is here,) and theatrical plays and has a great singing voice to boot. Dee is probably best remembered as the mom to Elliot in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and is an accomplished dancer, acting coach, and has been in many movies, tv programs and plays as well.





This is at once very exciting, because I am very familiar with them and their roles; Scary, because I dont want to come off as a complete dufus; and sad because I really admire them both and now they are relagated to being picked up by me, (not in a limo I might add, my trusty Buick,) and being exiled to sign horror autographs in NE Ohio, LOL. I am doing some serious Internet Googling tonight to make sure I have some conversation points if needed for the hour 20 minute ride to the hotel. I would like some of YOUR advice blogger friends. I am not familiar with the "queer quotient" of either of them, besides the fact that Maude was rather liberal and ground breaking. I am debating on whether letting them in on me being gay and asking if they mind if I write about them, or interview them for this blog, (more than I am here, LOL.) What is your opinions?? Of course I am not sure what they will be like, and I wouldnt dream of imposing on them or asking them anything if I felt the vibe wasnt right and they just wanted a quiet ride to the hotel. So tell me blogger friends and readers, send me comments and/or emails to let me know if I should try to land interviews for here at good ole' Gay Guru territory, or if I should respect their privacy. If you feel I should ask them if the mood seems right, are there any questions you would like to have answered by one or both of them??? Be sure to send me any questions you have and I will be sure to ask if I get the chance.




More blog to come in a couple hours............GG