Tuesday, November 3, Election Day … I get the car into the Infiniti dealer for it’s first tune-up.  Nice touch – they give me a loaner identical my own car and will clean mine before returning it tomorrow.  After voting (yes, I voted the straight Democratic ticket, as I had advised everyone else), Bryan and I went to Pangea for dinner (he needed some Swiss chard and spaghetti bolognese while I went with a fine Moroccan soup followed by linguine with little clams; both of us had mai tais).  We later watched the election results; naturally, we were ecstatic with Chuck Schumer’s win over Al D’Amato.

Wednesday, November 4, we go over to Dick’s for a martini before meeting Uncle Ralph Taylor at the Blue Water Grill on Union Square at 9 pm; it takes them about half an hour to get us seated for our reservation.  But the food is quite worth the wait; I begin with a platter of half a dozen littleneck clams and 3 and 3 of two different types of oysters (they have nine on the menu tonight).  Then I follow it with a $38 sushi platter; not your normal stuff but highly “tarted up.”  Bryan had his shrimp cocktail (but not as good as the rest of the food there) and Ralph had scallops in a porcini and peppercorn sauce (he told the waiter it was a waste of porcini as you couldn’t taste it above the pepper).  Ralph had the wild bass for an entrée and B a tuna steak.  But I think I had the best of everyone!  We also had drinks and a bottle of wine with dinner.  Suffice it to say that we were full and tired when we left at 11 pm.

Thursday, November 5, I pick up Jim Lenney to go to the wake of one of Trinity’s “big dog” parishioners.  Then choir practice followed by drinks at Jim and Jamie’s with Doug and Donna Reagan.  Donna and I discussed “truth” while Doug admitted that I had gotten his goat with my Michael Moore post (vote Democrat and throw the Republicans out).

Friday, November 6, lunch is from Sorrento’s, my father’s regular watering hole, where I have my usual linguini puttanesca … yum!  In the evening it's Dick’s for a pre-dinner cocktail, then next door to Mie for sushi, which we both have.

Driving music for Friday includes Dmitri Shostakovitch’s Symphony #11 (the “1905”), conducted by Leopold Stokowski with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, recorded in 1958.  This is a seminal work of the Western canon and it’s historical connection to the 1905 uprising (and slaughter of innocent Russian civilians) makes it so much more powerful.

Saturday, November 7; this is our productive afternoon, changing the new LitterMaid automatic kitty litter box, getting our Art Nouveau print framed and finally walking over to Chelsea to get Bryan new work shoes at Marty Shoes.  He also finds another piece of Hagar ceramic to add to his collection at a flea market.

We watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine before going to Flamingo East on Second Avenue for dinner.  They’ve just changed their menu to a slightly more Asian-directed one, but we think it was just an attempt to draw back business.  And although the kitchen staff is the same, the food just isn’t that exciting.

At 10, we stop at Dick’s for drinks, chat with some customers and then go over to John’s Italian Restaurant to see Donn (“Waiter Boy”).  Around midnight, after his cute boyfriend Michael arrives (it’s his birthday), the four of us go to Foxy, on 12th Street near Avenue A.  In December it will become Cock (I know, what a name), but Foxy is the Saturday night party there.  And what a wild and crazy East Village crowd!  Just our type of people, gay and straight, young and old.

Sunday, November 8, music includes Joni Mitchell’s “Hits” … it meant so much to me then; also a Jefferson Airplane collection that left me a bit down.  As Bryan said, maybe it makes me feel old.  Plus, it was followed on Monday morning by the Moody Blues “To Our Children’s Children’s Children.”  Now stop right there.  I know what you’re thinking, oh that bad old music.  But on the other side, the lyrics of that time spoke to a future of hope.  But the hopes of my generation in the mid-sixties were sacrificed on the altar of Altamount, leading to the vacuity of the 70s, the greed of the 80s and the cynicism of the 90s.  There, your social commentary for the day.

Dinner is at Lanza’s Italian on First Avenue where I have the clams oreganota (always), along with steamed escarole in garlic and some very tasty pollo scapariello (“hunter’s style” – it’s basically cut pieces of chicken and potatoes in garlic and wine sauce).  We split a bottle of pinot grigio, then walk back home and climb under the covers.

Monday, November 9, as Monday night is Bryan’s bowling night, I attend the bi-weekly meeting of the St. Barnabbas hiv group.  For World AIDS Day on December 1, we’ve decided to try to track down all the people who have been members of the group since the beginning; many have gotten on with their lives and it will be interesting to catch up with them.

Tuesday, November 10, I meet Ralph Taylor at an art opening on Prince Street.  This is very old-fashioned gay art; by that I mean lots of naked bodies in states of arousal.  Just the thing for a living room wall.  Anyway, Quentin Crisp is there along with a variety of people that Ralph hasn’t seen for a few years.

Around 7:30 pm, Scott “Dangerboy” Reich meets us (and meets Ralph for the very first time, although they’ve heard lots about each other).  The three of us then go to Madame X on Houston Street for martinis; there’s a very good young lounge singer there in the style of Eartha Kitt.

After a couple of drinks, we’re all having fun and decide to go off to dinner together.  As our original idea, Da Silvano, is packed, we wind up at Villa Moscone on MacDougal Street (right off Houston).  There are only a couple of tables of people there, and it’s obviously a “family” restaurant – and I don’t mean the “family values” type!  The food is superb and we have lots of it, including a couple of bottles of Ruffino Chianti Classico Riserva Gran Ducale (not quite the gold label that my father drinks, but the one right below it).

Wednesday, November 11, Veteran’s Day … B and I go to dinner at Pangea where Bryan has mai tais while I go for a hot rum toddy and red wine; the food as usual is quite good.

Thursday, November 12, really nothing of note.

Friday, November 13, interestingly, at cocktail hour at Dick's we run across James from our European trip.  He’s been very busy and proffered the normal apologies.

Then it’s Mexican at MaryAnn’s.  It helps that Frank, the maitre’d, is gay and a regular at Dick’s also; he gets us an immediate table (in smoking right near the bar, perfect) while others wait.  The food isn’t the very best, but it’s good comfort food!

Saturday, November 14, we meet Dangerboy at Flamingo East; his girlfriend Susan is filling in as bartender so we hang out for an hour of Cosmopolitans and appetizers.  By 11, we’re back in the apartment and a slow night.

Sunday, November 15, dinner at In Padella on the corner of Second Avenue and 9th Street.  It wasn’t our plan to eat there; the tapas bar was crowded and we were being indecisive.  Now, this isn’t La Paella, the name of the tapas bar.  This is In Padella.  And yes, it’s just down the street … go figure.  Anyway, the food is Italian and very good; I have beef carpaccio and lobster ravioli, Bryan has vegetarian meatballs followed by papardelle (the thick flat noodles that I’ve been looking for recently).  The food and the service are very good tonight; not bad when the college kids haven’t taken it over.

Musical notes:  a memorial nod to Leonard Bernstein as I’ve just heard his takes on Aaron Copland’s “Billy the Kid” (so alive it’s unique if not definitive) and his symphonic music for his own “On the Waterfront” which was darker and more sublime than I recalled.  Also, Richard Nanes is a fine American composer who pieces are often informed of his Jewish sensibility.  His “Rhapsody Pathetique for Violin & Orchestra: A Hebraic Lament” is particularly indicative of this; a very moving piece that I originally heard on an airline!  Also on the CD is his Symphony for Strings which lacked melodic strength; nonetheless, a composer to watch.

Monday, November 16, we walk to Chelsea and Old Navy.  It’s his niece Angel’s fourth birthday on Wednesday and he always buys the kids presents there.  Then it’s off for a stroll down Seventh Avenue for a margarita at Woody’s and then two margaritas at the Hangar on Christopher Street (it’s two-for-one); Bryan more wisely sticks with Ketel One.  Dinner at John’s Italian.

Tuesday, November 17, a hangover in the morning, then after work I go to Chelsea to meet Bryan and Michelle Petersen; Bryan has taken her to Bed, Bath and Beyond.  Oh, fun!  Then it’s off to the Chelsea Lobster Company on Seventh Avenue, about a block away.  Formerly known as Claire’s (and still with the same gay bartender for the last 20 years), one of the owners is Mark Oram, brother of Albert O!  We saw him at the wedding last month (finally meeting him after all these years) and were disappointed that we just missed him at the restaurant.  Oh, well, the food was just fine; I had clams and oysters for an appetizer while Bryan had a chicken pot-sticker salad (much like the famous one at Chin Chin in Los Angeles).  Then I had a baked, crabmeat-stuffed lobster, Michelle a steamed lobster and Bryan the blackened bluefish (it’s never blackened enough for B, and tonight is no different).

Wednesday, November 18, we watch Star Trek: Voyager before going to Pangea for dinner.  But it’s late and we barely touch our food, although we finish our mai tais and chat with the owners while a Tommy Hilfiger party swirls around us.

Thursday, November 19, music is Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” in a late 1971 recording with the NY Philharmonic under their conductor Leonard Bernstein; yes, it’s part of my Lenny kick this year.

Friday, November 20, we have tickets to go see Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca” at the Metropolitan Opera.  The conductor is Nello Santi (who has worked there on and off for years, he’s very good), the set is by Franco Zeffirelli (so it’s appropriately over the top), Cavaradossi is sung by Richard Leech (a sublime voice), Scarpia by the famous baritone Juan Pons and Tosca by Maria Guleghina.  She’s been around for awhile, but I believe she’s just a point of being huge (of course, Bryan mentioned that she looks that way already!).  I really enjoyed the performance (we had fine seats on the right hand side of the orchestra) although I don’t think it’s exactly Bryan’s type of music (a little flowery for his taste).  Afterwards, we went across the street to Josephina’s for dinner; the food was alright but I’m not sure I’d recommend it considering how many other fine restaurants there are in the area.

Saturday, November 21, we get the car and head off to Brooklyn for our friend Joe Fiore’s 40th birthday party.  Unfortunately, yours truly takes the wrong bridge and Bryan and I wind up miles from our destination; we don’t make the restaurant until after everyone else has had appetizers.  But the restaurant (Max & Moritz on Brooklyn’s Seventh Avenue and 14th Street) is very cute and we have a nice time; besides Joe and his boyfriend David Feight, their friends Paul and Orrison are also present.  After dinner, we all head back to Joe’s apartment (a block away) for dessert.  Joe has lived there since 1983 (that’s correct, isn’t it Joe?) and it’s a lovely three-family brownstone with tons of detailing.  A few more of his friends show up and then B and I go back home and, after looking into Dick’s and finding it too crowded, stop into Pangea for hot rum toddies.

Sunday, November 22, another lazy morning.  For brunch, we go to the Telephone Bar and Grill on Second Avenue where I have delicious curried chicken with poached eggs and hollandaise and Bryan has huevos rancheros (I have to take him out West again as he’s not found real ones on the East Coast).

Then it’s off to the Whitney Museum to see the Mark Rothko exhibit which is just about to close; we also see the works of Bob Thompson, an African-American artist who died before he was 30 in the 1980’s (we didn’t find him too exciting unfortunately).

Around 5 pm, we walk down to SoHo to Modernica where they have the Eames chair and ottoman.  After poking into some stores, we wind up at Astor (on the corner of Astor and Bowery, on the southwest corner of the East Village) for dinner.  Along with our martinis, I have chili crusted prawns in a white bean liquid and tagliatelle with mussels in saffron (very good) while B has goat cheese tart and rare tuna.

Monday, November 23 and we’re at Pizzeria Uno (yes, very fancy) by 6 pm.  After a short nap, we subway to Port Authority where Bryan is bowling this year (no, not in the bus lanes but in the bowling alley in the middle of it).  This is my first opportunity to see him bowl at his new location and I have a lot of fun seeing Joe Fiore, David Feight and the other members of the league.  Of course, their team always seems to take the longest to play and we’re not home until almost midnight.

Tuesday, November 24, we get a drink at Dick’s and then it’s off to Holy Basil on Second Avenue for Thai food.  They’ve changed their menu slightly (plus the chef, we believe, as the presentation is all different) but it’s still very good.

Wednesday, November 25, we have a very pleasant afternoon, taking a walk around to pick up the framed Art Nouveau-style poster we bought recently (looks great, now we have to find a place to hang it).  We stop for pastries at world-famous Veniero’s but we find a two hour wait so we go to De Robertis on Second Avenue; not only is there no line, but the pastries are probably better!  Then it’s an early stop for mai tais and tomato-walnut puree at Pangea; the owner, Arnoldo, will serve his help on Thanksgiving which we think is really nice of him.

Then it’s home by 6 pm and a magic special and Star Trek: Voyager; we go to dinner at the Second Avenue Deli.  Bryan recommends chicken in a pot which is very tasty (he gets potato pancakes).

Thursday, November 26, Thanksgiving Day … we’re up at 7 am and meet Dangerboy and Susan at 9 am to subway to Herald Square.  Thanks to his dad’s girlfriend, we’re seeing the parade from her BellAtlantic offices right over the parade route.  It’s lots of fun for us, but not so much for the participants as it’s decided to rain all morning, finally clearing up at noon!

Then it's my parents in Cranford; we’re there from 2 until 6, having the traditional Thanksgiving Day lasagna (no turkey) with them, Mario and MaryKay and my mom’s Aunt Jean (cousin Lorraine’s mother, quite feisty at over 80).  The drive back into the city is perfect; there’s no one out on the roads and we make it back faster than ever.

We immediately hit the streets, having drinks at Dick’s but finding most other places closed.  We accidentally wind up at a small bar on 8th (maybe 7th) Street named Oasis; the one (cute) bartender Mike is there with only a few customers (his friend Kevin from Hoboken, ex-junkie Jill, crazy Tony – no, not me – and Bryan and me).  We have lots of drinks together and actually have a fun two hours.  By midnight, we’re peckish again and have dinner at Veselka on Second Avenue and 9th Street (not very good turkey, but we needed it for tradition).  Then back to the apartment and lights out around 1 am.

Friday, November 27, Bryan has a short workday so I amble down Fifth Avenue from Central Park; I stop in for the noon service at St. Thomas Episcopal.

I was going to catch the Jackson Pollack exhibit at the MOMA but there’s a huge line, and even though I could walk right in with my membership card, I figure it’s going to be too crowded in there to be enjoyable.  So instead I go shopping at Barnes and Noble, picking up Donald Spoto’s new biography The Hidden Jesus: A New Life, a new William Burroughs biography, the new Thomas Wolfe for Bryan along with Dan Savage’s collected columns, plus some calendars and other minor books.

Then I go to the NY Public Library to start the Spoto and await Bryan.  Once he’s out, we walk down Park Avenue, stopping into CompUSA where we get Windows 98 (Bryan is switching the home computer from NT 4.0), some Christian clip art that I’ve been searching for, and a new type of mouse for B to play with.

Then we stop at Virgin for the new album from Cher for Bryan and Faithless “Saturday 8 PM” for me; we’re home by 5 pm.  We relax until I go to meet Dangerboy and Susan at 8 pm at O.G. on 6th Street between Avenues A + B; joining him is a woman friend from college and her friend.  The food is great, sort of pan-Asian.  I have some mussels followed by their Szechuan beef (as does Scott, it’s the favorite dish); we also have some superb Concannon red wine.  After dinner, Susan has to go to work at 9C so the rest of us go into Niagara on the corner of 7th Street and Avenue A.

After a quick drink, I’m ready to roll so I stop into I.C. Guys on 6th Street; this is a new bar, about 12 feet on a side, with one, very cute bartender and one dancer (who wasn’t dancing as his boyfriend was in town for the weekend!).  But it seems interesting, so we’ll check in again.  I stop into Dick’s around 11 pm and then home.

Saturday, November 28 and a walk through Union Square to get our first peek at Christmas trees.  We also pick up some used cd’s, a Christmas album by the Squirrel Nut Zippers for B and Woody Allen’s Nighclub Years which I had on record many years ago.

We go to the Millenium Film Workshop on 66 East 4th Street to see half a dozen video films by Tom Chomont (all about 5-10 minutes in length); there are less people than shorts.  I wish I could say that they were exceptional, especially since most of them will be re-shown on February 1 at the MOMA as part of their CinemaProbe series (see the current issue of the Advocate).

Sunday, November 29, brunch (well, maybe a very early dinner) at La Balconata, 304 East 6th Street between First and Second Avenues.  It’s a new Italian that we’ve been meaning to try; I wonder about the longevity of their location, as it’s in the middle of an Indian food block.  But the food is really superb; Bryan has shrimp cocktail (with the same sauce they use in Europe) followed by tagiatelle in an incredible tomato/black olive/caper/chicken sauce – it tastes exactly the same a sauce that my late grandmother used to make!  I have clams and mussels in a garlic/butter sauce followed by chicken breast in an artichoke/sun-dried tomato/garlic sauce.  Then we split a light-as-air chocolate mousse cake.

At night it's Dick’s for drinks followed by late food at Pangea at 11 pm (salads, calamari and soup).

Monday, November 30, Bryan has bowling; I am very lazy and just watch Melrose and read until we meet after 11 pm at Dick’s for a cocktail.

And that ends November.