Wednesday, December 2 and the weather in the Northeast has been incredible; I pick up Bryan on the way home and we have Japanese food at Mie.

Thursday, December 3 and my dentist appointment (no cavities for over a decade).  After work, I drive into Cranford to see mom; I’m in an amazingly lazy mood and Bryan has suggested coming back into town for the evening, requiring a skip of choir practice.

So I drive into the city and La Balconata again; we’re determined to keep it in business.  Bryan has the shrimp cocktail again followed by something like a fettucine primavera while I have an amazing appetizer of mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto with pesto sauce served warm, followed by the fettucine dish that B had the last time.  Just yummy!

Then drinks at The Cock (hey, it’s got a rooster on the door), the new bar on 12th Street and Avenue A that hosts Foxy on Saturday nights.  They’ve decided to go gay all week and the place is packed with very East Village types, plus a stripper with, well, let’s say a very strong face and an even stronger … well, you get the point.  I’m quite tired by midnight however, and say good-bye to Donn and his boyfriend.

Friday, December 4, I get up very early as Sophia has the day off.  Her best friend’s baby son (15 months old and never out of the hospital) has passed on and she’s attending the services.  Today is also a record day for temperature; it’s 72 degrees and beautiful.  We stopped at Dick’s on the way home for a martini and then to dinner at Pangea; but dinner was stressful with a silly argument about the Clinton situation.  A big bowl of spaghetti bolognese certainly helped.

Right after leaving, we see some cute guy who winds up being Mark Harrington, the noted AIDS activist.  Oh, yeah, I should put a TM after his name; people drop his name whenever they need a credit for their columns!  Anyway, the three of us go to Orson’s for a quick cocktail and then go our ways.

Saturday, December 5, I read David Littler’s November diary which cheers me up considerably; it’s important for me to have old friends even though they’re far away.  Pangea at 8 pm.  We meet a fellow bowler of Bryan’s, Dennis, who wants to go with us.  We have a nice dinner (and three mai tais each!) before splitting up.

Sunday, December 6, up around noon to go to the Lunch Box and a walk to look at Christmas trees.  We’re back home around 5 pm, and after some quick pickup of the apartment, we’re off on a walk to the West Village since the temperature is still so nice.

Our first stop is Julius; they begin playing Pet Shop Boys when we walk in so it’s a good sign.  Then another drink at Pieces on Christopher Street.  Upon seeing Tio Pepe’s on W. 4th Street, we change plans and go in for margaritas and Spanish food for me (a hot antipasto of  breaded shellfish followed by shellfish in green sauce) and Mexican for Bryan (shrimp in garlic sauce followed by vegetarian fajitas).

Monday, December 7, back to work on another record-setting beautiful day.  E-mail post of the day is from Jane Hudson; not that there was anything special about the particular post but it gives me the chance to link her site.  Boston folk may remember Jeff + Jane Hudson (and before that The Rentals) as significant members of the early “scene.”  I meet with Bryan and we have dinner at Pizzeria Uno; it’s quick and easy on bowling night.

We meet at Dick’s for a nightcap around midnight and then walk down to the Cock to see what’s happening there on Monday nights.  Nothing.  There’s maybe five people there; but the dj is none other than Jayne (nee Wayne) County!  She’s looking a bit haggard these days and the music was a basic Ramones/heavy metal mix but it was neat to see her there.

Tuesday, December 8, the weather breaks and it’s cool and gray; we make work at the normal time.  Later in the day, I go to Pangea for spaghetti bolognese; while there I see our neighbor Andrew who joins me with his drink.

And here's a picture of Rosebud inside her house.  She never goes there so she must really love you to be seen there!

Wednesday, December 9, hot rum toddies at Pangea, followed by dinner again at La Balconata.  Of course, B has his shrimp cocktail in European sauce followed by my grandmother’s fettucine; I have the mussels special (whole cloves of garlic and saffron cream) and shrimp and broccoli over fettucine.  Then we stop over to I.C. Guys; unbelievably they’re still in business with Chris as bartender … he sure is cute!

Thursday, December 10, I know I should be at choir practice on Thursday nights but I’m just feeling lazy.  Four choices:  he suggests John’s Italian, the Chinese joint at 6th and 2nd for scallion pancakes, Lanza’s (yes, we like Italian) or … Brunetta’s.  Ah, we haven’t been there in awhile!  After bruschetta for him and an insanely good squash and tomato soup (think a pureed marinara sauce), we both had the same special – shrimp and broccoli over cappelini in garlic sauce.  We split a bottle of verdicchio and then came something very special – dessert.  We split strawberries over filo dough covered in crème fraiche.  You cannot believe how good it was!

Friday, December 11, I can’t believe we’re in work somewhat near a normal hour.  Around 5 pm, I leave work and get in around 6 pm, the same time as Bryan.  Then we kill a couple of hours and off to Penang at 8 pm for bad mai tais (“but the Myers is for the float” says the bartender) while we wait to enter the movie theater.  At 8:15 we get in line; and what lovely bridge and tunnel people go to Star Trek movies!  Yes, we’re at the opening night of Star Trek: Insurrection, another in a long line of Trek films.  (Note:  Although Entertainment Weekly gives the movie a C, it gives the website an A+ so you might want to try the link.)  This one has a rather silly plot device and unfortunately the cast just can’t overcome it; Jonathan Frakes (“Commander Riker”) directs so he can play William Shatner ogling all his women co-stars.  Can we get Patrick Stewart to direct the next?

Saturday, December 11, we have dinner in another area.  We first walked south on Sixth and then east on 3rd Street, finally settling for dinner at Pasta Presto on MacDougal Street (off Bleeker).

We’d meant to eat there before but it had been too crowded; tonight it even had a smoking table for us.  I had the calamari followed by pasta #9 (a linguini in white wine liquid – I can’t even say sauce – with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and prosciutto which was sort of bland); Bryan had bruschetta followed by shrimp scampi.  But it was shrimp in the shell (B hates it prepared that way) and over herbed roasted potatoes (instead of pasta) and broccoli (although the vegetable was very tasty, it’s not normally in scampi).  And no Ketel One.  At least the chocolate mousse cake was superb (of course, it probably wasn’t baked on premises).  Oh, well, at least we’ve tried it now.

Our first stop is I.C. Guys on Sixth Street; Chris is off so we check out the fill-in, Aaron, who is also the dancer; thin, thin, I’d almost say scrawny; but quite hot.  After a drink, we go to Dick’s.  There we see Mark Harrington along with his woman friend Tracy from Cambridge MA.  She grew up listening to me and knows all about me (she even used to go dancing at Spit) and many of my friends in Boston.

Sunday, December 13 … although I’m up for a couple of hours in the afternoon, editing my two newsletters, we basically don’t get out of bed (or even awake) until 6 pm.  So the Christmas tree has to wait another day again.  By 7 pm, we’re dressed and at Dick’s; is it a breakfast drink?  Anyway, we’re quickly off to Gulshan – “finest exotic Indian & Bangladeshi cuisine” – on Second Avenue and Sixth Street.  The food there is generally rated quite highly and, although I find nothing vaguely Bangladeshi about the place, the food is quite tasty and the prices quite low (although it’s only beer and wine).

Around 9, we’re looking in the new Bar (replacing the burned out one on Second Avenue and Fourth Street, same location) which is very dead.  So we go immediately next door to the Boiler Room for a quick drink.  Boring.  Then to I.C. Guys to see Chris; by 11 pm, we’re back at Dick’s.

Monday, December 14, we’re off to buy our Christmas tree.  And we find a beautiful one … a Douglas fir, great smell, about 5-6 feet high, very bushy.  $45 with free stand; I know that’s expensive for the suburbs but we just wanted to walk around the corner with it.  Getting back to the apartment, I watch “Melrose Place.”

Tuesday, December 15, I wake up to a missing cat.  Oh, no, is it like last time when she was stuck out on the porch?  No, she was just comfortable over the radiator!  Lazy thing. First I pick up our new Christmas cards; Bryan and I had our picture taken in our tuxedos at Albert’s wedding and had them made into cards.  We’re not that impressed with them; it’s not the photographer’s fault … it’s just us!  Then it’s off to find one of Bryan’s big gifts – a 300 compact disc changer.  I found it at the Wiz (all three stores are in Union Square), in stock and on sale!

Then it’s Virgin Records – we get cds for Michelle (some special French artists) and I get the Kronos Quartet 10 cd box set for Bryan (along with Joe Dallesandro in Andy Warhol’s “Trash” and a cd by Carlo Ponte, the singer we heard in Florence as a joke gift).  I get back to the apartment to find Bryan up from his nap, the tree decorated.  We pretty much have a relaxing night at home; finally going out to Pangea around 11 pm as I had the urge for spaghetti bolognese and mai tais.

And here's a terrible picture of our tree; sorry we didn't have time to try fancy lighting or whatever but you get the idea.
Wednesday, December 16, I’m employing the scorched earth policy – buy everything that Bryan has even laid eyes on in the last few months!  Oh, and speaking of scorched earth, I see that not only do we bomb Baghdad whenever we don’t want to be impeached; we also get to see Tom Brokaw clamor for Saddam’s head and the rest of America (and the stock market) not even care.  “Operation Desert Fox: Attack on Iraq” brought to you by NBC.  Impeachment was off for, what, 24 hours?

Anyway, after Bryan came home and had a quick nap, we headed off to Dick’s at 9:30 to meet David, a friend from Dick's, for dinner.  We've never really had a full conversation with him so we thought it’d be nice.  And it was, a quick nosh at Pangea (with the requisite mai tais).

Thursday, December 17, a gray day in the city.  I get up late and cancel my doctor’s appointment, but it’s ok as they give me the results over the phone – my t-cells have rebounded from 98 to 175!  This is the highest they’ve been since 1993!  And viral load is still undetectable.  Great way to start the day!

I had dinner with my parents for their 49th anniversary.  Nothing special; they didn’t even spend the day together, then she made macaroni for dinner.  My brother Mario joined us later in the meal and then he split, I left the house around 8 pm, and my parents set up their Christmas tree.  I was supposed to go to choir practice, but skipping it is becoming habit forming.

Friday, December 18, cab to the Monster to meet Joe Fiore and David Feight; we get there at 7:15 – early!  B and I have the special ... bad margaritas ... when Joe arrives (David having gotten there first), we go to Burrito Loco on West 4th Street, next to Tio Pepe (which shares owners).  Quite disappointing, the service was bad, the food so-so.  Unfortunately, most everything had to be sent back because it was cold!  Everything was waiting on my dish which turned out to be very boring shrimp in cheap tomato sauce.

On to the movie, our real reason to get together.  We walked down the block to the Waverly Theater on Sixth Avenue to see “Velvet Goldmine.”  First, the theater itself is wonderful, at least downstairs where it’s very old; unfortunately, we see it upstairs where they’ve carved a theater out of the old balcony.  At least every seat is a good one as you’re right on top of a very large screen.  The movie itself is a take-off on the Iggy Pop/David Bowie stories of the glam period.  None of us found it as good as we had hoped it would be.  Although you do get to see a lot of naked chests; always adding a point to the score.  Afterward, we walked home, not being able to find a cab.  I wasn’t amused in the least as it was chilly outside.

Saturday, December 21, we’re up at noon and at the Lunch Box.  But after that the day speeds up and we’re in the car, pick up Danger and Susan, and on the road to Boston by 3:30 pm.

The four of us had a nice, if uneventful, trip; and we’re the first people at the party which starts officially at 7:30 pm!  Soon after, however, the people started arriving, starting with Ellen Regele and her sister Susan; the flood started at 9 pm.

Notable, for me at least, was Oedipus and his friend Kerry and Albert O and his wife Jen (both men of WBCN and both owners of new and much talked-about homes) and Jeff Berlin and his wife Robyne Tanner; Jeff brought me a CD-R with all my old production bits and various celebrity id’s among other artifacts – thanks!  Yes, this is a picture of Jeff and Robyne; some of you might remember my being best man at their wedding a couple of years ago.

We also saw Julie Kramer of WFNX, Ducky the producer, Jack of Planet Mosquito and his girlfriend Lindsey (Bryan says Jack has a “great butt”), Glenn and Nicole, Shari Sklar, a ton of WBCN people including Julie, Tammy, Mike, Tim Johnson and Ed Lyons, Bill and Alice Abbate – wait – no – they didn’t show!  Last minute problems, so that was disappointing.

There were lots of Jeff’s friends, of course, including Ross Humphrey, Darren Hill, Gage, Dave Wentling and Marie Concannon (turns out he just got married to his long time girlfriend last week at a small ceremony – and they served both Wentling and Concannon vintage wines!), Jeff Richardson, J.G., Jamie Willis.

Also tons more people including Steve Belcher (who came with his friend Brent who promptly asked Ellen out), Elisa and her sister and her ultra-cute Puerto Rican nephew (“underage” at 19 with that delightful sullen attitude), Paul J, some guy named Brian (he got into a pouting match with Bryan over the middle letter) who was a dead ringer for the cutie in the Old Navy ad, his girlfriend Carmina, Danny (looking even better as he gets older) and Roger Moore – oh, no, he didn’t show up either.

The party, as usual, was incredible, with Jeff making up all the food – impeccable shrimp cocktail (shows you what a good cook can do with B.J.’s frozen), his famous individual lobster quiches, crabmeat/asparagus in filo dough, and other varieties; new this year were chicken balls in Indian spices and dill sauce.

The party continued merrily until after 2 am, with Albert and Jen staying until after 3 am.  Shari took Danger and Susan back to her house (they said they want to stay there every time, it’s the perfect hotel) and the very last person out was Tammy (she rolls well).  Bryan and I crashed almost immediately; he had a bit of a hangover in the morning!  We learned our lesson again about champagne.

Sunday, December 20, lunch at the B&G Deli near Jeff’s house, along with Shari, Danger and Susan.  Then Prudential Center to do last minute shopping.  Drinks at Jeff’s and then Jeff and Alli, Danger and Susan, and Bryan and I went to the Franklin Café on Shawmut Avenue in the South End.  It’s a very crowded place, so we wound up standing at the bar for an hour while awaiting our table.  Albert O got there around 10 pm and we all sat down to eat; Bryan had been meaning to get there for ages to have their famous chicken livers (I think that’s why Albert joined us also!).  The food was decent, if not as good as we remember; of the seven of us, two have the tuna loin (quite rare and not bad in a pepper coating), two split the turkey meatloaf, and three have filet mignon (in a brown sauce that seems the same as the turkey) which the diners all found over-cooked.

We all left around 11:30 pm; Bryan and I going to Avalon and Axis on Lansdowne Street for an hour.  Probably because of the holidays, it’s not crowded at all which is a disappointment.  Plus, Avalon showed the same problem as last time – disco dj’s playing nothing but intros and outros … where’s the singer?  We then went to the Ramrod Room, around the corner from my old Boston condo.  Even that’s dead, with their specialty room, Machine, not even open.  By 2 am, we’re back at Jeff’s apartment; Jeff and Alli are up, having just gotten back from Shari’s.  But none of us last long and it’s sleep soon after.

Monday, December 21, we’re all up around 10 am and by 11:30 both Danger and Susan have arrived and the four of us are on the road.  Another uneventful drive, this time with Bryan taking over the driving for the first half of the trip.  We get into the city around 4 pm; Danger has to go immediately to work, Susan unpacks, and Bryan and I go Christmas shopping.

The idea this year is simple; show forth the riches of the East Village.  That’s right, a basket of goodies for people in both of our families.  We find some very nice things, grabbing a bunch of Sassy Slider’s on the way.  What, you don’t know?  Modeled on White Castle except much more interesting; Bryan is very fond of the veggie sliders.

Tuesday, December 22, and the season moves into winter with the temperature dropping twenty to thirty degrees over 24 hours.  After work, we continue our efforts to keep La Balconata alive.  Bryan has his shrimp cocktail and the pasta that tastes like grandma’s and their superb mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto in pesto sauce, followed by a linguine special for me).  After, we stop into I.C. Guys to say hi to Chris then back to Dick’s.

Wednesday, December 23, it’s the last full work day of the year.  In the car, I’ve been listening to the cd that Jeff Berlin made of my old radio production bits; ah, nostalgia!  Driving into ny was not the problem I thought it might be; I got right into the apartment around 6 pm, Bryan got in around 9 as he went out to the Madison Hotel with his co-workers for xmas cheer.

We promptly fell asleep after watching Star Trek: Voyager and awoke, hungry, around 1 am.  So off to find food; not as easy in the East Village as you might think.  But the upside is that it’s snowing for the first time in ages.  And beautiful snow!  So we have a nice walk, finally eating at Bandito’s, home of loud music and so-so Mexican food.  But we didn’t care.

Thursday, December 24, Christmas Eve.  I’ve made an executive decision; I want a romantic Christmas.  No, I want to go to “Smoky Mary’s” a/k/a St. Mary the Virgin in the Times Square area; so-called because of the amount of incense at the midnight mass.  I remember going there with John Hood years ago.  Anyway, that’s what we’re going to do although I can’t imagine anyone else being happy with the decision.

Torna Sorrento’s restaurant in Elizabeth NJ to join my father, his brother Joe (who works with us), foreman Al, Sophia and worker Manny; the shop officially closed for the holidays (we re-open January 4) at noon and many have gone to my dad’s watering hole for lunch.

While there, I get to see one of the night tables assembled; it’s so heavy it will have to be disassembled before bringing it and its twin to the apartment!  The top shelf is cobalt blue, actually recast from some rare material from mid 1930's Murano, the second is zebra wood, the third is 2024, aircraft quality aluminum plate, anodized a deep wine color and the bottom is 6061 aircraft grade aluminum plate in a clear anodize; both shelves have a cloudy grind.  They've only taken us a year to get to this stage!  And both (yes, they're twins) weigh about a hundred pounds each.

Friday, December 25, Christmas Day, we get out of the house around noon.  At Zabar’s we get great baskets for both of them and we’re in Cranford by 1:30 pm.  Joining the xmas repast is my parents, Mario and MaryKay, my mom’s Aunt Jean, my Uncle Emil and Aunt Annie (she’s been suffering from cancer the last few year’s and this is the first holiday dinner she’s been at for ages), their daughter (and my favorite cousin) Carol and her kids Nicole and Matt (you’ve read all about them before), also my dad’s friends Pat Faraone and his girlfriend Elaine.  Traditional Italian Christmas dinner where the main dish was the lasagna (although there was a much ignored ham afterward).

Finally, it's Christmas time so here's our Christmas card; the picture was taken at Albert O's wedding last month.

Saturday, December 26, we’re up at 10 am, an incredible twelve hours of sleep.  So of course we feel groggy.  It’s the Lunch Box by noon and quick shopping at K-Mart before driving Bryan to work for a few hours; I begin an incredible six loads of laundry and other household chores.  B gets home around 6 pm and we continue packing until 8 pm.  Then it's a relaxing evening.

Sunday, December 27, we’re up at 11 am, and have lunch at 1 pm at the Lunch Box.  Then it’s time to bring Rosebud to Dangerboy and Susan’s apartment as one of the women that we’re swapping apartments with is allergic to cats.  Of course, I have great worries about this that eventually turn out to be totally unfounded.  And that ends December in NYC as the next diary entry is our trip to London!

And now we must bid you a Merry Christmas as we must party, party, party 'til 1999 ... or whatever prince said!