Yes, the end is near for this year.  Here the leaves will begin to turn and the nights will grow colder.  But it's still New York City, the grandest town around.

Also, this diary currently ends on October 18, the day after Bryan and I end our relationship with you.  Besides, there's so much in the past that so many of you have not explored.  Why not go back and revisit some of the high points of our life together?  [But see the end of this page for an update.]

Before we get going, I'd like to share some sites with you; some about eating, some about traveling.  Why?  Because I have a mess of them cluttering up my bookmarks file and my inbox (yes, people send me suggestions).

Gay visitors should check out the Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center.  Gay history buffs can find out more about the city's history.  More generally, check out Gay Literature and History (particularly English).  For travel tips, whether in or out of the city, Out & About is the best guide for the gay traveler although GayGuide has a great search engine.

Of course, you may just want to look at where you're going and certainly the Library of Congress is a good source for maps.

If you're an Episcopalian, ECD Plus will help you find a parish or a cleric.  A great church to find would be St. James in Florence Italy!  Or you can use Morehouse's locator, also known as the Red Book.  Elsewhere, you can find out more about hymns.

Sunday, October 1 and I’m up around 8 am working on the website and getting ready for church.  It’s the first of the month so it's Holy Communion instead of Morning Prayer; in addition the sermon from Canon Andrew is absolutely fiery.  It’s about angels ascending and descending and the point that we’re part of God’s plan, not the other way around.

I listen to Vaughan Williams and the Sinfonia Antarctica from which comes "The Pillar of the Cloud" - a poem from John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), composed at sea on June 16, 1833:

Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
             Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home --
             Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
     The distant scene, -- one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou
             Should'st lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
             Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
             Will lead me on,
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
             The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

Tuesday, October 3, and I’m up relatively early to catch as much of the Wohlman Archives as I can.  It’s David’s second show on the small San Jose station; I can only imagine what it would have been like if we had had that advantage twenty years ago on WMBR!

Then it’s off to work; just after noon there’s an excursion to buy tea around the corner from the office.  Bryan needed tea and Johnny Ross had been telling me about this place, so with Joan and Sean in tow the six of attacked.  Alberene Cashmeres (435 Fifth Avenue) specializes in, well, cashmere.  And not cheap either; sweaters were half off but that mean almost three hundred dollars.  But besides clothing (how about seventy dollar cashmere socks?), they’ve expanded into a variety of things Anglophiles love such as tea, pub items and even small sculptures of famous English buildings.  Mind you, nothing is cheap but it was certainly a fun field trip.

Then it was work until 7 and MaryAnn’s for dinner.  One never knows what the music will be there; it’s never Mexican, that’s for sure.  But tonight it was Leonard Cohen’s “The Future” (Columbia, 1992) with the ‘hit’ Waiting for the Miracle.  Interesting trivia:  Cohen had been on Columbia (is it Sony now?) since his very first album, I think until recently.  Quite unusual for a large company to maintain such a boutique artist.

Wednesday, October 4 and the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi although I was quite unaware of it; indeed the only reason I knew was because of noonday prayer.  And for those who didn't know, that's my middle name, chosen at my confirmation when I was 13 (yes, I was originally a Roman Catholic).

Bryan has gone up to work for an hour and on the way back picks up a pizza from Zito’s and a variety of Pete’s beers.  The pizza, from a coal oven, is actually quite good with the minor exception of not being crisp enough.  Half is plain and the other with bacon, black olives and mushrooms.

Then we watch two hours of Star Trek: Voyager.  The first is the season finale and the following the season premiere.  And from what we can tell it’s going to be a very good season.

I lie in bed watching Ovation.  They’re showing a 1994 production of Puccini’s Turandot with a stage set by David Hockney.  It’s the San Francisco Opera with Michael Sylvester as Calph.  There’s a wonderful line at the end where the diva says, I know his name, his name is Love.  Plus the wonderful victory aria that Sylvester sings at the beginning of the final act.  My, my it’s rather stunning.

Thursday, October 5 and we watch the vice-presidential debates in relative silence; they're extremely boring.

Friday, October 6 and I take myself out to dinner at Lanza’s.  Food is probably the one thing that keeps me going!  For appetizers I have a selection from their table then clams oreganota and then chicken breasts in a lovely anise and cream sauce.  I even find room for dessert, an incredibly moist ricotta cheese cake and an espresso with anisette.

Saturday, October 7 and a stop for a bottle of 1999 Mionetto Pinot Grigio Piave and another bottle of 1997 Hawk Crest Cabernet Sauvignon.

Then the PBS broadcast of Nathan Lane in The Man Who Came to Dinner.  As for the play … just fantastic.  The old plays required a huge cast and this one has it.  Nathan Lane is on the whole time with everyone else revolving around him.  Written by Hart and Kaufman, it followed You Can’t Take It With You; some may recall my star turn as the grandfather while at Montclair Academy in the early 70s.

Saturday Night Live has host Rob Lowe and musical guest Eminem (with a cameo appearance by Dido) and still manages to do skits without punchlines.  But it does have cameos by Brendan Fraser and Ralph Nader.

Sunday, October 8 and I head over to 11 AM Morning Prayer.  Once again, I’m stunned by Canon Andrew’s sermon which emphasizes loneliness.  I have a nice quick chat with Jeffrey Johnson after the service.  I particularly compliment him on his organ accompaniment to the Holst Te Deum; indeed, he shows me the frontispiece to the music where Holst specifically recommends against using the organ.  But his pulsating bass line to it adds perfect counterpoint.

And speaking of ‘counter’ Dr. Allen makes effective use of a countertenor in a piece by John Ireland later.  And we also get the invitatory that we discussed last month.  Bryan and I eat at In Padella; following beef carpaccio and minestrone, it’s a somewhat bland gnocchi with pesto for me, a superb papardelle with a bacon and pink sauce for him.

Monday, October 9 and Columbus Day; but our office isn’t closed so up I go.  However, I’m not there even an hour before a bomb scare forces us all to evacuate for the day.  Tom Bailey and I go out for coffee in the hopes that we might return but the building never reopens.

Tuesday, October 10 and just another day; although those who know me remember that it was 22 years ago today that I did my first radio show on what was then WTBS at MIT.  Now known as WMBR, Cambridge, my show was T.V.O.D. after the Normal song of the same name.

And so also began an era of Tony V (no period, as I liked to say).  Mr. V, ‘hands raised in a V’ and ‘the only V that matters’ … all long gone.

Wednesday, October 11 and Bryan and I see the second Star Trek: Voyager episode of the season followed by the second of the presidential debates.

Thursday, October 12 and it’s Must See TV premier night.  I go for dinner at Pizza Town III and get myself stuffed shells and Bryan an antipasto.  We then watch two new episodes of Friends followed by Will and Grace.  Unfortunately, the bloom seems to be a bit off the rose for our gay show but it is the sophomore season after all.

Friday, October 13 and I don’t see any ghosts.  [Note:  from this point on, all I have are sketchy notes; I have filled them in on Wednesday, October 18 at 11:30 AM.]

We wander around the Village for awhile but eventually settle on Pangea for no particular reason other than we knew they’d have room for us.  I ate well, with an appetizer and then penne with sausage, fennel and spinach which is quite good.  Bryan plays safe with the seared shrimp salad with jicama and oranges.

Saturday, October 14 and we take a walk and wind up eating at Lanza’s.  This turns out to be a good thing as the food is fairly wonderful with both of us ordering from the specials menu.  I have the mussels in an incredible marinara sauce (which I proceed to polish off with bread after finishing the very tasty shellfish) followed by chicken breast in a light cream sauce with small green spicy peppers while B has the pork chops hunter-style (with hot cherry peppers, potatoes and vegetables in a light sauce).

Sunday, October 15 and the 11 AM service at Grace has a sermon by Lyndon+ which is quite good and even quotes from Tom Waits.  Afterward, I take some digital pictures of the church, Lyndon+ and even Canon Andrew who seems to enjoy having his taken!

Monday, October 16, I watch the final episode of Queer as Folk by myself.  That’s ok as Bryan hasn’t enjoyed it; I’m pleased by the ending however so for a mini-series, particularly a British one, I’ll give it a B which is really much higher praise than it probably deserves.

Tuesday, October 17 and Dick’s Bar.  Bryan and Michelle had walked home from work and he proceeded directly to have a drink.  When I arrived, our English friend Rupert was there.  The three of us chose to go to dinner at Pangea and that filled in the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, October 18 and we continue the story.  These diary notes have been the rather public lives of Tony and Bryan; those people have decided to move on in private lives.  Share your lives with others; you can share ours by reading the past diary pages.  We were privileged to serve you.

Note:  In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Bryan and Tony got back together, about two months after this last entry.  The website then changed focus, concentrating on cultural activities.