One of the highlights of the conference though was meeting the American singer Michael Callen. Even then Michael was considered a long term survivor of AIDS. Sadly, he passed away 5 years later in 1993 at the age of 38, but he left a legacy of fab work behind him, including cameos in the films "Philadelphia" and "Zero Patience".
Tasmanian activist (and part-time tour guide) Rodney Croome gave us a homo-tastic tour of the colonial penal institution at Port Arthur, and while we were on the bus there Michael very sweetly gave me a cassette of his latest album with a beautiful inscription in it. Basically saying that he wished he had had young role models like Simon and I when he was growing up. Here's his cover of "Where The Boys Are" from the very same album:
(Slightly NSFW, if you're watching this at work that is, in that the Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name calls out the f-bomb in the beginning.)
Sweet Babbie Jebus, that Michael could hit the right notes!
[Updated: I dragged out a couple of old photo albums last night to show Tall & Handsome some pics of me at the Berlin Wall in 1988, an lo there in the back of the album were some snaps from the conference and a couple of Michael. Awwww. Made me all nostaglic, it did.]
4 comments:
Warning people about the F word at the beginning...SOOOOOOO Andrew. Any sweeter and you'd cause tooth decay!
Lucky there's more to you than meets the eye :-)
Sweeter than sugar, dirtier than mud. But you already know that!
Very nice, the prayer wheel has just about hit full circle. Haven't seen you Wednesdays for a while !
Hey dave, I work in Alexandria, and getting to Lewisham is kind of hard. I will make the effort soon!
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