Of Meat and Men

Yesterday was a long and tedious day and one where Uncle Gerry was not feeling his finest.  I had a nagging headache that would not go away added to being on the edge of nausea all day.  Events precluded much rest, really only a couple of hours before I had to go to work.  The first thing I did upon my arrival is proceed to the men's room to totally toss my cookies in the toilet.  I got to feeling a little better after that until about 2 AM when I did it again, just for good measure.  After that I got to feeling a lot better and that has continued into today so far.  I have had a busy morning and when I got back to the house, I slipped right into a dozing session on my patio.  

Anyway, somewhere between bar/lunch  (for late night workers) rush and coffee rush, I had a customer come in and bring some items to the counter.  Among the items he brought for purchase were a couple of Jack Links Squatch brand Meat Sticks.  Nothing too remarkable about that except for the marketing slogan on each stick.  There is a little sasquatch like character on the label purportedly spouting the little slogan printed there.  The slogans are in the sasquatch/caveman type vernacular with sayings like "Meat Good" and "Life is better with Meat".  I read that one and remarked to the customer in a joking manner that there were thousands of Gay Men who would agree with that statement.  This brought the intended guffaw and a "well, there is that!".  I would have to say the most homoerotic sounding of all and my favorite of course was "Meat Me, Eat Me".  I know there are thousands of you guys out there who live and die by that one (circuit party or Saturday night at the bars, anyone?).

This of course reminded me of an incident a few months back late on a Friday night.  I had these two young ladies come in after a night on the town.  They messed about choosing drinks and snacks while conversing about the night out and how hungry they were.  They came to the counter, one with snacks and drinks and one with just drinks.  The one without snacks remarked to the other one "I really don't want to buy anything to eat, I have this big Meat Stick at home.".  Never one to miss the opportunity to walk through an open door in the name of humor, I piped up with :oh, really?  What's his Name?" which brought an OMG and immediate laughter from both of them.  The lady with the snacks then related that they were both 8th grade teachers blowing off steam after a tough week in the classrooms.  She said she taught math and in one of her afternoon classes filled with jock types, they played a counting game.  The amusing thing about the game?  Only the name, Balls Galore, which of course brings a room full of junior high jocks into an immediate tizzy of juvenile humor.  The "Oh I got some balls you can count" train of thought, etc.  We all got a good laugh about that one too. 

Funny what you find to amuse you in the middle of the night at a 7-Eleven.  It sure does help to pass the time on a slow night.  Anytime you get late nights, slightly to greatly inebriated customers and a clerk with  a ribald sense of humor, you get get lots of juvenile humor, laughter and stories to tell here on the blog.  I will be sure to keep you posted on the next amusing incident in the continuing saga of late night events known as the tales 'Of Meat and Men'.

That bring us to the Music and the Men.  As this is Tuesday, Random is the call of the day and the long straw is drawn by......(drum roll, please).... Domenico Scarlatti.  I thought I remembered a play list or two I had put together previously and sure enough I found it.  The play list contains Sonatas for Viola d'Amore and Harpsichord by Scarlatti.  Included are Sonatas K77-80, K88, K89, K90 and K91.  The performance is by Valerio Losito on a 1775 Guadagnini Viola d'Amore and Andre Coen on a replica of a 1620 Italian Harpsichord.  Over on my tumblr, I have more of Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas, but with a twist.  That play list is transcribed for Guitar and performed by Edoardo Catemario.  

Then keeping with the randomness of the day, the sultry sexiness on display down below is superb in this week's edition of Random Hotness posted down below.  Then over on my tumblr, your random Hottie of the Day! is both "Ruff and Ready' for whatever hotness you can come up with.  Thanks for hanging around til I got here.  See you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

'Religious Liberty' Strikes Again!

Another virulently anti-Gay conservative religious wing nut has surfaced in the Texas State Senate, like we didn't have enough of them here in Texas already.  State Senator Donna Campbell has introduced legislation to enshrine the 'right' to discriminate against LGBTs in the Texas State Constitution.  The bill would allow businesses and government contractors to refuse service to Gays and fire their employees who happen to be LGBT.  The legislation invokes 'religious liberty' as the reason for its introduction making the following outrageous statement:

“Our Judeo-Christian values are under assault and I’m not going to let that stand. We have the right and religious freedom to express ourselves. When the government moves outside the proper bounds of the primary role, especially in order to legislate societal norms, they’re on shaky ground. Really it’s a few, just a few advocates, of tolerance. They are trying to criminalize faith and traditional values of the majority of Texans. Tolerance is going too far in this instance.”

Campbell's proposed constitutional amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 10, states that government "may not burden an individual’s or religious organization’s freedom of religion or right to act or refuse to act in a manner motivated by a sincerely held religious belief unless the government proves that the burden is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest."  SJR 10 goes on to say that a "burden" includes "indirect burdens such as withholding benefits, assessing penalties, and denying access to facilities or programs."

Alvin McEwen of the blog Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters wrote a very thoughtful piece this morning citing this legislation in his examination of the 'religious liberty' issue.  In his post, Religious Freedom = Discrimination:A complex issue explained in simple terms, dicusses this legislation in particular as well as the 'religious freedom' argument in general when he states "The 'religious liberty' argument is a farce designed to send a constant reminder to gays from folks like Campbell saying "We don't care what the law says or what the court says. You don't deserve to be on our level and in our minds you never will be. You don't deserve equal treatment under the law and we will never let you forget that.""

Alvin then goes on to discuss the issue comparing discrimination against Gays being very similar to past minority discrimination in this country, providing examples in prose and pictures stating "After all, how is the 'religious liberty' argument, which would allow discrimination against gays, any different than one which would allow discrimination against Jewish people, African-Americans, the Chinese, etc?   In the end, it doesn't matter how one sugarcoats it. Discrimination is discrimination."


My fear for my home state is that this is just the beginning of the stupidity that will reign here in the Lone Star State for the next couple of years with wing nuts galore in the State Legislature and Cro-Magnon homophobic assholes in the Governor, Lt Governor and Attorney General offices.  Running to a more LGBT friendly location, while pleasant to think about, does not solve the problem here at home.  I will stay and fight for Equality in Texas, but it is bound to get worse around here before it gets better.


Your Midweek Musical Moment features  the Music of Domenico Scarlatti with a series of Harpsichord Sonatas transcribed for Acoustic Guitar.  Today's performance is by Edoardo Catemario.  His play list includes Sonatas K.198 in E Minor 0:00; K.208 in A MajorA-dur 3:52; K533 in A Major 8:03; K11 in C Flat 12:00; K380 in F Major 14:50; K178 D Major 20:41; K77 D Minor 23:05; K32 in D Flat 30:31 K322 in A Major.  You may also hear Valerio Losito and Andrea Coen's performance of Scarlatti's Sonatas for Viola d'Amore and Harpsichord over on my tumblr. 

It is quite frosty in most parts of the country today so today's Wet Wednesday collection of sultry studs splashing about the page will serve to remind us all that it is still summer somewhere.  These soaked studs will surely turn the heat up for us, if only below the waist, lol.  For some stunning naked wetness, check out Addison Graham, Your Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.  Thanks for checking in to say 'hey', see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Writer's Block or Depression?

It has been a difficult writing week for me.  Not a whole lot in the news has incited rant, rave or comment from me (excepting yesterday's Porno Pete adventures).  Sometimes it is just like that, a writer looks at a blank page and instead of his (or her) mind filling up the page with words, the page fills their mind with blankness.  I would hazard a guess that this is some form of writer's block, but then again, maybe it is an early warning sign of a bought of depression.  I can't really tell you anything for sure.  All I really know is that I have struggled all week to fill in the blanks on a daily basis.  Luckily, there has been the Music and the Men to save the day.  I have now gathered close to 150,000 images which are stored on my HDD and access to more Music to which I can listen at any one time.  Perhaps the joy of sharing the beauty found both in Classical Music and the Art of the Male Form makes up for the lack of any pithy commentary I can come up with.  At least I certainly hope so. 

All that being said, I reached back in my play list archive for this beautiful set of 8 Sonatas for Viola d'Amore and Harpsichord by Domenico Scarlatti.  Included are Sonatas K77-80, K88, K89, K90 and K91.  The performance is by Valerio Losito on a 1775 Guadagnini Viola d'Amore and Andre Coen on a replica of a 1620 Italian Harpsichord.  You may also hear 6 Sonatas for Guitar, Cello and Harpsichord by Francesco Geminiani over on my tumblr.

The collection of photographic Art in the Male Form today contains photographs that do not necessarily fit into one or another of my regularly used themes.  However each photograph is striking, sensual or sexy (or any combination thereof) in their own way.  Thus we have this assortment of Random Hotness on display below the play list.  There is also the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr for more inspiration and admiration.  Thanks for the visit, see you again tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!