another eye opens

Andy's dear friend Sari celebrated her birthday with a party at U2, a karaoke emporium at 6 St. Mark's Place

Younger people associate this location with Kim's Video but for gay men of my generation it will always be the St. Mark's Baths -- what memories these hallways bring back!

The party had everything it took for the birthday gal (above) to celebrate in style...

including old friends willing to get silly....

party favors (modeled here by the lovely Yuri and Andrew)....

and of course karaoke, with the craziest assortment of selections -- not just the predictable early MTV faves and up-to-the-minute hits but everything from George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today" to David Bowie's "Rock and Roll Suicide"

Hours of fun for Sari and old college chums like Andy and Cesar

Kai at Asilomar

Steve's prayer beads

workshop altar

props for "Crotch"

look both ways

Rector Street mural

snow day on West End Avenue

window akimbo

bondage at Bergdorf

intermission at La Mama (Frank Paiva as "Grass" in A WALK ACROSS AMERICA FOR MOTHER EARTH)

subway apparition -- a gentleman with a green-tinted beard applying heavy makeup before getting on the F train to Queens

gamelan dancer and musician

Central Park zoo castle

Michael and I have lunch every Wednesday at Franchia Teahouse on Park Avenue

Andy and I spent Christmas with the Mele-Holtzmans in Bucks County

the latest in Christmas tree ornaments: Michael Jackson Day of the Dead

also the latest in kitchenware design

the T-shirt of choice for an Echo Bazaar aficionado

last but not least: a Christmas Carol (Channing, that is)

We had dinner in Brooklyn with Dave and George. Dave bought this vegetable with Andy in mind. Andy inspected it and immediately used the word "fractal." Bingo!

It was Andy's first time meeting Buck. They bonded heavily.

The desserts were cupcake babkas and fruit tarts from Crumbs in Grand Central.

This guy did not come to dinner.

Neither did this guy.

Still Life with Therapist's Wastebasket