The family arrived on Fri afternoon, after having battled traffic on 128. Their first stop was our new condo where they got to take an unguided tour of the house. Hope everything that needed to be was hidden. You know, Sue's French Maid outfit, my Dominatrix costume. (Yeah, right.)
The next course of business was to trek into Boston via Storrow Drive. I don't know how they mistook the "Turn right onto Sturrow" for their actual turn left onto Fresh Pond Parkway. It was interesting trying to get them headed back in the right direction. Luckily they called before they even realized they were lost! Shesh!
When they arrived in Boston, I took them on a tour my new office. They got to see the grand lobby, the historical chapel, and my office that I share with Nick, complete with its MAGNIFICIENT view of Boston's business district.
After driving them back home myself, we met up with Sue at the house. (Ok there was the detour to pick up some ice and milk~ the fact that we live without such things baffles them. "How do you make mixed drinks?" "What do you mean 'Silk?' I don't care if it's 'vanilla flavored' or not!")
Sue and I always take the best of care of our guests. We took them out to some of the best dining there is to be had in the greater Boston area: yes, the basement of the Greek church in Newton for their Greek food festival. They LOVED it, just as we do. It's like the best of home-made Greek food. Awesome, awesome stuff. The kabobs were incredibly tender; they raved about them non-stop. Nik discovered she LIKES eggplant, and savored the BEST baclava she's ever had!
After stuffing ourselves silly, we took them back to the house. We said our goodnights, and left them their on their own. (They stayed at our house on Friday night, and at a time-share in Brewster on Saturday night.) Sue and I drove to ptown in hopes of meeting up with our pals. Alas ~ I think they all turned into pumpkins (or old women) as none of them could be found. At least Sue and I got a good walk out of it. Bechemele. Baclava. That's all I'm saying.
The family arrived around noon on Saturday. We rushed them over to Big Daddy's Burritos for lunch. They all needed a phatty. I needed a skinny (Sabrina salad with orange dressing, lite sunflower seeds, black olives and grilled chicken. Ok, ok, and a side of chips and salsa. I *love* Big Daddy's!)
We hustled on down to the School House Gallery for the main even, the reason for the trip: a benefit supporting the production of a documentary film about a "famous lesbian playwright." The benefit was a play, written by the playwright, Jane Chambers. My Mom had known Jane Chambers, and I had serendipitously seen one of her plays,
Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, just after I came out. Then it took 18 years for me to discover that my Mom KNEW the playwrite. But that's all a different story.
The benefit play,
Quintessential Image, was
REALLY good, but hardly anyone there! I'm hoping they made some money. It was good that the 6 of us made a big showing.
Mom & I were interviewed by the filmmaker, Alison McMahon about our connections to Jane. Mom was cool as a cuke. Me, I was a nervous wreck! I'm more of a "behind the camera" type of person, I guess. Besides, I like to tell the story as I know it. Being interviewed, I'm not in control, I guess, so the story didn't come out well. It didn't flow. I keep telling myself, though, that the documentary wasn't about the story as I know it, but I still think it's... cool. Relevant. We'll probably wind up on the cutting room floor, but it was fun to see the process.
After being interviewed, Mom & I met up with Dad, Sue, Nik & Steve. We went to the Crown & Anchor for drinks, and stayed for dinner. It was a lovely afternoon, and it was just fun to hang with the family and drink (2 wines... woo woo) and laugh.
After dinner, we went to see my pal Amy Boyd and her pal Zoe Lewis do a show. Amy is a comedian, and Zoe is a musician who is pretty damned funny and so very creative!! My opinion, Amy is PHENOMENAL. Am I biased? I think not. This was the best I'd seen her, too. She really knocked my socks off. I could have hurt myself laughing. She did a half hour, then Zoe Lewis did a half. Zoe was phenomenal, too. The family really liked the show. They love comedy & music, so it was a perfect blend. Kind of like 2 shows for the price of one.
After the show, I only had about 10 mins to chat with Amy. Since she lives in CA and I rarely get to see her. I was a little bummed we couldn't spend more time together, and I didn't get to meet her new girl. It was hard to connect with the family there, though, and we were having such a good time together. So, I'm content. I got to say chat in person with my pal. What more can you ask for?
Amy had hoped to meet up with us at the Gov Bradford. She'd heard stories about Dad's
LAST performance there. Who could miss it? Sadly, she didn't get to join us, but just as well. We had to wait forever before "Paul" was called to the stage.
When he was, he walked across the room, and Dana, the drag queen who hosts karaoke night, squealed, "Oh, my, I think it's Paul BUNYUN!" She put Dad's music on and turned to arrange the line-up for singers-to-come. He did Willie Nelson's "Always on my mind." He does a good Willie, damned good. When he belted out the 1st line, Dana just stopped, snapped to, turned and ran over to Dad to join in. It became a duet of sorts, with Dad singing to Dana. I took 1 still picture and decided, "Screw this. This needs to be on video!" Too funny. Alas, the video on my camera is very small, so the quality is not that great. But still, I have it. It's a fun momento. Guess it just means that someday I will have to invest in a video camera, and he'll have to sing to Dana yet again!
After that, the 6 of us piled into Steve's little car, and he drove up Commercial Street on the way to our little condo. The poor little car must have been riding on it's wheel wells. They dropped us off near mid-night, and then took off for Brewster. They had to head back to Maine on the early side the next morning. The goodnight hugs in front of our condo ended the Rediker Family Outting to P'town for Women's Week, October 2006.
For those interested in knowing more about the documentary about Jane Chambers noted above, visit:
www.8facesofJane.com
