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I just got off the phone with my Best Friend, Grat Dalton, (yes, I did say "Grat," and no, it's not short for anything) who still lives in Detroit. He's a direct descendent of and named after THE Grat Dalton of the infamous Dalton Gang.
I'm happy to report that Grat managed to make his way out of Hazeltucky (Ferndale, really) and move on up to Royal Oak (near 11 Mile, in case you're keeping track of how close to Eminem's 8 Mile everything is.) He's a teacher in Bloomfield Hills, which is very hoy-palloy.
Grat and I have been Best Friends since 7th grade and (to plug my novel one more time) he's the other Band Fag in BAND FAGS! (Here we are w/ our junior high Band teacher, Mrs. Jennifer Putnam "Friends Hold You Back" Cheal.)
I won't give away all the details (since I want you to read the book) but I owe my entire coming-out to Grat. He took me to my first gay bar, Heaven on 7 Mile and Woodward (though in BAND FAGS! I mistakenly got it wrong and wrote "6 Mile," please forgive me!) at the young and tender age of 16 (see chapter "The Edge of Heaven") and forced me to finally accept myself for who I am... Too bad it took another 12 years!
I recently was asked to write a piece for INSTINCT magazine in which I gave the Top 5 Reasons to Read Band Fags! (which I won't tell you now otherwise you won't read/buy the magazine and Jonathan Riggs will be mad at me!) It's all very tongue-in-cheek and witty and clever and fun. But I think/hope the real reason it's such a unique story is because it's about two (gay) kids going through the exact same-yet-different experience.
And the fact that Grat and I have still remained friends until this day makes it even more special.
Now here's where the (212) comes in...
You may have heard KW mention how when I first told him about BAND FAGS! he thought it was the story of his life, as he's got his own gay BFF, Mark, from "back in the day" growing up in Madison Heights. Well, I've "met" Mark (online) and we've chatted about Detroit (Mark later moved to Fraser where we had our Hillbilly High Senior Prom at the Vintage House and I later saw Judy Tenuta at Chaplin's Comedy Club) and he knows all about my book. (Note: Mark knows Judy personally, and he was kind enough to help put me in touch with the "Giver-Goddess" when I needed permission to quote her in the "Venus" chapter.)
So the other day/week after KW first posted the BAND FAGS! Book Video Trailer, Mark emailed me to say that he knows somebody I went to Hillbilly High with. I confirmed, stating that said guy (now I'm paranoid about using people's real names who aren't in "the public eye") was a bit older and that my Best Friend, Grat, and I used to make fun of him for playing the flute!
Mark emailed back: "Grat Dalton?" (itals mine)
Turns out that Grat and Mark go way back to like 1987, when they met at...Heaven (on 7 Mile and Woodward, not 6 Mile) of all places. The rest of the memories were a little fuzzy (something about Grat working at Harmony House in Oakland Mall when he really worked next door at the GAP) but Mark described Grat's parents' humongous sunken-in living room--their house used to be a "party store" (Detroit speak for "deli" or "bodega") with the fancy chandeliers.
Can you believe that after almost an entire year of knowing each other, KW and I found out our BFFs were Fs "back in the day?" It's a small (gay) world...
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Who would you like to see replace Terrence Howard as Iron Man's best friend, "Jim Rhodes"?
Will Smith
Don Cheadle
Taye Diggs
Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Omar Epps
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