2nd Annual Broadway Massacre-Ade Party

What an evening! We had roughly 50 people venture out to the Hills to celebrate Halloween the way it should be celebrated.....to showtunes...OY! Yes, this was our 2nd Massacre-ade was a success with a cabaret style extravaganza featuring the talents of our guests. Shawn was responsible for the decorations (which were AMAZING) and Brooke and I handled food & drinks, while Kenneth was on clean-up duty. We were thrilled with the variety of music, featuring Cassandra Kubiniski, James Adamo, Rena Strober, Chris Fasulo, Douglass Wood, Rich Spector, Andy Lawyer, David Macaluso & all the hosts (Brooke, Kenneth, Shawn & myself). The sing-a-long was my favorite part of the the evening. Favorite highlights were "Suddenly Seymour" & Rena's portrayal of Fantine in Les Miz, even going so far as to simulate the turning stage! It was hysterical. We were very pleased with the evening and look forward to the next one.

Bubbles Everywhere

My friend Gary & I saw The Gazillion Bubble Show tonight at The New World Stages. It was Awesome. Fun & Entertaining. Great for children. :-) Check it out!

Pumpkin Picking/Wine Tasting L.I.

A group of 9 of us met one morning in the Enchanted Forest to have a hearty breakfast, and coffee for Alicia, at the Forest Hills Diner before heading out the North Fork of Long Island for some goat cheese, wine tasting and pumpkin picking!

We had to cars for the trip, mine and Alicia's, and it was very Chinese Fire Drill-like trying to get a seat. My car was dubbed the Broadway car, because it wasn't more the 10 minutes into the trip before the showtunes were blasting and the boys were singing along! It was the gayest road trip ever!

We took a 5 minute Pee break at a Farm on the way... we got a little side-tracked though when Phil and Kenneth started playing inappropriately with the gourds! Since this is a family blog, I will spare y'all the pictures they took.... shocking really. I thought I knew them both!

After the break, we made our way out into the heart of the North Fork region and made our first stop at Catapano Dairy Farm. The farm specializes in everything goat, goat cheese, goat cheese body wash, goat cheese face cream... you name it. We blew past the The Delicate Doe Goatique and made a B-line for the goat pens. Brooke was so inspired, that she snuck right in through the gates, rules be damned! She was an immediate Goat magnet, and within seconds she was surrounded! She almost fell down laughing with one particularly affectionate goat named Sadie, jumped on her back and started dancing with us!!

After some fun with goats and cheese , we piled back in the cars and head to our first winery, the Ackerly Pond Vineyards. We highly recommend this charming boutique winery. They used to just supply the regionally wineries with their grapes, but decided to start making some of their own wines. They have a small cozy little tasting room and one of the daughters was running the day's tasting. It was the perfect start for some of our virgin tasters... Kenneth, Brooke, and Ryan.
The next stop on the tour was going to be Pindar, but we passed by the gorgeous Raphael Vineyard and just had to stop! This one could have been lifted right out of Napa or even Italy. It was gorgeous. The inside was open and spacious, with high ceilings, and beautiful exposed wood beams. They had a huge round tasting bar in the center, and several smaller, more intimate bars set in the back half of the building. Between these bars were numerous wrought iron cafe tables set in front of wide set of French Doors with views of a veranda and the vineyard beyond! It was amazing!! We had ourselves a nice tasting and then went outside above the veranda to enjoy the beautiful weather and amazing views with some of our favorite tastings and the goat cheese we bought earlier .
The final wine tasting of the day was at the

Castello de Borghese Vineyard. It was one we went to on our last adventure out this way, and one Alicia wanted to revisit before heading off to Pumpkin land. They do do great wines though, and everyone had a grand old time. After the tasting, we went outside to enjoy a little down time in the vineyard, relaxing in some comfortable Adirondack chairs they had set up outside of the tasting room. Everyone was so relaxed and comfortable, that they were soon doing lawn chair Yoga. Yes, it is really a talented bunch. Once an inner zen was achieved, everyone was shaken back into reality as we were treated to the hilarious coming of age story of our good friend Kenneth. We were in tears by the end as he recounted his wedding day.... to a woman!

The final stop of the day was at Gabrielsen's Farm. Here we all treated ourselves to the much anticipated, oh so delicious fire roasted "sex" corn! In fact, I think we all had 2 pieces! Imagine corn roasted on the grill in the husk then torn open and lathered in a disgustingly fattening coating of butter... oh yeah! We have some fun, family inappropriate pictures of everyone enjoying the corn... you'll just have to use your imagination! After filling or corn fix, we went over to enjoy the song stylings of some solo guitar-playing singer where we sang and danced along with his tunes, before all piling on to a flat bed hayride. A tractor pulled us along the bumpy trail, providing a scenic tour of the corn fields as the sun was setting. The colors were great, and periodically scores of red-winged black birds would pour out of the corn, seemingly out of nowhere, and fill the sky with specs of black and red. It was an amazing site. Halfway through, the singers among us started to serenade us, and by the end we had a 4 part harmony going. After the ride, we made our way into the corn maze for some good cheesy, children of the corn fun. As the sun fell below the horizon, we piled back into the cars, and head off to the Boulder Creek Steakhouse where we stuffed our faces before heading back to the Hills.

Eagle Mountain House (White Mountains, NH)

Sometime after Labor Day an interesting real estate opportunity presented itself to us. It was a little unusual, but given the location and the look of the place we were at least game to try. The deal was for a "condo" which was actually a room in the Eagle Mountain House, which is an old historic hotel listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is a marvelous place, truly. The beautifully restored edifice sits proudly up along a country road deep in the heart of Jackson, NH in the Mount Washington Valley. It is a classic imposing structure with 2 huge porches complete with rocking chairs and tables, all with views of the impressive Carter Notch.It has a full restaurant, bar, game room, gym/hot tub/sauna, 9-hole golf course, tennis courts, and a pool... It was kind of dream come true for us, especially since I fell in love with the White Mountains during my UNH days many years ago. The biggest downside was the fact that it was 6 hours away, which made it less convenient for a traditional Friday to Saturday weekend. You never know until you try though, so we prepared Tracy (my VW) for yet another long drive into the wild, and decided to give it a go.

We head up early Saturday morning, with plans to stop halfway in Brattleboro, Vermont. The Traffic Gods were not smiling on us at the start though, and the drive out of NYC took about an hour! Thankfully though, the shaky start was followed by smooth sailing! Brattleboro is a beautiful town in the Southwest corner of Vermont along the Connecticut river. It has a long main street through town with a nice collection of shops serving up the wares of the local artisans and craftsman. Scattered throughout are also a colorful mix of restaurants and bars. We had a great lunch at some place I can't remember (damn that Diet Coke!), and after a fast break, we got back on the road to try and get up there before sunset. We decided to drive straight up Vermont and then cut across into NH from the north. We picked up route 302 and enjoyed a very scenic drive past the Mount Washington Hotel and the Presidential Mountain Range, through Crawford Notch, and eventually to Jackson. Jackson is a small secluded town nestled right in the heart of NH ski country, hiking, and all sorts of outdoor fun. You drive into town by way of a classic century-old covered bridge. The town itself is a is a sleepy little place, with a only a small collection of restaurants and shops, and a handful of beautiful old hotels. The slow drive took us over the Wildcat River and then up a steep hill that followed the river up past the Jackson Falls, which are partially visible from the car, and on to the hotel a little further up the hill. The whole area was gorgeous! We parked quickly and went to meet the couple we were going to buy the room from. We got as far as the front steps of the porch when we were approached by a lovely couple with a young teen aged daughter. I guess the NY gays must stick out like sore thumbs to the locals! Oh well! They were great though, and gave us a quick tour of the place before leaving us for our trial night. We definitely got caught up in the moment and the natural beauty of the place, and had a wonderfully romantic night. We took advantage of the remaining sunlight, and set out for a nice quiet stroll over the grounds along the Wildcat River before sunset. As the sun set, the air began to cool off dramatically, so we made our way back to the hotel and settled in for nice dinner at the restaurant. We enjoyed a nice glass of wine and a delicious hearty 3-course meal, before finally camping out on the porch. We chose a couple of rocking chairs at the far end of the porch near our room, opened a bottle of wine, and enjoyed the crisp (below 40 degrees) autumn air while looking at the stars! It was perfect!

The next day, we had a great buffet-style country breakfast at the hotel restaurant and met some colorful older women who were part of the Appalachian Mountain Club up for a week of hiking adventures! We bid adieu to the place early that morning comfortably stuffed. We stopped a quarter of a mile from the hotel at the top of the Jackson Falls we had driven by the night before. The falls are actually a beautiful collection of falls that crash over several sections of a gorge in the center of town. The air was clear, the sky was blue, and we were psyched to be in the country ... again! We definitely need a country and a city home! Dare to dream! Maybe one day when we hit the lottery! Our original plan that morning was to either go on a short hike or drive up the Mount Washington Auto Road which was just 20 minutes up the road. We opted for the drive since it was such a short weekend and we had a long drive ahead of us. We head up Rt 16 north towards Mount Washington, which is actually the largest mountain in the northeast at 6288 feet. A few miles shy of the autoroad I wanted to make a quick stop at the Glen Ellis Falls, a beautiful 65 waterfall I remembered from my UNH days. It is a 15-20 minute hike off the main road, and was a good way to get the juices flowing. The sun was high enough by the time we got there to set a golden light over the face of the falls. In fact, by the time we got there, the angle was so perfect we were even treated to rainbow in the mist at the base of the falls. After enjoying the moment, we head back out to the autoroad entrance. Sadly, we were not able to head up when we got there. Apparently there was an auto-race up the face that was going to last the better part of the morning. What is worse was the fact that the peak was below freezing that morning, so they were only going to let folks up about halfway unless the conditions improved. I wanted to show Phil the drive because it is stunningly beautiful. The weather that day was perfect, so visibility would have allowed us to see potentially as far as the ocean on the SE coast, Maine, Vermont, and even Canada from the summit! It also is a road that goes above the treeline, which is a very unusual thing for east coast mountains, and something a lot of people never get the chance to see.

Our Plan B was to drive home by way of the Kangamangus Highway through the heart of the White Mountain National Forest. This is a wonderful way to get a quick taste of the forest. We picked up about 1/3 of the way along its course headed west. The whole drive is about 34 miles and offers a great mix of natural beauty, from rivers, rocky cliffs, sweeping wilderness valleys, and mountain peaks. I highly recommend it as a quick way to get a flavor of the place!

I took a different road back through a section of the White Mountains I have never seen before. It was a nice change of pace. After passing through stretches of quiet country, and numerous small towns, we eventually caught up with the main highway back into Vermont. From there it was the same trip in reverse, without the traffic on the New York end!

Another whirlwind tour under our belts!

Good times...

West Hudson River Valley & Bethel Woods

Since joining theaterextras Phil and I have been seeing a lot off-the-beaten-path concerts and shows. Well, it just so happened that, The Manhattan Transfer, a group he sang with as a young lad, was going to be playing at the Bethel Woods Center about an hour and a half upstate. Well he got 4 tickets to the event and since we were going to be up there anyway, decided it might be fun to get a little taste of the Hudson River Valley Wine scene. Yes, for all of you who weren't aware, not only are there over 30 wineries out on Long Island, there are also over 40 just up the river about the same driving distance away! It is quite scenic, and starts just a little north of Bear Mountain. It makes a great day trip from the city, and we highly recommend it. The trail is not quite as compact as the Long Island scene, but it does make for a scenic drive. On the western shore, the Shawangunk Wine Trail is the main route, and it lists about 10-12 wineries on the trail. In truth though, there are probably 15-20 more wineries in the area that are considered associate members, they just don't get to be listed on the formal trail. That all adds up to plenty to see and taste! The uncorknewyork.com website lists most of them.

Thomas and Chris were the first to sign on, although poor Thomas didn't quite know what he was getting into with the Manhattan Transfer... me thinks they weren't exactly his cup o' tea! Ohwell! We drove up the Hudson and picked up our friend Chris in his hometown of Cornwall, just north of West Point. From there we made our first stop at a local winery his family recommended, the Palaia Vineyards . It turned out, he knew some of the people working there from growing up in the area, so it was very fun and casual. We had a great time tasting almost their entire list, and a lot of it was quite tasty. The tasting room is a large rustic old farm house that has a quaint little stage on the grounds out back that they use for weekend and evening entertainment. It is definitely worth a stop. After our first generous tasting, we decided to drive up to New Paltz for lunch. This is actually a nice little town, and home to one of the larger SUNY schools. This fact has helped keep the downtown fairly vibrant (relatively speaking) with a clear artsy / college-town feel, replete with a colorful variety of shops and restaurants along the main drag through town. We stopped at the Gilded Otter Brew House for a delicious late afternoon lunch before heading out to a few more wineries. The clock was ticking on our day though, so we only had time to squeeze in two more stops before heading out to the concert. The first was the Whitecliff Vineyard. The scenery here was very nice, with some of the rocky cliffs of the Shawangunk Mountains overlooking the grounds of the vineyard. We enjoyed several tastings and found the wines to be pretty good. By the time we wrapped up with Whitecliff, we had about 20 minutes before the area wine tastings would be closing so we raced further down the road heading to get back to route 17. Along the way, we passed the Brimstone Hill Vineyard and pulled in quickly to beat the clock! Compared to places we've been before, this was definitely an anticlimactic way to finish. Yes, the poor Brimstone Hill definitely looked like it may have lived through a little fire and brimstone... barely! The pictures on their website are a little deceiving, and make it look very nice, although I suspect those pictures may have been taken back in the glory days. When we pulled up, we found the paint on the main building was worn and chipping, with the sign so faded by the sun it was hard to read clearly. The vineyards running up to the roadside were overgrown with weeds and empty crates and rusting farm equipment littered the field. A weathered linoleum covered staircase lead you up to the main tasting room which was equally drab. Pale tan/yellow linoleum flooring clung unevenly to the floor, buckling slightly as it met with the wood paneling on the walls. Faded posters of more famous French Wineries clung to the walls desperately, their corner holds failing and slowly rolling over on themselves. At the far corner was the small wood tasting bar, with an older man looking rather forlorn standing behind it. As he flipped over small scuffed tasting glasses, he mentioned he'd picked up in France many years prior, you could get a sense that he longed to have had the chance to work at one of the places he had placed on the walls around us. The wines were average, but we appreciated his efforts, and took a bottle home anyway!

After Brimstone, we high-tailed it out of there and drove the remaining half hour or so to Bethel Woods. We got there just before sunset with plenty of time to spare. The Hudson Valley Philharmonic was set to open the show anyway, so there was no hurry. We attempted to bring in a bottle of wine, and learned that had we hid it in a blanket we could have gotten it in with no problem. As it was, we had it in a camera bag which they promptly searched and politely asked we put back in the car. The grounds of the place are beautiful, and something we definitely recommend for a day trip out of town.

Both halves of the concert were fun, but given the fact that it was Sunday night, we decided after an hour of the MT, it was time to go. Unfortunately, we asked one of the folks directing traffic what the easiest was back to the highway was, and he sent us a little off course... Okay, in truth, he sent us so far out into the wild that there was nary a light to be seen but the stars above. After about 20 minutes of absolute darkness and a seemingly endless winding narrow road through the forest, my passengers started to get a little nervous. I think visions of their scariest horror film memories were creeping into their minds... so a decision was made to open one of the screw top wines, and the nervous ones sipped their way to serenity!

We eventually saw signs of life in the distance, and after what seemed like an hour of uncertainty, we were on 17 headed back to the city... All in all, a fun day indeed!

Finger Lakes, New York

Another late entry... damn we're getting lazy!
I'll just put the adbridged version here to get us all caught up.
I decided to suprise Phil for his birthday with a weekend away doing something he loves... out of the gutter people. I booked a weekend at the John Morris Manor B&B in Seneca Falls, NY at the northwest corner of Cayuga Lake in the heart of the Finger Lake Wine Country! Surprise Surprise!! Incidentally, The Finger Lakes region does make for a great weekend away for anyone. There is great natural beauty, outdoor fun, boating, hiking, a host of charming towns, great restaurants, an arts scene... and did I mention the wine. Oh yeah, between the 5 major finger lakes, I think there are over 100 wineries.

We did our usual late night road trip and left from Lincoln Center at the end of Phil's workday. Let me just tell you, trying to leave NYC at 5:30 on a Friday is just about the worst thing you can do to yourself!! We spent an extra hour just leaving Manhattan! Thankfully, things got better after that... except for the rain... and the fog... oh, and the fact that we couldn't seem to find any place to eat for a LONG time along the way!! Perfect otherwise though, really. We had fun anyway. I kept Phil in suspense for the first 4 hours, and then finally told him where we were headed... I had to recruit him to help me get in touch with the owners to let them know we were behind schedule. Thankfully our hosts were gracious enough to wait up for us and we settled into the very gay Rose Room for well earned night's rest!

The next morning we got a much better look at the room and house. It was just as gay as we figured the night before... gayer even, as the sun really accentuated the roses, especially the rose pillow! The JMM is owned by a very nice older couple, John and Tony. Tony ended up doing all of the the work, and he was our morning host! He is colorful man, not shy about giving his opinions on anything! Our plan for the day was to get up early, have breakfast, and then drive through the Montezuma Wildlife Preserve at the north end of the lake to see if we would be lucky enough to spot some of the interesting migratory birds going through the preserve, and maybe even a bald eagle, before heading south along the wine trail torwards Ithaca. Sadly, what we found by the time we finally got out the door was a marhsland filled with common ducks and a huge number of Canada Geese! Just like home! Maybe next time... but I digress, Tony treated us to an incredibly delicious and hearty 3 course breakfast. Tony is quite the cook, and the breakfast alone is worth the stay!! Happily stuffed, we decided to head out and start the day. The weather was flawless. The evening rain gave way to glorious blue skies and we were greeted with a crisp cool clean country air as we poured ourselves into the car!

Side note.. For those interested, here is a brief word about the Region. The lakes get their name from their linear shape and north-south orientation, which collectively reminded early map-makers of the fingers of a hand. The Finger Lakes were modified by glaciers over time, and as the ice retreated from the last ice age, the deposits they left behind dammed the valleys, impounding water. Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake both are close to 40 miles from end to end, but never more than 3.5 miles wide. They are also among the deepest in America; Seneca is also the deepest at 618 feet, followed by Cayuga at 435 feet. It is their great depth that modifies the region's climate enough to help support the lush vineyards that flank their shores. Retaining residual summer warmth in the winter, and winter's cold in the spring, the grapes are protected from disastrous spring frost during grape formation, and early frost before the harvest. The Finger Lakes area is New York's largest wine producing region, and the second largest in the United States behind the Napa Valley in California. Not too shabby. All you wine lovers should definitely plan a stay.

Now back to the trip... we had comfortably stuffed our faces with an obscenely large breakfast and had made the underwhelming drive through the Wildlife Preserve. Now it was time to start hitting the wineries. I should mention something about Seneca Falls as well. The town is actually quite famous for a couple of reasons. It is actually the location of the first Women's Rights Convention in 1848 and is now home to the National Women's Hall of Fame. If that was not enough, the fictional town of Bedford Falls in Frank Capra's “It's a Wonderful Life” was modeled on Seneca Falls. Okay, now I'm really moving forward to the story. We hit the road south along the western shore of Cayuga and started at Cobblestone

I think I will spare you all the messy details... but suffice it to say, by the end of the first day, Phil was comfortably numb, and enjoying his birthday gift! The short answer is, GO GO GO... all you winoes... get on the road and drink up! We had a fantastic weekend, and are sure to be back in the near future. So much to drink, so little time... that's terrible. I mean, there's so much natural beauty, yeah, I want to go and hike, and swim, and play... and drink.

Here are the historic and natural wonders we visited...
Taughannock Falls

And here are the wineries... don't judge!
Cayuga Wine Trail
Cobblestone Farm Winery
Knapp Vineyards
Goose Watch Winery
Buttonwood Grove Winery
Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery
Thirsty Owl Wine Company
Hosmer Winery
Sheldrake Point Vineyard & Simply Red Lakeside Bistro
Lucas Vineyards
Bellwether Hard Cider
Americana Vineyards

Seneca Lake Wine Trail
Lamoreauex Landing Wine Cellars
Caywood Vineyards
Wagner Vineyards
Shalestone Vineyards
Penguin Bay Winery
Red Newt Cellars
Damiani Wine Cellars

Shawn In New York City Gay Men's Chorus

That's right....you heard correctly. Shawn auditioned last month nervous, apprehensive & skeptical about the whole experience. I mean come on, the last time Shawn sang in a choir setting was 3rd grade (before puberty). OY! The process of getting him ready was a little strenuous, but through the laughter & the tears he sounded beautiful & confident. After auditioning he believed he wouldn't receive a phone call, however he did & was asked to sing in the concert at Carnegie Hall.

We've rehearsed for the last 4 weeks and I can tell Shawn is very enthusiastic about being a member. Mr. athletic is now a blending sensation. I hope you'll support the doc for his debut @ Carnegie Hall. (December 11, 2007). I will be singing right beside him with all of my heart. :-)

Labor Day Weekend in New Hampshire

Phil and I have been absolutely terrible about updating this... but I wanted to get a little update out before things got too far behind... eh-hem... okay, well it's too late for that, but hopefully this will help catch some folks up on our journeys.

Labor Day weekend was going to be completely uneventful until my friend David called and saved the day, and invited us up to their country home, The Parker Mountain Lodge, for their annual end of summer party. David is a dear old friend of mine from my intern days after vet school, and his partner Michael is just the nicest southern gentlemen you ever could meet! They are a wonderful couple, and as you can see from the picture, they have this amazing getaway home in Southeastern New Hampshire that they have been slowly developing over the last 5 years. The estate used to be an old sleep away christian camp for boys, and they converted the main lodge into a truly FABULOUS... wow that word comes out more easily the older and gayer I get!... oy!... In any event, they invited us to stay over for 2 nights starting the night before the big event. It was a well deserved break and real treat for both of us.

We got a late start on Saturday, but everyone was patient and we were met Saturday evening with open arms just in time for appetizers, dinner and cocktails! It was perfect. We had a wonderful home cooked meal, and had the pleasure of another great couple they know from the Boston area. After dinner, we moved over to the big couches in the center of the main living room and curled up with our wine in front of the fire David had made! We spent the better part of the night sipping our wine, listening to fun music, and laughing a lot as we caught up with old and new friends. It was just what the doctor ordered. As the night wore on, Norman offered up some kind of tasty sipping shot of some kind that took the edge right off, and before long, Phil and Michael were singing for us... and now, as I look back, I think I may even have been coaxed into blending with something coming off the iPod... I know, scary!

The next day we woke up to the smell of a home cooked country breakfast... there's nothing like waking up to the smell of fresh bacon in the air!

We helped them set up for the party and within the next few hours folks startled trickling in from all over! It was a happy mix of family and friends, and their dogs! David and Michael's kids, Miss P (Pugglina) and Zachary had a blast running around with the pack of dogs, picking up dropped scraps, and swimming in the lake! It truly was the perfect day for all... We ate and drank our way through the day chatting with a fun bunch of guys from the Boston area, and as the sun set over Parker Mountain Lodge, we found ourselves eating leftovers and sipping a few cocktails while sitting in front of the fireplace like the night before.

Our last day in our NH paradise started happily like the day before, with fresh coffee and a big ol' breakfast. After cleaning up the last of the previous day's mess, we packed our things and head over to one their friend's houses a few miles down the road. They too have a gorgeous country hideaway sitting on a charming little hill overlooking a small mountain valley. Halfway down the sloping well manicured backyard, sat a beautiful in ground pool. We enjoyed an hour of fun in the sun lounging next to the pool, and a few of us even braved the crisp chilly water! Before saying good by, our gracious hosts cooked us up some very hearty hearty homemade hamburgers on the grill! Holy delicious!

Well-fed and well-rested, we made our way back to the big city...