Nice Day at the beach

Had a really nice day at the beach swimming and also looking at the beautiful people of New Jersey!

My favorite Gay Pride Memory

I had a really fun pride weekend last week and was doing some work for the media company, OurSceneTV.  One of the questions Ourscene asked  various GLBT influencers for their coverage was about their favorite Pride memory so I thought I'd share mine.  The year was the summer of 2002 and the place was Central Park's Rumsay Playfield.  The event: the 25th anniversary of the Paradise Garage with a special performance by the legendary Ms. Grace Jones.  While this wasn't an official Heritage of Pride celebration there was lots of "family" there waiting in line before the stage area opened up.

I was there with one of my good friends and we were totally in party mood.  This was his first pride in NYC and my first big party post 9/11.  As many of you may or may not know the mood in NYC was extremely depressing after the attacks and I was working very close to the actual site.  I can still remember the smell of the fires ( a mix of burnt rubber and leaves).  

So once we got into the space we felt a tremendous amount of positive energy despite the heat and high humidity.  The  "Godfather of Disco" Mel Cheren was spinning an infectous mix of old school garage and soulful house.  Everybody in the diverse crowd was dancing with each other.  There were even middle aged women with long dreadlocks dancing with 20 year old twinks.  I have very rarely seen this kind of comaraderie since.

After several hours of this, my friend and I were getting hot so we moved back to the bleachers to get some shade. If you've ever been to Summerstage you know that the play field is a very intimate venue with great views from the entire space.  Finally, Ms Grace came on and sang a wonderful set with all her hits and out of this world costumes!  The highlight  though was listening to the enthusiastic crowd of flamboyant African American gay men cheering her on.  Think Paris is Burning

"Go on Miss Gracie!"
"You BETTA work it girl, " they shouted .

I will never forget that afternoon.  Thank you Ms. Grace Jones and RIP Mel Cheren.

Salade Nicoise

Salade Nicoise is the perfect salad for a hot summer day and every time I have it I feel like I'm in the south of France. It made for a pleasant lunch yesterday on a hot afternoon and went extremely well with homemade bread and Brie. Here's some pics and I've included links to the recipes.

Gay Pride Week DJ Mix

Thanks to one of my favorite gay blogs, Joe My God for posting this mix
and happy Gay Pride Week to my fellow New Yorkers.

Brooklyn Bridge Park- ships on the east river

Brooklyn Bridge Park- ships on the east river, originally uploaded by ad454.

A slideshow of my photographs of Pier 1 at Brooklyn Bridge Park. I love this new park and going there to enjoy the boats along the East River and New York Harbor.

I think thisd will be the song of thew summer... It's so addictive

Madonna - Borderline

One of my fav Madonna songs from back in the day.  I love the infectious melody
and the gospel sounding backup vocals.

I love the purple color.

smoothie4, originally uploaded by ad454.

A closeup of the smoothie

smoothie2, originally uploaded by ad454.

A nice closeup to excite your tastebuds.

Cure for the heat wave.

smoothie7, originally uploaded by ad454.

I made smoothies yesterday with my roommate. They're very easy to make. I mixed blueberries, mango, vanilla Greek yogurt and ice. Blend away and voila. More pics and food porn to follow!

another pic rollerskating at the Roxy

night at the roxy, originally uploaded by ilona dharjha.

I miss the Roxy Nightclub

walk on the west side - 01, originally uploaded by ad454.

I miss the club. I saw many cool Djs here and had a nice roller skating date! I hope they don't turn it into a mall!

memorial01

memorial01, originally uploaded by ad454.

Brooklyn Bridge

miscnyc04, originally uploaded by ad454.

Just wanted to post this picture I took near the Brooklyn Bridge close to sunset 2 years ago while my friend was making a time lapse video

New Estelle Video

I first heard this song at Jeremy Scott's Fall 2010 fashion show in February where it had its public debut. Now the video is out and she did a special version for one of my favorite blogs, Joe. My. God. Hope you guys enjoy the video.

Estelle, "Freak"

RIP Dixie Carter

She was an amazing actress. I loved her in Designing Women and recently as Orson's mother on Desperate Housewives.

from Designing Women:




on Desperate Housewives:

Sushi Lunch at Hasaki NYC and beautiful spring weather

I really enjoy good quality sushi and yesterday I had a really satisfying lunch at Hasaki in the East Village. The lunch specials are very affordable. For about $18 you get sushi, miso soup, salad, tempura and a piece of grilled fish! It was also a great day to enjoy the beautiful spring weather in Union Square.

Also I happened upon some shirtless men jumping up and down in Union Square which ws very entertaining.

Night of a Thousand Gowns Video

We worked very hard on this video for the Imperial Court's Night of A Thousand Gowns gala. It was a great noight of fun and entertainment and you should check it out if you're in New York. The Comedian, Coco Peru cracked us up and we were thoroughly entertained by the women from RuPaul's Drag Race and singer Crystal Waters. I think everyone can remember her song, Homeless from the 90's. I'll post Waters' video after ours. Please let me know what you think and we at KitanoPictures are always looking for freelance work. Feel free to contact me at andytdickinson@mindspring.com .


Night of A Thousand Gowns Video:

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Crystal Waters Gypsy Woman:

DC Cherry Blossoms

Some pics of the cherry Blossoms in the tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial. The over 3000 trees were gifts from Japan in between WWI and WWII.

More sneak peaks from the Night of a Thousand Gowns

Here is another sneak peak of our video. We're still editing it right now, but it should be amazing!

Night of a Thousand Gowns

I attended the Imperial Court's Night of a Thousand Gowns on Saturday. I am making a video of the gala. I interviewed many of the participants including Sahara Davenport, Ari Gold, Jerry Mitchell and Lt. Dan Choi.