The town has been summoned: tomorrow, Sat. the 25th, Twist will host the birthday party for my prince, Leopoldo, at five PM. No presents are required, just presence. Those who do not attend will require a doctor's notice or a certificate from a current President-For-Life (one that I hold, but don't use often. Titles like President-For-Life shouldn't be misused as simply the acquiring of it meant a lot of misused power). That aside, there may be the groundswell for a pool party on Sunday, and I--as a President-For-Life--don't take groundswells lightly. There is a reason one remains in that position.

You never know who you are talking to in this town. Last night I made a fleeting comment to a rather young boy at Twist about The Countess of Rothes, and he replied, "Lifeboat number eight of The Titanic". Of course, he was immediately accepted to court, given a title, and came over for a beer or twot. We giddily talked about Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon while Mr. Astor yawned; he is not a history buff, just an ass buff. This reminded me of a rather haunting You Tube entry about the famous member of Lifeboat Eight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClqxvX0AevU

James St. James and Lady Bunny

We had the honor of Lady Bunny coming over for my birthday pool party; those days in New York City seem like they were in another century (well, actually, they were)...
...but, I haven't seen James St. James since we all seemed to disperse after the Michael Alig affair. Talk about crazy, here he was at the infamous Blood Feast night celebrating murder, when we all knew Michael had hacked up his drug dealer.

Bunny sent me this, and it made me weep with the happiness of having been a part of the madness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3jQnHYHHbA

You can wear anything (or nothing) on South Beach. I assumed he was from Europe, but learned he was a little girl from Little Rock.
Of course, wearing little does gather admirers.

On Sunday we celebrated Henrietta's fiftieth anniversary of arriving and going in drag on Miami Beach. As usual the spread was astounding: twelve trays of food and pastries, all made by The Queen, herself. Actually we had all been out at Twist until four in the morning, but Henrietta got up at 6 AM to cook. She prepared food for two hundred people and still pulled it off while looking lovely.
Wearing one of her tiaras and a new, diamond necklace, Henrietta looked radiant.
A City proclamation declaring "Recognition" of Henrietta as an important asset to the town, was read on the part of Mayor Bower and The Commission.
After the private reading, Tiffany read the City proclamation outside to the adoring crowd. God bless them both.
On Monday, after a great lunch on Lincoln Road with Carl and Leo, we hooked up with my buddies from the hey-days of New York night life, Tina Paul and Ahrlene Ayalin, when we two of the few photographers allowed into the deepest, darkest gutter clubs of that city. My favorite remark was made from Tina to Leopoldo when she told him about meeting me "....when he lived in a penthouse and had a pig running around." (That was Peggy The Pig, a great story that still needs to be told.)
And, again, Henrietta looked great--even for an afternoon outfit, she wore a superb cameo she inherited from an aunt. Thank God I had Tuesday and Wednesday off this week in order to recover and repair from the weekend.

Coming up: Steven Stewart's birthday party at Twist on Friday, Leopoldo's birthday at Twist on Saturday, June 25, and Twist's own 18th anniversary party of Wed., the 29th. There was a time when everything calmed down after Memorial Day. In order to survive, you have to well-plan the times of rest in between this madness.

I not have only neglected making any posts, but have not opened my email since Memorial Day; what a nightmare. Perhaps the trigger-happy police on Memorial Day put me in a spell; there's nothing like some good publicity of a crazed police force shooting up the town and then grabbing the cell phones of watchers and smashing them on the ground. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDs-Wp_TN2c

In any event, life has been going on as usual, although I have been working way, way too much.

Last night we began the stations of the cross at Score...
...but ended up at the Altar of Nicholas at Twist, which still is the only game in town. Then, of course , there is the back yard.....