too bad they don't play tom petty in gay bars

warning: semi-explicit content...

i took my shirt off in public for the first time in almost 2 years last night.

after sushi, cocktails, and chocolate pudding pops at ee's, we went to the green lantern for the "free drinks in your underwear" special. on the walk from adams morgan to logan square we discussed public nudity, and i brought up the spare rib where crazy n & i exchanged clothing on stage. i wasn't totally comfortable with it at the time. i remember having long discussions with scamz about it, and concluding that i was not opposed to nudity in art as long as it was not exploitative or gratuitous.

not long after i ended up in undies with googly eyes in a film scamz made.

then 2 years ago, i ended up at 241 with sparks, paper telephone, anti-fiendism, a bathing rock, and some tom petty. suddenly faith had negotiated a shirtless porch, and i was sucked in briefly. despite the fact that i was with good, comfortable friends, i regretted it later. maybe it was just a charged atmosphere.

and then last night...the green lantern offered free drinks, and we accepted. on the walk there, i wasn't entirely sure i would actually take off my clothes. but we got inside, and ee took off his shirt. j followed. the bartender then mentioned that delf & i could also get free drinks for stripping down to undies. so we took our shirts off, and he said the pants would have to go too. so we obliged, after commenting that the boys had not taken theirs off. so the bartender insisted they did too. so the four of us, minus clothing, plus free drinks walked away to our table. we had a brief conversation about how comfortable and natural it felt to all be standing around a table in nothing but undies and shoes, and then didn't mention it again.

not long after man #1 approached us and told delf & i that we were "pioneers" because he had never seen women in their undies there before. he shook our hands. later, another man, fully clothed, came over and complimented delf & i on being "sexy" and he told us he liked our shoes. of course he had to preface the whole thing with "i'm gay, but you guys are sexy. and i appreciate that." hmmm... maybe he's holding himself to a little too homonormative of a standard? embrace the fluidity man!