24 November, 2010

19 years



Yep. 19 years ago today around 19:00 London time, we lost the greatest singer in the world. There's not much to say that hasn't already been said by millions of others since 1991, but I will say that Freddie Mercury is my hero and means everything to me.

And to you, dear reader, I impart this wisdom: If you engage in sexual activities or plan to in the future, PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR PARTNER(S)! I'm talking polyurethane/latex condoms, lubricant, barriers, dental dams, gloves, enthusiastic consent from all involved, make sure you and all parties are clear-headed, ensure that there are no cuts or abrasions on any part of your body which may become exposed to another person's junk or orifices, get tested regularly, know your status, disclose anything your partner(s) may need to know, etc! If you cannot afford safe sex supplies, go to your local clinic or doctor and they will at least give you condoms and lube! I realize this sounds like an awful lot, but you deserve to be around for as long as possible and if you're able to give a damn about yourself and other people, this is all well worth knowing and putting into practice!

Okay, back to Freddie. I like to think he made me a better person. He got me into singing, through his stage persona and what's known about his personal life, he told me it was okay to be a queer man before I even knew I was a queer man. And eventually, if one can endure the hell that is navigating childhood and adolescence while being not-straight, trans, and/or gender-nonconforming, you can make your life yours and fabulous. We won't all get to be musicians who could afford the finer things in life, but we can all be amazing and fuck everyone else if they don't like it!

Please, by all means, if there's another AIDS charity you'd rather give your hard-earned cash... But because this blog revolves around Queen, it would be really fucking awesome if you could keep The Mercury Phoenix Trust going strong by donating to them. Even if it's only a dollar/pence/whatever your currency, that's one closer to better education, research, medication and a cure than they were before!

Also, check out my counterpart's blog post over at Sugar N Thunder!

15 November, 2010

Mercury And Me

I love when stuff I order arrives long before the estimated delivery date. According to Amazon, I was supposed to get Mercury And Me by Jim Hutton somewhere between December 6th and December 17th. So you can imagine my joy that it arrived today :-)




Obviously, I haven't read it yet, but there are three sets of photos. Even if some of them can also be found in Phoebe's book, but that isn't the point.

After Jim Hutton died, I had my reservations about ordering it. I think at one point, a used copy cost $60something plus shipping. So I waited until recently when it would be less than $30.

I love Queen and Freddie a lot, but as a man who doesn't make a whole lot of money (but is shockingly careful with what he has) it isn't often that I'll spend a huge amount on a used item.

11 November, 2010

Freddie Mercury will make you a soy latte that will rock your world

I was on Facebook earlier and I saw a post from Diesel Cafe that the staff today were dressed as various rock stars, but the one that obviously caught my attention was that someone was apparently dressed as Freddie Mercury. So of course I had to venture out immediately to see if I could get a picture because I had no idea if the person's shift was ending or not... and y'know, I just wouldn't be a creepy stalker if I sat at home not doing anything.

So I got there and, as usual, it was pretty busy. And I immediately spotted a guy wearing a white A-frame shirt and thought, "That has to be the guy." After plucking up some courage, I approached him while he was making drinks and asked if he was dressed as Freddie just to be certain I had the right person. He smiled and said he was, and I asked if it was cool if I could take a picture of him for this blog. And then I proceeded to wait like a creepy stalker until he wasn't making drinks, killing time by texting a couple friends: "I'm at Diesel and there's a guy dressed as Freddie Mercury. And they're playing Mika. It's so awesome!!!"

Eventually he told me when his shift was ending and that I should give him the URL to this blog so that he could post it on Facebook at some point. I'm not going to lie, I also gave him my email address because I'm too much of a wuss to give cute people my phone number. But I digress...

I feel bad for not getting a decent picture of him, but Kyle (that's the guy's name) was a really awesome sport and since he had just ended his shift I didn't want to keep him from whatever else he had going on today.




So if you're reading: thank you again, Kyle for being a badass. And the hot chocolate you made for me was delicious!

*ETA* I didn't order a soy latte, but I thought putting that in the title would make it funnier*

01 November, 2010

Friends will be friends

When I was 12 years old, my mother made the mistake of showing me the internet where I'd discover the Official International Queen Fanclub site. It doesn't exist anymore, but there used to be a chat room where I started making friends. It was my very first sense of community.

It was a place where you could be a kid and/or a new Queen fan and you were welcomed with open arms, as opposed to nowadays where one is typically greeted on forums like, "You posted in the wrong fucking thread, you dumbass!" or, "Why the hell would you ask such a dumb question?"

And yes, to this day I still miss the people from that room. But I've recently got back in touch with one of them! We clicked ridiculously well. We'd call frequently in the days before cell phones (can you say $70 phone bill??) and mostly sing together and pretend to put on concerts, write really terrible (my contributions, not hers) fan fiction, obsess over Freddie, etc. It was fucking sick.

We eventually started calling ourselves The Mercury Gurus because... well, I don't know. You can't spend hours talking about Queen and singing Queen and jacking up phone bills thanks to long-distance calls and dial-up internet without giving us a name.

And then for a while we lost touch. But being a fucking stalker, I Googled her name and found her contact info! And then we had an intense and wonderful conversation scarily similar to what I described above, where she eventually said something like, "By the way, it feels SO GOOD to talk to somebody else about Queen on this level!!!"

We both had friends in real life, but they weren't hardcore about Queen like we were ("WE'RE ELITE!" - her words) My counterpart is also super badass because she won the 2001 mime contest at Breakthru using a rolled up Back To The Light poster as a Freddie mic :-D

However, I'm really fucking jealous of her. She fucking met Brian May! (she's in the middle) And ever since then I can't see pictures or videos including Brian without uttering a good "Fuck you, counterpart!" ... But I say that with love. She knows that. Or at least she does now :-)

Oh, and she recommends this.