Woof ‘n Kisses from the Holy City Lift up your gates and sing! If you’re wondering why gay men think of San Francisco as the Holy City, you haven’t been there. It has nothing to do with the fact that the town was named after a little monk who liked furry critters (cubs not excluded). Good Lord, Market Street is waving rainbow flags for days. (My publicist told me they were being flown in honor of the Woof tour, though she may have been fibbing.) Not to mention the giant one on Castro Street.
What I learned fast in the City by the Bay is that the best way to promote yourself is to pose for charity, which I did shamelessly in high style. I co-hosted this year’s Hats Off luncheon for the San Francisco SPCA with none other than Jan Wahl. She’s a doll in person (and for those folk who don’t know her, you live too far away from the Holy City). She’s a huge animal advocate who’s a well-known movie critic and she wears great hats. We fast became BFFs (and she’s so much more fun than Cindy Adams, whom I still love even though she missed my Manhattan soiree… I was in fact relieved that Cindy didn’t show up with one of her needy little Yorkies as the club management frowned upon people with dogs. And as you know, frowning upon Cindy Adams can get you dissed on NBC. I digress. You’re shocked.) Jan and I co-emceed the annual fashion show as a part of the entertainment for the Ladies who Lunch (which was delish, as is everything at the Hotel Prescott).
For you East Coasters who haven’t been to the Castro in a while, I’m happy to report that the dogs are still out in full force—both the four-legged and the two-legged varieties. Much to woof at on Castro Street. Three queers for A Different Light Bookstore and Under One Roof, both of which hosted book signings for Woof! and me. It was great to meet Jason Galloway at ADL, who was kind (and perceptive) enough to recommend Woof! to The Advocate for their listing of “Perfect Presents.” The UOR event was a fund-raiser for PAWS of SF, which does great work for pet-owning people with AIDS and other diseases. Henry Lucero, the marketing director for the organization, is a class act. I now own my very own pink Pug tie, thanks to Henry! Roving reporter Leigh Glasser and I had great fun with four willing victims and their dogs for “A View from the Bay,” an afternoon TV program on ABC. It was filmed live from Best in Show, a hip pet shop in the Castro owned by a fabulous Gaysian named Richard. Among the guys who appeared on the show was Andrew Freeman and his two magic Yorkies, smartly named after flowers, albeit common varieties, Tulip and Daisy. I chided Andrew for selecting such ordinary (nongay) blossoms to name his children after and suggested a lexicon of others (such as Chrysanthemum, Peony, and Amaryllis), but Andrew said that he wants another Yorkie to name Petunia. Some gay men can’t be coached, even a well-dressed City Girl like Miss Freeman. After meeting one of his little blue and tan monsters up close, I realized that he should have named her Snapdragon! (Kidding, Andrew: they’re both perfect ladies like their daddy!) You can watch the interview by going to: I hope you think it’s fun. Leigh has it all going on (and she has great hair, too). There was one woofy daddy who sent in his photo in for consideration for the show. He owns a handsome colored Bull Terrier, but for reasons far beyond this author’s dim understanding, Richard (the aforementioned fab Gaysian) didn’t select him to attend. As an homage to the Pump Boy that got away, here’s a photo of him on the beach with his bully buddy. If you’re out there—Hank and Dave—give me a holler. (I don’t know which is the beefy, broad-shouldered one and which is the one in the sunglasses?)
I still haven’t seen the footage of myself and Tim Gaskin on OUTSpoken TV, but he was very sweet and asked good questions. I’m pretty sure I told him the whole story about how I was questing to write a book for dog-seeking Drag Queens and how I feared the market might be a tad too limited. ASIDE: Speaking of “too limited” I must tell you that a certain gay book club, whose name I will withhold (is there more than one??), told my publisher that Woof! was too specific for their (all-gay!) readership. DOGS is too limited? There’s a whole friggin’ aisle in Barnes and Noble devoted to dogs, but it’s too limited for them. I don’t know who’s running that club (Actually I do!), and, even so, I’m sorry to hear they’re going south (and not for vacation either.) I had a lot of fun at a little book signing at the Harbor Court Hotel, another terrific Kimpton property, where I ran into an old college friend who was out before I could spell fellatio. “As the still-colorful David Paisley reminded me, Albright College was no place for budding homos like us, despite the dozens who have come out since our time there two short decades ago.” It was fun catching up with him (I didn’t actually know him in college, and owe him an apology since back then I didn’t go near gay college boys with turquoise highlights). Speaking of delish gay college boys, another hurray! for A Different Light bookstore for sending their yummy sales clerk, Nick Candau, to the signing. Where was Nick when I was in college (or at least just single)?? Intelligent, cute and a dog lover—where’s my leash! Nick turned me on…to another great gay dog book (there are THREE now…see a future blog)… Dog Years: A Memoir by Mark Doty. I only recommend this book for gay men who like books with words since there aren’t any pretty pictures or colorful cartoons to help you through. Believe or not—and don’t tell Jason O’Malley—books can be entertaining even without illustrations. I’m compelled to tell you about the Leatherman who drove two hours to meet me, but he’ll probably hunt me down and hang me in a cage if I divulge too many details from our brief encounter. He didn’t own a dog and didn’t buy a book, but he chatted me up for a good hour. He reviewed the Leatherman section of the book and advised me that all Leathermen like big tough dogs. I started to think we were no longer talking about canines…that’s when the cage thing came up. (The rest of this paragraph was deleted by the webmaster.) If you visit San Francisco, be sure to go over to Fillmore Street. They have a great jazz fest, a terrific movie theatre (La Vie En Rose was playing when I was there), lots of gift shops, an art gallery and, best of all, George Pet Store. It’s owned by a terrific gay gent whose name escapes me (and I don’t think it’s George!). They may still have a signed copy of Woof! left because I signed quite a few.
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