Behr Pick: Alex and Dancing Your Ass Off

Alex hails from France. Très délicieux. The only other information I have is he's 28. *sigh*

Quite often throughout my life I've become obsessed with something or someone. My current obsession is with DJ Peter "Jester" Savas, who I mentioned in an earlier post. He provided the music in the main room at Kub Lucky last week. In reading up on him I discovered he has a podcast called "Press Play," which is available on iTunes. So I checked it out, subscribed, and downloaded all 38 podcasts. I'm currently listening to his 'Goin' to Gay Days' mix from April 2009. I don't profess to know much about music, except what I like, however in the first 15 minutes of this 1 1/2 hour podcast he's included Earth Wind and Fire; Idina Menzel singing "Defying Gravity;" and Amber's "sexual (la da di)". I'm loving it. How the hell he and other DJs mix music is beyond me. It's reminding me of the mash-up episode on Glee but with a constant background beat. I'm at work and SO trying not to jump up on my desk and dance my ass off.

An interesting thing about dancing...I used to do a lot of it in my college days. My BFF back in those days was a straight girl (Caro) who I knew vaguely in high school. We went to different colleges but hung out together whenever we could. One weekend we'd go to some place she wanted to go to, such as Red Onion, which was a restaurant/bar with a dance floor. On alternating weekends or evenings out we'd go somewhere I wanted to go, usually a gay place that had a huge dance floor with really cute waiters and bartenders. Occasionally we'd head down toward the beach to a jazz club to soak up a different ambiance. I remember back in the day when Caro and I went to some Christmas party for her work; we ditched out early and went to a place called Newport Station...it wasn't our "usual" night but as soon as we walked out on the dance floor, it cleared. We had the whole dance floor to ourselves. We got a standing ovation that night at the end of whatever set of songs were played by the DJ. We hadn't realized we had a reputation (good and bad)!

When I discovered the bear community and in particular bear/leather/levi bars, I discovered there are no dance floors. It's as if the patrons are "too butch" or "too masculine" to dance. Once in a while someone will be swaying or tapping his foot but for the most part it's as if dancing is frowned upon. And that's such a shame since I find dancing to be a joyous experience.

Okay this podcast I'm still listening to has also covered Judy Torres, Kelly Clarkson, Liz Clay, and Lady Gaga! I'm going to have to close my office door so I can dance!

Sorry, I digress. Where was I? Oh yes...dancing as a joyous experience. It's true. Did you know that in the Old Testament it talks about the Israelites dancing before the Lord? (Not promoting religion, just using this as an example.) The connection we have to music and movement of our bodies is as old as - well - music! It's a good thing. Music can be cerebral but I find the best music makes you move, whether it's tapping your foot, bopping your head, or full on movement as if you're on So You Think You Can Dance.

I think this is why I was so disappointed I didn't get to dance last Friday. I miss it. And although I'm an overweight guy that shouldn't stop me. Because we have souls that music feeds. So for this Tuesday, crank up the tunes, get up off your ass, and dance it off!

BEHR HUGS!!