The premiere for Nardicio’s Great Gay American Roadtrip is at a venue that I’m not shameful enough to say I’d never heard of. The Bijou, also known as Club 82, is a sex club that has survived the ages somehow, and a perfect venue for the premiere, filled with drag queens, go-go boys, and fags with their hags.
My Plus One and I arrive when the event was to begin at 6:30 to find the crew inside milling about, putting together gift bags, putting up posters, and generally wringing hands. The host, Daniel Nardicio, spots me and plants a big kiss on my cheek letting me know that there are technical difficulties. Almost immediately, all the on-time arrivers are ushered back up the stairs of the basement sex club to mill around on the street.
As seven approaches, the crowd outside has grown to over one hundred of downtown’s dirty people. Eventually, the crowd starts to spill into the nearby East 4 Street Bar, providing the regularly straight crowd some quality time with go-go boys wearing only bags from a nearby deli as underwear.
Every fifteen minutes or so comes the announcement that someone has been sent somewhere to find some cable or connector or cord and that once connected the show will begin. During this time, Christian Sumner explains the glitter on his face as remnants from the previous nights Dazzle Dancers show at the Deitch Projects. Perppermint Gummybear tries to piece together some time we spent in Cherry Grove that I can’t remember either. And my Plus One complains about every person that knows him and is not saying hello.
The crowd eventually tumbles back down the stairs to the sex club. (The permeating smell of poppers seems to be fainter now than it was on my original entry.) My suggestion to Plus One that we take a few moments in one of the peep booths is met with his suggestion that we find our seats. As the event is now over one and a half hours late, there is little time to scan the crowd more, although Beth Greenfield from Time Out is sitting behind me and says, “Oh, yeah. I know you,” in a manner that sort of scares me.
But she’s the least of my worries, as, after the movie begins, cast member Gio from Black Peter Group finds a seat directly in front of me, the bunny ears of his headdress conjoin with the red feathers erupting from the crown of the drag queen on his lap to block my view of the screen. Both are chugging Jagermeister, at one point slinging it backward and staining my Playgirl.com sleeveless tee from its position in my goodybag. At various times throughout the movie, the drag queen gives Gio head in the seat, and later, a vicious (really) slap fight breaks out between Gio and a gal-pal of his.
Once Gio moves to the floor with his crew, the screen is no longer obscured and the film is, to my honest surprise, quite good. Some great moments include the above mentioned Gio pissing himself in his sleep, a pornstar with a gigantic dick that is the primpiest queen on the bus, and Dina Marie Deliscious’ expadades as a Lot Lizard at a New Jersey rest stop. The film’s best line comes from drag queen Bianca Del Rio who requests, “Daniel. I need about fifteen minutes in a bathroom to give some unsuspecting individual AIDS.”
Around ten, the assembled group is at The Cock for the afterparty. The open bar seems determined to use all the Christiana Vodka donated, as Plus One and I are shaking from our multiple vodkas with a splash of soda. My memory fades out, but apparently we got more video footage there.
Somehow we end the night getting kicked out of a dive bar in Kensington for playing with the Mr. Limpy faux penises that were in our gift bags. From there we stumble to Plus One’s place and I get the sex I requested so many hours previous.
