Guerrilla Queer Bar Success!!!

Last night was Guerrilla Queer Bar at Cadillac Ranch -- FABULOUS! :-) I had not expected to have as much fun as I did because, as @5chw4r7z points out, "that place is already so gay."

Yes, kids, we descended into the world of popped collars, untucked shirts, and a mechanical bull, and I'll say that I've had the best time I've ever had since day one of CGQB, mostly thanks to the charming and fabulous company of Julie Niesen of Wine Me, Dine Me, Cincinnati. Seriously. She said she was going to pop down, and I figured that I'd see her, we'd have a drink, a laugh, and we'd be on our way. Oh, no, she and I gossiped and checked out hotties the whole night through. And @Kate_The_Great even came out to hang out for a bit! OMG, I seriously thought I was going to go into fabulous overdrive.

Unfortunately, though, I think I overdrew my bank accoutn by $20. That happens, occasionally, and I need to reenter that part of my life we call "fiscal responsibility," which is hard for Democrats like me :-).

Emptying my pockets this morning -- always fun to dive through the detritus of a good night out, burying through crumpled dollar bills and random kitsch you grab throughout the night -- CGQB now has business cards which, on the back, says that you can "pass on this card to a cutie to request a free consensual kiss." Sadly, I never used it :-(, but life goes on as normal, doesn't it? :-) The card, as Chris G. pointed out, has unicorns! Who doesn't love unicorns? I also found, amidst crumpled bits of paper, a great and exciting email address which I had all but forgotten picking up... that of Alex Triantafilou.

Who? you may ask. Alex is the Chairman of the HamCo Republican Party, and blogger and a tweeter, who was actually very excited that Julie and I had popped over to say hello. Expect a conversation to begin there. (For the record: Alex was not joining Queer Bar but was just out at Cadillac Ranch with friends, but he was really excited to learn that we were there and fully supported the movement.) It's for moments like those, I think, that CGQB exists.

I am mitigating my hangover this morning with pasta and water bottles, but I'm totally pumped by the amazing party last night. As always, thanks guys and gals for putting it together!!!

Republicans Endorse a Mayoral Candidate

The HamCo GOP has made their endorsement for the mayoral race to run against Mark Mallory -- Dr. Brad Wenstrup. The decision is met with some enthusiasm, but a lot of "huh? what?" Dr. Wenstrup has no political experience, but he is a highly decorated Iraq war veteran. He also served as the Chief of Surgery at, of all places, Abu Ghraib.

...but somehow that's not a problem.

In short: the local Republicans have nominated a pretty face with a strong-ish past in a desperate effort to appear relevant in comparison to a semi-popular mayor. I doubt the Abu Ghraib thing will play at all locally, much to the disappointment of Tony Fischer who is running for Council who seems to want to play up the Iraq bit, as well, in his campaign. (Word to the wise: international war politics probably don't play well locally, and the Iraq War... well, do you want to go there?) The HamCo GOP blog seems to be very excited about their pick, though you'll find information on Wenstrup's webpage as yet unfulfilling.

Funny, those two -- Fischer and Wenstrup. I suppose if anytime is the right time to make the attempt and move on up, now is it. I'll be curious to see if the "cutie [single] Cincinnati boy home from Iraq dying to make a difference at home" line will work, for either of them.

Another fun little thought: the above picture was taken from a COAST blog posting. Chris Finney is "involved" with COAST, as is, I believe, Chris Smitherman. I wonder if Smitherman and the NAACP will ultimately endorse Wenstrup thanks to pressure from Finney and COAST, and due to the ongoing (and seemingly unresolvable) difficulties between Smitherman and Mallory. It's just a thought, though...

PS --> Wenstrup was recently featured as one of Cincinnati's own "Dr. McDreamy's," so the good doctor has some "good looks street cred."