Tonight is the first rehearsal for the BGMC‘s next concert, “Boys Just Wanna Have Fun: Totally 80s” and it’s going to be a blast.

We haven’t seen the music yet other than getting little hints via e-mail from Reuben, our director. We have exactly 11 weeks to get this show ready. It’s going to be a lot of fun. This is the music we all grew up listening to.

All we know at this point is that the show opens with The Village People’s “Are You Ready for the 80s.’

I’m not sure which will be more fun, the concert or the rehearsals.

Tickets are on sale now at bgmc.org. You might want to get your tickets very quickly. This one is going to sell out for two reasons. First, it’s going to be an awesome concert and will rock in a way that only the BGMC can do, and second, it’s happening during Boston’s Gay Pride week.

I’m spending a week this summer in Provincetown, better known as PTown. It’s a gay vacation mecca on the tip of Cape Cod. You might recall that I was in PTown in December for Holly Folly. That was just a weekend. This will be a full week. Imagine that. I’m taking an honest-to-Pete vacation. That hasn’t happened in a long time.

I’m going with my friends Andy and Jay in July, and the week we’re going is Bear Week.

Let me stop right there and do some explaining. In the gay universe, just like in the wild, bears tend to be large, furry creatures. That’s where the term bear came from. Obviously, I’m not a bear. My German heritage doesn’t give me a whole lot of body fur, and I can’t grow a decent beard to save my soul.

Going for Bear Week is going to be a lot of fun. While I’m not part of the bear community, they are a lot of fun. And I won’t have to worry about shaving my chest to be on the beach.

My friend Chris and I went to Philadelphia for the weekend. Seeing the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus “That 80s Show” was our main reason for going.

Every time I go to Philly, I forget how much I loved living there. I won’t call it regret, but if I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t have left nine years ago. Now I have this nagging thought in the back of my head.

The chorus performed really well. I really enjoyed their concert. After all, it was the music I grew up listening to. This was fun. It has me wondering what our 80s concert (Boys Just Wanna Have Fun) will be like. We get our music Wednesday night at rehearsal.

Chris and I walked ALL OVER Philly this weekend. It’s such a walkable city. And we got to visit some of my favorite haunts, and in typical Mike fashion, there was a bit of an adventure at the 12th Air Command. That’s another story for another day, though.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see my friend Casey. But I did get to see Skip and his partner David, who I’ve known longer than Skip has. I also got to see Rod and his partner Mike.

Saturday night, I got to meet some of the guys from the PGMC. I’ll probably go back for their concert in June and hopefully get to know more of the chorus members.

A woman on my Pug owner’s community commented that her neurologist thinks she has MS. Naturally, she’s pretty upset about this. This is and edited version of what I wrote. My advice rarely varies.

I was diagnosed with MS about six years ago and I’m still standing. It’s not a death sentence.

Let me put this into a bit of perspective. I’ve lost several friends to AIDS. We’re all given challenges and hurdles to overcome in life. I didn’t pull the short straw this time.

My dad’s sister, my aunt Velma, has been fighting MS for close to 25 years. If she can do it, so can I. And so can you.

Here are a few tidbits of advice I give to people I talk to who are diagnosed with MS. If you are diagnosed with MS, keep these in mind.

  1. Find a neurologist who specializes in MS. Your neurologist may know a lot about MS. A specialist will know even more.
  2. Don’t stop living. Take advantage of every good day you have.
  3. Learn to listen to your body. When it says it’s time to rest, it’s time to rest.
  4. Don’t be afraid of meds that are injected. It’s mind over matter. It’s no worse than insulin.
  5. Take care of your mental health, too. Find a support group in your area.
  6. It’s okay to be angry, upset, and confused. See #5.

In the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus’ Outside the Box concert series, we did a few comedy numbers. It didn’t take long for them to get posted to YouTube.

The first one was from the Mel Brooks musical Young Frankenstein. It’s He Vas My Boyfriend/Deep Love. My friend, the theatre critic, says these were the only two decent songs in the musical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_dDYeM_pjQ

The big gag in the concert was from Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life”, Every Sperm is Sacred.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQKI6zFfqZA

Good god, I love my chorus.

Jordan Hall
Originally uploaded by mikehillwig

Singing on stage at Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory of Music can be a little intimidating. The hall holds just under 1100 people. That’s well over 2000 eyeballs watching you on stage.

The first time you walk onto that stage for a rehearsal, it’s incredibly daunting. You look around the stage, and you’re surrounded by the rest of the chorus, many of them who have been doing this for years. Still, it’s daunting.

After my second concert with the chorus in December, I got over that fear and quickly realized that I was having the time of my life. Singing on that stage is a great deal of fun, and the people in the audience are there to hear this chorus.

I hold Jordan Hall with a great deal of reverence. It’s an amazing place, and it holds some amazing memories for me. It makes me very sad that we won’t be performing our June concerts here. We’ll be at the Back Bay Performing Arts Center.

For our March concerts, I ended up being the next to last person to walk on stage. The very last person to come on stage is Reuben, our director. And sure enough, I was one of the first ones to lead off stage. We’re pretty good at getting on and off the stage.

Have I mentioned lately just how much I love being part of the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said how much I enjoy being part of the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus. Wednesday nights are the best. Rehearsals are always a ton of laughs, and we work hard making great music. This week was our last rehearsal prior to our “Outside the Box” this weekend.

Here is a YouTube clip from Wednesday night while we’re working on “Come to My Window” from Melissa Etheridge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY5sqrtryMo

Unfortunately the audio doesn’t give you the full, rich sound of the BGMC when we’re singing at Jordan Hall. Still, it’s a great preview of what you can expect this weekend. You DID buy your tickets, didn’t you? If not, go on over to bgmc.org and support us. There are still plenty of great seats available.

If you keep watching the clip, you’ll catch one of the best Reubenisms I’ve heard in my time with the chorus. He’s always saying the funniest things. Frequently he’ll say things without realizing just how funny he is.

N752US Departing
Originally uploaded by mikehillwig

I bought myself a new camera. It’s a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi. It cost a few bucks, but damn, is it cool.

In order to get the good shots of airplanes, I need to buy a good zoom lens.

Kitchen Disaster
Originally uploaded by mikehillwig

I should just give up trying to make Ina’s sticky buns with the puff pastry. This is my third attempt, and every time, I mess it up.

This time, I did something that caused them to burn. And I mean BURN. The copious amount of smoke spewing from my oven was enough to set off the smoke detector.  Yeah, it was that bad.