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At the Millennium March   (cont'd)

Saturday, April 29

Tim is never really hungry, and I can go without food, but when I do, I can be grumpy. Ok. Tim calls it bitchy. Anyway, we headed to Dupont for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or whatever grabbed our fancy. A couple of weeks earlier, we'd hit this wonderful if somewhat pricey eatery called Midi. It was our desire to brunch there, but the line was long, and we decided to walk up to 17th Street to see what could be had there. Tim found a coffee shop and got a muffin. By this point I was hungry and really had hoped for something more creative, but I settled on an everything bagel with cream cheese.

We didn't need to head to the next hotel for a while, so we headed back to Connecticut. We wanted to make contact with a pal of ours, but neither of us had his number. Tim, however, had it in an email. I still wasn't really thinking when I suggested we try the terminal at Lambda Rising to see if we could access his HotMail (or is it Hot Male?) account. THAT was tedious and unsuccessful, but at the bookstore, we ran into several friends from the Raleigh-Durham area and one who had escaped to DC a year ago. It was good to see them, but we still had a mission.

By this time, I had remembered that IBM and Gay.Com were supposed to have a cyber-lounge setup at the Doyle Hotel. It was only a block away. Glad I remembered it. We got there as the IBM employee reception was going on and made our way to the cyber-lounge. They had created quite a comfortable spot with several terminals. One could check mail and also sign up for Gay.Com and get free stuff. I love free stuff, so I signed up. Tim checked his mail and got our friend's phone number. We browsed the lounge a while but decided there was much to do, much to see.

Back on the METRO, this time to Farragut North, if I'm remembering everything right. By this point Tim was hungry and we were walking down 17th Street towards the Mall area. I realized we were getting close to one of Tim's dear McDonald's. We stopped and took advantage of their Manager's Special, then headed for the Washington Monument. We discovered it was still closed for renovations, took a few pictures and debated where to go from there.

We both wanted to see the Vietnam War Memorial, but it seemed like a bit out of our way if we were heading to the METRO. Besides, that memorial would always be there, but MMOW stuff was for that weekend, only. I hadn't brought any of the information which would have told me where the Millennium Festival was going on, but I knew it was on Pennsylvania and that Pennsylvania ran diagonally to the Capitol. Plus, there were lots of people out on the Mall. So that's the direction we headed.

When we got up closer to the crowd, I realized this was the Names Project or AIDS Quilt. The realization swept over me in kind of an odd rush. I had heard folks who had seen it speak of the emotion. I was skeptical that I would experience that. I'm just not often overtaken by sentiment. I was wrong. There was a special reverence about the crowd - well most of it.

Apparently, this was a good place for the Phelps-ites, the God Hates Fags people, to stage their schtuff. As usual, they looked pitiful or silly, and most ignored them. Meanwhile, as I walked among the quilt squares, I cried. It certainly wasn't a planned thing. I never imagined it. But I was genuinely moved. And the emotion continued most of the afternoon.

The Quilt was near the Smithsonian METRO stop. Somberly, we boarded our train. Lots of emotions still filled my head, but we needed to get our bags and go to our next hotel.

At one point, in Metro Center, I looked across the tracks and into the next train. Standing there were Scott and Ed, two guys I work with. It was a surreal moment impossible to choreograph. Coincidence is sometimes a really bizarre thing.

So, we got our bags, got back on the train and commuted out to the car, loaded it, and made way for Tyson's Corner.

Tyson's Corner seems to be a somewhat yuppie-ish suburb with lots of nice hotels. I had hoped ours would be like one of those. After all, I've seen some Comfort Inns that were nicely appointed. Ours, it turned out, was a typical motel with rooms opening to the outside. I guess that's kinda what Priceline means by two stars. <G> As modest as it was, the place was comfortable, and honestly, the staff was a better staff than at the Renaissance!

Because it was getting late, we checked in, moved our stuff in, and headed for the METRO. Again. This time, our trip would be about 45 minutes. We were headed for RFK Stadium and the Equality Rocks concert. It was a good thing that we were the next to the last stop out; everyone else seemed to be going to the show as well. By the time we arrived at the RFK Stadium stop, it was standing room only. Heading up the escalator and out of the station, it was amazing to look back at the throng. Thousands of queer folk all packed into that small space. It looked like the set for a movie.

Once in the stadium, we found our seats - three rows from the top, but honestly not bad. Well, not bad other than the feeling that I was doing a high wire act walking to my seat.

The show was phenomenal, which kinda surprised me, as I'd had my doubts. I mean, RFK is a big stadium, and it takes a lot of charisma to involve that many folks in a concert. Plus sound is often bad, and I can't say this concert didn't have its moments of poor sound, but they really did do a great job. The first couple of acts suffered, but by the time the introduced Ellen DeGeneres, sound was getting much better.

I figured Ellen would have been later in the evening, but it was probably great planning that had her early. The crowd loved her. I love her. Heck, back when I was trying to be straight and I thought she was, I thought I'd marry her. And then she came out, so I did too, just two months later.<G> I know that watching her come out on TV helped me come to grips with myself (don't go there) and finally admit to myself that I am indeed gay. God bless her, her mother, and her lover - all of whom spoke at the concert.

Anyway, Ellen had the crowd energized in no time and introduced Chaka Kahn as a woman who had toured as Ellen's backup singer. Ms. Kahn rocked the arena.

From that point through much of the rest of the evening, I have pretty much lost track of who appeared where, but a good time was had. Throughout the evening we heard from Rufus Wainwright and a few other lesser known artists. Tipper Gore introduced k.d. lang, and one by one we were either entertained or inspired by Kristen Johnston, Kathy Najimy, Michael Feinstein, and others.

Melissa Etheridge seemed to be the one person donating the most time and effort and having the most fun. The Pet Shop Boys were one or two songs into their set when they started "What Have I Done to Deserve This," and Melissa popped in for the Dusty Springfield solo. Then later, she was leading the encore/finale. All this after a rockin' set of her own.

As much as I like fun, I was glad there was a serious side to the concert as well. Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, led a moving tribute to several victims of various hate crimes. As part of the Dennis Shepard, Matthew's father, spoke about how loss can move people to action.

Back to the fun. George Michael entertained and spoke to the crowd. He said some cynics were accusing him of exploiting his last remaining fans by appearing at Equality Rocks. It didn't matter what people may have thought, George was funny, friendly, and quite the entertainer. His part of the show culminated with Garth Brooks joining him on "Freedom." One word says it all. WOW.

Garth did three songs on his own: "We Shall Be Free," "The River," and "The Dance." It would be hard to imagine him closing off the show in any other way. Each of those songs are inspirational and left everyone inspired.

But that wasn't the real ending, of course. There was the encore/finale, a full scale spectacular with fire-works, a sing-a-long featuring all the artists and speakers, and a drum solo from Tipper Gore.

I'd been skeptical of the 35 bucks I paid for tickets, but I might do it again and buy more expensive tickets.

I say "might," though. Not because of the show, but because of leaving the stadium. It was easy enough to get out of the venue, but the streets around the METRO stations were crammed with people, probably the capacity of the stadium, about 40,000. And no one was moving. Tim and I and several hundred others decided to walk to the next entrance to the station, but no one was moving there either... but at least there were fewer of us. I was afraid we'd get stuck several miles away from our hotel when the METRO stopped running for the night. I breathed a sigh of relief when we boarded the train along with more people than I'd ever seen on one. As more people boarded, I watched the train get lower than the station floor.

As hard as it was to believe, the train was able to move. The next couple of stops saw no one leave, but people began to leave at the major stops with transfers. This was when Tim and I were able to get a seat. As I sat there, peering through the crowd, I thought I recognized a face. As the crowd thinned, I looked again. I was more and more convinced I knew her. Scouring my memory, I realized she looked like someone I had gone to high school with, about 20 years ago. I hadn't seen her at all in that time and really hadn't known her back then. I was into music and drama, and she played sports. I finally got the guts up to ask if she was from North Carolina. She was. From Durham? Yep. She said if I asked anymore, it'd be delving into high school, and she didn't want to go there. Indeed we had gone to high school together. (Oddly, I ran into her two more times during the MMOW weekend and then again a week later while stopping to get Tim's oil changed. Strange world.)

After several stops, Tim and I were among only a few remaining riders. Our stop came, we exited, and foraged for a late night snack before hitting the Comfort Inn.

Next: Sunday

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