Lucky

Jersey Boys is mostly a concert, and is aailable on CD. Would that satisfy your need for theater, or do you want to see the live performance? I thought they had a show in Las Vegas, albeit shortened from the Broadway one.

Mr. Suckrates says that Ricky got poor reviews. Then why not post them? Back up what you have to say. Perhaps he has no proof, just wants to make a stir? Evita did get mixed reviews, and so did Ricky. HuffPost said: Ricky Martin is easily the best thing about this revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's bio of Eva Peron, which opened Thursday at the Marquis Theatre. He sings beautifully, dances gracefully, athletically climbs ladders, plays his role with a knowing sneer and elicits drools in his suspenders and tight white shirt. He even makes a mustache work. The Hollywood Reporter said: His dramatic presence could be more aggressive, but Martin’s Latin-pop vocals are a smooth fit for the role, and his relaxed charm and dreamboat looks will yield few complaints. Fans eager for him to bust some serious dance moves have to wait until midway through Act II, but he eventually turns on the trademark sizzle. Talkin Broadway says: Martin (who previously appeared on Broadway in Les Misérables) is spectacular, wielding a bewitching stage presence and a robustly theatrical voice that shreds through even Webber's trickiest passages and displays both the tenderness and impatience that characterize Eva's devoted adherents and harshest critics. The Village Voice says: Ricky Martin is the everyman narrator, Che, and he doesn't approach the role as angrily as the original, Mandy Patinkin, going for a more bemused, lightly mocking quality. Though he comes from the Jude Law school of arm gestures (usually with his left arm), Martin sings like a lark and has an appealing stage presence. He definitely has a future off the charts! Entertainment Weekly says: Che, played with irresistible swagger by Ricky Martin, is no longer the beret-wearing, fatigues-clad Che Guevara type of past productions. Martin could dial down the enthusiasm; he loves to reach out, literally, to the audience. But he sings like a dream, and he's clearly more comfortable here than he was storming the barricades in Les Misérables 16 years ago. Judging by the curtain-call squeals, his fans are packing the house — and going home happy. On that level, Evita succeeds brilliantly. So, Mr. Suckrates, hardly a THUD, huh? No doubt some reviews are not so positive. The show is getting some pans, but most of them go to Elena Rogers, who really does seem to have landed with a SPLAT!

Four Aces, do you write this because of an interest in seeing it? There are few theater threads here, unless Madonna stars in one. I skipped Newsies on my current theater tour. I saw The End of the a Rainbow last night and was amazed at the stellar performance by Tracie Bennett. This afternoon is Lady From Dubuque and this evening is Tribes, directed by David Cromer. Great weather here in New York, and tons of cute guys in the streets for spring break.

I forgot to mention: About six months after they "win," the trailer trash couple will die in a freak accident. People will rub their hands and bemoan the unlucky fate of lottery winners, but the consortium will know how the accident was staged to look real. Hitoallusa, I said I would post less, as the Hollywood stuff does not interest me. But $640 million does. I let the bf buy one ticket since he wanted in on the fun. It is worth a dollar for him to be hopeful all evening. Plus, there was a really cute boy in line with us to buy the ticket. So at least I got my $1's worth!

Do you guys not realize that when millions of dollars are involved, there is no such thing as honesty and integrity? A consortium has already been picked from among America's most powerful to "win" the lottery. Sure, numbers will be drawn. A trailer trash couple from Montana or somewhere will be selected to claim the prize, but it will, in fact, be paid to the consortium whose turn it is to win. The trailer folks will be given $5000 or so in cash to shut up about the fact that they just fronted for the winner. That's how it is. The powerful don't just give away $640 million.

Happy Birthday, Totally Oz!

As I say, I don't dispute the right of management or membership to change the nature of the site. The new layout looks great. I am simply saying that I am not finding topics of interest to me like I used to. Tomcal has done a great job reporting on Latin America and I have enjoyed that forum. But my Latin America travels are done. I appreciate the opportunity I had to post here and wish everyone well.

There is room for 28 threads on the main page of the Hooboy Pub, which is the face of MER to the world. If someone were looking at this site for the first time, this is the picture that they would get. Of the 28 threads, 20 of them involve Hollywood or sports celebrities. One could be forgiven for mistaking the site for a Perez Hilton imitation. If I were coming to the site for the first time, I would move on within seconds. I simply don't care for Hollywood trivia. I am looking for a site of interest to adult gay men. Yes, I know some of them are into this aspect of celebrity, but I am not. Since the site has changed its focus so much, my interest has waned. If I did want Hollywood stuff, you cannot seriously argue that other sites don't do it better. But I don't question the right of management or the site members to take the site in a different direction. I feel that someone has to note that this is not the MER it was when I came here. It has limited interest to me these days. If that changes, I will be happy to post more often. And no, it is not up to me to change it. The members have made their preferences known, and I don't like uphill climbing!

Tonight's cab driver was already in BarMixx, so sure, we took his offer of a ride. And a wild ride it was let's just say that he was in a exceptionally good mood, speaking loudly and boisterously as he drove us around town. And then drove us some more, then some more. It became apparent that he had no idea where our hotel is. Finally, on his third request for help from other cab drivers, we made it to the hotel. The fare has been about 12 R each night, but his meter read 23. I gave him a 20. It took a second to register, but he finally got that was what he was going to get, and he was good-natured about it. Tomcal missed the wild ride as he was otherwise occupied. BarMixx was more popular with Tomcal and the bf tonight, as the selection of young men was pretty agreeable. We had left Mezzaninu early when a live singer came upon the stage and we couldn''t hear each other talk. Tomcal took us over to the old Plataforma sauna and relived his memories forus, as memories were all there were to be had. Only 3 guys were working as Mezzaninu has pretty much taken all of the business. Tomcal insisted that we could walk from Plataforma to BarMixx, this walk being along very dark and empty streets. Thank goodness for his IPhone GPS. My encounter tonight was with this very sweet guy who had been showing us his willingness to get together every night, but he did not have all of the attributes that many of the other sauna boys have, so did not win. Yet he has beautiful eyes and a lovely smile to go along with his sweet disposition, so tonight I made sure he had some income. Out of gratitude he gave me his necklace. I kept trying to give it back, but he insisted. So he had at least one good customer tonight. BarMixx has not been my favorite, although I admire the friendliness of the guys. The fact that there even is a hustler bar is something, not to mention one so friendly and with so many cute guys. If I lived here, I would appreciate it more, as then I could take a guy home rather than use their rather stark rooms.

From Brazil, may I add my birthday greetings to Charlie? May you have many more, and may they also be celebrated here on MER.

On our first night in PA, the taxi driver who drove us from the sauna to the hustler bar kindly gave us a tour of street prostitution in PA. Driving down what appeared to be deserted streets in industrial areas, we saw a large selection of transvestite prostitutes in one block, then an area of females, and then we skirted by the male prostitutes. The driver seemed to know where all of the action could be found. It's interesting that Porto Aleqgre is so willing and able to care for the sexual needs of its male residents, what with street prostitution, sex saunas and hustler bars. Porto Alegre is not the main city of Brazil, nor a huge tourist destination. It just has good, caring city fathers!

I'll see if the bf will give me permission to take the IPad out tonight. He is worried about theft, so it stays in the hotel safe. I have the Google translator on it, and it could come in handy. At BarMixx twice now, I am adjusting. Hustler bars are so rare these days, we should all support them. But this place is unusual in that it has so many areas where one could sit and meet young, hungry men. You never get a sense.of what is happening in the place as a whole. On our first night, the bf was approached by a boy he assumed to be a waiter, but it turned out that he was hustling a drink, not taking a drink order. So, the bf ordered, only to find the guy sitting next to him, with a beverage, and none for the bf. Boys approach frequently asking for a drink. It turns out that you pay 5R to get in, plus 20R for consumption. So, if you order no drinks, it is still 20R. So buying a guy a drink would just come out of your minimum. One Coke is enough for me, so I might as well buy some more. We just can't get over how friendly everyone is. The boys see without guile. It's true in the shops as well. Porto Alegre is a miniature Sao Paolo, but seems to much more of a user- friendly city than SP. As for me, I went with the same boy at the sauna that I did the night before. His eagerness to please had dwindled a bit as he must now see me as a regular, but that means he won't be hired tonight. I wonder who will be?

Thanks for the report, firecat. I, too, would like to see Colombia before tourism spoils it. But my travel funds are dwindling. Surely in the interest of good stories a fund could be established to keep me trucking?

The guy in the last picture above was Tomcal's date tonight, so my guess is that a very sizzling, scorching report is due to follow. He is one handsome guy, and he has a lot of class. Not Tomcal! His date! Although Tomcal must be doing something right to get the guy that everyone else wanted. The sauna started a little slower tonight but picked up. Sadly, my go-go god did not reappear, being replaced by two guys who I looked at for five seconds. I will add some more after I give Tomcal first dibs on storytelling. Now it's off to bed!

I didn't get high!

Just so you know, it is not all saunas! We have spent the last few hours on our own walking tour of Porto Alegre. It is a beautiful, sunny Saturday, and the townsfolk are out in force. We started around the Sheraton, then took a taxi to the Mercado Publico, where we enjoyed the sites and the various foods. From there, we walked through the historic district, went to church, and taxied back to the Sheraton, to see the mall, then a walk through a beautiful park in full fall blossom. Then we stopped for acai before walking back to the hotel Tomcal's has a schedule of appointments lined up his is the only room in the hotel with a revolving door! I hope my dancer shows up again. It is rare to see a tall guy have such good dance moves, but he does, and those long kegs are sure sexy. But, when he is dancing he is clearly in a world of his own, making no eye contact with the audience, although occasionally smiling at something with his two cohorts. I just loved him, macho, confident, sexy, beautiful. I know, I sound like a schoolgirl. He is also unavailable, which may be part of the attraction. He did come up to me after his dance to thank me again for my tip I nearly melted at his touch. Ah, well. When you consider that he is among some very handsome guys and still stands out. When he showered he still wore his briefs so we only got to see his butt. Shy, I guess. Well, that's the report for now. We'll see if anything exciting happens later.

The IPod says "Asian" encounter. I thought I typed sauna encounter...

Lucky neeeded a good night's sleep before he could report on his first night in Porto Alegre. Why am I referring to myself in the third person? It's early. In short, the bf and Ilike Porto Alegre, but we especially liked Mezzaninu. It's a very nice sauna. We needed to eat first, so we asked the owner for advice on the menu. He was very helpful, and the portions so big that we had food to share. That made us immediately popular with 3 young guys, one of whom went with me for dessert. It was my best Asian encounter of the week as he is such a nice guy that he worked hard with no concern for time. He did such a good job that a certain California guy took my sloppy seconds. This is getting incestuous. But one big highlight was the cutest of three go-go dancers. He was on stage for an hour, totally beautiful, graceful, and had dance moves I could only dream f. I gave him 5r, conveniently borrowed from Tomcal's, and felt alike a teenage groupie when he touched me and said, "Lucky, I love you." It rhymed with muito obrigado. The bf is ready to go, so I will simply say that the bar we went to took some adjusting to. It's quite a mixed bag, but once I relaxed, it became a friendly place hustler bars are such a rarely, and hungry hustlers sometimes a bit off putting until you realize that they are just doing their job.

Lucky has arrived in sunny Porto Alegre. I am looking forward to Tomcal's company, but want to assure all that this is not a competition! I cannot keep up with most guys, not to mention a legend!

I saw it on the newsstand and added it to my queue.

So far, no sign of this guy. I have one more night in Rio, so I will let you know if I see him.

Lucky is indeed in Rio. Both the prices and the humidity are taking their toll, or at least requiring some adjustment. No one can tell Brazil stories like Tomcal, so I won't attempt to imitate him. But, we did get to Club 117 for free cabin night, and the place was really hopping. It's true that there are more steroid bodies there, but not true that there are any fewer guys. I saw some of the hottest guys imaginable. I am talking movie star handsome, with muscular bods that look good, not steroid ripped. (my IPod may change some spellings on me, so please excuse if words turn out odd.) My eyes were on one guy who was so sexy and beautiful that I was intimidated, even after he gave me the eye that we all recognize when we see it. So, I watched him meet and greet a client whom he knows. He was so sweet with him, I decided to go for him. Except so did the client. Once finished, pretty man hightailed it out of there. I am sure many of you are thinking of the line about grabbing when the grabbing is good. But feel sorry for me not. Do you remember the character Lucky from Sex and the City? Well, his twin was there too, TV star handsome and polished charm. We both got. Lucky, so to speak. Once was quite enough for the first night. The bf will have to speak for himself. Tonight we were to go to Meio Mundo for the first time, but heard more than once that Wednesday was not good there. So, we hit Pointe 202, no friendlier at the entrance than you remember. It seemed quite dead after 117. But things did pick up. The guys were quite friendly as well. Taller, darker, thinner group than at 117. I met a guy from Argentina. I told him that kissing was quite important to me, so when we hit the room he gave me a beautiful warm kiss. However, things started going wrong as he seemed to think I was there for him. My Spanish came in for me as I explained to him further what I wanted. We got along famously after that. You have heard of the per kilo restaurants, right? Well, I am glad that I was not paying per kilo for cum...that's ejaculate, IPod. This guy showered me withi it, I do not exaggerate the shower part! He then turned and painted the wall with cum...ejaculate! I have never seen such an explosion. He said it was a regular thing for him. Back in the public area, my shy guy for Argentina now had his mojo, walking around showing proud after that. He earned it.

Young Patrick injured his butt in a skiing accident, tweeting that he has stitches on his lower back and his "but." A photo is reportedly circulating, but has not reached my lucky hands as of yet. Skier Injured Yet Again

I agree with Caeron here. It was a big deal, and Manning looked good and so did the restaurant.

What is pictured in your avatar? I must have tried about 20 pictures for a new avatar, each a jpeg image, only to be told each time that I cannot link to that type of image. I gave up.