June President’s Message

Hello Gentlemen,

I am looking forward to seeing you at one of the several upcoming potlucks this summer. I would like to thank all the members who joined us on our Duck Boat for the Pride parade and especially the members who walked in front carrying our banner and greeting onlookers. Participation like this increases our profile and invites potential new members to check out the club.

I would like to thank Coley Kelly and Helder Lemos for their participation and fundraising for the AIDS Walk every year as well as the members who donated money to support them. (More about this here.)

The last Tuesday of the month is our monthly dinner at Club Café (but remember, there is no dinner in August). The dinner is typically $28, but Jim Morgrage welcomes anyone who wants to come by and order off the menu if you wish to join your friends.

Also, the Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have invited us to Club Café for their Sister Stories Book Tour on Saturday, July 13th. (See this page for additional information.)

Save the date: August 24th from 1-5 PM for our 32nd Anniversary Party. The cost this year is $30 and guests are welcome.

Don’t forget the Seacoast Gay Men are holding their 40th Anniversary party on August 10th. We have been invited to attend. You can purchase tickets by visiting their website at seacoastgaymen.org. (See this article for more information.)

Finally, please welcome our new board members: Norman Pelletier, James Garrity and Paul Cram.

Have a great summer!

34th AIDS Walk & Run Recap

Representing the Boston Prime Timers Walk Team, Helder Lemos and Coley Kelly joined more than 2,100 walkers, runners and volunteers that turned out for the 34th annual AIDS Walk & Run on Sunday, June 2nd. The Walk raised more than $520,000 to support the work of AIDS Action. An amazing success! Photos from the Walk are online on the AIDS Action Committee (AAC)’s Facebook page.

Thank you and congratulations to the 22 generous individual Boston Prime Timers, their supporters, and the BPT Board who raised $1,050 exceeding our goal of $1000.

A big thank you to our April BPT meeting speaker, Franc Castro, Development Director at the Fenway Community Health Center who supported the BPT’s Walk efforts and whose donation helped us to exceed our $1,000 goal. Thanks also to Jim McCloskey, who managed Prologue donations, and to our own David Clark for his technical assistance in this and so many other BPT’s efforts.

From the AAC webpage:

Proceeds from the Walk & Run will benefit AIDS Action’s public policy advocacy work, housing and legal services, prevention outreach and education, local and national advocacy, and health services for people struggling with substance misuse.

“Thank you to everyone who came out to walk, run, or volunteer, and to all of the individuals and sponsors whose donations made this year’s Walk such a success,” said Jane Powers, MSW, LICSW, Acting CEO of Fenway Health, AIDS Action’s parent organization. “Your support has helped Massachusetts make tremendous progress toward the goal of zero new HIV infections and serves as a model of HIV prevention and treatment across the country.”

Sister Stories Book Tour

The Boston Sisters have invited us to Club Café for their Sister Stories Book Tour on Saturday, July 13th, from 6-8 PM. Join them as they welcome award-winning author Heather Jacks. Heather has written a book all about The Sisters’ forty year history and it has just been published! Now she is on a mission to travel across the country to share their story.

Come meet her, talk to the Sisters, and learn more about the Sisters’ history and mission. This event is absolutely free! So come on out and hang with us (and get the book)!

SGM 40th Anniversary Party

Our brothers at the Seacoast Gay Men have invited us to join them to celebrate their 40th Anniversary Party with a gala party from 6-10 PM on August 10th at the Spring Hill Lodge (117 Pond Road, South Berwick, ME 03908). The event features DJ music, dancing, and buffet dinner. Soft drinks are included, along with a cash bar.

This is a milestone event for SGM and they hope you will attend. Tickets are $30/person in advance and can be purchased by clicking the PayPal button on their event page.

May President’s Message

Hello Gentlemen,

I am very excited about our Ogunquit Spring Fling. It is going to be a great time for everyone. We have 33 rooms sold at this time and a total of 55 members and guests, with more to join us for our Friday evening party.

There will be members of the Seacoast Gay Men and North Shore Men, as well as our brothers from the Rhode Island and Connecticut chapters of the Prime Timers.

See you on May 31st for a great weekend!

We will be having an Italian buffet and soft drinks for Friday evening’s party. For anyone wishing to have adult beverages, you will need to bring your own. Should you want a bottle of wine, Perkins & Perkins is just down the street at 478 Main St. and the Ogunquit Wine Cellar is 2 minutes south of the resort at 59 Shore Rd. (turning southeast off of Main St.) on the east side of the road.

For the stragglers who have yet to pay for their lodgings and the Friday evening party, please get your checks into the office ASAP or contact me at (781) 587-1429 or everharry@aol.com about paying with a card.

We have an exceptional guest speaker lined up for the May 18th meeting. David Velasco-Bermudez was present at the Stonewall Inn during the 1969 riots. This incident is widely credited with spurring the modern Gay Rights movement. David, accompanied by his partner Robert Isadore, will speak to us about his experiences that night, as well as his activism since then. We are opening the presentation to anyone who wishes to attend. Please invite your friends or anyone you feel might be interested.

We have reserved a Boston Duck Boat for the Boston Pride Parade. We are looking for volunteers to help decorate and ride with us. David Velasco-Bermudez, Robert Isadore, Lady Di and a number of our friends from Club Café will be on the Duck Boat. If you are willing to voluteer to decorate or would like a seat on the Duck Boat, please contact me at (781) 587-1429 or everharry@aol.com.

The Boston Pride Parade this year will be at noon on Saturday, June 8th.

I look forward to seeing you in Ogunquit, at the next meeting and at Pride!

February President’s Message

Hello Gentlemen,

I would like to thank everyone who donated to my birthday fundraiser through Facebook. My set goal was $500, but in the end, we raised $836. This money will be used for the Pride Event this year, to help pay for a duck boat for us to ride during the Pride Parade. The folks from Club Café will be joining us. This year will commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

Should you wish to help with Pride, we need a decorating committee to brainstorm ideas and help make them happen. We want to make a big impact this year, honoring a significant milestone in gay history. Please get in touch with me if you are interested.

As of writing this, we still have 9 tickets remaining to the Hasty Pudding Theatrical performance this year. The show, France France Revolution, is on March 7th at 8 PM. Tickets are $28. You may be able to get tickets at the February meeting, if they are still available. That will be the last day; any remaining discounted tickets will be returned to the Hasty Pudding box office. (See this page for more details.)

In place of the March meeting, please join us and enjoy a boiled dinner served by Club Café on March 16th. The cost is $25.

I have been told by several members that they are happy with the direction of the club. I want to thank you, but it takes a team to maintain this and keep it going. Some members are leaving, so we will need others to step up!

The April elections are approaching rapidly. I need your help to run the club. I am asking members who have time and energy to contribute to please join the board. If you are interested, please send in your biography to be posted in the March Prologue. (E-mail your bio to prologue@bostonpt.org or mail it to the office.) If you have any questions, please contact me.

Thank you,

Harry

Hasty Pudding Theatrical: France France Revolution!

We have reserved 30 tickets for the Thursday, March 7th Hasty Pudding Theatrical, 9 of which are still available as of this publication. You can get yours at February’s meeting. Tickets are $28.00 and are in the front four rows, so we will have great seats. The performance is at 8 PM.

So don’t delay, send in your tearsheet today, after Monday, February 18th, they’ll go away.

Location: Farkas Hall, 12 Holyoke Street, Cambridge, just outside of Harvard Sqaure.

“Vive la France! Paris is in ruins all thanks to Queen REINA TERROR and her evil regime. When Reina’s pompous right-hand man and tax collector NEVILLE LETCHAGAURDOWN takes cowardly bovine BELLE ROUNDERNECK, the townspeople are fed up—and this time not by baguettes! We follow the story of star-crossed lovers PHIL AYMIGNON, the town butcher, and sparky Princess THERESA SPARKINME.

Phil leads the townspeople in la révolution with the help of the overly optimistic and somewhat devilish SELMA COOKIES and the brainless but loveable blacksmith BRANDON IRON. As Reina tries to send her own daughter off to Siberia to be wedded to the boastful Russian Prince EMMANUEL HAFTAMARRY, Theresa will have to choose between standing by her mother and following her heart. Will wacky mime PAUL AYVOUSFRANCAIS stay loyal to Reina? Will pirate-parrot duo JACQUES SPARROW and IVY LEEVAYECANFLY ever find the booty they seek? Will DESDEMONA LISA finally meet a man after being stuck inside that darn painting for the last 300 years? We shall Merci in HPT 171: France France Revolution!”

This year’s writers: Michael Perusse ’20 & Max Weiss ’20.

Lifesongs

[Lifesongs advertisement]

Friday, March 8th (2 PM & 7 PM)
Saturday, March 9th (7 PM)
Boston Center for the Arts, Plaza Theatre
539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116

Lifesongs celebrates the stories of LGBTQ seniors in our community. Lifesongs was originally conceived by Palaver cellist Matthew Smith as a songwriting collaboration between Palaver musicians and elders from the community, who write original lyrics based on their lived experiences. Over the years, participants have created powerful stories of love, loss, courage, and affirmation that we are excited to showcase on a larger scale as part of our residency at Boston Center for the Arts. In addition to new Lifesongs participants, the program will feature Samuel Barber’s iconic Adagio for Strings, a new comission by Akenya Seymour, performances by the Theater Offensive, and arrangements of Lifesongs pieces for Palaver Strings and the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus. As rising bigotry threatens hard-won rights ard freedoms, these stories become more important than ever as reminders of where we are coming from and where we are going.

[Lifesongs photo]

Tickets are $10 per person (with Senior discount; just pick “Student” on website) to all showings and direct ticket links for your convenience are here (2 PM on March 8th), here (7 PM on March 8th) & here (7 PM on March 9th). Join us in supporting Palaver Strings and the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus!