and on the seventh day, he rested

I think it's taken me until today to catch my breath from last week, which is either a good problem to have (staying busy, and all) or a sad statement about my recovery time (I'm not 21 anymore, you know).
The "problem" was actually more of a pleasure: My dear friend Joseph, whom I've known for almost a dozen years (see earlier comment about aging) was in NYC for work and staying with us for most of the week. Being the good host that I am, we naturally had plans for every night, and not just lame "let's go see Central Park" plans.

Tuesday we started with a stop by Hiro, where Heather Headley was giving an intimate performance of songs from her new album. (I had the chance to chat with Heather one-on-one a couple of weeks back; you can read the story here.) The showcase simply rocked. She wowed the audience with a mixture of new songs and a few fab oldies (girlfriend whipped out "Back to Life" by Soul II Soul. Work!).
No time to linger, we grabbed a cab and headed to Times Square to catch Stephen Sondheim, on stage with the Sweeney Todd crew to sign the new show CD. Joseph, a huge Sondheim fan, loved every minute of it. I was more thrilled just to see Patti LuPone so close up. Quel diva! She looks great.


Wednesday night we again braved the legions of rabid tourists in the Theater District, this time to catch the heavenly Altar Boyz. I had no idea going into just how freaking GAY the show would be. Fey Mark spends the whole 90 minutes lusting after lead singer Matthew. And hottie James Royce Edwards (who is actually straight) boasts a body sent from God above. And when I say God, I mean lots and lots of creatine. If you visit his personal site, be sure to click on the "headshots" page. Jesus Christ Almighty.
Anyway, it's a fun show that's way more clever than I expected. All good Christians should flock to see it.

Thursday night we caught another cutie singer in action, Spencer Day at Joe's Pub. I had a chance to interview Spencer for HX recently, and I was intrigued by his modesty and self-effacing charm. His live show was even better. This kid is going places. Watch for it.

Joseph's trip (or his portion spent with me, at least) ended on Friday, but my weekend of religious-themed theater continued Sunday when JP and I caught Confessions of a Mormon Boy. Now, kudos to Steven Fales for having the balls to tell his story: Dude was excommunicated from the Mormon Church for being gay, losing his wife and kids in the process, and then went into a downspiral of drugs and sex as a high-dollar Manhattan escort. Sigh. We've all been there, sister. One week you're a church-going husband and dad, the next you're doing rails on the Upper East Side and not even sure what day it is. To be honest, I enjoyed the Downward Spiral portion of the show much better than the (rather cliche) first half. Maybe that's just me.

Anyway, the fun continues this week with a litany of events for Fashion Week, plus an HRC fund-raiser this weekend and early V-Day celebrations with the BF. Is it bad that I really just want to sit home and enjoy my new DVR for a while?