It is now 4:00 pm. As always I am hungry. I don't know what anyone else is doing. I just decide to go ahead and have a meal on my own. Since I had such a good experience at The Daily earlier in the week, I revisit the eatery. On this occasion I have the "Six Degrees (The Mag) Turkey Sweetness". This sandwich has turkey breast, cranberry chutney, caramelized onions, lettuce, swiss cheese and herb mayo. It was supposed to be on a baguette. However, the server apologized and said she had no idea that GALA was coming and they just did not anticipate the amount of business we provided. There were a whole slew of products of which they simply ran out, baguettes being one of them. I had the sandwich on some other form of bread along with an ice tea. It was very tasty. As I am enjoying my meal I receive a call from Joe. He wanted to know where the liquor stores were. Unfortunately, I didn't have any of that type of information on my person at the time. But I racked my brain and came up with an approximate location. Seconds after the phone call, I was able to recall the name of the liquor store and sent a text message with the name. How did I recall the name? Because I took that photograph of the sign the other morning! But that phone call just seemed so random to me.

I headed back to the hotel and enjoyed time at the pool. Time flies by and I realize I should get ready for my evening. Change back into my day clothes. I am in the lobby of the hotel. At the reception desk they have apples. They looked mighty appealing. I grabbed one and saved myself from passing out later in the evening I have no doubt.

Avery, Ed, Chris and I mosey on over to the Ziff. Once at the Ziff we were joined by Austin and my roomie, Steve. At the Ziff we see In Harmony, the Orlando Gay Chorus, and Caballeros, the Gay Men's Chorus of Palm Springs. I was most anxious to hear the New York City Gay Men's Chorus. I found NYCGMC to be very entertaining. That was the key to their performance to me. They entertained me. They are one of the largest groups to perform this week and having that many voices makes a distinct sound. Their programming was extremely diverse with Handel, Nelly Furtado, Georgian folk music, and Rufus Wainwright.

As soon as NYCGMC was finished, all of us sprinted over to the Knight Concert Hall. It was a crazy dash to cross the street. I half enjoyed the craziness of the situation and half wished I didn't have to rush. We were not the only GALA folk running. There was this mass exodus of folks rushing over to hear Turtle Creek Chorale. Who needed to go to the gym? I had to do a dash immediately followed by leaping up stairs to get to the uppermost level of the Knight Concert Hall. I was taking steps two or three at a time. I don't need no stinkin' stairmaster! It was an insane rush to try and see Turtle Creek Chorale. Jonathan should be proud of how well they did on this evening. I'm glad I made the special effort to see them. This reminds me; the way I made my decisions on who to see was frequently determined by knowing someone in the chorus. I had met Jonathan Palant, the artistic director of Turtle Creek Chorale earlier in the week. That's what motivated me. You want to see your friends and acquaintances do well.

For the life of me I just can't seem to have a full 8 hours sleep. It just isn't going to happen. Although, I am waking up a tiny bit later than I was earlier in the week. 8:00 am and I am in the shower. But once again in my efforts to not disturb my roommates I manage to lock myself out of the room.

The previous day I had a little conversation with my friend Giang. He was planning on going to Villa Vizcaya with his partner Sean on this morning. Villa Vizcaya was on my list of things to do prior to arriving in Miami. I was willing to tour it on my own, but it's nice sharing with others. Giang, Sean and I planned to meet in the hotel lobby at 8:30. Even though I had locked myself out of the room somehow I had Metrorail tokens on my person. It was an easy trip to go from the Metromover to the Metrorail down to Villa Vizcaya. The grounds were only a three minute walk from the train station.

We arrive at the grounds of Villa Vizcaya a bit on the early side. Giang and Sean have to pay my admission because I stupidly locked my wallet inside my room. At least I was able to pay for their trip down to Villa Vizcaya with the tokens I had on me. I didn't feel like a complete doofus. Basically nothing is quite open yet. We decide to wander the grounds and take pictures.

First, we explored the orchidarium. Orchids are beautiful flowers. This orchidarium does a wonderful display of them. Even though it is only 9 o'clock in the morning already you can feel the heat of the sun. We wander outside the villa exploring the grounds.

Giang and Sean on the overpass we took to cross the highway

I'm replicating this entrance on the estate I'm having built.  I just need to come up with a name.  I was thinking Manderley, but I believe that has been taken.

Travelin' fun with Sean and Douglas

Making our way through the grounds of Vizcaya.  We haven't even gotten to the entrance yet.

Villa Vizcaya

Eventually, the cafe opens for business. We are a bit peckish and decide to go in for a bite to eat. Despite the fact that we do not have our GALA badges on our persons, the gentleman who greets us at the cafe recognizes us for GALA attendees. Family knows family. He told us he learned about the festival first hand when at Sunday services at the church the singing sounded so much fuller and better than normal. He said it was a treat having GALA members attend services that day. His church was right next door to the hotel in which I'm staying. Sean is kind enough to float me some money to purchase something to eat at the cafe. All three of us have a bagel with cream cheese. Sean and Giang order a mochachino type concoction, while I have bottled water. As we sit down at a table, rain begins to downpour. The cafe is located in a temporary tent structure. Originally, it was located on a lower floor of the villa but hurricane damage had wiped it out. They have yet to reconstruct that part of the villa. We sit out the rain enjoying our breakfast and perusing all of the wonderful items for purchase in the gift shop. The rain clears up just in time for us to take the first guided tour of Villa Vizcaya.

"The Island" There used to be a bridge connecting this with the villa.  According to our guide all sorts of events would take place here, like tea parties.

Our tour guide was a mature woman who was nattily dressed. The entry to the villa originally was all exposed to the open air. It has recently been enclosed and now provides air conditioning. On this typically hot and humid day in July, I am appreciative of this change. While it would be wonderful to experience Villa Vizcaya as the architects designed it, I do love 21st century comfort. The true reason for enclosing the villa in glass is not for visitors comfort but to preserve the furnishings that otherwise would become destroyed due to the humidity and salt air.

Villa Vizcaya was the home of James Deering. He was the man behind International Harvester Company. Besides which, his family had money. His parents lived in the Coconut Grove area near Miami. Four months out of the year he would visit with them and stay at their home. While staying in Miami during the winter is a treat, he decided it was a bit ridiculous for a grown man to be living with his parents for that much of the time. He purchased 180 acres of prime ocean front real estate near Miami. He had spent many vacations in France and Italy and fell in love with the villas and palaces that he visited. He wanted to recreate an Italian villa of his own in Miami. More than 1,000 workers were employed in the Vizcaya project, including laborers and craftsmen from the Caribbean and Europe. In addition to the house and gardens, the complex included a farm, livestock, and a variety of other service facilities.

Deering hired architect F. Burrall Hoffman to design the edifice. In order to create the feel of an authentic European villa he partnered with designer, Paul Chalfin. Chalfin and Deering traveled through Europe collecting all sorts of furnishings and antiquities, including whole ceilings to incorporate into the Vizcaya property. The home became a pastiche of 16th, 17th, and 18th century Italian and French artifacts. The house appears to be only two stories high but between the main public rooms and the bedrooms, there is an intervening level with 12 rooms for servants and service . Deering lived in the house from 1916-1925. He left the estate to his two nieces. His nieces later sold the estate to Dade County at under market value. The county then turned the estate into the museum and public attraction that it is today.

Our tour guide was a good one. She obviously really loves the estate and has a cornucopia of knowledge from which to pull. I think she really only has the opportunity to give highlights of what she knows on these tours. People's attention spans are limited. Even I probably would have my eyes glaze over if she tried to share everything that she knows. From her I learned that Deering never married, never had any children, was close to his parents, and collected antiques. Hmmmmmm. Gee- could he have been any more GAY!?!

Unfortunately, we could not take pictures inside the residence. Giang and I are respectful of this and are well behaved. All pictures of inside the residence I lifted from Bill Sumner for Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. Sssh! Don't tell! What he doesn't know won't hurt him. If necessary I'll remove the pictures. One aspect of the residence that tickled me is the fact that each room had its own theme. So the door that leads from one room into another would be decorated differently on each side in order to correspond to the room it faces. I loved how there was a bathroom that had a bathtub that could run fresh or salt water from the Bay of Biscayne.

Various famous folk have stayed or visited at Vizcaya. Among them are Lillian Gish, President Ronald Reagan, and Queen Elizabeth II.

After our guided tour the three of us continue to explore the wonderful gardens on our own. The gardens were designed by Colombian landscape artist, Diego Suarez. Suarez and Chalfin worked for seven years, perfecting the design of the gardens to create a "room" that continues on the outside of the indoor estate. Key features include the many fountains, a central pool surrounding an elevated island, the elevated Mound with its small house, or "Casino", statuary, and several themed gardens.

Eventually it is time to head back to the train station. Giang and Sean continue on to explore Coral Gables. I really wanted to get back in time to see the Boston Gay Men's Chorus and MUSE perform. I give Giang and Sean tokens to get them onto the Metrorail. We each take trains in opposite directions.

As I travel on the train text messages go back and forth. I discover that my roomie Josh is on his way to a concert block. I tell him I am on my way back to the hotel can he wait for me so I can get my wallet and key. "Sure!" he says.

Josh and I compare notes and decide to attend a concert together. He was going to see the Gay Men's Chorus of Charlotte at the Ziff Opera House. Sounds good to me! Hosting this block was Dr. Stan Hill from Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus. As part of the sing-a-long introduction to this block members of the Twin Cities chorus surrounded us in the orchestra section of seating. One particular member was very friendly and grabbed Josh and I up and we held hands and sang together. Apparently, I can fake it rather well. I didn't have my song book along with me. Yet, the Twin Cities chorus member asked if I was familiar with the song. He asked in a way that sounded like he was confirming a suspicion. I've never even heard it before. It's nice to know that I am not without skill.

I was surprised by the Gay Men's Chorus of Charlotte. Truthfully, I wasn't expecting much, but they put on a very well crafted show. I also enjoyed their programming choices. So much so I will be recommending PGMC do some of the pieces that they performed. I stayed to hear Confluence. I had heard their small group, Influence, early in the week. I distinctly recall that this group is distinctive for their energy. Their director really is trying to give it his all and so are individuals in that chorus.

Josh and I are gay men. While Josh has a man in his life, Josh is not dead. Part of what gay men do at a concert is check out the other gay men. At least that's what we do. So we are commenting on which men in Charlotte we find attractive. Now this is not an ongoing commentary throughout their performance. It is only a phrase slipped in here or there. Apparently, the audience member in front of us is not amused. He kept on turning around giving us dirty looks. I'm sure he was happy when we got up and left after the Confluence performance. We went across the street to see the Boston Gay Men's Chorus perform at the Knight Concert Hall.

The Boston Gay Men's Chorus performance was marked by the beautiful sound that they are able to create. They have a wonderful blend and balance. It was a joy to listen. Too bad I haven't had much sleep this entire week because truth be told it was perfect music to fall asleep to. I just wanted to drift off into slumberland. Truly it is not a reflection on their performance it is more a reflection of my state of being. They performed A Whitman Oratorio, Op. 105, a commissioned piece by Lowell Liebermann.

Once Boston was finished Josh left. I stayed for MUSE: Cincinnati's Women's Choir. What I was not expecting was that they had Anna Crusis as guest performers on the very first piece, Sayitshaya and Vulani Amasango. It was traditional Zimbabwe music. Incredible! Loved it! I just love both of these women's groups. MUSE had a program filled with wonderful energy and terrific sound. I can not praise them enough. It was a treat to be in the audience. It was a definite highlight. This is saying a lot from someone who attended 10 performance blocks plus two ballroom performances. I heard a lot of music this week. Earlier I mentioned how I heard quite a bit of Whitman poetry as source material (PGMC, Boston, and others). Another trend this year was quite a bit of African influence being incorporated into programming.

It's party time! Yes, again. NYCGMC are hosting their after party at Twist. Yes, Twist, again. NYCGMC arranged for one free cocktail and $6 Belvedere Cosmos for the night. That makes my decisions easier. I return to the hotel to iron my evening clothes, shave, dress and get my rear in gear. I call around seeing who is ready to head over to Twist. In trying to meet Miguel I run into him in the elevator. In my cab to Twist are Miguel, Craig, Stephen P., and Jeff A.

Since my experience has been that the heavy handed bartenders are upstairs that's where we head immediately. Once there we discover that others have the same opinion. We wait, wait, wait for the bartender to acknowledge us, any of us to no avail. Miguel comes up to me and says that downstairs there isn't nearly as many people. We abandon upstairs for downstairs and I get served almost right away from the bartender at the video pub. By this time most of PGMC has arrived at Twist. I basically spend the night chatting with a variety of people and half the night in line waiting for a bartender to acknowledge me. I am not alone in this situation.

The management of Twist just did not understand the impact that NYCGMC would have on their business. It is a Monday night and they just didn't believe that they would get as much business as this party provided. They were inadequately staffed for the evening. I felt sorry for some of the staff. At one small bar, there was only one bartender working with no bar back. It was a long wait, but that bartender was hustling. He was so busy he didn't know in what order men were coming to the bar so I got served rather early. My friend Paul F. was there before me so I let the bartender know he should serve Paul first. By the time the bartender is able to serve me I just order two cocktails. I ended up double fisting it the entire night. It was the only way to survive. Stephen P. also had his share of difficulties. He was at the Patio bar forever. Everyone is getting served except for Stephen. I just sit at the bar with him with my two cocktails chatting away to keep him company. Eventually, his boyfriend Jeff just saunters up to another part of the bar and gets served immediately. It was both frustrating and funny all at the same time. While at the Patio bar I run into James. James loves his first GALA experience and is regretting that he isn't staying the entire week. He has decided that he will stay the entire week in 2012. There is nothing like getting a head start on planning. I have James to thank for creating a new nickname for me. We were discussing a recent past event when I was out with Jeff A. and other friends. On this particular occasion, I was stupid enough to take my cocktail out onto the dance floor at Woody's (a bar in Philly). The cocktail glass, wet with "sweat", slipped out of my hand and shattered onto the dance floor. Meanwhile, everyone continues to dance and didn't bat an eye. On recounting this episode, James suggested that "shattered glass" should be my new nickname. This reminded me of Jeff A. and his propensity for giving everyone a nickname. Most people he can't be bothered to learn their real name he just assigns them a nickname. I told Jeff later that night that I don't know what my nickname is but if we could change it to "shattered glass" I wouldn't mind that at all. It sounds cool, yet refers to an embarrassing moment. I like the odd juxtaposition.

I spent an awful lot of time on the dance floor this evening. I got awfully sweaty, but had oodles of fun. I did see some cute guy on the dance floor and tried to make eye contact. Nothing materialized. Either he is shy or just not interested. Oh well, I was having a good evening. One of those times when I can just dance all on my own with not a care in the world. It was a carefree night.

GALA attendees have a saying, "what happens in GALA, stays in GALA". I say bull shit! If you are stupid enough to engage in behavior for all the world to see and it is totally public, then I am going to talk about you. Alcohol definitely has played a role this week. Individuals like to blame the alcohol for their own behavior. I don't buy that. First of all, you are responsible for consuming the alcohol. Secondly, you are responsible for consuming so much alcohol that it alters your normal behavior. Thirdly, when I have alcohol, I know what I am doing. It's just that I don't care about the consequences or implications of my behavior. I become a creature of the Id. When I have abused alcohol it is time to feed the Id. Two of my fellow chorus members were feeding their Ids to the max. Mike and Don were heavily intoxicated. How do I know? It's Mike and Don, that's how I know. As I am wandering through the Twist complex I encounter Mike and Don in the Patio bar making out like there is no tomorrow. They are consuming whole parts of each others face. Hands are wandering and groping. They are really enjoying one another. Ordinarily, one would be excused from saying what's the big deal? Two chorus members making out - what else is new? For me, the big deal is knowing that Don has a boyfriend back home. That did make it a little juicier. The other thing is the length of time this went on. Not only were chorus members openly discussing the matter, it seemed everyone was witness at one point or another. When 30 men are witness to behavior, "what happens in GALA, stays in GALA" gets a bit silly. Those of you who engaged in behavior that was behind closed doors and I did not witness anything: you are safe. I don't spread hearsay. I don't talk about the beautiful, African-american prince that visited a young chorister's hotel room with the nice sized package. I don't talk about the chorister who started to number his tricks. I don't talk about the roommate who had to clean up the vomit from his friend's excessive drinking. I don't talk about the foursome of chorus members in a hotel room. I wasn't there, so I don't feel comfortable naming names.

Later in the evening at Twist, two PGMC'ers decide to start dancing in the garden. Devon decides they needed to be "Go-go boys for GALA". Austin and Craig start to disrobe and take donations. According to Craig, Austin received more quantity of donations. Austin had more visitors. Craig, however, received greater quality and had visitors donate larger denominations of bills. Craig assures me that all the money will be donated to GALA because he doesn't want anyone complaining or coming after any of us. It was an amusing incident into a very interesting evening.

For some reason as the wee hours of the morning encroach I get a little depressed. I don't recall what all was going on with me at the time; but I had had enough. I share a cab and find my way back to my hotel room.