The Cute Guys Revue

(The Cute Guys Revue was an expression that Robin and I used as teenagers.  As best I recall, it meant at least two cute guys in the same place.  The "revue" part came from imagining the cute guys as a chorus line, kicking their legs, accompanied by a little vaudeville dancing-off riff.)

Somewhere around 2000, I went with V. to another state, day trip, where he was playing, and first we stopped in a shop owned by a guy he knew.  Let's say it involved a type of collectible, this shop.  We spent some time there, and I enjoyed meeting the shop owner, who was very knowledgeable and charming and very handsome.  There was a woman there with him -- he lived in the building where his shop was located, and it seemed she was wife/girlfriend, business partner, or both.

The two of them came to V's gig that night, and decided to hang out with me.  I spent more time talking to both of them, mostly to him, and he and I took a shine to each other, for sure.  We connected very powerfully.  He started telling the woman how well I would get along with such-and-such friend of theirs in New York, and how we'd have to stay in touch and they would come to New York and we would all get together, including the friend, and on and on.  (He said he had a small showroom in New York and traveled here often.)  He and I swapped e-mail addresses.

I e-mailed the collectibles guy a few times and never heard back.  I have to figure that either the woman friend came down on him, or he was just kind of spooked by the way we hit it off.  When I didn't hear anything back from him after a couple of months, I knew that something wasn't right.  I kept him on V's mailing list (which I maintained and which at that time was snail-mail) for a couple of years, but he never turned up at any shows.

Very rarely, I see him on TV, appraising something in his field of expertise.  I saw him tonight.  He looks absolutely unchanged to me, ten or eleven years later.  I do vaguely wish we had met at another time, or at least kept in touch as friends.

I need a second guy to officially make this The Cute Guys Revue, and I've been looking for an excuse to post this picture of Jackie Earle Haley.  The Human Target is a profoundly stupid show, but I watch it pretty regularly just to see him.  I like the way he looks on this show, with the longish hair, glasses, and facial hair.  I just like seeing him play a non-weird part.  He in fact plays someone who is mysterious, intelligent, and a serious kicker of ass.  (He does have a bruise on his face in this pic, but I think he had just beaten up half a dozen guys.)