if you didn't get to step out this past sunday, you missed a great benefit party. a special thank you for those that came out to show some love. we'll see you this weekend!

------ WORK - SEPTEMBER AT 7, the PARTY

i think i might be a keith boykin fan

that's right, i might have to become the president of the KEITH BOYKIN FAN CLUB. i had the golden opportunity to spend some quality time with keith boykin this weekend and the man is truly amazing. he's very inspiring and hands down quite intelligent. he also looks good in a bathing suit, what more can you ask for? he celebrated 40 years of life on this planet we call earth this past weekend and boy was it a SMASH! i appreciate keith boykin for being so down to earth and for paving the way for many of us trying to do our thing on the web. keith is one of the original black gay bloggers so hats off to him for that.

as you can clearly see from the photos, this celebration looked like an MTV beach party of sorts. i mean look at the star studded cast. i will not name drop, i just refuse to do it. but i will say that the glitterati was in full force on fire island.

this weekend was hands down one of the best weekends of my summer. nathan asked me to be the party manager for this event and i just couldn't pass up the opportunity. i mean how often does one get to coordinate a celebrated author's 40th birthday celebration? i had no idea what to expect, but i knew that it had to be perfect. nathan and keith wouldn't have it any other way. the house was amazing. the brazilian prepared food was absolutely sinful. many thanks to lula the chef for his outstanding culinary skills. the guests were all very attractive men and women and the view from the house overlooking the bay, was incredible.

keith boykin is definitely one to watch. HAPPY 40th Keith! here's wishing you much continued success. be sure to stop by and give keith a shout at: www.keithboykin.com. don't forget to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

interview with FREDERICK SMITH

There are alot of emerging authors buzzing around the community at large. One such author is FREDERICK SMITH. Frederick will be flying over 3,000 miles to party, network and play with NEW YORK. I hopped on the chance to catch up with him before his trip and here's how it went down.

1. What is your idea of the perfect match for YOU? So what you really wanna know is if I'm single, huh? And the answer is currently yes. Happily single, and open to possibilities. As for my perfect match... gosh, that's a hard one because no one's perfect and no one has ever come close, including myself, to everything I'd want. However, I love contradictions. Don't know why. Like someone who's smart, but not a know-it-all debater type. Someone who's hard or quiet on the outside, but sweet and sensitive and talkative when it counts. Someone with street credibility and the ability to earn a 4.0 gpa. A hip-hop loving bookworm. That's hot. Writers and people who read are hot. Someone culturally-empowered and proud to be black or brown, yet open to new experiences and people. And definitely someone who has goals and is actually doing something to reach those goals... not a "coulda, shoulda, woulda" kind of person.


2. It's your birthday weekend and you are having a slumber party. you are allowed to have 3 best selling authors attend your party. who do you invite and why? I like a lot of the guys in the current class of black gay writers coming out, who are striving to reach best selling status in their careers. They're fun, both personally and professionally, and really supportive peers when we've met or e-mailed... even with our different approaches to writing and marketing and how we got into this field. But I'd have to say Rashid Darden (Lazarus) for his laugh and his smarts (not that the others don't have smarts... but we're brothers in the Jesuit tradition) and he'd keep us rolling with stories. Then Alphonso Morgan (Sons) because he's mysterious, funny, and also smart, and we'd finally learn some of his diary secrets. And then maybe E. Lynn Harris or James Earl Hardy or Keith Boykin to tell us what we're doing right and not-so-right so we can have the same level of success they've had in their careers. Then we'd get back to dishing, laughing, and slumbering my birthday weekend away... which is actually coming up August 27. Innocent, thoughtful, detailed Virgo here...


3. You wake up one morning and realize that you have lost your sight. what's the first thing you think you'd do? This is so freaky, because one of my recurring dreams is that I go blind while walking down stairs. Ever since I was a kid. No joke. But in the dream, I fall -- like real dramatic "Dynasty" falls -- then start flying and recover from the fall. If I lost my sight in real life, I'd probably freak out for a minute, pray my other senses take over and compensate, and just deal. Well, I'd get some medical attention, but if permanent... it is what it is.


4. Let's dream big for a minute. your book has made the new york times best seller's list and is about to go into production as a movie. at present, who would you choose to direct and star in the movie? The first director who comes to mind is Pedro Almodovar and that's because I love all his films, like Bad Education and All About My Mother. Of course, mine isn't set in Spain, and he didn't write it, so I don't think Almodovar would take the job. But people have just started e-mailing me, out of the blue, about the whole movie thing. It's the furthest thing on my mind, but names that have popped up in their notes include: Daniel Sunjata, Mario Lopez, Alphonso Ribiero, Wilson Cruz, Morris Chestnut, Darrin Henson (Lem, Soul Food tv show), Michael Ealy, David Bisbao, and that guy Jay Hernandez from crazy/beautiful. I don't know a lot of actors that well by name, so I just started jotting down what people send me. Personally, I think stage actors have a lot of talent, because they do it live, on stage, and in one take... and soap opera actors get a bum rap, despite the fact they memorize a billion pages of dialogue a day and do it in just one rehearsal at most. I've heard that unknown actors are best on new projects-- hungry to work, little-to-no ego and headtrips, enjoy the process, etc. But I know you asked me about movies... and I digress too much.

5. Tell me 7 things that you plan to do when you get to new york.
1 - Take lots of pics, because on my first trip over Memorial Day I took pics, but I was in zero of them!
2 - Meet or run into a lot of the writers and bloggers I read, because you guys sound so cool and united on screen, and are making a bunch of us West Coast boys think about relocating to the East Coast!
3 - Stay away from Times Square. First trip, stayed in the area. Talk about a red-state-resident vacation spot. Never again! I mean, who travels to NYC to eat at Applebee's?
4 - Hang out at the Pride in the City events in Brooklyn... my friends in L.A. are jealous... that entertainment lineup is fab.
5 - Maintain a healthy balanced diet of fruits and potatoes... err, cranberry and grey goose, or whatever the bar special of the evening is.
6 - Maybe catch one show if there's time... Avenue Q, Wicked, Doubt... there's nothing like the NYC theatre experience.
7 - Walk away with enough fun stories to last me the rest of the year... Summer 2005 is the best yet!

6. If you could be an animal which animal would you be and why? I like tropical fish because they're full of color, calm, beautiful, and totally oblivious to their beauty. I like eagles because from top they see everything, and can easily hone in on problems or things they want to pursue.

7. Favorite lube, vaseline, ky, eros, or wet? Lube? What's that? Like electricity and water, there's a shortage here in California in the summertime :-) But dude, I can't answer that... it's a total one-on-one discussion, and it's a discussion I haven't been having lately... i.e the answer to question number one.

-- Fred's novel, DOWN FOR WHATEVER, a black and Latino 'Queer as Folk' meets 'Sex & The City' in L.A ., released July 2005 on Kensington Books.

www.fredericksmith.net or www.simplyfredsmith.blogspot.com

Well that's the scoop for now on Mr. Frederick Smith. Be sure to catch him at The Derrick L. Briggs Book Club!!!