FLASHBACK FRIDAY - Our Man Bruce

 

I wonder how many people are lucky enough to have a guy friend that can really really make you laugh out loud;  enjoy great music and know all about it;  travel with you;  teach you a lot of ways to say ‘dick’ (putz, smuck, etc);  be a great friend and generally fill the role of the best non-girlfriend  you’re ever likely to have!   I was/we were that lucky.   Along with Jae - my soul sister - and my high school buddy Phyllis we had - Our Man BRUCE!   Bruce was like a brother to Jae and Phyllis but he and I also shared a friendship with "benefits"! 

 

Bruce is unique...a one off.   I’ve never known anyone like him and, at this point, doubt that I ever will. He’s a special friend.

 

The ultimate WTF look!

 

Back in the 70s, when we were all inseparable, Bruce could be a man of many moods. Like this picture he could give you a searing, “get over yourself” look, or make the slightest expression change with his face and completely destroy any hope of being serious.

There were so many times when Jae and I lived together at Marlbrook that, because of something Bruce said or did, we were reduced to debilitating howls of laughter.  In fits of hysteria we would try to regain our composure by moving to separate rooms. Mind you, the little upstairs apartment was very tiny so any attempt to not look at each other was hijacked by hearing someone breaking up in another room.

 

Jae breaking up over something Bruce said or did!

Phyllis and Bruce clowning around.

 

Bruce loved reggae music. He lived in a small apartment in the basement of a house near us. I remember being in that apartment late into the night talking and listening to Bob Marley and the Wailers. The rooms were literally excavated out of the earth...some of the raw walls still visible...which gave the music an evocative REAL feel. He loved reggae so much he and Jae travelled to Jamaica once.

 

"Art" on the beach in Jamaica.

 

At one point in time I was seeing a bartender who worked at a gay drag bar called The Club Three. We all lived lives with much more “colour and variety” back then! My bartender boyfriend, Mike, would give me, Jae and Bruce free or discounted drinks on busy nights so we used to go there a lot. One night Jae and Bruce had been bickering ... they were like sister and brother with all the bad and good connotations that go along with that.    As the night wore on and we got drunker and drunker the bickering escalated into simmering anger. Bruce could drive Jae to that so easily.   I was at the bar talking to Mike and suddenly there was a commotion at our table.   Jae, in a fit of alcohol fuelled pique, stood up and pushed Bruce over the table! The drag queens loved it!   Mike quickly suggested I get both of them out of the bar before something more serious happened. Needless to say the anger blew over in a few days and the incident became just another one to laugh about together.

Bruce was always there for you as well.  When Phyllis' husband Jerry was killed he drove to be with her during the worst of it.  He's always been very kind and thoughtful.

 

In a way Bruce helped me to change my life by moving to Australia. We were in a bad car accident together and, from that, I got enough money to travel down under. The rest, as they say, is history. I married Mr G and we built our life together here. Bruce married and has a son. When I was in Atlanta last year Jae, her husband and I had dinner with Bruce and his wife. We hadn’t seen each other in many many years.   Jae and I were so excited about seeing Bruce again but, at the same time, we wondered if time had changed him.   I’m glad to say Bruce was still the same wonderful man! He and his wife came back to Jae’s house and we spent hours looking at photos and talking and laughing.

 

There are so many Bruce stories.....Our Man Bruce, like I said, is unique!