Video Interview, Hector Arguinzoni, May 23, 2012
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And I may have to interrupt since we're
- right on Main Street.
- So a particularly loud truck--
- CREW: Loud truck, a train usually
- goes by every thirty-five minutes.
- In fifteen minutes, the church bells will ring.
- So we'll have a break in fifteen minutes.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So what we do is we have to sit here
- and not only wait for twelve bells
- to go off but this new time sermon thing
- that they do with the bells.
- If you start talking and you lose your train of thought
- or you stumble or something, just stop and say,
- let me start over.
- Let me try that again.
- I may ask you a question a couple of times.
- You may wonder, he just asked me that.
- Why is he asking me that again.
- But maybe I'm trying to come at it at a different angle,
- or maybe I'm just trying to clarify it a little bit.
- CREW: I am rolling.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK.
- First of all, for a microphone check,
- give us the correct spelling of your first and last name.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: First name is Hector.
- It's H-E-C-T-O-R. Last name is Arguinzoni,
- A-R-G-U-I-N-Z-O-N-I.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: For the purpose of the documentary,
- when I put your name on-screen, do you want your full name,
- or do you want DJ Hector?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: DJ Hector.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: That's how people know me.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: That's how people know him.
- OK.
- He's DJ Hector.
- So, Hector, you've seen the gay social bar scene for decades.
- And you've seen changes.
- But I want to kind of go back to some
- of those early years in the 1970s and into the '80s
- and get a sense of what was the gay social scene like.
- Can you talk to me about that?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Well, in the '70s, being a college student,
- the gay scene was, to me, relatively a new thing.
- Growing up in Rochester in the Latino community,
- you were closeted, and you kept it very secret.
- So it wasn't until I got into college that I started
- really living my gay life.
- And I remember comparing it to breathing for the first time.
- And that was because a group of friends
- that I went to high school with that had gone on to Albany
- to study had come home and decided
- that they were going to take me in the first gay bar.
- And again, I was a freshman at the U of R.
- And they took me to Jim's for the first time.
- And it was funny because the whole time
- that we were trying to make it into the door
- at Jim's, we were dodging cars and hiding behind walls
- and pillars or whatever we could find just so we wouldn't
- be seen sliding into the club.
- And the whole time we were there we
- were very apprehensive of who we might run into it.
- But at the same time, it was a very freeing experience
- because it was--
- I felt like, for the first time, I was living my life.
- And it just seemed normal to me.
- It just seemed like an important part of me
- that I was repressing for so many years.
- And finally I was beginning to deal with it.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I'm going to touch upon
- that a little bit because it's so
- easy to look at the bar scene as in, yeah, OK, it's alcoholism.
- It's drugs.
- It's promiscuous sex.
- Why is that important particularly
- for the gay community?
- But they really served a bigger purpose than that.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Oh, yeah.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Can you talk to me a little bit about that?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: No, it was- it definitely
- served a bigger purpose.
- It was a social gathering.
- It was an opportunity for you to share and enjoy and be
- in the company of friends and people who thought like you
- and who lived like you and who experienced the same things
- that you did.
- All of that stuff that comes with the bar scene
- is definitely there.
- But there was definitely a great social aspect to it
- that was very important.
- It was very important for people to feel
- like they had a place that they can go to,
- that they feel comfortable at, that they feel safe.
- And the bar scene was the thing.
- I mean, that's where you went.
- That's where you went to socialize.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And a lot of the bars
- were very different from each other.
- I just want to quickly just throw some of the names
- out there and just get your quick impressions of what
- these places were like.
- You mentioned Jim's.
- Let's talk about Jim's.
- What was Jim's like?
- When you walked into Jim's, what was your first impression?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: It was a bar like any other bar,
- but it had a dance floor.
- And it's funny because I remember a popcorn machine
- right next to the dance floor.
- Pat Burns was the DJ, if you wanted
- to call it that at the time.
- I don't know they called it a DJ at the time,
- but it was somebody that was playing music.
- And you were able to dance and have a good time.
- It was physically no different than any other bar.
- But emotionally it was a nice environment for you to be.
- I can't put it any other way.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: The Red Carpet?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Red Carpet.
- Red Carpet was my start into DJing.
- It was a small piano bar that Jesse Vulo owned
- where currently the Metro Y is.
- It was a series of buildings and businesses along there.
- If I remember, there was a restaurant right next door that
- was also gay-owned by, I think, the young man was named Rick.
- But Jesse's bar was a very plush, very nice
- looking piano bar.
- It had the bar level and then a second level with a piano.
- And that became our little dance area.
- And we were all college kids, some high school kids,
- I imagine.
- And we would go there.
- And it wasn't Jim's, so it was a lot smaller,
- but it was a fun environment.
- And we would go there, and I remember
- making my mix tapes at the time on cassettes
- and bringing them in, sliding them into the cassette player,
- and just spinning around the piano
- until all hours of the night.
- And then eventually, Jesse Vulo decided that he
- was going to make it a club.
- And they knocked down the walls between the two businesses
- and created a huge dance floor, multi-tier.
- The DJ booth was like on a fire escape, second-story level,
- overlooking the dance floor.
- And that was my beginning.
- That's where I started.
- He gave me the first job as a disc jockey.
- I was just learning what it was about.
- I would go to New York every weekend to buy music
- and to dance at the clubs in New York that, at the time,
- were pretty much underground.
- But they were very popular and very well-known.
- And to this day, those DJs are held in high esteem
- as really the pioneers of the whole disco
- or whatever you want to call it.
- But they were the beginning of that time
- before it was mainstream.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: The Rathskeller.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Rathskeller was a small--
- I can remember it was underground.
- It was like on a basement level, and it
- was close to the Trailway station over by Midtown Plaza.
- Jesse Vulo owned that as well.
- It was a great little social gathering
- place, a lot of regulars.
- You saw a lot of people that were regulars
- that would come constantly.
- It wasn't a dance bar, but it was a nice gathering spot.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And then, of course, Friars.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Well, Friars was a very special place
- to a lot of people.
- And it had a long life.
- I was speaking with a friend just today.
- And we were talking about when he first came out
- and how he first came out to Friars.
- And that became his home base.
- I mean, you either went to Friars,
- or you went to Jim's if you wanted to dance.
- And Friars was his thing.
- And there was a definite group of people
- that hung out at Friars and a definite group of people
- that hung out at Jim's, especially on the weekends.
- During the week, you went to Friars on a Tuesday
- because that was like a big, big night for Friars.
- And on Wednesday, you went to Jim's.
- On Thursdays, you went to The Pub.
- And then the weekend, you went to your favorite bar.
- And in my case, it was Friars.
- Again, I started working for Jesse Vulo
- again as his disk jockey.
- That was in '79 when I came back from Europe
- and worked until it closed.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, we're going
- to explore that a little bit more.
- But first I want to get a sense of--
- I mean, at one time, there were upwards
- of fifteen different gay and lesbian bars here in Rochester.
- They were all very different.
- But they were all so very well-connected
- and were providing something for the gay community.
- What's your impression of that?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: You're absolutely right.
- They were very well-connected.
- Part of a a Sunday ritual that bar owners used to have
- was that they would get together,
- and they would go from bar to bar
- to bar, including their own bars,
- and peep their eyes in and sit with the patrons
- and buy drinks for the patrons.
- It just seemed like every Sunday these guys
- would make their rounds and visit all the bars.
- So there was a definite tie and communication
- and a definite appreciation for your patrons
- and the people that are supporting your business
- and supporting one another.
- You never kind of threaded on another bar's night.
- If Friars' big week night was Tuesday,
- you knew Friars was Tuesday.
- Wednesday was Jim's.
- Sunday was The Forum or Tara's.
- Thursdays was The Pub.
- So I mean, people just kind of a respected
- each other's space and time and helped each other out.
- And it kind of brought that community together.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So you got into DJing,
- and you were working these different clubs
- and eventually wound up mostly at Friars.
- Talk to me about the excitement about that,
- your own personal passion for that.
- What was it about that culture that really drew you in?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: My first experience
- exploring the concept of DJing was
- going to these underground private clubs
- in New York, The Gallery and The Loft
- to name the two biggest ones that I attended.
- And it was the phenomenon of using music as a special way
- to bring people together and bring emotions and create
- an ambience of fun.
- I mean, music has always been a way to bring people together.
- But here, it was recorded music done in a very unique way.
- It was the first time that I ever heard two pieces of music
- blended together in a way that it was almost seamless.
- And the DJ very carefully built the energy in the room
- to a point of peaking and then gradually would bring you down
- towards the end of the night and let you kind of go
- home in an easy--
- but you had a really nice buildup.
- I was a musician.
- And as a musician, I was fascinated by the trade,
- by how they were doing it, and what they were doing.
- And I had to climb up on many of DJ booths
- just to see what they were doing,
- what tricks they were doing to make those
- mixes seamless because, when I started DJing,
- we had Sparta turntables.
- Sparta turntables are direct drive turntables
- that are used for radio DJs.
- They have no variable pitch control.
- They're pretty straightforward.
- And you had to manipulate it.
- I personally used to manipulate it
- by using my fingers or my thumb to slow it down or release
- it to speed it up so that I could try
- to do those seamless blends.
- And it wasn't until The Hollywood in New York
- that I found that the young man that
- was DJing there was using a turntable
- called the Thoren turntable with pitch control, which
- allowed him to slow the pitch or bring the pitch up.
- And it just made that mixing transition a lot smoother.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So other than being out there
- and entertaining the masses, did you ever
- feel like you were providing some other service for them?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Well, you know,
- obviously, I have a passion for what
- I do-- for DJing and for the music aspects of it.
- But it is bringing people together.
- It is creating an ambience where people
- are going to have a good time and socialize
- and a safe environment where they can be themselves.
- And Friars, starting with my experience
- at The Red Carpet, all the way to now in my brief appearances
- at Tilt or somewhere, that aspect of it hasn't changed.
- It's still the same.
- It's still a safe environment of self-expression
- and entertainment and community.
- And so, I mean, that, to me, was part
- of what I saw in my capacity, just in the booth.
- I saw that kind of energy among the people.
- And it takes it a little further with the energy
- of the room with the music because the music
- kind of creates that.
- But it's just that social setting.
- It was unique.
- It was great.
- As I explained to you in the beginning, the first time
- I stepped into a gay bar, it was like breathing
- for the first time.
- I felt like I found my niche.
- It was almost like a puzzle piece
- fitting and working together.
- And that's the way I kind of looked at the whole bar scene.
- I don't know if that answers your question.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I'm just going to kind of cap it all up here.
- You know, as you're talking, it kind of comes to my mind--
- they were the best of times, they were the worst of times.
- I want to talk about the best of times.
- In all of it, what are your fondest memories of that time
- period, that culture?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Just playing--
- playing to the masses, the gay picnics--
- once we started doing the gay picnic and everything that
- came along with that.
- Of course, it was a lot of work.
- We used to have to take the equipment off
- of the dance floor at Friars and drag it over to the park,
- but it was fun.
- It was a different environment.
- It got us out in a public setting.
- You never knew what was going to happen.
- But for the most part, nothing did.
- We just enjoyed ourselves and had a great outing.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Let me get to the picnic
- a little later because, as I said, it was the best of times,
- it was the worst of times.
- I want to maybe talk about some of the worst of times.
- Mid-80s, AIDS epidemic-- you saw some changes.
- CREW: I'm rolling.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Let's dive into the '80s.
- What did you start seeing happen?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Unfortunately,
- one of the first people to be afflicted with the AIDS virus
- was Jesse Vulo in our community aside from being--
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Hold that thought.
- Let me start that again.
- I just want to make sure this motorcycle goes by.
- Yeah, if you could just start it off exactly how you did.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Well, unfortunately,
- one of the first people to be afflicted with the AIDS virus
- in our community was Jesse Vulo who owned Friars.
- And not only was he the owner and my boss,
- but he was a good friend.
- And at the time, it was very confusing.
- There was a lot of fear.
- I remember that, shortly after Jesse
- had been diagnosed with the virus,
- a childhood friend of mine in New York City
- had also come down with the virus.
- And he, unfortunately, had to come home to Rochester.
- And I remember how he was treated
- in hospitals and actually what we
- had to go through when he actually passed away.
- And funeral parlors wouldn't touch his body.
- It was scary.
- It definitely affected the social scene.
- I mean, people went out to meet people and to the bars.
- And now you suddenly have this epidemic
- that was kind of keeping people away.
- People were scared.
- They didn't understand what was going on.
- The world didn't understand what was going on.
- We didn't understand what was going on.
- There were a lot of questions as to what was happening
- and not a lot of answers.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: But at the same time,
- it didn't take long for the bar owners and people
- like yourself to kind of step up to the plate
- and say, "OK, we need to step in there and help do something,
- anything."
- Even though you didn't know what was going on,
- you became a very supportive part
- of what we're trying to do to combat it.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: In many ways, Rochester's community was
- at the forefront of organizing and bringing together people
- for many reasons-- to raise funds, to raise awareness,
- to set up care, and just for the support--
- supports for family, supports for people,
- whether it be care at home or bringing food
- or whatever needed to be done.
- We had a great--
- how should I say-- a great outpouring of the bar owners
- and patrons and everyone alike and community really
- come out and step up and bring a lot of things to light,
- bring a lot of things about like AIDS Rochester.
- AIDS Rochester, I think, had their first office
- at the second floor at Tara's.
- And it was the first time that anybody
- tried to organize to look for grants and monies
- and whatever, wherever, to deal with what
- was going on in our community.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Did you ever work any like the HPA Dime
- for a Dollar events.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Absolutely.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So talk to me about that.
- Talk to me about those Dime for Dollar events
- because they were the event--
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Yeah, you had the opportunity
- to host a dinner at your home.
- And then it concluded at either The Village Gate,
- or some of the more memorable ones
- were at Midtown Plaza, which was a great venue.
- It was huge, but they would do wonderful things with it.
- We have a lot of talent in our community, artistic talent--
- musically, visually.
- And all these people would come together
- to make this event an incredible event.
- To be honest with you, I never saw
- anything of that magnitude in Rochester before.
- And it was everyone.
- It was not just our gay community
- but everybody else that was supporting us and giving us
- a hand.
- And you did everything from providing the DJ music
- or setting up tables or being--
- I hosted many dinners at my house with my friends.
- We got together.
- It was a great social setting.
- It was a great gathering.
- And then we all came together at Midtown or at The Village Gate
- and had dessert and more dance and more hanging out
- and visiting with our friends.
- Those were some really, really unique experiences.
- I don't think I've ever seen anything
- like that in Rochester.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Were you at first one?
- And was that Village Gate?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Yes, I was.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me about the first one.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: It's not as clear as I would like it to be.
- As I said, the emotions and the energy and the people.
- The amount of people that it brought together
- was just phenomenal.
- I was probably more involved, myself,
- with the later ones at Midtown than I was at that one,
- but that was a good beginning.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So let's jump to, again,
- in the same realm of bar owners supporting various events.
- Let's jump to the picnics because you were like,
- for many years it's DJ Hector DJing at the picnics.
- Talk to me again about that experience
- of being at the picnics, being at a public venue
- but more so from your point of view of how significant
- and how important that really was
- for the overall gay community or the community as a whole.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Well, we were taking everything--
- all that social gathering-- outside in a public format
- in a community that either was or was not ready for it.
- But it was the first steps as a community to be out there
- and say to people, "Hey, we're here,
- and we have just as much right as anyone else
- to be out here and enjoying the park and enjoying our day
- and enjoying each other's company."
- So it was unique.
- It was rough in the beginning.
- As a DJ, it was a little rough because we could not
- play the initial ones.
- We wouldn't play records because of the dust
- that would raise from the dancing in the pavilions
- at Genesee Valley Park.
- So we would bring tape decks and play
- tapes of prerecorded music.
- But it was significant.
- I mean, it was the first time that, I think,
- it was political, even though it wasn't political,
- that we were bringing it out in a public setting,
- that we were being ourselves in a whole different--
- not behind the doors of the bar but in a public park.
- So it was very significant as far as the growth
- of this community.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: How did you feel personally
- being a part of that?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Well, you know, there's
- a lot of different things.
- I had a lot of feelings.
- Part of my actual issues were being a gay Latino
- in Rochester, coming from a family that
- was pretty well-known.
- I was a musician before I was a DJ,
- and so people knew me as a musician in a Latin band.
- And there were certain stereotypes
- that you just didn't do.
- I mean, you didn't go outside of that.
- And so for me, it was hard at first.
- It was very difficult for me to go to a picnic,
- set up, and start playing music.
- And at the time, anybody could walk by.
- So you took a chance.
- But you know what?
- Life had to go on.
- And if they saw me, they saw me, and we deal with it later.
- It's just the way it is.
- It's just the way it was.
- It was a little harder for me.
- I think a lot of people that come
- from today from the Latin community
- don't experience that at all.
- It's a lot more accepted.
- I mean, I look at my nieces and nephews today,
- and it's not a question with them.
- They don't have an issue with it,
- where back in the 1970s or '60s when
- I was going to high school, it was taboo.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: It's interesting that you had a fear that you'd
- be seen out at that picnic when everybody at that picnic
- was there for the same reason.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Right.
- Well, that's the thought that kind of reoccurred to me,
- I remember, is that, yeah, if you're here,
- it's because you're here for the same reasons
- unless you were being there out of curiosity or just
- pretending.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: There's an element
- of the gay community and an element,
- particularly within the bar scene,
- that I've always personally tried
- to figure out why it happened.
- And you're a better person to speak to this than I am.
- There's the whole drag queen community--
- how they became such a huge, visible part
- of the gay community and why.
- From your perspective, how did that happen?
- I think I have, in my mind, my own perceptions of it,
- but they could be way off.
- And from there, I also want to move into the fact
- that they, too, particularly during the whole AIDS epidemic,
- became a huge factor in fund raising and that kind of stuff.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Absolutely.
- Absolutely.
- I don't know.
- I just think it was all part of that sense of community
- and entertainment and just--
- I think probably the first person directly that I remember
- in Rochester was Freddy Baath And he used to do a lot
- of Shirley Bassey at the time at Jim's.
- Jim's was the place where you went to see shows.
- And then, when Red Carpet came around,
- there was a whole different group--
- Gingersnap-- oh my goodness, I'm trying to remember the names
- of some of those--
- they were always so unique.
- But Rondretta-- I mean, they came about
- and did their thing and their illusion.
- And it was interesting to all of us
- and to the straight community as well.
- I don't know, but it seems that, later on,
- it just got stronger and a lot more prominent.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I think the whole fund raising for AIDS
- was a big component of that.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: I think you're right.
- Yeah, I think you're right.
- I think it just--
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So if you could just kind of set that up for me
- and speak to me a little bit about that,
- about the one group that was really out there
- and championing the whole fund raising cause
- was the drag queens.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Well, they found themselves
- being the entertainment.
- They found themselves being the master of ceremonies.
- They found themselves creating the whole ambience
- and leading the whole parade basically
- whenever we got together for these different issues.
- And all of those that are curious,
- whether you are gay or straight, this
- was an opportunity for them to see performers
- in a unique setting and in a unique way.
- They definitely were a big part of anything
- that we did as a community to raise--
- and they still are--
- to raise awareness and to raise monies
- or to help out in any way.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Let me ask you this question this way.
- How indebted is the gay community to the drag queens?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: I don't know.
- It seems like there is definitely a huge following,
- especially today.
- I mean, there just seems to be a bigger--
- I don't know.
- That's an interesting question because it
- seems to be a big thing today more than it was back then.
- Back then, it was unique.
- And not that it isn't unique today.
- I think today it's just a lot more po--
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Now it's almost expected.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Yeah, it's part of it.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So, yeah, I'm just
- going to shoot some names out to you because these
- are some very important people within the bar scene
- but as well as some of the supportive things
- that bars did.
- Obviously, we've already talked to them,
- but I just want to get your impression of who this guy was
- and what he was like--
- Jesse Vulo.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Jesse was, again,
- not just only my boss at Friars and at The Red Carpet,
- but he was a friend.
- And he was a very unique person, very giving, a very, very, very
- giving and caring person.
- He was always fascinated in the drag queens.
- And he loved the whole mystique of it
- and how they kind of did what they did.
- I remember one time he brought Divine to Friars,
- and that was a big thing.
- It was like an A star at Friars, and she was a drag queen, just
- a national one.
- But he was, again, a very caring person.
- He gave a lot to the community.
- He was a good friend to me.
- And he believed in me.
- He gave me that first opportunity to DJ,
- to experiment with the whole thing.
- He trusted it.
- And I hope that I did him well.
- It was pretty spectacular.
- His funeral was something probably close to royalty.
- I remember the bells at St. Michael's ringing
- before the procession with the funeral made it to the church.
- You could hear the bells, I mean, really ringing
- because he loved that church.
- And he loved the whole ceremony of it.
- And so he wanted the church bells ringing almost
- during the whole thing.
- Before they parted out of the church,
- they wound up a little music box with one of his favorite songs,
- which was Send In The Clowns.
- And I don't think there was a dry eye in the whole place.
- It was pretty spectacular.
- And one of the guys that worked for him--
- actually my light man--
- at the end, was ringing the bells
- at St. Michael's because we--
- and he didn't let go the rope.
- And he was flying in the air with the rope.
- But it was all for Jesse, for the kind of person--
- he also had a big yacht.
- And he would just give these parties
- on this yacht out on the lake.
- It was just a continuation of Friars.
- He was a really wonderful man.
- He truly was.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Then, of course, we have to talk about Tony.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: What can I tell you about Tony Greene.
- Everybody loved Tony Greene.
- I would walk in the door, and he had a special name for me.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Hold that thought.
- There's Tony now.
- Again, yeah, if you could just start it out the way you did.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Tony Greene had a special way
- of greeting everyone.
- Either he called you Mary unless he had a special name for you.
- And in my case, he would call me concha, which is a seashell.
- It's also a name that's used in Spain for older women, concha.
- But that was his favorite thing to greet you when
- we used to walk in the door.
- Everybody was Mary.
- Everybody would look up when he said, "Mary!"
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I want to touch up on Tony because he
- wasn't just a bartender.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: No, he was a phenomenal person.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: He had a lot of influence in this community,
- particularly when it came to stepping up
- to the plate for AIDS.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Yes.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me about that.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: He was very, very, very influential,
- especially with HPA, Helping People with AIDS.
- He was a force to be reckoned with.
- He was tireless to the very end.
- Tony was always going.
- He was always doing.
- He would do Thanksgiving dinner at his house
- for anybody and everybody that didn't have a place to go.
- And I mean, those were things that I remember Tony
- for outside of the bar scene.
- I mean, he was just an incredible person.
- I don't know how he did it, especially
- towards the end when he was obviously
- getting weaker and not--
- but he kept going.
- He was a phenomenal man.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: It's what kept him going.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Yeah, yeah, his commitment.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Buddy Buckman over at Tara's,
- did you know Buddy?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: I knew of Buddy.
- I didn't have a chance to really hang out there
- or associate with Buddy.
- But he was definitely part of that crew on Sundays.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And, of course, then there's
- Jimmy Catalano, Jimmy and his Carmen Miranda kind of routine.
- Talk to me about Jimmy and what he was like in his routine.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Jimmy has always
- been a great character and also a good friend
- of mine, incredibly talented.
- I mean his Carmen Miranda was unique.
- It was funny.
- It was campy.
- Most of the time, he was the master of ceremony.
- He ran the whole show.
- Definitely one of a kind.
- He's a truly, truly artistic person
- and a very creative person.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: How has the scene changed now?
- It seems to be very different than what I hear from what
- it was like back then.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: It's changed in a lot of ways, I think.
- I think the internet has changed the whole way
- we socialize as a community.
- Back then, you went to the bar to socialize, to meet people,
- to get to know people.
- You might find your date there for the evening.
- You actually got excited when you went to the bar,
- and you can look across the way and see somebody
- that caught your attention and you were lucky enough
- to have a conversation with.
- Definitely how I met my partner of twenty-eight years.
- Today, you don't have to leave your house.
- You're in front of a computer.
- It doesn't seem to be as sociable.
- That social connection doesn't seem to be there.
- We've lost something along the way.
- Even in the bar scene, you still have great music and probably
- some of the best music and equipment
- and lighting and everything.
- But I don't feel the same kind of energy.
- There's something that's missing that we definitely have lost.
- It doesn't mean that there's not young people out there that
- are just as energetic and just as passionate
- and just as committed as we were.
- But I don't know.
- It's just that whole social networking thing that we had,
- that we had to actually step out of our homes
- and go and meet people and share.
- That's not there anymore.
- I mean, at least that's my perception.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Out of years of being in the gay community
- and being out there in the social scene
- and the gay community, looking back in retrospect, for you
- personally, what are you most proud of as far as
- what you contributed?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Personally I think I've
- been doing the picnic forever.
- It's my way of contributing to my community,
- of giving back, and artistically, musically--
- that's my commitment to the community.
- As far as pride in my community, I think the fact
- that Rochester seemed to me at least
- to be the forefront of politically moving
- our community along, getting elected officials to represent
- us and even straight officials to recognize us
- for who we are and as people and what we bring.
- So this is a great community.
- It has always been a really progressive community
- in my opinion.
- We see that in our publication, in The Empty Closet,
- one of the oldest publications that you could--
- The Gay Alliance is one of the oldest organizations.
- I mean, it definitely says a lot about what this community is
- all about and the commitment that this community has
- made to provide us with a better life.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And for future generations, maybe looking back
- through Empty Closets or maybe watching this documentary,
- what do you want them to most know about you?
- What do you want them to kind of walk away with?
- "Oh, that Hector guy, oh, yeah, he's the guy that--"
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: What can I say?
- KEVIN INDOVINO: How do you want history to reflect upon you?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: I guess it would
- be just the fact that myself, together
- with our community and all the efforts
- that we put together to get to the point
- where we are in this country.
- I don't know.
- I hope that, in my little corner,
- that I was able to contribute the way that I could,
- primarily in music, but that hopefully played a part
- and hopefully as an example.
- As a Latino man, I think that it was
- important for my people, my folk,
- to understand that we got to open up a little bit more.
- I think there's still a lot to do in our community,
- but it's getting there.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: There's one thing--
- just looking back at some of my notes
- here to see what I may have missed.
- I want to kind of go back to the drag queen scene a little bit.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: OK.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And if I were someone who has never
- seen a drag show before, particularly in Rochester,
- describe it for me.
- Describe for me the pageantry and describe for me
- why that was such an entertaining and exciting thing
- to witness or to take part in.
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: I have a tremendous amount
- of respect for them because I got
- to work with some of the best at Mothers,
- Aggy Dune, Ambrosia Salad, Darienne Lake, Samantha Vega--
- I mean, some really incredibly talented--
- Pandora Boxx-- talented people.
- And I was fascinated by their transformation.
- I mean, it's an art in my opinion.
- And it's very cumbersome.
- It takes a lot of time.
- It takes a lot of commitment and dedication.
- I mean, they really put a lot of time into their costuming.
- And I think it takes a lot of balls, if I can say that,
- to get up on that stage and do what they do.
- You've got to have a lot of respect.
- Working with them at Mothers primarily,
- I got a whole different perspective and respect
- for what they do.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And, again, if I can ask you,
- from your point of view, what is their most
- significant contribution as far as the whole gay movement goes
- and the AIDS fund raising and all of that?
- Why are they so--
- how do we give them their due credit?
- HECTOR ARGUINZONI: Well, you know, they
- applied their art and their creativity
- to entertain and to bring to the attention of the rest of us
- through their entertainment the importance of the things
- that they were calling attention to,
- whether it be AIDS or marriage equality
- or whatever the case may be.
- And we're still at that point.
- You know, we're still struggling for those things.
- And they always seems to be there for us.
- We have an event coming up soon that they are going
- to be performing on the third.
- So I mean, they always seem to be
- there willing to give of their time and of their talents.
- For those that are not in the gay community, when
- they come and see a drag show for the first time,
- they're mesmerized.
- We had an event where it was not a gay event,
- but it was an event nevertheless that it was Carnivale,
- and Mothers donated the time of the drag
- queens to appear on a float.
- And people were mesmerized by how unique and how some of them
- were absolutely beautiful.
- And you couldn't even tell that they were men
- because they succeeded so well to do what they do.
- You've got to give them respect.
- I couldn't do it.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah.
- This question isn't for the interview.
- Actually, we're done with the interview.
- CREW: OK, let me shut down.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah.
- We've already talked to Jimmy.