Video Interview, Jimmy Catalano, January 21, 2013

  • CREW: And I am rolling sir, whenever you're ready.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: OK.
  • First, Jimmy, give me the correct spelling
  • of your first and last name.
  • How you want it to appear on screen.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Exactly, that would be J-I-M-M-Y.
  • Last name is, C-A-T-A-L-A-N-O. Jimmy Catalano.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Good.
  • Let's start out in the 1970s.
  • Interesting times, fun time for the gay community, but also
  • very difficult times.
  • Talk to me about what the gay scene like in the 70s.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Being gay in the 70s was an amazing time.
  • I was a little bit of a late bloomer compared
  • to what's going on with kids, coming out
  • a lot earlier in school and stuff, during current times.
  • But it was magical, and it was fascinating.
  • You would go to a gay bar, and the guys
  • would be there with tambourines, and Maracas and feather boas.
  • The party atmosphere and the energy,
  • was really something that you, unfortunately, don't
  • see too much in the bars today.
  • It was a very trendy time for us actually.
  • We were coming into our own.
  • It was very, very popular to be in gay social circles.
  • Straight people were inviting us to their social events.
  • We were hosting straight people in our homes.
  • And we became quite popular and trendy.
  • Of course, the sex was rampant as well.
  • It was anytime, anywhere, look at him, he looks at you,
  • and off you go sort of atmosphere.
  • It was something else.
  • It really was amazing.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: You mention something
  • that's very interesting.
  • It put it in context with me, that rampant sex
  • among the gay community, It wasn't just the gay community.
  • This was the era of free love, free--
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Exactly.
  • The sexual aspect of it, I think even
  • started in New York City with the straight clubs,
  • with studio 54, and the whole disco era.
  • Drugs were involved in the disco circuit and the party circuit.
  • I think that had a lot to do with that whole sexual
  • revolution.
  • Everybody was doing it with everybody.
  • That really brought it on tremendously.
  • It was quite the aspect of the that whole era.
  • What was happening then.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: There was also an aspect
  • that, particularly when you talk about gay bars back then,
  • this was really one of the only places gays could go.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: The gay nightlife in Rochester
  • in the '70s was off the chain.
  • And if I remember correctly, there
  • were probably about thirteen bars that we could go to.
  • There was of course, Jim's Disco, which was very popular.
  • There was Friars Inn on Monroe Avenue.
  • That was hugely popular.
  • There was the Avenue Pub.
  • There was the Rathskeller which later became the OK Corral.
  • Bachelor Forum was in existence at that point,
  • as it is still today.
  • There was the LA Saloon, there was--
  • oh, the name just escaped me, the lesbian
  • bar down where Nikko restaurant is now,
  • and the Cambridge Street Lofts.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: The Riverview.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Riverview, thank you.
  • There were just oodles of places to go, for every type of genre.
  • You could hang out with every type
  • of social aspect of our community at any of these bars.
  • It was really something else.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: But I think, in talking to other people,
  • was that, yeah, you have these places to go,
  • but these places were kind of a safe place to go.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: They were safe.
  • I mean you never, ever, thought that there was ever
  • going to be an issue, or that you were ever
  • going to get beat up in the parking lot.
  • There was never that overwhelming feeling
  • of, oh my god, I need to walk to my car with a group of friends.
  • It always felt safe.
  • You always felt welcome.
  • There were always people that you knew there.
  • It was just an amazing, open, everybody's arms around you,
  • decade.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let's talk about the drag scene.
  • Before we get into your own personal history
  • with the drag scene, I want to kind of get
  • a sense of why the drag queens--
  • I'll just say drag queen--
  • became so aligned with the gay community.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: The drag scene back in the 70s,
  • you have to realize, wasn't what it is today.
  • The shows were held every, maybe, three to six months.
  • When there was a show, it was a huge event.
  • The people would come out of the woodwork to see it.
  • We had a lot of performing queens
  • during that time of year and people
  • were just desperate to see them.
  • Especially because, there would be such a stretch of time,
  • again, back in the 70s, before you
  • would see them on stage again.
  • It really laid down--
  • How do I explain this?
  • The entertainment factor was simply amazing
  • when these shows would take place.
  • The queens were varied, and of all different,
  • I guess you would say, styles and types.
  • There was the older drag with the big hair,
  • and the dramatic fingernails, and the very exaggerated
  • makeup.
  • Then there were queens like, Rickey Love, who had come out
  • in the 70s, and you could put him on a Trailways bus,
  • and send him someplace, and he would blend right in.
  • He looked so much like a real woman.
  • It was a whole different type of drag.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I'm going to save this question until later.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: OK.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let's talk about you.
  • When did you first decide to step into that community?
  • And, more importantly, why?
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Carmen Miranda, my drag persona,
  • truly happened totally by accident.
  • Friars Inn had hosted a bar event on a Sunday night,
  • and I can't remember.
  • I want to tell you it was, Bungle in the Jungle,
  • but that might not be true.
  • I did go dressed as Carmen Miranda.
  • I was very, very close friends with Larry Cohn
  • who was one of the bartenders at the time.
  • He encouraged me to do some really crazy, wild outfit.
  • Carmen Miranda popped into my head.
  • I attended this party as Carmen Miranda and everybody
  • got a huge kick out of it.
  • As raw looking as it was, everybody got a huge kick out
  • of it.
  • That following Halloween, I decided to bring her
  • back again, but a little bit more detailed,
  • with a little bit more finesse.
  • A friend of mine made a gorgeous, gorgeous gown.
  • I retooled the fruit head piece so
  • that it looked a little bit more realistic,
  • and it was a little bit more manageable.
  • And that whole persona was born.
  • She just took off from there.
  • David Bovenzi, who happened to be Miss Rochester at the time,
  • asked me to be the emcee for the pageant, where
  • he was giving up his crown.
  • Which I gladly did.
  • I didn't see any big thing about it.
  • The whole Carmen Miranda thing just kind of took off,
  • but it truly was totally by accident.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me about the experience
  • of being out there.
  • The exhilaration of it, the hearing
  • of the audience's applause.
  • What is it about that that became fulfilling for you?
  • What was the driving force behind that?
  • JIMMY CATALANO: I think most of us, gay people,
  • are performers at heart.
  • I think when you throw drag into the mix of it,
  • there is a certain--
  • what's the word I want to use--
  • thrill.
  • You put on a whole different identity.
  • I can't explain to you the feeling, when you're
  • on that stage, and people are screaming for you,
  • and clapping, and applauding.
  • Your heart swells.
  • It's the most amazing feeling.
  • You truly do get caught-up in it, and sucked right into it.
  • The days that I used to emcee those pageants,
  • there would be thirty contestants.
  • We'd have contestants from Buffalo, from Syracuse,
  • from Rochester of course.
  • It had its challenges.
  • The Rochester , queens didn't want any of the Buffalo
  • or Syracuse queens to win.
  • There would be some backstage drama.
  • There'd be gowns flushed down the toilet,
  • or burned with cigarettes, or wigs snatched off
  • of a queens head as she was ready to make her way out
  • onto the stage.
  • It was very entertaining to say the least.
  • I fortunately stayed out of all of that.
  • Being the emcee, and not getting involved
  • with the competition of the pageant,
  • I was everybody's friend.
  • It was just wonderful to know all that talent,
  • and be surrounded by that.
  • As well as having the audience in front of you cheering you
  • on, and egging you on.
  • It's an amazing feeling.
  • Absolutely, an amazing feeling.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Then there came a period in the 1980s,
  • when things started changing a little bit.
  • The onset AIDS.
  • Talk to me about when you first heard about AIDS.
  • When you first realized, oh, this
  • is going to affect our community.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: The 80s came and it was a huge, huge scare.
  • There was this disease going around
  • that they were calling "gay cancer".
  • Nobody knew anything about it, and it hadn't quite
  • hit Rochester yet.
  • But it was wiping out people in San Francisco,
  • and in the larger cities in droves.
  • All of a sudden, we went from being
  • very trendy to be an entirely ostracized community.
  • A friend of mine, a straight friend, he and his wife
  • we socialized, had come up to me at a social event
  • and asked me not to come to their home
  • any longer because of their children.
  • As much as I felt horrible about it.
  • I understood, and didn't put up a fight,
  • or do anything dramatic over it.
  • Because, I didn't know what was going on.
  • You'd run into people at the bars and there'd be a hug,
  • and there'd be a kiss, and you always
  • greeted somebody with a kiss.
  • Everybody all of a sudden stopped doing that.
  • Everyone was suspect.
  • Did you have it?
  • Were you going to give it to me?
  • Were you going to pass it on to me?
  • It really was a stigma.
  • And it was a very frightening stigma,
  • because nobody knew what to expect.
  • Nobody knew really, truly, what it was.
  • When people did start to pass away from it--
  • god forbid you had a heart attack
  • and dropped dead-- anybody that did pass away at that time,
  • in our own community, there was a lot
  • of back-stabbing Oh, he had AIDS.
  • If somebody just wanted to be rotten to you,
  • they would start a rumor that you had AIDS.
  • It was really, really, an ugly, ugly, and very frightening
  • time.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: But to our credit.
  • as a city, Rochester took it by the reigns,
  • and said, OK, we're going to deal with this.
  • Before we get into the drag queens involvement into that,
  • I just want to get your opinion on Rochester, as a community,
  • as a whole, and how we reacted to the AIDS crisis.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: After the initial scare was over
  • with the AIDS crisis, you could see a gathering of people,
  • and people helping people that may have been afflicted
  • or affected by this disease.
  • You had pioneers such as, Tony Green, that
  • developed helping people with AIDS,
  • raising money for these poor guys that were ostracized
  • by their own families.
  • Couldn't work, couldn't pay their bills,
  • couldn't afford their rent, couldn't buy their groceries.
  • There were a lot of people that gathered together
  • to help each other out.
  • Friends would go and clean houses, and bathe people,
  • and feed people, and bring meals, and take them
  • to their appointments.
  • It was a true banding once the initial scare was over.
  • You realized that you could be in the same room
  • with somebody that was sick, and you weren't going to catch it.
  • The threat had dissipated a little bit.
  • The community, it in itself, was just very warm, and opening,
  • and as helpful as they could be.
  • At least those that weren't totally frightened by it,
  • or so closed-minded that they didn't
  • understand the whole thing.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Within that, and I
  • want you to set up for me that, the drag queens really
  • stepped up to the plate.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: The drag queens during the AIDS crisis
  • were unbelievable.
  • The fund-raising events and the way
  • that they stepped up to the plate, to help the cause.
  • To raise money for the cause, and raise awareness
  • for the cause.
  • It was unbelievable.
  • Any time there was some sort of a fund-raising show, everybody
  • that was involved in drag at that time wanted to be in it.
  • They wanted to do whatever they could to help.
  • Sadly enough, a lot of the queens at that time
  • had contracted AIDS, and were living with HIV.
  • were doing what they could to help out
  • their fellow performers, as well as the rest of the community,
  • by raising as much money as they could.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I want to fast-forward a lot now
  • because, even today, the drag queens are out there--
  • not just for AIDS--
  • for gay pride, for equal marriage.
  • Any kind of fund-raising event, for any gay-rights activism,
  • they're there.
  • Talk to me about how that, maybe it
  • started with the onset of AIDS, but their importance
  • on the scene is just as strong today.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: The drag community today
  • is an amazing group of talent.
  • They've become so mainstream.
  • You have Aggy Dune and Kasha Davis performing out
  • at Golden Ponds.
  • You have Chris Steckel and Darrienne Lake,
  • and all these people that are out there,
  • and in the public eye, and very popular,
  • not only with the gay community but with the straight community
  • as well.
  • They're doing everything they can to, again,
  • raise money for different groups,
  • and different social situations, and different aspects
  • of the gay community.
  • They're bringing a lot of awareness
  • to the straight community, about what the gay community does,
  • and what we can offer people.
  • We're talented, warm, loving human beings,
  • and we want to be a part of everything.
  • Having that drag community focused
  • into the straight community as well has really helped that.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: We fast-forwarded,
  • now I'm going to rewind back.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: OK.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Because, obviously, what we just set up,
  • it hasn't always been that way.
  • In the early days, there was a lot of harassment,
  • police harassment.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: I was fortunate enough
  • to miss the police raids at the bars,
  • and didn't really catch that situation with the police
  • department and the harassment of gay people.
  • I had one minor incident in the parking lot
  • at Friars, many, many, many years ago back in the 70s,
  • where I was a little bit frightened.
  • But I complied, and I did whatever I was told to do.
  • The officer just was in a mood that night
  • and wanted to rattle somebody's cage.
  • Nothing ever came of it.
  • No arrest.
  • No ticket.
  • No anything.
  • I, fortunately, wasn't a part of the police raids on the bars.
  • And that fear that, oh my god, if I set foot into a gay bar
  • my face is going to be plastered on billboards.
  • Coming out is a frightening process to begin with.
  • I knew when I was in second grade that I was gay.
  • And you live with this for years, and years, and years,
  • before you finally get to that comfort level--
  • or to that point-- where you just
  • have to bust out and live your life the way you need it to be.
  • I was able to come out very quietly, and very peacefully,
  • and just assimilate into the whole social scene
  • without really ever feeling terribly threatened.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I've heard many different opinions on this
  • but, people who do drag, do you think for some of them--
  • a lot of them--
  • that's their way of busting out?
  • That they feel more comfortable with a persona
  • than they do in their own skin?
  • JIMMY CATALANO: I think a lot of the time, when
  • you are performing, especially in drag,
  • it does allow a whole different side of you to come out.
  • Let's face it, there's a total transformation in most cases
  • when you're doing drag.
  • There are breasts, wigs, eye-makeup, nails,
  • and glittery gowns.
  • You definitely feel-- and I can speak for that
  • personally-- that I would speak different and walk differently.
  • You literally get into character.
  • If you enjoy theater, and you enjoy the acting aspect,
  • drag is the perfect outlet for you.
  • It allows you to be that different person
  • that you can be.
  • Anybody that's dressed up for Halloween,
  • if you are very into your costume,
  • you're going to act apart, and play it up.
  • Same goes for drag.
  • You take on this totally different persona.
  • You can do things, and possibly say things,
  • that you might not normally do in your street clothes.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I'm sorry.
  • I'm jumping around here a lot.
  • I just want to get your opinion on this.
  • When we see the drag queens in the gay pride parade.
  • Not the emcees, but--
  • JIMMY CATALANO: The marshals.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: The marshals and all that.
  • There's a part of the gay community that, is not readily
  • accepting of that.
  • They say, no, no, they're not representing me.
  • What is your experience with that,
  • and what is your opinion on that aspect of it?
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Well I can tell you, very honestly,
  • there's a very odd dynamic in our gay culture with the drag
  • queens.
  • Everybody loves you when you're performing but,
  • in a lot of cases, trying to get a boyfriend when you're a drag
  • queen is difficult at best.
  • I don't know-- at least in my history--
  • how to explain why that is, or why that was.
  • I'm hoping that it isn't the case any longer,
  • at least from what I've witnessed.
  • A lot of the Rochester talent is settled
  • with very loving partners.
  • Back in my day, if you were a drag queen,
  • you were most likely single.
  • I think it had a lot to do with the femininity of drag,
  • and not having that masculine, manly persona.
  • A lot of us, we're gay because we want to be with men,
  • and not men dress like women a lot.
  • So there was a little bit of a stigma with that
  • Still to this day, there are guys
  • that don't feel that the drag queens portray us
  • in a positive light.
  • And there are guys too that don't think that bears,
  • and the bulldykes--
  • Everybody has their own thing, amongst our culture
  • and our subcultures that we have,
  • that they wish didn't exist.
  • I think they wish we were all like Stepford husbands,
  • perhaps.
  • That we all looked like Ken dolls, and were
  • these model perfect people that you see a lot on television.
  • Sadly that's not the case.
  • There are some aspects of our community
  • that do bother some of us.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: You touched on something that comes to mind.
  • The gay community is very diverse.
  • And I would say very dysfunctional,
  • but yet we all make it work.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: It's amazing the dysfunction in our community.
  • You have to realize that, when you're growing up,
  • and you're gay, and you know you're
  • different, a lot of insecurities come along with that we
  • take into our adult lives.
  • You wind up in these different subcultures,
  • or what your sexual tastes bring you into.
  • It's very different.
  • The different groups are very, very different.
  • But yet, when you put us all together at an event--
  • let's use the Post parade party, that they've been hosting
  • the last several years--
  • we make it work.
  • Whether you agree, or you're not into bears, or not,
  • you still have friends that are bears.
  • And you embrace those friends and the culture
  • that they belong to.
  • You are thrilled to see them, and you're
  • glad to be together with them, and it makes for a great group.
  • As separate as we can be within our community,
  • we can definitely interweave when we need to
  • and pull it together.
  • Let all those differences go aside.
  • It's an amazing community here in Rochester.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I want to touch on that is that.
  • Rochester is unique.
  • We're not a big city.
  • I often say, we're a big town that
  • likes to think we're a city.
  • But yet, when it comes to gay activism, and gay visibility
  • in our community, we're really right up there at the top.
  • What is it about Rochester-- the Rochester that you know--
  • that has been accepting and tolerant.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: I think the gay atmosphere in Rochester
  • has a lot to do with Rochester's population as a whole.
  • The gay community here, especially, has really never
  • been shunned by 80 percent to 90 percent of the community.
  • It has always been just a fact of life
  • that there are gay people in Rochester.
  • Coupled with the fact that we do have probably
  • the largest, outside of New York City,
  • gay population in the State.
  • I think that has a lot to do with that whole aspect of it.
  • I don't think that--
  • oh gosh, I've lost my train of thought.
  • Let's break for a minute.
  • Because I did, it totally went right out
  • of my head, what I was going to say.
  • Damn it.
  • Isn't that awful?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let me give you this to think about.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: All right.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Again, for a community like Rochester
  • to have something like the gay alliance, a huge organization.
  • To have pride parades, and pride festivals,
  • and now drag shows at Golden Ponds, you know.
  • What does it say about our community,
  • that, again, we allow the opportunity,
  • the room for a gay community?
  • JIMMY CATALANO: I think the fact that we
  • have the gay community that we do
  • has a lot to do with the pioneers that came before us,
  • and a lot of people that were in my generation.
  • They made it very, very acceptable.
  • We're just regular people that want to fit in,
  • and do what we can to fit in.
  • We're talented individuals that do your hair,
  • decorate your homes, wait on you, and cook your meals.
  • I think Rochester just is a friendly community
  • right off of the bat.
  • That helps with that too.
  • I think that's why so many, younger people that
  • are coming out, have such an easy time with it.
  • It's such an accepted lifestyle here in our community.
  • It makes it so much easier for them.
  • I also think that's why we get a lot of people
  • from other areas of New York State that move here,
  • because our community is so welcoming.
  • Not only to the gay community, but the straight community
  • as well.
  • We're back to being trendy, and being in the social circles
  • of the heterosexuals, and straight people
  • wanting to be involved in what we're doing.
  • We had talked about earlier, you've
  • got drag queens performing at Golden
  • Ponds in the town of Greece.
  • I mean, who would have ever thought,
  • that back in the 70s and 80s, stuff like that
  • was going to happen.
  • You've got television programs as well that
  • are putting gay people, more into the face
  • of the heterosexual community.
  • I think people are really realizing, finally, that we're
  • just like everybody else.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: You, and people like you, also are not,
  • just out in the community waving the rainbow flag,
  • you're a successful businessman, you're the head
  • of merchant's association.
  • Talk to me about the importance of that,
  • being able to fit in with mainstream society.
  • Yeah, you're a gay person, but I'm also a businessman.
  • I'm also someone that gives back to my community.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: I think that whole thing for me
  • started way back, believe it or not in high school.
  • Where I, wasn't what I would call bullied but,
  • was picked on.
  • The occasional, fag, or, fem, was thrown at me.
  • But yet, I was always invited to every party that
  • was going on through school.
  • I was very, very socially active.
  • I've carried that with me through my life.
  • Of course my coming out process, you
  • go through many different emotions,
  • and coming out sort of things.
  • I've always managed to fit in, fortunately.
  • Opening a business and having my flower shop
  • for all those years, I think helped me along, and introduce
  • me to tons people.
  • Moving to Park Avenue with my partner, Bruce,
  • that whole neighborhood doesn't think a thing
  • about gay, straight, black, or white.
  • You could be green for that matter.
  • Nobody seems to care in that neighborhood.
  • It's a melting pot of all ethnicities and all ages.
  • We have been in that house now for ninteen years.
  • We were one year there, and were asked
  • to join into the neighborhood association, which
  • then evolved.
  • I've always been an active member of whatever community
  • I've been in.
  • I always want to know my neighbors,
  • and always want to be neighborly, friendly,
  • and sociable.
  • It's the way I've always been.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: To expand on that, the importance of being
  • able to do that, so that straight society can see us
  • as contributing members of society.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: I don't know that I really
  • had a drive to be involved with the straight community.
  • They're there, just like we're here.
  • I've always been a sociable and friendly person.
  • I've always been a leader, and wanted to be involved.
  • Every job that I've had, I've wound up-- even
  • out of high school-- being in a leadership position.
  • Then, of course, having my own business for so many years,
  • and leading and running that.
  • Now I'm running a neighborhood.
  • Even though I have given up my shop.
  • I have joined forces with a very viable shop,
  • Kittelberger's out in Webster.
  • I've even taken on a leadership position there, a little bit.
  • It's part of my makeup.
  • It's not in everybody's skin.
  • There are a lot of people, unfortunately, that
  • choose to disappear into the woodwork,
  • and be followers, not leaders.
  • I think it's kind of in my DNA.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Some quick takes here.
  • If I'm someone new to the area, and I've never been to Jim's.
  • Describe for me what Jim's was, and what it was like.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Jim's Disco was like Fantasy Land.
  • That was the first gay bar I had ever
  • set foot into I had driven by it,
  • I can't tell you how many times.
  • I would pause out in front of the doors, look,
  • and say, oh my god, I want to go in so badly.
  • But, I just I don't dare.
  • What if I know somebody?
  • What if somebody sees me?
  • What if somebody sees me walking in?
  • When I finally got the nerve to go in,
  • it was actually with a couple lesbian friends that
  • knew I was struggling with this and needed to come out,
  • but wasn't acting on it, they brought me there quite
  • by surprise.
  • It was absolutely amazing.
  • There were three separate rooms.
  • There was a little bar room.
  • Then there was a center area that you could gather in, hang
  • out, and have some cocktails.
  • Then there was the dance room with these neon signs
  • that were littered all over the top rim.
  • They said, Pulse and--
  • oh my god, what were some of the words on there?
  • I can't remember a lot of them--
  • they were all in neon, and they would flash on.
  • There were guys with tambourines and fans.
  • They were all dressed up, and doing The Hustle,
  • and these fancy disco dances.
  • The thumping music.
  • It was absolutely magical.
  • That would be the best way for me to describe it.
  • As I stood there staring at the dance floor that first night,
  • and looking at everybody-- you had guys that were ultra,
  • ultra feminine, and you had guys that were ultra,
  • ultra masculine, and everything in between--
  • you come to that realization that, oh my god,
  • they're people.
  • They aren't these crazy, bizarre images
  • that some people conjure up.
  • They're people that just want to be together,
  • just want to party, and just want to have a great time.
  • I don't think that I spent a Saturday
  • night not in that club, after that initial night.
  • It was just amazing.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Same kind of question about Friars.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Friars too, had that-- it was funny,
  • because in those days, you were either a Jim's queen,
  • or you are Friars queen.
  • It was rare that the two ever mingled.
  • I didn't have an issue going to both bars.
  • I seemed to go to the Jim's is a more, for reasons I don't know.
  • I did enjoy my days at Friars, my evenings at Friars.
  • It wasn't uncommon to bounce around on Saturday night.
  • If you went to Jim's, and your crowd, your friends, or people
  • that you palled around with didn't happen to be there,
  • you'd just get back in the car and head over to Friars.
  • They were a stone's throw from each other.
  • It wasn't uncommon to just keep bouncing back and forth.
  • Friars was a little bit more intimate
  • and warmer type of atmosphere.
  • The bar was-- the actual building itself--
  • a little smaller.
  • The dance floor was a little bit smaller.
  • It definitely had its, "Friars' people",
  • you could tell they were there.
  • I can tell you who used to line-up.
  • Tommy Catone and Rob Fox, and this whole gang that
  • would line-up along the dance floor
  • and watch the dancing all night long.
  • It was a great place.
  • You could go to two-for-one on Friars, on Tuesday.
  • You could go to two-for-one on Wednesday at the Pub.
  • I take that back, you could go to Jim's on Wednesday
  • for two-for-one.
  • Thursday was two-for-one at the Pub.
  • Friday and Saturday were open-ended,
  • and then Sunday, again, back at the Pub for two-for-one.
  • You'd go Sunday to the Avenue Pub,
  • and you couldn't fit a credit card in that place.
  • It would be packed, absolutely packed.
  • It was like that for years.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah it's different now.
  • Things have changed.
  • I'm still trying to get a handle on, why and it's changed.
  • I have my ideas.
  • The question there is, is there that need for the bars anymore?
  • JIMMY CATALANO: It's funny that we've
  • seen these gay bars disappear one by one,
  • with just some of the old mainstays sticking around.
  • Those big disco type places have fallen by the wayside.
  • I think that has a lot to do with the fact
  • that we've mainstreamed pretty much.
  • You can go to Tilt, which is technically a gay bar,
  • and it's 60 percent straight now.
  • I think the internet has had an effect on the gay bars
  • and nightlife because, you don't have to go to the bar
  • and do the work to meet people.
  • You can sit on the internet and chat rooms.
  • And meet people.
  • And have that social aspect.
  • It's kind of a shame that that's happened,
  • because the gay bar has been such a mainstay of our society.
  • That party atmosphere that I grew up with.
  • There was no one who threw a party like gay people.
  • There were declarations, food, and you got dressed up,
  • and the music was the best you could ever find.
  • Even the gay bars too, back in the day,
  • you would go there to hear music you would not
  • hear on the radio.
  • There was a total atmosphere of party,
  • and over-the-top, and hell with the lid off kind of partying.
  • The few times I go to some of the dance clubs now,
  • unfortunately, I don't see that.
  • Not like it used to be.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let me throw some names out at you.
  • Tell me you memories of these people.
  • Obviously the first person is going to be Tony Green.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Tony Green was absolutely amazing.
  • Everybody knew Tony, and Tony knew everybody
  • and loved everybody.
  • He genuinely loved everybody.
  • Even if you agitated him at the bar,
  • he still loved you for your agitation.
  • You would annoy him for a few minutes,
  • but he seemed to quickly get over that, and either make
  • a joke of it or just move on.
  • You always felt welcomed in Tony's presence.
  • I remember when we used to have the HPA big galas at Midtown,
  • and Tony would be at the top of the escalator,
  • when you would come up into Midtown.
  • With that huge smile, and his arms opened up,
  • and always a hug and kiss.
  • We can never forget too, what he did when the AIDS epidemic
  • started here in Rochester.
  • Jesse Vulo, who owned Friars, who Tony worked for
  • and Tony was especially close to,
  • was probably one of the first victims we had here
  • in Rochester that passed away.
  • Tony immediately set the wheels in motion
  • to begin helping people and doing
  • what he could for the cause.
  • Getting awareness out there and letting people
  • know that, it was OK to help these people.
  • To be with them and not have to worry about it.
  • He was amazing, absolutely amazing.
  • I still think about him a lot.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: You brought up something
  • that comes to mind here.
  • Those HPA events at Midtown.
  • Talk to me about them, because you were actively involved,
  • I think--
  • JIMMY CATALANO: I was.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: If I remember, a lot of the decorations--
  • JIMMY CATALANO: A lot of the decorations--
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah.
  • So talk to me about that.
  • Talk to me about those HPA events.
  • Talk to me about your involvement with them.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Those galas at Midtown
  • were the gay party galore.
  • Again too, The straight people that used to come to those.
  • It was the place to be.
  • The decor.
  • It was amazing what Neil Parisella
  • used to do with that mall.
  • I was fortunate enough to be on several of the decorating
  • committees.
  • I had the flower shop at that point.
  • Neil would invite a lot of the florists, especially
  • the gay floral designers, to be a part of that.
  • Louis Costanza, who got me involved in floristry, and I,
  • worked down a couple of them together with Neil.
  • We helped a lot with flowers, floral arrangements,
  • and with manpower on the day of setting up that event.
  • It was just like a New York City party.
  • It was crazy.
  • The money that they raised was unbelievable for helping people
  • with AIDS.
  • A lot of that was Tony Green's brainchild.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me a little bit more
  • about Jesse, because he's a very important figure.
  • He was a bar owner, but he was an important figure
  • in the community.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Jesse Vulo was always at the bar,
  • at the front door, moving around,
  • involved, and always helping.
  • Back in my coming out days, when we had the gay picnic,
  • the bars were the ones that did a lot
  • of the donating and helping.
  • You would go there, and there'd be beer and hot dogs
  • that they would cook, and the bartenders and bar owners
  • would be there cooking the dogs.
  • Jesse had a lot to do with the Rochester community,
  • and was always there to help, or donate.
  • He was always there, not only with the picnic, but just
  • tons of different other events that were going on.
  • He was really a focal point of the gay community.
  • As was Donald "Ducky" Schultz and Jimmy van Allen
  • at the time, and Roy Lawrence.
  • Jesse was really one in a million.
  • I felt bad for him, because, unfortunately,
  • being one of the first people to contract HIV,
  • he kind of became ostracized in his last few years.
  • It was terribly sad to see that happen,
  • to see his name kind of getting muddied because of that,
  • and because we were so scared and didn't
  • know what was going on.
  • He took a bullet for a lot of us unfortunately.
  • It became a learning experience, but it didn't go so well
  • for him in his last few months.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Looking back at all
  • of that from your early years up until today.
  • What do you want history to know most about what you've done?
  • What are you most proud of?
  • What do you want them to know most about of who you were
  • or who you are?
  • What you've done particularly for the gay community.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: It's funny.
  • I don't know if you do dwell-- at least
  • I don't dwell-- on this.
  • I do sometimes wonder if there will
  • be a legacy that I will leave.
  • There are so many great things that have happened in my life.
  • Carmen Miranda introduced me to just
  • about the entire gay community.
  • The flower shop introduced me to most
  • of the Rochester community.
  • It's very rare that I go any place
  • that I don't know somebody.
  • My twenty-one-year relationship with my life partner Bruce
  • has been an amazing ride.
  • He and I, again, being in that house and neighborhood,
  • and running the neighborhood, we know everybody.
  • We know everybody at City Hall.
  • As far as leaving a legacy, boy, oh, boy.
  • I don't know what that wouldn't be that I would leave behind.
  • I would hope that somebody, one day or another, would just say,
  • gee, Jimmy did that and I miss him.
  • Or, jeez, Jimmy did that and, God I'm glad he did that.
  • Maybe somebody will be in an interview
  • like I am today, talking about perhaps Tony Green or Jesse
  • Vulo, and somebody might say, jeez Jimmy Catalano
  • helped me with that.
  • And I'll never forget him for that.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: What message would
  • do have for the up-and-coming generations,
  • particularly of the gay generation.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Boy that's a good one too.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: The young people--
  • maybe young people who are still questioning.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: I think that the young people
  • today have a little easier time coming out,
  • but of course I don't know.
  • I'm not in that generation.
  • Probably the best advice I could give them is, live your life,
  • but be kind to others and treat others with respect,
  • so that comes back to you.
  • Be helpful.
  • Be involved.
  • Do what you can.
  • Offer what you can, either with your hands, or your brain,
  • or your pocket.
  • Be a part of the community.
  • Be a part of Rochester.
  • There is so much to offer.
  • We can be big fish in a little pond here in Rochester.
  • It's a great place to be that.
  • It's a warm, welcoming community,
  • and probably one of the best places to be gay in.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Just one more question here.
  • (laughter)
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Keep 'em coming, I'm having a ball.
  • (laughter)
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I think I'm losing my head here,
  • but I just want to talk briefly--
  • and go of off-track here a little bit--
  • about gay marriage.
  • Gay marriage in New York State.
  • Did you ever think you'd see the day?
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Boy, gay marriage,
  • who would have thought that we would all
  • be walking down the aisle.
  • I think so many of us have had that fantasy,
  • and now it's actually something that we
  • can do and be recognized.
  • It's a shame that this didn't happen years ago.
  • During the AIDS crisis, partners were dying
  • and, families were coming in and taking possession
  • of homes and property.
  • Lovers and life partners, that had
  • been with each other anywhere from two to twelve years,
  • were literally being thrown out of their homes
  • by the family of the deceased.
  • You couldn't even go visit your loved one in the hospital,
  • if the family said you couldn't be there.
  • Now that we have gay marriage, and we have these rights,
  • it's unbelievable that it actually happened.
  • Let's hope that no politician puts that under us.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I think that's it.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Awesome.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Thank you so much.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: You're welcome.
  • This was great.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let me get this microphone.
  • JIMMY CATALANO: Oh that's right.