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.