Northampton, MA is a very lesbian-friendly place. Last night as Jeff and I dined and walked the streets of the cool little arts haven before a tremendous Pernice Brothers show, we saw plenty of them. Fat lesbians, skinny lesbians, lesbians that climb on rocks. Tough lesbians, sissy lesbians, even lesbians with… Well, you get the point. I joked that we should have had a lesbian band back in the Tar Hut Records days when several of our bands were from the NoHo area. “They also could have been called ‘the Ex-Husbands.’” One of our bands actually was called “the Ex-Husbands,” but they were three guys from… Nevermind.
The line into the Iron Horse for the 10:00 show was about 87 deep, but it moved reasonably quickly and soon we were looking for a seat in a room that was like one big game of musical chairs. We spotted two chairs in the second row of tables dead center in front of the stage. “Hi, is anyone sitting in these two chairs,” I asked. One of two women sitting at the table looked indignantly at me and said, “My feet are on one of those chairs.” I see… “Well, do you mind if we sit in them?” “My feet are comfortable. There are other chairs.” At that point, Jeff said, “Let’s go,” and mumbled something about “evil.” I said, “Hey, thanks” and walked away, but I was really pissed at the rudeness.
About an hour later, as Jeff and I were perched perfectly in the front row of the balcony and sitting on a cushioned futon, I noticed the two women embracing and doing the “goo-goo, ga-ga” thing, and I thought, someday that hater will turn her invective on the girlfriend and it won’t be a pretty sight. I don’t really care about someone’s personal preferences, but damn, how about a little simple courtesy? Maybe she was angry about lesbian jokes…
I also had a similar experience with the same type of low life not that long ago. A friend and I stopped to have a cocktail one Sunday afternoon by the CT shoreline only to find a very crowded bar – but I spotted a seat not being used by a guy who was standing up close and personal with the woman he was with and since he didn’t look like he would be sitting down too soon I went up to him and asked if he would mind if we took his space. “It’s yours” he said. Well as I moved the chair to get into the space the guy standing on the other side of the seat, not so intimate with his girlfriend, said in a very ‘indignant’ tone that had he known the seat was available he would have taken it and implied he should have the seat. As I just looked at him – I hear the words “are you kidding” come from my friend who then proceeded to get into this guy’s face. As I unsuccessfully tried to ease her away from the toe-to-toe discussion on the manners of gentlemen – thankfully one of the bartenders came over and pointed out two seats that just vacated around the corner. Sorry this is more than just a comment but in the nearly thirty years that I have been going to bars and clubs – I have had guys offer me their seats but this was the first time I have EVER had a guy try to take one away. -M.