Some of you may remember that the original editor of Nightspots was local queer writer Sukie de la Croix. Sukie saw a young account manager with a creative bent and took him under his wing. Under his kilt, more like.
Back in the Sukie days, we judged hot boy contests in foreign languages, attempted to suck ping pong balls through hoses and molded our penises with some degree of discomfort. Oh, how time has flown!
My time working with Sukie taught me one very important thing: trust your bizarre creative synaptic leaps, whenver they may occur. It was just such a leap that brought me to envision Steve Valek from Clark’s On Clark in a bathtub full of banana peels. When the lady behind me in line at the Dominick’s inquired about my purchase of 50 pounds of bananas, my honest and swift response was, “My friend’s coming over and I’m going to photograph him naked, covered in banana peels.”
It was then that I knew that I had made it!
About a year and a half later, for the 3rd anniversary issue of Nightspots, I paid touching homage to the “Banana Boy” cover with one of yours truly in the tub, only covered in issues of the mag. Believe it or not, two days ago I stumbled upon this cover, looked at the date, did the math, and was coincidentally reminded that this issue marked the 10th anniversary. So, you see, I kinda had to do this week’s remake cover. Luckily, due to moderate weight loss and better-than-average genetics, a naked 37-year-old me is quite an improvement on a naked 30-year-old me. Please to agree.
So, enjoy. It’s been one hell of a decade. Let’s see if I got another one in me!
kirk@windycitytimes.com