 Another
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Another
quality page linked to Jim's Pen
is
Central! |
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,
I'm here in the coffee shop with Richard, who was one of the
instigators of the gay world's very first all-nude square dance. Tell
me where you were for this historic event and how it
happened.
I
was in Phoenix Arizona, for their annual Fly-in* in January 1991. I
said, out of the blue, let's do a nude square dancing tip!**
These two
lesbians heard me, and
they said, "Well, we dare you." So I took them up on the dare. All we
had to do was find a caller and three and a half other couples (to
form a complete square of 8 dancers). That took about 30 to 35
minutes to round up, and then the caller. The caller
insisted on wearing his clothes.
* A fly-in is a gay square-dance party thrown by a city's gay square dance group. It typically occurs over a weekend, and square dancers from other cities fly in for the event.
** A tip is a set of square dances, done one after another, in which the same square of 8 dancers participates. Typically, it's two dances long. The squares break up and reform in different sets of 8 after a tip is over.
ow
did you find the place to dance?
It was the house of two of the members who wanted to dance.
The Fly-in was held in a hotel that year, right?
No, it was held in an elementary school.
So you couldn't have the dance there.
Right, they would not allow it.
But you checked?
Yes, we did check!
What was their reason for turning you down?
They felt it was improper.
o
how long did the dancing last?
30-45 minutes; a couple of tips.
So it would have been no problem convincing you and the two lesbians to strip; how about everybody else?
[Richard shakes his head to indicate "no."] There was some giggling as everyone was trying to get privacy to take off their clothes. You know how you're brought up that you dress by yourself -- behind closed doors? Amazingly, the eight of us were trying to find a place to go to disrobe! But then one guy said, "What the hell -- let's just do it here." So it (the stripping) just started. Then there was the customary giggle giggle laugh laugh let's do the quick nod of the head [up and down the body, between face and crotch] to see what you're up against, the whole nine yards, and off we went. The clothes were scattered all over the house; we had to go hunting for them afterwards!
t
was 2 women, 6 men, and one male caller?
Yes.
And what WERE you up against?
Nothing major! [Laughs.]
Everyone was average. There was one bodybuilder who was very well
defined, but he was on steroids. [Some bodybuilding steroids
cause some shrinkage of the testicles.]
any
people imagine that a tip like this would be one big orgy, but I take
it that that didn't happen?
Not to my knowledge. We weren't there to have sex; we were there to square dance.
Plus there were the two women there.
True.
ad
you ever danced naked before?
No.
Not even by yourself, free-form or anything?
No. This was my first experience dancing naked.
How about everybody else?
I'm sorry, I don't know.
hat
made you make that first offhand comment which triggered the
idea?
I'm generally off the wall. For lack of a better word!
Give me an example of other ways that you're off the wall.
[He thinks for awhile.] I have a nude policy on my boat: anything past the Point is clothing optional, just don't get caught. I'll try anything once. What else do I do that's a little bit bizarre? I try to find humor in everything.
ell
me about the boat.
I have a 30-foot Catalina, sailboat, tall rig.
So obviously you've sailed naked?
No, I never have, I've never found anyone who would go out there and DO it with me. I'll have to bring YOU next time!
Did anyone ever take you up on your clothing optional past the Point thing?
Not yet, but I have a few people in mind.
o
until the nude tip, you hadn't really done anything naked.
Not really, except bathe. [And] Tie your ankles to the ceiling and turn your fan on "high"!
You just came up with that phrase now?
No, I've been using it for at least 15 years.
ho
thought to call it a Moonshine tip?
After the square dancing we went
out to dinner at about midnight or 2 in the morning, and we were
still high from doing all this and we didn't want to go back to the
hotel, so we had dinner at the Dennys restaurant, and one of the new
menu items was called "Moon Over My-Hammy" -- something with ham and
eggs, I think.
[Note to non-Americans: In American English, "mooning" someone means to drop your pants, bend over, and flash your moon-shaped butt at them. Typically this is disrespectful. So it's a little bit daring for a restaurant chain to put a "moon" of any sort on its menu.]
Well, we all just lost it, like a
domino effect -- we had the whole restaurant laughing, it was just
hysterical. That's when we designed the thing which goes around over
your neck [a name badge on a cord, rather than on a clip or a
pin], and the logo with the buns in the corner, and the lettering
saying "Moonshine dancers." The founding square -- the original 8
square's members -- have a simulated diamond chip in the upper
corner. But anyone who dances Moonshine at a Fly-in can buy a badge
and a dangle that says the same thing [without the
"diamond"].
[At a Fly-in, square dancers typically wear durable, engraved name badges. Hanging down from the main rectangular badge are a number of small "dangles" which are each obtained after you attend specific parties or Fly-ins. Moonshine dancers get a special badge (illustrated above) and an additional dangle matching that badge (the thin, horizontal ones) every time they do a Moonshine tip.]
ow
popular have the Moonshine tips become?
Extremely popular! For all practical intents and purposes, having a Moonshine tip is required at any gay Fly-in now [or people will complain]. Around 200 people did this the last time I checked -- that was at Convention [the annual gay square dance convention; it draws over a thousand people].
oes
the caller get naked, too?
Not the first time, but the last time I went, he took all of his clothes off.
I understand that at least one caller who's straight took his clothes off?
Yes.
Wow!
ow
does it make you feel when you square dance naked?
It's like a natural high. Tell me more. It makes you feel complete, like you've fulfilled a lifelong destiny, makes you satisfied, like a mutual soothing feeling from nine other people. It's relaxing, enjoyable -- the same feelings that you're feeling all the way around. Like you're in awe -- as if you just saw the most perfect play you've ever seen in your life. You're just completely satisfied with the feelings you've had and the surroundings you're in. And all of a sudden you have to go back to reality and put your clothes back on, and that's more difficult than all the anxiety you feel about getting naked to begin with, and the competition about who's got the biggest DICK and... [he waves his hands in disgust].
That's amazing, because I had EXACTLY the same feeling the last time at the GNI Gathering. At the end of the week, when it comes time to put on your clothes, you don't feel like you're going home; you feel like you're going away, and that you've BEEN at home for the last week.
o
you felt that spirit that night?
[He nods.] I know that that feeling was shared by everyone there. I know that for a fact.
Conversations I've had since then. The two lesbians -- Jennifer and Susan -- I ran into them just the other day in Balboa Park, and they live up in Laguna. As we talked, I just knew. You just know. It's just there.
ave
you talked with the other guys about the issue of who's got the
biggest dick? A lot of guys are scared to go to their first nude
event because they have less than 10 inches.
Once we got started it never came up again, at least to my knowledge. It was a silent friend that you knew was not going to surface.
And the next obvious question: Did any of you worry about a hard on?
Yes. But once you saw the girls, it was kind of like pffffft.... You didn't have to worry about it, once you started square dancing, because tits were flying everywhere.
ou
told me at dinner a funny story about tits.
Susan was my "corner." [Your corner is the person closest to you in the square other than your partner.] When I went to do a left allemand [in which you grab each other's left forearm], I grabbed the tit accidentally because it got in the way of grabbing her arm, so her partner Jennifer smiled and told me, "That better work tonight!"
Did it?
Yes. She told me the next morning it worked just fine!
hat
were people's reactions the next morning at the Fly-in?
We were ... it's hard to describe, it's like we were mildly shunned, as if they were straight people and we were the fags over the county line. People would whisper, "that's the group that danced the Moonshine tip last night, I just can't believe that they did that... they danced NAKED!"
nd
you said that the board in San Diego was nervous about having a
Moonshine tip at this year's San Diego Fly-in.
They were nervous about the hotel, where people could see. At this hotel, it's very difficult to seal off a room so that no one can even peek.
But they've come around?
Well, given the way that the popularity of the Moonshine tip has risen since 1991, it's almost a required thing to do now [if you want your Fly-in to be a success], and yes the board is willing but they don't have a spot to do it this time. I may just clear out my house and have it there! We'll find a way.
Have they ever had a Moonshine tip without telling the management?
No. The hotel has to know because they have to seal the room off.
hat's
the funniest thing that ever happened to you in a Moonshine
tip?
That incident with Susan's tit. (He pauses.) Or seeing [another lesbian, known for being pleasant but odd] naked. Whooh!
What's the most upsetting thing that happened as a result of a Moonshine tip?
We had to put our clothes back on. It ended!
o
you think the atmosphere would be different if it were all male
rather than coed?
Yes, I think it would be more of a "let's see who goes home with whom" type atmosphere, rather than "let's dance." I mean this in a positive way.
Have to been to the Peel-Off in the Sierras? Or the Peel-Off in Palm Springs? [These are all-nude, all-male Fly-ins.]
I have not.
What have you heard about them?
Very little, actually. I'm now going to explore that option. I don't know anybody who's been to one.
nything
else you want to reveal to your worldwide fans on the
Internet?
Try it -- you'll like it! It's a lot of fun!
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Thanks to my friend Joe 
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