PeterRS

Just a very general and perhaps light hearted topic Impresario Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Diaghilev was born in the Russian city of Perm to a noble family in 1872. Homosexuality in Russia at that time was virtually regarded as an illness and a detriment to success. Not that it did not exist. Russia’s most famous composer Tchaikovsky was very gay, as indeed was his brother Modest, and had all manner of affairs. But he could not shake off a continuing depression that being gay was wrong. Having moved to St. Petersburg, Diaghilev positively revelled in it and was perhaps the only major Russian to be accepted by society at the very end of the 19th century as openly gay – and how he showed it! When considering a dinner companion from that period, I had first considered his lover and protégé Vaslav Nijinsky, almost certainly the greatest male dancer the world has ever known. But although fabulously talented, Nijinsky was basically shy and withdrawn. Besides, his homosexuality merged into bisexuality after a disastrous marriage and his rapid descent into schizophrenia. Nijinsky was the star of Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes season in Paris, a company created from stars of the world’s most renowned company, the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg. When the company sailed to Buenos Aires for a season, Diaghilev did not go, allegedly because of a long-time fear that he would die at sea. But some have suggested his real reason was he wanted a travel to Venice where he could spend his days and nights in the company of beautiful young Italian men. On learning of Nijinsky’s marriage in Buenos Aires to a woman with no interest in ballet and whom he never really loved, Diaghilev went into a fury, sacked Nijinsky and started a series of affairs with other men in his company. He died of diabetes in Venice in 1929. The man whose ambition was to create only the finest in art died penniless aged 57. Diaghilev could tell of the gay clique in St. Petersburg which included having young male ballet dancers as lovers and sometimes passing them around. He could tell of Russian society, its views on being gay and the state of the country as it began is slide towards revolution. Writer Randy Shilts As one who had become very sexually active in the 1980s and was at times unbelieving, shocked and afraid of the new gay plague HIV-AIDS, although I have read several books on the disease, my second guest would be the gay journalist, Randy Shilts. There is a great deal more I want to know and Shilts is one of those whose hugely extensive research could tell me much of that. In the late summer of 1987 I had received a phone call from someone I knew in London. Well, “knew” is incorrect for I had never met him. I was only aware that he was the lover of a young Japanese who had been my lover until four years earlier. I had not the slightest idea why he was calling me. When he explained that it was to let me know his lover had died that I understood. When I asked how he died, he could not bring himself to say the word, merely spell it out: A-I-D-S. I was shattered. This young man was only just 29. I knew he had played around, even when we were together because we lived in different countries. He had even introduced me to my first Japanese sauna. I decided to fly to London for his funeral, such a sad occasion as much for his passing as for the fact that there were only six people there. In Japan he had been the life and soul of every party. He had so many friends. Shilts is best-known for his book And The Band Played On. In so many ways it is an amazingly detailed account of the early years of HIV-AIDS. It’s hard to recall now that despite the number of deaths and it having spread literally around the world, little was known about AIDS at that time. What we did know was that if infected with the virus, you were on a relatively long path to a ghastly lingering death. Nothing could save you. I learned so much from that book. Sadly Shilts was himself to die of AIDS in 1994 aged 42. Diplomat and Spy Guy Burgess With two guests who were openly gay quite early in their adult lives, I would like my third guest to be someone who was basically forced to live in a kind of self-imposed closet. In particular at a time when homophobia was publicly prevalent. So I choose perhaps an unlikely guest in Guy Burgess. For those not British, Burgess was one of five famous British spies recruited by the Russians at Cambridge University in the 1930s. The “Cambridge Five” became so well known that books are still being written about them. The others were diplomat Donald Maclean; diplomat and journalist Kim Philby; art historian and Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, Sir Anthony Blunt; and John Cairncross. Philby was unmasked in 1963 and defected to the Soviet Union where he even had a stamp made in his honour! The austere Blunt and one-time lover of Burgess was unmasked in 1964 and given immunity from prosecution provided he revealed all his knowledge of Russian Intelligence Operations. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher later informed parliament in 1979 of his treachery. Cairncross was a civil servant who for a time was attached to the WWII code-breaking department headed by Alan Turing. Guessed at being the Fifth Man, like Blunt he was unmasked in 1964 but the fact not made public until named by a Soviet defector in 1989. Burgess was very gay, known as a “hopeless drunk”, was a member of British Intelligence and later the Foreign Office. Maclean had spent some of the WWII years in Washington where the Americans started to suspect he was a spy. After the war, Philby also spent time in Washington where Burgess lived in his home. Philby got wind of the Maclean investigations, He arranged for Burgess to be recalled to England where he would warn Maclean. Maclean was urged to defect leaving behind his wife and children. Unsure, Burgess egged him on and arranged to drive him to the English channel port. Supposed to leave him there once on the ferry, Burgess joined him. Both ended up in Moscow. Outgoing, loquacious, outwardly friendly with everyone, especially the guardsmen from the nearby barracks, Burgess was seen by some as a great friend, by others as a boring old fart. I’d love to hear some of his stories of Cambridge, of life in what by this time was extremely anti-gay England, his spying and life in the Soviet Union. I’d try and keep him from drinking too much. But I expect that might be too much to hope for.

Sadly it happens too frequently. There was a thread here quite recently about the regular border skirmishes (I don't call these wars even though some soldiers are killed) between China and India. Back in 1969 there were months of much more serious border clashes between the USSR and China, one of which threatened to involve nuclear weapons. And when I arrived in Asia for the first time at the start of March 1979, the last sector of my flight, from Bangkok to Hong Kong, took an hour longer as it had to circle around the bottom of Vietnam. China and Vietnam had fought a border war earlier in the year and Vietnam airspace was closed.

I agree the fake moaning and other actions of bottoms in an attempt to make them appear actually to be hating the act can be quite off-putting. In this case, though, I am certain the boy did not in the least enjoy the movie making/. He was not acting, unfortunately. Not only did I know him reasonably well from having chatted on several visits to the bar, one of the other boys told me. He put up with it solely because of the cash.

The BBC now reports nine civilian deaths. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c98j77zde86t

Latest report is that Cambodian rockets have killed two Thai civilians. All schools in the Thai border area have been closed.

In a sign of further escalation, about 45 minutes ago Thailand launched F-16 fighter jets against Cambodian military targets. The BBC reports that Cambodia's Special Military Region Commands 8 and 9 have been destroyed. Troops have been firing at each other on each side of the border. Thailand has asked all Thai nationals to leave Cambodia and has now sealed the entire border between the two countries. https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/thailand-cambodia-border-dispute-07-24-25-intl-hnk https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c98j77zde86t

I bet one man is laughing hysterically in his grave. The ghastly Roy Cohn taught Trump all his tricks and he has proved a grade A+ student. "You are always right" was his strategy. Use fear, law suits, defamation, make up fake news and whatever else you can come up with to prove it. Everyone will back down. And so it has come to pass! That Joe Biden was so self-centred not to realise and comprehend this known fact is one of the appalling tragedies of his Presidency.

How can there be justice for the families and loved ones of the hundreds who were killed as a result of one man's desire to die - if that is indeed what happened? He would have been guilty of mass murder on an horrific scale. And he can no longer be punished.

The bad relations between Thailand and Cambodia just got worse. The BBC and CNN report that early this morning both sides exchanged fire near the Khmer Temple Ta Muen Thom where tensions have been high for weeks. Today's clash follows Thailand's recall of its Ambassador to Cambodia and a landmine explosion resulting in a Thai soldier on the border losing his leg and five others injured. Two hospitals in Surin Province have begun evacuating patients, according to Thailand's Public Health Ministry. Cambodia has ordered all diplomatic staff to leave Thailand. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80p8z0y0eko https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/23/asia/thailand-cambodia-clashes-border-intl-hnk The chances of Cambodians returning to appear in the gay bars any time soon have surely reached zero.

Didn't something similar occur at LAX a few years ago when a light aircraft piloted by the actor Harrison Ford crossed an active runway as another passenger plane was about to land? Although this was not I believe miscommunication - it was Ford's mistake. At least in that case the two aircraft were much further apart.

I have had no experience of this in Japan but I am sure it must be possible if you pay the two fees.

Having offed somewhere near several hundreds of boys in my time, I can only once recall one who said he could not do what I asked which was to be the bottom that he said he could do. He was a barboy at Classic many years ago and a really lovely guy. I would never go anywhere near forcing a guy to do what he said he could not, and so we spent a very pleasant hour or so in other ways. He must have been quite new to the business because about a year later I saw him in that series of vdos of Thai boys with a farang (was it titled Private Boy Movie?) when the farang went at him pretty hard when topping him. Clearly the boy did it for the money because from his face you can tell he is not enjoying it one bit. I felt very sorry for him.

Can Tho is a large city with over 2 million inhabitants. Vietnamese friends and one from Can Tho I chatted with on one of the apps, tell me there is at least one gay bar and a gay sauna. Sorry, though, that I do not have details. But with a population that size, there should be a fair amount of interest from the apps.

As I have written elsewhere, I gave up going to gogo bars a couple of years or so before covid. Before then I had been a regular for nearly 4 decades. Never once did I state what I wanted from a guy I offed other than to find out if he was top or bottom. In those far off days, I never seemed to notice anyone checking, if only because the boys were supposed to do virtually anything (within pretty obvious limits). Is the desire to have the boy confirm what you would like him to do relatively recent - like in the last 7 or 8 years?

I doubt if more than a few gold chains of hat size are actually pure gold. The gold content probably ranges from 12 to 18 carats. In which case there would have been some metal within the chain which I suspect could have been magnetic.

Agreed. But a rather sick joke given that he would already be dead!

Rather than extend the Air India crash thread, this deserves a new one. A Delta 737 jet with 150 aboard was cleared for take-off at Mexico City and was speeding down the runway when, after it reached about 60 mph the pilots noticed an Aeromexico jet just above them and clearly intent on landing on the same runway. Had that scenario continued, there would have been an almighty fireball with all on board both flights killed. The Delta pilots slammed on the breaks and cut engine power before returning to its gate. Flightradar shows that the planes were just 200 feet apart. Mexico City has two parallel runways. We will have to wait to find out whether this was an air traffic control error or one made by the pilots of the Aeromexico flight. But what is so far clear is that there was some communications failure. https://abcnews.go.com/US/delta-aeromexico-jets-collide-mexico-city-airport/story?id=123974173

CNN has discovered and posted new photos and a video. Although they are taken from the 1990s, they illustrate that Trump and Epstein knew each other and were good friends. Epstein was even a guest at his wedding to Marla Maples. A correspondent called Trump yesterday to ask him about these new images. When confronted with the information that Epstein was at his wedding, his reply was, "You've got to be kidding me!" before calling CNN fake news and hanging up. The mystery deepens https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/22/politics/kfile-trump-epstein-photos-footage

As I quoted, my info came from that site. I gave up on Dept of Ag long time ago. He could easily have answered my simple question as I noted he was on line for an hour after I posted my repsonse. That he failed to make any response at all illustrates that his post was plain nonsense. What he might have said is that Chiang Mai is still a gay city for Thais as there are clubs with gay sections. But foreigners rarely seen. As I mentioend, on Charoen Soi 6 (very close to Le Meridien Hotel) there are several gay bars. When I have visited (only twice) there were few customers and the boys there were all on their phones. I think the New Circle Pub is still open (used to be called merely Circle) with shows each night. And as @Moses pointed out there are still some gay massage venues. But compared to the thriving gay scene that Chiang Mai once boasted and when I was visiting amost every three months, the gay scene is now very sad.

Mozart had a good idea about lists - expose them. In his opera Don Giovanni the Don has slept with most of the women he meets. Just before this short scene he is being chased by a previous conquest and wants rid of her. So he gets his sidekick Leperello to show her the catalogue of all the women he has seduced, high born, low born and everyone in between - a total of 2,065 in various countries which ends with 1,003 in Spain. This vdo shows the rehearsal of a version of the short 2-minute aria "Madamina" recorded for the perfectly wonderful film of the opera made by director Joseph Losey in 1979. "Observe and read with me", he sings. Leperello is sung by Jose van Dam and the lady is played by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

Nor do I. Did he mean American football players, I wonder?

Who is writing rubbish? Compared to 15-20 years ago, it's absolutely true. Gay in Chiang Mai has printed a list of all known gay venues and areas in Chiang Mai. Of these below, you can check them all out. All but a handful have closed and have This Venue has closed when you check them on the site. The bars that remain are basically in Charoen Soi 6. Best you do your own checking before making badly informed comments! Or far better to clarify your inaccurate comment with information of what remains of the city's gay venues. 2 Brothers . Adam's Apple . Akha . Attitude Magazine Thailand . Barocco . Bird of Paradise . Black Door . Blues Club . Bon Tong Productions . Chang Puek . Christmas . Circle Pub . Classic House . Club one Seven . Coffee . Coffee Boy . Common Massage . Cream Bar . Cruise Bar . CU Bar . Darling Wine Bar . David Crisp . Diamond House . Eve . Flower Festival . Food . Free Guy Club . Friendship Bar . g-star . Garden Bar . Gay Pride . Gay Soi 6 . Glass Onion . Golden Oldies . grand-arena . Halloween . heaven-massage . His Club . House of Male . in Memorium . jacky bar . LGBT . Lotus Hotel . Loy Kratong . Mandagay . Mandalay Bar . Mango Bar . Mansfield Place . Marn Mai Massage . Marspa . Maya . New My Way . New Year . Night Bazaar . Nimmanhaeminda . Note . One 2 Come . Orion Bar . ozeed . Pandee . Paradise Massage . Pedophiles . Pee Mai Tai . Phuket Pride . Pizza . PJs Place . Powerboys . Poy Sang Long . Quick Guide . Quiz Night . Radchada Cafe . Radchada Garden Cafe . Ram Bar . Relax . Sabaidee Santitham . Santitham . Santitham Guest House . Sarcasm . Secrets Bar . See Man Pub . Shan State . Shan State Earthquake . Sleaze Alley . Soho Bar . soho-lounge . Songkran . soulmates-retreat . Spirt House . Thai Puan . The Edge . The Peak . The Pub . The Wall Massage . Valentines . Victory Massage . Visakha Bucha . Warnings . What happened to . Yaa Baa . Yokka Dok

The BBC website today has come up with a variation on the theory about who said what in the cockpit of the Air india 787 - and why. A Canadian air accident investigator has suggested that assuming it was the captain who turned off the fuel stitches, it could still have been him who asked the "Why did you do that?" question. Both pilots will have been aware of the cockpit voice recorder. Had it indeed been the captain who changed the switches, he could also have asked the question, aware that those listening to the CVR after they were both dead would assume it had to be the co-pilot who activated the switches. Blame would then automatically fall on the pilot flying, not the captain. It's a devious and somewhat Sherlock Holmes-type scenario but perfectly possible and a perfect way to ensure no blame is heaped on your family. Hugely irresponsible and almost criminal in my view, if that is actually what happened. "Even if the AAIB is eventually able to determine who said what, that doesn't decisively answer the question 'Who turned the fuel off?'". "We may even never know the answer to that question." https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9yw0rljwvo

It was launched just before the smaller 757. For some reason, Boeing pulled the plug on the 757 early in 2004 whereas production of the 767 is expected to continue for another 2 years. Yet many pilots seem to agree that the 757 was and remains a great aircraft. Well, it would be, wouldn't it, as Donald Trump and his minions fly around in one when they cannot access the Presidential 747s?

The BBC in the UK has a classical music magazine. In 2010 it ran a poll of the world's top 100 conductors of the day (the orchestral not the lightning versions 🤣) asking them to name in their view the greatest conductor of all time. Not an easy task given that some of those working at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries were excellent but no one had actually witnessed their conducting! The top 5 in order were Carlos Kleiber, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Herbert von Karajan and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.