Slog News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

« Nickels Nightlife Proposal | A Goddamned Vespa! »

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Disco Yodelling

posted by on November 30 at 11:53 AM

First, some background: I first met Dan Savage in the early-mid-’90s, when he was a drag queen sex columnist and I was a bookstore employee performance artist. He started directing my shows, I started writing for his paper, and we started hanging out.

Back then, Capitol Hill’s Broadway was littered in the spring and summer with what can only be called gay jeeps, brightly colored sports vehicles driven by brutally tanned and shirtless men, whose presence and motives beguiled both Savage and me. Key to the gay jeep experience was music—huge, thumping, techno-sex beats (“Everybody’s FREEEEEEEEEE!!!!”) blasting forth from each gay jeep, while the tanned-and-shirtless drivers did their best to act oblivious to the thumping racket, seemingly pretending the music was coming from somewhere else, like a personal soundtrack provided by God to underscore their great gay existence.

The sight of these stone-faced disco jeepers totally cracked my shit up, and before long, Savage and I began indulging in some gay jeeping of our own: Cruising down Broadway in my boyfriend-at-the-time’s Pontiac van (ooh la la!), we’d roll down the windows, crank up the music, and do our best to maintain sexy stoic faces—which wasn’t easy, because I refused to blast any other song besides The Sound of Music’s “The Lonely Goatherd.”

Have you ever tried to look cool and sexy, or even just keep a straight face, while riding in a car blasting “The Lonely Goatherd”? It’s next to impossible, but we spent most of the summer trying, cruising down Broadway—and on special occassions, through Volunteer Park’s notorious “Boner Row”—to the thrilling racket of Austrian children yodelling before an orchestra. It was never not hilarious.

Now it’s eleven years later, and I don’t visit Broadway enough to know if the gay jeep culture still exists, but if it does, there’s a good chance one of the gay jeepers will soon be blasting my most cherished cruising anthem in an entirely non-ironic context, thanks to the new single by Gwen Stefani, entitled “Wind it Up”.

(Thanks to Jake for alerting me to this bizarre twist of history and pop culture, and good luck to all of you in getting that damn yodel out of your head.)

RSS icon Comments

1

I can't wait until I hear it on the dance floor in San Francisco and see all the shirtless gay boys yodeling their hearts out.

Posted by Dee in SF | November 30, 2006 1:09 PM
2

Posted by anon | November 30, 2006 1:14 PM
3

i witnessed the minivan booming once. ON BROADWAY, I MIGHT ADD. it was hilarious.

Posted by SEAN NELSON, EMERITUS | November 30, 2006 2:19 PM
4

umz umz umz umz umz umz umz umz

Posted by monkey | November 30, 2006 5:37 PM
5

David, I love you. Be mine.

Posted by MyDogBen | November 30, 2006 6:58 PM
6

David, I immediately thought of you when I first heard "Wind It Up" last week. Happy cruising!

Posted by Chris | November 30, 2006 7:33 PM
7

Thankfully, yes there are still some guys that play their Dance Party Nation tunes at full volume while driving their Jeep Wranglers. I only wish that we had Broadway Market back, so that the Hill could have a little bit more of that old time feel too.

Posted by Maria | November 30, 2006 8:00 PM
8

That is the most hilarious post I've read since...ever, I think!

Thanks for cheering me up. I am stuck in a Motel 8 in Vermont/bordering New Hampshire. My car's plates were taken off by a copper in New Hampshire because of administrative reasons... I was supposed to be in Quebec right now. And am wondering how I will make it back to Boston to clear up my paper shuffling snafu, but am decidedly more lighthearted because of your story. And, really, my stereo sucks. I guess I'll have to live vicariously through your posts.

Too bad my Toyota Corolla's that hideous blue/green combo that has since left the car painting hemisphere.

Posted by sheila anderson | December 1, 2006 5:42 AM
9

Oh.... I think you secretly loved some of the gays in their jeeps ;)

Posted by JeepNut | December 1, 2006 9:28 AM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).