Columns Nov 11, 2015 at 4:00 am

Broadway, Babies

Comments

107
@ 106 - Derailing it from Broadway showtunes, mostly.

And just so you know, I was always more of a Beatles fan too, John in particular. But he was also a bastard with his women.
108
Hate to break it to you Ricardo, a lot of straight men are bastards to their women. One of the perks of living in a Patriarchy.
Broardway tunes, really? I didn't get back that far.
109
Yes, I saw Johns sins, to Julian mostly.
110
@ 108 - Wasn't Broadway the theme of this week's column?

Oh, but you're not breaking anything to me, Lava, gay men too are often bastards to their men. Don't idealize us, we don't deserve it.
111
Shithole advice this week, Dan. Particularly,to NGAA. That was NO advice. No point in even running the letter. Seriously, either give out advice or give up the job. Shithole job.
112
@83 thank you for the laugh and summing up how I felt about the advice from Dan.

To the NGAA conversation: there is so much more to that letter than is stated, I would guess. He says that they were only ever friends. He says he wants a deeper relationship with her ... why would that blow their marriages apart? Men and women can be friends. Even best friends who comfort and rely on each other. He doesn't say anything about sex or an affair, does he?

I honestly don't know what Dan advised (not a musical theater fan) but why not just tell her, "I need you. You're important to me. Can we have more involvement in each other's lives?" That isn't against the rules of hetero marriage.
113
@Still Thinking: Your post makes me happy.

Hand jobs haven't been a serious part of my sex life since I was in my teens, and it's been years since I've asked for one. If I was forced to choose just one sexual activity to enjoy for the rest of my life, I'd have to go with the blow job. The sight and sensations of being deep inside her mouth while she swishes her tongue all around my cock is how I know that the universe is fundamentally a good place.
114
"That isn't against the rules of hetero marriage." Oh ho ho, no, no, certainly not, no, nothing that reasonable, lordy no.

So...I take it you're not married then?
115
@me2: Shithole advice this week, Dan. Particularly,to NGAA.

I disagree.

Sometimes the best advice doesn't fit the standard advice column format. When faced with such a profound, potentially life-altering dilemma of the heart such as NGAA's, anyone who'd presume to tell him what to do isn't worth listening to. I think it's wise to turn it over to the arts and let NGAA sort out his life's narrative. It's his life, after all.

And in the arts, people do gravitate to their genres. Dan's got a thing for Broadway Musicals, which cover this ground well. Venn would also be right to recommend the Victorian melodramas.

I'd tell him to watch anything starring Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, or Bette Davis (All About Eve is mandatory (although not directly relevant)).
116
That said, NGAA should just meet up casually with his true love for drinks or dinner, keep the wine flowing, and slowly work his way in towards a kiss. If she leans away at any point, he'll have his answer, it's not that awkward, and he can go about resigning himself to his wife.

If she leans in? Follow your heart, bro!
117
@112: "To the NGAA conversation: there is so much more to that letter than is stated, I would guess. He says that they were only ever friends. He says he wants a deeper relationship with her ... why would that blow their marriages apart? Men and women can be friends. Even best friends who comfort and rely on each other. He doesn't say anything about sex or an affair, does he?"

It wasn't even subtext. They weren't close. He felt he "missed out" on some opportunity that never existed because he had troubles. She wasn't interested in him, but he's been burning for her ever since. This isn't healthy, sounds like his troubles at the time followed him into his "happy" marriage.

He doesn't want a friend. He wants something more self-destructive, and STILL doesn't give a shit abut what his not-even-friend wants. Didn't at the time, not about to start now, he can just write the dialogue for her and imagine her jumping into his arms after so many years.

"OH LOOK AT HOW YOU'VE CHANGED. SO SORRY I ACTED HURT WHEN YOU WERE A JERK TO ME, ALL THESE YEARS AGO AND STOPPED WANTING TO INTERACT WITH YOU. ALL I'VE BEEN DREAMING ABOUT IS YOU, YOU, YOU!"

Old crushes are old crushes. This is manchildery, though.
118
@117 that seems like a lot of inference. Here; I'll quote from the source:

"she was into me but I had some shit to work through... our friendship changed my life. ... I think about her often, want to share things about my life with her, find myself wanting to rely on her when things are tough. I don't know what to do with it. ..."

He doesn't say anything about an affair. His actual words seem to say that he wants to share things about his life and rely on her when things are tough. He doesn't say, "I dream of having an affair with her." Maaaaaaaaaybe what he really wants is her friendship.
119
@89 LavaGirl: I'm a Leo, but Brad's a Sagittarius, so we're both fire signs. What IS it I have with Sagittarian bad boys?
120
Marianne Faithful- in her late 1970's "Broken English" album she has a great version of Shel Silverstein's "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan."
A then-Yugoslavian director Dusan Mekeviev used it as a theme song in his 1980 masterpiece "Montenegro." Our friends in Australia may recall that few years later he made "The Coca Cola Kid."

121
In praise of hands- part 1
HJ’s are often associated with early stages of sexual experiences, the first under the belt adventure that is nothing but a waste of time later in life.
For me manual stimulation can be a lot of fun on many levels. It enables both HP (Handy Person) and PHD (Person being HandeD) to talk, discuss what works, explore fantasies, and more.

I find it hard to come when not in control of the motion, which in a way this is what hj’s are all about. This can make them very positively challenging, as they require communication and synchronization.

If ever materializes Part 2 will deal with specifics.
122
@112, 118: He doesn't just want a friend--at least, in how ordinary friendship is usually described. If he did simply want a friend, she would be just another friend, and he would neither think about her so much, nor would he be unable to have that friendship without it costing him his wife.
Most of all, if he just wanted a friend, there would be no source of angst for him, no reason to write to an advice columnist.
Here is his letter again, so you can refresh your memory. He is romantically obsessed with this woman:
"I'm a hetero guy in need of advice. Back in college, I met this girl. Suffice it to say she was into me but I had some shit to work through. So we ended up being a missed connection, romantically. Despite that, we still became fast friends. I'm less awkward now, in large part because our friendship changed my life. We each married other people, and everything worked out great. Except I still love her. I think about her often, want to share things about my life with her, find myself wanting to rely on her when things are tough. I don't know what to do with it. On one hand, she means an awful lot to me—she is the kind of friend that comes along once in a lifetime—and I know that I mean a lot to her. So this is a relationship worth protecting, even as asymmetrical as it is. On the other hand, these feelings are starting to seem kind of pathetic. We are barely part of each other's lives anymore—do I even have a right to feel the way I do? I see three options, each of which is shit. (1) Keep my feelings to myself and endure/enjoy a painful but deeply meaningful friendship. (2) Disappear, either abruptly or gradually, with no explanation. Or (3) damn the torpedoes and bare my soul, which might painfully explode the relationship. After years of option 1, I am strongly leaning toward option 3—just blowing shit wide open and dealing with whatever happens."
There is literally nothing in that letter that doesn't suggest he wants far more from her than what most of us mean when we say "friendship."
123
@121, CMD.. How more specific could you get? Please no how to photos.
Sorry Sean, rubbing an arm is very different to rubbing cock, the latter being wrinkly and hard to handle comfortably when dry.
Maybe LW, throw out this generic lube stuff and opt for coconut oil. See if he enjoys it any better.
Otherwise. Rub a dry cock as best you can.
The excuse that oil is messy seems a fob, he comes right?
That is messy.
124
@90 & @91 LavaGirl: Yeah, I know--if I had a shitload of cash, I would take a cruise.
I want to take a trip to explore Germany and Austria to further enjoy two deep passions of mine: music and Volkswagens. I am trying to save up. Hopefully one day.
125
@90 and @91 LavaGirl, Part II: It sounds like you, your mom, and sister had a nice ferry cruise there in Australia. Flights can indeed be scary. I can't imagine taking a long, trans-continental flight anywhere. In the States we're what---17 hours behind you? New Zealand is further southeast from Australia, near New Guinea?
126
Okay---back to Dan, Broadway musicals, and taking it SLOW.
127
G, NZ is sort of across from Brisbane. New G is more Nth, the tropics.
NZ has beautiful snow peaks and black sand beaches. It is the wildest place, and it's just next door to us, and it's like, we get a mini Europe to drop over too.
Love you NZ. Beating you in the cricket, I think. Fraid that is just too boring.
128
The last thing we saw with my father, before he died was Fidler on the Roof.
I'd say my dad identified with the father, both of them no longer the only man in their daughters lives.
I'm wondering if he was also sending me, (I was into my adolescents, no boys yet that I noticed, my eldest sister was causing problems, for him), the message to marry a Jewish man and not a Catholic one. Or I just saw something to get me the hell out of town/ away from my mother.
Trouble is I picked a fucked Jewish man, with great creative talent in whatever he touched. Sometimes I do wonder if I just wanted his DNA.
129
Just playing with you CMD, send in the pictures. Never too late to learn the dry technique.
130
NGAA - This Daft Punk song also seems to describe where you are. It's creepy to think of it as sung by a married guy, though...
It might not be the right time
I might not be the right one
But there's something about us, I want to say
'Cause there's something between us anyway

I might not be the right one
It might not be the right time
But there's something about us I've got to do
Some kind of secret I will share with you

I need you more than anything in my life
I want you more than anything in my life
I'll miss you more than anyone in my life
I love you more than anyone in my life

NST - It just seems like conversation for him.
Maybe it is. People run interesting ideas and stories past each other in conversation. If you're uncomfortable or bored with the topics that others enjoy, spend less time with them.

SLOW - I agree that changes don't appear from nowhere. And he sounds a little slow advising you to "do the same thing as always" except without lube. Say wah? I also agree that asking him to show you how he touches himself is a great way to learn what he likes... but before doing that... when he fingers you off, lubed or unlubed, is he up to par, do you consider him professional level as well? High standards (those handjobs were great, but I need them to be even better) can cause resentment if they are one-way.
131
Hey Philo, nice to see you.
Just a PS. I was meaning the skin on a cock is not the same skin as is on the arm and because of the cock's magical powers, it needs skin to assist, it wrinkles up. Arm skin only does this way at the end of life. It's body oils make it easier to rub than an erect cock, the skin of which, imo, doesn't generate a lot of surface skin oil.
I can understand mens' desire to feel it without oil, sometimes just a few drops is all you need. Then the sensation of rawness is sort of maintained.
132
@122: The mind boggles how people gloss over all this unhealthy stuff and hotly suggest innocence.

134
@ 120 - Thanks for reassuring me that I'm not the only person in the world who thinks that movie was brilliant. And it also made me discover Marianne F. as more than a footnote in the Stones' history, but as a great artist in her own right.
135
@ 133 - "the generic blowjob leaves me cold, but the occasional blowjob artist can take me to heaven. From first hand experience, few gay men know how to give a good blowjob; it's a myth that they do"

+ 1
136
Ricardo @ 134
Thanks for reassuring me I'm me the only one who thinks this way.
Have you seen any other movies he made?

Lava @ 123
"How more specific could you get? Please no how to photos."
I have only been philosophical so far, but I may go into specifics as I feel some areas have been overlooked. For example, no one mentioned cupping the balls and squeezing them gently to start the arousal process and beyond.
For way too many people hj's are no more then an industrial strength choke hold, along with continuos fast movement till the bitter end.
Rest assured, I never intended to include pictures. I still think that videos may be useful though.

137
Of course CMD, A video.
The same for women, everyone thinks that placing fingers on a pussy, for those who enjoy that sort of thing, really, how hard can it be? A light and sensitive touch.. Oh no. So many men have no idea re light and sensitive. Crash bang thru the tulips, mostly.

138
The touch of the fingers is a good first indicator of how a lover will be. A man with no feel for the woman's sex with his fingers, he'll be a dud.
The man who knows what treasure he's found, and he acts accordingly, will be nice to be with.
139
This is my favorite advice ever.
140
Lava- here's for bigenderism and 12-steps SAA and SLand all other encounters- communicating freely and enlightening each other.

Ricardo- "Thanks for reassuring me I'm me the only one"- lost in draftation. "I'm not the only one."
Yours,
Tirque Honolulu

141
@138 LavaGirl: Shows how naive I was 26 years ago. I would have truly run for my life, never married, served my time in the U.S. Navy, and not ever looked back if I'd actually had my head on straight.
143
So, all you handjob wanters, particularly handjob-from-women wanters: I hesitate to state the obvious, but we don't have penises. So we have no idea, really, what what we're doing to you feels like. TELL US. Faster? Slower? Tighter? Looser? If we're doing this, we obviously want to get you off. So tell us how. (I don't mean in the comments, I mean in the moment!) Because one thing we do know is that people have different preferences. And, ya know, one's arm gets tired from lots of jacking so be kind to our biceps and tell us to slow down if that's what you prefer!
145
Nice post Philo. Those love songs some boys can sing, breaks one's heart.
146
Or was that a girls love song. Is there a difference in lyrics when it's female love lost. I don't know, I don't listen to much female singing.
How male artists talk of love, drugs etc.. Grabs my attention. Chrissy Amphlett from the Australian group, The Divinys, only woman whose songs could fascinate me. I loved the girls, Carol King
and them all. Maybe women's love songs just reflect what I already know.
147
To counter my very one sided musical taste, I love many women visual artists. I bought a book of Lee Miller's war photographs over the weekend.
Amazing images she took. Amazing Artist she was.
148
BDF @ 143 “I don't mean in the comments”
Hope you don’t mind, but I think one very important aspect of hj- as well as bj and some piv action- that has been totally ignored here is testicle play. Cupping gently and playfully now and then or more before, during, and even after. May also be combined with simulated-or-not control games, whispering sexy stuff in phd’s ear, and so much more.
Testicle play may also come handy in case “one's arm gets tired from lots of jacking.”

HJ is so much more than nothing but fast moving industrial-strength grip till the bitter end.
Additional details may be available upon request.
149
Ya, personally I'm not a big fan of the nutjob either. Leave those boys alone.
150
PHd's ear CMD? Now we got to find some highly educated guy to play with? Setting the sights a little high. Always up for a challenge though. I'll get moving on the add.
151
Hunter @144: If they all groaned appropriately, there would have been no need for my post.
152
Also, there's a tendency that, when one's lover starts to moan, that tends to excite one so that one intensifies whatever one is doing. Harder, faster, tighter. When that may be the opposite of what the recipient wants. I personally have been the victim of ruined orgasms when what the person is doing is absolutely perfect, my noises reflect that, and they take it as encouragement to ramp up said efforts to the point of sensory overload and even pain. Noises are not words and even when they are present, there is a degree of mind reading. Which moan means "more" and which moan means "do EXACTLY THAT for two more minutes"?
The difficulty is that wording becomes extremely difficult when one is close to orgasm! So use those words first.
153
Lava @ 150
HP- Handy Person
PHD- Person being HandeD
154
Hand jobs are acts I wish I were better at. For whatever reason or combination of reasons, whether from non-explicit verbal feedback, to the fact that I can't feel with the rest of my body how my partner is responding, to the fact that there is a huge variety of sensations and techniques and men have very strong preferences (but often give very little instruction), to the phenomenon BiDanFan brings up @152, where I may start ramping things up in response to increased moans, when the moans meant "keep doing what you're doing, and don't alter things one bit," I don't feel at all confident that I'll be able to give my partner a truly satisfying hand job.

So I would love more tips, yes, but mostly, I wish the individual man on the receiving end would let me know as much in advance as possible and explicitly exactly what he likes, what he hates, what he's curious about, what he needs, etc. and then be generous with the verbal and non-verbal feedback throughout.
I've always wanted to be able to give a great hand job covertly, in a public place like a movie theater, or under the dinner table.
155
@154 nocute - I think I would be a terrible under table hand job giver, but I've been having some fun with other kinds of hand jobs lately, mainly because I'm single again and using condoms for PIV, so it's fun to mix in various acts that don't require them. Greatest recent success with hand jobs has been when one of us is lying on his/her back and the other is on top and there is enough space to reach down and stroke in the same motion as fucking, but sort of over (or under, depending on who's on top) the pelvis. I haven't tried lube but make a point of integrating the natural lube that arises during the act. This approach has been...successful, for lack of a better word...with multiple people. I will admit this is probably more successful because of the contrast between having to use condoms for some things and not others, but I think the relative proximity to pussy and closeness of other body parts (boobs, kissing) in this position are also helpful. I will keep following for "under table" tips though. I need those, too.
156
FutureCatLady@155: Um... you do know that using your own spooge as lube for his penis is just as risky for STDs as fucking without condoms?

One of my partners, currently, orgasms only from intercourse. What I wouldn't give for a bit of variety, if only occasionally. I've given up on the idea of blowjobs (he has never come that way), but figure handjobs are possible since he can clearly get off using his own hand. Sadly, he finds handjobs "boring" because he can do that on his own, and my attempts only make him hornier so he wants to jump on me. I've tried to tell him it's not boring for me!
157
@156 BiDanFan - I was talking about his own lube, like pre-cum, generated by him during the hand job. Sorry for confusion.
158
@156 BiDanFan - Have you tried having him fuck your face? Maybe he likes to be in control? Or maybe blowjobs just aren't his thing. I'm sorry about the lack of variety. That's a bummer.
160
This thread is making me nostalgic for the calendars I used to make up as gifts, with a different song line or two as a daily quote.
161
NGAA - don't disappear...bad form for a friend. She'll be left wondering for the rest of her life WTF she's done.
163
here's your real punishment, Dan:

listen to the entirety of Jesus Christ, Superstar . . . but not the original broadway cast recording: you have to listen to the movie version, starring Ted Neely as Jesus!
164
I think the very worst film musical EVER has to Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band from the late '70's with the Bee Gees and, of all people, George Burns!
165
@159: *yawn*.
166
@160 vennominon: What a wonderful gift idea!
167
Seandr - glad to make you happy!

CMD - if you're still reading, and for what it's worth, I do pay attention to balls during a blow job. I usually stroke or cup them with my hand when I've got my mouth on the shaft and head. I will occasionally switch hand and mouth so that I can lick and suck the balls while stroking the shaft and head with my hand. Sometimes I lick all the way from the back side of the balls to the tip of the head, and back down again. I do most of these things because my sweetie responds to them by arching his body, stiffening up, quick in-breathing, etc.

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