Massage waiting

(photo courtesy of JoeMyGod.blogspot.com) I hit NICKEL (nih-KEL) MEN'S SPA at least once every few months for a shiatsu...just the thing for my lower back spasms and residual aches from a 12-year-old chiropractic fiasco (choose physical therapy over chiro every time...and NEVER, EVER see a sadist masquerading as a doctor, Jeffrey Kornblut, at Milford Chiropractic in Milford, CT).

This is a full-service spa inhabiting a former bank. They offer haircuts, but the chairs are always empty when I'm there. Can't swing a purse without hitting a display of bath and beauty products...Nickel moisturizer, eye-bag eliminator, hair gel, shampoo, shaving supplies. Popular with mani-and-pedi-philes.

The front desk staff are all extras from 1978's Coma (Genevieve Bujold at her paranoid finest). So speak clearly and slowly when making appointments. Ask for top masseur OLEG. Need any cracks waxed? EDWARD'S your man.

Nickel's...the perfect antidote to ECE (Evil Christmas Energy). Gift baskets and certificates for the nice 'n naughty boyz on yer list. 15% off on a la carte services before 4pm.

Nickel Spa For Men
SW corner of Eighth Avenue and 14th Street, NYC
212-242-3203
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H is for hats

Shuffling to the subway after work this evening, the relentless east wind roiling off the Hudson assaulted me like a frozen machete. Usually under- or overdressed, today I got it right...top coat, scarf, and my aviator cap from Gallerie H on Eighth and 21st.

Black leather shell, faux-fur lining, flaps for the ears, this is the headgear I bust out when my aforementioned Gap cap can't cut the winter weather. Just snapped this pic of their window. Lotsa Ben Sherman merch, travel bags, and seasonal chapeaus (from porkpies to Panamas). Sorry, their lame website is just a placeholder.

Gallerie H
222 Eighth Avenue (btw. 21st and 22nd)
NYC 212-229-1975
info@GallerieH.com
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Porn (almost) free

This Sunday, 2-5pm, at progeriatric gay Village piano bar The Monster, The New York City Gay Men's Chorus will hold its 9th Annual Porn Again fundraiser.

Major gay porn film producers and publishers donate stacks of DVDs and books, NYCGMC slashes the retail price tags and gets to keep all the profits. My neighbor-pal Michael Lucas came through with a guest MC (after 2 other studios cancelled)...Ryan Raz, pictured, a Lucas Entertainment exclusive.

Best chest and buns contest, a P-Town Weekend raffle...all for only a $10 entrance fee. Go. Shop. Buy. Ejaculate. Support our sisters in song.
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Where you be, Division E?

Bought a sooper-comfy (and flattering) long-sleeved lightweight pullover at The Starting Line in Chelsea a few years ago (akin to the purple-swirled, pictured).

Allow me to rhapsodize. Black with a micro-thin wale. The outline of an ornate Buddha with thangka-like clouds adorn the chest and back; Siddharta in taupe silkscreen, the thunderheads an alternating metallic silver-gold decal. The shirt is sewn together ingeniously with separate pieces recess-cuffed in the biceps, sleeves, neck, and waist, conveying an overall edgy, tailored look.

The antiqued-tattered label? Los Angeles' Division E. Their site's been under construction for awhile, and Starting Line no longer carries this great clothier. Available through a mess of online retailers, but can't find a physical storefront. Purportedly worn by "rock stars and celebrities." And lil ol' me.

Anybody out there know where I can find in NYC?
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The best moisturizer EVER

Cambridge, Massachusetts' Crabtree & Evelyn. Since 1973, renowned for its naturally inspired remedies and home comforts. The name: inspired by the renaissance Englishman, John Evelyn, who lived in the 17th century. Evelyn is most famous for Sylva, the first important work on conservation, published at a time when England's forests were being stripped of timber to build ships for the expanding British Navy. His great estate, Sayes Court, was planted with large expanses of elm trees, and the magnificent gardens he created were a wonder of the age. The symbol: the Crabtree or Wild Apple is native to Britain and the ancestor of all cultivated apple trees. It was highly prized for its beauty as well as its usefulness in home apothecary.

I first encountered a C & E product while on a business trip to San Francisco. Stayed at the delicious Nikko Hotel (pool on the roof, right down the street from The Clift), whose bathrooms were stocked with Crabtree & Evelyn La Source body products. Top of the list: the Relaxing Body Lotion. Infused with sweet almond oil, soothing camomile and borage oil. Heaven-scented with lavender, mint and herbs. Filled up my suitcase, bought more here when I got back to NYC.
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Risko Bookness

Forget about those half-naked-athlete-thinly-veiled-porno coffee table tomes this season. Go with a tasteful classic that should be displayed in your library year-round.

"Risko" is a compilation of works from famed illustrator, caricaturist (and my neighbor) Robert Risko. Edited by Allure contributing editor and "Mississippi Sissy" author Kevin Sessums, with a forward by Vanity Fair editor and Monkey Bar owner Graydon Carter. Risko's celebrity cartoons are instantly recognizable to anyone who's read a Vanity Fair, New Yorker or Interview magazine over the past 30 years (this J. Edgar Hoover send-up had a cameo in the movie "Friends And Family"). His pop sensibility casts a geometrically minimalist eye on the worlds of fashion, theatre, music and film.

So what are you waiting for? Click already...and if you see him around Chelsea walking his Boxer, Ralph, ask for an autograph...
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Capo di Gap-oh!

The Gap Knit Cap. Bought one of these eons ago, and it's still my utilitarean accessory of choice. One size fits all works for me, cuz my hu-normous head borders on Talosian. Perfect for sleeping on draughty nights. Keep it on as you roll out of bed, take out the trash and get a coffee. Even in the summer. Why wash your hair? Don the hat. Just showered? Go ahead, wear it...it miraculously negates hat-head. Durable as hell. All this for $19.95. Please DON'T purchase that ubiquitous cadet cap...unless you're ambling down the road with your nose buried in Mao's Little Red Book.

Gap is my default clothing shop, even though the quality and variety fluctuate...it's literally one block from my nothing-like-anything-on-MTV crib. Still has the best underpanties. HATE those big plastic cheap-looking buttons on all the coats, chinos and shirts. J'adore the reinvented Converse sneaker line...buy duplicate pairs in every color, they disintegrate fast on the sidewalks of Manny-Hanny.
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