Blast from the Past – Voenix Rising

For any local Phoenix readers (do I even still have any local readers) over a certain age who've been here a while…

I found these pictures online while trying to dig up some info on another Phoenix landmark of the early 80s, Hotbods.

The Connection was my favorite watering hole back in the mid 80s. When I returned from San Francisco in 2002 I was greeted by a vacant lot and news that the owner had died of AIDS sometime in the 90s. The new owner of the property apparently couldn't raze the building fast enough, and I wouldn't be surprised if they'd salted the earth on top of it.

So many memories. So many ghosts.

Here are some of my own pictures from the AIDS Benefit Auction that was held at the place in October 1983:

My housemate Steve Weirauch (center), whom I met at the Connection a few months earlier, and the guy he was dating at the time of the auction (right).

Patrons. The guy dead-center in the phoeo in the background was one of the bartenders on the disco side of the house. I lusted in my heart, but unfortunately that was as far as it got.

Jack Long (guy in the grey t-shirt) and I dated for a while. And yes, he lived up to his name.

Brent Walker, one of the bartenders on the disco side of the house. While I was more interested in connecting with the other bartender (whose name completely escapes me at this point), it was Brent who I eventually hooked up with. I ran into Brent—again, behind a bar—at the Midnight Sun in San Francisco several years later. To this day, I can't hear Joe Yellow's "Lover to Lover" without thinking of him.

A good view of the infamous Mack truck that was part of the decor of the bar.

Steve and his boyfriend posing in front of the truck. I never partook of any of it, but I understand a lot used to happen in the cab of that truck.

The group St. Tropez performing—eh, lip syncing—at the bar for the benefit auction.

More lip syncing from the group St. Tropez at the bar for the benefit auction.

I may have posted these before, but frankly I'm too lazy to go looking. In any case they'll probably still be new to some of my readers. (I'm discovering that over the years I've repeated myself so many times on this here blog thingie it's ridiculous.)

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