The Sunday Series: Sunday November 29, 2015

The Sunday Series:

Sunday November 29, 2015

“Twink” is a gay slang meaning a young man who looks younger than he is, and physically usually has no body or facial hair.   Twink is also a British musician, who released a solo album called “Think Pink, ” which was recorded in 1969 and released in 1970.  Listening to it in 2015, one can easily think “oh such a 1969 album.” Loose jams and British hippie abandonment are a wonderful way of spending a Sunday.   On the other hand, I have always regretted that I didn’t look like a “twink.”  

I have a lot of body hair as well as a headful of hair.   The head part is OK, but why do I have such a heavy beard?  It is such a wrong look for me.  Besides my terrible looking teeth, I can see people, when I first meet them, looking at my beard or what is left of it.   I tend to need to shave twice a day.  I even went to the barbers to get a proper and professional shave, and by the end of the day, I still have a shadow on the lower side of my face and the entire neck.   The biggest insult is when I asked for them to shave the back of the neck area, and he asked me how far down did I want to go for the shave?  

The irony is that I’m obsessed with “Twinks,” and at the age of 61, I want to be a “twink.” There is a “twink” code that is in place, especially on the Internet.  For instance, “c” is for the color of hair.  “i” is for length of hair. “h” is regarding hair on the body, and how much of it.   The most important code letters are “k” for how kinky?  And then there is “e” for endowment.   The twisted thing about all of this is that I’m not even gay.  Yet, I’m obsessed with this aspect of homosexual culture. 

I purchased the album by Twink, “Think Pink, ” thinking it was an album by or about the “twink” culture.  Boy, was I wrong!  With lyrics like “watching dawn give birth to the light, ” I knew I was far away from the land of beautiful looking young men.   Not all is lost, because I actually enjoy this album, and it’s worth the price of this priceless vinyl, that I got one Sunday at the Pasadena College swap-meet.    The album expresses a sense of anarchy.  Yet, lyrically it is very cliche, in that it is set in its time and place (UK).  As I play this album over and over again, it takes me away from the world of the “twink” and into a world of free-love, absurdity, and ‘getting-my-head-together. ' What I originally desire was to be among the “Twinks.” I thought the easiest way for me to surround myself in my world of Twinks, was to go to iconic Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.  

I went there, but was shocked that there were no young men, but guys who are big, and have even bigger beards.  In other words, they look like me.  And the same age as yours truly.  I haven’t the foggiest idea what my life should or can be.   All I know that this is a Sunday, I have to face the fact that it’s the first day of the week, and more likely a week of total disappointment.  On the other hand, I do own a great album.