CHAD BUSH

In just five years, Chad Bush has turned Fort Lauderdale’s Pig Week into the country’s preeminent bacchanalian event for gay men.  But you’ll never guess what game Bush plays in his down time.    

PHOTOGRAPH BY SYLVESTER Q. 

By Mike Jeknavorian

Where did you grow up?  In Akron, OhioWhat do you miss about it there?  Swenson’s HamburgersThe Galley Boy hamburger, specifically.  How long have you lived in South Florida?  Off and on my whole life, but 12 years now for this last stint.  Why did you move here?  Because I hate the cold.  What part of South Florida do you live in?  In Wilton Manors.  What do you like most about living here?  I love being in a community that supports each other.  What South Florida venue do you miss that’s gone?  Blue Marlin.  What’s your favorite naught venue in South Florida?  Well, Ramrod.  What’s your claim-to-fame?  Besides raising my son, starting Pig Week and having it grow to be the largest party of its kind in the world.


ADVERSTISEMENT


When did you start Pig Week?  I started working on it in 2014, and the first one was in 2015, so this is the fourth one.  Why did you create it?  Because there was nothing like it here in the USA.  What’s important about Pig Week?  It brings together all genres of men.  Leather men, twinks, bears, muscle men, and jocks.  All men can be “Pigs.”  Which one of your old jobs least prepared you for what you do now?  Cleaning the parking lots of shopping malls in Akron.  If God were to take you tomorrow, how would you like to be remembered?  As a man with a vision.  Do you believe in an afterlife?  I believe more in afterbirth.  I have seen that.  Do you think that this is the most amoral time that’s ever existed?  No.  I think the worst was the early 80s when the government did absolutely nothing to research HIV and let millions of gay men die from aids.  That was the worst.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS LOPEZ

What do you want to live long enough to see?  For Broward County get a vote-count right.  Will you ever retire?  I thought that I already had.  What’s the last thing that you looked at online?  How to spell “Blue Marlin.”  What’s the best place that you’ve visited?  Waipi’o Vally, HawaiiWho would you like to be for a day?  My dad asked me that when I was 11, and I told him Grace Jones.  He knew then that I was going to be the boy that could not throw the ball.  Who or what is the greatest love of your life?  My son and Ralf VidalWhat talent would you most like to have?  To see the future.  What’s something that you learned in life only when you got older?  That after you get grey hair and you’re dying your beard, it’s easier to go blond than it is to go brown.

PHOTOGRAPH BY SYLVESTER Q. 

What did you learn from your parents?  Everything.  They are amazing.  Who’s your favorite performer?  Nina Hagen, Nina Flowers, and Nina Simone.  Ok, well, somebody named Nina.  What’s your best characteristic?  My ability to laugh.  How do you enjoy spending your time?  Playing duck, duck, goose.  What celebrity do you have a crush on?  Jason Statham, if he gained 50 pounds.  Who do you admire?  Barney FrankIf you could bring one person back from the dead, who would it be?  Rosalind RussellWhere would you go in a time machine?  Well, first kill Hitler, then invest in Apple, and then tell Grace Jones that I want to be her.  What would your last meal be?  My grandmother’s gumbo and spoon bread.  What do you worry about?  My thigh.  It itches.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS LOPEZ

What are you afraid of?  This bug that I just found on thigh.  If you were a musical instrument, what would you be?  Zamfir’s pan flute.  Are you more like a sheep or a wolf?  Is pig an option…?  Who depends on you, and for what?  My family, and for love.  Who are you closest with?  My Boyfriend, Ralf.  What would your autobiography be called?  The Making of Babylon.  Ghost written by Mark Brandon, and available in May of 2020.  What’s on your bucket list?  A mop.  This place is filthy.  What’s your greatest regret in life?  Smoking cigarettes.  What’s something secretive about you that people don’t know?  That I’m an artist.  Where can we see you?  Every weekend behind the bar at Ramrod, or everywhere during Pig Week.

 

VICKIE BENNETT

At over 35 years, Vickie Bennett isby all accountsthe most-tenured female bartender in the gay bars in Broward County.  But it wasn’t always pretty.  She had to learn how to survive in the male-dominate world of thema world which she saw ravished by AIDS.  

Where did you grow up?  In Akron, Ohio.  How long have you lived in South Florida?  Since 1978.  Why did you move here?  Well, it snows in Ohio, and I love palm trees much better than snow.  And I was young.  Me and my girlfriend-at-the-time were on our way to California.  She eventually went on to California, and I just stayed.  What part of South Florida do you live in?  In Davie.  What do you like most about living here?  I like the ocean and the palm trees.  I just like it—I don’t know.  What South Florida venue do you miss that’s gone?  BackstreetWhere do you hang out in South Florida, and why?  I mostly stay at home with the puppies and my girlfriend.  But when I do go out, I go to a straight bar.  I want to go where no one knows my name and I can just be a fly on the wall.  What’s your claimtofameI’m the longest-running female bartender in the gay bars in Broward County.  That, and my cocktails—people tell me about them all the time.  They like to drink them because they don’t taste like pure alcohol.  What’s the first place that you worked at in South Florida?  Backstreet, in 1982.


ADVERTISEMENT

The definitive book about mixed drinks.  The book is noteworthy for its witty, highly opinionated and conversational tone, as well as its categorization of cocktails into two main types: aromatic and sour.

What’s the best place that you worked at in South Florida?  Once again, Backstreet.  It was in the space where Revolution is now.  It took up the whole block; it was a big venue.  It had a pool in the back, too.  The early eighties was a very magical time to grow up and be gay.  Particularly, in that club.  At first, I did everything there—bar backing, taking care of the entertainment, etc.  They eventually made me a bartender, but they put me on the second floor, in the back, figuring that I would quit.  But I ended up making more than the boys, so they moved me to the first floor.  Me and my girlfriend were the only female bartenders there.  I never made so much money in all my life.  Whats the biggest tip that you ever got?  Nine hundred dollars.  I only made one drink for this guy, and then he walked away.  He left nine $100 bills under the ashtray.  I tried to find him, in case he left the money by accident, but he was gone.  What do you think about the gay bars today?  Bars are getting more integrated, and young gays don’t give a fuck if you’re gay or not.  I can’t imagine that young bartenders have a following, because people don’t go out like they used to.  But I’m lucky because I’ve been here a long time, so I have a following.

What’s your best celebrity encounter?  Andy Warhol.  I was at the bar-area in Backstreet, and all these queens were like, “Who’s that ugly guy?”  None of them knew who he was, if you can believe that.  I had Warhol sign a napkin, and he drew a heart.  I still have it.  What celebrity are you closest with?  Grace Jones.  I used to hang around with her all the time.  She’s fucking wild.  I haven’t seen her for a while, though.  Whos your best industry friend?  Pooch.”  I’ve known him for years.  He’s a great guy.  He used to work at Scandals, but I’m not sure if he’s there anymore.  How would you like to be remembered?  I really don’t know.  I’ll leave that up to the public.  I’ve introduced people who are still together years later, and I run into so many who tell me that I made their first drink when they just turned 21, or when they just moved into town.  I feel like I’ve grown up with everyone here.  Will you ever retire?  Probably not.  What’s the last thing that you looked at onlineProbably Facebook.  What’s the best place that youve visited, and why?  The keys, but not Key West.  It’s not artsy there anymore, and it has too many cruise ships.  And working at The Copa for all those years in Key West kind-of ruined it for me.  What’s your favorite band?  The Pretenders.  And on a side note, Chrissie Hynde grew up in Dayton, too, and my aunt—who had a beauty salon—did her mother’s hair.

What are you superstitious about?  Black cats.  Do you believe in aliens?  Yes.  And I think I’ve met a few of them.  What’s something that you learned in life only when you got older?  To save more money.  What did you learn from your parents?  Not much.  I didn’t really have a childhood, because I had to bring up my brothers and sisters since I was 10 years old.  What’s your best characteristic?  I’m a good listener (laughs).  How do you enjoy spending your time?  Me and my girlfriend [of 28 years] go to Key Largo every-other weekend.  That’s my getaway.  What celebrity do you have a crush on?  I used to love Suzanne PleshetteWhere would you go in a time machine, and why?  Back to the early 80s.  That was the best.  But it was bittersweet, because the late 80s and early 90s were a very sad time because of AIDS—it was horrible.  I mean, I would be serving someone, knowing that it would be their last drink.  I was losing friends and customers left and right, and every time you opened up David Magazine, you saw another friend’s obituary.  After a while, I got numb to it.  I just couldn’t go to anymore funerals.  And at that age, I had gone to more funerals than my parents ever did.

What would your last meal be?  Probably Jets Pizza.  The pizza is amazing—I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like it.  What do you worry about?  Money, money, money.  If you were a musical instrument, what would you be, and why?  Probably a trumpet, so people would listen to me (laughs).  Are you more like a sheep or a wolf?  Most of the time, I’m a lamb.  But it depends on the day, because sometimes I have to be a wolf.  I’m a woman in a man’s world, so I always have—and had—to be better than the boys and the beautiful men just to stay alive.  Who depends on you?  My puppies… and my girlfriend.  Who are you closest with?  Tommy, my cook.  What would your autobiography be called?  Behind BarsWhat music do you listen to when you’re upset?  I don’t listen to that much music.  I listen to talk radio and sports radio to unwind.  What’s your greatest regret in lifeThat I didn’t save more money.  I made millions, but we all did back then.  You always thought, “Oh, why bother saving?  I’m gonna make another $1,000 tonight.”  If we only knew…  Where can we see you?  At Beefcake’s on Wednesday and Thursday, from 3:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., and on Friday and Saturday, from 6:00 p.m. to close.

PHOTOGRAPHS 2, 3 AND 5 BY POMPANO BILL