(Image via GerryGeddes.com)

I had the pleasure, last year, of seeing Gerry Geddes in action, reading from his then-unpublished memoir about his life as a gay man in NYC from the '60s on.

Gerry at Pangea in NYC (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

I sought him out because he wrote for Torso for years, and I was in the process of compiling my extensive oral history of that and the other Mavety magazines (coming in 2024, finally).

He is so witty and perceptive, and knows so much about LGBTQ+ life in NYC, his book Didn't I Ever Tell You This? is sure to be juicy reading. Here is how it's described:

Arriving at Columbia University in New York City in 1967, Gerry Geddes found himself in the throes of a political, cultural, social, and sexual revolution beyond his wildest imaginings. Against a backdrop of the anti-Vietnam War movement at its most intense, the cultural upheaval of the fight for racial, gender and sexual equality, the sexual revolution exploding all around him,the vibrant theatrical and musical scene of the late 20thCentury, and the tragedy and horror of the AIDS epidemic, a love story unfolds. a love story of a romantic, 20-year partnership cut short by a deadly disease, of a gay man thriving in the worlds of performance and entertainment that opened up for him in his adopted home, and of the lasting affection he feels for the city itself – the city that formed and changed his life in unexpected and lasting ways. It is a tale bursting with humor and pain and passion and history told in a voice that is funny and touching and powerful, and uniquely his own.

It's out now here.