This post is in memoriam
of an old sweet friend of mine Barry Lavigne whom I just recently found out passed away in 2007. Barry was from Louisisiana. I met him when I was beginning my senior year at Hammond High School. I first met him when I was a Senior in high school, a few years older than me yet we connected immediately during a night out at this straight club called Juniors in Hammond, Louisiana. It was on the dance floor dancing to Shriekback "Nemesis" where you would become a statue at some point during the song following by a chain reaction using improv movements. He was already a very successful hairdresser and in high demand in the south. He was like my older gay brother/guide and loved my thick hair giving me the most amazing haircuts and even bleached my hair once giving me a beautiful silver blond color with he called "Sylvia". You see, he always said the funniest hybrid names for things and places and coming up with the funniest catchphrases such as Ponchatula "Zsazsashula" for his hometown of Ponchatula. Other funny catch phrases were "how you durin" and "cute" when something was on point. Full of love, wit, laughter and so much talent, he was actually meant to be an opera tenor but never got a round pursuing such rigorous career path and he love his menthol cigarets. We shared the same love of the same music, Siouxie Sue and the Banshees, B-52s, Book of Love, Kraftwerk, New Order, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Yazz, Tina Turner, Ten City, Tracy Chapman, Culture Club, Bronski Beat, Depeche Mode, Human League and so much more. He was also very stylish and a sharp dresser by always being on point with a "look" every time we would get together. He pretty much introduced me to the New Orleans gay scene during the late '80s as he would drive his white Land Rover directly to the Bourbon Pub, Cafe Lafitte's, Good Friends, Rawhide, the Mint, Oz, Phoenix and Chaps. Our evening goals where to be as chic with a cigarette and a cocktail. We were totally posers! He took me once to the Kingfish in Lafayette, an after hours place in the middle of the swamp with there would some fabulous raves. He then moved to San Francisco and went to visit him which is where this photo was taken at his apartments we were on our way to see the Pet Shop Boys at the Warfield theater in 1990. We were "never being boring and he was the party animal I would phone when I was left to my own devices". He came to visit me once when I lived in Spanish Harlem and had a blast bar hoping in the East Village. Soon after that trip we drifted apart for no reason and moved on with our lives and careers. I would think of him on and off and when the Internet and social media came around, I tried to find him to no avail. I suspected something might have happened to him but was never sure until recently during a friend's gathering his name came up we found a memorial page on Facebook. I was stunned with the news and began to process this closure while realizing how much part of my life he was growing up gay and immigrant in the south. He will always be in my heart. These two songs I dedicate to him are remixes using "The Swan" by Julee Cruise with "In My Eyes" by Stevie B. Rest in Power sweet Barry! Enjoy
