In my 20s I lived in, and worked as a waiter in, the part of my city that had large gay community. In fact there were two places I worked when I was 21/22 that were almost entirely gay men, an Italian restaurant for dinner, and a fusion cuisine spot during the day. Because of this integration into the gay community you were exposed to the AIDS epidemic. Sadly it was part of their culture: Young men who became sick and died, often alone. Over 5 years I (casually) knew maybe a dozen men who died of this disease. I'd say most were in their 30s.

There is a great documentary on Netflix about the start of this plague and how it shaped San Francisco back in the 80s. There are some amazing stories, and some very sad ones. What struck me more than anything was how ignorant and cruel many people were to these AIDS victims back then. I believe it was Ryan White who had his family's home burned down? Religious leaders claiming it was God's punishment etc (I'd also guess that Polio was God's way of punishing kids who didn't eat their vegetables too?) Parents who refused to visit their dying son in the hospital etc.

Amazing the progress that has been made. I always figured we would eliminate cancer long before this (although Vice had a promising expose on this as well.)

Axl's comments don't amount to much for me. ^^^

Fucking animals, makes me furious.

I talked to my brother briefly about this when we saw each other that year. It was the first thing he said was "that was the type of show you'd go to." He knew we like the older bands and see small shows, big shows...whatever.

Panic is an amazing thing. Oddly in that film, I didn't see panic immediately. Probably because the person filming it was first out, as were so many others. But then panic set in, and a bottle neck occured. At least that's what it looks like. I know back in the old days before they had updated fire safety codes, people had died because the doors opened inwards. A fire would start, people would rush the doors, but it would then be impossible to open them.

I found it amazing how quickly the fire spread. Likewise, how quickly a fun moment could morph into a terrifying one. I'm kind of sorry I watched the video to be honest. To me it's worse than watching 911 buildings, it's much more personal.

I'll take an inebriated middle aged hoochie, directly affiliated with Duff's spouse, talking out the side of her botox frozen mug over an online "insider" any day of the week.

And perhaps we should take heed of GnR's "read between the lines" tweet. That photo Duff included is no mistake or coincidence. In fact it's pretty darn straight forward if you ask me.