00:00
– [Producer] What are your thoughts on work?
00:01
– It’s a human right.
00:02
– I like it.
00:03
– I love to work.
00:04
– I’ve had some great jobs.
00:05
– [Producer] Do you every look back at jobs
00:07
or careers you’ve had in the past?
00:08
– You mean to evaluate your experience?
00:10
– Yes. – Yeah.
00:11
– Not that much.
00:12
– [Producer] Just to kind of think back
00:13
on all you’ve accomplished?
00:15
– Yeah, or did not accomplish.
00:16
– [Producer] I’m going to show you pictures
00:17
from your past careers and get your responses.
00:19
– Okay. – Okay.
00:20
– Sound good? – Sounds exciting.
00:22
– [Producer] Great, let’s get started.
00:23
– Okay.
00:25
– Oh, that must be Bill.
00:26
– That’s me when I was 18.
00:29
I was a model.
00:30
– You look like a model there.
00:32
– Thank you. – Yes.
00:33
– All I see is your smile.
00:34
That’s so cute.
00:36
Look yummy though.
00:37
– Who’s the other guy?
00:38
– Another model. – Oh.
00:39
– I met a lot of really fun people modeling.
00:42
– I bet.
00:42
– I was making $40 an hour,
00:45
which would be the equivalent of about $300 today.
00:48
– Are you still modeling now?
00:49
– Every day.
00:51
That was 1987,
00:53
and that’s when I was in the interior design business.
00:56
– You look so butch.
00:57
Got your hand around that shoulder.
00:59
– That is when I worked for Working Assets Long Distance.
01:02
– [Producer] Long distance calling?
01:03
– That’s when they charged for long distance.
01:06
– [Producer] Was that a booming business?
01:07
– Are you kidding?
01:08
Telephone bills,
01:09
over half of it was your long distance charges.
01:12
– Oh yeah.
01:12
– You didn’t make long distance calls that much.
01:14
– No.
01:15
– [Producer] What’s the equivalent to now?
01:17
– There isn’t any. – There isn’t.
01:18
– Everything is free now. – Yeah.
01:19
– That was a long time ago.
01:20
– I remember those days.
01:22
– We all do.
01:24
– Oh my goodness,
01:25
that was with a group I sang with for five years
01:27
and traveled with.
01:28
And I must’ve been in the spirit.
01:30
– I was gonna say, “Hallelujah.”
01:32
– This is the same group.
01:33
The gentleman on the right is the first person
01:35
that I ever came out to.
01:37
– Is he straight? – Yes, daggit.
01:39
– That was on our bus.
01:41
I don’t even remember these ladies names,
01:43
and that crazy person in the middle, I have no idea.
01:46
– Looks like you’re caught in the spirit again.
01:49
– I’m surprised you got those eyes back in your head.
01:52
– I did.
01:53
It was 11 months a year on the bus with the same people.
01:56
And even in the name of Jesus you got pissed off
01:59
every now and then.
02:00
Nashville, Tennessee,
02:02
on a show called “The Bobby Jones Gospel Hour,”
02:05
and they had never had this many white people
02:07
in their studio.
02:09
But we had a jamming good time.
02:11
– I bet singing really is a good feeling.
02:15
– It’s healing and therapeutic.
02:17
It’s mostly all I’ve done since the age of two.
02:19
– You’re lucky.
02:20
– I am very lucky to do what I love.
02:21
– Uh-huh. – I really am.
02:23
What?
02:24
– That’s me when I was executive director of a nonprofit.
02:29
– You look like a part of ABBA.
02:30
– Yeah, I know who you’re talking about.
02:32
– ABBA’s here!
02:33
ABBA’s in the house.
02:34
– [Producer] Mick, what do you think of Robert?
02:37
– Silence.
02:38
– Best left unsaid.
02:40
– This was the early ’80s.
02:42
I was working for the city of San Francisco.
02:46
– Who are those people?
02:47
– That’s him. – That was you?
02:48
– That was him. – Really?
02:49
– Yeah.
02:50
– The only thing that looked familiar to me was the ear.
02:52
– That’s me in my studio working on a commission sculpture
02:57
called, “Butt.”
02:58
– I couldn’t figure out what it was at first.
03:00
I go, “Is that something swollen?”
03:01
– No, no, that’s a nice little bubble butt.
03:04
– No, I got it.
03:06
– And I frequently work nude.
03:09
– That’s okay.
03:09
It’s all contained by fencing.
03:11
– Yes, it is.
03:12
But the door’s open.
03:13
– Sometimes.
03:14
– Oh my gosh!
03:16
– Great.
03:17
– I was just being silly there,
03:19
and I had the bowl on my head like a big hat.
03:24
– Love it, I love it.
03:25
That was neat.
03:26
– Oh god. – What?
03:28
– That was me in 1980.
03:30
– That looks like a much, un-worked out, but firm you.
03:34
– Yeah, yeah.
03:35
I chose to become an actor my senior year of college.
03:38
I got into graduate school, I don’t know how.
03:41
– Now is that a wig or your real hair?
03:44
– No, that’s my real hair.
03:45
– That’s your real hair?
03:46
– Yes, darling. – Really?
03:47
– See him shaking it right there?
03:49
– And that is me Berlin in 1993
03:52
for a world AIDS conference.
03:54
– The one in the shorts looks very gay.
03:56
– Oh that?
03:56
– That’s what we did back in the day.
03:58
Wore the short-shorts, the collar flipped up,
04:00
and lookin’ all cutesy.
04:01
– I took a free day off and I met a guy.
04:03
– That’s what it was about.
04:04
– I dunno, some town in Germany.
04:05
– Who cares?
04:06
– And we kinda hooked up. – You?
04:07
– His husband was doctor.
04:10
– [Producer] Did he know?
04:11
– Why did he care?
04:12
It’s not his problem.
04:13
– Ah. – The build.
04:14
Look at them arms,
04:15
look at that arm, baby. – Look at that arm.
04:16
– I had just entered graduate school
04:19
to get my second Masters.
04:20
– Mm, you were lookin’ kinda masterful.
04:23
– Yeah. – Yeah.
04:24
– It’s at a garden.
04:25
– I didn’t even see the garden.
04:27
– All I see was the arms.
04:29
– That’s what I looked like, yeah.
04:30
– It made a worshipful moment.
04:32
– [Producer] What did you think of this experience?
04:33
– Brought back a lot of really fond memories for me.
04:36
– Yeah.
04:37
And it’s nice to know where my brothers come from.
04:39
Who we all are.
04:40
– I think we’re all lucky we found things
04:43
we’re passionate about.
04:45
– Every single job I got I loved doing.
04:48
– [Producer] Do you consider this part of your career now?
04:49
– Yes. – Oh yeah.
04:50
– Yeah, it’s become part.
04:52
And it’s fun too. – Yeah.
04:54
– [Producer] What career advice do have
04:55
to offer younger gays?
04:57
– Be on time for work. – Mm.
04:58
– Don’t play sick all the time.
05:01
And do your job right.
05:02
– Follow your heart,
05:03
’cause that is gonna be the most satisfying thing
05:06
in the world,
05:07
to do a job that you love and do it well.
05:10
– Yeah. – All right, final thoughts?
05:11
– Thanks for bringing back all the memories.
05:13
– Yeah.
05:14
– [Producer] Is there anything you wanted to do
05:15
that you didn’t get the chance to?
05:17
– [Bill] Yes, I wanted to be a philanthropist.
05:21
– [Robert] I think we all wanna be a philanthropist.
05:25
You have to have money first.
—
Have you read the original anthology that was the catalyst for The Good Men Project? Buy here: The Good Men Project: Real Stories from the Front Lines of Modern Manhood
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