Cee Farrow

 

The album cover of Red and Blue by Cee Farrow.

Listening to the 1983 synth-pop album Red and Blue by Cee Farrow I feel like I am sitting with a cosmopolitan or martini in one of my old Atlanta haunts, Red Chair a long, long time ago. Red Chair is ancient history and I faded out of the nightlife scene ten years ago this year. I had my fun, have no regrets and I am grateful for having my fun when bars and clubs were different.

Today, there does not seem to be a sleek, stylish, moody and masculine decorated gay bar (not a club) left in Atlanta that just plays music and pours drinks. A bar that is fashionably slick, not trendy, and it feels like you are wearing sunglasses indoors in the middle of a Human League or ABC music video.

Halo, in the basement of the Biltmore, fit that mood many years ago, but the music tended to be more ambient and trippy lounge (think Hotel Costes) which was cool too. Halo became something very different in its last years before it was finally put out of its misery. 

One of those blurry nights at WETbar. Photo by me, August 2006.

Oh, there was the sleek and long bulldozed for student housing WETbar too. I spent many a night making that short walk from 6^th and W. Peachtree to Spring and 8^th. We had it pretty good in gay Atlanta in the 2000s. Everything changes and they label it progress. Well...

Yeah, happy gay pride and all that this June 2026.

 

Cee Farrow.

Cee Farrow, real name Christian Kruzinski, was a Frankfurt born model who emigrated to Los Angeles in the early 80s and recorded one album. Red and Blue was a commercial flop, but the single Should I Love You? reached number 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It did not help matters in terms of sales and promotion that the record label, Rocshire Records, was seized by the federal government in 1984 and shut down.

Commercial success is not an indicator of talent or lack thereof and I like the album for what it is and not what critics thought it should be. My favorite songs on the album are Touched, Wildlife Romance, Should I Love You?, Paint It Blue, Backwards, Lost and Memorized and Think of Me. These are all songs that fit within the context of being played in my favorite type of gay bar where one could sit alone, think and drink, mingle with friends or pick up a stranger on the way out the door.

With his music and modeling career over, Christian did what one does as a former singer and model if one wished to continue a glamorous lifestyle and became involved in the club scene. He was associated with The Apartment, Maxx and Arena in L.A. up until 1990. He released a final single in 1991 called Imagination and it too had no success.

Christian Kruzinski.

 

Cee Farrow, Christian Kruzinski, died in 1993 of an AIDS related illness. He was only thirty-six years old. He is one of the too many AIDS victims who should be remembered and celebrated this June.

Saturday in the Fall at the High

The High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Photo by me, November 2025.

 

The city was alive on a fall day on the first of November. There was a crispness in the air and spots of color in the trees except the ginkgos which awaited their seasonal cue to turn a brilliant yellow. People were on the sidewalk and there was traffic on the northern end of Midtown above 14^th street. I arrived at the High Museum to a large wedding taking place next door at the fine stone First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta built in 1919 with stained glass windows by Tiffany and Nicola D'Ascenzo. An event was taking place in front of the Woodruff and it was bustling in the plaza outside the doors of the High. Atlanta was its better self and not shooting itself in the foot for a change.

I have been coming to the High since I was a child in the mid 1980s only a year after the gleaming white, curving Richard Meier designed building opened in 1983. Forty-two years later, I still like to admire the building and imagine it filled with exciting treasures from around the world. It has not lived up to those dreams, but I have seen some interesting touring or special exhibitions in my lifetime. The permanent collection outside of the modern and folk art has never inspired me. The architecture of the building rises higher than the art contained within. 

Photo by me, November 2025.

The atrium and the ramps that spiral around it are my favorite part of the building. As a child it felt like something special waited at the top, but the reality is that is that it is mostly scowling, unfriendly and bored security guards. 

Photo by me, November 2025.

I do not think they want you to enjoy this art unless you bring a ladder with you.
 

Somber corner. Photo by me, November 2025.

In 2018 the galleries of the permanent collection were redesigned and that was unfortunate. The galleries went from open, airy, spacious and easy to move through to cramped, darker and more prone to bottlenecks around blind corners. Some of the placement of the art is odd too. I found a Rothko painting hanging in a small, dark corner like it was an unloved lost child while much lesser known and important artists were taking up better spaces. The curatorial choices were very curious. Do not even get me started on how the museum treats photography with its dungeon basement gallery with low ceilings and a feeling reminiscent on an eighties office park for telemarketers. 

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

The folk art of Georgia artist Howard Finster is the highlight of the folk art gallery. Putting his religious messaging aside, I find undeniable happiness in his work. He makes me smile.

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

In the modern art galleries I was disappointed to find a sculpture in front of the Alex Katz painting of the trees and the bench moved far away. I cannot remember a visit where I have not sat on that bench and gotten lost in the trees. It was a kind of ritual of mine. The sculpture is a distraction and does not relate to the trees. Also, while the ceiling is beautiful, the lighting is far too dim now.

Photo by me, November 2025.

 

Cramped and dim like a hallway at Grady Hospital. Photo by me, November 2025.

After browsing the permanent collection I came to what brought me to the High, the special exhibition Viktor&Rolf Fashion Statements. The exhibition features the avant-garde fashion designs of the Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf and runs through early February 2026.

 

Photo by me, November 2025.

 

Photo by me, November 2025.

From the No collection, Autumn/Winter 2008-2009.

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

From the Bedtime Story collection, Autumn/Winter 2005-2006.

Photo by me, November 2025.

I have been to a number of fashion exhibits at the SCADfash museum, also in Atlanta, but this was my first at the High Museum. The museum did a phenomenal job with the presentation and it was fun.

Photo by me, November 2025.

 

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

From the The Fashion Statements collection, Spring 2019. The collection was inspired by social media. 

There have been numerous fashion exhibitions of Victor & Rolf since 1994 in Paris and around the globe. This marks the first one in Atlanta. Their work makes for good entertainment.

Photo by me, November 2025.

 

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

As much as one admires the craftsmanship and imagination, I enjoy the sense of humor present in these pieces.

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

 

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

There is a debate, perhaps less common these days, in the art and fashion worlds about whether fashion should be considered art. Karl Lagerfeld thought they were separate worlds. I do not have a firm opinion on whether fashion should be considered art, but I do enjoy fashion exhibitions at museums. The debate reminds me of the 1970s and whether photography was art and whether it was worthy of being collected. Sam Wagstaff was an early collector of photography and was instrumental in getting photography accepted into the art world. Wagstaff was also a lover and patron to Robert Mapplethorpe, both of whom would die of AIDS; Wagstaff in 1987 and Mapplethorpe two years later.

 

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

There are also sketches and photographs included in the exhibition. I loved that wallpaper. If department stores put as much as effort into their displays as they once did then I could see using a wallpaper such as that.

Photo by me, November 2025.

From the Monsieur collection, Autumn/Winter 2003-2004. 

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

Though it looks like it would be very heavy to wear, I was taken by this design. It has a post industrial, Eastern Bloc chicness. 

Photo by me, November 2025.

 

Photo by me, November 2025.

Photo by me, November 2025.

The space was wonderfully designed and lighted. The clothes popped from the background.

Exhibitions such as this one offer the viewer fantasy. There is some snobbery too, is there not always at an art museum, as this is not an exhibition featuring Abercrombie & Fitch clothes. Though I would certainly enjoy an exhibition of the fashion photography of A&F from the 90s too.

The Old Gay Heart

 

Gay Pride marchers on Peachtree Street in the Atlanta Gay Pride parade in 2013. Photo by me, October 2013.

Little did I know that Atlanta Gay Pride was this weekend. I knew it was coming up this month, but it sneaked up on me. Every year since the 90s the question has been, will I go or not? Since the festivities were moved to October, from the traditional June several years ago, I have attended the festival and parade fewer times.

The last time I went to Pride other than to celebrate in a club or bar was twelve years ago. Not since 2013 have I stood at the corner of Tenth and Peachtree Streets, my once usual spot, and watched the parade of rainbow flags, corporate floats and “the community” make the turn. I have not even done the bar celebration tour since 2016.

Aging out of the scene at forty-three years old, combined with everyone I regularly hung out with having moved to the far corners of the world, seemed like the perfect time to exit. Hangovers and squeezing into Heretic and Blake's until three in the morning are not indulgences to be proud of at fifty-two. Let others have it and have their fun.

A gay pride logo or the Today Show?

This year's slogan, according to the official organizers, is “Rooted In Resistance.” The companion logo is another raised fist again this year and it has the added bonus of what appears to be long green fingernails overlaying a rising sun or the NBC Today Show logo. What would Bryant Gumble, Jane Pauley and Willard Scott say about that? Oh sorry, wrong decade.

I cannot identify with the slogan or the logo that is stamped on a community event by the official organization. The messaging and image has a violence to it that does not resonate with me. Where is the rainbow? Pride seems to no longer officially represent me as being part of the community. So many letters have been added to the community that the G for gay has gone from being shoved to the side to being shoved over the cliff.

A truly terrible photo of me at Atlanta Gay Pride in Piedmont Park in 1998 when it meant something to me.  One of too many film photos in my lifetime with my eyes closed. 

If Gay Pride was born in anything, it was in being proud of who we were, who we loved and not being ashamed of it. “Rooted” and “resistance” are meaningless words of the modern activist lexicon that leaves this red-blooded, rainbow-beating gay heart cold. Gay Pride needs to bring back the G, the original rainbow flag and the celebration of love in a world sorely needing it.

Face The Change

 

My old neighborhood looking west down Ponce de Leon Avenue toward Midtown. Photo by me, September 2025.

Turn and face the strange. - David Bowie's Changes 

 

A couple of weeks ago I was in my old 1990s neighborhood in Atlanta. The only reason for me to go there is I have some need to go to Ponce City Market and that was true again as I walked into Madewell. I visit Ponce City Market or to me, City Hall East/the old Sears building, about twice a year since I am rarely down in the city anymore. My infrequent visits to Atlanta are marked by the changes to the landscape. I play the game of what is the same and what is gone. The changes used to happen around me in more of a gradual sense like the frog in a pot of boiling water, but since I have not lived in the city for four years this month, the changes are more noticeable.

 

The Clermont became a boutique hotel with a rooftop bar, the Masquerade was gutted, Zesto and Paris on Ponce are gone and The Eagle and MJQ moved out of the neighborhood. Ponce has changed as part of the evolution of the city at large. It would be stereotypical to feel that the change was bad, but I am indifferent, as I am emotionally checked out on Atlanta and that feeling has been building for the last fifteen years.

Where I lived in the Ford Factory and Ponce City Market next door. Photo by me, September 2025.

Walking through Ponce City Market, I noticed there was some turnover in the retail and more vacancies since my last visit. There was some odd place that felt very downmarket with vendors selling products that were obviously made at the kitchen table and it had two live DJs playing over each other. Was it a club or a store? Most of the other people there were talking to each other and not buying anything. My ears hurt, I straightened my collar and realized that whatever that place was, it was not for me. A couple of other places were odd fits too. Ponce City Market is a nice piece of architecture, but the shine is wearing off and it felt less chic.

 

I am not as plugged in as times past as to what happens in the city and unbeknownst to me, it was the first day of the Shaky Knees Festival, which has moved to Piedmont Park and replaced Music Midtown. I remember when Music Midtown began off Tenth Street in what were then empty lots west of Peachtree behind what was Weekends before the Federal Reserve moved from Downtown to Midtown. I remember trying to get to work at Turner through the Music Midtown scene and the detours. I would say Atlanta was more interesting and alternative then, but I would guess the people who attended Shaky Knees this year would say the same about modern Atlanta. In your youth and mistake making period, all of the world can seem to be an interesting playground. 

James Laid.

The first Music Midtown lineup in 1994 varied from James Brown to The Knack to James. I am a sucker for bands from Manchester and I loved James. They had hits with Say Something, Born of Frustration and in 1993 their big hit was Laid, a song about messing around with gender roles. If that song could be a mainstream hit in the U.S. in the early 90s and it likely would not be in the climate of 2025, then what has changed and is society going backwards or forwards? Why are we more uptight about some topics and lowering our standards everywhere else from public behavior, education, the arts, government, architecture, fashion and so on?

The Bank of America building from North Avenue. Photo by me, September 2025.

 

Peachtree Street looking north from North Avenue. September 2025.

If the city was not more interesting and alternative in the 90s, it certainly was more loose, rundown, smaller and society and culture were entirely different. Was the 90s the last great decade and the peak of personal freedom? I was in my teens and twenties then, so with youth clouded memories, I am biased. There is no easy answer, but I would be dishonest if part of me did not want to say it was. When comparing today to the 90s and if given a choice of being young today or being young in the 1990s, even with the ever-present risk of AIDS and the gay rights struggles of that time, I would choose the 90s again without hesitation. Young people today are growing up in an entirely different world that is in some ways better and in some ways worse and I do not envy them. The person I am, the young person I was and the experiences I had are not suited for Atlanta in 2025. I do not belong there and I am comfortable with that, nostalgia is not leading me by the hand to a rose colored past. 

A new skyline. Photo by me, September 2025.

The only building visible in the photo above from 17^th Street from the foreground to the background that existed in the 1990s is the one marked. That is 999 Peachtree Street or what was known as First Union Plaza completed in 1987. First Union bank was purchased by Wachovia, now Wells Fargo, in 2001. In the 90s, the foreground was the Atlantic Steel mill.

The original goths, the punks, the alterna kids of the past are all grown and gone like the hippies of the Tight Squeeze before them. Gone too are the hangouts from 688, Midtown Music Hall to The Metroplex. Atlanta once had a thriving rock and alternative scene, not that most not from here would know since the media only fixates on rap and hip hop and ignores anything else. The city of today is a different playground for a different generation that lacks an original cultural identity. Are they Generation Recycle? I suppose I should be happy that Little Five Points still exists.

Nirvana playing at the old Masquerade on North Avenue in 1990 before they took over the globe. They would play here again in the fall of '91 in support of Nevermind and then on subsequent visits, they played the big venues.