56. Duane Wells

There are few luxurious spots on the globe this luxury lifestyle curator hasn’t uncovered, explored and written home about, but 2017 will see Wells take his expertise a step further still. On tap for the new year is a LivingWells travel concierge service that aims to create curated travel itineraries for the most discerning travelers, as well as a menswear blog and the debut of a brand-new series of travel guides. Can’t decide where to vacation next? Let Duane Wells offer some advice. —S.H.

From UnicornBooty

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Casino Royale
Revue brings a show biz buffet to Sonoma
by Jim Gladstone

“You normally wouldn’t see this big of a gay explosion in Sonoma County,” jokes Duane Wells, the promoter of Revue, a performance and party extravaganza to be held on the Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend at Rohnert Park’s Graton Resort Casino.

Wells has put together a mindboggling, genderbending roster of talent for two nights of sparkly, sexy, hot messy fun. Lady Bunny, Jackie Beat, Martha Wash, Jimmy James, Joey Arias, and internet eyecandy Davey Wavey are just some of the names who will appear at the first major gayfocused entertainment event at the 13month old casino, located less than an hour north of San Francisco.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE:
DWells-Interview

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We will honor the life of Nelson Mandela and his support to our LGBT community & the world.
In addition we will chat with the one & only Luxe Travel Writer, Duane Wells about his work & travels!
And of course we have dish…..celebrities “coming out” of the closet this week!

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Duane Wells (aka Gertie) pens Moxie Q’s weekly travel blog entitled “Living Wells”. The former Managing Editor of GayWired.com and host of “Here’s The Thing,” an hour-long daily gay travel radio program. Duane is currently traversing the globe seeking out the best in travel as a frequent contributor to a number of travel and lifestyle publications in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom including Passport, Homefront and Frontiers, as well as other online resources including Advocate.com and GayTravelNews.

Where and when did you two meet?

Diana: At a mutual friend’s brunch on the morning of Los Angeles Gay Pride 2001. I had just moved to LA the day before and thought every day must be like that! Wait…. It kind of has been!

When did you realize she was your best friend?

Duane: When you pass out and wake up at someone’s house more than three times and feel no shame about it, he or she might be your BFF…tha’s what I think.   Seriously though…

I was on a trip with a group of gay journalists many years back where I couldn’t stop telling Diana stories.   It was Diana this, Diana that, Diana all the time.   By the end of that trip, every one of the journalists either wanted to meet Diana or be Diana.   They were all absolutely enamored of her as most people are. Funny enough, that still happens today.

My stories with Diana are still the most memorable and I can’t stop telling them.   Somehow we always manage to make magic.   Whether we’re slumped on a couch in her living room drinking wine and watching movies, singing Cher songs in a parking garage, or at the most brilliant event ever, the magic follows us.   You know you’ve got a BFF when your favorite memories always involve them.

What do you trust more- his relationship advice OR his style advice?

Diana: Although I have grown to value both, at first glance, definitely Duane’s style. He was wearing an ascot in June for god’s sakes!  That’s not to say he has not delivered more than his fair share of relationship advice and he has never steered me wrong, many times telling me when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.

Your best friend in 3 words — GO!

Duane:

Fierce (Diana was fierce long before the word became fashionable…in fact she made it fashionable); Fun (if you’re not having fun around Diana, then you’re probably really boring); Loyal(When you become a part of Diana’s menagerie of friends, she protects you fiercely.   Few get in, but even fewer get out)

Wha’s the one piece of advice that has stuck with you the most?

Diana: Do what you love to do and everything else will fall into place. I admire Duane because he has always done just that, consequences be damned!

How long do you wait to introduce your BFF to the new guy you’re dating? Why?

Duane: Well to be honest, there haven’t been many dates to introduce Diana to because I have what I call the “six-month rule”.   I believe for the first six months you’re dating anyone you’re dealing with their representative and not the real person. So why would I introduce my friends to someone I don’t really know?

So given this rule, combined with the fact I haven’t had a relationship that has lasted longer than six months in over a decade, this hasn’t really been a problem.

However, there was this one gorgeous guy I was a little infatuated with awhile back.   At an impromptu birthday party, after a few cocktails, I announced that my “date” for the evening was my “new best friend”.   With a raised eyebrow, Diana sipped her cocktail and gave me a look that said ‘Oh really?  Calm down mister sister!’  I never made that mistake again.

Share the skeleton — what is the weirdest thing you two have done together?

Diana: Our whole friendship has been based on odd scenarios that seem to find us.   There was the 4th of July alien-abduction or that fateful trip to Mexico which nearly cost us our friendship. But in the end we’ve always been able to laugh about it.

Wha’s your biggest fashion Do & Don’t for her?

Duane: I honestly don’t have a fashion do or don’t for Diana because she lives fashion and beauty like few people do.   Seriously…drag queens don’t know fashion and beauty as well as Diana…this woman won drag contests as a teenager for chrissakes. Think about that!

She knows herself, she knows what works for her and she knows how to make an entrance. I have never seen anyone …not even a professional make-up artist… who can paint a face, upsweep a ‘do’ and be camera ready in under 20 minutes.   If anything, I actually learn about fashion from her.   She’s taught me to be more daring, more rock n’ roll and more bold…she’s the Karen to my Will.

Has he ever forced his opinion on you? Did you listen?

Diana: Force?  God bless the man who thinks he could.    I always listen, then give my opinion and then we generally compromise.   The whole function of a great friendship is trusting and valuing each other’s opinions.

Where would you like to see your GBF in 5 years?

Diana: Writing an article for Vanity Fair as he sips Veuve on his yacht in the south of France.

What is the best advice she’s ever given you?

Duane: “C’mon girl…have a drink!”  That one drink which has always turned into many more has also given birth to some of the best times and wildest nights I’ve had in Los Angeles.   So I guess the subtext of the drink was really ‘live a little’ and, my oh my, have Diana and I done just that.

What is your ideal day together?

Duane: An ideal day with Di would go something like this…Wake up in the same place after a sleepover, lie in bed and recap the night while watching E! and talking about people…pop out for a mimosa-filled brunch, do a bit shopping, then head home for a costume change, tip out to a cocktail party, stop in at some other event, drop by Fubar for last call… and then head home for after-hours and a wig marathon. Basically a repeat of Saturday before last.

(Originally printed at MoxieQ.com)

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SheWired.com Senior Editor Tracy E. Gilchrist and today’s guest gay, GayWired.com Editor at Large Duane Wells, prove that lesbians and gay men do get along… especially when they’re getting bitchy over the latest dirt in Hollywood.

In the wake of the election and Prop. 8’s historic and hateful passing the lesbian gossipy girl and the guest gay are feeling malaise, although bolstered by the perpetual protesting and of post-protest cocktails. This week the duo skewers Grey’s Anatomy and the networks decision to nix the only storyline that didn’t double as an Ambien with a Grey Goose chaser. Plus the Real Housewives of Atlanta are one countrified hot mess, Madonna soldiers on with the war paint, Cher on Ellen Degeneres and Oprah faces off with Tina Fey.

TEG: Hey darling Duane. You there?

DW: Sorry I was on a call. Okay I’m all yours.

TEG: Oooh. I know you’re a busy boy… Thanks for filling in while Ross is too busy for me. First up, since this we’re popping your gossip girl and her gay cherry, is anything too off-color?

DW: For me? Never… I love off color…

TEG: Oh Good. Okay, so we should talk about this election. What’s with these fucking Mormons? I mean I’ve seen Big Love. I know what they’re up to and I’d love to have three wives… especially that adorable Ginnifer Goodwin.

DW: Yeah… I really think they’ve got their nerve. A religion founded on secrecy, polygamy and racist overtones has the audacity to inject itself in the gay marriage debate. I suppose from that perspective they might feel like they know a thing or two about marriage since they seem to believe in so many of them. Oh and I did we even talk about child brides? Give me a break!

TEG: That’s true. I’ll tell you what though. I’d rather be a second class citizen rather than be forced to wear those fugly prairie skirts and a thick ass braid down my back. Have you been out marching and if so, what’s your fave protest outfit?

DW: Well fashion has never been a Mormon trait. Maybe they’re so stuck in the past they can’t see the future. At least not beyond that God-awful fashion. I mean really are we to allow people who dress like that determine our gay future. When they can figure out contemporary fashion tell them to ring us up again and we’ll chat marriage. Haven’t been out marching sadly. But if I were to be out protesting… I’d opt for slim cut jeans and fitted t-shirt. Some of those activists are Hawt! Why not kill two birds with one stone? Who said protests have to be boring darling?

TEG: Would you sport your signature scarf?

DW: Oh absolutely! Make a statement, find a man I always say. It’s the best of both worlds!

TEG: I dropped everything and ran out the front door of the building yesterday. I walked two miles up Wilshire before I turned around realizing my purse was open and the office was closing. I didn’t have time to get to the gym, so the four-mile march was perfect.

DW: See… there are all sorts of benefits to community organizing. Fitness, fashion, dating… I think it’s going to be the new rage! Thank God!

TEG: And you know dykes love to march. It’s a reason to whip out the hiking boots.

DW: Yeah gays like to cocktail and complain… But your people love a protest. And good on you for that.

TEG: Cept me. I love a protest followed by a cocktail or a flask for the road.

DW: Hah! You are a woman after my own heart! Sometimes you need the cocktail to deal with the rally. You know crowds make me nervous some times.

TEG: Mmmmhmmm. That’s the whole point of “Gossip Girl and Her Gay”. We do get along.

DW: Indeed… it’s why we love you!

TEG: Well, I know you need your secret service men with you to face your public.

DW: Well… it’s just all that jostling and invasion of personal space. But if the cause demands I shall soldier on.

TEG: Anyway… do you watch that drip of a show Grey’s Anatomy? How could they fire the girl in the well from Silence of the Lambs?

DW: You know I think I am one of the five Americans who does not watch Grey’s Anatomy… I’m ashamed to say that beyond Patrick Dempsey there’s not quite enough eye candy for me. Besides I watched ER. I get the gist. LOL.

TEG: I hate it… personally, but if big-piped Sara Ramirez was going to get it on with a girl, I was going to tune in. Now screw it. And ER has and always been much Better!  Although, it’s a little long in its tooth now.

DW: Yeah what’s up wit that Sara Ramirez story?

TEG: ABC got cold feet. Nixed the Lez storyline.

DW: ABC must have gotten wind of what was to come with Prop 8. Arrrggggh!

TEG: Yeah. It was a double slap in the face. What are you watching these days darling?

DW: Oh well I’m becoming an aficionado of The Real Housewives of Orange County… of Atlanta I mean.

TEG: Oh Damn!  I haven’t seen it yet. I’m sure it’s a hot mess. Tell me about your fave hot mess. What’s her name? who does she cuss out etc…

DW: Honey… when Hot Mess does not even begin to capture the magic!  There’s Nene and Sheree… and baby they don’t like each other!  It’s all out war of the cattiest degree.

TEG: Have they ripped out the other’s weave yet?

DW: Not yet, but the funny thing is that they thing they’re all so fabulous and they are straight up country! Transplant them to LA and we’d goof them like nobody’s business. Bunch of drag queens. Although I might be friends with Nene. For the gossip alone.

TEG: I love that ‘country.’ Being a naive white girl from Connecticut I never heard the term before applied to Urban African American ladies. And by ladies, in this case, I use the term loosely.

DW: As you should. We use the term quite frequently down south.

TEG: Oh yes, tell the girls where you’re from Duane.

DW: I grew up six hours from Atlanta in Jacksonville, Florida where being country is an art form. So I know those ‘ladies.’

TEG: Oh yeah. Jacksonville.  I think I ate at a Hooters on the water there once.

DW: I love Hooters!

TEG: There’s some mall like thing with a hooters on the shore?

DW: The Riverwalk.

TEG: I can’t imagine you in a hooters… motor-boating the waitresses… Yeah. I was at that Riverwalk once.

DW: Jacksonville’s prize claim to fame. Yeah the waitresses love me at Hooters. Because we’re like girlfriends. I go every chance I get!

TEG: You lend them your lip gloss?

DW: And offer fashion advice of course!  Like girl… lose the hose and the sneakers!  Egads!

TEG: Yeah. That is not a good look.

DW: Never was… never will be.

TEG: I never liked it on businesswomen walking around the park in Hartford on lunch hour. Skirt suit, hose and trainers. uggg.

DW: It’s all so disturbing… let’s not go there. I’ll have nightmares from my youth.

TEG: I won’t push it. Well, then we have a date to go to Hooters and eat nachos… or you can have wings but I’m a still an insufferable lesbian vegetarian.

DW: You’re on! We can go the one in Hollywood!

TEG: Oh yes… Hollywood Hoots. I have a Hooters top from Atlantic City and I’ll tell you, the girls look good in that shit.

DW: And yes those Hooters tops are flattering! Even a queen like me must agree.

TEG: Did you happen to catch Madonna or is she too dried up for you?

DW: You know I was so underwhelmed by Confessions I couldn’t see tossing $400 at Madge this time around. I’ve heard not great things though… and from her biggest fans! Did you hear she was two hours late going on last night?

TEG: I did not but she’s a day older, that base takes a while.

DW: You mean paint don’t you? That shit is industrial strength!

TEG: Oh, I was being kind. She is a gay icon after all.

DW: Well she is… and I applaud her but c’mon. Cher‘s keeping it together  Madge can too.

 TEG: Madge is painting it on like she’s in a spray tan place.

DW: That’s what I mean. Cher’s face may not move, but hey… you know…

TEG: I heard Britney Spears showed up, lucid and wearing a new weave.

DW: What was up with her buttoned up outfit though? That was country!

TEG: Maybe the Mormon church got to her!

DW: So Tennessee!

TEG: Hahaha…  Now Tennessee is my girl Dolly Parton!

DW: Whoop… whoop! Props to Dolly… I love that old thing! Can’t get enough of her!

TEG: A heart as big as her cup size I always say!

DW: Never heard anything but great things about her…now that’s a star…and honey the drag! I live for it!

TEG: Did you catch Cher on Ellen this week?

DW: OMG… I’m such a loser… I was so wrapped up in the election madness that I saw hardly any television.

TEG: Oh no, That’s a good loser thing. If you said you were hung up on Days of our Lives and missed the election that would be bad.

DW: I guess you’ve got a point there.  I feel like a ship without sail now that it’s all over

TEG: The election?

DW: But then again there’s still Prop 8.

TEG: Oh… this will go on for a while.

DW: And all the homophobia in America which is pissing me off to no end. I can hardly be joyous.

TEG: I know. I cried at work the other morning. The gays are not going way. We are going to march, love, fornicate and accessorize.

DW: And drink… all the things we do best. As a friend’s mother used to say… ‘America made my ass want to suck a lemon.’

TEG: That’s right. Keep those bartenders busy although with the economy I’m having to frequent my two-buck Chuck stash more than I care to.  LOVE that! Ass suck a lemon.

DW: Yeah… $14 cocktails seem a bit of an unnecessary luxury these days. I always loved that phrase as well.

TEG: Was she from Georgia or Alabama cuz that sounds like something Miss Sipsy would say in Fried Green Tomatoes.

DW: Southern women are nothing if not colorful. No just from ol’ country Jacksonville, Florida Child you haven’t seen country until you’ve been J-ville. It really is southern Georgia!

TEG: I guess the Riverwalk doesn’t give me the full view.

DW: Not at all… that’s high-fallutin’ Jacksonville. LOL.

TEG: I know you’re out of the loop but did you happen to catch Oprah on 30 Rock?

DW: No but I saw a clip. That O… she’s everywhere…  Funny?

TEG: And by big O I mean Obama’s publicist.

DW: LOL Amen!

TEG: She was funny. A good sport. But Tina Fey is on a roll.

DW: Say that again and again.

TEG: The woman is hot.

DW: Tina Fey is finally getting her due. She’s a real talent! She had me at Mean Girls!  Which I still secretly watch when I’m blue.

TEG: Oh I know… Fugly Slut. Brilliant and the trust falls in the gym…

DW: Who’s a fugly slut? Tina Fey?

TEG: oh No… that was the phrase in Mean Girls. I assume she wrote it.

DW: Indeed she did. I just got confused there for a minute.

TEG: I’m not fugly but maybe a little slutty… anyway….

DW: Honey you may be slutty… I don’t know your life, but you ain’t fugly. Trust.

TEG: Alright love… Ross, who was too busy to Gossip Girl with me is yapping at me about Cyndi Lauper, drag queens,All My Children, The Changeling, Patti LaBelle. You name it. So I gotta run to find out what that girl is on about.

DW: Have fun! Wells out!

TEG: Ciao.

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Nominees were selected on the criterion of how buzzworthy, rewarding and popular they as destinations, companies or events. We love places and people that are progressive, adventurous and creative. We value companies who treat all travelers with respect, who provide service and value, and who sometimes just knock out socks off with full-on pampering! All of these factors were taken into consideration in selecting who you’ll be voting for.

And above, all the academy members chose nominees that will hopefully get your heart racing. Travel is a passionate experience, and we hope you feel passionate about our nominees.

Meet our academy – and visit their links to discover their work!

Duane Wells is a leading travel and lifestyle expert, contributing to a number of travel and lifestyle publications in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. He authors a blog for MoxieQ Media entitled Living Wells: My Life in Luggagecovering everything from the latest travel trends to the hottest destinations. He is presently working on a collection of short essays, a reality series and various other travel-related projects.

http://www.newnownext.com/2011-newnownext-travel-awards-nominating-academy/09/2011/

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Are you a fan of food? Wine? Theater? Nightlife? Obscure travel hideaways? Then meet Duane Wells, a writer whose new travel blog caters to urban, sophisticated readers with a penchant for the exotic and hip—as well as those with a taste for luxury.

Through his “Living Wells” blog, Wells touches on all things fun and fantastic in the travel world. “[Readers] want to know about the hot new hotels and bars in a destination and where to find fashion and accessories they won’t see everyone wearing when they get back home,” he says. “They also want to know what to avoid, what to try and what to order.”

Founded in 2009 by women who “have many helpful ‘gay best friends,’” MoxieQ co-founder and CEO Heidi Lehmann says Wells is the “quintessential MoxieQ ‘tastemaker’ candidate: suave, sophisticated and a gifted writer,” noting that the site’s “tastemaker” categories are filled with “experts who can really blaze a trail in terms of providing our audience with real expertise and actionable recommendations about a certain topic.”

“Duane is our lead travel expert, and his blog is currently one of our most highly read and shared on the site, which speaks to his real experience not only as a writer but as a seasoned traveler … with a unique and compelling voice that really engages,” Lehmann says, adding that the site has a growing audience of more than 250,000 users a month.

“We’re only at the beginning stage of our audience-building for MoxieQ, but anticipate Duane is going to quickly build out a large following,” she says, noting that MoxieQ is both a launch pad for the next wave of influential ‘Queer Eye’ tastemakers and “inspiration for women around the globe who want the ‘inside track’ to all things entertainment and style.”

Wells says MoxieQ’s “Living Wells: My Life in Luggage” had been kicking around for a while and that the blog name perfectly suits him. “I love my creature comforts, so ‘Living Wells’ being a play on ‘living well’ seemed like it perfectly captured my voice and what I wanted to write about,” he says.

“My hope is always that if a reader identifies with me and my point of view, then he or she will enjoy seeing a destination through my eyes—even if they’ve visited the destination before or read about it somewhere else,” Wells says. “I believe that the one unique thing I have is my own voice, which also explains why I don’t try to be all things to all people in my travel writing, either. I like luxury, fashion, food, nightlife, culture and I really get into tapping into the rhythm of life in different destinations. I’m not particularly into adventure or a host of things that I know are better left to other writers who enjoy that sort of thing, so I don’t do them. I think it would read totally inauthentic if I did. I mean, who wants to read about how much I hate sleeping on wet grass in the middle of a campsite or how miserable I was on a hike through Yellowstone?”

Wells has covered such destinations as Turks and Caicos, Telluride, the Spanish island of Ibiza, finding the hip—and gay—destinations along the way. Going forward, Wells, whose career has also included entertainment journalism and two interviews with Lady Gaga, is planning to include more destination-specific blog posts that also include video from his travels.

“Readers can expect to read about everywhere from Brighton and Wales, the Costa del Sol, Stockholm and Geneva to Dallas, Santa Barbara and some very out of the way Caribbean islands,” says Wells, who also is launching a new blog that will serialize Heaven or Hell, Darling?—a book he’s been working on about the romantic lives of five guys in their early 30s who have been friends since college.

“I’ve been intrigued by the idea of serializing the book ever since I interviewed Armistead Maupin a few years back and he reminded me that Tales of the City began as a serial in the San Francisco Chronicle,” he says. Readers interested can follow along with the first chapter, which at press time was set to post at the end of January at heavenorhelldarling.blogspot.com.

But Wells’ adventures don’t end there. The prolific writer, who has interviewed such notables as Jackie Collins, Jennifer Hudson and Patti LaBelle, is also developing a travel reality series with a noted film producer and toying with a blog focusing on the world of gay adult entertainment.

But travel and MoxieQ’s weekly blog will always be Wells’ first priority.

“I’ve had some wild stories,” he says of his adventures, which have included a broken kneecap in Madrid, evacuations from airports because of bomb scares, evacuations from resorts because of hurricanes and nearly drowning three times. “In retrospect, all the stories are hilarious now, even if they weren’t so funny in the moment.”

Published Frontiers Magazine January 14, 2011.

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