The Stud in San Francisco was a playground for me in my early 20s.  It had pinball machines, which I excelled at and moved my body in accordance with my playing. A pool table at which I also shone, and often dominated the table for hours, winning Challenger after Challenger. (Thank you to my father's genes, who was an excellent pool playing gambler and was probably playing on the felt while my mother was literally giving birth to me.) 

But most importantly the stud had a midsize dance floor that was a showcase for my inexhaustible dance skills.  Like so many guys of that generation I lived for dancing on the weekends, and I was so good that I would weave in and out of fellow dancers, dance by myself because hardly anybody could keep up with me and oftentimes had great good luck meeting people, getting free drinks and many compliments. It sounds like bragging but it's 100% the truth. 

There was a remarkably handsome and solidly built black guy that would often dance near me and smile and nod approvingly, but we never danced together and my conversations with him were very limited. He was shy, soft-spoken and mostly kept to himself.  It was very interesting to watch him, dancing alone like I was, but in a much slower and calmer way and he seemed completely unphased by the hungry eyes that followed him everywhere. 

When I saw him on the cover of a 12-inch single at Streetlight records in the Castro, I did a double take and said, “Wait a second I know this guy!”  I bought the record, and I realized that I had often been dancing to HIS song “Seclusion”, but never once did I know it was him singing. Especially with a voice that doesn't match his physicality at all and there wasn't a video to go with it. 

“Seclusion” is a fantastic Hi-NRG dance record and Time Capsule for me that brings back a clear vision of watching Shawn Benson on the dance Floor of The Stud with his sweet smile and fantastic body. It is still on my gym playlist.  Do you know this song? Here’s the shorter radio edit … 

There are more stories to come about The Stud and how I met and intimately got to know people like porn star Dany/Danny Brown and Jack Mackenroth (before Project Runway, swimming in the Gay Games and adult videos).  The Stud later became known as Tranny Shack, headed up by my favorite acerbic bartender, Steffan (aka San Francisco drag legend, Heklina). Later, Heklina held regular events at The Stud and called it Tranny Shack.  But they had to change its name because of cultural woke-name pushbacks. Then came a huge rent increase and COVID and the oldest gay bar in San Francisco had to close its doors in 2020. We lost Heklina tragically to an "unexpected death" while in London to perform "Mommie Queerest".

I don't know whatever became of Shawn Benson, The Stud is trying to re-open, and Heklina is gone. But the memories live on and I'm here to tell you...