A word about Gentleman’s Club in the middle of summertime. Gentleman’s Club was started in the fall for the last Friday of every month you can look good feel good and savor the good. The intent always was for it to take on a life of its own and not be a club with rules or exclusions. I like to wear ties once a month and go out and drink gentlemanly cocktails and buy a drink for somebody else sitting at the bar, that’s my motivation. I only bring it up and put a dim light on it once a month to start the conversation about what it means to be a gentleman. It’s already been proven that being a dude is not even a requirement for being a gentleman as there have been several females who have participated rather successfully in previous gentlemen’s clubs.
I get responses publicly and privately that usually fall into two categories. Neither category gets what Gentleman’s Club is. That’s fine because I don’t really get what it is, it is something much bigger than a silly idea that I didn’t create it I just abide by. The questions I get usually fall along the line of “Do I really have to wear a tie? It’s summer time do I have to wear a jacket?” Which I would say “I don’t really have the answer” Putting on something that looks good that you don’t wear all the time makes you feel like a gentleman.
Next category of people are the ones who want to pigeonhole Gentleman’s Club into the club that is exclusive and too good for them. These are often the guys who have always lived on the fringe and revel in being different. The funny thing is these are the people that I identify with most and are the last people that I would want to alienate if I was starting a club. Again though Gentleman’s Club is not a club, much like Good Clean Fun. It’s greater than the sum of its parts; just do something nice to think about it and be respectful where it’s unexpected. Wear a bow tie to your favorite dive bar and give a proud defiant “eff you” to the first person he sneers at you when you walk in the door then throw your arm around him, buy him some Gentleman Jack at the bar. That’s what a gentleman does.