Party of One

I absolutely adored this book. Dave Holmes wrote this memoir to express how society has treated him throughout the years, but he did so with song. Party of One hits all of his high notes and even some low ones, but it was perfect in all the right places. It was hard being a closeted gay for many, many years while attending a Catholic school and trying to meet all that was expected of him. He was never good at sports, but he knew his way around the music scene. Each week he'd wake up and listen to the Top 40 before church, and be able to catch the last few chart toppers right after. Music gave him solace. It could truly make you feel anything you wanted, and that's what he needed most. In college he wrote an anonymous letter to the school newspaper trying to find the other gays and lesbians on campus... it was a flop, but he was still proud of it. He was also a party king on campus, that is until they kicked him out. However, this gave him reason to move to New York. He found a steady job, fell in with a close group of friends, and visited all the happening gay bars in the city. Dave made his break in the Big Apple, landing himself a spot on MTV's Wanna Be A VJ? Sure, he was a runner-up to Jesse Camp, but Dave went on to work much bigger projects. Reality TV, different reality dating shows, and eventually my favorite, Total Request Live, aka TRL! Dave's time with MTV took him all around the world. He got to learn the inside scoop on many celebrities. He got to see behind the scenes of many hit shows. But they never allowed him to elaborate on being gay. Being gay in the '90s was hard because no one knew what to say or how to react. He wanted to be out, he wanted to be an openly gay celebrity, but MTV never gave him that chance. TV then and TV now still expects the stereotypical girl's gay best friend. But reality is not like that. We are all people and that needs to be noticed. But overall, Dave Holmes wrote a delightful and hilarious memoir equipped with all the right songs. Where is the playlist, Dave? I think this book needs one!

Big shout out to Blogging For Books who provided a hardcover copy of Party of One!