Everyone would stop to watch, and it became something of a weekly ritual - sort of funny, but also a little sad since it was probably the high point of his life.” - Harry J At some point in the evening, the DJ would play Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walking,” and he would get up on the little stage at the far end of the room and dance alone, becoming Nancy for those few short moments. Every Friday, there was this older guy who used to hang by himself in the back bar. “Back around 1990 or 1991, the drill on Friday nights was to get a buzz going early at JR.’s and then head over to Badlands. Even if for one night or two nights a year when we danced, heaven was really here on earth.” - Danny Linden “I coordinated the ‘Return the Beat Around’ dances at Apex during Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend 20, and I get goosebumps (and a bit misty) remembering dancing with friends such as Billy Collison, Wayne Nesbitt, Bryan ‘Pup’ Mullikan, Neil Alexander and others who are now gone - and also with many others who are thankfully still here. Monkeypox “Circulating Globally in Some Parts of the Gay Community,” CDC Reports But being in school in Baltimore, I’m glad I was paying 1997 gas prices!” - Keith Hoffman Walking up to the door, my knees were shaking from being so nervous about going into a gay club, but once in, and after meeting so many people, it quickly became my new home. There wasn’t anywhere to go in Baltimore and I heard about ‘college night’ at Badlands from a friend. “I was 19, in college in Baltimore, and fresh out of the closet. Truly an eventful night at Badlands.” - Bob Carroll Doesn’t seem like yesterday, but it doesn’t seem like whatever 21 years is supposed to feel like, either. Shockingly, that was over 21 years ago and we are still together. That meeting led to a very long conversation, some dancing to the B-52s (‘Roam if you want to’), a phone number and a date to a party the next night. I made my way over to the one friend juggling the drinks and said something insightful like, ‘Wow, they left you with a lot of drinks!” To which he replied, “Didn’t they? I’m a goddamn cocktail table!’ The conversation lasted long enough for tall skinny guy to come off the dance floor, and the cocktail table introduced us. I saw this guy and his friends hand off all their drinks to one friend so they could all go dance. After wandering around the various bars tightly gripping my bottle of Bud, I set my eyes upon a small group of friends - specifically one tall, skinny boy-next-door type. I didn’t do this very often (or at all), so I was a little nervous. “On MaI decided to drive into Badlands all by myself from my recently purchased condo in Fairfax, Va.