Black Cab Sessions continues is stellar catalogue of bands singing in the back of a black cab with Grizzly Bear and their song “All We Ask.”
Archive for May, 2009
Gossip Tube
May 27, 2009
Music for Men Infomercial
Gossip Tour pt. 1
Kisses
More at Brace Pain’s Youtube Channel, Music For Men out June 22, just in time for Pride!
Homophobia on The Young & The Restless
May 27, 2009
*Michael Muhney
No he dint! Amidst all the celebration of queerness going on at the set of the Young and the Restless comes a blatant act of homophobia. Actor Chris Egen has officially quit his part as Adam Newman after storylines called for him to kiss gay character Rafe! Less than a day after quitting actor Newman has now been recast with Michael Muhney of Veronica Mars fame! At least we have some open minded hotness to look forward to with Michael Muhney and Rafe! How unfortunate it is that hot actor Chris Egen’s homophobic tendencies have come to light. I wish him no luck in his future endeavors.
–Colossus Matos
Pink Pistols
May 27, 2009
Not sure how much activity is stewing around over at Pink Pistols, but seriously WHY does there have to be a gay version of EVERYTHING? I am firmly against having guns in the home, hunting is for lower mammals and the pops I’ve heard in my neighborhood cause a surreal and unnecessary acceptance. The “empowerment” that happens when you own a gun is fear-based, not at all rooted in the humanity that we are fighting for.
Whoa. Planet Ida
May 27, 2009
As much as I roll my eyes at hippies and gatherings of folksy music, I gotta admit Planet Ida and the 8th annual Idapalooza Fruit Jam sounds fun. June 10th-15th, the backwoods of Tennessee will be filled with queers, gay, wimmin, and trannies for a week of camping, queer music and shenanigans. This happens on a private estate, 243 acres of communal farm and I can only guess what goes on in bushes of bushes. Chicago native Lord of the Yum Yum is on the bill, look here for full list of queer performers and schedule. Your donation includes all music and food for the week, meals are vegetarian/vegan and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Bear Art
May 27, 2009
More by the same artist, James Gobel, here . This one is called “The Fitting No. 1″
Sugar Butch Chronicles
May 26, 2009
PHew, flurpg. The sounds of palette cleansing. After this weekend, I can take a small break from queeny half-dressed men. Thank god a friend of mine mentioned Sugarbutch Chronicles, a kinky, sexy blog by Sinclair Sexsmith. Sexsmith is not a misnomer, as this turned out to be a hot site for dykes who like their porn and kink conversations with less cautious giggling and more comfortable assumptions. Film reviews, passionate opinions about sex toys, erotic narratives, real life sex stories and overall intelligence make this a good read, even for a gay guy like me. Considering the many queer girls I know that want more real blogs for them, Sugarbutch should be a nice landing pad.
Dyke March 2009 To Be Held in Pilsen Again!
May 25, 2009
From the press release, more on this later:
Altering the 2008 decision to hold the Chicago Dyke* March (CDM) in a different neighborhood every summer, organizers announced that the it will remain in each new location for two consecutive years. Pilsen, a predominantly Mexican and immigrant community will host Dyke March for a second time this June. The decision to stay in one neighborhood for two years is in part a recognition of the importance of engaging deeply with every community that hosts Dyke March. The intention is to do significant solidarity and education work, so that the march takes place with the full participation of neighborhood residents and organizations, as well as queer people from all across the city who identify with the mission. With limited resources and funding to do this work, organizers believe that community outreach and education efforts will have a more significant impact by spending two years in one location.
IML Day Three – Texas Wins!
May 25, 2009
*Mr. Texas and International Mr. Leather 2009
Sunday would be my last day at IML this year, and it was the best. The market was in full tilt, the people feeling the end and needing to show off:
The Alien Egg seemed to be retired for most of the day, with the space being used for heavy bondage. I saw this dominant top having his way with a poor sub. The dom had his right arm in his pocket the whole time, and I realized that he didn’t have use of it, making his disability fierceness all the more deserving of an obedient boy:
Boris, alas! You are the one that got away. I had been trying to get this cute, tattooed, dancing bootblack to shine my shoes but I showed up too late every fucking day and I was so disappointed. He won 2nd runner up in the Mr. Bootblack competition, so I’m sure he’ll be back. I got his card and if you need your boots shined, he’d love to hear from you: bootblackboris((@))gmail.com
The International Mr. Leather Contest got off to a great start. Chuck Renslow, the founder of IML, presented the opening words and he delivered quite the plea. With HIV infections on the rise, and this being the 31st year of contests, he was shocked that our community had not contained this disease. He asked everyone who knew someone who had passed away from AIDS to stand up and shout out their name. Fortunately I did not have to stand, but looking around the room, most everyone was standing and shouting. VERKLEMPT, to put it lightly and that energy was turned around to start the show. The contestants came out and Mr. Marcus announced the top 20. Besides having 6 of TPR’s 8 faves in the top 20, Mr. Marcus was the snappiest, funniest, sweetest highlight of the whole weekend. Loose teeth, a sharp tongue and grandpa jeans made me swoon:
Each of the top 20 had a speech prepared, and their words were a sincere attempt to communicate what message they would bring to the world in 2009. I wasn’t expecting much, as Pecs and Personality really had ZERO personality, but these guys delivered. A couple of running themes: repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, eliminating HIV stigma, and expanding the boundaries of what it means to be a leather man. All in all, this thing ran 5+ hours with two intermissions and it was quite the party. Singing performances by Linda Clifford and (outdated and WAY TOO LONG) filth-cabaret puppet Madame with an E were there to keep us going while the judges deliberated. After Mr. Texas Leather 2009, Jeffrey Payne got sashed, there was celebrating and shenanigans all over the place:
What a great year! Closing thoughts: Every woman that I knew who went to the hosting hotel this year got asked by security why they were there, one of which got asked to leave. Considering the Market is open to anyone 21 and over, that’s sexist BULLSHIT. The entertainment for the events are all standard fare for mainstream gays and I wonder why a community that prides itself on being edgy plays it vanilla when it comes to the music and performances. However in the end, this is a contest for Mr.’s, and any amount of intellectualizing intent and execution probably just says more about me than anything else. The organizational element of IML is pretty impeccable, and this is a gay holiday that is HUGE for the city if Chicago. Looking forward to next year!
IML Day Two
May 25, 2009
Saturday kicked it up a notch. The market was a lot busier: open minded arm chair fetishists come by and have a looksie, and the tension between the nubes and the full-on flogging pups is hot and thick in the air. Obviously, I finally talked to David Mason and you know how sometimes you meet someone that you admire and then afterwords you don’t admire them as much? Well, not the case here, David is as sweet as pie. Besides his high fashion take on fetish wear in Slick It Up, his blog House of Vader is one I read every day. It’s a porny, progressive place where David rants about muscles, video queens, steroids, and fashion, all the while backing it up with personal anecdotes. His point of view really plays around with ideas about masculinity and political correctness, and girl can tell a story. You remember Ongina’s hat that she wore to the reunion episode of Rupaul’s Drag race? David made that hat. I knew I was going to try and meet him, but when I finally saw how tall he was, (dude’s a gentle giant, SO HOT) I got a little pee shy and waited. Finally, it was nice to chitty chat about blogging and IML, I hope it’s not till next year that we get to hang out again. I bought some slicky gauntlets and made the BF try on some (holy crap I’m lucky) pants:
I was too late to get my boot shined by Boris, but put my name down for tomorrow. My cutie bootblack was totally cool about an interview and was not at all annoyed that I didn’t have a ballot. Soon, it would be time for “Pecs and Personality” and we needed to get our seats. I wasn’t until I walked into the theatre that I realized how big of a production this was:
Big Ms. Opening Number performed a song and got every one pumped. 54 leather men entered the stage and had a nice walk around, and with each you got something like this from the MC’s: “Contestant number 24, is Joe Bigguns, Mr. Leather Springfield 2008. He’s 5’11″ tall, weighs 178 pounds, has salt and pepper hair and blue eyes. Joe is a Medical case worker for people living with HIV. Hobbies include, hiking, going to the gym, BDSM, CBT, mentoring and positive thinking.” Serious! After that, they were each asked a pretty silly question designed to illicit cheap sexual innuendo, and overall there was not that much personality in the “Pecs and Personality” part of this contest. But really, no one want to sit through too much talking, and with 54 guys, they needed to keep things moving. Mr. Texas was an early TPR fave, and in the end our top picks were Texas, Bavaria, London, NYC, Mid States, Belgium, New Zealand, Michigan, and LA. Surprisingly, there was only one black contestant and two latinos, but about 10 from other countries, truly claiming the international status. Crazy, bouncy, Mr. Bavaria:
A good, good day, plenty to look at and take in, can’t wait for tomorrow. Spent, we went to get some sushi before late night activities commenced:
