A few weeks ago I read a post on Facebook in which someone was responding to the closing of The Eagle by complaining that the gay bar/club scene "just wasn't the same anymore," how it had become boring and predictable, homogeneous, lost its cruise/sleaze factor, etc. While in my original post about the closing of the Eagle I pointed out that things change, and perhaps it was time to think about a "new gay" as opposed to waxing nostalgic about the "old gay," events like Comfort and Joy's "Active Touch" demonstrate quite well that there is a thriving, exciting, gay scene alive and well in San Francisco, with all the sleaze and craziness you could want, if you just take the time to go looking for it.
This is, to the best of my hazy recollection, the fourth or fifth year that Comfort and Joy has been throwing the Touch parties, usually in conjunction with a major holiday or event, in this case, Dore Alley. While the parties serve on the practical level as fundraisers for Comfort and Joy's annual excursions onto the playa, they also provide a glimpse into a "new gay" underground scene. Inspired in large part originally by John Cameron Mitchell's film "Short Bus," Comfort and Joy events evoke the vibe of the 70s bath-house, where you can cruise, dance, see some inspired performances, and connect with a community that is truly creating something new, rather than trying to hold onto the past. Comfort and Joy parties have provided a platform for musicians, DJs, drag divas, and visual artists like Honey Sound System, the House of Herrera, the House of Salad, III, and many others, and serve as a nexus for queers of all shapes, sizes, and varieties to cum, er, come together.
I must admit that, for this particular event, I didn't really have the energy to devote to a full-scale party. I went primarily to connect with friends and a community that I haven't been part of in a while, and in that regard, it was a blowout - I heard the words "welcome home" so many times that it convinced me that I really was "home." If I'd had a bit more spunk in my junk I could have certainly found any number of amusing divertisements to keep me occupied until the closing bell at 4AM, since there was a dancefloor (though, admittedly, I am not that great a fan of Bus Station John's retro disco sound), a "gentleman's boudoir," a tiki lounge, and any number of small niches where one could locate oneself for conversation or other social interactions. It was enough for me, though, to just feel like I had found myself back among a community that, like a family, has its fractious and dysfunctional aspects, but are the still people with whom feels that special, intimate connection. I'll take that over being groped at The Powerhouse any day.
Showing posts with label Comfort and Joy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comfort and Joy. Show all posts
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Monday, December 22, 2008
Event Review: Comfort and Joy Solstice Celebration "Brighter Days Ahead"
I must admit that I approached the Comfort and Joy Solstice party at Workspace Limited with a small degree of trepidation; it was cold out, there had been drama in the preceding weeks around exactly what was going on when and who was doing it, and I was tired and not looking forward to a ten hour event. But with Kitty DJing the silent art auction in the afternoon, Lord Kook playing the dance portion of the evening, and having personally volunteered to work a door shift from 7-9, there was nothing to do but put on some warm clothes and soldier on. As it turned out, "Brighter Days Ahead" turned into one of the very best little dance parties I've attended in a long time.
The thing I was most uncertain about was how everything that was planned for this event - a silent art auction, the screening of a silent film, performances from drag and "other" artists (more on that in a second), a feast, and a dance party - were going to come together, and in the weeks leading up to the event I was privy to several folks' concerns about whether or not, for example, the dance party would wind up being all of two hours at the end of the evening when all the faeries had already left for the annual faerie Solstice sex party. However, thanks to the agency of Digger the stage manager, Ginga Snapp as hostess and MC (who is very cute in boy drag, btw), and Space the music/DJ coordinator, everything went off amazingly well. The dance music actually got started around 9PM with a set from Space, and the performances were broken up into fifteen or twenty minute interludes between other sets. The only time I was feeling a mite testy about the interplay between performances and the dance music was when a band took to the stage for three dirges. I think the idea was to channel something akin to Diamanda Galas, or, in a more generous mood, The Swans, but not only did they seem musically inappropriate for a party that was supposed to be about joy and celebration, their whole affect was much too reminiscent of art school kids trying way, way too hard to seem avant-garde for me to take them seriously. It's also generally rude to be tuning up and practicing, loudly, through your own PA, against the music that the DJ is playing. They did have a couple Mission hipster kid fans who gyrated around like Dervishes at the front of the stage during their mercifully short set, but I think the consensus was that everyone was much more inclined to dancing along with Lord Kook and KJ.
And dance they did, with a full and happy dancefloor of queer kids and their friends getting down all the way to closing time at 2AM. It was an event refreshingly free of scene baggage, and restored a bit of my faith that you can still bring all kinds of people together to have fun and enjoy one another's company without having to negotiate the endless, tedious politics of the gay club scene. More than just paying lip service to the idea of creating queer community, Comfort and Joy does manage, despite all the drama and complications that arise whenever you get a group of gay men together to do something, to actually pull it off.
The thing I was most uncertain about was how everything that was planned for this event - a silent art auction, the screening of a silent film, performances from drag and "other" artists (more on that in a second), a feast, and a dance party - were going to come together, and in the weeks leading up to the event I was privy to several folks' concerns about whether or not, for example, the dance party would wind up being all of two hours at the end of the evening when all the faeries had already left for the annual faerie Solstice sex party. However, thanks to the agency of Digger the stage manager, Ginga Snapp as hostess and MC (who is very cute in boy drag, btw), and Space the music/DJ coordinator, everything went off amazingly well. The dance music actually got started around 9PM with a set from Space, and the performances were broken up into fifteen or twenty minute interludes between other sets. The only time I was feeling a mite testy about the interplay between performances and the dance music was when a band took to the stage for three dirges. I think the idea was to channel something akin to Diamanda Galas, or, in a more generous mood, The Swans, but not only did they seem musically inappropriate for a party that was supposed to be about joy and celebration, their whole affect was much too reminiscent of art school kids trying way, way too hard to seem avant-garde for me to take them seriously. It's also generally rude to be tuning up and practicing, loudly, through your own PA, against the music that the DJ is playing. They did have a couple Mission hipster kid fans who gyrated around like Dervishes at the front of the stage during their mercifully short set, but I think the consensus was that everyone was much more inclined to dancing along with Lord Kook and KJ.
And dance they did, with a full and happy dancefloor of queer kids and their friends getting down all the way to closing time at 2AM. It was an event refreshingly free of scene baggage, and restored a bit of my faith that you can still bring all kinds of people together to have fun and enjoy one another's company without having to negotiate the endless, tedious politics of the gay club scene. More than just paying lip service to the idea of creating queer community, Comfort and Joy does manage, despite all the drama and complications that arise whenever you get a group of gay men together to do something, to actually pull it off.
Lord Kook playing to an admiring audience
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
No Afterglow this Year
Since I see folks coming in on search terms like "Afterglow New Year's Eve 2008," I should probably go ahead and let you all know that Comfort and Joy will NOT be having an Afterglow party for New Year's Eve this year (2008-2009). Yeah yeah, I know, what's a gay boy to do on New Year's Eve this year?
Upcoming Event: Comfort and Joy Solstice, "Brighter Days Ahead", Saturday December 20
Following last year's wildly successful event, Comfort and Joy presents another Solstice event to benefit Radical Faerie communities in Wolf Creek, Oregon and Raven's Crossing, California. Things kick off at 4PM with a silent art auction, bar, and downtempo music from Neco D, then a feast from 7-9, performances (including aerialists) from 9-11, and then dancing until 2AM with Space, Lord Kook, and Keshav.
Comfort and Joy Solstice, "Brighter Days Ahead"
Workspace Limited, 2150 Folsom (btwn 17th and 18th)
$10 - $20 sliding scale (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Comfort and Joy Solstice, "Brighter Days Ahead"
Workspace Limited, 2150 Folsom (btwn 17th and 18th)
$10 - $20 sliding scale (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Music on the Playa
If there's one definitive thing I can say about music on the playa this year, it's that I've now heard all the James Brown I need to hear for an entire year. Every day, several times a day, I would hear The Godfather testifying from somewhere, and even saw him being towed in effigy around the Esplanade behind a bicycle one day.
The aural omipresence of James Brown was an indication of what seemed like the general musical mood; breaks and big electronic thumps certainly had their place at 10 O'clock and along the Esplanade, but when you got into the small soundsystems the vibe was much more about easygoing party pop 'n' rock. On Thursday night, trying to find my way among various pathways of the mind, the dance party at a camp down Allante made me think I had stumbled back into Drunk and Horny, while during the day I had happened into a Rolling Stones party at the Solar Snow Cone camp.
There were of course plenty of big whoo-whoo parties with electronic music, but distance and the difficulty of getting around on bikes due to the sand traps kept me from really going out to the big dance camps like Opulent Temple. There's something about the scale of those camps, too, that I find a bit off-putting; if being around a thousand fucked-up people at 1015 seems a little much to deal with, try adding a couple thousand more people to the mix. Just think about the amount of dust generated by all those stomping feet.
My best musical moment came on Friday at the Deep End, where Worthy of Dirty Bird fame had the opening set. I had been up for a pretty intense twenty-four hours at that point, and had become even more doggie than usual, but Worthy's set sparked me back to life for a few more hours. After that, though, I was basically done with dancing at Burning Man; I checked into the Honey Sound System party at Comfort and Joy after midnight that night, deemed it too hot and reeking of sweaty faeries for my physical condition, and soon after was passed out in my tent (J, though, later told me that Pee Play laid out a fun set).
I did play a set at Camp Zoom on Wednesday night, but it was Lord Kook who can lay claim to two truly awesome sets, both at Glitter Camp on the Esplanade. On Tuesday, after struggling through a dust storm on Monday and then spending all day Tuesday working on our camp art project, we were ready to party, and so, it seemed, was everyone else there. LK held that space for a solid two hours that night, drawing in lots of wandering gay boys, including Pee Play, who was drawn in by the whoops that went up when LK dropped Lindstrom's "Another Station." LK returned on Wednesday to play a tag-team with Jovino that lasted a full five hours, until both of them were just too exhausted to play another track.
On the Burning Man census this year there was a section to check off the things that brought you to the playa, and one of them was "the music scene." I ticked this off as one of my attractions, but I really think that the version of the Burning Man music scene that I experience here, through Opulent Temple, Space Cowboys, and the host of fundraisers is a lot more interesting for me than what I've encountered on the playa. In many ways, the sound of the playa has become pretty predictable, and the scale of the event makes it both very difficult to find things that are more off the beaten path, and to get to them when you do find them. I know, though, that all these things move in cycles, and just as breaks superseded trance as the sound of the playa, something else new will eventually come along; I just wish it would hurry up and happen already.
The aural omipresence of James Brown was an indication of what seemed like the general musical mood; breaks and big electronic thumps certainly had their place at 10 O'clock and along the Esplanade, but when you got into the small soundsystems the vibe was much more about easygoing party pop 'n' rock. On Thursday night, trying to find my way among various pathways of the mind, the dance party at a camp down Allante made me think I had stumbled back into Drunk and Horny, while during the day I had happened into a Rolling Stones party at the Solar Snow Cone camp.
There were of course plenty of big whoo-whoo parties with electronic music, but distance and the difficulty of getting around on bikes due to the sand traps kept me from really going out to the big dance camps like Opulent Temple. There's something about the scale of those camps, too, that I find a bit off-putting; if being around a thousand fucked-up people at 1015 seems a little much to deal with, try adding a couple thousand more people to the mix. Just think about the amount of dust generated by all those stomping feet.
My best musical moment came on Friday at the Deep End, where Worthy of Dirty Bird fame had the opening set. I had been up for a pretty intense twenty-four hours at that point, and had become even more doggie than usual, but Worthy's set sparked me back to life for a few more hours. After that, though, I was basically done with dancing at Burning Man; I checked into the Honey Sound System party at Comfort and Joy after midnight that night, deemed it too hot and reeking of sweaty faeries for my physical condition, and soon after was passed out in my tent (J, though, later told me that Pee Play laid out a fun set).
I did play a set at Camp Zoom on Wednesday night, but it was Lord Kook who can lay claim to two truly awesome sets, both at Glitter Camp on the Esplanade. On Tuesday, after struggling through a dust storm on Monday and then spending all day Tuesday working on our camp art project, we were ready to party, and so, it seemed, was everyone else there. LK held that space for a solid two hours that night, drawing in lots of wandering gay boys, including Pee Play, who was drawn in by the whoops that went up when LK dropped Lindstrom's "Another Station." LK returned on Wednesday to play a tag-team with Jovino that lasted a full five hours, until both of them were just too exhausted to play another track.
On the Burning Man census this year there was a section to check off the things that brought you to the playa, and one of them was "the music scene." I ticked this off as one of my attractions, but I really think that the version of the Burning Man music scene that I experience here, through Opulent Temple, Space Cowboys, and the host of fundraisers is a lot more interesting for me than what I've encountered on the playa. In many ways, the sound of the playa has become pretty predictable, and the scale of the event makes it both very difficult to find things that are more off the beaten path, and to get to them when you do find them. I know, though, that all these things move in cycles, and just as breaks superseded trance as the sound of the playa, something else new will eventually come along; I just wish it would hurry up and happen already.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Upcoming Event: Comfort and Joy Afterglow Party, Saturday June 28
Okay kids, there's just so much going on this weekend that I've decided to dispense with the usual Friday and Saturday night guides cuz it's just too complicated, so I'm simply going to tell you about what I think the best parties of the weekend will be. Aside from our own Mr. party at Mighty on Friday Night (which is also up against a private party from queer Burners The Burning Marys, also a recommended event), my main recc for the weekend is Comfort and Joy's Afterglow party, which is now in it's third consecutive year. Alterna Burner queers, cozy private residence, good music, play space - what more do you want? Check out the Comfort and Joy blog for info about both Afterglow and Burning Marys.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Upcoming Event: Comfort and Joy's Afterglow New Year's Eve
Comfort & Joy presents
*AFTERGLOW* NEW YEARS EVE + Day
Genderfuck Cabaret + Dancefloor + "Shortbus" Playspace
SWEET BEATS by HONEY SOUNDSYSTEM
SPECTACLE by ULTRA
...with HOUSE of SALAD, Miss Nix, Felicia Fellatio,Khadijah: Salad Gold Dancer, Veda de Voe, Hysterica, Dam Dyke, KimBurly, Miss Black Rock City + YOU....
visions by III & the House of Herrera
PRIVATE UNDERGROUND LOCATION
Complimentary water, juice, redbull, clothes check & breakfast at dawn.
Be creative; alcohol is not served at Afterglow.
(flasks are okay)
10pm doors | 11pm show | 6am breakfast | 2pm burning man 2007
documentary screening
(party tip: crash in a pile of boys & stay for new year's day)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PRE-SALE TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE!
A finite number of Afterglow tickets are available at http://www.playajoy.org & SEMI.
All proceeds benefit the Comfort & Joy burning man construction fund.
Volunteer for free admission * Viva Queer Community!
*AFTERGLOW* NEW YEARS EVE + Day
Genderfuck Cabaret + Dancefloor + "Shortbus" Playspace
SWEET BEATS by HONEY SOUNDSYSTEM
SPECTACLE by ULTRA
...with HOUSE of SALAD, Miss Nix, Felicia Fellatio,Khadijah: Salad Gold Dancer, Veda de Voe, Hysterica, Dam Dyke, KimBurly, Miss Black Rock City + YOU....
visions by III & the House of Herrera
PRIVATE UNDERGROUND LOCATION
Complimentary water, juice, redbull, clothes check & breakfast at dawn.
Be creative; alcohol is not served at Afterglow.
(flasks are okay)
10pm doors | 11pm show | 6am breakfast | 2pm burning man 2007
documentary screening
(party tip: crash in a pile of boys & stay for new year's day)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PRE-SALE TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE!
A finite number of Afterglow tickets are available at http://www.playajoy
All proceeds benefit the Comfort & Joy burning man construction fund.
Volunteer for free admission * Viva Queer Community!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
New Year's News
Now that the turkey feast is done and we can hear the sweet sound of canned Christmas music in the cabs (I heard a great ditty called "Christmas in San Francisco" on Thursday), thoughts turn to our last big party day of the year, New Year's Eve. It's a tough night, since everbody wants to do something, but everybody wants to do something with their friends, meaning all bets are off about what will turn out to be the big parties of the night. However, little birds have told me to expect at least three big gay parties:
Afterglow - Comfort and Joy is currently planning on another New Year's Eve party in one of their traditional party locations.
Drunk and Horny - Jeff and Gary will be welcoming "500 of our most intimate friends" into an underground warehouse location (likely known to many readers of this blog) with a main dance area, a chill room, and a special "wet dream lounge." Lord Kook has also been invited to DJ the main room.
Fag Fridays New Year's Eve at Pink - with Juanita More, check out the Pink website for more info.
If you all hear of anything else that sounds like a fun way to ring in 2008 (yay, at last, a Democrat in the White House!) drop me a line and let me know about it.
Update:
Erik over at Metrowize sent me a link to their list of all the major club events that are happening. If you're looking for something a bit more "structured" (and pricey) there are some interesting options here.
Afterglow - Comfort and Joy is currently planning on another New Year's Eve party in one of their traditional party locations.
Drunk and Horny - Jeff and Gary will be welcoming "500 of our most intimate friends" into an underground warehouse location (likely known to many readers of this blog) with a main dance area, a chill room, and a special "wet dream lounge." Lord Kook has also been invited to DJ the main room.
Fag Fridays New Year's Eve at Pink - with Juanita More, check out the Pink website for more info.
If you all hear of anything else that sounds like a fun way to ring in 2008 (yay, at last, a Democrat in the White House!) drop me a line and let me know about it.
Update:
Erik over at Metrowize sent me a link to their list of all the major club events that are happening. If you're looking for something a bit more "structured" (and pricey) there are some interesting options here.
Monday, November 19, 2007
The Lame-O Weekend
Grey skies, damp fog, chilly air, sniffles - all the elements came together this weekend to finally kick my hibernating instinct into gear. As the days grow shorter so too does my attention to the outside world, especially now that the boyfriend and I have the comfy apartment with the fireplace and enough room to entertain a few friends of our own with low-cost televisual entertainments.
We did make it out on Friday night to a couple birthday parties (again, what's with all the Scorpios around here?), one for Comfort and Joy impressario Kitten Calfee, the other for DJ Donimo at Heat. Kitten's party was jam-packed with burners, trannies, and alternaqueers, and after noticing that a significant percentage of the guys (and a few of the women) were sporting mohawks, I almost decided that I need to find myself a less-common coif. I spotted Juanita Fajita on her way to Raya Light's step-down party (where Juanita's performance included the consuption of a "beef liver" fashioned out of raspberry and blueberry jello) and watched a strip-tease in the living room, but the boyfriend and I left before everyone's clothes started coming off.
Heat was again a fun night of dancing, though it would have been nice to have had a few more people on the dancefloor with us. There were some great interpretations of 80s New York Studio 54 style, and performances of Grace Jones and Donna Summer that were nicely integrated into the DJ sets themselves. I spotted a photographer for a club glossy in the crowd and he certainly got some good snaps for the "seen out and about" section. His presence made me think about how few events there are in SF, a place filled with people who are into costumes and fine millinery, where there's really incentive to put on your fine flashy threads and strut around. I hope more people will get into Heat as a fun fashion scene at the December installment -it's even got me re-considering what I should do about my clubbing wardrobe.
And then, after Friday, we just pooped out. I heard that the Miss Trannyshack pageant at the Gift Center on Saturday night was actually kind of a bore - it got started almost an a hour and a half late and at 1.30 the final act had just performed. As my source told me, it was bunch of performances that had two elements out of five right - as we later decided, once you take the "shack" out of "trannyshack," it begins to lose its edge and just becomes another San Francisco institution with big wigs, like Beach Blanket Babylon. My big disappointment, though, was not making it to French Kiss at Pink on Sunday evening to hear JD Samson of Le Tigre - I had really been looking forward to a Sunday evening of drinks and electro, but the boyfriend and I spent the whole afternoon with our friend J shooting corny Christmas pix to send to our families, and by the time we had taken him out to dinner for his help, and settled down to the chores we needed to get done, I found it much more attractive to finish up a mission in Medal of Honor: Airborne and go to bed with some Nyquil for my cold than to rouse up the energy to go out. And that's how lame *I* was this weekend; how about you?
We did make it out on Friday night to a couple birthday parties (again, what's with all the Scorpios around here?), one for Comfort and Joy impressario Kitten Calfee, the other for DJ Donimo at Heat. Kitten's party was jam-packed with burners, trannies, and alternaqueers, and after noticing that a significant percentage of the guys (and a few of the women) were sporting mohawks, I almost decided that I need to find myself a less-common coif. I spotted Juanita Fajita on her way to Raya Light's step-down party (where Juanita's performance included the consuption of a "beef liver" fashioned out of raspberry and blueberry jello) and watched a strip-tease in the living room, but the boyfriend and I left before everyone's clothes started coming off.
Heat was again a fun night of dancing, though it would have been nice to have had a few more people on the dancefloor with us. There were some great interpretations of 80s New York Studio 54 style, and performances of Grace Jones and Donna Summer that were nicely integrated into the DJ sets themselves. I spotted a photographer for a club glossy in the crowd and he certainly got some good snaps for the "seen out and about" section. His presence made me think about how few events there are in SF, a place filled with people who are into costumes and fine millinery, where there's really incentive to put on your fine flashy threads and strut around. I hope more people will get into Heat as a fun fashion scene at the December installment -it's even got me re-considering what I should do about my clubbing wardrobe.
And then, after Friday, we just pooped out. I heard that the Miss Trannyshack pageant at the Gift Center on Saturday night was actually kind of a bore - it got started almost an a hour and a half late and at 1.30 the final act had just performed. As my source told me, it was bunch of performances that had two elements out of five right - as we later decided, once you take the "shack" out of "trannyshack," it begins to lose its edge and just becomes another San Francisco institution with big wigs, like Beach Blanket Babylon. My big disappointment, though, was not making it to French Kiss at Pink on Sunday evening to hear JD Samson of Le Tigre - I had really been looking forward to a Sunday evening of drinks and electro, but the boyfriend and I spent the whole afternoon with our friend J shooting corny Christmas pix to send to our families, and by the time we had taken him out to dinner for his help, and settled down to the chores we needed to get done, I found it much more attractive to finish up a mission in Medal of Honor: Airborne and go to bed with some Nyquil for my cold than to rouse up the energy to go out. And that's how lame *I* was this weekend; how about you?
Friday, September 14, 2007
Article on "Jerm" Barley, Burning Man Suicide, in SFGate
A brief profile of Jermaine "Jerm" Barley, the boy who hung himself in the Comfort and Joy tent at Burning Man, appears in today's SFGate. Seems like the kind of guy it's a shame for the world to lose.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Comfort and Joy Issues Statement Regarding Burning Man Suicide
Comfort and Joy has released a statement regarding the suicide that was committed at their camp at this year's Burning Man. For all those who wondered how no one could have noticed the body, how they could let him hang for two hours and think it was performance art, and all the other misinformation that has been spread (primarily by those bastions of hard journalism, USA Today and Fox News), here are all the answers: no such things happened. The suicide took place in the early morning, in the hour between when a camp member checked on the tent (a very large, two story, Moroccan tent with beams) and when another camp member came in, and as soon as the person who came into the tent saw the guy, Germaine, hanging there, he went over to check it out, realized what had happened, and immediately summoned the Emergency Medical Services Team. Anything else you've heard or read is conjecture from people who don't know what they were talking about.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Update: Burning Man Suicide Committed at Comfort and Joy
Now that everyone is back, the actual truth about what happened with the Burning Man suicide at Comfort and Joy is coming out. The facts are that no one watched the victim hang himself, no one from Comfort and Joy was using the tent while the body hung there, and that as soon as a camp member realized what had happened, the authorities were summoned. Below is a message posted on the eplaya website from Moist, one of the camp members. A formal statement from the camp is forthcoming.
Hello everybody,
I'm back from the burn and I have to say this was the most chaotic and amazing year I've ever attended. The Man burning on Monday brought a sense of "anything could happen" early on in the week... and in fact it did.
On Thursday morning I woke up to the sound of a ranger outside my tent telling another camp mate that we were all being detained and needed to go to the kitchen, and that our residential tents were part of a crime scene. Startled I rolled out of bed and unzipped my tent, I was told to get dressed and to go to the kitchen. The Rangers would only say that there had been a death. It was frightening for all of us.
It turns out that a young man had found our brand new beautiful Moroccan tent with its high peak, rafter, and chandelier and decided it was where he wanted to end his personal pain. He moved one of our furniture pieces under the chandelier, cut it down from the rope that held it, and then hung himself from that rope.
All this happened in the early morning hours of Thursday. We are a late night camp, so most of us were sleeping. My bed was less than 15 feet away and he was so quiet that none of us knew it was happening. It is my understanding that there was only an hour between when one of our camp mates had checked on the tent, and when another camp mate discovered the body. The young man came in alone during that hour and efficiently went to work.
After the boy had hung himself somebody (not part of our camp) came in to work out on the gym equipment we had at one end of the tent. Our gym equipment was painted pink as a joke, and he thought the hanging body was part of the joke, or a weird art piece (he thought the body wasn't real.) When my camp mates came in a few minutes later they thought it was a joke being played on us. He approached it and touched it and saw the face and knew it was no joke. We were camped less than 150 feet from the EMS and he ran to get them immediately. Despite what the SF Chronicle said, we did not leaving him hanging for hours. It only took seconds for our camp mate to realize it wasn't a joke.
And that is the about the time that I was awoken by the rangers voice.
We had the mental health team there to help us through this, and they were present when we made the decision to not take down the tent. None of us believe that this young man wanted to trouble us with his action, we just happened to have an open tent with a high enough rafter. We had worked hard to create our camp to provide comfort and joy to all the people of BRC. Some of our camp mates even felt that there was something to be said that this young man chose our space as the place where he would want to spend the last moments of his life.
After the coroner had left, and the police had reopened the space it was myself and another camp mate who put the space back to the way it had been. This was very upsetting for me and I wept openly with friends in my old camp.
David Best came by and suggested we contribute to the temple, and so we took down the rope and it went up with the temple on Sunday night.
I wanted to post this because there was a lot of criticism, and incorrect information in this thread, as well as in the SF Gate piece. I want you to know that for all the members of Comfort & Joy this incident was upsetting, and terrible. This young man inflicted a lot of pain on us in the process of ending his own pain. We made the choice to continue living, to make the day ours, because we don't think he wanted us hurt with his actions. This was solely about him ending his own pain, not about hurting others who didn't know him.
-Moist
Comfort & Joy
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Burning Man Suicide Committed at Comfort and Joy
Last night at Trans Am I ran into a fellow Comfort and Joy campmate who told me he had been contacted by another campmate on the Playa who told him that the suicide at Burning Man had been committed at Comfort and Joy. This morning I got confirmation though the SFGate Burning Blog that this indeed was the case and that the suicide, who was not a member of C&J, had hung himself from a beam in the tent that housed a small public gym. According to our campmate on the playa, the suicide hung himself in the early morning, and people passing by had thought that it was a mannequin or dummy. According to the SFGate, people had been using the gym while the body hung there, also not realizing that it was real. Though many many wonder how you could have a dead body hanging above you and not realize that it was real, I can only say that, among the many surreal things you might expect to see at Burning Man, a suicide by hanging is not one of them, and I'm sure people were much more ready to believe that it was a fake rather than real.
PLEASE SEE THE UPDATE POST
Why, with the hundreds of camps and structures at Burning Man, did this had to happen in one belonging to Comfort and Joy? My first thought was that perhaps the vicitim was drawn there by the name itself, and that his choice of camps was intended as a statement. Once the victim is identified I hope that some of this will be figured out. Meanwhile, I can only wonder what my campmates are going through right now, and I hope that that they are finding ways to deal with this experience.
PLEASE SEE THE UPDATE POST
Why, with the hundreds of camps and structures at Burning Man, did this had to happen in one belonging to Comfort and Joy? My first thought was that perhaps the vicitim was drawn there by the name itself, and that his choice of camps was intended as a statement. Once the victim is identified I hope that some of this will be figured out. Meanwhile, I can only wonder what my campmates are going through right now, and I hope that that they are finding ways to deal with this experience.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Event Review: Comfort and Joy's "Lucid Dreams" at The Cinch
On Saturday night Comfort and Joy took over the regular Spunk night at The Cinch on Polk Street for their "Lucid Dreams" party, an auction and raffle event to raise money for the queer Burning Man camp. With blacklight art from resident artist Chickpea, Spunk's regular go-go boys (including one very tasty young man with a green mohawk), big white projection screens on the wall, and classic tunes from DJ Mermaid, The Cinch was more festive than I ever thought possible, and I believe this may have been their largest crowd ever on a Saturday night.
For me Lucid Dreams was mostly about an opportunity to socialize with friends. Though they have an okay DJ set up that you think would mean more dance-oriented events at The Cinch, the actual sound system is, in their own words, "kinda janky," and in the back area, where you have the most room for a dancefloor, the sound comes out of what seem to be old car stereo speakers. Given these pretty severe limitations Mermaid was still able to impart a fun, easy-going mood to the party, and when Juanita Fajita and Winona Juggs toppled up onto the stage for the auction portions of the evening, the crowd was loosened up enough to part with a considerable wad of cash for "experiences" like hanging out with Adrien and Mysterious D of Bootie fame, getting a playa make-over from the Metamorphosis Salon, and a nude photo shoot, among others.
The Cinch is really starting to grow on me as a venue - it's very laid back, I like that there's a back patio area, and the drinks are easily the strongest on Polk Street. There's a punk rock vibe to all the events I've attended there, and I saw scads and scads of queer burners, artsy types, and Polk denizens. It would be nice to see them upgrade their soundsystem and get a little more dancing and less pool shooting in the back area, but in the meantime it remains high on my list of great queer hangouts.
Lucid Dreams Photos by The Boyfriend
The unsinkable Miss Juanita Fajita.
Somehow this photos says it all. Fancy footwear by Misses Juanita Fajita and Winona Juggs.
Ummmm, limber go-go boys. Can I be your back door man?
The devilish DJ Mermaid.
For me Lucid Dreams was mostly about an opportunity to socialize with friends. Though they have an okay DJ set up that you think would mean more dance-oriented events at The Cinch, the actual sound system is, in their own words, "kinda janky," and in the back area, where you have the most room for a dancefloor, the sound comes out of what seem to be old car stereo speakers. Given these pretty severe limitations Mermaid was still able to impart a fun, easy-going mood to the party, and when Juanita Fajita and Winona Juggs toppled up onto the stage for the auction portions of the evening, the crowd was loosened up enough to part with a considerable wad of cash for "experiences" like hanging out with Adrien and Mysterious D of Bootie fame, getting a playa make-over from the Metamorphosis Salon, and a nude photo shoot, among others.
The Cinch is really starting to grow on me as a venue - it's very laid back, I like that there's a back patio area, and the drinks are easily the strongest on Polk Street. There's a punk rock vibe to all the events I've attended there, and I saw scads and scads of queer burners, artsy types, and Polk denizens. It would be nice to see them upgrade their soundsystem and get a little more dancing and less pool shooting in the back area, but in the meantime it remains high on my list of great queer hangouts.
Lucid Dreams Photos by The Boyfriend
The unsinkable Miss Juanita Fajita.
Somehow this photos says it all. Fancy footwear by Misses Juanita Fajita and Winona Juggs.
Ummmm, limber go-go boys. Can I be your back door man?
The devilish DJ Mermaid.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
San Francisco Pride Recap
Whooo, Tuesday morning and I'm still a bit bleary from all the weekend's activities: passing out on Friday night from too much champagne on an empty stomach at Kitty's birthday party; up till 6AM on Sunday morning with Comfort and Joy at the Afterglow party, showing up at Faerie Freedom Village so Lord Kook could spin at 1, then my turn came at 5; and finally, some quality time with the boyfriend in Golden Gate Park on Monday, when we got to chill and go through a good system's re-boot.
Afterglow was the main event of the weekend for the boyfriend and myself since we not only had to set up and manage the gear, but also play a set each. The evening started out slightly difficult as we had two CDJ-800s in road cases, along with a folding keyboard stand, that we had to get over to the party right at that point when none of the cab companies were answering the telephone. After some frantic attempts to find other transportation I finally got a City Carshare car for the night, but the consequence was that I would have to drive us home after the night's festivities. After that bit of hassle, however, the party itself was a rollicking, smashing success, with an almost full dancefloor in the first hour. DJ Neco D got the mood up and carried through until the show started (again, late, and, again, overly long, but we were prepared for that on this occasion); by that time the room was completely packed, so I didn't see any of the performances, but when Lord Kook came on afterwards it all busted loose - at one point there was a shirtless, sweaty, writhing crowd up on the stage chanting "More! More! More! More!", and a group of happy lesbians were puddled together in the clawfoot bathtub in the restroom - it was like a scene from a Frameline movie, I swear. I went on around 3.30 and had it in mind to crank up the knarzy techno, but two songs in I was told that the cops had come by, so I took it down fairly deep and chill for the duration of my rather short set. Then DJ Pee Play and Ken Vulsion, aka The Honey Sound System, came on and absolutely ripped the roof off the place. We didn't get to stay for much of their set, as I had to have the car back by 6AM, and needed to put myself into a bed for a couple hours as well, but I heard that the cops came back again, and that there were still folks hanging out at noon the next day. Now that's a party, people.
Faerie Village was the calm in the midst of the Pride whirlwind that it always is. Aaron Neonbunny was the producer this year and went for a more low-key set-up, just two tents and sound systems on either side of the plaza, one for acoustic performances, one for DJ music. The idea had been to keep the sound pretty chill, but after about three songs Lord Kook had a small dancefloor rolling and decided to keep the energy up. DJ Mak, who can be heard at the W Hotel on Friday evenings, came on with some great Eurolounge after him, followed by trance stalwart KJ spinning worldbeat downtempo grooves, and then Mr. Neonbunny hisself demonstrated his command of the electro vocabularly. I got my shot to close out the village after Aaron, and though there were some odd technical difficulties (I've never had to adjust the tracking on a tone-arm to keep it following the record groove before), I was thrilled to play some sunny day techno for an appreciative crowd that included Marke B. of the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Monday the boyfriend and I really needed some down time together, so we got together with an old friend I hadn't hung out with in years and went to Golden Gate Park. We walked from the Stanyan entrance all the way to Ocean Beach, had an amusing bus ride back to Laguna, hung out, went for a walk to enjoy a beautiful evening, watched Yellow Submarine, and reflected on an awesome Pride weekend.
It's easy enough to be cynical about Pride, especially when you live in the bubble of San Francisco, where the lack of repression felt by the LGBT community in the rest of the world tends to make us lazy, complacent, precious, and prone to in-fighting. But when you see guys walking hand-in-hand down Castro street like it's the most fantastic thing they've every done together, when you have the opportunity to meet up with friends you haven't seen in weeks or months, when you get to take part in events that you know have created special moments for others, then in those situations you do begin to appreciate what Pride does for us, both as individuals and members of a community.
Afterglow was the main event of the weekend for the boyfriend and myself since we not only had to set up and manage the gear, but also play a set each. The evening started out slightly difficult as we had two CDJ-800s in road cases, along with a folding keyboard stand, that we had to get over to the party right at that point when none of the cab companies were answering the telephone. After some frantic attempts to find other transportation I finally got a City Carshare car for the night, but the consequence was that I would have to drive us home after the night's festivities. After that bit of hassle, however, the party itself was a rollicking, smashing success, with an almost full dancefloor in the first hour. DJ Neco D got the mood up and carried through until the show started (again, late, and, again, overly long, but we were prepared for that on this occasion); by that time the room was completely packed, so I didn't see any of the performances, but when Lord Kook came on afterwards it all busted loose - at one point there was a shirtless, sweaty, writhing crowd up on the stage chanting "More! More! More! More!", and a group of happy lesbians were puddled together in the clawfoot bathtub in the restroom - it was like a scene from a Frameline movie, I swear. I went on around 3.30 and had it in mind to crank up the knarzy techno, but two songs in I was told that the cops had come by, so I took it down fairly deep and chill for the duration of my rather short set. Then DJ Pee Play and Ken Vulsion, aka The Honey Sound System, came on and absolutely ripped the roof off the place. We didn't get to stay for much of their set, as I had to have the car back by 6AM, and needed to put myself into a bed for a couple hours as well, but I heard that the cops came back again, and that there were still folks hanging out at noon the next day. Now that's a party, people.
Faerie Village was the calm in the midst of the Pride whirlwind that it always is. Aaron Neonbunny was the producer this year and went for a more low-key set-up, just two tents and sound systems on either side of the plaza, one for acoustic performances, one for DJ music. The idea had been to keep the sound pretty chill, but after about three songs Lord Kook had a small dancefloor rolling and decided to keep the energy up. DJ Mak, who can be heard at the W Hotel on Friday evenings, came on with some great Eurolounge after him, followed by trance stalwart KJ spinning worldbeat downtempo grooves, and then Mr. Neonbunny hisself demonstrated his command of the electro vocabularly. I got my shot to close out the village after Aaron, and though there were some odd technical difficulties (I've never had to adjust the tracking on a tone-arm to keep it following the record groove before), I was thrilled to play some sunny day techno for an appreciative crowd that included Marke B. of the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Monday the boyfriend and I really needed some down time together, so we got together with an old friend I hadn't hung out with in years and went to Golden Gate Park. We walked from the Stanyan entrance all the way to Ocean Beach, had an amusing bus ride back to Laguna, hung out, went for a walk to enjoy a beautiful evening, watched Yellow Submarine, and reflected on an awesome Pride weekend.
It's easy enough to be cynical about Pride, especially when you live in the bubble of San Francisco, where the lack of repression felt by the LGBT community in the rest of the world tends to make us lazy, complacent, precious, and prone to in-fighting. But when you see guys walking hand-in-hand down Castro street like it's the most fantastic thing they've every done together, when you have the opportunity to meet up with friends you haven't seen in weeks or months, when you get to take part in events that you know have created special moments for others, then in those situations you do begin to appreciate what Pride does for us, both as individuals and members of a community.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Upcoming Event: Afterglow Fundraiser for Comfort and Joy, Saturday June 23 (Pink Saturday)
Okay, I'll 'fess up that Comfort and Joy is my Burning Man camp (even though I'm not going this year), and myself (DJ Pup), Kitty (Neco D), and The Boyfriend (Lord Kook) are spinning the hooj choons for this party. So if you want to finally see the faces that go with the names, have a lot of fun dancing to synthpop, electrohouse, and minimal techno, catch some crazy drag antics, and maybe (maybe) get a little frisky, then by all means, come check it out:
More info on Comfort and Joy
UPDATE: We are thrilled, thrilled to announce the addition of the Honey Sound System (DJ Pee Play, Kenvulsion, and associates) to the DJ line-up. The boys will be coming on at 4AM for a tag-team chill match that will take us through to the rising sun of Pride Sunday. Wheeeeeee!
More info on Comfort and Joy
UPDATE: We are thrilled, thrilled to announce the addition of the Honey Sound System (DJ Pee Play, Kenvulsion, and associates) to the DJ line-up. The boys will be coming on at 4AM for a tag-team chill match that will take us through to the rising sun of Pride Sunday. Wheeeeeee!
Monday, February 19, 2007
Comfort and Joy's Afterglow Afterparty
Queer Burning Man camp Comfort and Joy staged their third Afterglow afterparty at the spacious home of a generous benefactor in the USF neighborhood this past weekend, this time going all out and producing a mini-Trannyshack that featured peformances by both camp members and special guests such as the reigning Miss Trannyshack, Raya Light. The show started well over an hour late and ran about two acts too long, but Raya's performance to Charlene's "I've Never Been to Me" was one of the most amazing and disturbing things I've ever seen, taking full advantage of the "private party" to do some things you could never get away with at The Stud.
Resident DJs Neco D and Lord Kook (also of Drunk and Horny fame) provided the tunes along with guests DJ Mermaid and Xan-X (Ambi-sonic). Neco D laid down a fun, upbeat 80s set, hitting enough well-known tracks to spark nostalgic conversations in the kitchen but also injecting enough unique choices (though I see the t-shirts everywhere, I've not heard Joy Division at a party in a while) to avoid the banality of a This Was the 80s compilation. Faced with what was probably an unexpected "extended" set Neco D soldiered on admirably with support from Lord Kook while the girls got themeslves together, and by the time the show was ready they had such a dancefloor groove going I really wished they had just been able to do away with the show and let us dance. Mermaid took over after the show with a classic disco set that seemed to find general favor with the crowd, but I was too comatose on the couch in the kitchen after eating a brownie to notice much. I was really there to hear Lord Kook, anyway, and after a "command performance" by Erika Kandy Kane I finally got to hear him go on 3.15. Though going on well after the peak and limited to only an hour and fifteen minute set, Lord Kook managed to encompass everything from Modeselektor's "Silikon" to The Infidel's "Love Like Semtex," with enthusiastic and ecstatic (of course) responses from a smaller but hardcore dancefloor. Xan-X picked up from him with more tribal "downtempo" beats from the likes of Sphongle, but this was clearly in prepartion for lowering the flaps and coming down into chillier regions.
The crowd was a terrifically diverse mix of hipsters, Castro clones, bears, faeries, and gay glitterati including Jeff and Gary, John Wood, and Terrance Alan. For the alterna-gay crowd this was clearly the place to be, and after 1.30 the carry-over from Drunk and Horny pushed attendance up close to probably 200 people. As they packed in and the temperature climbed the shirts (and other things) came off. The basement playspace was too hot and too crowded for me to deal with, but clearly that wasn't the case for others. Breakfast champagne was being poured when I left, and a friend reported in at 1PM on Sunday that he, and quite a few other people, were still there.
This was Comfort and Joy's first fundraiser of the season, and word is that they have two more events in planning now, one at a club with two other groups in April, and another for Pink Saturday in June. If you want a party that will remind you of why we love San Francisco, you should check out an Afterglow.
Resident DJs Neco D and Lord Kook (also of Drunk and Horny fame) provided the tunes along with guests DJ Mermaid and Xan-X (Ambi-sonic). Neco D laid down a fun, upbeat 80s set, hitting enough well-known tracks to spark nostalgic conversations in the kitchen but also injecting enough unique choices (though I see the t-shirts everywhere, I've not heard Joy Division at a party in a while) to avoid the banality of a This Was the 80s compilation. Faced with what was probably an unexpected "extended" set Neco D soldiered on admirably with support from Lord Kook while the girls got themeslves together, and by the time the show was ready they had such a dancefloor groove going I really wished they had just been able to do away with the show and let us dance. Mermaid took over after the show with a classic disco set that seemed to find general favor with the crowd, but I was too comatose on the couch in the kitchen after eating a brownie to notice much. I was really there to hear Lord Kook, anyway, and after a "command performance" by Erika Kandy Kane I finally got to hear him go on 3.15. Though going on well after the peak and limited to only an hour and fifteen minute set, Lord Kook managed to encompass everything from Modeselektor's "Silikon" to The Infidel's "Love Like Semtex," with enthusiastic and ecstatic (of course) responses from a smaller but hardcore dancefloor. Xan-X picked up from him with more tribal "downtempo" beats from the likes of Sphongle, but this was clearly in prepartion for lowering the flaps and coming down into chillier regions.
The crowd was a terrifically diverse mix of hipsters, Castro clones, bears, faeries, and gay glitterati including Jeff and Gary, John Wood, and Terrance Alan. For the alterna-gay crowd this was clearly the place to be, and after 1.30 the carry-over from Drunk and Horny pushed attendance up close to probably 200 people. As they packed in and the temperature climbed the shirts (and other things) came off. The basement playspace was too hot and too crowded for me to deal with, but clearly that wasn't the case for others. Breakfast champagne was being poured when I left, and a friend reported in at 1PM on Sunday that he, and quite a few other people, were still there.
This was Comfort and Joy's first fundraiser of the season, and word is that they have two more events in planning now, one at a club with two other groups in April, and another for Pink Saturday in June. If you want a party that will remind you of why we love San Francisco, you should check out an Afterglow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)