Had a great lunch at Camilles’s

Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe is just a quick and very tasty place to grab a fresh bite to eat. Went today at 7th & G. California Chicken Wrap was as delicious as ever.

How do I use this thing?

Just testing the upload. Here are some cops from this past spring. Photo taken at the candlelight vigil May 13, 2009.

Oh wait, I’m a blogger

Life is crazy.

No really I mean it, life is frickin’ nuts. It’s great. It’s been busy. The Bear Scene in DC has moved into my neighborhood, and I’ve met so many new people. And I’ve been finally seeing people I already know and hanging out again.

The DC Bear renaissance is why I started to blog at dcbearscene.com. I really want to get more people involved blogging there. Especially since when my work picks up, I usually can’t spend much time focusing on blogging. People can post about their own events. I’ve started to set that up, but now it’s time to show my fellow bloggers how to use things like the photo upload and event calendar. I have my own personal opinion about the Bear explosion that’s been happening in DC. I think it has its good and bad points, and I’m curious to hear what others have to say.

Bearnakedjoe.com is my most personal blog, so I suppose I should write and try to explain all the things I’ve been doing. I don’t really go into all of my personal stuff online much, and I’ve been doing a lot of personal stuff. That’s really the main reason I’ve not been updating on here. I tried to blog more newsy type stuff there for a while, but my full-time job and my photography really don’t leave me much time to break news on a blog, certainly not as well as other gay bloggers in the field. And I promised myself to not get outrage fatigue, which is something that comes all too easy if you blog about LGBT newsworthy items. But I know photography. And I know DC.

And I kind of know Philly. I recently visited Philly with my good friend Chris. I lived there for 8 years – it’s where I coined my nickname Bearnaked Joe. I should tell some of the tale in a future post, since it was an amazing weekend of just-in-time connections. Chris and I wandered the streets and I showed him places I hung out in the past with some of my best friends in Philly. We saw strongmen and puppish cops, including my new favorite. Yes, hanging out with Chris, aka “Bullneck,” has taught me to have a favorite cop. It’s true: We are the sum of the people we know.

I also went home with Dave to visit Ohio. It was a great trip seeing the family, having some of my favorite food, and marching with my alumni band in the Memorial Day parade. We got an Air Force flyby that almost made me wet my pants.

On the photography front, I had an exciting evening being part of a panel discussion about the use of metadata and photography workflow as part of a tour being hosted by Stock Artists Alliance and Photoshelter. I’ll always remember that’s where I was when I heard that Michael Jackson had died.

I also got an iPhone 3GS. I liked the way my review of the Shuffle worked out, so I may review the iPhone 3GS as well. Yeah I’m sure you’ve read a lot already. You can skip it if you want. But some people might like my detailed look at the thing.

I joined a gym. OK, I haven’t gone yet, but I joined a gym.

So this is my blog entry for today. It’s representative of my feelings about being on the Web. I want everyone to read my site and have wonderful things to say, sure. But then I turn to Facebook and think “who is this person and why in the heck do they want to friend me?” It’s an odd thing being part of an online culture where everything we do now we voluntarily published. We only let others see what we want them to see. Sometimes I don’t want you to see anything. Some people show us too much.

It reminds me of my favorite Facebook status update I’ve made so far. In a purely digital forum and in the most pubic place I know, I stated “Joe secretly longs for an analog world.” I miss when bells were real bells, and when you actually dialed a phone. But I still don’t want to give up my iPhone 3GS.

Where have all the Cowbells Gone?

Hmm. I’ve been listening to my playlist a bit now, but haven’t heard another cowbell. I find my lack of cowbell a bit disturbing. Here are a few songs that I’ve heard that could be spruced up with a little cowbell:

• Shiny Happy People
• It the Summertime
• The Night Chicago Died
• Seven Nation Army
• Son’s Gonna Rise
• Ball of Confusion
• Dashboard
• She’s Not There
• Eye of the Tiger

OK Cows! Let’s get on it!

Rent: Oh the Drama!

Really can we all please just take a pill now? He said this; she said that. I fell like we’re back in high school… er, wait…

Martin says Asrani and the school board then opted to cancel the play. Asrani says the decision was Martin’s.

When students were told the production had been canceled, their outreach quickly led to mass media attention. Gay activists and alumni of the high school charged that the play’s cancellation was a form of intolerance and homophobia.

Martin in turn requested a rush copy of a toned-down version of the script, which he submitted to Asrani for approval.

via Canceled High School Production of Rent Back On  | News | Advocate.com.

Remember. When I was in high school we had a gay-straight alliance. It was called drama club.

Read this Blog: Diary of a Gay Soldier’s Husband

A Gay Man in the Military: First Post

It’s hard for people to understand why a gay man would join the military. In Clay’s case, he had been a civilian for many years and then rejoined in his thirties. We were out working in the yard one afternoon and he told me he wanted to enlist again. I thought he was crazy. We had been together for 10 years then.

via Diary of a Gay Soldier’s Husband: A Gay Man in the Military: First Post.

SF Weekly Music columnist tries to identify with her gay roommate

In San Fran, it’s not just the gay folks who “Gay it Forward.” Cute article on the SF Scene:

I took the opportunity to open the discussion of music, because he plays the same five songs over and over every day, and they are the worst shit I have ever heard. They sound like the no-name band’s song with girlie teenage vocals that gets played at the end of made-for-TV Hilary Duff movies. He plays the newest Britney CD when he is in the shower. He also told me the new Pussycat Dolls record was available online, and that he was totally psyched. (Breathe … breathe…)

So, I asked, what is with a 22-year old man listening to that crap? His answer was actually really good: “I’m gay.” It sort of stopped me in my tracks, as I had forgotten this element. I tried to make an example of gay people who have great taste in music, of which there are many, but all I saw were pictures of gay faves like Abba, Madonna, and Erasure dancing through my head. This is the shitty music of a different generation, though, alas. Now the torch is being passed.

“You have to see The Women,” he said to me. “It was soooo good!” He had it on DVD. But it wasn’t my all-time favorite movie from 1939, which I already own; it was the recent, completely retarded remake. I pointed out to him that the original was an iconic gay film. “Huh,” he said.

So here’s when I realized that I was being really annoying, and that no one needs to hear how lame he is all the time. No matter how idiotic his taste is, ’tis far, far worse for me to keep pointing that out…

via San Francisco Music – Underwear Night at 440 Castro

I’m going through the author Katy St. Clair’s previous articles. Love her.

Beltway Bears, 495 Bears, and more thoughts on the DC Bear Scene

So last night after work I paid a visit to a meeting of the Beltway Bears specifically to report for this blog. There were five men in attendance on the first floor of the DC Eagle, including Bradley Hill, a.k.a Thumper Bear, who is acting as the chairman of the group until elections take place in March and owns the group’s web domain, and Mark Heckathorn, who administers the groups Facebook page and is considering a run as an “at large” officer. They are planning events and possibly a Bear run to take place in 2010, but “not in the winter!” says Thumper.

Thumper took great pains to point out that even though there are two new Bear groups forming in the DC region at the same time – the other group having virtually the same name with “495 Bears” – the groups are not at odds with one another. “As long as no one thinks it’s a competition,” he told me.  There is room for everyone.

Would a Bear Vacuum get clogged with hair?

Titan Bar

Until Titan Bar’s closing in December, 2007, which left a Bear vacuum in the national capital region, the second-story bar above Hamburger Mary’s/Dakota Cowgirl served as a central  hirsute meeting place every Friday night. Cobalt has been a recent substitute, but many Bears just don’t feel at home in the 17th street night club where the bartenders are more likely to sport shiny abs of steel than furry beer bellies.

Of the three major Bear groups in DC’s history (all of which I have at one time been a member of), only one is still active, but in smaller numbers.  District of Columbia Bear Club (DCBC) changed its focus years ago to be more of a small fraternal organization instead of a club with a large membership (pun intended). Chesapeake Bay Bears (CBB) has been off the radar for I don’t know how long. A search of Google and Yahoo found nothing new, and their website is gone.

And GenXDC, the group I am most associated with (I coordinated for a few years and I maintain our web presence), has been pretty much on hiatus. We weren’t a formal club in that we didn’t have bylaws or regular meetings, but we were pretty regular with email and events. When the web shifted away from mailing lists and towards journals, blogs, and other social interaction sites, it became tough for us to communicate as a group. I think we all felt like we needed something new in our lives, too. Though the community is still around – many of us still have dinners, vacations, and parties together – we just don’t consider ourselves an organized group.

“Beltway Bears” Structure

So this vacuum has inspired new Bear-on-Bear action in the form of two new groups. Of the three prior groups, only the Baltimore-based CBB was a chartered club with an open membership – you just pay your dues and you are in. This is how Beltway Bears are organizing themselves right away with their meetings and elections, with bylaw adoption to shortly follow.

“We’ll see how the community reacts to these new clubs,” said Nick Bullock, who is considering a run for Vice President of Beltway Bears.

“495 Bears” Structure

The 495 Bears are taking a less-structured approach, first intending to have a few Tea Dance events and others, without officers,  by-laws, membership,  newsletters, dues, or meetings. While it is inevitable that people will view this as a competition, the 495 Bears list owner also pointed out  in an e-mail to me that even the names were not on purpose. “It is rather funny about the names of these two groups but it was all coincidental and cordial,” he said. His group is focusing first on building membership instead of a charter or bear run. Without officers, dues, or membership forms, they are following the online GenXDC model: “We are taking a new approach… to keep a club relevant these days,” Jones wrote.

I’ll be blogging more about DC’s new Bear Renaissance here and at a new blog “DCBearScene.com.” which is coming soon.

Are you a Bear in the DC area and you wanna talk about what’s going on?  Write to me about becoming a blogger on  “DCBearScene.com.”

Additional notes from the Beltway Bears meeting:

Join Beltway Bears at  the newly renovated American History Museum – Mall entrance – on Saturday, February 21st at noon.

• Join the Yahoo Group List  by 11:59 p.m. on February 21st to be eligible to vote/run in elections.
• Nominations/ self-nominations must be made by by 11:59 p.m. on February 21st , 2009
• Elections will begin on February 25 and close “Super Tuesday” 11:59 p.m. on March 3.
• New officers will take their positions (pun intended) for the March meeting at the Eagle on March 4.
• Tentative outing planned for March – The US Capitol – it has a new visitor’s center.
• A Teddy Bear “Share a Bear” event is in the planning stages.

Why do we think gay men are wealthy?

This column was interesting. It uses a pointless cheap photo from Getty, but the guy is pretty. Anyway, it touches on why we think gay men are wealthy, and how coming out is easier when you have means.

I suspect this stereotype has something to do with the fact that, in the recent past, only gays who had earned fame and fortune — especially in artistic circles — could afford to come out. So the world began to believe that “rich” went hand-in-hand with “homosexual.” And even now, the gay men we tend to read about in magazines or see on TV are rich ones. On “Will and Grace,” Will must have been earning seven figures to pay for his lifestyle (and Jack’s). The “Queer Eye” guys made expensive tastes seem genetically hard-wired in gay men. I’m not saying that the idealization of wealth is solely a gay thing — but it has especially affected gay men, who see fewer representations of themselves in popular culture.

via Style: The Wealth Myth.

Problem with Gus van Sant’s “Milk”

While I loved “Milk,” I’ve felt like there was some things missing from the story. Harvey was more radical sexually and socially. And the riots that took place after his killer was given a light sentence would have added to the history in the film. I think leaving things out may have been necessary in order to boil the final years of Harvey’s life into a single-film biopic, but the film’s castration of our hero does relieve present-day film goers dusgust from understanding Milk’s sexual radicalism and the reality gay male relationships.

So why did it happen? Why is the closet-busting film about Harvey Milk so fearful when it comes to its subject’s own sex life? Well, partly because even gay saints need to be shown exercising some sexual restraint. But the main reason undoubtedly is that bundling themselves back into the closet is exactly what today’s US gay-rights campaigners are doing in their campaign for gay marriage. In order to try and persuade an unconvinced American public to support gay marriage under the rubric of equality, gay male relationships are being presented, rather disingenuously, as “just the same” as male-female ones.

via There’s one problem with Gus van Sant’s Milk: it castrates its hero | Film | guardian.co.uk

Mid-Atlantic Leather’s 25th

At this year’s Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather contest, the eventual winner, Kip Holler, was asked to cite his qualities if called on to serve as President Barack Obama’s new puppy.

”I have short hair, I don’t shed and I’m hypo-allergenic — it’s leather, not latex,” he said off the cuff to the judges’ intentionally farcical question. Dressed in full leather, with a bright-yellow tie, he was sure to call attention to what he said should be the first pup’s first order of business. ”As my first duty, I’d piss on you, George W. Bush.”

Leather Laurels: Celebrating Mid-Atlantic Leather’s quarter century in style: Feature Story at Metro Weekly magazine

International Bear Rendezvous

International Bear Rendezvous 15 is coming up soon and bears are already descending on San Francisco like trailer park queens at a cheap Las Vegas buffet…

Unlike a lot of leather competitions, the bear contests seem to be more about fun, sex and food, whereas the leather competitions are more about saving the world – unless you skip the festivities and make it all about sex. The leather competitions however are never about food.

GLT » In the Pit

Eric Kuhlmann, Australian Bear, Sings Songs of Sex

Totally awesome! I wish he would perform in DC! Bear Invasion! Hire this guy!

Eric Kuhlmann

Eric Kuhlmann… Born in Canberra. Lives in Adelaide. Bit gay. Spent his early teens climbing out of his bedroom window to go and have sex with strange men in toilets, take drugs, and have psychotic episodes. He decided to write some songs about it, and the result is I Was A Teenage Dirty Old Man, a show that explores the unexplorable, and was reviewed in the Adelaide Advertiser as “extremely funny – like Ian Dury meets Billy Bragg in a public toilet”.

“It’s basically telling stories based on my experiences and those of people I know. I used to wag school to go down the beat – it’s all very interesting when you’re young. The show’s about sex, beats, under-age sexuality, mental illness – all the most fascinating, funny, and amusing topics,” says Kuhlmann, a visual artist who has been writing and performing songs since he was out of primary school, and is now the lead singer in an Adelaide bear band called Armpit Stench.

A song cycle of taboo tales – Music – Entertainment – theage.com.au

SF Movie Bears were part of Cinemark Milk boycott

Drew Galleni, co-founder of San Francisco Movie Bears, a gay men’s social group who gather together to watch movies at local theaters, announced the group’s boycott against Cinemark theaters in an e-mail to members after he learned about Stock’s donation. The boycott marks one of the few times members of the bear community have been actively involved in a political issue, Galleni says.

No Milk money for Cinemark : Kansan.com

Ann Rostow: World Stability, Economy, then Equal Rights

(M)uch is being made of an old Obama questionnaire from the late 1990s, in which our pending prez told the Windy City Times that he supports same-sex marriage. But…but…but, we stutter en masse, didn’t he tell the American people that he only supports civil unions? Indeed he did, presumably because he wanted to be elected President of the United States. Sad to say, the bland middle ground of civil unions is a lot easier on the electorate’s palate than the wasabi mustard of marriage equality. But you know Obama likes wasabi in the privacy of his own sushi bar.

I say big deal. If Obama secretly supports same-sex marriage, that’s preferable to a sincere conviction that civil unions should be our final goal. I suspect, in fact, that although he believes in equal rights, he doesn’t care that much either way. Most people don’t. And with the economy on the ropes, war breaking out in the Middle East, health care in crisis and the world facing ecological disaster, gay rights is starting to slip down my own priority list as well.

I’d put it at number three, right after international stability and economic recovery, but ahead of global warming and education. Don’t tell, OK?

San Francisco Bay Times

Why not just say “Americans?”

Note to MSNBC: Some whites choose inauguration over work too! And Asians, and Latinos, and…

Some blacks choose inauguration over work – Race & ethnicity- msnbc.com

Gay Advice for Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama

Queerty looks at past first ladies and gives some advice to Michelle:

Soon-to-be First Lady Michelle Obama turns 45 this weekend, and you have to say her husband’s given her a hell of a birthday present. Michelle’s no-nonsense style, grace, commitment to being a mother and fist-bumping skills have already put her in the running for the title of coolest First Lady since Jackie-O. And the gays? We love her.

All the (First) Ladies in the (White) House Say ‘Gay’ / Queerty

Gay Bishop Robinson Says Obama ‘Stands With Us’

Appearing last night on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show, openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson said President-elect Barack Obama “stands with us,” and signaled he was ready to move past the controversy of his invitation.

Robinson is the controversial New Hampshire Episcopal bishop whose consecration in 2003 has split the Anglican Church.

He has been invited to give an opening prayer at a Sunday inaugural event attended by Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Obama is scheduled to speak at the event which will be broadcast on HBO.

Gay Bishop Says Obama ‘Stands With Us’ | On Top Magazine :: Gay & Lesbian News, Entertainment, Commentary & Travel.

Video from MSNBC:

Gay Feature Films At Sundance: I Love You Phillip Morris and La Mission

Ace Ventura loves Obi-Wan

Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor star in a “gay prison romance story” I Love You Phillip Morris

The jailhouse romance film I Love You Phillip Morris stars Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as a pair of star-crossed lovers who meet in a Texas jail cell.

The script is based on the book of the same name by journalist Steve McVickers. The book follows the true story of Steven Russell (played by Jim Carrey, Liar Liar) and his improbable, but true, transformation from small-town businessman, father and former cop to gay white-collar criminal and ingenious jailbreaker.

After a car crash, Russell’s life takes a most unusual roller coaster ride that leads him to a life of crime, being gay, and falling in love with his cellmate Phillip Morris (played by Ewan McGregor, Star Wars).

Between 1993 and 1998, the clever Russell broke out of a Texas jail four times in five years and always on a Friday the 13th; twice landing into a six-figure job as a CFO of a major company…

The Park City, Utah festival will also premiere director/writer Peter Bratt’s La Mission.

In the middle of the Hispanic San Francisco district of La Mission, Che (played by Benjamin Bratt, Law and Order) is the baddest Chicano on the block. A hard knocks life lived behind prison bars and Tequila shots, Che prods on for his beloved son, Jesse.

Che’s macho world is crushed when he discovers that Jesse is gay. He responds to the revelation by violently severing all ties with his son.

La Mission is the story of how a proud father and a lost son mend their relationship, breaking with the violence of the past.

Gay Feature Films Premiere At Sundance | On Top Magazine :: Gay & Lesbian News, Entertainment, Commentary & Travel.

Blackmail? Eddy Curry was told to fire driver

It’s beginning to look a lot like blackmail:

“We tried to tell him [Curry] that he could drive himself, that he didn’t need all these cars,” said attorney Kelly Saindon. “He needed to cut expenses.”

David Kuchinsky

Curry felt loyalty to David Kuchinsky because he was beaten and pistol-whipped along with Curry and his wife during a 2007 robbery in the hoops star’s suburban Chicago home.

Curry finally gave in to his lawyer’s wishes and fired Kuchinsky two months ago, setting off a chain of bizarre events that led to the filing of a sexual harassment suit Monday in Manhattan Federal Court.

Over the past six weeks, Saindon says, Kuchinsky has repeatedly demanded $93,000 in back pay and credit card charges he says he is owed and made veiled threats about what would happen if he didn’t get paid. “You’ll find out,” Saindon says Kuchinsky told her.

She said Kuchinsky never mentioned any inappropriate sexual shenanigans involving Curry. Kuchinsky wanted to retrieve information stored in a laptop in Curry’s Burr Ridge, Ill., estate, but she refused to hand over the computer because it belonged to Curry, Saindon said.

“This lawsuit is nothing more than a disgruntled former employee trying to extort money from his former employer,” Saindon said.

Eddy Curry was told to curb driver