BEWARE OF BEARS!

bears
33 up, 13 down
Hairy gay men. In September 2007 in Melkweg Amsterdam there was the first Mr FurBall Election. You could choose Mr Furball from the hairy candidates.
FurBall is the Amsterdam Hairy Men Dance Party ... for all kind of hairy and butch men. This party attracts Bears, musclebears, otters, cubs, (smooth) admirers and everybody who likes hairy men. Check out the famous bear band bearforce 1!
hairy gay musclebears bearforce unshaven by Kaptain E-Glow Oct 18, 2007 share this

- The definition of a Bear according to urbandictionary.com

San Francisco is a wonderful place. Great food, great beer and great music. All of these reasons were behind my recent trip to the city by the bay. Spring Break '09 might have come to a close but the hazy memories will stay with me forever.

As anyone who knows me knows, I am a huge fan of spring break and celebrate it religiously every year. I also enjoy writing about it because of the fact that Spring Break normally includes massive amounts of ridiculousness and tom foolery, my specialty.

...And you will know us by the Trail of the Dead played an incredible show at Slim's. Lots of energy. Good mix of old stuff and new stuff and the venue was really cool.

There was definitely a giddiness about our group after the show and naturally we ducked into the first bar that we came across. We did not investigate the said bar very close. If we would have maybe the name of the bar "Big Bear Paw Bar" would of been an indicator. Then again maybe I should of picked up on it when I asked the bar tender how he was doing and he replied by saying "super, thanks for asking".

The stained glass window of a bear in leather pants was the give away for me. Didn't take a detective to find out we stumbled into unknown territory and should probably carry on else where.

Our next stop was a whole in the wall down the street that had several pool tables and a well lit interior. It had to be a straight bar, we asked nonetheless.

Details from this point begin to become quite vague. At one point in the evening I was doing the jig with a guy that looked like the late great Ole Dirty Bastard and met Wayne Brady's look-a-like.

Seriously this guy looked exactly like Wayne Brady and if you just survived unknowingly walking into a gay bar occupied solely by big, hairy men then you would of been relieved to see a clean cut, sport jacket wearing black man that can improvise a funny song off of anything. 

Wayne Brady is cool as hell so why would someone not want to look like him?

This guy didn't nor did he think Wayne Brady was cool. 

I'm not clear on the details but based on the fact my next memory is laughing like an idiot on the floor of our hotel room I would say I was asked nicely to leave. 

The next day we saw the sights and there was one particular moment of the day that was very moving. It was on a bench on Haight St. My best friend and I sat on the bench quietly waiting for the others that came with us to come outside of the pub we were enjoying a couple good beers in. We look at each other and grinned, thinking the same thing. 

We both began to laugh histerically. We had gone on for hours about the very street we were sitting at back on Raymond St. in Wolcott Ind. Dreaming about another world, in another time, so out of reach of where we were. Here we found ourselves at that place and didn't have a thing to say.

When I was growing up California seemed more like a TV show that didn't come in well on our bunny ears set. Hollywood was more of an idea than an actual place. Then I discovered The Grateful Dead and the entire movement that centered around Haight Ashbury. 

Sitting at the cross streets that inspired the drive that led me to this very place was very anti-climatic. Maybe because I've already moved my sights on to something else. When you strive for a goal that seems completely impossible, many accomplishments happen along the way that almost go unnoticed in the race to reach that unreachable finish line. 

There was a time when I would not go in a gay bar. I felt it would be way too weird and awkward. It was a terrifying notion. It took me stumbling blindly and by mistake to see that it really wasn't that bad. As long as you don't consider big, hairy, gay men in leather that bad. 

I'm a Road Man for The Lords of Karma though and must deal with the wild, wicked and weird as an occupational hazard. I always come out all right and unharmed. Nothing can stand in my way, not even Bears. 

With Love & Respect, 

Your friend till the end, 

Mike James