The juiciest place on earth. The home of Juicy Fruit Jim (aka JuicyFruit Jim), a San Francisco resident, club flag dancer, silk flag designer and flagging performer, and recently a writer..
Posted on August 4th, 2008 by Jim.
Categories: General.
The San Francisco Bay Area has a way of throwing some of the best events one, right after the other, after the other, etc. You get my drift.
So these past couple weeks were two of summer’s highlights in San Francisco – The Up Your Alley (Dore Alley) Street Fair and the Lazy Bear Weekend up at the Russian River.
Dore Alley is often like the local leather street fair in San Francisco. It is the place a lot of locals go because it is small (well smaller than Folsom Street Fair) and still seems to embody a more fun and interesting crowd. The weekend has been steadily growing, from just a Sunday street fair to now a whole weekend full of activities. This year Dore had two prominent dance parties to attend – Saturday night the Bay of Pigs party run by the FSE team held at York Studios and PLAY by the Past Curfew Team (of which I am a member) at the DNA Lounge. Both parties had a unique and different feel with similar crowds.
The Bay of Pigs party was something that I wanted to check out because of the use of this new space, York Studios, which is just that, a studio. They get two big boxes, with open ceilings and can make it into what they want. The BOP team did a great job of creating a mood and decorating for a darker sexier energy. Lighting seems to be a challenge in this space, but I think they did a pretty good job given the limitations of build and strike times. The main dance room was large, with a great sound system that felt like it would vibrate the building off the foundation. The blue and red lighting used to highlight the duct work gave it a fun warehouse industrial vibe (man I wish there were more warehouse parties). The simulated torch lamps on top of the speakers gave a bit of a tribal feel as well. The back room was darker, using more blue light, with several small stages for performances. There was also a maze in the space to create some interest. I did not get to spend as much time as I hoped at this party due to two reasons. First, I volunteered to work coat check, and that was my highlight of the night. I had a blast. Helping everyone get into the proper aesthetic for the night and seeing some cool, interesting and very provocative outfits. After my shift was up at coat check I headed out to meet friends on the dance floor and starting getting into the party. Sadly, and reason two for not spending time, after one hour of audio assault by the music of DJ Paulo, I cashed it in, grabbed my coat and went home. Overall, BOP gets good marks for space, environment and the team that pulled off the party, but low marks for the DJ. I will give this party another shot if it happens next year.
The other party, PLAY, on Sunday, was the gem of the weekend. And while it may seem that I am tooting my own horn here because I am on the Past Curfew Production Team, the reviews from others coming in would strongly back my stand. DNA lounge is a great little club on 11th Street, South of Market, between Folsom and Harrison. We have been throwing PLAY T-Dances there since an unfortunate shooting one weekend at 1015 forced us to make a last minute change. I used to also attend great little dance parties there called Thump, by the Thump Radio group (man I miss those). We have a great formula to make this space work – everyone is greeted, everyone is welcomed, and fun is encouraged. I was in charge of decorating this party which was themed for gear (in line with Dore Alley Weekend) and the Temple of Love. I created a large wall decoration with a giant red heart and colored silk flowing from it with an altar like space below it and hung up 6 simulated torch lamps to give the temple feel. The overall aesthetic worked. Our DJ selection for this party was Lydia Prim from New Orleans/Ft. Lauderdale. The last time I heard Lydia was at Montage in San Diego during their Pride weekend festivities. She has a great knack for mixing quickly and reading her crowd. The set in San Diego was so good that I was thrilled when we picked her to come to SF for PLAY. She did not disappoint anyone with her high energy music that kept everyone on the floor from about 6:15 until nearly 11:30. The crowd was having fun, the space was hot and exciting, and music just moved you. This was clearly one of the best parties I have worked on.
So, forward another week to the Russian River and we head off to Lazy Bear. This is another one of those fun events to go to. My friends and I had actually cancelled going this year, but at the last minute, for some reason, I called and secured a room that could sleep three and we were all in for the event. Sadly, I was not able to enjoy the events as much as I had hoped to, after getting a bad chill on Saturday when exiting the pool at Fern Grove, I ended up coming down with a fever and chills. But from what I have heard, the entire event was fun. The pool parties I did get too were a blast, including spending the day on Friday at the Woods and just chatting with all kinds of new and nice people. Saturday we roamed between West Sonoma, and Triple R parties and got to see lots of old friends and make some new ones too. Additionally, due to the fire dangers this year, the traditional bon fires located across the river were cancelled and a new event was held at the private estate that host the big Sunday event. These folks have a great space and getting to chill out near the pool, drink beer, and chat (in a hushed manner) made it a rather fun place to hang out. The crew of the Lazy Bear Weekend and Harry really did a great job of pulling of another fun weekend.
Up next, another club weekend in London during August and then September the Folsom Street Fair and the Real Bad XX party (of which I am a sponsor and assistant in production). Until then, be well, and save me a dance.
Posted on July 19th, 2008 by Jim.
Categories: General.
Time certainly moves fast when you are having fun.
San Francisco Pride was the first part of the most recent activities during the past few weeks. Pride in San Francisco is always accompanied by many fun things to be a part of, from house parties with friends to great dance parties, to the pride event itself. Specifically, I was happy to see a few new events come into play, with the highlight of the weekend being the Frisco Disco dance party held at Mezzanine and the Unity dance party held at Temple.
Frisco Disco was a new twist on a fun party by a well known producer, Billy Worthen, with some fun shows and events, flow arts space for flaggers and fanners, and a great dance space with great music provided by DJ Cary Stringfellow. Frisco Disco was held on Saturday night of Pride, against several other events in San Francisco, but the crowd that attended was an attractive and fun group of guys who seemed to be in the spirit to show some pride and just have some fun. Unity, a party thrown by yet another very well known producer, Luke Johnstone, held on Sunday night of Pride, included top DJ talent Wayne G, Luke Johnstone, and others. The Unity party was held in the downstairs catacombs space of Temple night club, and was a nice blend of people and differing music styles. Both parties really painted a great picture of how the scene in San Francisco can be diverse, interesting, and fun. Sadly, while on my summer holidays, we found out that DJ Cary Stringfellow had passed away suddenly on July 6. The loss of a good DJ, let alone a wonderful guy like Cary, will leave a large hole in the dance community.
Tuesday, following pride, my partner and I gathered up our holiday gear and headed off to Barcelona, Spain, to begin our summer holidays. We had a few days to enjoy this wonderful city, seeing all the sites it had to offer. The city was clean and friendly, and certainly a place I will return to someday soon. The most memorable parts of the city were the wonderful architectural effects of Antoni Gaudi, and one that specifically calls greatest attention is the Sagrada Familia, or the Cathedral of the Holy Family. This amazing structure has been under construction for several decades and is not even 50% completed. It is anticipated to be completed sometime around the year 2030. You can see some of the amazing photos I took in my photo albums. Additionally, many other buildings around Barcelona show similar Gaudi styles.
After a few days in Barcelona, we caught a taxi to the pier and went off on the Atlantis Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona to Rome aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruise Liner “Navigator of the Seas”. This trip stopped at such wonderful ports of call as Marseille, Livorno, Mykonos and Santorini. Each port had some amazing sites to offer and each was a very unique experience. I have placed many photos of these locations in my photo albums as well.
Highlights of the cruise are many. But again, churches and ancient ruins dominate the list of sites to see in most towns.
We had another day at sea before ending the cruise in Rome. The entertainment on this cruise was wonderful, and the DJ talent as well. We were able to enjoy a few of the dance parties with talents like Paul Goodyear, Abel, Wayne G, and Shigeki. The parties were typical of the Atlantis team; well run, good music, great guys. The White Party was the one event we hit for the long haul, making it to the very early hours of the morning. The music that Paul Goodyear and Abel played was some of the best we had heard, and the light show by Guy Smith and Lasers by Kyle were perfect additions for creating the most amazing club scene at sea.
Finally, we ended our holidays in Rome. We were able to see much of the ancient ruins of the city including the Coliseum, the Pantheon, the Forum, and many others including churches, obelisks and columns all over the city. We also spent an entire day touring the Vatican, seeing the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, and St. Peter’s plaza and Basilica.
So, summer holidays come to an end. More travel on the horizon, more parties still to attend this year, and so much more coming up. Specifically, the Past Curfew Team will produce the Dore Alley weekend closing party, PLAY, at the DNA lounge on Sunday, July 27, with Lydia Prim. And summer would not be complete without Burning Man, Love Parade and of course Folsom Week, with the crown jewel of San Francisco parties, Real Bad. I will certainly report more on those events as they come up.
Posted on June 3rd, 2008 by Jim.
Categories: General.
This past weekend provided 2 opportunities to enjoy some time to volunteer for local events with some important impact.
My first opportunity was as a bartender for the AIDS Emergency Fund’s First County Fair. This event was held in Golden Gate Park at the County Fair Building (I never knew there was a County Fair Building in the park until this weekend). The weather made for a beautiful day to head over to the park and the venue was the perfect size for the event, easily accessible by car or by train and bus. First and foremost, the event had large contingency of volunteers. This fact alone showed how much work was involved in make this event a reality. The fair had a venue in 3 parts. The smaller of the three areas was the outdoor area with a seating and a bar and food service. Next to that, the second space had an old fashioned mid-way with carnival games, cotton candy, seating, a bar, silent auction, and a stage for showing off some entertainment. Finally, the third space was an indoor area with a stage and dance floor with a bar and seating. It was great to see a well run event, with a lot of volunteers and good cooperation between the AEF and Sundance Association of San Francisco as well common faces of volunteers I have seen at many other events. Sadly, the one thing missing was a more formal representation from the Bay Area Chapter of the GSGRA, which in many ways seemed a logical fit to the country dancing and the bull for riding. The event was well attended and it was a lot of fun for me to be a bartender in the country dance venue. I want to express my appreciation to the team of volunteers and to Ed, for wrangling me in as a volunteer to this event, and a special round of applause to Tyrone for working countless hours in his role with AEF to make this event come to life. I look forward to seeing how this one grows.
The second opportunity was a fourth year of participating in the Otter Pop Stop on day two of the AIDS Lifecycle. Once again, my friend Kyle took the time to arrange a group of volunteers to drive down to Mission Soledad and set up a booth at the water stop at the 75 mile mark (of 105 miles traveled) in the Mission parking lot. In this space we erect a colorful structure, have great music and fun people dancing about in tutu’s being silly, and most important are able to share a few moments with some of the over 3000 riders doing this amazing fundraiser. This event has now completed the fourth year of giving out over 2000 Otter Pops (the little fruit flavored ice in a plastic sheathe) and it appears to be going strong. In fact, I would say we have become an institution on the ride. Many riders look forward to seeing us now on that day two of the ride, when it is usually hot and they are dealing with lots of wind. This year was certainly cooler than the last 3 and the winds were the highest I have seen, which may be why we did not have as many revelers to dance and celebrate this year. However, the event was still fun and memorable and to quote Kyle “enough to keep you going all year”. There is just something about these folks, from the serious riders to the more casual, that brings an energy that infuses your spirit as they pull into the water stop. Some of the riders come in tired, some of them sweaty, some just getting a quick break, some staying to linger in the company and music. Whatever the case is, this is one event that really does live up to being a lot of fun. Feel free to check out the few pictures I posted as well.
So two days, two great events, two wonderful opportunities to volunteer. I am a bit tired after all of this volunteer work, but it was very worth it.
Posted on May 22nd, 2008 by Jim.
Categories: General.
According to Webster’s Dictionary –
1. A social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage; 2. A locality inhabited by such a group; 3. A social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists.
Now, what do I think? What is community? What I propose is to dive away from just the definition and talk more about what community means to me, and maybe others.
We have communities that we live in, while others exist for gathering for a common bond or goal like prayer, worship or recreation. We all belong to many communities at any given time. We transverse through these communities all the time, sometimes joining in new communities and other times are leaving communities for various reasons. However, I believe many people do not understand what communities are and many others do not know how to exist in those communities or when it is time to move on.
While I would not want to belabor anyone by trying to define, defend, or defile any communities on line, I do want to provide some thoughts on people who it seems have the sole purpose of destroying communities. They are aimed at tearing down the pillars of these communities because of some feeling of exclusion, betrayal, loss, or any number of other things. This leads me to my example, and the thoughts I want to share.
Personally, I belong to several communities, some of which I am deeply involved with and others just on the periphery. One community I do belong to is made up of artists and creative people, some with significant talents to share and others who are only novices in what they know. Like any community there are sets of leaders, instructors, teachers, and sets of students, followers and admirers. Additionally, like so many communities, there are those perceived to be the ones to know and those who feel left out or kept out by others. Clearly, whenever you are dealing with creativity, there is going to be a tremendous of amount of energy involved. Community members get tied to that energy, thrive on it, cherish it, and live for it. Sadly, in this community, certain members make it their sole purpose to tear down the pillars of this community, forsaking the good names of those who are leaders and builders of the community. These community members spend time spreading lies, telling false stories, and exaggerating the truths of their experiences, so as to elicit followers who will believe them and share in their grief. What baffles me is why these members of the community can spend so much energy spreading their negativity, their venom of foul thought, rather than moving on and finding ways to improve the situation. They blame everyone for the discomfort they feel rather than finding ways to improve their situation. Recently, a member of this community has spent more time defiling the name of one specific leader of the community, spreading lies and hate, speaking to people with false information, and even taking time to post these lies about on different platforms. Additionally, this member has taken to spreading lies about another member of the community in the forms of false information about circumstances and situations, playing up that he is something better and far superior to those he is trying to take down. I have even had to reject some of that information here on my blog site from this person, who somehow believed putting a posting comment here would actually get through to the general public.
So why should I care? Well, because these things affect the positive aspects of what communities do. The spreading of all this negativity only works against the good of the community and the ability of the community to be a source of strength and power. It serves no one to have this process of lies and hate continued.
What do I want? Honestly, what I want will not happen. What I want is for this person to move on, find the growth to move forward, turn a leaf and find it in his heart to forgive and forget whatever wrongs he feels was done towards him. While he constantly asks to be removed from these communities, he continues to post his hate, so I ask him, why not just leave? Additionally, I hope this member can find it in himself to seek out help for this hate that ravages his mind. Clearly it would be beneficial to everyone if he was able to put this to rest, most especially for him.
So, this is my rant from the “juice box”. This is not something I plan to do regularly. If you want commentary on the ills of the world, turn on the nightly news, and be flooded with it. However, I hope that you will support your communities in building a place of safety and trust, not allowing one opinion to sway your feelings and perceptions. I hope as a community we can rally to either help this person in fixing what is wrong, or help this person move along to another place where they can find they support and strength they need. Until my next post, enjoy what life has to offer, filter out they hate and evil, and try to find that community spirit for strength, love and growth.
Posted on May 7th, 2008 by Jim.
Categories: General.
What can I say – I had the most amazing trip to London during the May Bank Holiday - a 3 night, 4 day, whirlwind trip to the heart of the clubbing world. Travelling with my friends Leif and Steve for our 3 tour of the year, I was taken on a crazy trip to London to see the sites and taste the culture of dancing, British style.
We arrived early Saturday morning from our overnight flight to London. We hopped into a car (pre-arranged by Steve) and quickly headed to Vauxhall to the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel. The hotel was beautiful and well done and located just blocks from the London Eye, Parliament our beloved Vauxhall. We dropped out gear and headed out to Smith’s to have breakfast with friends (some visiting from San Francisco and some from London). After a hearty breakfast we all headed out sightseeing taking in the Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge and a lovely walk along the Thames. The day was packed with things to see, neighborhoods to explore and an 8PM ride on the London Eye. I took many pictures of the sites and they can be found here on my soap box.
Following a lovely dinner we all set out to get ready for our evening out and our weekend of dancing and mischief. The first stop on the tour was XXL London. This was a great club with a gear night and time to enjoy the first of a series of London clubbing experiences. XXL is under the train tracks in a series of several arches. This creates some fun places to explore and dance. We spent the entire night at this club, meeting many locals and catching up with other friends. The music was not over the top sensational, but it was clearly fun and easy to dance to. We ended the night in the smaller hours of the morning so we could get some sleep before the mother visit of all.
Sunday we awoke for breakfast and headed to the RVT (Royal Vauxhall Tavern). This is the mother ship of dancing for the bear and local scene, as some would say, and the experience did not disappoint. We got in line early to get our armbands and then returned later for the best show one could ask for, the Dame Edna Experience. It was fantastic, fun, silly, and just all around a good time. I loved every minute of this. Following this we got to dance and listen to one of my favorite DJ’s, Andy Almighty. The music was great, but we ended the evening at RVT a bit early because more was to come and we would be back again the next day.
Our next stop that night was the club called Fire and the night called Orange. This was another amazing space, set into the railway arches. Several dance floors, and eclectic crowd, and music that made you keep dancing with your hands in the air, a smile on your face, and non-stop excitement. The lighting in this club is amazing, using many new LED technologies that are available. We were also treated a set by our good friend Wayne G, who we regularly get to hear DJ in San Francisco and I have also heard on many cruises, however, this was London and made it very special. This club has an amazing light box room with walls and ceiling covered with individual color changing LED lighting technology, allowing large images to be swept, like on a monitor, across the walls and ceiling, for some amazing visuals. While the music was nothing amazing in this room, the light show made up for it. Overall, Fire is a hot club, well run, great space and fun. The crowd the night we attended was fun, and basically it was fun because of who we hung out with and because I was there with friends. There was a typical level of American Circuit boys in the club, and that was something that was a first for me to have seen in London. We made a very late night (or should I say early morning) of this club.
Our final day in London was spent at the RVT, with another Dame Edna show.
I met so many wonderful guys in London. Friendly, fun, easy going and more than eager to get to know us and who we were. This impressed me the most, and certainly has given me the longing to return to London again (maybe this August but certainly by New Year). I want say that Steve and Leif are amazing travel companions, making a weekend like this, something so special that I had to often contain tears of joy for the fun I was having. Not to be forgotten was the chance to reunite with Wil (who I miss from SF very much) and Marcus and James (who live in SF) and to meet Martin (Wil’s new beau) and several other new friends (Martin, Ian, Mark, John, Tony, Michael, and far too many more to remember all the names).
Until the next note, may joy fill your lives and may you have eternal fun in the light of the disco ball.
P.S. You may have noticed the new “Juicy’s Juice Box” name to the site. This was a suggestion from Leif and something I like. I am seriously trying to get myself to writing more and more. I hope you will stop by often and see what is new or set up your RSS feed to pick my new articles. Cheers!