Looking back at the last five years of Comfort & Joy… montage created by Chickpea…

Get on the Bus Queen! Yes, there’s a bus leaving from SF for Wolf Creek Sanctuary on the Monday after Ultra TOUCH – just in time for the Radical Faeries 2010 Summer Men’s Gathering! Cosponsored by Comfort & Joy + the church of Nomenus… only 14 seats available on a
first-cum-first-served basis. See this Webpage for ALL Bus + Men’s Gathering Information.

What a whirl!

Are you seeing flashes of glitter, hearing the voices of drag queens, or experiencing radical queer tendencies? Then you may be coming down from the fabulosity that was Faetopia and the incredible week of programming that we showcased this Pride (on top of everything else you could do). Comfort & Joy welcomed thousands of people into the old Tower Records space, hosted dozens of events, workshops and screenings, and exposed fresh eyes to sexy, eclectic queer storefront theater.

Night after night, Aliens Cut My Hair showed that drag has no limits in this space-time continuum; it says something when even the original cast of the film was blown away by the show. “Gay Adults! Gay Adults! Where Are You?” was a huge success, showing many San Francisco queens a new path towards self-actualization. We hosted what was hailed as the most advanced Cunts For Fags workshop ever….and who knows can count how many tourists took their picture in front of our enchanting Faerie storefront museum? EcoHomo taught urban farming techniques and raised hundreds of dollars for Gulf Coast wildlife rescue. And, many Castro residents will not soon forget seeing a goat mama and her two babies strolling down the street.

What our burner/faerie community pulled off for faggots and queerdos this Pride is monumental! Nearly every newspaper in the city from the Chronicle to the Bay Times and SF Weekly to the Bay Guardian. We did all this the same week we also hosted a 600 person Afterglow fundraiser and cohosting the colorfully decorated Faerie Freedom Village. This was only possible thanks to the dozens of Comfort & Joy volunteers who step forward to lend a hand. Way to Glitter
Done girls!

And I know the question on all your minds (even as your head is still spinning from Pride) is ‘what’s next?’. Breathe the glitter in, cause we’re going deeper down the rabbit hole and our momentum is only building.

This Friday we have ULTRA TOUCH, one of Comfort & Joy’s last fundraisers before we head to Burning Man.

…featuring…
DJ BUS STATION JOHN + StuDlyCaPs
Pleasurebot Go-Go Performances
Tiki Bar + Indoor/Outdoor Jungle Smoking Lounge
boudoir DANCEFLOOR // PLAYSPACES GALORE
Luxuriously intimate private venue w/ multiple rooms
:: HOSTED by Seattle’s legendary ULTRA::

Also coming up next week is the 31^st annual Spirity’all Gathering of Radical Faeries (aka Men’s Gathering). Running from Sunday July 25^th to Sunday August 1^st at Wolf Creek Sanctuary in Southern Oregon. Come for any portion you can. Don’t miss this hot, sweaty, dirty faggot-filled event. Read the full call here. There are rideshares available, for information about rides or the gathering email zaxzaxlove@gmail.com.

And then, there’s Burning Man…

Mrs. Vera, Mr. Tina
and the Drag Harpies
are throwing a tea party
on Saturday, July 24
starting at 2:00pm
in Patricia’s Green
(Octavia & Hayes)
in Hayes Valley.

Bring nibblies,
other libations to put in tea cups
besides tea
and a camera.

When people are asking for a theme we tell them to dress up.
When they press further, we say don’t wear pants (unless of course, they are fabulous.)
Even further, we say the theme is Faerie: Something Bright and Colorful.

Who are we?
Where do we come from?
Why are we here?
— Harry Hay

Comfort & Joy’s Artist Malcolm Drake guided Bay Guardian readers through 25 Visions of our Queer Future in the weekly newspaper’s special June Pride 2010 issue, which also featured coverage of our future-utopia(s) orientated storefront Faetopia Festival as well as Zak’s musings on the Future of Gay Spirituality as the President of the radical faerie church of Nomenus.

Comfort & Joy is proud to present a special performance by the legendary vaudevillian duo “The Wet Spots” – as seen at Kinky Salon – and famous for asking… “Do You Take It…?” this Friday, July 23rd at Ultra TOUCH. This internationally acclaimed cabaret duo (husband & wife duo Cass King and John Woods) are bold & bawdy: Think sex club by way of Monty Python.

Despite (or rather, because of) their adult subject matter, this genre-busting act appeals to sophisticated adult audiences with a lively blend of original songs, audience interaction, spankings and singalongs. At Comfort & Joy’s “Ultra Touch” this Friday, The Wet Spots will draw you into a world where the libido is celebrated and satirized. It’s only natural!

“The aim of our show is to entertain people with the notion that
sexual expression is healthy and beautiful … and funny.” – Cass King (of the Wet Spots)

PLUS there’s rumours of a group production number choreographed by His Noble Negress Artist Malcolm Drake — and much more — at the last Comfort & Joy “private discotheque” underground event before Burning Man! Have you RSVP’d yet?

Definition: Ac·cul·tur·a·tion
1. A process by which the culture of an isolated society changes on contact with a different one.
2. A process by which a person acquires the culture of the society that he/she inhabits.

Remember your first time at Burning Man, finally seeing everything you’d been hearing about? Well, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a thousand pictures (or, more accurately, about 30 frames per second).

Every year, returning participants wonder how to share their tips, tricks, and first-timer advice; and how the Survival Guide, Ten Principles, and other “Burning Man Essentials” can be best communicated to the next generation of newcomers. The Burning Man organization thinks the answer is: VIDEO… and is calling all filmmakers, actors, actresses, directors, vloggers, auteurs … acrobats, giant bunnies and sumo wrestlers to share their videos as part of the Burning Man Video Acculturation Series!

For more information see the Official Webpage.

After learning that Trance is dead on the playa, Hitler organizes a sound camp….

Looking for a large-scale outdoor daytime discotheque in Black Rock City’s Metropolis? Just head on down to DISTRIKT, an invention/experiment by a few former Deep End organizers.

“Ask any one of us why, and you might get a different answer: giving back, a desire to throw a furious & fierce whomping party in the desert, a certain sadness when thinking of 9 & F devoid of daytime beat and heavy bass, an arrested development inability to let go, an ambition to try something new. Whatever the individual reason, we build with the idea of constant change, in the spirit of a burgeoning metropolis.”

“Change is inevitable. Change is constant,” as Benjamin Disraeli said, standing on the shoulders of Heraclitus. The Flux Foundation embraces this knowledge as they create the Temple for Burning Man 2010.

The Burning Man Temple is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. It is an institution dedicated to remembrance, catharsis, and rebirth – an essential place of memorial for the over 45,000 participants who attend Burning Man every year. This year, it will also be dedicated to change.

The Temple of Flux is being built in West Oakland at American Steel by a newly formed group of artists, the Flux Foundation, led by three established artists specializing in large-scale sculptures, Rebecca Anders, Jess Hobbs, and Peter Kimmelman. The Flux Foundation is a collaboration of many Bay Area communities, including the Flaming Lotus Girls, the SpaceCowboys, House of Lotus, the Department of Spontaneous Combustion, Burning Man’s Department of Public Works, the Deep End/Distrikt, House of Lotus, Neuroweapon and so many others. The crew are carpenters, artists, metal workers, machinists, pyrotechnicians, and a vast array of other individuals from the Bay Area and beyond. They have a huge range of experience and backgrounds, with one unfying vision: Creating awe-inspiring, memorable art that emerges from the community and inspires change.

The groups draws from a pool of talent and experience that is unique in the Temple’s history, and for the first time ever, the project is being lead primarily by women. It is the aim of the Flux Foundation to empower women, in the traditionally male-dominated field of large-scale art, by creating a supportive hands-on educational environment for all genders.

This is the first chapter in the story of this very big art created by amazing minds, hands and hearts in West Oakland, CA. There’s much more to come. Be part of making the temple a reality! Pledge your support here.