Folsom Street East 2008: UPDATED

I was wearing my Diesel jeans, Sergio Mora tee shirt and leather hat, ready to get into the car when I spotted a great blue heron on my pond with one of my koi in its bill. I screamed “Drop that!”, and clapped my hands loudly.

The bird transferred the fish to its claws and flew away, dropping the heavy fish into the blackberry bushes that surround our pond. Heedless of the thorns, I did not hesitate to run into the large bushes to fetch my fish. But, the bushes were too large and strong, and I could not push my way in far enough to find the damn fish! I sure didn’t want to miss my train to New York Fucking City and Folsom Street East. So, now I was down to seven fish and it was only a black and white one anyhow. Once in the car, I noted the grass stains on my jeans and scratches on my arms. That’s what you get for living in the wilds of Connecticut.

So, that is why this post is a bit late, because this morning I had to buy deer netting to keep the great blue herons away from my fish. It works and that is how I have kept them away in the past. Apparently they have forgotten and now I have to retrain them. I got some at the garden center this morning and put it on just now. See, priorities. Save fish now, post later.

I arrived in Grand Central and walked briskly to 8^th Avenue and 28^th Street and there was Paul! He was taller than I expected. We hugged and began to walk towards 10^th Avenue. The fair was easy to spot as the entrance was marked with balloon chains. He paid for both of us to go in. What a gentleman!

Okay, first of all there were gorgeous guys in various states of undress everywhere. (And, um, er others, that we will politely not speak about here.) We were busy looking around and pointing out people to each other subtly. It would have been impossible to photograph them though. I have never seen so much manflesh around me and been so tempted to touch beautiful skin, muscles, tattoos, fur, cocks, and asses. It was overwhelming. I told Paul that sometimes I just wanted to grab harnesses and give them a yank. He replied “Yeah, and sometimes you don’t.”

The hottie at the gate in the cowboy hat. Mmmm...

Then we made it to the Eagle beer corral, and the guy at the gate reminded me of Jake Deckard, but handsome. We then began to look for Joe.My.God and Little David. Talk about pressing the flesh! It was wall to wall men in there! We had to bodily press our way through to get from one end to the other. Not that there wasn’t any entertainment value in it. It put a smile on my face. We didn’t see them, so decided to go into the Eagle. We checked our bags, and went up to the roof deck. It was quite hot and thankfully there were huge fans up there, plus more hot guys! (Don’t worry Synrgy, I got lots of numbers for you!) It was my first time in a gay bar, and Paul had the honor of taking me there! Congratulations to Paul! (Sorry Graham! Would still love to go with you sometime though!)

Me on the Eagle roof deck

We also saw a man getting flogged. When the flogging first started, it was really soft, and I thought that even I could take it. But as time went by it got harder and we could hardly stand to hear the sound of the flogger on the guy’s flesh. It made us wince. When we saw the guy’s back later, the beating had made him bleed.

See the blood!

We also saw guy’s in full rubber suits, which seemed crazy in the heat, and people with dog and master fetishes.

Ooh! Puppies!

Paul and I walked to Chelsea to get dinner. We ate at an Asian place called Spring Joy. I had a mango shrimp dish that was just lovely. Paul had pork with onions and peppers. Then I risked having one scoop of jamoca almond fudge ice cream (Coffee can give me migraines, but I lucked out and didn't get one!). Then we hurried back to the fair.

Heading back to find Joe and David

We got back and it was time for Bob Mould to play and that was the only way we located Joe and David. We spotted them in no time! Joe came over and said hello, but he was grooving to his music, but David talked to us.

Joe is in the white shirt with green sleeves.

Joe with his friends

We bemoaned that there were no porn stars, and David said that there were and we had missed them. But when he told us who they were, we had never heard of them. Apparently, they were D list stars. But we did get to see Chi Chi la Rue.

David, me and Paul

After Bob’s set, the party was really breaking up and everyone was going home. So we all said our good byes and headed home. I had a great time and am really jealous of Paul, who is going to the real Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco in September.

Photo source: Paul’s little camera phone – isn’t it amazing how great the photos are?!?!?!

UPDATE: I can't believe that Steve Cruz was there and we missed him!!! Paul said that he thought he saw a guy that looked like him but we figured that he wasn't going to be there. May I say "SHIT!" But check out Steve's coverage of the event at his blog.

Steve with his new buds (we saw the guy in the black jock)