(no subject)

[growler_south]

Another long and busy weekend here- but very productive. I have the red Piazza all ready for sale, it's parts all wrapped and safe inside, panels attached and windscreen removed. And more importantly, the silver car is no longer leaking petrol- I finally got around to repairing the drippy drain plug. No more danger of a random car fire for me :-)

I worked at Urge on Saturday as doorman- I really enjoy that job, I get to sit on the street and greet everyone, scare off the girls, and chat to the punters at a civilised volume (unlike inside, where you're shouting above the music). The downside is that I was there from 10pm-5am, a long and exhausting night. Luckily Erich called at 5am, just as I was starting to get cranky, and suddenly my day was back on track.

Speaking of... Erich's taken to calling me while he's out with his mates, and handing the phone around. I think I've spoken to nearly everyone in Anchorage by now! Its fantastic. There's this one older guy who's always at Myrna's, and he spent a couple of years in NZ after WW2. He reminisces about things that happened in NZ in 1948 and always asks me if I remember them. Oh dear. Last night's rather crap horror movie ('the forsaken') was much improved by chatting to a barfull of drunk Alaskans at regular intervals, though it drained the battery on my phone. Even after I'd fallen asleep on Alan and Paul's couch, phone on charge in the office, I missed a couple of calls... LOL!!

I cant wait to be there. I'm SO going to spank him.

Back at work today, my mate Sam is bringing in some work for me to do for his new documentary- a couple of effects shots, and a few hundred dollars closer to independance :-)

Comments

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Gaggles of girls of the female persuasion who seem to mistake Urge for a public toilet. I warn them that they are welcome to use the toilets, as long as they realise that there is one bathroom, it has no door, and the last time I checked there were boys making out and a naked man lying happily in the urinal.
Which is of course utter exaggeration but plenty scarey enough to make them pucker their faces and run away squealing.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

I wish bars here got as ... frisky ... as Urge seems to, from your descriptions. ;)

I'm glad he seems to always get his phone back - after kind of setting it free in a bar full of intoxicated persons, that somehow seems lucky. ;)

[beastbriskett.livejournal.com]

Working as a doorman can be such fun! You get to greet everyone as they come in, and laugh at them as they stumble out.
I'd love to hear some of those drunken Alaska conversations. I bet they're a hoot!
Yay for more freelance work!! Hope it's interesting to do.

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Actually its a bit dire: visualising the relationship between the fibonacci sequence, the Mandelbrot set, and the stock market in one slow, smooth transition. It'll be frustrating getting it to work...

[mikeybill.livejournal.com]

It was good to see you on the door on Saturday, hope you're able to coome inside and relax on Friday for the birthday ;-)

8 years of Urge, it has been a central part of Auckland's gay life now - hate to imagine this town without it. I was there for the opening party 8 years ago aznd haven't missed a birthday since - is that a good thing?

And I was wondering if there'd been a change of door policy - seem to have been a lot more women in the bar than usual to me. Hoe this doesn't signal an end to our malespace...

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

On Saturday? Are you sure? There was a guy that looked like Yoko Ono, and a couple of fa'fafine, and even a couple of ropey drag queens... but yes, over the last few weeks there have been more girls than usual- they seem to be refugees from Family, encouraged by the publicity the place has been getting since Alan and Paul took over.
I'm not sure about a change in door policy- it's an ongoing thing I think, and will be decided based on the feedback Paul gets. If you'd rather not see any women at all in Urge then let Paul know! Paul seems to be ok with letting in the occasional woman, provided she's part of a group of men. Hens nights and wandering gaggles of scrawny teenagers are definitely not welcome.
The legality of it has come up in conversation, but as long as there's Contours womens-only gym, then we should be ok enforcing a men-only bar.

[mikeybill.livejournal.com]

No, I wasn't specifically refering to this Saturday past, but just lately there seem to have been a few more women there at times, but I'll mention it to Paul as you suggest.

I think initially they got around it by invoking the dress code, that's what I recall Pete saying when the bar opened - but I also think the Contours example is a good one. And it's not an anti-woman move, it's a pro-male one - that bar is valuable precisely because it's a men's space.

Urge Male Space

[paulo38.livejournal.com]

Urge is still a Gay Male Space.
But as we have to realise many Gay men have close Female friends who at times are out with them on K'rd.
We always explain that Urge is a Gay Mens space & if a woman is to enter she has to respect that, as do the men with her.
Some of the 'women' at Urge have been Fa Fafine. Who were actually Flattered by the question. Exclaiming;"Do you think I'm a real woman?"

All very tricky we can assure you.

Some of the local business owners were at the bar at Larrys 'last night' & our official opening party. Some of these are women; as are our direct neighbours the NZPC. We are pleased to say that they all support Urge as one of their neighbours.

Another occasion we were asked to allow the 'wife' of a gay man in to see that he was in a safe & friendly environment.
It took some convincing, we watched the process very closely. She left with a smile & a new perspective on her husbands playground.

We are legally unable to ban anybody on Gender or Sexuality etc.
Dress code is a possible way but it also has to be seen as not sexist racist nor gender specific.

Alan & I assure all our patrons Urge will always be a Gay male space.

We varied this stance recently for the 'Homie Sexual' night on a Thursday at the request of the group organising the Hip Hop night. It seems that young Gay men & women get on alot better in a Hip Hop dance situation.Or maybe the younger generation do in general.
Gay 'Homie' porn was played during the night, Lesbian DJ's played alongside Gay male DJ's. The atmosphere was amazing all night and the responses from the patrons overwhelmingly positive.
If Urge is to survive as a Gay Male bar, we need to attract younger patrons who understand & enjoy the space. We also need the revenue to pay increased rents, council fee's, insurance costs etc etc.
Not to say we will be changing the entry policy, but we will continue to hold special event nights for mixed gay groups on occasion.

We also hope that in the future that when we hold strict dress code nights such as Leather / Uniform nights etc we are supported as strongly.

Cheers
paul.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Here in California, any place with a liquor license has MANY more regulations to put up with than another kind of business - far in excess of the ones you would expect covering the selling of alcoholic beverages. Some of them involve who one can and cannot refuse entry to, and here one cannot refuse entry based on gender. There are some limits on dress codes I'm not sure of - and even those can't trump certain things - if it's a leather night and a woman shows up in the appropriate clothing, she has to be let in. (Of course, I'd rather have Lynn Lavner around than some gay men...!)