Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Tag: San Francisco

January 23, 2018

Ground control to Major Paws – Space Camp party is coming in March.

by Patch O'Furr

Furclub: “A repeat/regular nightclub event by furries for furries.” It’s a dance party independent from cons. The concept has been spreading since the late 2000’s. It’s a movement! See the list of parties at The Furclub Survey. Featured here is a new event in Alameda, CA. 

Space themed costumes, dancing, DJ’s, fursuiting, craft beer, and waterfront views on San Francisco and the Bay Bridge! This is happening at a massive 1200+ person hangar converted to a brewery.  There’s 10,000 sq. feet of indoor fursuit-friendly naturally cooled space, free secure parking, and a huge outdoor patio with food trucks. Space Camp joins Frolic party, Wild Things, and Party Animals as events for SF Bay Area furry night life.

For San Francisco Pride 2017, I organized with the Burning Man art car “Unaverz” to be our furry float in the parade. They’re coming to Space Camp as a mobile sound system with DJ and upper deck hang out space. Not just furries, but Burners and anyone who wants an amazing party should come check this out. Tell your friends!

@NachoHusky (contact on Telegram or Twitter) is the organizer. Roman Otter, the volunteer coordinator, wants to hear from anyone interested in volunteering. (A short shift gets free entry – sign up on the main site). Those interested in doing photos or videos should get in touch.

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January 18, 2018

Rukus premiere at SF Indie Fest (2/2/18) – a furry movie says Lights, Camera, Anthros!

by Patch O'Furr

RUKUS at the 20th annual SF Indie Fest

February 2, 7:00 PM / February 5, 9:15 PM

Roxie theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco

RSVP at Meetup to join the furmeet – 2nd show – fest info

Rukus – a fiction/documentary hybrid by Brett Hanover

Birth of an indie furry movie scene

Videowolf’s documentary Fursonas [2016] was a landmark, even if it split watchers between love and hate. (Wag your tail if good movie making comes before “does it make the fandom look good?”) It wasn’t the first feature-length indie production by furries – that was the only-fandom-seen Bitter Lake [2011].  It wasn’t the first high quality movie that had them in it – that was the German arthouse gem Finsterworld [2013].  But it was a movie that broke through to more than only a “furry movie” by aiming for a thoughtful, critical look at subculture and identity. It just happened to be directed by and about furries. Now they don’t just follow behind mass media that many claim not to depend on. They also make it and play on bigger screens.

At roughly the same time, Zootopia [2016] was a huge event. Animation may be the holy grail for furriness on screen, but a behemoth budget from Disney is light years from the cottage industry where fandom gets its strength. Zootopia was merely a “furry” movie, as in, one whose directors won’t let you call it that. Journalist Joe Strike had a story about that in his book Furry Nation (another first for publishing in 2017.)

I was invited to a Zootopia press junket the week before the film premiered and was granted one-on-one time with Byron and his directing partner, Rich Moore. I immediately — and perhaps not too wisely — asked if the teaser was a “dog whistle” to the furry community. Howard deftly dodged my questions, and not long after the interview I received an email from my upset editor, who’d been contacted by an upset Disney PR person. – (Joe Strike, Furry Nation, p. 333)

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November 22, 2017

Wild Things: Bite Club at the Citadel in San Francisco, November 25.

by Patch O'Furr

NOM. Got your ear! Do you like that? You do? Then bring your ears, paws, or anything else that needs nibbles to Wild Things. It’s the quarterly 18+ play party for furries, petplay, and more. (Share to invite new friends… or your next lunch!)

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2017

1:00 PM – 6:30 PM

SF CITADEL, 181 EDDY ST., SAN FRANCISCO

(Brief break for discussion!) This week, Furry Twitter has been howling with drama. Controversy seemed to come out of nowhere: for colorful animal-people, is it OK to have strictly PG kid-friendly events? Or are fur cons so adult that a tame option amounts to kink-shaming? And are pup hoods a fetishy toy not to wear in public, or is that an insult to the expression of inner identity? Read the rest of this entry »

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June 29, 2017

Who let furries in the goth club? Death Guild vs. Wild Things – Monday July 3.

by Patch O'Furr

July 3, 9:30 PM – 2:30 AM

DNA Lounge, 375 11th St, San Francisco

Facebook event page

“Bring a dead stiff squirrel and get in free!”  Yes, that’s a real long-time promise by Death Guild. I can’t say what happens to the squirrels, but I can tell you about this legendary club night. It’s the longest running one for weird dark music in North America. That means gothic rock, industrial, darkwave, EBM and synthpop, with an ambiance like The Addams Family gone cyberpunk:

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June 23, 2017

Bay Area Furries, here’s the info you need to attend San Francisco Pride.

by Patch O'Furr

In front of millions at San Francisco Pride 2015! (Thanks: Chrisastro.com)

Bay Area Furries are marching in the 2017 San Francisco Pride Parade on Sunday, June 25.  It’s one of the largest and most colorful events in San Francisco and will be on TV.  There have been better and better responses each time, and 70 or more are signed up.  Get ready for the best parade ever!  (See previous announcement about how to join, and the Meetup page for RSVP and discussion.)

Here’s what you need to know:

Pic by Vincent.

Marchers: Arrive at 100-150 Main Street. Be no earlier than 9:30am and no later than 11:40.

Volunteers: Arrive at 100-150 Main Street. Be no earlier than 9:30am and no later than 11.

To arrive from BART, exit at Embarcadero Station. Go up on the Main St. / Beale St. side.

Watchers: Be anywhere along the Market Street parade route, and the parade starts at 10:30.

Parade start: 12:30pm-1pm. (Last time we were in the parade, starting was delayed by hours due to being way more busy than they planned.  Do be patient, but don’t be late. The parade doesn’t wait for latecomers.)

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June 16, 2017

The Bay Area Furries return to San Francisco Pride with an amazing spectacle.

by Patch O'Furr

A Burning Man art car will carry furries in the SF Pride parade… If a few furs step up to volunteer as safety monitors.

Just a few more are needed to qualify. Time is short to make it happen on 6/25/17.  See info below and ACT NOW!  

Here’s some cool art cars at Burning Man, and even more here. (Those are NOT FOR THE PARADE, the car will be a surprise.)

Furries are ready for a better parade than ever before.  They got involved around 2002-2004, and returned with a float in 2014-2015, but relaxed with just a booth in 2016.  The time is right for a big comeback. Before now they used plain rental trucks, but even modest effort got amazing feedback for putting 50+ members in front of crowds and media.  (Take a look back at fursuiting in 2012, a float in 2015, and much more on the Pride tag.)

Capri, a fabulous transgender dragon, sent this memory:

In the last year we did the parade, I met a great friend who helped me to start transition.  I managed to walk the entire way in fursuit, a feat I am quite proud of. I still use that video to show off my suit.  I also really enjoyed passing by the judges and having one of them say awesome words of kindness to me.  We went to a Korean barbeque place afterwords and mistakenly thought it was all you can eat. (Patch): sorry, I confused it with a different place I was at once before… (Capri): It was fine, I should be the sorry one, you took care of it and the bill was pretty staggering.

That’s the positive vibe that furries bring to Pride.  But there’s an important ingredient they need to make it happen.

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June 8, 2017

Fursuit theft in San Francisco leads to a lion hunt.

by Patch O'Furr

Meet Clumzy Lion from Toronto. He was one of 5,138 furries who came to Biggest Little Fur Con in Reno on June 1-4, 2017. His trip included a night in San Francisco’s popular Fisherman’s Wharf area before flying home.  That’s where he lost his head.  Clumzy’s car was broken into, and they even took his passport so he couldn’t fly.  Being robbed and stuck is much worse than just a sad feline.

Remember a similar fursuit theft that made local news by SFist and Broke-Ass Stuart? More about that below. They’re linked in case they can help.

(Update: thanks to @SFist for sharing the story!)

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May 3, 2017

Wild Things: Cinco De Mayo – furry fetish party in San Francisco, May 5.

by Patch O'Furr

Friday, May 05, 2017.  8PM – 1AM.

SF Citadel, 181 Eddy St., San Francisco.  

Cost: $25. Dress code: Animal-themed, fetish, creative, etc.

Visit the Fetlife event page for info. Many volunteer positions available.

WILD THINGS is an 18+ party for furries, petplayers, pups, primals, littles, and everyone who accepts them, but the furry community is the heart of it.  The first event was in 2014 (see WILD THINGS tag.)  In 2016 it became quarterly by support of the SF Citadel club.

For March’s Mardi Gras event, organizer Mark explained:

Wild Things wants to be inclusive to anyone who is new, making them feel welcome, unpressured, and free to learn and explore at their own pace, if they wish.  We advocate tolerance and respect for others, so people can live and let live, and let adults be adults however they choose to do so… come without judgements and see for yourselves.

What’s happening this time?  Perhaps sexy party games and pinatas, human/furry pinata suspensions, wrestling/Lucha masks… all that and a taco bar! Previous features continue:

– Music by DJ’s AuralIncarnation (Bent) and Gretchen Weeners (Death Guild, House of Nox)
– Suspensions by Naturalturn (Naughty Knotty)
– Vacuum bed & waxplay demos by Spottacus
– Petplay, puppyplay, and furry demos
– Fursuit gear demos
– The cuddle zone
– Petplay / puppyplay romp!

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February 16, 2017

Wild Things: the festival before Mardi Gras – furry fetish party in San Francisco, Feb 25.

by Patch O'Furr

Guest post by Mark, organizer of Wild Things.

mardi

Art by Kailys Rat

Saturday, February 25, 2017

2:00 PM – 7:00 PM

SF Citadel, 181 Eddy St., San Francisco

 

(Mark:) WILD THINGS is a quarterly party for furries, petplayers, pups, primals, littles, and everyone who accepts them… but the furry community is the heart of it. Our first event was in 2014, but despite very positive reviews and a good crowd, it went on pause. It was the furry community that brought Wild Things back, and fortunately the SF Citadel was very supportive of the idea.

Our return event was in late November 2016. Exactly three months later, now we’re doing the weekend before Fat Tuesday. I love the Mardi Gras / Carnival atmosphere, so the theme is a no-brainer. It won’t have a zydeco playlist, but will have the decor, feel, and playfulness of Mardi Gras.

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February 13, 2017

On February 17, don’t go to work – go fursuiting for a General Strike in the USA.

by Patch O'Furr

Political Animals.

animalfarmWhat does Furry have to do with politics?  Nothing. Or a lot.  (Kinda like kink). It’s up to you. Maybe you just like talking-animal media.  Or maybe you like media that’s inseparable from a culture that’s cracking apart.

This group is about talking animals, but it’s made of people, and we don’t exist in a vacuum. (The vacuum is just there to pick up all the shedding.) So for those who care… Let’s recap some previous stories that relate to this, then see what’s up now.

Start with the San Francisco Bay Area.  It has the world’s most dense population of furries, and it’s the epicenter for a rent crisis. That big trend hit the local group when their premiere monthly event, Frolic furry dance was pushed out of it’s home.

Across the bay, on the day Frolic restarted, the Ghost Ship warehouse fire killed 36 fellow party goers at an electronic music show.  It instigated a national purge of underground cultural spaces.  This blog is written from one of those spaces, and narrowly escaped being forced out in a wave of evictions.  Economic class issues are personal here.

Go back to 2012 and the East Coast.  Money, sex and politics crashed into furry fandom in a mini-scandal of “fake news” with the New Jersey FurBQ Hoax.  Looking back now, you might see some of the sparks that turned into 2017’s political dumpster fire. I’m talking about the way the group was split up by dishonesty and xenophobia, and manipulated as pawns for politics.

Furries got scapegoated for having a harmless party. It made me say: “Fun is serious business because it has to do with liberties.”

There’s some examples of how furries have long experience with fake news, they can be vulnerable as a subculture, and they can share a common cause with other marginal communities. (Don’t forget their sizeable queer membership.) You don’t have to agree about politics, but there are good reasons to pay attention. From anti-mask laws, to anti-LGBT legislation and anti-kink moral panic, furries will be part of many fights to come.

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