Friday I met with a couple of old coworkers at Chevys on Van Ness, and we had some appetizers and Margaritas. We headed to Marlenas where I nearly got in a fight. Long story, short, the guy was obnoxious, has always been obnoxious, and was giving the bartender a hard time. When the bartender had enough, and asked him to leave, the guy thought he would come vent to me. His method of venting was pointing fingers in my face. Then he asked me for my opinion so I gave it to him. He didnt like it and well, things got a bit ugly.

We went to the Mint for about an hour, then the Pilsner, and last one at the Edge before heading home. This brings me to Saturday.

David came up early afternoon, and we went to vote for Grand Duke and Dutchess. We packed out gear in a bag and was going to go get ready for Joan Rivers over at Marlenas. I realized I forgot the SD card for my camera. Easily fixed, we could either go home and get mine or just buy another. We decided to stop at Radio Shack. They had 4GB SD cards on sale for about $20. I got it, opened it up, put it in my camera, and guess what? Sadness came when it wouldnt read the card. I was ready to cry.

Luckily we stopped at Walgreens, picked up a small 252 MB card for $8 and it was good enough.

We hit Marlenas, where the rest of the Hayes Valley Leathermen were and we all got dressed for the gala. Celebrating 25 years of Folsom Street, the gala was formal wear, open bar, some food, and featured Joan Rivers for the headline.

Our table was kind of in the back but I think it was mainly because the VIP tables were up front. Next time Ill pay the extra $100 for a better table and a table slave. The lines were long to get cocktails, but we still managed to tie one on. Our table consisted of Marlena (who was Marlena last night), our empress Cher a Little, Michael (HVL 2003), Darry (HVL 2004) and his husband Dan, Jay (HVL 2005), Sean (HVL 2006) and his partner Phillip, David, and myself.

Joan was fantastic. She really ripped everyone apart with no holds barred. Some of her humor got some negative response from the audience but I thought "hey, she's a comedian, and thats what she does". She picked on old people, Chinese people, Charity workers, as well as celebrities. I think my favorite line was when she mentioned gay men can fake orgasms much easier, all we have to do is spit on the persons back.

Another fond moment was when she talked about osteoperosis, and charity work. Her reference was basically that you can fart and say its for charity, and you can get a good reaction lol.

FInally after the gala we headed back to Marlenas for the show. About an hour later we were heading home. We caught a cab, and I specifically told the driver to go down to market even when he said Divisidaro would be quicker. I told him several times to go down to market and he still went to Divisidaro. Finally when he decided to go up the hill off of Castro, which is a dead end, I finally told him to pull over and let us out and we werent paying for the cab. He did and it was fine.

Finally a rough night sleeping, tossing and turning. Today is the Leather Walk, then the Eagle for beer bust. SOMA Bare Chest Calendar men auction, which usually is a lot of fun. Check out my flickr page for photos and some video.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/champsf