This post is brought to you by the fabulous Prim Queer Hostess Nifercritter

Last year throngs of leather-clad daddies swooned in shock and horror, when they discovered that MODESTY IS THE NEW KINK. Please do join me again this year, for a delightfully ostentatious picnic in the heart of the world’s largest leather event.

Yes, indeed, dear gentleperson, I am hosting a redux of the most photographed event at last year’s Folsom Street Fair — Miss Nifer’s Prim & Proper Tea Party. I’m inviting all my queer ladies and gentlepersons of all genders, to join me at Folsom Street Fair (in the 8th St. Food Court area) on Sunday, September 28, 2008 from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM, for the not-to-be-missed *2nd Annual Prim & Proper Queer Tea Party*.

Please save the date for this VERY CONSERVATIVE affair. We will drink (spiked?) tea from little china cups, and eat little cucumber sandwiches seated upon our quilted blanket, spread out right in the middle of the action.

Miss Nifer Nefarious respectfully requests her guests to adhere to STRICT “Prim & Proper” attire. (English tea time, or 1920′s picnic era….)

Feminine Attire:
- BIG sun hats, or -tiny- hats
- Parasols
- Long frilly dresses

Masculine Attire:
- Tweed suits
- Knickerbockers
- Mustaches
- Cravats (neck scarves), bow ties, and other ties
- Bowler hats, Flat-top straw hats, & Newspaper boy caps

Because this is a queer affair, I *strongly* encourage you to play with the theme and adopt it to your personal idea of gender identity and orientation….. but please stay within the theme, that “Modesty is the New Kink”. Become inspired by photos of last year’s Prim Queer Tea:

***YOUR participation is essential to making this event the most refined event at Folsom to date! PLEASE RSVP today, so I can organize who is bringing what edibles or other supplies to the picnic, (and also to coordinate our arrival time). Send an email to sporktree (at) gmail dot com.***

Humping Crumpets,
Nifer

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PostScript – Looking for something to bring?

I’m trying to make this AWESOME, however it will help me out TONS if a few people brought things. Check out my list below, and email with what you can bring. PLEASE ONLY COMMIT TO BRING STUFF IF YOU PLAN ON COMING FOR SURE. I’d hate to not have a critical item, like cream, if someone doesn’t come. Er, I mean “arrive”. And we surely don’t want to ask a leather daddy for some cream, for who knows what we might get our pot filled with!

Please RSVP to sporktree (at) gmail.com if you can help with any of the following:

+ Tea cups & saucers (mismatching would be cute! )
+ Tea Pots & Tea Kettles
+ Napkins & little paper plates
+ Large blankets & quilts that can be put on the street (We will need to cover at least a 25 foot square area)
+ Some silverware (actual metal would ROCK…. they don’t have to match)
+ Silver serving platters (It’s all about the POSH!)

+ Tea!
+ Small Eats – Scones, Tea Biscuits, Crumpets with jars of Devon Cream or Lemon Curd, Petits Fours, Fruit
+ Milk & Milk Pitcher/Container
+ Sugar Cubes & sugar bowl
+ Tea-spiking stuff– whiskey, rum, ??
+ Sandwiches (Possible ideas: Cream Cheese & Cucumber, Chutney & English Cheddar, Pear & Stilton Cheese, Fig & Olive Tapenade, Cream Cheese & Mandarin Oranges, Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese, Egg Salad

I look forward to meeting you all at The Fair!

Your hostess,
Nifer

By now it should be common knowledge that NIMBY was engulfed in flames on September 10th. The villian was not the notorious flame effects art, nor was it a stray welding spark, nor was it a late night drunken game of redneck soccer. It was an innocent-seeming candle [edit: some reports are saying that it was a space heater]. With all the dangerous equiptment left and right, the danger inherent in such a small flickering flame [or small appliance] was forgotten.

Thankfully, the fire was extinguished before it destroyed much more than the container where it began. The inspectors have come and gone by now, issued their citations, NIMBY now stands shuttered. The art and artists who called it home are left without access to their means of creativity.

Like the fire that engulfed Headless Point and the troubles of the Shipyard, it is a sad day. Both Headless and the Shipyard have recovered to a certain extent but it has been a long haul for both of them. NIMBY’s fate is still uncertain but there is a movement to find a new location to start again — sadly rebuilding at the current location is not an option which makes things so much more difficult.

I will miss NIMBY as I still miss the Cracktory. I was never as close with the Shipyard nor with Headless — the latter had it’s calamity right when I was getting to know it. Whereas, NIMBY, like the Cracktory, felt like home — I never actually lived there, but I have numerous good memories from art projects and laughter between freinds around the burn barrel.

Is it wrong to miss a location as you would miss a person? More to the point: is it wrong to miss a place more than you miss people?

I’ve floated through numerous social circles in my life: some have evolved and reformed and others have disappeared to become little more than pocket lint. These fickle social strands flex, twist, grow, and sometimes disintigrate with few feelings of sadness for me. On the other hand, when places move on, especially places with such character and moxie, I am left with a hole in my heart which can never quite be filled.

Blogged from my iRudder

Balsa Man and Burning Man are over for 2008. I’ve traded numerous stories with friends who were on the playa, shared videos and photos telling each other of our various experiences. They lavishly described the best playa moments of 2008 and I recounted the inspiring fun of Balsa Man.

Many I’ve talked to have asked me how I conceived of Balsa Man, why I choose to pour so much effort into the project, and whether I’m trying to make a statement about Burning Man. Like most things that motivate people, the answer to this is not a simple one that can be told in a single sentence. So for those that wonder, I offer the following as an averment of the driving force behind the phenomenon that is Balsa Man.

For various personal reasons, I decided to stay here in San Francisco rather than make my usual trip to Burning Man this year. I watched everyone around me hectically plan for the Playa and relaxed with the thought of all the free time I had. However, upon hearing of the numerous art projects, my creative energies refused to stand still; and as a result, the idea of Balsa Man was born.

Last year, The Burning Man was burned down early in the week. Faced with this calamity, the team of artists responsible for building The Man got together and decided to build it again. I volunteered and was fortunate to be part of the tireless and talented crew who assisted in the rebuild process. It was a truly memorable event for me, reshaping my perspective of The Man from an impersonal central structure to a detailed sculpture created by individual artists and craftspersons.

What I am missing most about not going to Burning Man this year is the amazing collaborative energy and talent it inspires. I view Balsa Man as a tribute to all the amazing artists out there on the Playa working together and making art happen. At the same time, it is also a tribute to all the artists who also chose to remain here in the city.

In many ways, Balsa Man is actually a Burning Man art project that just happens to exist off of the Playa. By holding Balsa Man on Baker Beach, where Burning Man first started, it remains symbolically connected to Burning Man, it’s community, and it’s creative spirit. The choice of location is as one may say a return to it’s roots, but I am using these roots as a source of inspiration rather than a form of protest.

Many people came to Balsa Man 2008 dressed in their burner finest and several were inspired to create their own miniature art projects. The mood of those who attended was joyful and it sparked numerous conversations and connections.

If there is anything I hoped to achieve through Balsa Man, it is to inspire artists in this city to keep making things no matter where they happen to be Labor Day weekend.

Till next year, Balsa Man 2009 “Big Dreams Writ Large”

First post from my iPhone. Had to upgrade my wordpress install and convert my old UTW tags to wordpress tags. The UTW was causing a communication error. Well here goes — hitting post — hopefully this doesn’t throw up a new error.