The future of Bed

I checked my email earlier and I received a message from an owner of Bed who is also one of their resident DJs. They are conducting a survey asking about the nightlife preferences of PLUs. Here’s the introduction of the email:

We are conducting a research study in an effort to understand your needs for an ideal night out. Your input will help us determine what products and services will best meet your needs and expectations. We estimate that it will take you approximately only five (5) minutes to complete the survey.

The survey is hosted at Zoho and it contains tons of questions ranging from what do you look for in a club (music? crowd? drinks?) to where do you usually go on night outs (Malate? Makati? Ortigas?). The survey itself has no references at all to Bed and if you encountered it without any context, you might think that it’s a market study for a future bar or club.

I was initially hesitant at posting the link to the survey since there was no mention to spread the word, but since they linked to it from their public Facebook group (though not at their Facebook page) over two weeks ago, I think it’s fair game.

Anyway, the survey seems to hint that the Bed we all knew indeed ceased existing last July 8. Since the club got burned down, the owners might as well rethink the whole thing again instead of repairing and reopening the old bar, right? So it seems Mugen was right. Add that to rudeboy’s comment on my previous entry and the rumors I’ve personally heard from a friend, and we are looking at a possibly new PLU venue maybe next year.

In the meantime, there will be a Bed-sponsored party entitled Commandance this August 7 at Barrakz Bar at Tomas Morato corner Timog for all of the Bed-heads that are having withdrawal symptoms.

Have you taken the survey? What do you think of it and the future of Bed?

On BED’s hiatus

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you should have heard by now that BED Bar got burned down last week. Thankfully, no one got hurt. The Philippines does not need another Ozone tragedy. Here’s an excerpt of the statement given by BED Management on their website:

On July 8, 2010, a date we will never forget, Manila’s gay community suffered a tragic loss. The biggest GLBT club in Manila, BED, caught on fire at around 8:30pm. Fortunately the club was not open at that time and no one was hurt and thanks to the heroic efforts of firemen in the area, the fire was quickly contained and did not spread to the other establishments. Sadly, the same cannot be said for BED. Investigation is under way but until then we are sad to announce that BED is closed until further notice.

Despite Mugen’s sensationalist post, I don’t see this episode as a cause for an extended wailing and gnashing of teeth. Yes it’s sad that this unfortunate event happened. And while BED holds a special place in my heart, it’s not as if BED is closing down for good.

When BED expanded from its original hole-in-the-wall space to its current size, the club had to be closed for about a month while renovations were ongoing. Gay and bisexual men managed to cope since there were other clubs, bars, and venues for socializing, drinking and dancing. So I’m treating this hiatus just like their renovation several years ago. BED is not the be-all and the end-all of the PLU clubbing scene. There’s still Che’lu and O Bar along Orosa in Malate and O Bar has a branch in Ortigas.

So cheer up! BED will bounce back and I’m confident that BED will throw a grand re-opening party to celebrate its rising from the ashes. And you can be sure I’ll be there to celebrate along with other BED-heads.

Survey says: Gays are more frequent blog readers and social network users

Gays and lesbians are more frequent blog readers than their heterosexual counterparts and are more likely to be members of a social network, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Fifty-four percent of the gay and lesbian respondents in the Harris Interactive survey said they are blog readers compared with 40 percent of heterosexuals.

The nationwide Harris Interactive survey involved 2,412 US adults, 271 of whom identified themselves as gay or lesbian, and was conducted June 14-21.—Agence France-Presse

Well, the survey was conducted among U.S. citizens but do you think the same applies here in the Philippines? Discuss.

“No Quiero Enamorarme”

By now you should all have seen Kylie Minogue’s recent music video for her single “All The Lovers.” I became acquainted with it through McVie’s blog post. I really love the song and the video is extremely pleasing to the eyes. And if my memory serves me right, this is the first music video by a popular international artist that depicts two men kissing. Of course I’m not complaining, but that kiss and the generally sensual imagery of the whole video would likely ruffle the feathers of a lot of conservative people in the country. I wonder if this video gets airtime on the local music channels without censorship.

As nice as Kylie’s video is, still nothing beats the extremely hot soft-core porn that is Daniel Zueras’ music video for “No Quiero Enamorarme,” which means “I Don’t Want to Fall in Love.” Go watch it on YouTube if you haven’t seen it yet! The video depicts Daniel in a bisexual threesome with a woman and another man. I guarantee that you will find the video sexy and the song has a pretty decent dance-pop tune, though I don’t understand the lyrics.

Daniel Zueras is a Spanish pop singer who finished second place in Operación Triunfo, a reality-TV singing contest in Spain. “No Quiero Enamorarme” is his first commercial single, released in 2007, and he did the really controversial music video in order to quickly shed the innocent-boy image he acquired from the singing contest. It’s definitely the sexiest music video I’ve ever seen and it surely won’t get airtime here in Philippine television on the off chance that Daniel’s music becomes popular here.

By the way, I think it was AJ who first blogged about this music video here in the Philippines back in 2007. I’m just re-blogging it again now for the benefit of those people who haven’t seen it yet. It deserves to be watched over and over again. Hehehe. I’d really love to know if there is an even sexier gay-themed music video out there (please do leave a comment if you know of one).

Anyway, if you want a poignantly beautiful (not sexy) gay music video, then the one for Sigur Rós’ “Viðrar vel til loftárása” is probably the best there is. (Jónsi, the band’s vocalist and guitarist, is openly gay.)