King Tut, Che Guevara and a Catholic priest all walk into a bar …
Another one of those jokes you hear in the elevator at work, perhaps? Nope, it’s just a run-down of the attendees at the latest event organized by a band of local merrymakers, the Detroit Guerilla Queer Bar network.
The group is based on an idea from San Francisco that made its way to Detroit in July 2003, thanks to the efforts of one “Mr. Eddie Edwards.” (Yeah, it’s totally a pseudonym. He likes to keep a low profile at Guerilla events so there’s no official host and everyone just mingles in a more organic way.)
Detroit Guerilla Queer Bar is a network of gay men who do more than just turn traditionally straight bars gay for the evening: They’re a group with a pocketful of urban renewal and positive thinking, and a penchant for mingling with other fun and fabulous folks, be they straight, gay, male or female.
The most recent Guerilla event, which featured many a costumed character, was deemed “Creatures and Cocktails,” a shindig that found the group cozying up to a Thursday night indie rock show crowd at the Majestic Café in Midtown. It was just one of a series of local coups that the group has been consistently throwing the past two years. Troops are rallied with the help of a little thing called the e-mail blast. The Guerillas have a base list of addresses weighing in at some 700 strong. Edwards is the keeper of the list, so once he chooses a location, he shoots an email with the time and venue to the list a day or two before the event. The rest is guerilla history.
Events so far have been held at watering holes around the city -- like Buddha
Lounge, Union Street, Vivio’s and Harry’s Bar -- and word has it there was even a bowling alley takeover. For the Majestic Café event, the bar at the Woodward hipster hangout seemed like the next logical choice to organizer Edwards. “I know the bar well, and also that we wouldn’t get the shit kicked out of us if we showed up here … just kidding,” he says.
Each event draws anywhere from 10 to 100 men in their 20s and 30s and up. Edwards says Guerilla Queer Bar offers an alternative to the fairly limited local gay bar scene, which is typically not all that conducive to just chilling at the bar and having a quiet conversation.
A city resident for a number of years, Edwards’s M.O. is also to get men who tend to stick to the old, standard, Ferndale/Royal Oak gay bar circuit to go out in the city, and make them comfortable to be in tha D on a random night out. “There’s a lot in Detroit, although we’re severely lacking retail, but there’s entertainment, culture, theatres, museums that you can’t find outside the city. People that live in the suburbs are missing out on that culture. You know, sure it’s convenient to have a Farmer Jack right up the street, but what about the culture?” Edwards says.
Although Edwards is planning a Guerilla “road-trip” to an establishment in the ’burbs in the future, for now he keeps the events in the city to satisfy his own personal goal of keeping people drinking and socializing in Detroit.
Other Guerilla attendees are also lending their own love and hopes for the city to the events. Keith Ridler and Greg Randall of Grosse Pointe, dressed in Mardi Gras garb and a squeaky-clean sailor suit, respectively, came to the Majestic for a few drinks and some good conversation. The two are longtime supporters of the city and the Guerilla network alike.
“Every event in the city builds on the energy of it … ,” says Randall, a Detroit native, “and the more people you see on streets, the less people will be afraid. There’s so much to discover in Detroit if you haven’t grown up in it, and, unfortunately, people are still afraid but need to be willing to see what the city has to offer.” More importantly, he says, “events like this help to put a face on gay people.”
A guerilla queer bar is happening in some 20 cities around the country, and even over the pond in places like Heidelberg, Germany. But the Detroit outfit has what seems to be an extra special mission up their sleeves: not only to make Detroit more gay friendly, but to offer up conversation and cocktails for anyone who’s interested in giving some sugar to our great city.
For more about Detroit Guerillas, how to sign up for future event notices and to reach the other guerilla queer bar communities across the country, go to: http://www.detroitguerrillas.com
All photographs copyright Dave Krieger
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