Pick-A-Day

October 2007
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  

Archives

Hustlaball Berlin

Warning: This entry is about the Hustlaball, a gay dance night in Berlin. There are no pictures in this entry, but the text could be a bit too explicit for some.

Last night I came up to Berlin in order to attend the Hustlaball—a large circuit party with a couple thousand gay men representing a wide variety of gay subcultures—it was a lot like La Demence in Brussels, only it happens a mere three times a year in three different locations (Las Vegas, New York, and Berlin), instead of monthly in one location.

And as is with tradition, I managed to attract somebody who had to be aggressively discouraged because he was one of the 1%: a man I am negatively attracted to. Let the record show that whilst it is entirely possible that I might find an attractive nose-ringed male somewhere out there (and I have no idea where that somewhere might be), if you’re a 45 to 50 years old man who attended the 2007 Hustlaball in Berlin, you are most assuredly not that individual.

I was in Thuringen until 7pm last night, when I headed to a train station to discover that my train was 90 minutes late—a delay that would mean that the earliest I could get to Berlin was midnight, if I could get to Berlin at all! Fortunately I got to the station just in time to catch the previous train, a train that was running a mere 30 minutes late. I’d arrived early at the station in the hopes of snagging something to eat—instead I dashed onto the train, delaying dinner until I got to Leipzig, where I had a thirty minute layover, waiting for my (scheduled) Berlin connection. Who says Germany Doesn’t Suck?

It took me about an hour to get from the train station, to my hotel, get cleaned up and dressed and then off to the Hustlaball, which was held at the Kit Kat Club, a short walk away from my hotel. Unfortunately it was cold, but I braved the elements and made the walk, even though I could have taken the U-Bahn one stop and exited practically into the club.

Expecting the ball to still be relatively quiet when I arrived shortly after 11; I was instead faced with a choice: join a wave of men to the left or a wave to the right; I chose left, toward the Trumpet Room. I had no idea what was there, but it seemed like a good idea. An equally large wave of men had apparently decided that leaving the Trumpet Room was a good idea, and were pushing the other way. It took awhile, but I was finally able to walk the ten meters from the entrance to the club into the Trumpet Room, which, as it turns out, was where the David-Gayawards were being given out.

I walked in on the Best Fetish Video Awards and while I can’t begin to tell you which videos won the fetish awards (one for American produced movies, one for European produced movies), but I was distinctly more disturbed by the European nominees. Actually I was disturbed two ways: first in that Europeans chose more unusual fetishes and, secondly, that those videos were of more interest to me than the American ones. I also got to see the awards for the best gay porn series—I remember that one of the nominees was “Turkish Cum Guns”, volumes 1 to 3. It did not win: a video series that has, so far, issued 7 volumes won the David.

I guess volume counts in the porn biz.

They also gave out awards for the best American producer/director (or something like that) and best European Producer/director (or something like that). Chi Chi LaRue won the American award and used the moment to thank the crowd and all of the video producers that she respects (she itemized them)—basically studios that use condoms.

Bareback aside: For the non-gay readers—after HIV came onto the scene in the 80s, there has been a strong safe sex message broadcast to the gay community; basically summarized as “use condoms or die.” The porn biz has been use to help spread this message, with all the big stars using condoms while fucking. As can be expected, eventually there was a rebellion to this message and it became hot and sexy to fuck without condoms—some non-mainstream gay porn companies have taken advantage of this to produce vast quantities of bareback porn. So far there have been no (that I know of) HIV outbreaks amongst gay porn stars since the 80s. The only HIV outbreaks in porn that I’m aware of in the last 10 years was in straight porn—a segment of the industry that, as I understand, has never embraced condoms.

After Chi Chi LaRue’s preachy moment on stage, we were on to the best one from Europe, which was the StreetBoys studio out of Dusseldorf. This man had already won several awards—and was not gay. He brought his wife up with him on stage, along with some of his crew and young (cute) models.

Once that was done, I was off to explore the rest of the Hustlaball. Downstairs was the “Play Area” – relatively quiet yet steamy hot when I checked it out. Across the rest of the ball there were multiple bars, a couple of lounge spots, enormous queues for the toilets, and massive waves of men both going wherever it was I was going, and massive waves of men going where I was coming from.

The award for considerate man of the night goes to all the men who decided that the optimal places to hug, kiss, greet, and fuck were doorways. It made it that much easier to move from one space to another.

I ended up staying in the basement, not because of the Play Area (which I found oppressively hot: I sweat easily and merely walking in the first 10 feet caused me to feel drenched), but because next to the Play Area was another dance floor; this one with cooler (albeit still warm) air and music that I actually could dance to and enjoy.

That’s not to say that I didn’t wander through the Play Area—and there was a whole lot of play. The most fascinating thing about these kinds of spaces is how people carve out spaces to do what is normally considered to be very private acts in very public spaces. But you can also find people who don’t care and are willing to stop in the middle of traffic to do what they want to do, letting others join in, watch, touch, lick, smell, or whatever. The most remarkable thing about the gay community is how it managed to create so many spaces where it is ok to fuck in public—I’m not aware of it being this common in hetero-worlds. I suspect that while hetero-males would adore the opportunity to fuck women in dark spaces, there are fewer women who are willing to enter such spaces to be fucked by anonymous men—such women do exist, they’re just fewer and further between—and supportive environments are not created at your local hetero-bar all that often.

There is probably much more to say about the Hustlaball, but what that is, I am not sure of right now. I’m not sure what is my scene, but it safe to say that Hustlaball represents a scene that is not mine. At heart I am too passive and introspective to fully enjoy the Hustlaball.

16 comments to Hustlaball Berlin

  • koko

    for some reason i think the warning was directed at me…and for some reason i still read it. now i’m deeply disturbed by the “turkish cum gun”. such colorful language!

    *hides*

  • Ed

    I don’t think I would feel comfortable in a place like that eitehr. Watching people have sex on the internet is one thing but in person is another. I wonder how many guys agree to have sex with one guy but once they bend over get it from several guys. It sounds dangerous and Condoms sound like they may be opitonal. I think I’ll pass.

  • Koko may want to leave now for what I’m about to say. =)

    Ed, I personally wouldn’t mind being put in a space like that. However, I’d want a trusted friend there to make sure that the round of men using the available “meat” did so with condoms.

    This happened to me at the place I went to vacation in Key West, FL. I was the Belle of the Ball, and many had the opportunity to enjoy me, however, I was there with my then BF and he made sure they all used appropriate protection.

    Gee, now everyone knows more about CQ than they ever wanted to. LOL

    Just to note, this is *not* my typical behavior. However, I have enjoyed it when it happened. I just don’t seek it out continually like some gay men do.

  • Well, I am speechless. 😀

  • disenchanted

    I’m obviously an idiot. Ignore my “held for review comment.” D’oh!

  • koko

    am i really that naive? am i really that fragile?

    I guess the obvious answer is YES! Though I’ll spot you CQ if you ever need someone to make sure everyone has their raincoats on 🙂 I support safe sex. though i’m not sure it’s appropriate for a girl to be wing man in safety for a dude-a-thon??

  • Ed

    I’ve always fantasized about being gangbanged but would want to be safe, so I need a wing man. Any volunteers? LOL.

  • mateo

    Wow! Sounds like my kinda party!!!

  • @koko: awe… Turkish Cum Guns is a great title, but i suspect its pretty boring watching guys masturbate. They’re solo videos. However, I advise against you working as CQ’s wing-girl. Dude on dude orgies are usually spoiled with girls there.

    @ed: find a wingman and head to an orgy–or not. Its all about comfort levels and sex drives.

    @cq: you need to get fucked by the New York Rangers. I’ll drop you off in the locker room.

    @disenchanted: I recovered your comment before seeing your request to kill it. I hope its ok.

    @mateo: Wish you were there to have fun with me.

  • I’m confused about the New York Rangers comment. Is it just flip or am I missing something?

    Though… I’d probably enjoy it in reality. LOL

  • @cq: it’s a flip comment–i was trying to think of a decent locker room scene with lots of hot men. I presume the Rangers are hot–i haven’t actually seen any photos.

  • I guess if guys missing their teeth are hot. Though I’ve always wondered what it would be like to get oral from a guy without teeth. LOL

  • @cq: it’s more the scene and the athletics… not necessarily the teeth thing. I hadn’t considered that. Would you prefer the Utah Jazz?

  • KMS

    I fail to notice the explicitness in this article…some people fucking, some stuff about condoms, hardly outrageous stuff…

  • @KMS: No, it’s not really outrageous in the larger context, but within the context of my blog, it is a deviation toward the explicit. Considering my readership, I thought it would only be fair to warn the most timid.

    Next time I will describe watching the really hot men fucking… this guy was getting head, while at the same time a buff guy was driving into his ass like there was no tomorrow…

  • KMS

    Your queer non-expatriate readers blush easily, right? Is that what you’re trying to tell me.