Speaking of The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck (see post below)

There is now a theme song for The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. It was written by the lovely, gracious and extremely talented Jane Wiedlin. Doug is a good friend of hers. I feel very priviledged that I can also call her a friend and because of this, I will now shamelessly promote her song. It can be downloaded for a mere 99 cents on iTunes. You'd be a fool not to add this happy little song to your music collection. After all, how many pop songs can you name that have the sentence "All of New York is swallowing" in the lyrics?

I'll even make it easy for you...here's a link right to the song on iTunes!

The Great Food Truck Race

As you all know, my friend Doug (The Big Gay Ice Cream Man) has a food truck in NYC called "The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck." Doug's truck is part of a long list of trucks included in the voting for season 2 of "The Great Food Truck Race," a show on The Food Network. Through September 10, you can visit the site, simply by following this link, and cast your vote (actually 10 votes per day!!) for The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. Winners receive $10,000 and a chance to appear on season 2 of the show. There's something in it for the voters, too...a chance to win a trip to The Food Network NYC Wine and Food Festival. How bad can that be?

Vote early and vote often for The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. I appreciate it and so does Doug.

Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

File Under: Scream for it!



Doug's Big Gay Ice Cream Truck launched at Brooklyn Pride last Saturday. He had a blast. Read about it on his blog...HERE.



Just as exciting is this great article from Sunday's New York Post!


(click to enlarge)

Cool, huh?

Bits-n-Pieces

File Under: Stuff

Sorry I've been out of touch this week...really hasn't been much to report. This was an ordinary week save for my minor lower GI episode on Wednesday. By Thursday I was pretty much better, today I feel fine. :)

This weekend in Chicago, in my neighborhood in fact is a very fun 2-day street festival called Midsommarfest. I live in Andersonville, a neighborhood in Chicago whose early settlers were predominantly Swedish. The neighborhood has a number of Swedish businesses and has a museum, too. The King of Sweden visited a few years ago. I missed him, I was at work. Anyway, the street festival is about 5 blocks long, has 5 stages, lots of vendor booths, lots of food and lots of opportunities to drink and be social. It looks like this is going to be one of our cooler events, as the high temperature tomorrow is supposed to be barely 70. Sunday's high is supposed to be a few degrees warmer. We will see... Regardless we all manage to have a great time. I posted many pictures from last year's event in last year's entry about the event. I'll have my camera with me and I promise you more pictures.

Those of you in the New York City area may want to head on over to Prospect Park for Brooklyn's Pride event. There, you'll find The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. Doug and co. will be there tomorrow serving up treats for kids of all ages. If you go, tell Doug that Jim from Chicago sent you!

That's all I've got for now. It's been a slow week. I promise more lively posts next week. In the mean time, thanks for reading and be sure to check back!

xo

Jim

One Day Closer to Ice Cream

File Under: Let's all scream for ice cream!

More media exposure for The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31104373/

Yes, it's a mention on MSNBC.com. How freakin' cool is that?

Almost Time for Ice Cream

My friend Doug's Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is about ready to roll. He reports that his permit is in the mail. Updates can be found at his website.

He's also getting some mentions in the media. Here's an article from The Gothamist.

Here's another very nice mention in a prominent NY blog.

As busy as Doug is, he hasn't slowed down blogging about the experience. Read all about it, here! Check out the links to his merchandise. I'm loving my shirt. Z (mom) loves her mug!

If you're in the NYC area and want some ice cream, locate Doug's Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and tell him that I sent you!

IML Weekend in Chicago

File Under: IML Festivities

IML stands for International Mr. Leather and it's a gathering of the leather community from around the world. In past years, Dan and Luis volunteered for the events at the host hotel and I spent time wandering around, taking in the sights. This year, both were very busy and couldn't commit to the long hours spent at the hotel. So, they took things in as spectators and we all went to the market together on Sunday afternoon.

I walked to their house. Just down the block from my home, this was written on the sidewalk. NO, I did NOT write it, but it made me giggle. Kids write funny things. :)



Dan, Luis, Polo, Steve and I piled into Luis' car and made our way to the Hilton Towers, this year's host hotel. As is typical of the event, the host hotel is closed to outside guests, those not there for the event. The sights one might see could offend. It's not uncommon to see men walking around in leather jockstraps, chaps, rubber outfits, or not much at all. It's really quite a sight to see the lobby of the hotel filled with leather men from around the world.

Below are some pictures from the market, where all sorts of fun things can be purchased.

The funny part about the afternoon was our arrival. We had already walked past assorted leather men in garb and by far we were the most out of place looking men in the lobby, dressed in jeans and t-shirts. Apparently I did my part in offending the stray couple that had wandered into the hotel. Perhaps they misunderstood and thought IML was some sort of International Mormon Lodge. The woman took a look at my shirt and was obviously offended. Do you find my shirt offensive?

I didn't think so. We all found the incident amusing, as did Doug, the owner of The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck.

After spending a couple of hours at the event, we left for another important task. Early dinner and Margaritas! YUM!

Cheers!

Doug's Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

File Under: Summer job

As I mentioned in a previous post, my friend Doug came across the opportunity to operate an ice cream truck this summer in New York City. Early on, he dubbed his project "The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck." It sounded fun and funny and well, Doug isn't one to just suggest something and not go for it, 110 percent.

He and his partner Bryan have been chronichling the journey, their blog can be found here. Learn all about the food worker's program they had to take, see their logos. Hey...buy a shirt. They're cute. I ordered one in olive green. I chose the truck logo. Tell them I sent you!

Thanks!

Doug's Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

File Under: We all scream for ice cream


One of my very good friends is Doug. He lives in New York City. He's a professional musician, classically trained and he plays for orchestras all over the place. He's also a member of the Zephyros Winds. Very soon, he will be an ice cream man. No, not just any ordinary ice cream man, he's going to be behind the wheel of The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck!


Doug has created a Facebook page for The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, and he has started a blog of the same name. Doug is a fantastic writer, please visit his blog and follow his adventures. I promise it will be FUN! Be sure to say hi and tell him that I sent you.