The fifth one is on its way!

Fausto and I can’t more grateful and this award is a testament to everyone at Feast of Fun- including every guest on the show, the dedicated listeners that give us so much support and our sponsors who value our message. We thank you because we couldn’t have done it with out you!

Back when we joined the podcasting revolution in February 2005 with our daily comedy talk show, the Feast of Fun, formerly know as Feast of Fools, we didn’t quite imagine that we’d still be covering social news, conducting in-depth interviews and producing live music sessions this many years later.

We’ve had our ups and downs over the years and we’re happy that so may of you stuck with us and that so many new people discover us everyday.

We’d also like to thank the fine folks over at Podcast Connect Inc. who have been running the People’s Choice Podcast Awards since 2005.

Feast of Fun is available for free through the iTunes Music store and you can subscribe to our premium Plus+ podcast at feastoffun.com/plus

These awards are considered the top prize for podcasting and we’re jumping with joy at the nominations. This really makes a tremendous difference in helping us to continue our programming, maintain the website and secure guests and sponsorships.

From the bottom of our hearts and on behalf of all our wonderful guests we thank you so much for your nominations and we hope you can vote for us everyday from Oct 12- 27th in the two categories- People’s Choice and Best GLBT.

Vote Here

Here’s a handy reminder to add to your calendar to remind you to vote-

Thank you!

If you would like to listen to today’s show and all of our future premium content shows, please sign up for a Feast of Fun Plus+. You’ll be glad you did!

Many extraordinary things have happened over the years since we started this podcast.

Podcasts, videos, blogs, New media, social media and gaming technology have radically change the lives of LGBT people and their friends for the better.

People are involved in activism like never before, there are viral campaigns in support of marriage equality, health care ruh-form, the repeal of anti-gay laws and to finally putting a stop to bullying in schools. Gay folks are managing to find new ways to connect with one another for sex and friendship and online gaming technology holds a promising new future that may soon lead to a cure for AIDS.

Change is happening. We are also swept up in the wave that is moving people online in mass numbers. The podcast and site now reach over a quarter of a million downloads and over two million hits every month. And our bills have never been higher than ever before.

We reached out to you the listeners to save the podcast, and your response was nothing short of miraculous. You really pulled us back from the brink.

So today we’re taking Feast of Fun into a bold new future, as we announce Feast of Fun Plus+ our new premium content podcast and site, chock full of unique fabulous stuff you won’t find anywhere else.

What is Feast of Fun Plus+ exactly? And can I get my dessert in a to-go container?

Join us as we walk down memory lane on some of the most extraordinary, moving and hilarious moments of the show over the past seven years and give you a glimpse of what is to come.

And of course all the hot news.

Featured Music:
Young Debutantes II – Don Juan Dracula – Take Me Home: iTunes
Velocifero – Ladytron – Runway: iTunes

Inspired by the bizarre comments by Michele and Marcus Bachmann that gay people are like “barbarians who need to be civilized.” We thought why not show the world how fabulously sexy and appealing barbarians really are?

Get your “Barbarians Do It Better” t-shirt now and help support your favorite podcast, Feast of Fun.

Makes a great back to school t-shirt cause it looks like some funky college sports team. Click here to see the design up close.

We’ve been working hard on launching some new exciting things on the site for you, and to announce it all we’re going to have a special live video podcast, streaming on the site on Wednesday 8 PM Central time.

Can you guess what it is?

UPDATE: We updated the time to 8pm Wednesday September 21 since we are going up to the Great Lakes Naval Station on Tuesday to celebrate the repeal of DADT which takes effect at noon that day! No joke.

The Elvira Collection

Elvira, the gal in the wig whose talents are big offers a unique opportunity to bid on her very own iconic wig that she’s actually worn on television and live appearances.

Along with the wig she’s including other Elvira collectibles- an “Elvira’s Movie Macabre” t shirt, plus a signed DVD and a signed vinyl record.

Cassandra Peterson has generously donated these items for auctions to benefit Feast of Fun podcast. As a bonus, the winner of the auction will receive a phone call from Elvira’s drag queen impersonator and personal assistant Casandra Fever and she’ll answer all your Elvira questions!

Thank you so much Elvira and Cassandra Fever!

Visit the eBay auction

Here’s more photos-

LifeLube, Association of Latin Men for Action, Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus, Communities of Color Collaborative, Project CRYSP, and Feast of Fun are teaming up to present a free podcast forum exploring what HIV prevention looks like now.

It’s your chance to hear from real guys who are taking “the pill” to prevent getting infected with HIV and ask the tough questions about costs and risks.

Why can’t people just wear condoms? How far would you go to protect yourself? Is it really safe?

Wednesday, June 15 at the Center on Halsted. Click for more info and to RSVP.

Click to download the flyer you see below. Please share.

There is a transgender emergence happening in Chicago. After generations of struggle, transgender men and women are becoming more visible, integrated and finding new admirers gay, straight and everywhere in between. And yet the struggle continues.

What are the positive and negative repercussions of increased trans visibility and integration? How and why do different bodies and identities provoke the fear, violence and injustice this community continues to face in the midst of progress? What can the LGBT and allied communities do to change the story?

Featured panelists include Alexandra Billings, performer and community leader, Jamison Green, PhD, University of California, San Francisco Center of Excellence for Transgender Health, and Lara Brooks, manager of the Broadway Youth Center. Moderated by Fausto Fernos and Marc Felion of the Feast of Fun.

This event is being sponsored by the University of Illinois – Chicago Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement. Please join LifeLube, Project CRYSP, and the Feast of Fun for an invigorating, LIVE, podcast forum.

Thursday May 19, 2011

Doors open at 6 p.m. for light nibbles and schmoozing. Taping begins at 7 p.m.

RSVP at Lifelube.org

Are you right now in Texas?

Come join some of the biggest names in queer online culture at a fabulous soiree to kick of SXSW, the film, interactive and music festivals and conference that takes place every spring in Austin, Texas. This year’s featured panelist is Paul Reubens, best known for being Pee Wee Herman. Yeah, it’s our kind of conference.

Network with other queer/LGBT bloggers, filmmakers and musicians including Fausto Fernós and Marc Felion from the Feast of Fun podcast.

Feast of Fun SXSW Queer Meetup
Friday, March 11 at 7pm-9pm
Oil Can Harry’s
Facebook Link | Special hookup for SXSW Attendees (bring your badge) or
folks who follow @oilcanharrys on Twitter. (Bring your smartphone or proof)
Light food and refreshments served.

Photos from last year’s SXSW 2010 Party.

Every year in the spring, thousands of internet and filmmaking rock stars (and rock-star-rock-stars) gather in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest, the interactive, film, and music conference that originally began as a music festival in the late 80s. Today it’s a big deal, bringing the biggest names in the industry together with everyday people in a mixing of the minds– a delicious burrito full of culture and fun.

As a way to say thanks to all the fabulous people who are here for the conference, we’re throwing a party on Friday, March 11 at 7-9pm at Oil Can Harry’s -the- hottest gay bar with the cutest guys and gals.

Come meet me (Fausto Fernós), Marc Felion and a bunch of internet rock stars knocking down the drinks and having a great time.

Bring a camera and your iPhone, these things usually get wild.

The Chicago Gay Mens Hockey Association is stepping up to help Howard Brown Health Center raise needed funds to keep their doors open by having a pub crawl. Join these hot guys and their athletic supporters as they go from bar to bar on Halsted for a good cause on Saturday Dec. 18th.

We’ll be ducking out of the pub crawl for a bit to see Mimi Imfurst of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 3 perform at Hydrate at 9PM for her Christmas Show which earned her the title of “Second Worst Catholic in America!”

We talked to Mimi in October when she participated in our Haunted Halsted Pub Crawl and we are so glad she’s coming back to the Windy City to delight us with her unconventional Nativity tale.

Here’s the full schedule for the pub crawl- hit it all or just part and don’t forget to show your support by buying something at Howard Brown’s Thrift Stores- The Brown Elephant.

These awards are considered the top prize for podcasting and we’re jumping with joy at the nominations. This really makes a tremendous difference in helping us to continue our programming, maintain the website and secure guests and sponsorships.

From the bottom of our hearts and on behalf of all our wonderful guests we thank you so much for your nominations and we hope you can vote for us everyday from Dec 1-15th in the two categories- People’s Choice and Best GLBT.

Here’s a handy reminder to add to your calendar to remind you to vote- iCal or-

If you like what we do and you’d like to see the show continue and do well, please nominate us for the Podcast Awards in two categories- Peoples Choice and GLBT. We like to think of this nomination and award as a thank you from the listeners for the quality programming we’ve provided free and uninterrupted for the last year.

You only have to nominate once. Thank you!

Join us as we go from bar to select bar on Halsted Street for a ghoulish cavalcade of depraved delights on October 24, 2010.

Space is limited get your Haunted Halsted tickets today!

Don’t miss these fantastic stops-

• Horrifying Makeovers,
• Bathhouse Tales of Terror
• Demented Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz
• Lady Gaga’s Funeral
• Seven Deadly Gay Sins

New York City drag queen sensation Mimi Imfurst is joining our motley crew as we descend into the depths of hell itself!

Join us as we go from bar to select bar on Halsted Street for a ghoulish cavalcade of depraved delights on October 24, 2010.

Space is limited get your Haunted Halsted tickets today!

Don’t miss these fantastic stops-

• Horrifying Makeovers,
• Bathhouse Tales of Terror
• Demented Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz
• Lady Gaga’s Funeral
• Seven Deadly Gay Sins

New York City drag queen sensation Mimi Imfurst is joining our motley crew as we descend into the depths of hell itself!

We’re talking to the hilarious Mink Stole, best known for her appearances in John Waters’ films “Pink Flamingos,” “Female Trouble” and “Serial Mom.”

Mink Stole returns in Peaches Christ’s (Joshua Granell) directorial film debut “All About Evil” where she plays a dominating librarian named Evelyn who becomes embroiled in a horror film against her will.

Ask her anything!

Mink Stole will appear with Peaches Christ in Chicago and Milwaukee for the “All ABout Evil” Please RSVP on Facebook and help spread the word:

• Chicago Show
• Milwaukee Show

Here is Mink Stole’s iconic line from the film “Female Trouble” where she plays Taffy, a little girl who gets propositioned for sex by her father in law.

Here’s some photos of the People’s Choice Podcast Awards. Visit Flickr if you want to downloaded a high rez version- you voted for them, they are yours too!

Fausto Fernós (right) with Mashable's Pete Cashmore, named by INQ Mobile in 2009 as the world's most influential twitter user.

Yeehaw! We’ve been having a grand time meeting lots of great people and making some really great connections at the South by Southwest Media Conference (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. As part of the conference Fausto Fernós moderated and spoke at “Engaging the Queer Community,” a panel dealing with the issues that come up for LGBT bloggers and content creators (like podcasts and video blogging.)

Obviously, we only scratched the service in the hour long session, but the response was overwhelming. As the first ever queer panel of its kind for the 23 year old conference, it was a long time coming.

According to the organizers of the conference, the only reason a session or panel on LGBT online issues hadn’t been done before is because it never was submitted by anyone. So props out to Trish Bendix from After Ellen who had the idea, got all the panelists together and pushed for it to happen!

Being a part of this landmark session is important for the health of Feast of Fun as it introduces us to new partners, listeners and readers, but also because it allows us to share our expertise with others for increased visibility for gay people in not only at tech conferences, but on the internet at large.

We’ve lined up interviews with some of the hottest talent SXSW and Austin have to offer-

• Kerthy Fix- director of the brand new documentary that just premiered at SXSW- Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields.

See the trailer-

• Paul Soileau- actor and film maker with an outrageous drag alter-ego Christeene.

• Heather Gold-comedian, speaker, and solo performer.

We also want to give a big thanks to Orbitz for helping with our travel costs in getting us to Austin.

Orbitz has a new program that if you select two LGBT or HIV/AIDS charities when you book through them, they’ll donate to that organization. It’s a win-win when you book your next trip.

We look forward to hearing many more albums in the future from this amazingly talented person. You go girl!

And please note- Cameron’s wearing a pearl necklace on the album cover. Do you think she knows what a “pearl necklace”means?

Buy it on iTunes or Amazon and please rate it!

Come join some of the biggest names in queer online culture and view some of the best viral videos of 2009.

Network with other queer/LGBT bloggers, filmmakers and musicians including Fausto Fernós and Marc Felion from the Feast of Fun podcast, Trish Bendix from After Ellen, Bil Browning from the Bilerico Project and Sinclair Sexsmith from the Sugarbutch Chronicles.

SXSW Queer Blogger Tweetup
Sunday, March 14 at 09:00 PM
Oil Can Harry’s
Facebook Link | Special hookup for SXSW Attendees (bring your badge) or
folks who follow @oilcanharrys on Twitter. (Bring your smartphone or proof)

Every year in the spring, thousands of internet and filmmaking rock stars (and rock-star-rock-stars) gather in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest, the interactive, film, and music conference that originally began as a music festival in the late 80s. Today it’s a big deal, bringing the biggest names in the industry together with everyday people in a mixing of the minds, a delicious burrito full of culture and fun.

And we’re in the thick of it. My gal pal Trish Bendix and I are moderating “Engaging The Queer Community” an in-depth discussion with Bil Browning and Sinclair Sexsmith on how to make your blogs, twitters, podcasts and youtube videos fabulous.

We’re sifting through the issues of blogging from a queer identity or perspective. How do you get people interested and chatting you up without turning them into an angry mob? What about being in the closet as a blogger? How do you keep your site from being banned when you write about all that hot dirty sex you’ve been having?

How is new media changing how we push politicians and society forward towards embracing our rights?

As a way to say thanks to all the fabulous people who live in Texas, we’re throwing a party on Sunday, March 14 at 9pm at Oil Can Harry’s -the- oldest gay bar with the cutest guys and gals.

Come meet me (Fausto Fernós), Marc Felion, Trish Bendix (After Ellen), Sinclair Sexsmith (Sugarbutch Chronicles), Bil Browning (Bilerico Project) and dozens of other fab internet rock stars knocking down the drinks and having a great time.

Bring a camera and your iPhone, these things usually get wild.

Bill Cruz

You may have noticed that Bill was scheduled to perform at the Steamworks show but he was in Denver dealing with the loss and taking care of his family.

Our thoughts are with you Bill.

$5 gets you in to see the show plus, you also get a free 30 day membership

Join us tonight for a live taping of a podcast at Steamworks-Gym, Sauna and Bath hosted by Marc Felion and Fausto Fernós.

Featuring the original comedy of Cameron Esposito, Teri Yaki, Bill Cruz and Keith Ecker.

And the music of Stephen Leonard

This event is for men only and no, you don’t have to be in a towel to watch the show!.

Right click on the image above to view it and then print it out. You must bring the coupon for the discount.

$5 gets you in to see the show plus, you also get a free 30 day membership

Join us for a live taping of a podcast at Steamworks-Gym, Sauna and Bath hosted by Marc Felion and Fausto Fernós.

Featuring the original comedy of Cameron Esposito, Teri Yaki, Bill Cruz and Keith Ecker.

*****And just added- Music of Stephen Leonard

This event is for men only and no, you don’t have to be in a towel to watch the show!.

Right click on the image above to view it and then print it out. You must bring the coupon for the discount.

It’s watched by web-cam but they didn’t catch the culprits as an increase in street traffic slow the cameras down.

Read more

We’re working on our costumes based on Where The Wild Things Are! Wait till you see the pocket gay we got to go as Max. He’s adorable, and we can’t wait to eat him!

Featuring acts from The Scootie & Jojo Show

BEAST FEAST
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 28TH 2009 7PM – 11PM
@ The Chronicles of the Cursed Haunted House
560 W. Grand Ave , Chicago

photo by Fausto Fernós

Congratulations to our friends Jim Verraros and Bill Brennan as they tie the knot this weekend. Jim made it onto American Idol in its first season and stars in the camp comet Eating Out I & II. He’s marrying his partner of four years, Bill, who runs the Bridal Expo for Chicago and Milwaukee so we’re sure the wedding ceremony and the party will be fabulous.

We’ve been lucky to have Jim as a guest on our show a few times. Check out the fabulous website for their wedding.

We have our tuxes cleaned and pressed and ready to go dance the night away.