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Furball’s Joe Fiore is the pied piper of bears

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Joe Fiore launched the bear-oriented dance party Furball in 2004 as one of the 20 or so parties a year he was organizing for The Center in New York. The LGBTQ2S+ community hub was located in an old high school and people would call it “bear prom.” When The Center renovated and stopped hosting parties, Fiore took Furball on the road, and now hosts about 50 parties a year in as many as 20 cities across the U.S.

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Joe Fiore occasionally gets out of cities… to hit the high seas. Credit: Joe Fiore

“We were bringing to gay culture an event that was very body positive, positive for all different body types, big and small and racially diverse, because in New York, I’m grateful that you get a great mix of people,” Fiore tells Wander+Lust. “I wanted to create a first-class event for bears. Because in those days, when ‘bear’ was not as flavour-of-the-day as it has become in the last five years, people would look down on those events. I would hire a great DJ and I had artists who would do the walls and we’d just create a whole atmosphere.”

With parties in Palm Springs (Furball Jock’d Underwear party on Sep. 1) and New Orleans (Furball Southern Decadence on Sep. 2, Furball Southern Decadence Dirty Disco on Sep. 3), coming up soon, followed by a January debut in Puerto Vallarta, Fiore’s got a lot of planning to do. For one of his larger parties, he starts planning six to 12 months out, booking DJs and venues. But he found some time to talk to Wander+Lust about the cities (aside from hometown NYC) he loves. Here’s his top three.

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A guest at Furball Camp at Camp Out Poconos, in Pennsylvania, earlier this summer. Credit: Dick Mitchell

Boston, Massachusetts

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Boston has charm…. and attitude. Credit: Clifford on Unsplash

I love Boston because I come from Boston. I was born there and grew up there. So my time as a party promoter there has been kind of rediscovering the city. Whenever I travel, I try to spend at least a day or two extra to find new things. I like cycling and many cities now have a bike share system, so I’ll do that and bike all over Boston. 

I’m a late-night guy who likes going for breakfast after a party and every city has that kind of place that’s open 24 hours or until whenever. Boston has the South Street Diner (178 Kneeland St, Boston). You go to one of these places at 3, 3:30 in the morning, it’s priceless. First of all, it looks like an old little house, so it has a real old-school feel to it. The waitresses and waiters are very friendly and they know how to cater to their audience, so they’re not too demanding. It’s a mixture of gay and straight and whoever else is out. Because it’s so small and they can’t put everybody in at once, there’s also a little scene outside where you have to wait at least 15, 20 minutes to get in and you get to see all the people outside. It’s very simple food, but pretty good. It feels very much part of Boston, with people talking in the Boston accent and being all no-nonsense.

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And my Boston party is actually one of my most energetic parties anywhere. And it’s been really good, crazy and fun 90 percent of the time.

Chicago, Illinois

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Chicago is not only friendly, it has great architecture. Credit: Lance Anderson on Unsplash

I was actually in Chicago three times this summer during IML, Pride and then Market Days. When I’m in Chicago I feel like I’m living there because I have so many friends that I’ve met through my parties. I love biking there, too. People are super friendly—New York people are actually pretty friendly, too, but we have a bad reputation. In Chicago there’s a casualness, a quick, “Why don’t we hang out? Let’s go to dinner.” In New York, sometimes, you have to go through about 10 steps before you get to dinner. “I have to check my calendar and maybe next week or the week after that.” From a real estate point of view, and I hate to say this, it’s kind of like an affordable New York. It has all the urban things New York has but it’s very—well, for $2,000 a month what you can get, well, you can’t even get a parking space in New York for that money. So people have these huge apartments with barbecues and outdoor space. There’s lots of houses with lawns, suburban living, right in the city, which you don’t get in New York, the Concrete Jungle.

Chicago has great music. I love house music and in the old days I hired Frankie Knuckles, known as the Godfather of House, three times. He came from Chicago. I’ve also hired Karsten Sollors, who is pretty new but he comes from Chicago. I just love that music history.

I love that Lake Michigan is right there, a beach in the middle of the city. I’ll go to Hollywood Beach and see what people are doing. In New York you have to travel to the beach. Going to Lake Michigan is like going out to a major beach on Long Island except it’s right there. I just love driving down Lakeshore Drive where you get a vast view of the city. Chicago is an architecture fan’s wet dream. It’s the birthplace of the skyscraper.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Bourbon Street in New Orleans is a reliably good time, especially during Southern Decadence. Credit: Kristina Volgenau on Unsplash

New Orleans is a place I’ll go even when I’m not doing parties, just to hang out. There’s so much history there. I went to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival [which next takes place April 26 to May 5, 2024], which is not a particularly gay event, but I do love music and I like jazz a lot. One of my friends that I stay with in New Orleans takes me to different parts of the city like Greek Town [reported the U.S.’s first Greek community]. And there’s even Scandinavian culture there, too.

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Of course, New Orleans has some great restaurants. There’s one, Clover Grill (900 Bourbon St., New Orleans), which I love. It’s not so much about the food but the atmosphere is—you’ll meet any sort of person there. It’s really crazy late at night. Someone once told me to go to Waffle House (2500 Canal St., New Orleans, and several other locations), which, of course, being from the north, I I didn’t know anything about it so I went there for the hash browns and that was actually kind of fun.

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Furball Boston is a personal favourite of promoter Joe Fiore. Credit: Helix Pinecomb @helixpinecombphotos

When I’m booking DJs, for something like The Eagle in New York, I might pick someone edgier, a bit more circuit. You have to appeal to that kind of a crowd. But for New Orleans, and also for Provincetown, people want more of a festive party atmosphere. You don’t want to go too heavy duty. The party doesn’t go so late there. My New Orleans party doesn’t end at 2am, but they tend to leave it there like they have somewhere else to go.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Furball has several events over the Labour Day long weekend. There’s Jock’d at The Barracks (67625 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Cathedral City, California) in Palm Springs on Sep. 1, Southern Decadence at Santos (1135 Decatur St, New Orleans, Louisiana) on Sep. 2 and Southern Decadence Dirty Disco at Toulouse Theatre (615 Toulouse St., New Orleans) on Sep. 3. The next New York party is at Eagle NYC (554 W. 28th St, New York City) on Sep. 8. Full listings are at the official Furball website.

Your guide to the hottest destinations catering to gay and bi men. Arousing travel tips and recommendations for your days and nights around the globe.

Newsletter is sent out every other week.

Your guide to the hottest destinations catering to gay and bi men. Arousing travel tips and recommendations for your days and nights around the globe.

Newsletter is sent out every other week.

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