EUROPEAN BEARS & BIG MEN'S CONVERGENCE
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EBMC ARCHIVE WEBSITE
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FUTURE EBMC's ?
Hi Guys,
I do not know if there will be an EBMC this year.
Let me explain.
When I started Girth & Mirth-Belgium in 1990, I
thought it would be a small local club with only 30 members. After one year it
was 150 members and organizing an international chub & bear event in
Brussels that later became EBMC, and after 4 years I was at the head of a
federation of european big men's clubs, there was 400+ people at EBMC and I was
publishing a magazine, videos, the first
ever website
for chubs, chasers and bears etc etc... I was extremely glad of this success
and the positive things I have created for the big men movement, the chubs and
the chasers out there in terms of events, fun, opportunities to meet, develop
their affective lives and also giving pride to big men, acceptance, and more
happiness in their existence.
At that time, the only thing I had in my life was music
(as my band toured heavily from 1986 to 1991, including a world tour with 28
dates in the USA in 1990, which is where I met the Girth & Mirth movement),
and a bit of work in our firework company. During the nineties, I gave lots of
time and efforts to G&M and the EBMC, which both became very important to
people, and I slowly gave up the music business to be more and more involved in
the food and wine world.
From the half of the nineties to the first years of the
2000 decade, the internet started to provide people with all the things they
needed, pictures, personal ads, videos, to the point that our magazine, the FAT ANGEL TIMES, became
obsolete and the subscribtions to it faded from about a thousand to only 150.
It was then no longer possible to produce a glossy paper magazine and I had to
stop it after the 54th issue. It was a
very sad moment for me. I thought that this magazine had brought so much to
people in our movement, that the least they could do was to continue to
subscribe to it, as an hommage, but things don't go that way in life. I'm glad
that Biggercity now made it possible to view the 54 issues of FAT on the Bulk Male
website.
Our website, biggerworld.com, that had
been the very first of its kind, was also now an old one. Better sites such as
bearwww.com or biggercity.com had taken over old sites like ours and chubnet.
Fashion, new times, what can I say, it is just the way it was. So I let other
people manage the website and it also faded out. But I was more and more busy
with all my other work, that I felt, "as soon as the chubs and chasers are
happier, I've done my work" and that was right. After we "showed the
way", the movement kept on running. Chubs and Chasers ARE happier now than
they were before 1990 ! It's possible now for a small man who likes big men to
find sex and love out there. My work is
done. It worked !
So from that point of view, I decided to focus on the
events, because meeting people "in real" is the only thing people can
stiull not do online. Nothing beats the flesh ! LOL. So I kept on promoting the
monthly meetings at the sauna in Brussels, and the EBMC. The meetings in
Brussels went great, more and more people despite the state of the sauna,
degrading, the pool not working, the cleanness etc... I kept telling them to
fix things, they were very slow to respond and do anything. Quality went down,
down and their finances too, to the point that they did not pay our two last
invoices of sponsorship. Until, in 2011 they suddenly said they no longer
wished to collaborate with us, and forced us to stop organizing meetings there,
so we split from them. Sad too.
The EBMC is
my baby. I created it in 1991 after seeing the American
Convergence. I wanted an event that was comfortable, easy laid back, fun, and
sexy ! We had great years. I remember the first years in Brussels, the
"self made" meals by Alain, and then by Bo and Stefan. I remember the
dance nights at the Botanique. I remember Barcelona 97, so much fun, the foam
party... Rubis drunk, Henrique naked in the foam, the hotel's management trying
to shut us down at 2am and everybody going downstairs shirtless, and we won
! Then the crazy years at the Sheraton,
with the hospitality village in the downstairs cellar. I remember especially EBMC'98, one of the greatest, the video
of it is one of the best we've done. I remember Budapest 2001, Lisbon 2003... The fun years.
Then after 9/11, after the dollar went down, the US
economy shifting, everything started to change. There were events for bears
everywhere, and many in cheaper hotels, with less comfort (which is OK for
bears, but not for chubbies). Events where people didn't have a free bar all
day, and then the registration was half cheaper than ours. And then numbers
started to go down, back to 250, 200, 125 registrants in Rhodes 2005. But I
kept doing it. We had fun at EBMC each year, despite the smaller numbers. I
cannot thank enough all the people who helped at the Ebmc, especially Erik,
Fred, Jean, Jipé, René-Paul, Philippe, Henrique, Rainer, Rick, Filip, Guy,
Patrick, Stewie, Maman, Rubis, Carmen, Jacqueline, Michael, Eduardo, before them
James, Bahut, Bob, Marc, Jos, Arthur, Maurits, Alain VD, Geert, Alex, all the
other helpers, bartenders, artists, etc, and of course Moonee.
In 2009, we got approached by Biggercity about their
Biggevegas event. They wanted to cross-promote Ebmc and their event, and after
hesitating, I realized this was a good idea, for the sake of the big men
movement, and "more fun" was always a good thing. So we promoted
Biggervegas which was lots of fun and a huge success, and they promoted
EBMC'2010 in Prague which sadly was not a commercial achievement. We did not
breakeven on the budget and G&M-Belgium lost more money. As a non-profit
corporation, we are not supposed to make profits, but we cannot afford losses
either. So I had to go in my own pocket to pay for Ebmc losses, just like I had
done almost each year since 2004. But it was ok, I always thought this big men
movement was worth investing in, as I am a big man myself, and I think this
group has also given me lots of happiness and pleasures all over these years.
But then, many things changed.
Some of you might know that in 2010, my first book was released. It had
lots of success, with sales of about ten times more than my editor thought it
would have. That has generated a huge rise in my popularity in Belgium, I was
all over the newspapers, magazines, radio, tv etc during the entire year 2010.
From that success and somewhat fame, I got lots of proposals for new jobs, and
since two years now, I've been writing columns in several newspapers, websites,
and I am also working on four new books for two editors. I also have TV plans
coming up.
That all came in addition of my other jobs as food critic, my wine company bottlez.be and our firework company
MUST (that i've been managing with Moonee since
1985). I also was named member of the organising commitee of the Belgian
Sommelier's Guild, after being already honored in 2011 by being a judge on the
Best Sommelier of Belgium contest. On top of this, I got three new records
released in 2011, from my old bands from the 80's "a;GRUMH..." and also a new album of
my industrial music band n33.
So, in a word, i've been busy ! :-)
That's why after Prague, I announced there would be no
EBMC in 2011 and I urged people to go to Biggervegas that year. In the
meantine, Biggercity and us started to talk about co-producing EBMC'12 as a
cruise on the mediterranean. We were advancing on the project slowly, but then
that stupid cruise boat sinked in Italy and that was really not a good time to
start promoting a big men's cruise. :-O
Now the year has started and I am not sure if we are
going to have the time to set the event up for this year. My other activities
also prevent me from really spending time on it, so it gets postponed week
after week. I have offered Biggercity to organize BIGGERCRUISE/EBMC themselves
and that I would just be there and MC the events and be my usual
"joker", but so far, there are no firm plans.
Therefore, I cannot say with certainty that there will
be an EBMC this year or the next. Weither I will still organize it in the
future is unsure. I think I will, because it was fun, and it still could be
fun, but it also depends on you guys, if you are wanting it, if you are needing
it. The low attendance to the last editions sure didn't say that. It made me sad to see familiar EBMC faces not coming back
these last years. But again, that's life, the world changes, and people can do
what they like. So must I, go on with my life, and do what I do. :-)
Maybe my "big men world years" are now over.
Maybe I'll retire that part of my life to focus on my newer challenges. Maybe
I'll make a come back every five years or so. Or twenty, when we'll all be old
and incontinent, we can go make Ebmc'2032 and go terrorize people in five stars
hotels again running naked and throwing our urine bags at peole's heads !
LOL.... I don't know, I guess the future will tell.
It would be nice if all the people who had fun at EBMC
in the past would go post souvenirs and memories of it on the Ebmc yahoo group. I
personally will treasure many memories of all the 19 EBMC's I have organised
for you guys, and I will never throw away my many souvenir photo books of it.
You made these Ebmc's so much fun, guys,
thanks a lot to YOU for coming and making it the success they have been.
In the meantime, guys, have fun, because life is short,
you never know what tomorrow will be, and the important thing is to give
pleasure, create smiles around you, have fun, give and get good moments to your
loved ones or even strangers, celebrate, live.
Hugs & Kisses
Philippe
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