by James Whitely - SGN Contributing Writer

Bearracuda
Chop Suey
December 12

Bearracuda, San Francisco's night for bears, cubs, otters, beefcakes, chubs, pups, beards, furballs and you, celebrated its one-year anniversary in Seattle at Chop Suey on December 12. The dance night raged from 9 p.m. to the early hours of the morning.

The party, which featured four DJs, was a complete hit, with its mainstream and lesser-known mixes and mash-ups. Bearracuda was also catered by Chef Jared Tyler. A video screen cycled softcore "bear" porn, actual bears (the ones you see in the zoo) play-fighting and mounting each other, as well as teddy bear puppet shows throughout the night.

Bearracuda started three and a half years ago in San Francisco. It took about a year to catch on in the Bay Area -"Everything does," said Matt Mikesell, the creator of Bearracuda. Afterwards, it began to branch out to different cities. Currently, Bearracuda can be found in New Orleans, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle.

How did Bearracuda find its way to Seattle? The same way Mikesell plans to get it to Austin, Texas and Vancouver, B.C. Mikesell's full-time job is party promoting, and he's got contacts all around the country. Mikesell was no stranger to Seattle - or Chop Suey, for that matter - when Bearracuda opened up locally last year.

"It's always a blast coming up here," Mikesell told SGN. "The Portland party has really blown up, too."

Mikesell told SGN that the Seattle opening one year ago was strong, but that "Bearracuda in Portland caught on like wildfire." He attributes this partly because of the incredible space they have in Portland (The Rotture), compounded by the fact that the Portland bear scene has far fewer places to go. "It's not like Seattle," added Mikesell.

Mikesell travels regularly for Bearracuda. He brings down DJs from Seattle to both the Portland and San Francisco parties, and vice versa. For this Bearracuda, Mikesell brought with him DJ BoyShapedBox up from the Bay Area, and invited local talents DJ Bun-D, DJ Freddy, King of Pants and DJ Funky Bear Martin to spin the party. "Generally we only have two local DJs, but since it was the anniversary party, we wanted a third," said Mikesell.

The next Seattle Bearracuda, entitled "Spring Thaw," will be April 16 at Chop Suey. For more information check out bearracuda.com/seattle. Two more parties are scheduled in Portland beforehand, if you want to make the short trip. One takes place on January 9, the other on March 14. Check out bearracuda.com/pdx for more on those.

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