Phil James: Okay. So so far, it's Phil and Nick.
Phil James: and we're gonna get started. Les can't make it. Today. He's at some
Phil James: hillbilly gathering of some kind. I don't know what it is. So there's nothing hugely important in the December meeting
Phil James: list. The one thing that Les wanted us to add, and I'm just putting it on the website now is
Phil James: one of our new members.
Phil James: Is from this good pictures organization. And he's doing a bears documentary. He's looking for people. That's what the casting call is in the
Phil James: agenda.
Phil James: the 3rd item is, and we've had some discussion in the Central Committee. Is it time to leave Facebook couple of reasons why? One, I think we might be.
Phil James: There's people who are not joining because we're only on Facebook, and they either aren't on Facebook, don't want to be on Facebook. Don't want to be exposed on Facebook. So I'm proposing. We investigate having a mailing list.
Phil James: Then, of course, it's a matter of getting everybody on the mailing list and getting people to read their mail.
Phil James: You know, or other things like a a Google group is another
Phil James: thing. But some people are anti Google. So
Phil James: we'll talk about it some more. I did want to put into the record. If people are not aware, since I used to do testing across the Internet.
Phil James: If you have a Gmail account and you want to
Phil James: segregate mail coming in from multiple places. Whatever your Gmail account name is, you can add something after your name.
Phil James: and then@gmail.com, and the mail will still come to you, but it's actually put in a separate mailbox. So if people wanted to have you know I am filled. If I were Phil James, which I'm not on on Gmail, but if I'm I'm Phil James. I can say Phil, James, plus bears@gmail.com, and that will both have mail still come to me.
Phil James: but segregate it off so that I know where it's coming from. So that's 1 thing that if people are worried about oh, I'm going to get spam. Well, you're gonna get spam, but you can segregate it off.
Phil James: I just mentioned the the website
Phil James: I mentioned upcoming elections. So, Nick, I hope you're gonna stay on the board. Come, May, we? Decided may is
Phil James: on board election time. I believe Les is looking for somebody to become
Phil James: the chair of the board.
Phil James: I'm gonna lobby to be still become to still be secretary, because
Phil James: I don't think anyone else is really gonna do it. And so I'm not interested in being the head of the group. So
Phil James: think about that. And everybody should think about the board positions Mel has put forward.
Phil James: It'd be better if we had a big board of 9 or 11 people. Well, if we can't get more than 2 people at a at a meeting. I'm not worried about being overrun with people trying to join the board, but people should think about. If there's 1
Phil James: thing they want to do, they want to just work on archiving. They want to work on interviewing. They want to work on video editing. They want to work on the website. They should think about what on the board they might want to do.
Phil James: International, Mr. Leather is coming up. It's held
Phil James: almost always. Yeah. It's held always Memorial Day in Chicago in the Us.
Phil James: This year. It's technically May 20 second to 26.th
Phil James: Their website is international, Mr. leather.com.
Phil James: That's Mister just Mr. And Nick, I hope suddenly money magically appears out of the sky, and you come to Iml.
Phil James: Mel and I let oh, here's the Alejandro. Okay, let me let him in
Phil James: less, and I will be there. I'm gonna guarantee that both of us are there. We'll have what we're thinking of as the annual meeting
Phil James: at that time. I don't know if it's necessarily going to be there, but
Phil James: if a bunch of us are there. It's a good chance to do some interviews meet in person for the 1st time.
Phil James: etcetera. So I'm calling out to people, come to Iml
Phil James: you know Chicago isn't. You know the Us. Is expensive. Chicago is expensive.
Phil James: but it is a really big gathering of bears and leather and kink, and I've been 4 or 5 times. It's a lot of fun for people who've never been there.
Phil James: Hey, Alejandro?
Alejandro Nuno: Good morning. Sorry I'm late.
Phil James: Hey? No problem. It's just 3 of us so far.
Phil James: I like. I like your dreadlocks. Are you? Suddenly having dreadlocks, Alejandro?
Phil James: New hairstyle.
Alejandro Nuno: These are necklace. They're necklaces.
Phil James: I thought you went all native. Okay, wouldn't need it without yeah.
Phil James: Regarding the board. So there's, you know, there's a number of board positions. Now, obviously, we're not going to expand Alejandra. We're just talking about
Phil James: annual election starting in May. Obviously, we're not going to expand the board to a bunch. More people if
Phil James: we don't have a bunch more people interested. But people should think.
Phil James: are they board members should consider. Do they want to continue in their
Phil James: current position? Are they? Are more people interested in positions. Again, no one has to sign up for everything, doing all, everything. But if there's a specific thing that somebody wants to do.
Phil James: whether it's video editing or interviewing or work on the website or outreach or fundraising. There's a position for people on the board. Oh, I think I did skip that. Oh, where did I? Oh, okay. So I talk about the website in a bit.
Phil James: Interviews are going well.
Phil James: we've had a pretty good response from the last one we interviewed. Les and I interviewed
Phil James: the founder of Grindr. I'm sorry the founder of Growler.
Phil James: and you know, 10 million users worldwide, and how that started, and he and his partner working on it. And
Phil James: he was a good interview, and that's the latest
Phil James: highlight reel posted. I posted it right away, and that has helped push some con some engagement with the website and with the Youtube. Channel.
Phil James: so that's good. He was. He was good. He was very articulate, and you know my goal. I made him cry so I'm happy as long as I can make somebody cry in an interview. I'm happy.
Alejandro Nuno: Good way, hopefully.
Phil James: Yeah, in a good way we've done about. There's about 30 highlight reels out there. We've done about 5 more interviews that are sort of stuck in limbo, usually, because the person has not signed their waiver.
Phil James: So they're kind of in limbo. And this was bear number 1. 0, 5. So we've got a number of more people to interview videos to process. And it's just kind of a growing list. One of the things that Les does is every time I interview somebody he asks, is there anything else
Phil James: anybody else we should talk to.
Alejandro Nuno: So interviews. Here's where the highlight reels are.
Phil James: Eventually. Okay? So I kind of look, we have a little bit of statistics running. So
Phil James: in the in the month ending yesterday we had 49 sessions of people engaging with the website.
Phil James: So engagement is up like 2 to 3 times more than it was a month ago. So that's for the website. That's good. I don't. I haven't looked at what the Youtube channel is doing specifically. But
Phil James: that's out there.
Phil James: Then next meeting will be February 8th
Phil James: I made a typo in the in the date. It won't be in the year 1015. It'll be in the year 2025.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah.
Phil James: And I'll correct that when I update the notes.
Phil James: And then, as I mentioned at the top of the meeting,
Phil James: I'm exploring. It looks pretty simple if we started a mailing list, so that Facebook is not our only way of engaging, but not. It's not our only gate way of engaging with people. But it is our official home. And you know, a lot of people are leaving Facebook, or
Phil James: we're just missing people who aren't on Facebook don't want to be on Facebook. And certainly now, newly don't want to be on Facebook. So I'm thinking we need to continue our other outreach. It's great because we have a website. We have a Youtube channel. We have an Instagram.
Phil James: So we've got ways of engaging
Alejandro Nuno: Oh!
Phil James: Okay.
Alejandro Nuno: About threads, or.
Phil James: Yeah, I haven't explored that. Are you active there.
Alejandro Nuno: I'm i i just, in passing, signed up for it. I haven't really gone in there much.
Alejandro Nuno: It's just another like it. It looks like an another
Alejandro Nuno: twitter, basically. Well, that that's why I was.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah. But I haven't played with played around with it too much.
Alejandro Nuno: But do we have a Linkedin profile.
Phil James: We. Don't you think we'd bring in? You know more of a business side if we did.
Alejandro Nuno: I think so. Yeah, I think, Linkedin, I mean, that's how I got my current job. 5 years ago.
Alejandro Nuno: And I think, as a nonprofit, I think that'd be a good idea to do bring in.
Phil James: Okay, let me make note of that at the Executive level.
Alejandro Nuno: Because I mean, it's it's basically business related. But
Alejandro Nuno: we want to reach up for fundraising assistance matters and whatnot.
Alejandro Nuno: And I mean, yeah. And then there's clearly the
Alejandro Nuno: bears and exact positions worldwide, too. So Linkedin is a good good forced to
Alejandro Nuno: use and use and seek people out there so worldwide, so.
Phil James: Okay? And we could have a Linkedin profile for an organization.
Alejandro Nuno: I, I believe. So. Yeah. And then and then you can attach it to the website, too. So.
Phil James: Okay, I'll investigate that a little bit. Nick, you were here first.st Any updates from you, Nick.
Nick: So I mentioned about the I've got a funding bid in at the moment again for the archives try and get me and Les over to do that. Of course, while that's being reviewed, I can't submit that to anywhere else. So we kind of have to just wait until I think it's usually kind of mid to end of March
Nick: when that gets announced. If we're not successful that time, we're allowed to put it in one more time. Which would be announced in September. So, of course, that's that's kind of what the plan is for that. So that's a bit of a waiting game at the moment. Other thing is that myself and
Nick: Alessandra Almeida, who's a bear researcher. He's Brazilian, but he's based in Portugal. Him and me. Are. We had a meeting yesterday. So we are putting together what we're calling very wanky titles. So we're calling it a bear studies symposium.
Nick: So it's going to be a 3 h online event. I think we said, it's going to be May 20 second. But don't quote me on that. I'll double check the date. And it's going to have. It's basically kind of a networking opportunity for Bayer researchers. So
Nick: the program is going to have Les doing a keynote talk at it, me presenting some of my research. And then we're going to have Vinnie Flowers. Who's from Brazil, who's written a book about Brazilian bear culture. So he's going to present as well, and then there'll be some kind of time for networking and stuff. So the idea is that we want a kind of space to kind of bring together academic and non-academic bear researchers
Nick: get them, seeing what what kind of research is is being done at the moment. Get people chatting develop more research. So I'll send you the kind of full details of that
Nick: on Monday when we finalized it. But I think it's it's yeah, it's gonna be mid May on a Wednesday afternoon, I think.
Phil James: Oh, they'll held! Be held in May.
Nick: Yeah, let me just double check. Give me a second. I'll swipe up and check my calendar.
Phil James: Okay. May 2025. And where?
Phil James: what will you have as
Phil James: Like point of contact? Is there a web page or.
Nick: Okay. So it's may 14, th I've just checked. It's gonna be May 14, th and it's gonna be from 3 pm. To 6 pm. British time.
Nick: So the the point of contact. It's gonna be done via Microsoft teams. It's gonna be. It's gonna have automated live translation. So the people who don't speak English can participate as well. I'll circulate the sign up Link, which will be on a site called Events Bright, which we often use to to create events and stuff.
Phil James: Great. Okay?
Phil James: So I'll send all back to you on Monday.
Phil James: Okay? And I'll put that we'll you know we or you put it also on our Facebook group, and I'll put it in our, we don't really have a calendar
Phil James: on the website. But I'll I mentioned upcoming stuff.
Phil James: I thought about getting that more organized. But I haven't bothered doing a thing so
Phil James: great. Well, that sounds interesting, but it's the international aspect of who we are great.
Phil James: great anything else, Nick?
Nick: Yeah, so what are we going to do with the interviews? So it feels like we've got a lot of them now they look quite high quality. So I think there's a lot of really good stuff there.
Nick: I think so for myself, as a researcher, I'm thinking it's probably getting to about time to kind of produce some kind of initial outputs like, I would be looking to produce some kind of initial findings report or something at this stage to just kind of say, here's what we've learned about bears from this initial set of interviews.
Phil James: Yeah.
Nick: Do you feel we're at the kind of stage where we should be doing that? Or do you want to wait and gather more data.
Phil James: We are past the stage where we want to be doing that. So here's the. Here's what I've been thinking.
Phil James: the well, 1st of all, let me start with. Here's what Les says, since he's the one that leads most of the interviews that have been done really 99% of them. So he always tells people
Phil James: we're creating additions to the archive of material. So you're the primary second person to be where this is of interest, because Les is will be using this material for his 3rd book.
Phil James: It'll be available to you, Nick, and other researchers going forward for work that you do. That's about bears now, like, where does the material appear? Since you're on the board, you're both on the board. You have access to the original files. But
Phil James: the well, all we've published so far are the highlight reels. Now, why have we published those? Because I can do each of those highlight reels in about 3 min.
Phil James: So we take, you know we use AI to take the 1 h interview. Sometimes they're an hour and a half, and I just say, check out the Oohs and the Oz and make me a 5 min video, and they're pretty good.
Phil James: I can then do editing of the timeline where I can literally just kind of highlight a sentence
Phil James: and remove that sentence. And it's gone from the video. And it's gone from the transcript. And then I can release that highlight reel to Youtube. So we've we're we're doing the highlight reels, because, yeah, the number that we've done is growing. And they're already out there.
Phil James: My intention has been the next couple. Things that we do are one. Do what we're going to call stories, which is an edited version of each of these persons stories
Phil James: and get those out in the field. But it's just gonna take longer to do them.
Phil James: And you know Clark has stepped forward and did some metadata creation. But that's about as far as that's gotten. So he's gone through and said, All right, you know, there's 30 people who've talked about. What's it like to be a bear? And we know that. But we haven't done anything with that that leads to the 3rd thing that we plan on doing is create podcasts, slicing the other way, which is a little bit about what you're talking about. And this is where kind of Mel steps in with his journalistic
Phil James: approach and says, Well, we should add, you know, we need to add a little intro. We need to have an interviewer. We need a moderator, and we need someone to say, You know what is a bear, and then at least splice together 30 people saying, This is what a bear is, there's some really, there is some really good content in there. I've sat in on most of them, you know, bear coming out.
Phil James: What is a bear?
Phil James: Bears and religion.
Phil James: Where did you grow up?
Phil James: Are you a member of any other communities? There's a lot of just sub
Phil James: sections that would be really good to do
Phil James: but there's nobody really working on it hard. At the moment. We have several seats.
Phil James: The software we're using for the transcriptions.
Phil James: We have several seats in the the script, and I think Mark and I, currently
Phil James: I have one of the seats.
Phil James: I think Clark has the other seat that we're you know. We're paying for a couple of seats, so
Phil James: he's not actively using it at the moment. So
Phil James: if you had a bunch of time and you wanted to do one of those venues, or, you know.
Phil James: forage off in another venue and create content, presumably for our Youtube channel, and that we would put out there. Then, you know.
Phil James: great.
Phil James: Or if you have an intern, or you've got some video, you know, monkey who really wants to do it.
Phil James: That's great. You know. We've we've gotten where we are, be with the, with the resources we have
Phil James: so far, so no impediment other than resources and just resources.
Nick: Yeah, there's plenty of content to work from.
Nick: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So I feel like I've said to Mel already that I'm eager to kind of work in the podcast side. But I know that that really is a very large amount of work. I think folk often underestimate how much work it is to put a podcast together, although God knows we could do with fewer of them. But I think what I would really like to do is produce a short written report. I feel like that's the kind of thing that is going to get. It's a bit more.
Nick: It's a bit more robust as a piece of research. It's not just. Here's my hot take on things. Or here's what a few guys said about things. It's instead trying to kind of identify. What are the kind of the repeating patterns that are happening across of this? What kind of actual fact and knowledge can we generate from this?
Nick: So that's what I would like to produce as a kind of and plus, it's something that will say, look this as a research, a community research project is producing research outputs, which I think
Nick: kind of helps us look more like rigorous, more valid, as a kind of research project.
Phil James: Right.
Nick: So I'm eager to take that forward. What I will say is, my working schedule is completely crazy. This this upcoming semester. It will not be until summer before I'm in a position to get started in that that might be fine, because by then, of course, we'll have more interviews.
Nick: a bigger data set.
Nick: But yeah, I've got a pile of new teaching that I have to write for this semester, so it will not be until summer that I can take that on. But once summer hits, I was kind of like
Nick: me and one or 2 other people from the committee, probably to start analyzing the data basically.
Phil James: Right.
Nick: Reporting.
Phil James: The way.
Nick: Well, I think if we're to say that we're a research project. Yes, podcasts, I know it's a good way of communicating stuff. It is just people's hot takes and stuff. It's not rigorous, it's not reliable. It's not research. It's just what people are saying. So as a researcher myself, I want to see that data has been analyzed in a rigorous and robust way. Otherwise I might as well be reading a magazine
Nick: so.
Phil James: Right.
Nick: That that is what I think needs to happen. Now, the podcast
Nick: can certainly draw on that we can use what kind of comes out in the analysis and ends up in report that will be really useful for informing the podcast that will give us a lot of talking points to talk around what podcast excerpts we bring out of people talking about what is a bird and stuff. So I think that would be a useful document to have
Nick: to then inform the podcast and give us a kind of bit of structure to that. So we could be killing 2 birds with one stone by that, and also lending a kind of authority and legitimacy to us as a research project.
Phil James: Yeah.
Phil James: And you mean actual summer. You don't need funny Australian summer, you mean.
Nick: No, I, yeah. So Hello.
Nick: we're talking like when I say summer, I mean the end of my teaching term. So I'm talking like beginning of June. Basically.
Phil James: Well, you're in good position to do that. Because.
Phil James: as we interview people, we specifically say, this material is going into archives for use by researchers.
Phil James: And it kind some people pause. They're like, Oh, it. This is going to the permanent record. In fact, we're just getting approval from someone we did a few weeks ago. Oh, I don't want my name used. I'm not sure what my picture used, and then he kind of went ahead. I was like, all right. Well, here's the original video. So you go look at it. Here's the Transcript, and you decide. I mean, I understand, if you're a teacher, your high school teacher. I understand. You know you're the one that decided to talk about
Phil James: coming out and your parents. And if you want to take something back or so they understand. It's going into the written record.
Nick: And.
Phil James: You are the second person we have in mind so podcasts, highlight reels. They're kind of teasers for
Phil James: les is writing a book. You're a researcher. This content is supposed to be available for researchers. So you're on the board. So you have access to the original file.
Phil James: Not everybody has signed waivers for interviews that are in the dropbox archive. So we just kind of need to double check that. But yeah, it is available for you as a researcher
Phil James: for your own work. And if you think of this as a bear history project, international project great, I mean, that's.
Nick: Yeah, that's absolutely what I mean. I mean myself as a member of the of the bear. History Projects international producing a bear history project international out research outputs so like something that was set by the website.
Phil James: Yeah, I don't mean it would be good if I mean, both of those things are good. It's available to you as a researcher in queer studies. And
Phil James: as a board member you have access to this material.
Phil James: Just be careful about, has it been released? And I can help with that. So yeah. And then the software that we've been using for just the material.
Phil James: It's pretty easy to use. Mel thinks it's newfangled and strange. But he's been doing video editing forever.
Nick: I can tell that he knows what he likes to work with.
Phil James: Yeah, yeah. But I mean, he's not arguing with. But we've got 35 min videos out there, which is, you know, it's not nothing so great. Well, let's you know, let's talk again. We can have a session to look at how the the current, in fact, one of the things.
Phil James: since I can use the software to go find actual highlights. I mean, the highlight reel creation is good, but it can also say, Look for the term, what is a bear? And it'll find that in these videos and that could then become excerpts that are used, you know, further. So that's great. I'm happy to work on that with you, just because I'm pretty familiar with the software review. So far.
Phil James: Great thanks, Nick. Anything else from you, Nick.
Nick: Nope, that's it.
Phil James: Come to the Us.
Nick: I mean. Look, do you no
Nick: have to say the political situation is not selling it to me right now.
Phil James: Yeah, well, it comes to tip the scale.
Phil James: But.
Nick: The Uk. Is heading in that direction soon, to believe me.
Phil James: Yeah, yeah, you've done. You've done no volcano hopping lately.
Nick: No, although I've got that in 2 months time I'll be back up that volcano.
Phil James: Oh, oh, be careful. We need you.
Phil James: Okay, Alejandro. Anything from you for the meeting.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah, I'm just in contact with the eagle owner, Alex Montel. Anyone to do a interview with you?
Phil James: Okay.
Alejandro Nuno: He wants me to pass on his contact info to you to do the interview. He's a Mexican national, and he's now a American citizen.
Alejandro Nuno: and he's eagle owner, Eagle Bar owner here, so I think he'd be a good, an amazing interviewee
Alejandro Nuno: to document.
Phil James: Great.
Alejandro Nuno: And he's agreed to do it. So.
Alejandro Nuno: And yeah.
Phil James: You have my email address.
Alejandro Nuno: Let me give you his contact info he wants he wants me to give you is cause he's.
Phil James: Oh, okay, hold on. Let me
Alejandro Nuno: Running somewhere else, or I can talk to you.
Alejandro Nuno: Oh.
Alejandro Nuno: but and he's he's also working with a new to get us into the beer bus slots, several of them actually so
Alejandro Nuno: and pushing on that. So he likes your attention.
Phil James: Okay, I'm gonna start an email to him. Yeah.
Alejandro Nuno: Give me one second.
Phil James: Okay, who? How? How should I contact him? Or you're gonna.
Alejandro Nuno: Give me one second.
Phil James: Put it in. Okay.
Alejandro Nuno: I'll give you. I'll give you the bar email address.
Alejandro Nuno: Here's our email address.
Alejandro Nuno: Okay. I was. I was just there last night. I could have talked to him.
Alejandro Nuno: Well, perfect.
Alejandro Nuno: One second
Alejandro Nuno: I'll give you 2 a LX.
Alejandro Nuno: Letter a LX. Montiel, MONT IEL.
Alejandro Nuno: At gmail.com.
Alejandro Nuno: That's his, that's his personal one, and let me give you the bar one.
Phil James: I can't type. Okay.
Alejandro Nuno: One second. Alright. It's lex LEX.
Phil James: Yeah.
Alejandro Nuno: At the@sfeagle.com.
Phil James: That was V. Like victory.
Alejandro Nuno: No. The Alex LEX at THE,
Alejandro Nuno: yeah VSF eagle, THES f
Alejandro Nuno: EAGL e.com BSF.
Phil James: Yeah.
Phil James: Oh, okay.
Phil James: okay. I'll I'll send him a note. I'm gonna copy less. I'll copy you. Do I have your
Phil James: Alejandro here you are okay. I'll copy you on my email to him, and contact him. Great.
Alejandro Nuno: Let me just toggle.
Alejandro Nuno: Want this phone number.
Phil James: Sure.
Alejandro Nuno: Sorry.
Phil James: I dropped my husband off at the bluff gathering yesterday, and I went to Safeway, sat in the parking lot and ate cake. That was my San Francisco Eagle. Evening.
Alejandro Nuno: 4, 1, 5, 6, 1, 8,
Alejandro Nuno: 96, 0 6. Honestly, if you text them, it's a it's easier for him.
Alejandro Nuno: he's he's also. He's great on email, too, for
Alejandro Nuno: official matters. But if you want to get his attention right away, text him. So
Phil James: 6, 1, 8, 9, 6, 0, 6.
Alejandro Nuno: Give me one, second, 6, 1, 8, 9, 6, 0, 6, yeah, 4, 1, 5.
Phil James: Okay. Alright. I started an email. Just so I've got it somewhere.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah, he's excited. He's excited about it. So I told him. And any other bartenders that are interested
Alejandro Nuno: young or old, they can do interviews, so he's excited. He's excited to do his so.
Alejandro Nuno: and I told him it would be a great exposure for
Alejandro Nuno: him and the bar globally. So. I I look at that angle so he he's excited about it. I think it'd be huge.
Phil James: Yeah.
Alejandro Nuno: To do him do an interview to for him.
Alejandro Nuno: Number.
Phil James: Right. Locally, plus, you know. It'll get the word out that. So when when bears are coming to visit, they'll realize, oh, this is a friendly place, and it's
Phil James: it's leather. It's bear friendly.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah. And he needs both leather and bear. And and yeah, it's it's it's open to everyone. And so
Alejandro Nuno: they even got signs 0 0 discrimination against anyone. So what was I? Gonna say?
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah. And I mean, he's he's owned the bar since 20
Alejandro Nuno: 13, but 2010, they open in 2013, so.
Phil James: Yeah.
Phil James: I've wandered in there on an odd Thursday night, and it's you know, there's a odd rock band, and people from my past jobs, are there? I was like.
Phil James: Yeah, what are you doing here? This is a learning bar. I don't want you to see.
Alejandro Nuno: Thursday nights are are band night, so they have. They have mostly straight, straight bands Thursday and Thursday nights, so once in a while they'll have a gay or queer bands but for the most part it's straight, and on Thursday nights. But yeah.
Phil James: Yeah.
Alejandro Nuno: I was gonna mention one other thing. Yeah, it's I mean, it's it's a historical landmark. It's been officially designated by the city of Francisco, the historical landmark, so it can never be anything else but the Eagle
Alejandro Nuno: forever. So that's that's an amazing touch point as well in terms of the bar.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah, and he can. He can speak to you more about that. But you.
Phil James: Yeah, I used to live for 10 years I lived like 4 blocks away from me 6 blocks away. So I'm familiar. Yeah, I'm familiar with the
Phil James: the bar.
Alejandro Nuno: He's excited to talk to you more or less. So.
Phil James: Yeah, yeah, we'll set something up. Less is away at something today. But I'll copy him on. I'll start with an email, just because that's a good part of an audit trail. But I'll also text him and say, you know, let's set something up, and I'll point him to. Here's the highlight reels we've done. Here's the questions. Here's the waiver, just so that it's all done at once, and we can start that way.
Phil James: Great.
Alejandro Nuno: So yeah, and then
Phil James: Great.
Alejandro Nuno: The resale, the resale license. I will. That's in the process. So I will check on that.
Alejandro Nuno: I mean, so far it's depends anything but which we were gonna sort of give away anyway. So
Alejandro Nuno: nothing urgent there but the license yeah, it will finish up on that. So.
Phil James: Yeah, I would say, I'm you know. Really, our 1st big physical presence ever is likely to be international, Mr. Leather, maybe.
Phil James: Well, less is continue to do stuff.
Phil James: Go to, you know, hillbilly, this so.
Alejandro Nuno: Alex. Alex. Actually goes to that because they always Mr. Eagle
Alejandro Nuno: of the of the current year, they always send them to Iml. So Alex also always goes, so he'll be there. So you guys can team up there, too. So.
Phil James: Yeah. Good.
Alejandro Nuno: Who are.
Phil James: Okay, but that'll be the that'll be the 1st time. You know we've talked about. Maybe we buy a bunch of shirts.
Phil James: I don't know, but pins is, you know, easy to transport, easy to sell. So that's kind of the first.st That's the thing I'm aiming at for a time to sell. I keep almost just pulling the trigger and just buying
Phil James: a hundred pins or 200 pins, but I haven't done that yet.
Phil James: and again the selling is the other side. Right? We need that.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah. So buying them here. Okay, that's good. 1 point. Yeah. But if we're gonna if we're gonna travel and sell them there.
Alejandro Nuno: I have to look into Illinois tax matters as well.
Phil James: Yeah, yeah, we don't have a
Phil James: right. If, as a 5, 1, 2, 3, we don't have
Phil James: tax benefit of buying them. We just lose money right? But if we're selling them and we don't have tax in, then we're in trouble.
Alejandro Nuno: Right? Yeah. So we sales tax needs to be paid, no matter what nonprofit or your for profit sales tax. If you're selling something. You gotta pay it
Alejandro Nuno: as a nonprofit. You just don't get. You just don't pay taxes on income. That's.
Phil James: Okay. So it's just we just lose money. It's not.
Phil James: I won't be arrested by some.
Alejandro Nuno: No, no, you don't lose money. You just have to get just built in a sales tax into what you're selling it.
Alejandro Nuno: So yeah, there's some. Yeah. So there's some things taxes 8. That's, for example, here, 8.6 5%. So that's, you know, 8 cents on the dollar. So you just built that into the sales price. And then from that money, that's what you pay sales tax.
Phil James: Yeah, if need be. Okay, that's good to know. Yeah, that means if I suddenly, when I do my taxes, if I suddenly come into an extra $1,000.
Phil James: I know I could. You know
Phil James: I can buy those pins, and then we can sell them. And then hopefully, the tax stuff will come out in the wash.
Alejandro Nuno: That's that's that's just that's just a reimbursement to you. So that's that's that's yeah. That's
Alejandro Nuno: but let's let's hopefully get some, not hopefully. We will be get some getting beer bus slots, and with that money we can get those pins, and
Alejandro Nuno: we don't worry about taxes and or any of that, because it'll just be cash. And since we're nonprofit it'll just be traced that way.
Alejandro Nuno: and so we can use the beer beer bus cash to buy
Alejandro Nuno: bins T-shirts, you know, etc.
Alejandro Nuno: So that's that's the master plan here. So, and especially getting Alex involved
Alejandro Nuno: because I was kept reaching out to the
Alejandro Nuno: bar manager that was handling beer bus. But
Alejandro Nuno: I'll be honest with me. I was still. He's no longer in charge of that, so I'm like, well, thanks for telling me so like
Alejandro Nuno: Alex and I are friends, and we go way back even before he bought the bar. So, and I still do, I still do their bookkeeping? So
Phil James: Right.
Phil James: And he that was I. I got the phone number as primary. But his personal email, it's just Al X. monteo@gmail.com.
Alejandro Nuno: No, it's lex. No, no, a just lex.
Alejandro Nuno: No, no! The one I gave you 2. Give me one second. I gave you 2.
Phil James: But
Phil James: yeah, his is Alx monteo@gmail.com right, and the other one is lex@thesfeagle.com.
Alejandro Nuno: LEX, yeah. No way. Yeah.
Phil James: Okay, I'm copying you. So if it.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah.
Phil James: Doesn't work. Then I'll do it like I think you got it.
Phil James: But I'll also text him.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah, so just tell him, hey, I was just there last night, too. This is so. And so from I told him. I just told him. You'll be reaching out to him soon, so he'll know who you are.
Phil James: Great Great anything else from you.
Alejandro Nuno: That's all I got for now.
Phil James: Okay, thanks, guys. You are the cream of the crop for coming to the meeting.
Alejandro Nuno: Thanks for handling everything.
Alejandro Nuno: I'll need some assistance. So if you're available, obviously, when those those dates come up to help me and
Alejandro Nuno: and round up I can.
Phil James: Oh, yeah.
Alejandro Nuno: Round up. Well, I can round up at least 2 or 3 other people friends especially Cody. Elkin, is another person that ventures that you would want to interview.
Alejandro Nuno: I'll reach out to him, he does.
Alejandro Nuno: He? He and his husband are part of the San Francisco. But Cody's started a new thing
Alejandro Nuno: Mister Bear, Mr. San Francisco bear 2 years ago.
Phil James: Is he also a boot? Black.
Alejandro Nuno: He's not boot, black or no, no.
Alejandro Nuno: he's a he's a leatherman slash bear, too, but.
Phil James: Oh, I know who he is. He's the big cowboy.
Alejandro Nuno: Yes, that one.
Phil James: Oh yes!
Alejandro Nuno: And you, and you can tell him I said, cowgirl.
Phil James: I'm oh, yes, oh, yes!
Phil James: Oh, yes.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah, yeah, that's and he he!
Alejandro Nuno: He was in the beer bust.
Alejandro Nuno: He he's done a lot of beer busts, and so he's he's the number one person that I would help me
Alejandro Nuno: have him help me, and so
Alejandro Nuno: he's done. He does. He does a lot of fundraising, and he's very, very amazing at it. And so
Phil James: Yeah.
Alejandro Nuno: I will. I will get in touch with them here and give you another good interviewee.
Phil James: Okay?
Phil James: Because he's okay.
Alejandro Nuno: He's done like, I said. He's done the the Mr. Bear contest and title holder.
Phil James: Yeah.
Alejandro Nuno: He. He sponsored it so
Alejandro Nuno: so so far there's 2 title holders, and there's a current title holder right now. So I think that that'd be a good
Alejandro Nuno: also the other person. I I don't. I don't know the guy, but
Alejandro Nuno: I mean I do know him, but I'm not in touch with him. But I know so far there's been 2 title holders so far that he hosts actually at the Eagle Bar. So
Alejandro Nuno: that's where they have it.
Phil James: Yeah.
Phil James: Okay, yeah. I'm not familiar with that contest. But.
Phil James: I'll make note that you're gonna contact him.
Alejandro Nuno: Yeah, I'm gonna contact. I'll contact him right now and then.
Alejandro Nuno: I will email you his contact when I talk to him. So.
Phil James: Right.
Alejandro Nuno: Alright, that's all I got.
Phil James: Okay.
Phil James: Alright, thanks. Guys.
Phil James: Thanks. Thank you.
Nick: Cool take care.
Phil James: Bye.