Three Bears … but no Goldilocks
Sydney Star Observer bravely entered the Bear den (aka resident Kiwi Bear Dominic Freeman’s Petersham flat) for the recording of the most recent Bears In the City podcast, but found the furry fellas far from grizzly. And we promise, that’s the last of the bear puns.
The trio — Freeman, founder Seamus Hyslop and John Rinaldi — have been recording regular podcasts since 2006, when Hyslop raised the idea with his friends over a few beers.
“I had to ask him what a podcast was,” Freeman admitted sheepishly.
Hyslop said his idea was born from a yearning to see more of his busy friends. That others enjoyed listening to their chats on everything from Bear events to pop divas was a bonus.
The Bears in the City line-up has since gone through several incarnations, with a couple of members coming and going, but the core three remain, four years down the track.
Along the way they’ve accumulated a diverse array of listeners. One was there for the taping: 20-year-old Scott McInnes, who came across the podcasts more than a year ago and found them something of a lifeline for a closeted country teen.
Given an assignment in his UTS Media Production course, he decided to film a documentary short on the Bears. After filming had wrapped, he went home and came out to his parents. He’s now a guest on the show.
The trio’s reach goes far beyond the Bear haven of inner-city Sydney.
“We had a 14-year-old boy in the Northern Territory who contacted us,” Freeman recalled.
“And a remote area nurse from Western Australia who tells us she loves the show,” Hyslop said. “One guy said he was at a Bear Run in the United States and he mentioned the show, and it turned out most of the guys in the audience were listeners.”
In April, the guys celebrated a particularly saucy milestone — podcast number 69 — by recording an episode entirely naked. What started as a laugh soon became one of their most powerful podcasts.
“It became quite a serious discussion about body image for Bears and gay men in general, how the media shapes our perception of what we should look like. We’re sitting there naked talking about all this — it was very raw,” Freeman said.
“What people seem to like is that it’s a few guys who are really comfortable with being gay, with being Bears,” Hyslop said. “The best compliment someone’s given us is that when you listen, it feels like you’re the silent member in a group of old friends.”
info: Bears in the City podcasts can be downloaded free from iTunes. Visit www.bearsinthecity.com.au
