Polly Whittaker's Blog, page 3

The Search for a Forever Home Continues

Since we lost our home on Mission Street an awesome team of dedicated folks have continued, unceasingly, the search for a new forever home. Although social media might tell you that finding a space in the Bay Area is impossible, and that big business has pushed the arts and counter culture out completely, I wanted to reassure you that there is hope. The reality on the ground is that there are spaces available that we can afford, but none of them have been perfect. Our temporary venues at SPACE, Alchemy and Danzhaus, while no ideal, have served us well, and the community has survived a disaster that would have been the end for most. Where we go next is still unknown, but I would like to put forth the proposal that the tide is turning. How about if Mission Control is the turning point? I’m going to do that California hippy thing for a minute and ask that you all hold the image in your heart of the perfect home for Mission Control.







Kinky Salon Confessions Podcast











Alex Schoenfeldt’s story starts with monogamy and ends with wild sex parties. How did this man go from being your average “normal” guy to having his life completely transformed? Since his first event at Mission Control four years ago he now runs Open Relationship Unversity, the spiritual-sex party “Essence”, and regular monthly potlucks for the Open Relationship Community…

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN


Available on iTunes, Stitcher, Player.fm, and Tune In! Please don’t forget to rate the show to help it get better visibility!
If you have some great stories to share about your experiences at Kinky Salon and the surrounding culture please let me know! I’m looking for heartfelt realness rather than titillating tales








Take This Shit to the next Level















The Patreon campaign is going strong, and YOU can help support the vision of having Kinky Salons all over the world and spread to the Sex Culture Revolution. Patreon is like Kickstarter but for ongoing projects. You give a set amount (like $1) each month, and that helps create a stable income I can count on. Plus there are some awesome rewards! Watch the video. It’s Hi-larious.

 

Alex Schoenfeldt

Alex Schoenfeldt’s story starts with monogamy and ends with sex parties. How did this man go from being your average guy to having his life completel transformed? Since his first event at Mission Control four years ago he now runs Open Relationship Unversity, the spiritual-sex party “Essence”, and regular monthly potlucks for the Open Relationship Community with his wife, Gloria, who he met at Mission Control! What a great story.

Listen to the latest episode of Kinky Salon Confessions

Kinky Salon Denver and An Audiobook Sample

 

Kinky Salon Denver














 I’m excited to announce that there’s a new Kinky Salon opening! On August 8th it will be the inaugral event of Kinky Salon Denver. I met the team this weekend. They are wonderful people with lots of experience throwing sexy events. They have connections with Decompression, Gay Pride and the Kink scene, which sounds like a perfect combo to me. We bonded over brunch talking about community building, art and creator culture. I’ll be heading out there for the first event in August. You should come with me! I’m thrilled to have our very first event in Middle America. Coming next (cross fingers) is Seattle. There’s a plan brewing up there and a lot of interest. If you want to join the secret Facebook groups of either of these events please let me know and I’ll add you.














Kinky Salon Confessions Podcast











This podcast is a little bit different. People keep asking me if I can do an audiobook of my memoir, but I haven’t had the time or the resources to make it happen. So for this podcast I thought I’d read you the first few chapters of my book. In a way it’s my Kinky Salon confession. I hope you enjoy it! You can buy the book on Amazon if you get hooked.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN


Available on iTunes, Stitcher, Player.fm, and Tune In! Please don’t forget to rate the show to help it get better visibility!
If you have some great stories to share about your experiences at Kinky Salon and the surrounding culture please let me know! I’m looking for heartfelt realness rather than titillating tales















Take This Shit to the next Level















The Patreon campaign is going strong, and YOU can help support the vision of having Kinky Salons all over the world and spread to the Sex Culture Revolution. Patreon is like Kickstarter but for ongoing projects. You give a set amount (like $1) each month, and that helps create a stable income I can count on. Plus there are some awesome rewards! Watch the video. It’s Hi-larious.

 

A Bedtime Story

This episode is a little bit different. Instead of interviewing a guest I’m reading from my memoir. I’ve had lots of requests for an audiobook but haven’t had the time, so I thought I’d give you a little taste. In a way, this is my Kinky Salon confession. 

Listen to the latest episode of Kinky Salon Confessions

The Pollination and Propagation of Kinky Salons

Have you wondered what it takes to open a new Kinky Salon? I’m currently talking to budding teams in Seattle, San Luis Obispo, Denver, and the beautiful island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s a process that usually takes a few months from the first time I’m contacted to the first Kinky Salon. In that stage the new team gets some training, and the first hurdle to overcome is usually finding a venue. Once the teams are up and running they are autonomous and self-managing, with my role being more as a mentor and coach than a boss. This hands off approach to managing the events means that I don’t need a big team to support the spread of Kinky Salons, it can just happen organically. It takes a lot of trust for me to give the local teams so much power, but the results so far have been indisputably positive. If you’re in a city where there’s a Kinky Salon happening I really recommend checking out one of the local chapters—they feel a lot like Kinky Salon did in the early days. To watch the community come together and fall in love is inspiring.

























Kinky Salon Confessions Podcast











We’ve made it to podcast #8. In this episode I have the amazingly talented and totally pervy Rachel Lark on the show. She talks about her theory that everyone is trying to start and orgy and tells us her tragic first time swinger party story. Tune in to hear her fabulous Kinky Salon song and learn about  her current kickstarter which is for a video for her song about period sex called “Warm, Bloody, and Tender” 


Available on iTunes, Stitcher, Player.fm, and Tune In! Please don’t forget to rate the show to help it get better visibility!
If you have some great stories to share about your experiences at Kinky Salon and the surrounding culture please let me know! I’m looking for heartfelt realness rather than titillating tales

 

Rachel Lark

In this episode I have the amazingly talented and totally pervy Rachel Lark on the show. She talks about her theory that everyone is trying to start and orgy and tells us her tragic first time swinger party story. Tune in to hear her fabulous Kinky Salon song and learn about  her current kickstarter which is for a video for her song about period sex called “Warm, Bloody, and Tender” 

Listen to the latest episode of Kinky Salon Confessions

Kinky Salon Los Angeles

I’ll admit I’ve struggled with Los Angeles in the past. As with any city so vast, it can be difficult to scratch the surface and find the cool scenes. Being a survivor of London, I tend to prefer the simplicity of smaller cities like San Francisco and Portland. LA was the first stop on my world tour, and the community there managed to change all those preconceived ideas. I felt like a kid discovering faeries at the bottom of the garden. I knew they existed, magical creatures!
I saw a lighter, more playful, loving, authentic side of the city I had never managed to find before. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it existed. I’m so glad that it does.
The team down in LA who stepped up to create a Kinky Salon are the community I’ve been looking for. They have a bohemian loft downtown called the Syrup Loft that’s been home to all sorts of groovy art projects and performances. They are our people.
For a first event, Kinky Salon LA was super impressive. It was sold out with just over 200 people in attendance. The volunteer coordinator wrangled people like a pro. The playspace was smokin hot. People danced. Yes. This is a place where we can be ourselves. I’ll be there again for the next one on May 2nd. You all should join me down there.






    

Sex Culture Revolutionaries on Facecrack

There’s a new Sex Culture Revolutionaries facebook group for activists, educators and artists working in the realm of sexuality.

So far it’s been an incredible process just to see the people signing up. We’ve got film makers, performance artists, comedians, sex educators, pro Dommes, therapists, psychologists, podcasters and event producers from all over the world!


You should join.








Kinky Salon Confessions Podcast











Here’s the link to podcast #7. While I was on my world tour it was so great to chat with the people making Kinky Salon happen out there in the world.
Jules is one of the co-producers of Kinky Salon in Berlin. She was gracious enough to host us on the world tour. Here’s your chance to meet her and find out about Berlin culture and her part in it.


Available on iTunes, Stitcher, Player.fm, and Tune In! Please don’t forget to rate the show to help it get better visibility!
If you have some great stories to share about your experiences at Kinky Salon and the surrounding culture please let me know! I’m looking for heartfelt realness rather than titillating tales








Take This Shit to the next Level















The Patreon campaign is going strong, and YOU can help support the vision of having Kinky Salons all over the world and spread to the Sex Culture Revolution. Patreon is like Kickstarter but for ongoing projects. You give a set amount (like $1) each month, and that helps create a stable income I can count on. Plus there are some awesome rewards! Watch the video. It’s Hi-larious.













Until next time,
P♥lly
xx

Jules in Berlin

Jules is one of the co-producers of Kinky Salon in Berlin. She was gracious enough to host us on the world tour. Here’s your chance to meet her and find out about Berlin culture and her part in it.

Listen to the latest episode of Kinky Salon Confessions

Mads from Copenhagen

I loved talking to Mads about Kinky Salon. He’s a very clever man and I love his perspecitve. I’m so exhausted from all this traveling that I can’t actually piece together a decent intro, so you’ll just have to trust me. I’ll update this later when my brain is back online.

Listen to the latest episode of Kinky Salon Confessions

Report from the Road

 

Another Friend, Another Community










I feel like I’ve been on the road forever. I live out of a suitcase and sleep in unknown beds. I don’t know the people I’m staying with before I arrive, but by the time I leave we are best friends. I fly into each city exhausted and excited, ready for the next chapter. I ring the bell on unfamiliar doors with breath held and excited smiles.
A manicured lawn with sprinkler on a timer in Los Angeles. A buzzer and an elevator in Brooklyn. Brick walls, leaded glass windows, and stairs that go to the top in London. Mystical symbols and a doormat in the shape of a curly moustache in Copenhagen. Graffiti, broken glass, and the smell of coal fires in Berlin. Each city has a doorway to another friend, another community.
In LA they organize Kinky Salon like a movie set. There’s a director, a producer, and all the actors in the play. It’s incredibly well organized with printed, color-coded spreadsheets defining every aspect of the event. On the night it feels effortless.
In New York it’s more like an art project—creative people working together with a sense of struggle and achievement. It’s a ground roots project with its heart firmly rooted in Avant Garde cabaret.

London is like a rally—a passionate crowd who gathers for a cause they believe in. Their process is based in consensus, and everyone in the core team has a say on how things get done. With fifty volunteers at every event and a crowd of 300+, it’s an impressive feat of people wrangling.
The Copenhagen team is fiercely egalitarian and action oriented. With Scandinavian efficiency, every team member has a job to do and they don’t slow each other down. Like a dozen firecrackers going off at the same time, they each shoot out on a trajectory, creating a magnificent spectacle.
Berlin is just cool. It’s laid back and artsy. It’s a jazz band. It’s improv. There are times where it feels like it might degenerate into chaos, but at the last moment the team picks it up for a flawless finale.






















Kinky Salon Confessions Podcast

I loved talking to Mads about Kinky Salon. He’s a very clever man and I love his perspecitve. I’m so exhausted from all this traveling that I can’t actually piece together a decent intro, so you’ll just have to trust me. It’s the story from Copenhagen and you know you want to hear it.

Available on iTunes, Stitcher, Player.fm, and Tune In! Please don’t forget to rate the show to help it get better visibility!
If you have some great stories to share about your experiences at Kinky Salon and the surrounding culture please let me know! I’m looking for heartfelt realness rather than titillating tales















Take This Shit to the Next Level















The Patreon campaign is going strong, and YOU can help support the vision of having Kinky Salons all over the world and spread to the Sex Culture Revolution. Patreon is like Kickstarter but for ongoing projects. You give a set amount (like $1) each month, and that helps create a stable income I can count on. Plus there are some awesome rewards! Watch the video. It’s Hi-larious.