It's just right around the corner, it's Atlanta Bear Fest (ABF) hosted by the Southern Bears and it's all gonna take place in Atlanta, Georgia during the 4th of July weekend. You can't ask for better...

The Southern Bears are one of the oldest Bear clubs around being together for more than 16 years. They've also been getting a lot of good coverage in the press, like this article written about them and ABF in Southern Voice. Also, you will see their story in the upcoming David Magazine as they are getting both the cover story and a center spread (with cute Bears!).

Here are some updates regarding ABF: day passes are now available; 2 optional events at Mary's bar have been added - a pre-party 'The Honey Pot' on Wednesday's and 'Bear Happy Hour' on Friday night. Find out more here.

They have created a newsletter for those who wish to keep up to date with ABF and future runs.

And remember, Rich McGunn (photo - articles) will be there. This model is on the current cover of BEAR Magazine issue #67 (website - articles - cover - profile) and he'll be hanging out with them Southern Bears while fireworks burst all about ya'll (I'm a Canadian, I shouldn't really be saying ya'll).

First off - my apologies I should have posted this last week (I'm catching up... it's a long story). Anyhow, I received my copy of BEAR Magazine (website - articles - profile) issue #67 (cover), the new and improved BEAR that has been taken over by Bear Omnimedia (website - interview), the same guys who give you ButchBear. On the cover is Rich McGunn (photo). Pick up a subscription from their site or grab a copy off the rack at your friendly adult content provider.

"Issue #65 is the premiere issue of BEAR Magazine's (website - articles - profile) rebirth and it's almost sold out! Only 50 remain in stock from the original 40,000 run only 9 months ago! With over a decade of publishing experience, Bear Omnimedia has brought back the ever-popular BEAR as a quarterly magazine that provides thousands of men with images up-to-date lifestyle options they want most, that won't go out of style. Simply put: hairy man sex!".

It's time to make your plans for the upcoming Atlanta Bear Fest (ABF), the annual run hosted by the sexy Southern Bears, a group that has been together for over 16 years (and holy smokers that is one incredible site they have there - kudos to their webguy).

ABF will be taking place in Atlanta, Georgia from July 2nd thru the 5th, so make sure to get all patriotic-like as the theme is 'Red, White, & Bears'. A super affordable run which includes pool parties, open bar nights, live entertainment and food. Also, Rich McGunn (photo), pinup model for BEAR Magazine's (website - articles - profile) upcoming issue #67, will be there, so make sure to bring a felt pen so he can sign your chest or some other body part.

You shall soon be seeing issue #67 very soon from BEAR Magazine (website - articles - profile), and they have the iconic Rich McGunn on their cover as well as their centerfold. This guy is just way too cute. Here's a picture preview they sent in and make sure to check out this video preview for this issue. Check your local adult store for this latest issue, or grab yourself a subscription from their website.

Press Release - "BEAR Magazine (website - articles - profile) announces the creation of BearsList: a fast and easy way to help Bears connect with like-minded, horned-up men and to satisfy the Bear-Player philosophy of instant, hairy gratification.

Since BEAR Magazine will not accept nor print personal classified ads, BEAR created this new online resource for hook-ups; and in the Bear tradition of putting service to the community above profit and personal gain, it's totally free! BearsList is retro in that it doesn't have any flashy animation nor graphics and no profiles or IMs - just blind email relaying. No one will know who posted the ad unless you reply to an email relayed to you - or your hot pic that is attached to the ad. We intend this to work with your preferred profile site. It's an added value for spontaneous sexual expression that naturally filters out the shaven bois who have no interest in us. It's simple, private and secure".

BEAR Magazine (website - articles - profile) has recently released their #66 issue (cover) and already they are making plans for #67 (cover - centerfold): "The newest issue of BEAR mag, #67, is hitting the stands in a few weeks and you can be one of the first to get it by becoming a subscriber or by placing a pre-order at the site. The new issue features Rich McGunn, Mr. Bear Player 67, as the cover and centerfold model who is joined by a 2001 Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide for his spread. It's also packed with many hot photos of horny and hairy, manly men. There's an article on bear celebrity Larry Flick, star of OutQ on Sirius XM Radio who routinely interviews today's famous like Madonna, Timberlake & Duffy. Other features include Steven Miller's Bear photographer, an erotic story 'Planet Fuck'; an article on 'Kick-ass Secrets', and more!".

I just received in the mail issue #66 of BEAR Magazine (website - front cover - back cover - articles - profile). This is the 2nd issue published by Bear Omnimedia once they acquired the BEAR trademark, and this issue is even better looking than their 1st. There's a ton of good looking guys, with Tober Brandt on the cover, and this issue has a centerfold for you to flip open.

In other news, they were initially planning on coming out with an issue every 6 months. They have decided to double the goodness so expect to see 4 issues every year.

"Issue 66 of BEAR Magazine (website - articles - cover - profile) is out and bigger than before! Not only is it filled once again with big 'n' hot photos of bearded, furry hunks, we've added a few new features including an amazing foldout centerfold featuring our current Bear Player cover model, Tober Brandt. Each issue will feature a Bear Player cover model and centerfold, completely exclusive to BEAR Magazine. BEAR is currently available at many bookstores across the country, by subscription and at many 2009 Bear events. And very soon we will be offering digital subscription to the magazine as an alternate option to print subscription.

BEAR Magazine was recently at IBR in San Francisco as a sponsor and visited by a former Bear model, Dominick, who starred in the classic movie 'Bear Classic' with Jack Radcliffe. Dominick, who was the MC for IBR's evening events was pleased to see his movie on DVD and joked that he was now a 'Bargain Bin Bear' noting that our movies had been marked down especially for IBR! Hey, another great reason to go to Bear events... hot porn stars and deals on products! Here are a couple of pictures from IBR - pic #1 - pic #2".

Some cool news from Butch Bear (the same guys who bring you BEAR magazine):

"Village Lighthouse, Inc. today inked an exclusive merchandise licensing agreement with Butch Media, Ltd., a Bear Omnimedia company, to publish and distribute Butch Bear branded books, calendars, greeting cards and other products under its BIG Daddy and PROVOCATEUR divisions. Butch Bear has become known for the best adult films staring muscular hairy men, and this new merchandise will feature some of the hottest models from their most popular titles, each one full of furry eroticism for Bear lovers.

"Through its quality and consistency, Butch Bear has become a leader in the adult marketplace for producing content for those who love Bear men", said Ron Miller, President of Village Lighthouse, Inc. "Butch Bear knows their customer very well, and the products we create with the impressive photography of Teddy Mark will continue to reflect that dedication to the desires of their core audience".

"Village Lighthouse Inc. is well known for their strength in producing and distributing erotic specialties and publications. This partnership offers strong support for our hyper-masculine, Butch Bear point of view, and meets the demand for a high quality, hot line of products for those who celebrate the unapologetically unshaven man", said Butch Bear CEO Wolfe Thompson.

A book of photography entitled 'Muscle + Fur' will be published in May 2009 by PROVOCATEUR featuring some of the best photography by Teddy Mark of the Butch Bear models. This book follows PROVOCATEUR's popular December 2008 release of Uncensored featuring photography by acclaimed celebrity photographer Joe Oppedisano.

A 2010 Butch Bear wall calendar will be published in June 2009 by BIG Daddy. BIG Daddy will also publish a complementary line of Butch Bear greeting cards this summer".

A new BEAR Magazine (website - articles - profile) issue will be available very soon, as in January soon. Brought back from the dead, this is the 2nd issue released by the new company Bear Omnimedia who have taken over reign to BEAR mag just recently (these are the same guys who bring you ButchBear).

I sent them off an email asking about their progress, and this is what they replied: "We've been busy working on the next issue of BEAR Magazine (#66 - cover), which has just been sent off to press and will be released in January. Fueled by all the positive feedback from the current issue, the new issue has been expanded with even more photos of hot Bear-men and very cool features. One of which will be the introduction of a fold-out centerfold featuring a different furry and sexy stud (called Mr. Bear Player) every issue. To my knowledge that's something that no other gay magazine has ever done before, but to me is a no-brainer. Who doesn't want to see a manly piece of meat unfolding out of the pages of BEAR?!"

You can pick up your subscription to this magazine from their website.

Editor of magazine Beef Mag (website) Scott McGillivray (website - profile) is letting us know that their 40th issue will soon be out for Dec / Jan. And good news, they have now switched to all color throughout the magazine. You see that thumbnail image of Roger (enlarge - galleries - profile)...? That's our ad that will be showing up in their mag. A huge thanks to Scott for designing it.

In other news - they are starting to making plans for their very first 100 BEEF weekend at the Canyon Club Resort in Palm Springs over Memorial Day Weekend 2009. There's not many details as of now but we'll keep you informed as we get more.

Lastly, Scott is wishing to inform all that BEEF is in no way associated with the 'new' BEAR magazine (website - profile). For those who don't know, Scott was the editor for BEAR but this was when the magazine was owned by Brush Creek Media. Recently, the group Bear Omnimedia (website) has acquired the rights to the 'BEAR' trademark, yet they are not affiliated in any way.

ps - here's the full sized image of that thumbnail pic of Roger.

Can you tell me what you're looking at...? That's the very 1st cover of the very first BEAR magazine (full cover) which was published back in '87. Were you ever curious as to what those early BEAR rags looked like? Well you'll soon be able to see all the back issues online. Bear Fund is working right now on posting the complete archives ~ issues #1 thru #64. All the proceeds will benefit the Bear community through the Bear Fund and the Bears of San Francisco.

A little Bearish history lesson: Richard Bulger and Chris Nelson started the mag back in '87 as a photo-copied flyer. As the magazine grew in popularity, they decided to 'inc' it and they formed Brush Creek Media (archived website) as well as grab the brand name 'BEAR' as a registered trademark.

In '94, they sold the company to BearDog Hoffman who at decided to expand Brush Creek into several 'special-interest' mags (such as 'International Leatherman', 'Hombres Latinos', 'Foreskin Quarterly' to name a few). However, by '00 the company was having financial issues and by '02, BearDog had run the company into the ground. This forced Brush Creek to go bankrupt.

For years the brand name 'BEAR' was actually up for grabs, and either nobody knew about it or nobody actually cared. It wasn't until '06 when Butch Media Ltd of Las Vegas, a creditor's of Brush Creek, decided to go court and they were judicially assigned the name BEAR. Since then, Butch Media has formed Bear Omnimedia and has already published their very 1st BEAR Magazine ~ issue #65, with issue #66 slated for the winter '09 (website - interview - profile).

Once they acquired the BEAR name, they also acquired all the back issues (1 thru 64) as well as the videos. After speaking with the guys at Bear Omnimedia, they told me that they might put up a pay section for guys to view the back issues and whatever proceeds they make from doing this, it will to be benefit charitable groups.

So there's your Bear history lesson for today. Keep an eye out on the Bear Fund website, and we'll be sure to let you know here at PlanetBears when you can start perusing them very 1st BEAR issues... 'cause it's real important to know where your Bear roots come from, and what better way than to look at naked photos of Bearish men (some sources from Wikipedia's article on BEAR Magazine).

How would like Jack in a box... as in Jack Radcliffe? Bear Omnimedia ~ the good looking folks who have brought back BEAR magazine ~ have brought together all of Jack's 7 classic movies he made with BEAR in the past into one package. They have just released Jack Radcliffe's Box Set which includes these DVDs 'Uncut Footage' - 'Classic Bear' - 'Bear Sex Party' - 'Palm Springs Vacation' - 'Leather Bears At Play' - 'Big Bear Trucking Co.' - 'Big Bear Trucking Co. 2'.

Everyone remembers Bear.net aka Bear Networks... right? It was one of 'the' Bear sites back when the net was in its infancy. Actually, (I might be mistaken here) but I believe it was one of the very first 'profile' sites, before there ever existed Bear411 or Bearwww.

Bear Networks opened its cybernetic doors back in '95 and for a decade it had some kind of influence on the internet Bear world. Thousands of homepages had a Bear Network link on their front page. But then one day, the site just closed down. I can't remember the reason why the site shut down (most likely because the site was much too work and not enough income came in from it, but that's just a guess), but once Bear Networks was no more, it felt like we lost something.

But then it came back... but then it was gone again... and then it came back. Yet each time it came back, it never reached the popularity it once had back in the 20th Century.

Now there is a new notice on the main page. Owner Dale Therio (who's an incredibly handsome Bear) is once again thinking of bringing the site back. From the main page: "What is going on with the site? Good question. Right now I am in the process of deciding if I will completely re-vamp the site at this time, or bring the site back online as it was before. Now is the time for you to submit your suggestions. And for those jerks that sent the nasty and harassing emails, you can go screw yourselves".

A bunch of news from Bear Omnimedia (website), the guys who bring you the new BEAR magazine (website - articles - profile) and ButchBear (website - articles - profile).

To start things off there is a New York BEAR Magazine Release Party (poster) on September 19th at the Eagle NYC. They will also be celebrating the release of several popular classic Bear movies on DVD, such as 'Palm Springs Vacation', 'Leather Bears at Play' and 'Big Bear Trucking Co.'. Jack Radcliffe will make an appearance that evening too. Following that, BEAR mag party will be going on tour (with the continued appearances of Jack Radcliffe) to the following areas: September 20th - a signing at Rainbows and Triangles Bookstore (Albany Bears event); September 21st - Philadelphia Woof event; September 22nd - Woof event in NYC. It's also a model search for the magazine as well. Their promoter, Max Scott, is organizing the event.

And don't miss this: Steven Wolfe (Editor) and Teddy will be on Sirius Satellite Radio on their OutQ program with Larry Flick on September 19th. They will be interviewed on the rebirth of BEAR Magazine and its future.

"Not many know the name Bear Omnimedia , though ask most any guy who loves masculine men with body hair and they'll recognize the name ButchBear . Bear Omnimedia is actually the parent company of Butch Bear®, BEAR® and Backroom Films®. These three studios make up the bulk of what Bear Omnimedia stands for: hyper-masculine, iconic men!

Butch Bear began around 2001, a few months prior to 9/11, and has grown to be a popular source for muscular men with hair. With its yearly calendar and increasing video line, it now meets that demand all around the world.

BEAR, a trademarked name, was added last fall and will present a broader range of hairy men with new videos (Cabin Fever is a new release which  came out a few months ago) and a soon-to-be-added library of classic bear films. A new 'BEAR Magazine' has also been in the works and will be unveiled later this summer.

Backroom Films is a new studio that focuses more on leather themes and those that are considered too edgy for the other brands. The first in this video line will be premiered at IML Chicago 2008 called 'House of Leather.

The websites for BEAR and Backroom Films are currently in-work".

I remember way back over 5 years ago a now defunct Bear's Mailing List (of QueerNet) was all abuzzed about a certain San Francisco rag going belly up - this mag known as Bear. Some of the guys that were working for this mag decided to get together and wanted to create a new mag by compiling images of what they considered to be good looking men. They wanted to slightly move away from the 'Bear' tag (since the last mag didn't do so well) yet this mag was still all about husky hairy and mature looking men. Thus was born 100% Beef Mag (website ~ TubeBear profile). 5 years later and the magazine is still going strong, publishing their 35th issue (cover) which you can pick up from their website (via subscription) or at your local XxX store. And as of right now, Beef Mag is truly the only real 'Bear' magazine out there, ever since American Bear and American Grizzly went belly up as well a couple of years back (AmaBear - all gone now).

ps - 5 years later and Bear mag 'still' has their website up - Brush Creek Media - and they are 'still' selling stuff like hats and magazines, however there is no store that exists, meaning if you send your money to that site, it's like donating it to some fundamentalist religion... meaning... you're just donating your money to thin air. Instead, go to Beef Mag's site and get yourself a copy of a real subscription.

Awhile back in August, we mentioned about the new 'BEAR' that was being presented by Bear Omni Media and Butch Bear (articles here and here). Well it looks like Bear has released their very 1st movie. It's entitled Cabin Fever. Here's a description from them: "Our brother brand, BEAR, has just released the new movie Cabin Fever, which features some of the hottest beef and muscle around! Heeding the call of the wild, an earthy crew packs up their flannel and heads to an alpine resort to hunt bear. With the help of Rangers Rick and Steve, what they find are forests of passion and geysers of release that burn like a wildfire, move mountains and ultimately make animals of men. Starring: Marcus Troy, Josh West, Butch Grand, Michael Scott, and introducing Jeff Wells, Marc Angelo and Jack Bridger".

Bear With Me has reached its 200th episode (and oops, I made a mistake last week when I congratulated Bruin on his 200th when in fact it was his 199th). I can go on and on about Bruin's great comic, which I've done in the past, but the best bet is to just visit his site and read all the comics from #1 which he started 5 years ago (January 2002). Congratulations on 200 great episodes and 5 years.