Many people have heard of the little piece of heaven in San Francisco that is Wicked Grounds. It’s a bit of a pilgrimage, a kind of kinky Mecca that those who do what we do can go and sit and breathe and feel like we can actually be ourselves, in all our perversity, without worrying if the owners and other patrons will take offense. Even if you never go there, *knowing* that such a place exists makes the world a bit of a better place, in my opinion.

However, turns out it’s expensive to run a café in San Francisco (Who knew?). You can click here for the backstory, or just go right to the donation page…but first, let me engage in a little of my dream of being a Kinky Willy Wonka.

I have commissioned the creation of:

Five THREE GRUEden Tickets

These will be actual golden tickets with your name on them in fancy (like, papyrus or maybe even Herculanum) lettering and will be a free pass to any GRUE.

Admission only, mind you. Ya gotta get there yerself, find a roof for your head, and feed yourself a bit. But as far as cost of admission? This GRUEden ticket will get you in ANY GRUE, ANYWHERE in the world. Seattle? St. Louis? Amsterdam? Berlin? London? Connecticut? Vancouver? Yup, you’re in.

And you’re extra cool, because there are only five of them only three of them left. First pledged, first served.

I tried to arrange to have them hidden in the thighs of willing and supple rope bottoms throughout the world, but wiser minds convinced me that it might be better to tie it in to the efforts to save my favorite place, Wicked Grounds. So here’s the deal:

If you pledge (and this needs to be a REAL pledge, mind you) $500 to Wicked Grounds, you can have a GRUEden Ticket. Just do like Pete (a recent attendee at the GRUE Pitt) did, and note on your donation: *This is for a GRUEden Ticket*.

Did you catch that? He already got one, minutes after I announced it at the GRUE Pitt.

Which means there are only four three left.

(Tori Storii bought one too.)

Wait a minute, Graydancer, you ask, What guarantee do I have that there will be enough GRUEs in the future to cover the cost of the GRUEden Ticket?

None. There are eight GRUEs definitely planned thru 2012, and another half-dozen in the works, but there is no guarantee that even if you went to all of the rest of the GRUEs, you would make back your investment.

In fact, it’s almost like we’re actually focusing more on helping out our kinky community rather than just trying to get commercial value for a buck! I never was a very good capitalist.

Note that the way the pledge works is much like Kickstarter.com: Wicked Grounds needs to get $50,000 in pledges before your pledge would actually be called due. So there is a chance that you could pledge the $500 and never be called on to cough it up. Guess what? Even if that happens (*personally, I’d plan on paying it; as of this writing, they are about halfway there*) your GRUEden Ticket will be honored.

See what I mean? Lousy capitalist.

If you have more questions, then you’re probably making it too complicated. It’s simple:

• Go here.
• Pledge $500 that you have every intention of paying towards the preservation of Wicked Grounds.
• Make a note on the page: This is for a GRUEden Ticket. We will get it to you before the next GRUE, in Seattle in August.

That’s it. And if GRUEs aren’t your thing, I believe Shibaricon and other events are going to be offering special deals as well.

Save Wicked Grounds.

It’s the café we wish we had next door.

In case you’re wondering what happens at a GRUE…so is everyone else. That’s one of the great things about it. There are some things that tend to be common – like my Fishbowl Discussion – but even that is always a different experience. Because the GRUE forms around the ideas and passions and experiences and connections of the people who attend, they are always different.

So what should you bring to a GRUE? Whatever you want. What should you wear? Whatever you want. What should you be prepared for? Anything. Anything at all.

Yeah. It’s exciting.