Leatherati

*Latest on Leatherati

 News to Abuse | Weekend Gear Up | Photos
 Leather Carpetbaggers, Contest Relevance and more...
 Leatherati blogged Live from the Mr SF Leather weekend
 What purpose do contests serve?
 Interviews, contests and more

VIDEO INTERVIEWS: Click here to find a video Daddy Alan Penrod Eastern Canada LeatherSir/boy SECC Contestant Interviews Master John Weal Interview PSLOD President Interview MAL 2010 Contestant Interviews Jeffrey Gent of Rubbellion Latex 2009 American Leather Family Hugo Duchesne - Priape Montreal David Ivey - Mr Leatherman Toronto 2010 Devin Thompson - Mr Toronto Leather Fellowship 2010 Bootboy Digger - Mr Bootblack Toronto 2010

Hide and Seek

Feeling the need to keep BDSM on the D/L

Kinksters have come a long way towards being accepted but the journey is far from over as this article from Columbus's The Other Paper notes.

Nearly a century and a half after Leopold von Sacher-Masoch published the erotic novel that led to the psychiatric definition of masochism, fetish sexuality remains mostly under the radar of vanilla society. While David Ives’sVenus in Fur, a play based on the novel, debuted off-Broadway last month to rave reviews (“90 minutes of good, kinky fun,” said The New York Times), local kinksters remain a guarded, discreet community out of necessity.

Is there still moral harassment of such sexual activity in the 21st century Midwest?

“Absolutely. There’s a monster-ization of what we do,” said Barak, co-founder of Columbus’s most prominent fetish group, Adventures in Sexuality (AIS).

AIS members include everybody from the person “who brings handcuffs out once a month and says ‘honey it’s time’ to 24/7 lifestylers,” said Barak. The group has nearly 1,400 members in Central Ohio and hosts the annual Winter Wickedness Festival in Columbus.

Butchmanns Experience - Tuscon, AZ

A weekend of experience!

On October 22-25, 2010, the Desert Dominion in Tuscon, AZ will host the Butchmanns Experience for a weekend Men’s Event. 

The Butchmanns Experience is an intensive educational weekend designed to provide an opportunity for self-discovery in the pursuit of self-actualization. The event includes hands-on training in basic SM practices, protocol and rituals, and a view of leadership and obedience through the lens of Master/slave dynamics.

The Butchmanns Experience allows us to explicitly visit areas that challenge and soothe us for the purpose of identifying who we are. Happiness comes from living authentically. When we are ready to be who we truly are, we encounter the next step on our path.

News to Abuse: Geared for Life - Mr SF Leather - Atlanta Eagle Raid Update

We like this!

Geared for Life at Pistons Bar in Long Beach - hosted by Marcus Hopkins, Mr. Pistons Leather 2010 with emcee Jeff Wacha, Mr. Detour Leather 2000, Mr. LA Leather 2000.  

Gear up for:  Paddle Patio Paddle-a-Thon - Gear from Rough Trade and Syren - Art by Tom of Finland - Kinky Fantasy Photo Session - Bootblacking by Chewy, Mr. Ashram West Leather 2010 - Paddle & Gear Raffle.  $5 Event Entry and ALL Proceeds donated to the AIDS Life Emergency Fund.

Mr SF Leather 2010

Leatherati was live this last weekend at the Mr SF Leather 2010 contest which also included the SF Bay Area Leather Alliance awards show and dinner.

Mr Powerhouse Leather Lance Holman was selected as the new Mr SF Leather and will go on to compete at IML in May 2010.  Congrats to Brandon Clark for a fantastic year representing SF!

Full story and pics on Leatherati Live!

And more info on the Atlanta Eagle raid

As reported on TheSundayPaper.com

A City Council subcommittee voted today to issue subpoenas for 18 Atlanta Police officers involved in the raid of the Atlanta Eagle, a gay leather bar in Midtown, last September. The move sets the stage to potentially expand the power of a citizen’s board meant to address concerns over how police go about policing. 

But there are more problems in the offing, and this may have made it worse.  Read the full story after the jump.

Finally! More Places to "Get Your Gear On"

Everybody's moaning about the same thing lately - "Nobody gears up to go out anymore!"  A visit to almost any leather bar across the US sure seems to support the complaint.  It's a sea of cargos and flip flops out there.

But there are a few bright spots out there popping up on our Leatherati radar.

Code DC - These guys are gear freaks, and we love that.  The line from the website says it all; Most guys take their clothes off to have sex. We think they have it backwards. That's when we put the gear ON, and the more gear the better!  Code embraces a wide variety of gear including sport, skin, rubber, and leather of course.  The crowd tends to run younger and the producers always make sure to have plenty of staged play going on to keep the energy hot.

Code happens the first Saturday of each month in DC, every other second Saturday in Philadelphia, and a special edition at IML this year. Check the website for times, locations, and dress code. 

News to Abuse: Going Commando - Queer Edge - Zombie Sisters

Addressing your Queer Zombie Commando!

Okay, so that's a conflation of three super-hot events going on this weekend.  But it kinda works in a John Waters meets XTube sort of mashup.

Going Commando!

Mr Regiment 2010 Brad Taylor invites you to play loose and free with the jewels AND get your uniform gear on at Going Commando.  That's Friday night March 5th at Piston's Bar in Long Beach, 9PM to midnight.  Just $3 donation at the door to benefit Project Angel Food and the Regiment travel fund.  Commandos rule!

Edging your Queer

AKA Queer Edge - Industrial, Queer dungeon party on Friday, March 5th at Edges in Santa Clara, CA.  Send your RSVP to rsvp@edges.biz

Zombie Sisters Indulge in a Little (Lot) of Mayhem

This weekend in LA is the Mr Sister Leather contest, the dog ass last feeder for the Mr LA Leather contest on March 27th.  Friday, March 5th is the Meet and Greet at the Bullet Bar in North Hollywood.  Saturday is the contest at the Eagle LA - theme is Attach of the Zombie Sister - starts at 9 PM ish.  And Sunday is the Victory Party at the Bullet in North Hollywood.  Details at www.lasisters.org

Interview With Northbound Leather's George Giaouris

Kinky and Smart!

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Toronto's beloved Fetish Night, JJ Deogracias took the opportunity to sit down with George Giaouris, owner and president of Northbound Leather.

What inspired you to do Fetish Night?

A lot of people were coming around telling us that all sorts of things 
were filling their closets from our store and other places and no
where to wear it outside of their homes. Recall that this is back in 
the early 80s there were a couple of mens bars, but no place where men
 could be with women. And a good deal of our clientele was straight. So 
we created an environment by setting up a club night once a month in
 order to accommodate everyone that were not accepted anywhere else, a
 place where they could be comfortable in full regalia. Gay men had the
 Toolbox and the Barn, but those places would not accept  women or
 straight couples, so we created a club night that accommodated
 everyone pansexual - boys, girls, and everyone in between. It started
 off slow, about 60 people were at the first one, and built to the
 point where we averaged 600 on some of the bigger nights.




What were the Fetish Nights like when you first did these nights and how have things changed in 20 years?

Initially, we were in rattrap bars. Actually the first one got shut
down by the fire department. And we would run on Thursday nights which 
was kind of cool because it was kind of like the in-time to go out,
because all of suburbia went out on the weekends and all the cool 
people went out during the week. What ended up happening, the event 
outlived the bars we were running in so we ended up moving the event
 around a lot. For a long time, we were running out of the gay bar 
Boots & Buds (Buds later became "Kurbash") - they were two bars side 
by side under Hotel Shelby (Sherbourne/Shelby). And it was very
cruise-y. They even had shower stalls and open bathrooms, let's just 
call it a wet bar. And we used to run there twice a month, it was that 
popular.

News to Abuse - LLC Early Bird Ends Soon - Historic Drummer - LA Leather Happy Hour

Early birds gets the, you know...

Early bird registration for Leather Leadership Conference XIV is set to end in just a couple of weeks on March 15th.  You can save and register now at the $75 rate for the annual event featuring BDSM/Leather/ Kink/Fetish leaders from around the nation presenting on relevant topics of interest.  Tix and info on the Leather Leadership website.

Drummer history lives on in book on the era

For an eyewitness written and photographic history of 1960s and 1970s gay bikers and gay leather riders as documented in the legendary "Drummer" magazine, see the book titled Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer -- A Memoir of the Sex, Art, Salon around Drummer Magazine from the Titanic 1970s to 1999. This book won the gay National Leather Association award for "Best Book of the Year 2009".  More information on how to order your own copy and the entire test of this seminal book is available at www.jackfritscher.com

Happy Hour at the Antebellum Gallery in LA

Leatherati and the Antebellum Gallery present a Los Angeles Leather Happy Hour on Thursday, March 25th from 5 - 8 PM.  

Leather week in LA just got a lot more fun!  Antebellum Gallery is a great art gallery located in Hollywood, CA and owner and photographer Rick Castro is well known in the BDSM scene for his sexy take on our radical sexuality.

Leatherati and Antebellum are teaming up to welcome another Leather Week to LA.  Special guest host fo the event is American Leatherman 2009 Alex Lindsay and the event promises to be wall to wall with LA's finest gear guys.

Look for more details here on Leatherati.com

Gear up for the weekend of March 5

 

Fetish Night 20th Anniversary

A Glam Gear Event To Warm The Soul!

Northland correspondent JJ Deogracias was on hand (and probably out of hand!) for one of Toronto's most beloved fetish events.

Picture it. Toronto. February 20th, 2010. On the stage of a former Baptist church, a woman in a corset sketched a picture of an almost naked woman tying herself up and suspending herself in a bondage geo dome. The same woman in a corset later sketched a picture of another woman flogging an almost naked man while he held onto another man in a kilt. A burlesque dancer pirouetted with a big balloon, popped her head into the balloon, got slowly consumed by that balloon, and then finally popped her way out of that balloon. Downstairs, in the dungeon, some wielded floggers, paddles, crops, or their own hands, and unleashed their percussive power onto those tied or held down onto a St. Andrew's cross, a whipping post, a spanking bench, or a bondage geo dome. Throughout the club, a sea of leather, rubber, corsets, fishnets, uniforms, goth, and drag ebbed and flowed and coursed and crashed on all three floors to the music rippling in the air, to the sights playing on stage or in the dungeon, or to the alcohol being sipped, suckled, and swigged.

News to Abuse - Tom of Finland Erotic Art Show - Mr Cell Block Leather - Give In To The Impulse

Grab your art by the balls!

The Tom of Finland Foundation presents the 15th Annual Erotic Art Fair Weekend in West Hollywood, CA.  Celebrating a quarter century of dedication to protecting, preserving and promoting erotic art.

The fair will operate the same weekend as Los Angeles leather on Saturday, March 27 from 1 PM - 7 PM and on Sunday, March 28th from Noon to 6 PM.  The location is the West Hollywood Park at 647 N San Vicente Blvd between Melrose and Santa Monica.  The $10 admission is good for both days.

Grab more info on the Tom of Finland website.

The Leather Gods are smiling!

Congratulations goes out to Brian Mincey, winner of the Cell Block Leatherman 2010 contest.  And kudos to Jason Mora as 1st runner up.

There were two contestants who stepped up to the plate. The guys gave as good as they got and made it tough call to pick a winner. An excellent crowd was on hand to witness the sashing.

Judges for the contest included; Ron Billman, Sir Bear Abbott, Rik Newton-Treadway (Hooker), Rick Russell, Ron Todd, Robbert Bowden, John Boslooper.

Congrats Brian!

Desire begets Impulse

The producers of Desire, the über successful women's leather event in Palm Springs, have decided to keep the full dungeon set up after Desire and throw open the doors for a big ole multi-gender, multi-sexuality party.  Thus, Impulse was born.

Impulse is a players weekend and it's also an educational weekend drawing respected presenters from around the country.  And don't forget the awesome socializing and schmoozing opportunities!

Dates for Impulse are June 18 - 21, 2010.  Online registration is open at impulseleather.com