Leatherati

Making the Connection

by Leland Carina

Tonight in the space above Mr. S Leather in San Francisco, Darren Bondy Mr SF Leather 2011 launched his new series of workshops called Making the Connection. The inaugural event was a class by "Knotty" Brent that showcased his skill as a rope top.

Mr Powerhouse 2012

by Leland Carina

This year's annual Mr. Powerhouse contest took place last night. The bar was truly hopping with hot Leatherfolk.

The judges for the contest were Troy Anicete Mr SF Leather 2003, Lance Holman Mr SF Leather 2010, Brandon Clarke Mr SF Leather 2009, and Darren Bondy Mr SF Leather 2011. All of these men hold Mr. SF Leather titles and have the double distiction of being past Mr. Powerhouse Leather title holders.

Rubber Men San Francisco (RMSF)

by Leland Carina

RMSF are making quite a splash on the San Francisco scene. I recently attended one of their parties as their official photographer-- what a fun time! Rick Holte, the group's current leader, dressed up as Rubber Santa. Here he is with hot piece of venison boy Erik who's dressed as Piston the (flagging yellow) reindeer.

RMSF was originally organized in 2001. Terry G. and Marc Webb had major roles in the leadership then. The new revival was spearheaded by Seven, who works in the latex department at Mr S Leather. He first set out to create his own rubber group, contacting all the men who listed rubber as an interest on Recon to build momentum. One of the men he reached out to was Holte who told him about RMSF. The two got together with Terry and decided to meld the groups together with the idea that Terry would retire. Dore Alley 2011 brought their first big events, which included a meet and greet at Mark I. Chester's studio and a party at the Powerhouse. Both had extremely great turnout. Holte believes this initial success was due to the group melding well with the energy created by both the Leathermen Discussion Group's Is Leather Dead panel and Gear Up. Seven has now stepped back due to the recent success of his drag persona, Aurora Switchblade, leaving Holte as the fearless leader.

Leather-Levi Weekend (LLW) 2011

by Leland Carina

I meant to send live coverage from LLW, but do you know what one of the best things about the weekend is? There's not much of a connection to the outside world. Saratoga Springs is not too far from the Bay Area, but it is just a bit off the grid. I spent four days lounging, playing, fucking, eating, swimming, chatting, and overall just relaxing. (Yes, in that order.) I've heard it described many different ways; I personally find LLW to be a super hot queer event.

“Is the Men’s Community Dead?” SF LDG discussion

Leland Carina reported on the event for Leatherati.com

This past Wednesday I attended the “Is the Men’s Community Dead?” discussion offered by the San Francisco Leathermen’s Discussion Group (LDG) (It was a follow up to “Is Leather Dead? Does it need to die?”)

The room above Blow Buddies in San Francisco was packed. Again, like the panel the week before, the excitement in the air was apparent. Due to the informal structure of the conversation, this article will certainly jump around, but I will do my best to preserve the essence of the ideas shared.

Brian James welcomed us. He said the panel had been a huge nod to the power of a provocative title. He mentioned that he found the attendance heartening, that it spoke to the idea that there are a lot of people who care about the past and future of our community. He said that he hopes other communities would take LDG’s question home to ask it amongst their own.

Interview with KD of Salacious Magazine

In a day when everything seems to be all-digital it's refreshing to actually hold a hand-crafted bit of queer fabulousness in your hands.  Salacious Magazine delivers that and more!

We had a chance to talk with KD, founder and Editor of Salacious Magazine (and International Ms Bootblack 2011), about the publication's genesis and upcoming issue dedicated to the mind-blowing perversions fond in Sci Fi.

Check out all three parts of this great interview after the jump

Salacious 3 Sci-Fi

Salacious, the Queer Feminist Sex Magazine, is calling for contributions for Salicious 3 - Sci-Fi.

Please keep the following Content Mission in mind should you choose to submit something to SALACIOUS:

1. SALACIOUS is queer. While we’re not going to tell you what queer should mean to you, please keep this in mind as you compose your work.
   
   
2. SALACIOUS is feminist. We consider reproductions of typically sexist, misogynist sex and sexuality offensive, unimportant, and not worthy of printing.
   
   
3. SALACIOUS is anti-racist. We reject racist representations, insist on a multi-racial editorial board and contributor base, and seek to understand racism, like sexism, in relation to local and international inequities of power.
   
   
4. SALACIOUS is aimed at titillation, as much as it is aimed at high art. Please therefore submit work you are nothing but deeply proud of. Just because it’s naughty doesn’t mean it has to be poorly done.

Dore Alley Video - NSFW

We snagged some fun video at the recent Dore Alley and put together a fun little montage.  Enjoy!

Washington Blade, Southern Voice, David Magazine and 411 Magazine shut down

And then there's this bad news from JoeMyGod

This weekend I noticed that the websites of the Washington Blade, Southern Voice, and several other titles published byWindow Media had not been updated in a few days. Just now,Southern Voice posted this message to their Facebook fan page:

A riveting piece of queer rights history.

Almost the entire world can recite verbatim the moving history of Stonewall.  But how many of us knew that almost a quarter of a century after those seminal riots, Montreal would have its own Stonewall.

After-hours parties and police raids are both Montreal traditions, so no one was surprised when Montreal police raided the Sex Garage loft party in Old Montreal on a hot July night in 1990.

What no one knew, though, was that history would be made on this morning, at 4am, Jul 16, 1990, and it all began when the cops took off their name tags.

"We were scared when the police got into battalion formation because we knew then that we were going to be beaten," said Montreal photographer Linda Dawn Hammond, now based in Toronto.

Read the full story