Category Archives: England

Shhh…. Sneak! Preview…of The Mayor of Folsom Street.

Posted on June 4, 2014 by gayhighwaymen | Leave a comment

The Mayor of Folsom Street! The exhibit at the Center for Sex and Culture opens on Friday and this is installation week. So, here’s the sneak! Above, memorial Leather Jacket by Bill Bowers. Bill is a former Cockette and long-time Queer Underground couturier. Cool art kid Rik Lee is doing his website these days. Check it out! He’s even done stage wear for Keith Richards the Rolling Stone. Dig! Alan dressed Metal bands and did foundation garments for punk fashion queen Vivienne Westwood, so having Bill’s tribute jacket as a centerpiece for this show is pure copacetic.

An assortment of “smalls” – prior to installation. Lots of stories, here!

Worn Levi’s 501s, the crotch has been mended with leather and has worn through yet AGAIN! Damn, Dad. With Malebox jockstrap and an assortment of “friendship” pins, including one from The 15 Association. Alan, the original “Mr. S” was at the founding meeting, and was a long-time honorary member of this 35 year-old San Francisco-based men’s S/m fraternity.

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Posted in Activism, AIDS, Art and Artists, Collecting, England, GAY GAZE: Visual Culture, Photos, Art, Comics, Film, Objects, etc..., History, Leather, Men, Photography, San Francisco, Scholarship, Signage, Subcultures

Tagged Activism, AIDS, Alan Selby, Art, Bill Bowers, Center for Sex and Culture, Cockette, Culture, Daddy Alan, Exhibit, Gay, Hero, Leatherman, Levis, Mayor of Folsom Street, Mr.S, Rik Lee, S/m, San Francisco

Hey, Daddy…nice shirt!

Posted on February 28, 2014 by gayhighwaymen | Leave a comment

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Hey, Daddy! Ink to the People does crowdsourced fundraising with produced-to-order t-shirts. Design a shirt, select a sales target and date, and promote. The more you do, the higher the percentage that goes to the cause. Cool.

This one honors the life of “Daddy” Alan Selby, aka Mr. S. and “The Mayor of Folsom Street” An exhibit based on his life will be held in the Summer of 2014 at The Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. A book based on auto/biographical material will be published in December, 2014. In the spring of 2015, the archive of historical materials from his life and work will travel to the Leather Archives and Museum in Chicago, where it will be permanently housed. This fundraising souvenir t-shirt is supporting The Mayor of Folsom Street project. These shirts cost $20 each, come in assorted sizes, are made in the U.S.A. Order here.

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Posted in Activism, AIDS, Collecting, DIY and Maker Culture, England, History, Leather, Men, Obituary, Photography, San Francisco, Signage, Street Art, Grafitti, etc., Subcultures

Tagged Alan Selby, Autobiography, BDSM, Daddy Alan, Exhibit, Folsom Street, Fundraiser, Gay, History, LA&M, Leather, Mayor of Folsom Street, Mr.S Leather, T-Shirt

Mayor of Folsom Street launches at Center for Sex and Culture

Posted on February 8, 2014 by gayhighwaymen | 2 comments

Daddy Alan Selby. It’s been nearly a decade since we lost him. At that time, he was working on his autobiography, titled “The Mayor of Folsom Street.” In memorium, this year, that book will finally be published. It’s planned release is December, 2014. On June 6th, an exhibit based of materials from his archive will open at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. In 2015, the archive will move to Chicago, to The Leather Archive and Museum. On Sunday, March 2nd, the project will launch at CSC. A small, informal fundraiser from 5 to 8 pm will feature a short reading from the book, a sneak peak at the exhibit, a silent auction, an open mic of speakers and the launch of the Mayor of Folsom St t-shirt fundraising campaign.

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Posted in AIDS, England, GAY GAZE: Visual Culture, Photos, Art, Comics, Film, Objects, etc..., History, Leather, Men, Obituary, San Francisco, Scholarship, Subcultures

Tagged Activism, AIDS, Alan Selby, Autobiography, BDSM, Center for Sex and Culture, Community, England, Exhibit, Hall if Fame, History, Leather, Leather Archives and Museum, Mayor of Folsom Street, Mr.S, San Francisco, Service

Other Blogs: Cool Brit Art Site Crab Wise

Posted on December 3, 2013 by gayhighwaymen | Leave a comment

Hey, duck-boy! Sculpture by Liu Xue. Other hybrids include frog-men, half-seals and other chimeric creatures.

What a hot-head! Photography by Kyle Thompson.

Like hairy guys? This furball by Markus Leitsch might be…right up your alley. For more interesting things to point your eyeballs at, visit Crab Wise!

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Posted in ANIMALS: Human and otherwise..., Art and Artists, England, GAY GAZE: Visual Culture, Photos, Art, Comics, Film, Objects, etc..., Men, Photography

Tagged Art, Blog, Chimeras, Crab Wise, England, Hybrids, Kyle Thompson, Liu Xue, Markus Leitsch

An ancient ritual: Beating the Bounds for Gangdays…and whipping some boys on the way.

Posted on August 1, 2012 by gayhighwaymen | Leave a comment

Beating the Bounds: an ancient ritual still practiced today in the British Isles. Communities traditionally reinscribed the boundaries of their parishes by walking the edges carrying sticks, pounding on the boundary marking stones. In an era before maps were common, when literacy was rare, these annual events (also called “gangdays”) were intended to impress upon everyone where community boundaries lay. Since resources were allocated according to parish, it was vital that the knowledge was passed down accurately though successive generations. It also helped keep the neighbors in line. To reinforce the lesson, the gangs would (and d0) stop occasionally to literally beat the knowledge into the boys. Sometimes, the youngsters would also be flung against the rocky stiles. All in good fun! Part of a suite of jolly old British customs that includes flogging the peg boys.

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Posted in England, Europe, GAY GAZE: Visual Culture, Photos, Art, Comics, Film, Objects, etc..., History, Leather, Photography, Spirituality, Strange Holidays, Subcultures, Youth

Tagged Beating the Bounds, Boundaries, Britain, Culture, England, Gangdays, History, Kink, Photography, Ritual, Wales, Whipping

Leathers in Mozambique

Posted on April 13, 2012 by gayhighwaymen | Leave a comment

From the small volume Scouts in Bondage and Other Violations of Literary Propriety. Edited by Michael Bell, a proprietor of secondhand books from the “ancient coastal town” of Lewes, England. Scouts is a collection of amusing covers, this one from 1959 is subtitled “An Adventure Story for Boys.” What? That’s what Neo-colonial crypto-homosexuality was called in the middle of the 20th century…

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Posted in Africa, Collecting, England, Europe, GAY GAZE: Visual Culture, Photos, Art, Comics, Film, Objects, etc..., History, Leather, Literature, Military, SCANDAL: Politics, Crime, Revolution and More., Youth

Tagged Adventure, Art, Books, boys, Colonialism, Culture, Edward M. Christie, England, Gay Gaze, Leather, Literature, Michael Bell, Mozambique, Pop Culture, Wordplay

Snap, Crackle and Pop: Big Tasty Breakfast Bears!

Posted on November 18, 2011 by gayhighwaymen | 1 comment

photo: Denis Bahus

Good Morning from David and Louis from London. These two know how to start the day. Most important meal and all that. They also know how to wear the fundoshi, the traditional, very sexy Japanese loincloth-style underwear. For their video lesson on how to tie one on, click here. Photo by Denis Bahus, via Bearotic.

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Posted in England, Food, Human Animals, Japan, Photography, Subcultures, Video

Tagged Art, Bara, Bear, Breakfast Bears, Culture, Denis Bahus, Food, Fundoshi, Gay, Homoerotic, Photography, Sexy

English Riots close Bars in Birmingham Gayborhood

Posted on August 10, 2011 by gayhighwaymen | Leave a comment

Big Gay Blogger Joe My God reports that the unrest in England has spread beyond London to Birmingham, shutting down businesses in the Gayborhood there. Popular bars that have shut their doors on the advice of local police include Missing, The Loft, The Equator, Purple Bar and The Angel. More here.

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Posted in Crime, England, History, SCANDAL: Politics, Crime, Revolution and More., Subcultures

Tagged Birmingham, England, Gay, Gay Bar, Headlines, Riots

Ahhh…Sand! Microphotographer sees a Universe of Small, Hard Beauty Underfoot

Posted on July 25, 2011 by gayhighwaymen | Leave a comment

photo: Gary Greenberg

Sand…those little rocks on the beach. Sand…in the 19th century, it was just one more slang term for testicular fortitude. Because you can never have too many ways to say it! Rocks, gravel, sand, guts, nuts…he’s got some set of balls on him! But back in the day, they used to say: “He’s got sand!”

Gary Greenberg, a biomedical researcher from University College London, has recently published A Grain of Sand, a book of close-up photographs of sand. He sees the big picture in the little picture. He’s not the only one. Way back in the 18th century, proto-homosexual poet William Blake wrote:

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

More on Dr. Greenberg’s microphotography here. More on seeing the Universe in unexpected places here.

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Posted in Art and Artists, England, Photography, Scholarship, Spirituality

Tagged Art, Culture, Gary Greenberg, Microscope, Nature, Photography, Sand, Science, Spirituality, William Blake