Tag Archives: BDSM

GEAR UP! (New Gear Men host Old Leather in Cali’s Saratoga Springs)

Posted on July 22, 2011 by | 1 comment

Photo and Design: Gay Highwaymen 2011

Old Leather; New Gear. Same fucking twisted kinky throbbing bobbing dripping ass-kicking mind-bending challenging pervert stuff as always. Of course. Style changes but stiff pricks and throbbing balls always rise to the particular season’s occasion. It’s about what got us hot and hard when we were young, and what does it now. N’est pas? See-see bone! Leather? Kevlar? Rope? Metal? Crazy new materials fresh out of R/D labs? All the wonders of modern technology? Or go way old school: kidnap a willing victim to the woods for some paleo-punk action in private. Way past medieval. Lots of room to get lost. Or…show off under the spotlight. Or…or…or. Sure. Why not? If it gets you hard and he’s game, have at it! Do the hokey-pokey. Because that really is what it’s all about…

Gear Up! is a Mens weekend party/run happening this weekend at Saratoga Springs. (The Cali Stagecoach Stop not the NY Resort!) This is the run’s first year and it is “geared” towards the younger set, to the post AIDS-crisis generation of men who lost most of the Men who would have been their generational elders and mentors – had more survived. Thankfully, some did! So…it’s a mixer. As the GearUp guys say: “amid open playspaces and numerous educational workshops, GearUp brings together the open-minded beginner with the trustworthy player.” Sounds like a plan! For more information on GearUp click here. More on Saratoga Springs here. Plus…if you are at the run and want a cool opportunity for a little silence and solitude in the midst of so damned much hotness, check out the Nishikigoi (Koi) Pond, here. Oh, oh oh, ommmm….!

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Posted in AIDS, Leather, Nishikigoi, Northern California, Photography, Spirituality, Subcultures

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Rural Dungeon Still Life…

Posted on July 21, 2011 by | 1 comment

…often occupied. Momentarily empty. The space used to be a goat barn. Now it is a dungeon. The focus of the photo is a piece of classic dungeon furniture known in the scene as a St. Andrew’s Cross. Site of many a spiritual journey…et cetera.

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Posted in DIY and Maker Culture, iPhone, Leather, Mendocino County, Northern California, Photography, Spirituality, Subcultures

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Beatitude and Beat in NorCal: Saratoga Springs Nishikigoi Pond

Posted on July 12, 2011 by | Leave a comment

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California’s Saratoga Springs  used to be a stagecoach stop. That was way back in the 19th century day. Now it is a “retreat and conference center.” Yoga retreats, raves and weddings are part of the draw, but they also host Leather and S/m Club Runs. The 15 Association does the annual Boot Camp run every June. Leather Levi Weekend does a mixed ‘Twisted Summer Camp’ run in August, and this year, a new mens’ run called Gear Up premieres in late July.

All that hard play can be hard work, and the deeper it gets, the realer it becomes. From degradation to grace and back again, turning forever on itself like a mobius strip. Beat, Beat-Up, Beatitude: words to fly by from the jam-sweet lips of angel-headed hipsters.  Top or bottom, sometimes retreat is a good option. For those times, just outside the dungeon (aka The Heart Lodge) mildly hidden in the landscaping, a small magical nishikigoi (koi) pond waits. A rock ledge provides enough room for a semi-lotus, and a fine venue for adventures in ego dissolution. Flash of Orange. Take me…OM…country roads…splash sky water…gone.

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Posted in ANIMALS: Human and otherwise..., Gardening, History, Leather, Nishikigoi, Northern California, Photography, Spirituality, Subcultures

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Running The Gauntlet – Jim Ward Book Event at Mr. S Leather

Posted on July 12, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Jim Ward at LDG, May 2011. Photo: Gay Highwaymen

Friend of this site Jim Ward founded The Gauntlet, and is widely regarded as the grand-daddy of the modern body piercing phenomenon. Now he has published a history. In May, he spoke to a packed room at The Leathermen’s Disscussion Group in San Francisco. Running the Gauntlet—An Intimate History of the Modern Body Piercing Movement tells the detailed story of “how Jim discovered his own fascination with body piercing and went on to found the industry.” Full of wonderful and terrible stories and amazing photographs, it includes details of his friendship with the heavily pierced and very gay Louis Rove – the adoptive father of the notorious Carl Rove. Other interesting bits include how the color purple came to signify piercing in the hanky code, and how he was collared to his long-term partner and Master, Drew Ward.

On Saturday, July 16th, 2011, from 1 to 5 pm, Jim will be at Mr. S Leather , signing books and chatting. Mr. S is at 385 8th St at Harrison in San Francisco, four blocks south of the Civic Center BART Station. If you can’t make it to the book event, and you want a copy, you can order one at the Running The Gauntlet website, here. Jim will even sign it for you.

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Posted in DIY and Maker Culture, History, Leather, Photography, Scholarship, Spirituality, Subcultures

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Gay Biker Buddy Riders from WAY Back in the Day: Koalas Club 1967

Posted on July 2, 2011 by | 2 comments

Ride like a sleeping bag! The Koalas were a Gay Motorcycle Buddy Club from the 1960s. The Koalas would hop on behind the gay club bikers and independents. Always on the back, hugging the biker like a koala hugs a eucalyptus tree. And so the name! Peter Fiske is kneeling in the front row, on the right. More on Peter here and here. Photo by Henri Leleu. Koalas Motorcycle Buddy Club, 1967. Via Ron Williams.

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Posted in ANIMALS: Human and otherwise..., History, Leather, Photography, Subcultures

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Sights seen at SF Pride 2011 – The Leather Contingent – Big Slide Show!

Posted on July 2, 2011 by | Leave a comment

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Milling around before the parade, a collection of characters…bikers, new Leather, old Leather, handballers, cock-suckers and boot-lickers, old and young hippies, Sadists, masochists, Dads, boys, dogs, Leather families, Masters and slaves, cigar men, watersport lovers, Faeries, ponies, and perverts of many other stripes…

Michel Foucault described the emergence of “peripheral sexualities” from the end of the 18th century: “An entire sub-race was born, different…from the libertines of the past…They were children wise beyond their years, precocious little girls, ambiguous schoolboys, dubious servants and educators, cruel or maniacal husbands, solitary collectors, ramblers with bizarre impulses…This was the numberless family of perverts who were on friendly terms with delinquents and akin to madmen.” – from M. Foucault – The History of Sexuality

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Posted in Leather, Photography, San Francisco, Sexy Holidays, Subcultures

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Endangered Leather Species Alert: SF Eagle gone, NYC Eagle threatened…

Posted on June 29, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Gay marriage passes in NYC. On the same night, the Eagle NYC is raided. Some insiders think this is the beginning of the end for the bar. Will this be the latest Leather institution lost to the forces of gentrification? Jeremiah from Vanishing New York seem to think so.  Unicorn Booty reports from Gotham. For the death throes of the SF Eagle, click here, here, and  here. For the graffiti that sprouted after the doors shut, here.

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Posted in Crime, History, Leather, New York, Subcultures

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Eric Robinson’s “Leathermen” at QIY: Queer It Yourself – Big Gay Art Show

Posted on June 3, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Eric Robinson and "Leathermen" at Las Manos Gallery in Chicago

Eric Robinson’s wet-plate ambrotypes will be showing as part of QIY: Queer It Yourself, which opens Saturday at SOMArts. The exhibit presents alternative, queer, do-it-yourself processes and projects, collaborations, zines, posters, green architecture, activist interventions and recuperations of low-tech media. Robinson took his 19th century kit (big awkard camera, portable darkroom, an array of chemicals, beakers and trays…) to the Dore “Up Your Alley” Fair in 2010, supplementing a series of portraits of Leathermen that he began the previous year. Images from that series will be on exhibit. More on Robinson here, here, here and here.

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Robinson at work making wet-plate ambrotypes. These one-of-a-kind photographs on glass were common during the mid 19th century. As it disappears into the digital realm, this work reminds us of the physical, chemical and optical origins of photography. At the same time, generic conventions suggest that “fetish” photography should be slick and polished, suitable for publication in magazines, and “straight” in the photographic sense. These images kick that cliche, their hand-hewn aesthetic underscoring the sense that we are looking into not only the history of photography, but that of Leather. Old Guard all around…

QIY is part of the National Queer Arts Festival. This year’s theme is A Sustainable Queer Planet. More on the festival here and more soon. QIY opens Saturday, June 4th with a reception from 1pm until 4pm. SOMArts is located at 934 Brannan at 8th St. in San Francisco. The gallery is tucked under the freeway, just to the east of the Trader Joe’s complex.

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Posted in Art and Artists, Beards, Collecting, DIY and Maker Culture, Eric Robinson, Facial hair, Leather, Men, Photography, San Francisco, Southern Illinois, Subcultures

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Masculine Gay Pop Culture Doc Jack Fritscher

Posted on May 13, 2011 by | 1 comment

Jack Fritscher, Ph.D

Lots of Docs in the world of Leather. At least it seems that way. Medical doctors, but especially Ph.Ds. Jack Fritscher is a “specialist in American Literature, Creative Writing, Criticism, and American Pop Culture, including the History of Masculine-Identified Gay Pop Culture.” No mere academic, Dr. Fritscher has published non-fiction, fiction, erotica and is also an accomplished photographer. Among his many books are Mapplethorpe: Assault with a Deadly Camera and Some Dance to Remember. Find out more about him at his website, here.

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Posted in Leather, Men, Photography, Scholarship, Subcultures

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SIR Yes SIR…new Gay Cali Erotic Yaoi Bara Manga from JoJo Mendoco

Posted on May 4, 2011 by | Leave a comment

"Sir Yes Sir" JoJo Mendoco 2011

This good boy is presenting himself in slave position number one. A ginger otter, expect him to return demonstrating positions two through five. He needs a name. Any ideas? He wears the number 15. A sporting lad perhaps. Or could it be a reference to The 15 Association? From JoJo Mendoco, 2011.

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Posted in Comics, Facial hair, JoJo Mendoco, Leather, Subcultures

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