Tag Archives: Kink

Cool Photographer Eric Robinson gets Hotter by the Minute…

Posted on July 27, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Eric Robinson. photo: Gay Highwaymen

Friend of this site Eric Robinson has been shooting us, and our friends for a couple of years now. Tintypes! Ambrotypes! Pics on metal and glass…way old school, 19th century-style. PDQ, he will be a “Master.” No, not like That! His MFA (Master of Fine Arts) show opens in August, and he is already showing all over like the worst exhibitionist ever. His ongoing Leathermen series is part of a larger archival project called Other Ways of Being. Robinson says of his work: “What I seek with my camera is the difference – visible difference – that allows us to identify or disassociate with groups, cultures or communities.” These are important cross-cultural concerns, and Robinson’s unique camera view points our brains at them. Leathermen has already shown three times nationally (Chicago, San Francisco and Vermont) and is BIG in Indonesia, where it is featured in the glossy mag, PhotoArt Contemporary. Cool. Keep watching, ’cause this fantastic old-school shutter-bug boy is going to be BIG. Well. If we have anything to do with it anyway…more here. Enjoy!

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Posted in Collecting, Eric Robinson, Indonesia, Leather, Mendocino County, Photography, San Francisco, Southern Illinois

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Is Leather Dead? Leathermens Discussion Group asks some Tough Questions.

Posted on July 26, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Tom...of Finland

That’s the big question. Lots of whispering in the scene. So…is Leather dead? What IS Leather? Is it a kink? A material? A lifestyle? A sexuality?  A philosophy? Yes…and. But the young guys are mostly into “gear.” So…what’s that? Back in the day, tough guys who rode motorcycles wore leather. Some still do. Those of us who were kids fixated of these masculine guys in black leather on bikes in boots. And cowboys in Westerns. And other outlaws. Tom of Finland and The Hun. But kids these days? They grew up with different images, materials and memes. Kevlar. Manga. Boards. Kicks. Thugs. Different kinks, but still kinky, and still into POWER. The more things change…

On Wednesday, July 27th in San Francisco, a stellar cast of Leather Community stars will discuss the future of Leather. This historic conversation is being sponsored by the Leathermens Discussion Group. Panel participants are leatherman, author, activist and pioneering psychotherapist Guy Baldwin, organizer, educator, commentator, and nontraditional sex activist Race Bannon, Instigator editor-in-chief Michael Thorn and Leather historian and scholar Gayle Rubin. Come join the conversation. Get there early. This one will be especially popular!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011   7:30 pm – 9:30 pm @ Andrew Spencer Ceremonial Room, 4th floor, SF LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street, San Francisco.

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Posted in History, Leather, San Francisco, Scholarship, Subcultures

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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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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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Shooting Rich Trove!

Posted on July 8, 2011 by | 2 comments

Snap! Gotcha! Leather Community photographer Rich Stadtmiller has new photos of SF Pride’s Leather Contingent up on his Rich Trove site, here. For Gay Highwaymen photos of the kinky section of the parade, click here. For more photos of photographers and their big sexy cameras, click here.

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

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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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“Hey, Soldier!” New Gay Cali Style Manga from JoJo Mendoco

Posted on July 1, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Story adapted from a true story originally published in Meat: True Homosexual Experiences from STH. “How men look, act, walk, talk, dress, undress, taste & smell.” Published by Gay Sunshine Press, 1981. “Sex for an Armless Vet.” Edited by Boyd McDonald, the STH: Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts were a series of compilations of true stories and reader photographs. Literary porn with big props from the likes of Gore Vidal,  William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, who wrote:

“Everybody loves the first glimpse of naked love. Everybody’s story is the most thrilling in the world. Everybody tells their best friend their tale of the raw behind. First time they discovered an open heart with their pants down.”

For more from JoJo Mendoco, click here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Posted in Comics, JoJo Mendoco, Military, 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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Hang Up Your Troubles! Meat Hook Ritual as Catharsis for HIV Diagnosis

Posted on June 23, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Jorge Vieto in "Ritual"

Friend of this site Jorge Vieto is featured in the short film Ritual, directed by Jorg Fockele. He hangs suspended by hooks, his body swinging free in a ritual of body/spirit integration. Vieto is a well-respected young Leatherman, and a Fraternal member of The 15 Association. He uses extreme physical rituals in part to process the emotions evoked by a positive diagnosis. Vieto spoke with Scott Brogan of the Bay Area Reporter about the psychology of the scene here.

Filmed in the Dungeon at Mr.S, Ritual will screen in the afternoon at 1:15 pm at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, Friday June 24th, as a part of the film compilation entitled STILL AROUND from The HIV Story Project. Brought to you by Frameline and the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.

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Posted in AIDS, Film, Leather, San Francisco, Spirituality, Subcultures

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