The Leather Report March 2010

By Darrell BlackandBlue

New York’s Newest Leather Title!
You will never guess what it is! It’s the Mr. Rawhide 2010 contest! That’s right, the bar you run right past or duck into and don’t tell your friends about has a great big, chest-thumping contest title! The weekend of March 12 will expand New York’s tiny leather footprint by inches by adding another celebration of the creed, community and look of leather. This, being a feeder title to Chicago’s 2011 International Mr. Leather Contest will not just be serving lurid hot plates of beefcake! It will have at its forefront: one’s commitment to the scene, knowledge of its roots and service to causes important to our community: health, safety, sexual freedom and equal rights. (In full disclosure: I have been asked to help judge this contest. I assure you that I am not kidding about the qualifications!)
The founder of the contest, Justin John Costello, started taking his first steps into the leather scene in 1998, here in NYC, eventually being named Mid-Atlantic Leatherboy 2006. He moved to Philadelphia, lived within a life-changing Daddy/boy relationship, all the while working on Broadway and writing for Hollywood movies. He traveled the country, taking part in, working on and judging leather contests and soaking up leather culture and history. Asking Justin about his earliest memories of the Rawhide Bar, he replied, “I walked in and immediately got an erection! The atmosphere, the feeling of danger, the hanging motorcycle, the energy, the masculine faces, the photos and drawings on the walls! The possibilities seemed endless! Even now, it has the feel of a classic 1970’s style man’s bar! And that’s a good thing!”
Mr. Rawhide 2010 is actively seeking contestants. Visit the bar and complete an application.

It’s the Black Party; Take At Least One Thing Off!
Yes, if it’s March then it’s the time when cold winds blow and one’s thoughts turn from parkas and down coats to ‘how little can I wear and get away with on the streets of NYC these days?’ March is fast approaching and that means the clock has already started the countdown to the annual Saint at Large Black Party, that all-night, all-weekend parade of men, music and debauchery that takes over New York!
Men, and some of their crazier women friends are going to the web, their closets, lingerie departments, leather shops, latex couturiers and underwear boutiques and freaking out! They are all hoping to find something to make them look just a hair better than they look fully nude! The Saint at Large Black Party, now celebrating its 31st event, promises once again to show and project everything that is sexy in one night, in one room: muscle, skin, spectacle, sweat and attitude! The sounds are intense, the scene is very trippy-- that includes both the performers and the participants. To quote the Saint at Large Organization, “The Black Party has built its legendary reputation on the intense sexual energy of its "strange live acts," state-of-the-art lighting and production design and cutting-edge musical artistry.” I guarantee, that you will not be entirely sure what you are witnessing as the night gallops along!
The games begin on Saturday, March 20, 2010, 10pm and continue until at least noon on Sunday and probably later. At press time the DJs have not yet been announced. This years festivities will include a daytime Expo and a Sunday night after party. I guess we will have to sleep when we are dead!
Here are some tips for survival:
1. Sleep more, before, drink less at the party! The drinks are expensive—and alcohol makes you sleepy!
2. Add weight and reps, now! And don’t forget your cardio! You were born in your best outfit!
3. Search-proof your walk-in wear! You veterans know what I am talking about! Think airport, with a real threat of cavity search. Trust me, your ticket purchase waives your Four Amendment rights. Look it up.
That’s a start. If you survive, I will add more next year!
See you next month!

Check it out:
Mr. Rawhide Competition March 12th & 13th Rawhide Bar 212 Eighth Avenue
Saint at Large Black Party March 20th & 21st Roseland Ballroom 239 West 52nd Street

Mr. LA Leather 2010

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Mid Atlantic Leather 2010

Peter Schwartz & Rick Weber @ MAL.
By: Kinky Brothers

Hundreds of leathermen and some leatherwomen descended on Washington DC for the annual MAL (Mid Atlantic Leather) weekend over the Martin Luther King holiday. If you weren’t there, you missed a great opportunity to hang and party with some of the hottest leathermen. The weekend was hosted by the Centaurs Motorcycle Club of DC and they celebrated their 40th anniversary. The highlight of the weekend was the selection of the Mid Atlantic Leather titleholder at their contest Sunday afternoon.

The weekend consists of various parties within the event and parties hosted by outside promoters. Many other events also took place, such as parties for cigar, uniform, fisting, puppies, and sports gear aficionados. There were plenty of private play parties happening in the hotel rooms, but one would need to be enticed into those, which isn’t too hard to do. The Washington Plaza hotel staff was very much on alert as to the hot & nasty activities happening in the hall ways and stairwells. Most socialized and cruised the hotel lobby, which is always fun like a kid in a candy store. It is here where local NYC leathermen were spotted being socially naughty: Rick Weber, Peter Swhartz, Jake Keary, and Preacher (all are Mr. Eagle NYC titleholders).

Six contestants competed for the coveted title of Mid Atlantic Leather and Matt Bamford, Mr. Capital Pride Leather, out shined them all. Matt goes on to compete at International Mr. Leather (www.IMrL.com) end of May in Chicago. David Dean, Mr. Pittsburgh Eagle Leather 2009 came in 1st Runner-up and Jeff Jarnigan, Mr. SECC Leather 2009, was awarded the 2nd Runner-up title. The audience was disappointed when the contestants walked out onto the stage in black Unico boxer briefs instead of the traditional leather jockstrap. The nightclub hosting the contest had been raided recently for indecent exposure, so the contestants couldn’t expose their butts on stage. KeniMattix (www.kenimattix.com), a superb acrobatic duo, entertained the crowd as they balanced on each other’s bulging muscles making beautiful configurations. You may recognize Matthew of the duo. He was the acrobat performer fired from Cirque du Soleil for being HIV+.

This is also the weekend that International Mr. Leather executives announce the prestigious judging panel for the coming year. The press conference was held Saturday afternoon at noon in the hotel conference room. Several current titleholders who are competing at IML 2010 were in attendance as each judge was announced. One of New York's club promoters and leather scene socialite, Robert Valin, was named to the IML judging panel for this coming May. He will sit alongside eight other judges to choose the next Intl. Mr. Leather.

This was the last year the Washington Plaza hosted MAL. In the past, many attendees who couldn’t get into the hotel or found it to be too pricy booked at various surrounding hotels in Thomas Circle. The Capital Hyatt will now be the new host hotel beginning next year. The larger hotel will be able to accommodate all MAL attendees and all MAL events will be in the hotel ballrooms. No more transportation buses to deal with or walking through cold weather and rain, although DC is leather weather.

Leather Cocktails is the center piece of the weekend. This is how MAL started. A group of leathermen gathered in full on leather gear to have cocktails. It grew from that gathering to the huge event it is today. Traditionally the attire is formal leather to attend Leather Cocktails, but many didn’t get the memo that it’s a formal leather event. Many showed up to the event wearing such items as a leather apron exposing his ass; sleeveless T-shirt with ripped jeans; jockstrap and chest harness; and then some. Seeing this standing in line for the meat cutting station and surrounding the bowl of cocktail shrimp was not amusing. Maybe the hotel stairwell would have been more appropriate.

Book your reservations for Mid Atlantic Leather 2011 weekend at www.LeatherWeekend.com and I will see you in the hotel stairwells. Oooops…I mean the hotel lobby.

The Leather Report, Odyssey NY’s column on the darker side of New York Nightlife by Darrell BlackandBlue

Welcome!
Welcome to the first installment of The Leather Report, my column detailing what happened and will happen in New York’s Leather, Bear and Daddy scenes. This column will attempt to do many things: shed light on recent doings in the city, point out some names and faces; discuss topics that I care about and those you suggest; and introduce you to some of the notable and quotable people that make New York, unique, exciting and edgy.

Me, your humble scribe.
But who am I? Well you may ask as I ask myself that everyday. I am Darrell, known around as Darrell BlackandBlue or Darrell the DungeonBoss. I come from a long career of media and photography and have been in the leather scene since 1990. I help found Brothers In Leather, Masters and slaves Together NYC, New York Panthers Leatherclub. I was also an on-air host of WBAI-NY's OutFM and worked in various capacities for New York's all-club charity, Leather Pride Night. I now produce leather-themed play parties and I am building a network of web-based businesses serving the leather and gay communities. Extended versions of this column and other tidbits can be found on my blog: http://notesfromthedungeonboss.blogs.com/newnotes.

NY’s Leather scene.
What is this scene I am discussing? The Leather, Bear, Daddy scene is the hypermasculine, leather-centric, muscle-loving, hairy, shaved, tattooed men that have, over the past 20 years carved out a dark niche in every major city in the world. Having grown out of the Old Guard, formalistic American Leather scene of motorcycle clubs, bars, leatherworkers, contests and conventions, the scene is as much as about art and image, sex and fun, as it is about behaviors and heavy gear. For years, New York was know for its bars (and backrooms), sex shows and peepshows. Now the real estate boom has changed New York and many of its edgier and kinkier places have disappeared. Fewer places are multitasking, serving different segments on different nights. The audience for this scene seems to be shrinking, but in reality it is growing: as evidenced by the millions of men (and women) who join and post to the hundreds of fetish and leather themed sites all over the internet. The web has made sexual imagery, and by extension, fetish subjects, accessible to all Americans, for better or for worse.

The only way a nightlife scene can survive in any city is to find ways to tear these people away from their computers and come out and play. The experts in that field are the promoters, those people that define a scene, name a night, reach out and touch and make a party.
Meet Robert Valin, The Daddy of DADDY & Truck Stop
A born and bred New Yorker and Mr. Eagle NYC 2005, Robert Valin competed at IML that year finishing in the top 10. In the following year, he created Leather Invasion, a way to bringing together those interested in the lifestyle while raising leather visibility to mainstream society. Described by many as a "Kinky Critical Mass," past invasions have included NYC's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), "Black Ice" at Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park, IKEA, the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, to name a few.
A self-proclaimed Leather Bear, Valin runs Truck Stop (truckstopparty.com), the popular monthly party at The Penthouse at The Park, which on that night, caters to the Leather & Bear crowd (featuring a hot tub, yes, a hot tub) as well as the weekly shindig, DADDY on Mondays, upstairs at Vlada. Both nights feature hot DJs and dance floors. While Truck Stop is upbeat and friendly, with a tea dance feel and frat house vibe, DADDY is cool for the loner, or cruiser, with cheap beer, rough-sex porn and a curtained video area. I asked Robert what spurs him on to create these events, he replied, “Friends often complained that there were not many or enough ‘hunky, hairy happenings’ in New York, so I set out to create some,” he continues, “I wanted to make events that were geared to an over-30, beefier crowd, more embracing in terms of body image, that was not so much about fashion but about raw, masculine energy!”
Asked about the response to this growing scene, Valin states, “I met very little negative response, I have been very gratified to get emails from people who have started relationships at my events and from people just thankful that these places exist.” Apparently bars and other promoters are taking notice, he says, “they are seeing that there is a market for this demographic.”
Robert has been active in the community and charity areas fundraising for Teen's Prepared for Life and The Harvey Milk School. He has been a committee member of NYC's Leather Pride Night, an annual charity auction. I asked what he’d like to do in his wildest dreams, and it turns out that he would like to open his own Leather & Bear bar. “I kinda see it as “Cheers meets The Cock!”
With all this on his plate, you may well wonder what Robert Valin does by day. He is a professional voice-over artist for radio, film and television. Samples of that work can be heard on his website, http://robertvalin.com. An accomplished magazine graphic artist, he is developing a graphic arts company to serve the bear and queer communities.
Right now, Valin is starting to work on the Urban Bear Weekend NYC (http://urbanbearweekend.com), which is celebrating its second year this May. He will be busy this May, as he was just asked be one of the judges of International Mr. Leather 2010 (http://imrl.com) in Chicago. Asked for his reaction, he replied, “This is a rare feat, but I am humbled and speechless!”
Where the Wild Things Are:
Truck Stop is Sunday, January 24th, Penthouse at The Park, 10th Ave @ 17th St.
DJ Gustavo, Doors Open 6pm, Free before 7/$5 after http://truckstopparty.com
Daddy is every Monday night, Upstairs at Vlada, 331 W. 51 St. DJ Chauncey D 9pm/Free, Porn, "Backroom" Lounge, Cheap Beer & Vodka, Hot Fuckers


Check it out:
Woof Mondays http://www.viewbarnyc.com
Porno Bingo Wednesdays http://www.piecesbar.com/events.html
CODE Thursdays http://www.eaglenyc.com/

Next Month:
New York’s sex parties, how to prepare for the Saint Black Party, and an interview with Justin Costello, producer of the new leather title: Mr Rawhide NY!

Write to me at: darrell@darrellsdungeon.com

OMG! – Not another titleholder

As Los Angeles Leather rolls around, I'm to tell you why you should run for one of the titles that the leather community offers.
I can hear your eyes rolling. No way! I'm too shy. Too much work. I'm not good looking enough.
A friend gave me an interesting perspective on titles. A title year is like your life, compressed into one year; a year which can show you what you really care about, what your faults really are, who truly supports you, what you honestly enjoy doing. It's an opportunity to live your life completely differently.
So...here are some of the reasons why NOT to run for a title, and some reasons why you SHOULD.
The biggie, first: I'm too shy. Trust me, I am shy; painfully shy. If this is your reason for not running, let me ask: do you like being shy? I know I don't. Having a title is a fantastic opportunity to challenge shyness and fight it head on. Your title is a door opener. It's your JOB to talk to strangers, other shy strangers, hot strangers and fresh meat from out of town. People want you to talk to them.
It's too much work. Having a title is as much or as little work as you make it. Many titleholders are just looking for a little fun...and that's okay. Most producers have only a few expectations of their titleholder. Show up at a few events, hang around the bar making people feel welcome. Bars are always looking for something different...you can be that something different.
I'm not good looking enough. Look at the titleholders around the community. We are a motley crew of looks, sizes, backgrounds. What I can tell you is this...running for a title will make you look at yourself differently, it'll bring out the things that are most attractive about you from your charm to your physique to your dedication to your beautiful green eyes to your infectious laugh.
Having run for and won Mr. Regiment and American Leatherman has given me the confidence to go to events on my own and speak to people I've never met before. It's made me realize that I could make a lasting impact on our community. I've made friends I would never have met otherwise and I'm a greater me for the experience.
If you'd like to know more about upcoming contests, shoot me an email at americanleatherman2009@openkink.org
Cheers,
Alex Lindsay
American Leatherman 2009