Welcome to Dave Rhodes' Hump Day - Wednesday, August 9, 2017. This column will appear every Wednesday on TheLeatherJournal.com The idea behind this weekly is to keep up with, and even set, the pace in a snippet news-style. Many articles will be in one or two sentences as you will read below. Of course, we will publish larger news, feature stories and interviews as we have for the past 30 years. This is one of those new previously unnamed innovations I promised in my May Editorial.
How you can help. If you come up with a date and basic information on a new event, please send us the date and a short detail or two. This is designed for the web site and less so for print, so there is no 45 days-in-advance deadline. If your event is happening on August 20, make sure I have it by Monday afternoon, August 14. Make sure to add your events to the Leather Community Calendar by clicking on Calendar above - follow the directions.
You had a contest over the weekend - send us the names of the winners and a photo and a brief bit about it. We have it by mid-Monday and it will appear on Wednesday. Your events hotel room block opens - that is news. Send the link and a brief. Someone passes, let us know - photo please if available, but do not let lack of an immediate photo stop you from sending. This is news shorts.
If a news item comes in which we feel should also be a larger article we will contact you about it. Send to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Photos need to be jpg format.
IML room block is OPEN. IML will be doing another year at the Congress Plaza Hotel on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, IL the weekend of May 24-28. Go to http://imrl.com/ to reserve your room. Click on Hotel Info on the right side of the IML home page.
Mistress Cyan and Jill Overfield were married at MCC in the Valley on Saturday afternoon with about 150 in attendance. Reverend Pat Langlois performed the ceremony. Cyan and Overfield are owners of Sanctuary Studios LAX. See photo below.
The Mayor of Folsom Street: The Auto/Biography of "Daddy Alan" Selby aka Mr. S - A biography of San Francisco entrepreneur and activist Alan Selby, founder of the iconic Mr. S Leather Store on Folsom Street. In the Introduction, Dr. Jones, a close associate of the late Mr. Selby, offers a biography of the man, who immigrated from London to San Francisco, where he became world-famous as the owner of the Mr. S Leather store and a key figure in the San Francisco gay community during the AIDS crisis. The second part of the book is an autobiography constructed from Selby's own journals.This book gives a unique inside look into the character and personality of one of San Francisco's most colorful figures. A must-read. https://www.facebook.com/TheMayorOfFolsomStreet See photo below.
The Regiment of the Black and Tans held their annual Change of Command on Sunday, August 6 in Sherman Oaks, CA. They followed that with a Wet Boxers Shorts contest at the Bullet Bar in North Hollywood. See photo below.
The Pantheon of Leather Awards will be presented on Thursday night, August 31 during International Leather Sir, Leatherboy and Community Bootblack contest weekend, August 31 - September 3, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Dallas Near the Galleria in Dallas, TX. Check out http://www.ilsb-icbb.com
Speaking of Labor Day Weekend, Master/slave Conference 2017 runs from August 31 through September 4 at the Radisson Hotel Baltimore Downtown – Inner Harbor, 101 West Fayette Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201. Largest conference in the world totally dedicated to Master/slave lifestyle. http://www.masterslaveconference.org
Florida Leather Sir 2017 is Major Ty and Florida Leatherboy 2017 is Pup Napoleon. held June 15-18 at the Flamingo Resort in St. Petersburg, FL. Both will compete at ILSb-ICBB this year over Labor Day Weekend in Dallas, TX. http://www.ilsb-icbb.com See photo below.
The Exiles All-Genders 20th Anniversary Celebration will be at the Center for Positive Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission Street in San Francisco at 7:30 PM. Sponsored in part by the Society of Janus and the San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance, the Exiles' biggest event of the year is going to be even bigger than ever before, this all-genders party that kicks off Folsom Street Fair weekend and it just so happens to coincide with the Exiles’ 20th Anniversary. https://fetlife.com/events/533331
The Los Angeles Pony and Critter Club hosts EQUUS, an international weekend-long pony play event at Sanctuary Studios LAX in Lennox, CA, August 11-13. EQUUS is welcoming and open to all styles of pony play, all types of ponies. http://www.laponiesandcritters.com
Xavier Espejo of Sherman Oaks, CA is California Drummer 2017 and Eric Audet, of San Diego, CA, is California Drummerboy 2017. California Drummer Fetish Weekend was held at the Barracks Bar in Cathedral City June 30 through July 2 in Palm Springs, CA. They will compete at Drummer North America 2018 in Las Vegas, NV in February. Visit http://www.DrummerCalifornia.com See photo below.
San Francisco's Bare Chest Calendar 2018 Men will be at the Barracks in Cathedral City, CA the weekend of August 11-13. Saw 'em at Up Your Alley a couple of weeks ago and there are some hotties in the group.
The Leather Archives & Museum announced in July that CLAW Corporation donated $26,250 to the LA&M from its 2017 event. Since its inception in 2002, CLAW has donated over $137,000 to the Leather Archives & Museum and has raised over $799,000 in charitable funds nationwide. The monies raised this year will continue to to sponsor Thursday Free Days at the museum and help create a new LA&M traveling exhibit prototype. Ready to get dirty and have a taste of some nasty fun? Lick It is going back to its roots of funky and sexy fun. They have DJ Blackstone of Club Universe, Faith and Fag Fridays. August 11 at The Powerhouse (1347 Folsom Street, SF, CA), 10 PM. $5 at the door to benefit the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund.
West Coast Mr., Ms and Mx Olympus Leather will be at the new Eagle 562 in Long Beach, CA August 25-27. The current International Mr. and Ms Olympus Leather Anthony Harmon and Pixie Mary step down from their regional titles. https://www.facebook.com/
The Second Annual DTLA Proud Festival will again be held at Pershing Square from 12 PM until 10 PM on August 26 and 27 and will offer visitors a blend of local queer culture, art, history and entertainment with over 40 community and retail booths, a main stage hosted by the Boulet Brothers and the return of Summertramp, a pop-up water park that will transform Pershing Square into a colorful urban oasis. While not a Leather event, DTLA Proud will have strong Leather/Kink participation. https://dtlaproud.org/2017-dtla-proud-festival
Mr. and Ms Alameda County Leather will see new titleholders on Saturday, August 19 at 6 PM at the Hayward Veteran's Memorial Hall in Hayward, CA. Go to http://www.acleather.org. The title is produced by the Alameda County Leather Corps.
Palm Springs Leather Pride 2017 will be held October 26-29 in Palm Springs, CA. The big news is the Friday night Parking Lot Party will return to lot behind the Tool Shed. Tom of Finland will have an exhibit and there will be a Saturday afternoon pool party. And oh, the Mr. Palm Springs Leather contest will be held in the newest hangar at the Palm Springs Air Museum. https://www.palmspringsleatherpride.org/
Fourth Annual Kinky Prom: Rainbows and Unicorns on Saturday, August 12 at 7 PM at Voo Doo Leatherworks in Colorado Springs, CO to benefit Colorado Leather Fest. $15 per person or $20 per couple. Features the Cycle Sluts, cash bar, food and snacks, DJ/music/dancing, Prom photos available for purchase, bootblacks, silent auction, kinky poker and a Kinky Prom Royalty Contest. Facebook look for Kinky Prom: Rainbows and Unicorns in Events.
The NCSF (National Coalition for Sexual Freedom) sent out this - There's a new bill in Congress that would threaten your right to free expression online. If that weren't enough, it could also put small Internet businesses in danger of catastrophic litigation. The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) wouldn't help punish sex traffickers; it would do is expose the Internet content platforms that we all rely on every day to the risk of overwhelming criminal and civil liability for their customers' actions. https://act.eff.org/action/don-t-let-congress-censor-the-internet
American Brotherhood Weekend in Chicago, IL is on tap for October 6-8 and features the American Leatherman, Leatherwoman, and Leatherboy contest at the Leather Archives & Museum. The judging panel will include David Katzenberg, Robert "Bobbie“ Smith, Bella Oliver, Jeff Willoughby and Laura Antoniou. For more information go to http://www.AmericanBrotherhood.com
The next Avatar Club Los Angeles public monthly program will be Predicament Bondage by Midori on Wednesday August 23 beginning at 8:30 PM at MCC in the Valley, 5730 Cahuenga Blvd., North Hollywood, CA. A unique form of bondage where strategy, physical and psychological insights, gamesmanship, wit, slyness, humor and creativity converge. It can challenge the bottom's endurance, physical, sexual or psychological states and more. Predicament scenes will be illustrated through devious scenes. http://www.avatarla.org/
Bad Ass Spanking Weekend VIII is all set for October 19-22 in Augusta, GA and is the largest multi-day event on the east coast for men who are into spanking. http://www.bawevent.com
Leather History Preservation Weekend, October 20-22, Radisson Hotel High Point in High Point, NC will be a weekend of shared journeys, camaraderie and fellowship, with multiple historiographers sharing their experiences. Among the historians are JAH Holiday, OB Hamm, Sir Tom Matt, JP Garner, and Angel Propps. Go to http://www.lhpfoundation.org and make your plans.
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Jill "Goddess Genesis" Overfield and Cyan St. James were married on August 5. Photo by Dave Rhodes
The Mayor of Folsom Street: The Auto/Biography of "Daddy Alan" Selby aka Mr. S
The Regiment of the Black and Tans held their annual Change of Command. Photo by Dave Rhodes
Florida Leather Sir and Florida Leatherboy 2017. Photo by Bill Hoeppner
California Drummer and California Drummerboy 2017. Photo by Motorboot Photography
The Leather Journal was founded in May, 1987. The Leather community was hungry for news magazine that covered clubs, organizations and events. TLJ has successfully met that need for 34 years. We have adapted to change more than once and when the Internet came about we were there by adding www.TheLeatherJournal.com
