Meet Mr. Mayhem Leather Bear 2022 David Sugar
By Rodney Burger
David Sugar of Baltimore, Maryland was sashed Mr. Mayhem Leather Bear 2022 during the annual Bears, Bikers & Mayhem event held May 5-8 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Born and raised in Baltimore, David discovered the Leather community in December of 2013 when he was asked to deejay for the ShipMates Leather Club’s annual Daddy Christmas fundraiser. David pledged the ShipMates in 2017 and began his Leather journey.
Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather 2022 Duke interview
By Rodney Burger. Photos by Todd Davidson including main photo, Todd Wolfstryker, Rodney Burger, Dave Rhodes, John O'Brien, Facebook.
On January 15th, I sat across the judge’s table and interviewed Mr. Mayhem Leather 2021 Duke as he competed for the title of Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather 2022. Although clearly nervous, he opened up and answered the wide variety of questions tossed at him by the distinguished panel of judges. On February 5th I interviewed Duke again after he captured the MAL 2022 title on January 16th. Dressed all in black with his signature black cowboy hat, he was beaming, confident, and relaxed. With his sites on the International Mr. Leather 2022 Contest in May, this cowboy was clearly ready for the ride.
Tom of Finland - 100th Anniversary
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth, Fotografiska in collaboration with Tom of Finland Foundation produced The Darkroom, an exciting study in artist Tom of Finland’s life and work process. The exhibition, curated by Berndt Arell, travels from Stockholm to New York in time for Tom of Finland’s 101st birthday, May 8. The Darkroom exhibits April 30 - August 29. The exhibition consists of photographic portraits which served as reference images for his famed homoerotic drawings. These photographs were confined to Tom of Finland’s home studio and darkroom, displaying them elsewhere would have risked a prison sentence, as homosexuality was criminalized and classified as a mental disorder in his native Finland at the time of this work. Even after a century of Tom of Finland’s birth, there are forces today trying to relegate homosexual desire into dark closets.
As part of the Tom of Finland 101 celebration is a new special edition of Tom's fully-illustrated biography, Tom of Finland: The Official Life and Work of a Gay Hero, by F. Valentine Hooven, III. Take a course in how Tuoko Laaksonen became Tom of Finland, the iconic and groundbreaking, internationally renowned artist and experience his positive portrayal of confident gay men with a section devoted to The Darkroom.
https://www.tomoffinland.org/events/tom-of-finland-the-darkroom-2/
Dave Rhodes had the opportunity to catch CLAW co-founder Bob Miller about the same time CLAW would have been held in Cleveland, OH had it not been for the pandemic. Bob now lives in Desert Hot Springs, CA. Here's what we found out...
The Suit Guy Is A Leather Man - Patrick Grady
By Rodney Burger
In 1997, Patrick Grady was working as the Director of Catering at the Washington Plaza Hotel on Logan Circle in Washington, DC when he learned that a Leather club called the Centaur Motorcycle Club had booked the hotel for their Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend. Although born in the small town of Peru, Indiana, Patrick was from a military family whose father was stationed in England and brought him to Europe as a small child on the RMS Queen Elizabeth, so he had seen a thing or two in his life. Plus, he always loved seeing men in boots and uniforms dating back to his years growing up in England. While living in Germany, he discovered that the German soldiers, unlike Americans, were far from prudish and had no problem stripping down and going for a swim. In those pre-internet years, he learned about the world by sneaking into adult bookstores. He moved around a lot and learned a lot too.
A King Without A Kingdom
By Rodney Burger
On February 28th I was on vacation in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. It was a beautiful Friday evening and the bars in Wilton Manors, the popular gayborhood, were hopping. I had enjoyed happy hour at Hunter’s and was having dinner at the Garden Café across the street next to the Eagle Wilton Manors, when I saw Mr. DC Eagle 2020 Justin Sawyers walk by the window. I had been to the Mr. and Ms. DC Eagle 2020 Contest in November and had seen Justin at other events since then. After dinner, I was happy to greet him and several other Leather titleholders who I knew who were also in town and checking out the newest Eagle bar. It was a magical evening that now seems a lifetime ago.
Conversations With Leather
Dave Rhodes interviews Jim Neuman
Jim Neuman
James Walter "Jim" Neuman was born on the north side of Chicago, and over the next half century, he has become something of a pioneer, mentor and icon in the Kink, Leather, Uniform and Boot Community in California.
Jaco: For those who don’t already know, please tell us about yourself and your connection with the Leather world.
Race: I’ve been active in the Leather scene since 1973. Initially, apart from being a bartender in a sleazy kinky bar, I was essentially a lone maverick player. Then around 1980 I got deeply involved with various clubs, organizations and projects that changed that lone wolf status. Since then I’ve been an organizer, writer, educator, speaker and activist in the LGBT, leather/kink, polyamory and HIV/STI prevention realms. I’ve authored a well-known BDSM book, been published extensively, spoken to hundreds of audiences, created the world's largest kink-friendly psychotherapist and medical referral service (Kink Aware Professionals), was a leader of The DSM Project that led to a beneficial change in the way psychotherapy views BDSM, founded a groundbreaking alternative sexuality publishing company (Daedalus Publishing Company), been an internet radio sex talk show host, received national and local awards, appeared in numerous documentaries, and currently am the Leather/kink columnist for the Bay Area Reporter http://www.ebar.comwww.ebar.com I also have a blog at http://www.bannon.com and there’s more information about me there for those who might be interested.
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
