Mr. Rawhide 2010!!!

It is official! With LEATHERfirst-NYC, and Rawhide, this upcoming March will bring a new Leather Contest to New York City! On March 12-13 the first ever Mr. Rawhide will be held at, of course, Rawhide, the oldest leather/levi bar in NYC (With 31 yrs!). I am honored to be a part of this momentous event! I have some amazing judges lined up, and by the end of the month, the contestant promo posters/postcards will be up at the bar and around the city!

Here's what it will look like.



Stay tuned for updates! Happy Tuesday!

Peace

Let The Right One In...yeah right!

This is a short review. I recently got to see for the first time Let The Right One In (thanks jamie). Let's just say that the rubicks cube serves as the connection between a 12 years old or so vampire and her psychiopath in the making next door neighbor.

Very European in pacing and in tone. Very thought provoking. Very very well done.

To say more is to ruin it for you.

More later.

I have to go let someone in lol

AMONGST THE LIVING SERIES PILOT AND SEASON ONE OVERVIEW

The creation of the pilot of a possible television series is interesting. You have to do much set up, and make sure you have the goods to back up to 12 other episodes of the season.

Amongst The Living is going to stir things up right off the bat. The main plot focus of the first season is going to involve a Cult. At the time of the pilot, the cult is already in operation in the City, and is in the public eye, under the guise of an organization specializing in attracting a specific populous throughout the city. The Head of Operations is enigmatic, charming, and practically irrestible. Too too good to be on the up and up. Things get interesting when it is revealed what he offers his 'pupils' in return for their devotion. It is something that many many people wish for on an hourly basis. That's the stronghold he has over them. At the end of the pilot episode we will see what happens when one of his followers attempts to leave the ranks. This is where Michael comes into play, as one of the investigators brought in on the case.

That is not to say that Michael appears only in the end of the episode. We follow him throughout, as he along with his team of ivestigators deals with a voracious vixen that has taken hostages at a downtown shipping warehouse. We are also introduced to a new character, Seth, who is brought in to join the team (From the ranks above).

As for the overall mythology of the series, we get a bit of it, and Michael's background as he shares a car ride with Seth down to the warehouse. It seems that Seth is very much aware of who Michael is, knowing more than he should. It is also evident that Michael has more than a quizical curiosity when it comes to Seth as well.

As far as Midian and the Leather community is concerned, although we will visit there in the second episode, and bring back Kyle, now a titleholder in the community, and original film draft characters of Rodney and Jeremy, it isn't until the third episode when Midian becomes a center of the action.

To answer some questions (for those who have read the screenplay)

1. Michael and Kyle are most definitely not together. Kyle is someone that, when he was an 'actor/model', was special. In the spotlight. Since that time, he has strived to return to that spotlight. Befriending and seducing Michael was one of his endeavors. It didn't work out that way, of course. Michael could care less about celebrity and the spotlight, and when he discovered the truth about Kyle, he had no problem making a public display that Kyle had no control over him. (The incident is seen in flashback in the second episode.)

2. The mythology of the returning gods. Most definitly is it there, thoughout the season. By episode 6, a huge revelation will be revealed about some of the characters.

3. In the screenplay, a vatican priest was murdered. Will there be any reprecussions? The notion of religion, which was very strong in the screenplay, is being explored in the cult plot line of season one. I can say that the season ends (literally) at the Vatican, with a horrifying revelation.

4. Is a familiarity to the events in Oakwood, and that story, essential to understand Amongst The Living the series? That is a definite no. The screenplay is serving as backstory, speciffically for MIchael. There will be references and discussions about the events in Oakwood and Michaels past, but they will only be to serve the current plots and storylines of the series.

5. Will there be lesbians or simply gay men? Of couse there will be some lesbian action, as there is in the pilot episode. Also, Andrea, it is revealed, is a lesbian.

Political Hive of Leather, excerpt from A Boy's Journey

The following post is an excerpt from "A Boy's Journey", a book I am currently in the process of writing, which i hope to have published in 2011.



The Leather Hive of Politics

DEFINITION.

pol•i•tics (From Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
Pronunciation: \pä-lə-tiks\
Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction
Etymology: Greek politika, from neuter plural of politikos political
Date: circa 1529
1 a : the art or science of government b : the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy c : the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government
2 : political actions, practices, or policies
3 a : political affairs or business; especially : competition between competing interest groups or individuals for power and leadership (as in a government) b : political life especially as a principal activity or profession c : political activities characterized by artful and often dishonest practices
4 : the political opinions or sympathies of a person
5 a : the total complex of relations between people living in society b : relations or conduct in a particular area of experience especially as seen or dealt with from a political point of view

Politics. We love it. We hate. No matter how hard we try, we can’t get around it.
It is true that politics play an integral part in the function of governments. When you register to vote, you have to immediately make choices which put you in the political pool, so to speak: Democrat, Republican, Independent, Green Party, etc. From international, to national, trickling down to local government, politics is at the center of the core. The same If you practice an organized religion, from Roman Catholicism, to Muslim, Judaism, to Jehovah’s Witness- again, you are entering into a political pool. The practices and mindset may be different, but structurally speaking, they are built essentially the same. Politics is a part of our daily lives and culture, whether we like it or not.

The Leather community, especially, the gay leather community, is of no exception. You are entering a ring of politics. Mention the words “leather politics” in a Leather social setting, and you will undoubtedly spark, often controversial, conversation. In fact, in recent years, people have used the term “leather politics” to justify their retreat from the public sphere of the community, with the exception of the events which have become the equivalent of Christmas and Easter to lax Catholics. These, often large public events catering to Gay Leather , serve as the only ‘community’ events that some individuals will attend religiously, and although politics abound in the running of the events themselves, they attract a large enough crowd that one can go about their own business relatively easily. You can easily track the course of these events through the calendar, beginning on the East Coast with MAL (Mid-Atlantic Leather) in January, through CLAW (Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend) in April, International Mr. Leather in Chicago in May, Folsom East in New York City in June, and culminating with Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco in September, and so forth.

At these functions, a positive smiling image of the gay Leather community is prominently displayed. In fact, as viewed by an outsider, not only is gay Leather most definitely out and proud, but it is thriving.

If one takes a closer look at the gay Leather community, however, one would find, with the exception of the above and other large charity events, that nationally the community seems to be going back underground, which is most disheartening when concerns about the education and mentorship of the so called "next generation" (ages 35 and under) are poignant to the community’s survival.

You can go to any a number of blog sites throughout the internet, or pick up a number of books or magazines, and find numerous possibilities explaining the course the community has taken over the past several years.

Some of these possibilities are listed below:

- The Internet making connections as easy as a click and a webcam, eliminating the need for bar socializing and cruising.
- The death of practically an entire generation of (would-be present day mentors, etc) due to AIDS.
- The homogenization of gay men within society (even though we are still classified as second class citizens), eliminating, for many, the 'life on the fringe factor'.
- The infusion and inclusion of the pansexual BDSM and kink communities.
These, and other possibilities abound. As does the notion of politics.

The formalized gay leather community is structured like a beehive. Those at the top of the hive are the 'untouchables', the Leather A-Listers, so to speak. And beneath them, power, control and influence branch out, with each individual in their specific cone of the leather hive. Shamelessly referencing Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, it is when one decides they are not happy with their place in the hive, that politics come into play. The game is played the same, be it Government, Religion, Corporate America, Survivor or Leather. Alliances are formed. Strategies and power plays exchanged, and the ball is set into motion. When Leather politics is in play, notions of "brotherhood”, "loyalty", "integrity", and "Honor" and so forth are, often times, thrown out the window.

Those in the lower portions of the hive sometimes watch silently or join forces, thereby protecting themselves and their leather future. Other times, those who speak out in opposition, if they don’t have a strong enough political backing, well, they find themselves not so popular. It's the choice that they make. The same as when one steps into the voting booth on Election Day. Sometimes, it is easier to just vote the party line, if it keeps everyone happy.

Let’s face it. The second you decide you want to be Leather, you are entering politics. And in recent years, the leather political hive has boiled over time and time again. Some leathermen are reacting by pulling away from the public community, not even attending the events listed above.

Throughout my years within the community itself, I have, on more occasions than i can count, run across individuals who have left the visible, public community, and one thing that they always mention, is their frustration with the politics. I can honestly say that I do not blame them one bit. I, too, have been a pray to politics. I’ve had to make choices, and form alliances, etc. It’s all part of the Leather game.

For many years, I wanted, strived to be in a different leather cone in the hive, that yes, I did play politics, especially during my title year. I too, since then, have had enough of it. And I do think that politics is something that is a major issue in the strength and longevity of the leather hive.
With the exception of the events listed at the opening of this post, and others like them, there are gaping cracks in the leather community. Bars (once our founding watering holes) are closing, clubs are folding, and the space between the rebellious next generation and the rest of the community, is growing towards San Andreas Fault proportions.

Can a community exist without politics? Is interior politics a viable reason to consider when dealing with the gay leather community's current state of affairs? Can one dismiss politics in an already established hierarch military-based structure, such as gay Leather?

Using the hive as a visual example, the gay leather community is structured of individual neighborhoods comprising of friends and lovers. In essence, a collection of individual honey cones unified by similar belief systems and sexual practices. While it's not important if each and every cone gets along with the others, there is enough of a thread connecting them which forms the Leather hive at large.

The most basic unit of the hive is the cone created by consenting partners within a private, intimate relationship. When the individuals enter this relationship, they are immediately entering into a world of politics based on power exchange and, often times, military protocol. The D/s structure itself is a perfect example of politics. One is the Dominant, the other submissive. They live their lives through protocol, practices and customs. Politics.

These relationship cones often time connect with other cones, and henceforth, the hive structure is created. If one chooses to leave the greater public international Leather hive due to politics, but still consider themselves Leather, then they are, in effect, still part of the political hive itself.
In this matter, the notion of Leather is a notion of politics itself. Going back to the 1940s and the veterans who formed the initial bike clubs, these clubs were formed as a reaction of local, state and national politics. Politics is the honey that holds the cones of the gay leather community together.

Is it possible to exist in a world where politics aren’t capable of being corrupted? Unless individual ego is taken out of the picture, then I, personally find it unlikely. So what do we do? Do we step into the leather political ring, or do we sit back and do nothing. Either way, we are taking a political movement.
So, politics are here to stay, as long as Leather is here to stay. Within our individual cones, we all must make our individual choices which will either result in a more positive, or negative Leather hive. The choice is up to us. The future is up to us. We can not leave it in another’s hands. In my opinion, too much has been lost, or distorted already. Friends and enemies will be made, but the movement cannot go back to where it came from. To do that, will surely equal death.