Title activities report - July 2014, including Dore Alley

Well, June was a whirlwind! In comparison, July seems quite a bit quieter. I still got up to lots of fun, I promise. Here's what I did...

• July 11. I was recently elected to the board of my synagogue. Our board president, who also does the synagogue's website, asked me for a short bio and a picture to post. I included "holds the title of Ms San Francisco Leather 2013" as the last phrase in the bio. I told the synagogue's web manager that if he wanted to remove that last phrase, I wouldn't mind. The answer came back: "We are proud of our leather queens at B'nai Emunah!" Now you all see one reason why I am so glad to be part of this congregation, who accept me for who I am. See the bio here. (Or just look at the cute pic I submitted! Grin.)

• July 12. I went to Black Saturday at the Powerhouse with my sash husband Scott "Big Red" Farrell. This was the last time I would be able to attend this monthly event during my title year, because for the Black Saturdays in August and September I was already committed to events out of town (to be reported on in future postings). Since it was going to be my last time at Black Saturday with Big Red, I managed to convince my sash husband to flog me as a demo. Here's a great picture of Mr. San Francisco Leather beating his (sash) wife! 

• July 18-20. HOWL! This is the annual campout for the Bad Girls of Portland. I went up with my buddy Ray. It's a long drive from the bay area to Sandy, OR, especially when the radiator goes out near Medford, OR. On the plus side, Medford has car repair shops and car rental outlets, the car was not going to be too hard to fix, and we made it to the campsite only a few hours behind schedule on Friday evening. Once there, I had the most fabulous time with great hospitality, the fire pit, food, company, and three play dates in one day. It rained a bit - it's Oregon! - but nothing that could spoil our fun. No photos from this event, sorry - what happens at HOWL must stay at HOWL! I  hope I can go back next year. This event was awesome, and I can't say enough about the warm welcome I received from this kickass club!
• July 21. WESCO boots! My friend Melissa took me to the West Coast Shoe Company (Wesco) factory store, and helped me pick out some great custom boots. Now I only have to wait for them! They *might* be ready in time for my step-down in October. Let's hope - fingers crossed! Once I get them, I'll post a picture here...
• July 26. Ravage! party at Alchemy. This is a new series of parties that I have so far really enjoyed. My thanks to the party hosts - and to the venue for providing such a welcoming and well-equipped space.
• July 27. Dore Alley street fair. I really enjoyed Dore Alley this year. I bought something from the Frugal Domme, said hi to the fabulous bootblacks, spun the wheel of fortune at the TASHRA booth, and ended up at the Center for Sex and Culture for the end of the exhibition of Daddy Alan Selby memorabilia. Here's a picture of me with my predecessor Nerine Mechanique, and one with other friends at the fair.

To summarize... July went by really quickly, and makes for a rather short blog post. Thanks for reading it. And please check back soon for my report on August!

June 2014: British Discipline West Coast Tour, Orange is the New Black Hanky, and SF Pride Festival

June was a busy month for me, really fun, and actually life-changing. No joke.

I got back from Europe in the first week of June, worked for ten days, and then took off again for another week +, for the British Discipline West Coast Tour and the SF Pride Festival. I am very lucky indeed to get so much paid time off!

In early June, I had just a couple of events:

• June 6th: co-facilitated The Exiles New Member Orientation at the SF LGBT Center. This was my last time as Orientation Officer. New folks have taken over, but they had a conflict for this evening, so I jumped in to do it one more time. Exiles members (and friends of mine) Allison and Skittles did the majority of the acting, and I got to do a short demo as part of the class. Such fun! Ten people attended, most had never been to an Exiles program before, we got several new members, and I made a new friend.
• June 14th: Black Saturday at the Powerhouse. Another fantastic evening with my gorgeous sash husband. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's the flyer for it.

The second half of the month was when I got really busy.  Here's the story you've been promised!

The British Discipline West Coast Tour

The British Discipline Tour was a long time in planning. Several months ago, I had talked to my friend Josephine, who was brought up in the UK, and lives in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a fantastic presenter and performance artist, and for reasons best known to herself she had offered to come here for a week to teach and perform with me.

I really wanted to teach on British Discipline. I believe that there is a "British way" of doing BDSM that is different from the North American way and is informed by the British cultural heritage of corporal punishment in virtually every walk of life, and I felt we could teach about this with talk and demos. Now Josephine had taught a workshop on caning back in Europe, and she kindly allowed me to look over her workshop notes. From those notes, she and I developed the class we called British Discipline and Punishment.

We had a structure for the workshop, and plenty to talk about, but we wanted to include demos. In fact we wanted to open with a demo. Since Josephine and I both wanted to be the demo bottoms for this class, since we are both so fond of canes, we needed to recruit a demo top for the workshops. I am very lucky to have a good friend, Karen, who is a sadistic genius, and who I thought might be willing to be our demo top. She and Josephine and I discussed the workshop via Skype, and Josephine and I promised her that if she came on tour with us we would provide ourselves as a salt and pepper set of matched bottoms to serve her. This may have clinched it - I am not sure - but anyway, now we had a demo top to assist with (and, let's admit it, design) the scenes. Oops, I mean the demos!

Meanwhile I had negotiated with various groups to let us teach. The Exiles San Francisco, The Foundation for Sex Positive Culture in Seattle, the Bad Girls of Portland, and the Society of Janus (SOJ) in San Francisco all agreed to host us in June, over a period of a week.

As if all this wasn't enough, I had got a bee in my bonnet that I wanted to host a sort of BDSM cabaret night. Beth Bicoastal, my first runner up and the host of the Kink Salon at the Powerhouse, and her co-host Jason Husted, agreed to let me co-host their event for June. Since my idea was an "anything goes" cabaret, and in honor of the popular Netflix TV show of a similar name, I named the event "Orange is the New Black Hanky".

So, on the evening of Thursday June 19th, Josephine arrived at SFO. She only had one day to get over her jet lag, because on the Friday evening we and Karen had to show up to San Francisco venue Alchemy and teach The Exiles about British Discipline!

• June 20. British Discipline and Punishment for The Exiles. Josephine and Karen met for the first time in person, only 45 minutes before class started. Luckily there was chemistry there! The class went well, and was attended by over 30 people, a good turnout. All four demos were great in my opinion. After class there was a party in the space, and Josephine and I stuck around and she did some practical one-on-one teaching. She's such a giver!
• June 21. Orange is the New Black Hanky. Josephine, myself, my wife Marilyn, our talented friend Lo, and Lo's extensive collection of wigs performed "BDSM Improv". Think "Whose Line is it Anyway", with BDSM content. The audience got to choose the scenario and the props, and we enacted the scene. Also, Beth Bicoastal did some great readings; BC Cliver did a "special performance" which you just had to be there to appreciate; and Josephine got up and did a bit of stand-up, including a spiel about being dominated by her GPS.

• June 22. I had rented a car to take us to Portland and Seattle. (Luckily I have a travel fund for such purposes. This trip used up what I had left of it.) We set off before 5 am and drove to Portland, where we arrived in the late afternoon.We got into the Discipline spirit at the Black Bear Diner in Yreka...

• That night we went to a gig! Our British friend Rosie Garland (see my last blog post for more on her) is in a band called the March Violets, who were on a West Coast Tour as well. I was going to miss them in San Francisco, but we made it in time to see them in Portland! Yay! 
• June 23. Day off in Portland. We had a great breakfast with Rosie in Multnomah Village, and then we hooked up with one of Rosie's band mates, and did a bit of sightseeing, assisted by my friend Melissa, who lives in Portland. We absolutely did go to Voodoo Doughnut, as can be seen here - and that evening, we spent some quality time with our hosts for the Northwest portion of our tour, my contest producers, Liza and Jody.

• June 24. We enjoyed a delicious Portland breakfast, including excellent gluten free bread (which I had and enjoyed),  and then we drove up to Seattle for our next British Discipline workshop. The Foundation for Sex Positive Culture folks were great. The event was less well attended than The Exiles, but we still had a good and attentive crowd of about 15 people, including a couple of old friends of mine, whose presence truly delighted me. I thought the class went even better than it had for The Exiles. I still thought there was too much talking in that one part of the class, and I felt we could tighten it up considerably. Just as well, because the very next day we were going to teach for Bad Girls in Portland, and we only had 90 minutes instead of 2 hours! The demos, although fulfilling the same function in each part of the class, were different from the last time, thanks to Karen's design genius, and they kept Josephine and me on our toes! After class, we grabbed a late night rock-star meal at Dick's retro burger joint in the shadow of the Space Needle, before the long drive back to Portland.

• June 25. We had another great breakfast, did a bit of shopping at the Portland branch of Oregon Leather, and Josephine and I updated our class outline. We desperately needed to cut it: not only did we have 30 minutes less for class, but we had an extra demo to fit in. I had asked my friend Melissa if she would do a guest spot as demo top, and she had agreed. Originally I had thought she could replace one of the other demos, but by now I was enjoying those demos way too much to give one up, so with Josephine's considerable help, and relying on our handout for some of the detail we were no longer going to discuss, we managed to shorten the talking parts of the class by at least 30 minutes, and so allow time for the additional demo.

June 25th's class had to be the highlight of the tour for me.The Portland Bad Girls had outdone themselves with both publicity and hospitality. Bad Girls is a women's group, however they had opened this event to all queers,and run it to dovetail with the monthly Queer Leather Dinner.  We got there to a hosted buffet of delicious food, including gluten free cookies as well as many other treats, and a room quickly filling up to the rafters. This was our best attended event so far with over 50 people. The atmosphere was electric. I'm sure this is why we all got so overexcited. Josephine's and my banter was I thought even funnier than usual (and a lot shorter!), and the demos were off the hook! The extra demo from Melissa added variety, humor, and extra stripes. The fact that the room was really full made the few moments when you could hear a pin drop even more exciting.  My last demo of the night, though only ten minutes long, may end up as one of my all-time favorite scenes. I forgot the audience was there for a while - until I heard them all breathe out at once.

After class, we went to the Queer Leather Dinner, where we got a chance to talk with a lot of folks who had been to the workshop, and a few who hadn't. I was so happy to connect or reconnect with some great Portland folks whom I had been wanting to get to know better, as well as to wind down with my co-presenters. It was a wonderful evening and we got to witness a special event - about which I didn't yet ask for permission to write, so it shall remain a mystery here. Also, we got our picture taken really beautifully by Kinky. Sexy. Geeky., who captured the mood of the evening perfectly from my point of view. I think this is a fabulous picture. Do you agree?

Photo by Kinky. Sexy. Geeky.

We took our leave, and went back to Liza and Jody's, packed up the car, and drove back all night and morning to the Bay Area.

• June 26th. After getting back home, I hung out with Josephine and failed to get any sleep. Who needs sleep anyway? It's over-rated. That evening we went back to Alchemy for the SOJ program. The class was again well attended, with about 30 people. Although we had two hours, we kept the shorter format which had worked so well in Portland, and used the extra time for demo and Q&A. For the first demo we had a guest top: Rebecca Wilcox, with whom Josephine had originally presented the material in her caning workshop. The demo was different of course, and just as fun to watch. Josephine was a joy to work with, and my demos with Karen were excellent and - as they had been every time - educational for me as well as the audience. I enjoyed myself a lot, despite being a bit (?) tired. Afterwards, we all went for pizza. (Extreme Pizza does a gluten free crust that is really pretty good.) And when Josephine and I finally got home, we slept the sleep of the righteous.

 And that, dear reader, was the British Discipline West Coast Tour! And now for something completely different...

The San Francisco Pride Festival 

June 29th was the San Francisco Pride Festival. I drove to San Francisco with Josephine and Marilyn. We got parking near the festival! (We arrived early.) I got to see the Dykes on Bikes take off, and then walked to our assembly point, passing many friends on the way.

I haven't marched in the parade for years, and have never been on a float or truck before this year. Excitement! As a titleholder, I got to ride on the Leather Alliance truck with my sash husband and a lot of other titleholders, including newly crowned International Mr. Bootblack, Scout, and Mr. LA Leather, Eric Paul Leue.

 

Here's a fine picture of me and a bunch of the titleholders on the truck.

And here's me giving my sash husband bunny ears. Because leather people are always so serious.

After the parade, I spent a little time at Leather Alley at Pride, a project of the SF Bay Area Leather Alliance, dropped into my synagogue's booth (more about them in my next post), and went to the VIP party (my sash got me a free ticket!) where there was a photo booth sponsored by Whole Foods. Of course I took advantage of it...

Later that night I went to the last Eclipse! event at the SF Citadel, where I participated in a fun demo. And then, home. Pride was done!

And that was my title year experience of June 2014. I hope you enjoyed reading it!

May 2014: Visit to the UK: shopping, Manchester Women's SM Conference, friends, and Bar Wotever

I am fortunate to have a great employer that offers its staff a paid 15-day sabbatical after 15 years of service. I took advantage of my sabbatical this year and made a trip to Europe, including a week in the UK, wheich was my home for 28 years. My wife Marilyn joined me on most of my trip. We visited friends and family, and attended the International Women's SM Conference in Manchester, England. Conference, as it is known to its alumni, is put on annually by the Manchester SM Dykes group. This year was the eleventh, and my third, Conference.

Whenever I think about attending any "women's" event, quotes used advisedly, my first question is usually "who does this event include?" - because it's almost never the same twice. Because I know you care too, here is SMDykes' gender policy: "We welcome all women who live full-time as women, and FTM, genderqueer and intersexed persons who feel that they still have links to the women’s community." This is one of the more inclusive "women's space" definitions, though it is not as fully inclusive as some. What do you think of it?

On to the travelogue! My wife Marilyn and I had a direct flight booked from San Francisco to London Heathrow on Monday May 19th. Sadly the flight was cancelled due to technical difficulties and we had to disembark and get rerouted by the airline. We finally made it to London very late at night on the Tuesday, and went direct to the Beigel Bake on Brick Lane for what are arguably the best bagels on the planet (and available 24/7).

It turns out that Marilyn didn't know that US-market Hitachi, um, massagers don't work on 220-240 volt power - in fact they go up in smoke! Somehow I had never informed her of this fact. Luckily, I did tell her before we landed at Heathrow. And this gave us a great reason to go to Sh! - London's woman-owned sex shop that celebrated 20 years in business in 2012. If you are ever in London, this is a great place to buy toys, safe sex supplies, books, and fashions. And you'll be glad to know that Marilyn came away happy with her USB-chargeable Cordless Wand Massager.

While we were in the neighborhood, I suggested we also go to Expectations, which is a great and long-established toy and clothing store mostly targeted to guys. I shopped there a lot when I lived in London, and like to check in whenever I visit. Here I am with their DIVINE front door artwork!

Expectations has a lot of gas masks for sale. And I mean a LOT. This was just a small part of the display. I was tempted, but I decided there was not enough room in the suitcase.

It was fun to look around. Also, the sales assistant was very helpful with the lengths of chain and all the other things you might want at a store like that. While we were chatting, he told us that this year's Mr UK Leather contest had been held right there in the shop. I was a little surprised, because it is quite a small space. I bet the atmosphere was fantastic. And I expect the contest may need to move to a new venue, if not next year then soon.

After shopping, and visiting with friends in London, and a long drive through rain showers, more visiting with friends along the way, picking up Staffordshire Oatcakes in Stoke on Trent, and a drive through the beautiful Peak District park, we arrived in Manchester on Friday afternoon, May 23, in plenty of time for the Main Event.

International Women's SM Conference, Manchester 2014

Many months earlier, I had announced to the conference organizers (some of whom are friends of mine) my intention of attending Conference this year as part of my sabbatical trip. When I got my title, the organizers thought it would be a great idea if I taught a workshop on the title system and American leather culture. With a little trepidation (what kind of expert am I on titles? I only just got one, etc), and maybe a bit of pride, I agreed, and was excited to have my proposal accepted, appear in the run book, and receive a discount on my already reasonable conference fee.

This was my third time at Conference, so I pretty much knew what to expect. And I am glad to inform you that I got what I expected, and more.

The International Women's SM Conference (simply Conference to its attendees) is a unique and delightful event. The conference itself isn't held in a hotel, but in Manchester's LGBT Community Center. It's intimate, at a little over 80 attendees, this year including folks from the US, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK (and maybe more that I failed to record). And it has a bit of the "feel" of an old-school women's conference. In a really good way, trust me!

What follows is my blow-by-blow description of the weekend. I am trying to give a flavor of Conference. I can't possibly give you a flavor of the amazing camaraderie that developed between conference goers over the weekend. I have friends I only see at Conference: I may not have seen them since my last Conference four years ago, but we greet each other as if we saw each other last week.  Which we may have, on Facebook or "That Other Social Media". Anyway, here goes:

• Friday evening. We arrive and register. We find seats in the main room. We peruse auction items on tables at the side of the room. We help ourselves to soda or water. And we sit back and enjoy the live auction, presided over by the inimitable Rosie Lugosi. Auction items were diverse, jam, signed artwork, clothes, toys, accessories, jewelry, shoes, and services ... all had been donated and were being auctioned to defray conference costs.The organizers are trying to keep it reasonably priced. And succeeding. Rosie is a great auctioneer, very entertaining; the items were often bargains; and we even get a set of stand-up comedy in the middle.
• No party Friday night. We go back to the hotel - five minutes' walk away, along Canal Street in Manchester's gay village. (See nightclub G-A-Y on the left of the picture.)

• Saturday mid-morning. Back to the LGBT Center. 11 am Workshops. Choices: warm up for the weekend (icebreaker), BDSM first aid, and role play. I pick role play and it's fun! 
• Lunch on site. We sit in the main room and eat a delicious cold lunch. (The organizers cater lunch, as well as beverages and snacks all day, as part of the registration package.)
• 1 pm Workshops. Choices: flirting and negotiation; pinchy stuff (clips, clamps, pegs); school role play. Wow, two role play classes in a row. I can not help myself. Miss Prim of the Muir Academy is teaching the school role play class, and I absolutely can't resist. Especially since my own workshop will be up against Miss Prim's Sunday workshop.
• 3:30 pm (after a tea break) Workshops. Choices: flogging for beginners; we need to talk about c*nt; age play. I sit and talk in the social area instead. I actually would have liked at least one of these classes but I am having a nice chat!
• Dinner - then by car to a play party. Play! Hurrah! (Play parties are not included in registration. But prices are reasonable.)
• Sunday we are on about the same schedule as Saturday. Morning sessions: Yoga and BDSM; Warm Up (reprise), which I attend and have a blast; Internet Security. After lunch: Size diversity and acceptance in the kink community; Hoods, which I go to and enjoy a lot; Anal play. After tea: Muir Academy; Fisting; and my workshop, which is attended by a decent number of folks - some of whom are interested in setting up a women's title contest in the UK. Who knows, maybe we'll see a UK-sponsored contestant at IMsL soon...
• Dinner - followed by another awesome play party, this time in the gay village: Lash for Lasses, an infrequently recurring event. Maybe it's only once a year now to coincide with Conference. Host: Rosie Lugosi. Here's a picture I snapped with very special permission before the party got going.

• Monday morning: time to leave. But first we attend the (no-host) restaurant brunch, conveniently located just across the street from our hotel. Saying our farewells to new friends and old, we depart, missing the third play party, which will be that afternoon. We would have liked to carry on playing but we have Things to Do and Vacations to Enjoy, etc. 

Leaving Manchester, we drove to Bath, where we spent a wonderful evening with good friends. The next day, Tuesday May 27, we went with them to Avebury, which is the only village that is partly inside a stone circle, to see another friend and walk the stones, and then Marilyn and I drove back to London in time to go to Bar Wotever.

(Oh look! Here is a picture of Rosie Garland, AKA Rosie Lugosi, reading from her book The Palace of Curiosities at Wotever! This was a different day than when I was there - I decided to include it because I was talking about Rosie earlier.)

I have already sung the praises of Wotever here. But I can't stress enough what a warm and welcoming place it is for every type of queer or questioning person. It was great to see some of my friends there, and to catch part of that night's Open Mic, which featured the talented Cameryn Moore among many other great performers. Then we went back to our hotel and got a bit of sleep before flying off to Italy to see my parents. And since that is not a story for this blog, I will leave this entry here.

Next time, I will talk about the events of June, including the British Discipline West Coast Tour; the "Orange is the New Black Hanky" Cabaret; and maybe even the San Francisco Pride Festival. Thanks for reading!

Title activities report - May 2014: two SF leather bars, Northwest Leather Celebration, tribute to Ms. Margaret

If you read my last blog post, you'll know that I had a fantastic time at International Ms Leather (April 24-27). If you haven't, you can go here to see it. And the fun didn't stop when IMsL ended. Please read on to see what I got up to in May ...

• May 3. Public meeting of the SF Pride Leather Contingent, on the patio at the Eagle bar.  Here the local community voted to select the Leather Marshals for the Pride parade. Many deserving folks were nominated, yet only two can be selected.  The most votes went to Scott Peterson and Deborah Hoffman-Wade, whose bios can be found here.
• May 4.  I went back to the Eagle for a beer bust, where I saw a number of friends - here I am with Scout the bootblack, who is now International Mr. Bootblack - congratulations Scout! -
  
  
  and here I am with Jaco Lourens, who is Mr. South Africa Leather 2009/10 and one of the new friends I met at IMsL. Woof!
  
  
  After the beer bust, I went to the business meeting of The Exiles, and then on to the Center for Sex and Culture for a book launch party for the excellent Gender Book. A busy day!
• May 10. I was back at the Eagle, where Deborah Hoffman-Wade and  Schon Wade were getting married - after 25 years together. Yay for love stories! Here's a cute picture of me with my contest producer Liza, and my predecessor, Ms SF Leather 2012 and first runner up to IMsL 2014, Nerine Mechanique.
  
  Later that evening, I went to the Powerhouse for Black Saturday to see my sash husband, Scott "Big Red" Farrell. Here I am with him at the event.
  
  
  There was a fun jockstrap auction to raise funds for Big Red to go to International Mr. Leather, where he competed later that month. (No, I did not bid on the used jockstraps - but I did find out that Big Red is a natural redhead!)
• May 11. Mama's birthday at the Eagle. I look up to Sandy "Mama" Reinhardt as a community elder. Mama has for many years raised funds for community causes, including running the annual Leather Walk, which raises funds for the AIDS Emergency Fund and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund. Over the years, Mama has "pinned" thousands of community volunteers as members of her family, giving them a family name and a brass name tag. It's not just a name tag - it's a badge of honor to be included in Mama's Family.
• May 16-18. Went to Northwest Leather Celebration.  NWLC, held annually since 2008 in the south bay (and since 2011 in San Jose, CA), is a weekend BDSM conference where the Northwest Master and slave are selected. Like IMsL (see my last blog post for more on that event), there are workshops, play spaces, vending, a contest of course, and a keynote address. NWLC has a somewhat different focus than IMsL. The demographic is a bit different: I'd call it queer-friendly pansexual; the contest chooses a titleholder couple, not an individual; and the event is focused on the M/s (Master/slave) dynamic, and on D/s (dominance and submission), and not so much on the S/M part of BDSM. In contrast to last month at IMsL, while I did go in the play space and look around, I didn't have any appointments there. But just like IMsL, I spent the weekend connecting with people, talking, getting to know them, and exchanging business cards, and I felt at home within my larger community. Here is a sampling of what I did during the weekend. (Photos were not allowed at the event, sorry.)

• Friday - with my producers, hosted a hospitality suite; emceed the meet and greet; enjoyed the champagne and chocolate reception hosted by The Exiles.
• Saturday - assisted my wife Marilyn with a class she was presenting; went to the hospitality suite; attended the contest.
• Sunday - emceed the keynote address, and went shopping at the vendor mall (here is a pic of me in a beautifully made and possibly slightly creepy knitted pig mask that I bought from the excellent Kinky Knits). 
  
  Later that day, I was sad yet very privileged to attend a moving memorial service for Ms. Margaret, pictured here at a MS SF Leather contest a couple of years ago. 
  
  Ms. Margaret was the driving force behind NWLC since its inception. She passed away just a few weeks before this year's event, after being diagnosed a few months before with an aggressive cancer.  My thoughts are with her loved ones, especially her devoted slave and second-in-command, Erich. 

I didn't finish describing all of May's activities yet, but I will save the rest for another blog post. I'll leave this one with some thoughts about Ms. Margaret.

I was privileged to volunteer for Ms. Margaret at NWLC in the past, and I found her to be a wonderful leader. Like the stellar manager she was, she saw and nurtured in many of us skills that we did not recognize in ourselves, or did not know how to use. I include myself here: several years ago Ms. Margaret reached out and offered me the opportunity to emcee at NWLC, and encouraged me that I would be good at it.  I had wanted such an opportunity, and somehow Ms. Margaret had seen that I had some talent for public speaking and decided to offer me a chance. I accepted her offer, and had a fantastic time as one of her emcees for the weekend. Ms. Margaret was very supportive, made my work easy, and afterwards told me I had done a good job. And from that point, I was never afraid to volunteer for public speaking gigs again.  In fact, Ms. Margaret putting me on a stage may have directly led to my competing for Ms SF Leather, so I have a lot to thank her for - including all the fun you are reading about here in my blog.

Our world and our community was enriched by Ms. Margaret's life. May her memory be for a blessing.

International Ms. Leather 2014 - April 24-27

As part of my package for winning Ms. SF Leather, I was lucky enough to receive a free pass to attend International Ms. Leather (IMsL) 2014, which was held April 24-27 in San Jose, CA.

At this event, IMsL (International Ms. Leather) and IMsBB (International Ms. Bootblack) are selected.  It's in effect a pageant, but it's so much more. IMsL is a four-day BDSM convention, with educational workshops, bootblacking, large events in the ballroom every evening, including the contest on Saturday night, a hospitality suite hosted by various clubs and organizations throughout the event, and 24-hour play spaces for all genders. I consider IMsL to be a woman-centered event that is open to everyone, with the majority of attendees somewhere on the queer spectrum. I have attended IMsL for six of the last seven years, pretty much since the event started being held in the Bay Area, and I have always had a great time. 

In the past, I volunteered for IMsL many of the years I have attended. Whether I had a formal role, such as assisting the education chief (as I did twice), or just working a shift here and there, volunteering was a good way to feel useful at the event, to meet people, and to reduce the cost of attending.  As the current Ms. SF Leather, I had a free package and did not *need* to volunteer.  So, since I am planning to compete in the event next year, and expect to be very busy, I decided to dedicate this weekend as much as possible to the pursuit of FUN. Other than representing my title in the titleholders' parade, I had only one real obligation, which was to assist with the hospitality suite on Saturday afternoon that The Exiles and Ms SF Leather organizations co-hosted, so there was plenty of time for fun! Here's some of what I did over the weekend...

• Thursday.  Attended the Thursday evening Seduction event, and then went to the play space, where I had an appointment. What happens in the play space stays in the play space! Sorry, but you just had to be there.
• Friday. Hung out with friends. Went to class. Visited the hospitality suite. Attended the opening ceremonies, where I carried the Union Jack in the parade of flags of countries represented at the event, and represented my title in my sash.  Went back to the play space, where I had another appointment. Went back up to the hospitality suite, where a party was going on. Enjoyed the party, spent time talking with old friends and meeting new ones. Ran into a friend there, and we went down to the play space for some more fun.
• Saturday. Took some time out from IMsL to go to services at the local synagogue. Got back in time to assist with the Exiles and Ms SF Leather hospitality suite. Had my picture taken with IMsL 1999, Pam Meyer.
  
  Later, I went to the contest, got photographed with IMsL 2007, Lauren Ide, 
  
  and watched the contestants' speeches and fantasies.  Here I am with IMsBB 2014 (and Oregon State Bootblack 2013) Dara, right after the winners were announced,
  
  and here I am with IMsL 2014 (and Ms. Leather Toronto 2013) Patty, later on at an informal party for the winners and all the contestants. 

• Sunday. Attended the keynote brunch.  Here I am there with Ms SF Leather 2012, and first runner-up for IMsL 2014, Nerine Mechanique.
  
  Originally, renowned trans activist Kate Bornstein was scheduled to deliver the keynote, and to be one of the contest judges, but because of health issues she could not attend. Author, storyteller and educator S. Bear Bergman was drafted in her place.  His speech was wonderful. (I am sure he was a great judge as well! I say this because the winners are both doing great jobs as I write this.) Later that day I managed to get back into the play space with a friend. Then, during the evening, I went to Bawdy Storytelling to hear people tell funny and sexy true stories.  This time the (curated) Bawdy Stories were joined by a Bawdy Slam where you could put your name in a hat to tell a story.  I almost hurt myself laughing at Laura Antoniou's hilarious story about a porn slam, and then as part of the Bawdy Slam I got to tell my own true story entitled "Turkey is not a Vegetable".  I also got to buy signed copies of Laura Antoniou's book "The Killer Wore Leather" and several of S. Bear Bergman's books. I went back into the play space with my wife, who made time in her busy schedule to hang out with me. Finally, she and I sat in the hospitality suite and chilled out with some of our friends until it was time to go to sleep.
• Monday.  Had to leave!  Sad face.  Can't wait until next year!

If you have read this far, you will have seen that I spent a lot of time in the play space. What I didn't mention directly is how much I enjoyed a whole weekend of being in the company of old friends and new, talking, eating together, hanging out by the pool, schmoozing, cruising, catching up, swapping stories, and just being together, in community. I feel at home at IMsL. I feel like I am with my tribe. 

My thanks to the producers and staff who put this event together. This year we had new producers, and from my point of view as an attendee, they really hit the ground running. I am looking forward to a fantastic IMsL 2015. 

This was just a brief report on the event.  As I alluded to earlier, for some things you just have to be there. So, be there! Mark your calendars for April 9-12, 2015. Don't miss it!

Title activities report - March/April 2014: Purim, leather contests, Golden Dildeaux Awards

The first thing that happened in March was the Mr SF Leather contest. I already blogged about that here, so let's move on ...

• March 8 - International Women's day and the birthday of one of my exes...  My wife Marilyn and I went to Black Saturday at the Powerhouse, to see my new sash husband Scott "Big Red" Farrell.  I failed to take any pictures, but please trust that we had fun! We also learned to avoid parking in Dore Alley at night, because of frequent car break-ins there.  I am not saying anything about our car having loads of broken glass or anything, but I can attest to the fact that the local cops know where the all-night car wash and vacuum is located. Also, when going to the Powerhouse, I now park on 10th Street, where it's also really safe to walk. Bonus!
• March 15 - Purim at Beth Israel Judea synagogue in San Francisco. My synagogue, B'nai Emunah (BE), colalborated with BIJ and two other congregations for a big Purim celebration. Purim is the Jewish festival where you are supposed to get dressed up in costume, and also to get drunk (if appropriate for you, of course). When my rabbi found out I was the current Ms SF Leather, he suggested I dress as that for Purim, so I did. The outfit was certainly quite a conversation-starter! Here's a picture of me and my wife and her kids, all dressed up for the event.
  
   
•  March 21-23 - Washington State Mr/Ms Leather Organization's annual contest for the Washington State Mr. and Ms. Leather and the new title of Washington State Bootblack. The contest meet and greet was held on Friday evening at Doghouse Leathers, a community-owned leather and toy store in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle. I got to meet the judges, contestants, and current titleholders, and to see some old friends. What a great evening! Then on Saturday evening, after spending the day walking Capitol Hill with old friends, it was time for the contest, held at The Cuff, a friendly gay bar with a stage in back, conveniently located right around the corner from Doghouse Leathers. Here are a couple of pics of me with Danelle, outgoing WA State Ms. Leather,
  
  
  
  
  and Stormy and Bill, current Mr. and Ms. Oregon State Leather. I like making new friends! The next day there was an awards brunch where the community and visitors got to mingle and where the new titleholders were officially introduced and given their regalia. Here's a picture of Becca Bee, WA State Bootblack, Tris Esclave, WA State Ms. Leather, and Erik Taylor, WA State Mr. Leather, with their sashes and vests on at the same time, which we are promised we will never see again! (A word to the wise - you usually only wear one at a time. But they just got them that minute, so they had them on together, on purpose.) Congratulations to all the titleholders!
  
  
  I had a fantastic time visiting Seattle. I received a very warm welcome, I met some really great people, I got to see some old friends too, and I can't wait to go back for another visit!
• March 29 - Mr. LA Leather contest. I went down just for the one night.  I decided to do this in  support of my gorgeous sash husband on his road to IML, but I was really glad I did because I had a great time.  Here I am with Big Red,
  
  and here I am with Big Red and the super handsome and all around good guy Eric Paul Leue, the new Mr. LA Leather 2014. Did I just mention handsome?  Congratulations to Eric - who is already doing a great job.
  
  
• Sometimes you have to work as well as party.  On April 5th, I attended another meeting of the San Francisco Pride Leather Contingent. The SF Eagle leather bar kindly let us meet on its pleasant patio. The meetings of the Leather Contingent are open, and any interested community member may attend.  Local folks, hit me up for info by emailing me via this blog. As I write, Pride is finished for 2014, but the meetings will start up again early in 2015 and I for one plan to stay involved.
• April 12 - another Black Saturday at the Powerhouse. Still no pictures!  What's with that?  Sorry.I had a great time though. The Powerhouse is a really friendly bar and I am glad to have had an excuse to get to visit there a bit more often. 
• April 13 - meeting with Liza and Jody, my contest producers and the reason I have this title, and other folks on their team.  The contest is in October and we have to do a bit of planning and logistics.  It was great to spend time with my producers, of whom I don't see as much as I would like.  Not that they are absent or anything.  I just really like them.
• April 18 - program of The Exiles: whips, with Zemis. The Exiles is my home club, and does BDSM education for women and everyone whose gender self-identification is other than male. I always enjoy going to our programs.  There is education, you can get cheap safe sex supplies, and there are other kinky women (and genderqueers, etc) to talk to.  How bad could that be?
• April 19 - the Golden Dildeaux Awards, sponsored by the Golden Gate Guards.  The Golden Dildeaux are humorous penis-shaped awards given out each year.  The Golden Dildeaux raise funds to benefit the AIDS Emergency Fund.  The awards were started in 1972 by the late Marcus Hernandez and were later taken over by the Golden Gate Guards.  The Golden Dildeaux are literally awards you can buy.  Anyone can nominate someone for one or more of the awards, and then anyone can vote for their favorite nominee.  It costs a dollar per vote, and you can vote with as many dollars as you like.  Remember, it's for a good cause! I was nominated in two categories: "Iron Lady" (not Margaret Thatcher, but best butch) and "The Great Beauty" (hottest current titleholder), and I came away with both.  Remember, you can buy these awards, otherwise do you think I would have beaten IML 2013 Andy Cross?  I am not that vain.  Here I am with my awards and a fellow happy winner.
  
  
• April 24-27. International Ms. Leather 2014. If I tried to describe everything that happened here, I would be writing all night. For now, suffice it to say that this was a really great weekend event - no, I mean REALLY GREAT!! I might do a report about it on "that other social networking site", but don't count on it - some things you just have to experience in person.

See you again soon for another episode of my travels. Thanks for reading!

Leather Alliance Weekend and Mr SF Leather Contest 2014

So, it's July.  Why am I reporting on an event that happened at the beginning of March?  Apparently, I have been too busy to write about my activities. To those of you who have been waiting for my posts, my sincere apologies.  I am making a big effort to get caught up, so let's see how that goes.

Feb 28 through Mar 2 was the SF Bay Area Leather Alliance weekend. On Friday we had a meet and greet at Mr. S Leather followed by a roast of outgoing Mr SF Leather Andy Cross at the BeatBox. Here I am at the meet and greet with my fellow judges, contest staff and contestants.

... and here I am at the BeatBox with some other leatherwomen (left to right: Rio Spooner, co-coordinator of The Exiles; me; my wife Marilyn; and Beth Bicoastal, my first runner-up. Thanks to Rich Stadtmiller for the great pictures!

Saturday was a busy day with interviews during the afternoon and the contest in the evening. There were five contestants: Scott "Big Red" Farrell representing Legion of Sin MC; Gage Fisher, Mr. Eagle SF; Jay Hall, Mr. SF Sober Leather; Stephan Ferris, Mr. Edge; Nile Eckhoff, Mr. Daddy's Barbershop; and Will Victoria, Mr. Powerhouse. Here is a great photo that was taken backstage by Desmond Perrotto.

Each of the contestants had a lot to offer and I am sure would have represented the title and the Bay Area kink community well, each in his own way.  But there can only be one winner. Big Red was declared the new Mr. SF Leather, and Gage was first runner-up.  Congratulations to all the contestants! Here I am with my new sash husband.

On Sunday, there was an awards brunch, where many awards were given out for the best events of the year and to honor community member achievements.  We honored two community members who had passed too soon by giving them posthumous lifetime achievement awards, and we honored the living with "man and woman of the year" and other awards.  See the Leather Alliance website for more details.

I promise to blog more very soon. Remember to subscribe to get the updates as soon as I post them. And please send feedback! Thanks for reading.

Title activities report - February 2014

February started with a meeting and ended with a roast.  That is okay by me!

• On February 1st, I attended the meeting for the SF Pride Parade Leather Contingent.  I was invited by my producers, but once I got thereI found out it is actually an open meeting and anyone can attend.  Leather/kink folks in the bay area interested in helping out with the parade, I encourage you to attend.  Write to me for more info.
• To celebrate my birthday, I went away for Presidents' Day weekend, and missed a whole boatload of activities and events in San Francisco.  Sad face!  But, I had a good time going to southern California. I even got a geocache near the Madonna Inn.  Okay, nothing to do with my title.  But it's my blog and I will put what I want here!
  
  
  
  
  

• On February 21, I attended the program of The Exiles San Francisco. Our presenter was the inimitable Mss. Tatiana Belodyne.  She gave a fantastic class on making chest and pelvic rope harnesses.  The class was well attended and much enjoyed.  Mss. Tatiana is available to teach classes, and for private sessions too.  Check out her website for more info.
• On February 26, I went for the first time to a program given by the Leathermen's Discussion Group. For kinky folks in the Bay Area who don't know about this organization, please check it out. I plan to do a blog post specifically about the LDG. In brief, it is a group run by leathermen and open to the whole community.  The programs are free, the speakers are usually community elders,and the content and audience are both HOT. I received the warmest possible welcome, the presentation by Mark Frazier was informative, entertaining, and very exciting, and I even snapped a rare pic with my sash husband Andy Cross. I couldn't believe I had never been before.  This was my first time, but will not be my last!
  
• February 28 marked the start of the Leather Alliance's Leather Weekend, incorporating the Mr SF Leather contest, for which I had the honor of being one of the judges.  On the 28th, we had the neet'n'greet at Mr S, and a roast of outgoing titleholder Andy Cross at the BeatBox.  This was all very exciting, but you have to wait for my next blog post to hear about it! Sorry to tease you.  I promise to post all about it soon.

That's it for another blog post!  Please check back soon, or subscribe to get the posts faster. And don't forget to send me an email if you have any questions!  There is a link right on the main blog page.

Shameless Plug for Bar Wotever in London

Whenever I will be in London, I always do my best to schedule my visit to include a Tuesday night, so I can go down to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, and spend an evening in the company of queer family at Bar Wotever. I decided to do this blog post specifically about Bar Wotever and its parent, Wotever World, because I cannot stress enough what terrific people they are, and what a welcoming and friendly space they have made for all type of queer people, and everyone actually. If you only click on one link in this blog, click here to go to Wotever World's website and read their manifesto.  I get all choked up just reading it.

Here are some of the Wotever crew at the last Bar Wotever of 2013.

Title activities report - January 2014

The good news is that I have been quite busy with my sash.  I am going to really miss it when I have to give it back!  The not quite so good news is that I have been busy and not finding time to update my blog.  With a jam packed couple of months coming up, I thought I had better try and get up to date.  So, here is the first of what I hope will be several entries I post this week.

• The year started off with a bang!  Marilyn and I attended The Exiles' New Year's Eve party at Alchemy Estate.  The play space is beautiful.  There was tasty food and non-alcohol sparkling cider, and at midnight we were treated to the spectacle of a human "ball drop" - akin to the one in Times Square, but of course much more fun. Sorry, no pictures.  It was a play party, after all... I guess you'll just have to be there next time and see for yourself!
• My next event was a non-event.  I heard that on January 4, The Imperial Council of San Francisco was putting on a Mr and Ms Leather contest. I had got all ready to go out, when I double-checked the listing, and found it had been postponed until further notice.  I fully support the concept of an Imperial Court Leather title, and I hope they put it on while I can still attend it in my sash.  It is hard to think of a better or more suitable occasion! Here I am, all dressed up with no place to go.  At least I could turn around and play Pinball ...
  
  
• On January 11, I attended the Mr Powerhouse contest.  This was to be the final feeder contest for Mr SF Leather (more about that in my NEXT blog entry).  There were two contestants.  Both did a good job but there could only be one winner, and it was Will Victoria (on the left).  FYI, Will does great work on the Bare Chest Calendar, which raises tons of funds for charity.  Please go to the link and donate!  I just did. Congratulations Will, I know you will do a great job of representing the Powerhouse this year.
  
  
  Several of the contestants and organizers from the Mr SF Leather contest were gathered on stage - below is Ray Tilton speaking about it - and the new Judge Emeritus, Garry (Marlena, Empress XXV of SF's Imperial Court, and the owner of the former Marlena's bar in Hayes Valley) was introduced (on the left in the second picture).  Garry/Marlena will hold the Judge Emeritus position for life, as is the tradition.  He is the first to be named after the passing of Mister Marcus Hernandez.
  
  
  
  
  
  I got my picture taken a few times.  Here are three more of my favorite pictures from the evening, with Erik Will; Sky Pup Russell; and Ray Tilton. 

• Lastly for January - San Francisco LGBT Pride may be in late June, but the work of organizing it is a year-round thing.  On January 14, the group which runs Leather Alley at Pride met to get started on this year's plans.  This year our theme, to go along with the overall Pride theme of "Color Our World with Pride", is "Color Your Pride with Leather".  Watch this blog for more updates. 

Look out for further blog updates very soon!  I still have two fun-packed months to report on - and more coming up. Bookmark me - or subscribe!  And thanks for reading.