Mr. Philly Leather and a New York Visit

Mr. Leather Competition

Went to the Mr. Philadelphia Leather competition this year and it was a blast.

The whole Nov 10-12 weekend was a Leather fantasy starting with the Kinky Carnival at the Bike Stop on Quince. And sandwiched between that and the Victory party on Sunday was the competition itself.

Best friend Jason and I dutifully donned some leather and made our way to the Mask & Wig club a venerable U of P institution that remains here in center city Philly while the rest of the U of P sprawls across West Philadelphia. The Mask & Wig is an old, old building that harkens back to a much earlier time in this city’s history. There aren’t many of these buildings left as the city is intently creating parking lots and condo buildings and smothering history. Soon, there’ll be lots of parking lots but no reason to park since everything else will have been razed to make parking lots. Can you spell short sighted?

This clubhouse has a wooden interior that makes you feel as if you’re at some ancient campsite’s clubhouse. The walls are filled with caricatures and objects (dare I say fetish totems) from past members. This is a good old boys club – but one with a twist. The good old boys, while they are cute young men, put on a show every year in this clubhouse. A drag show – and I’ve heard that some of them are quite something to see. Never yet been to one but I’m hankering to go.

The Mr. Leather competition was held on the stage upstairs with Ms Carlotta Tendant as the hostess. Speeches were made, contestants introduced, and the game was on.

The four male contestants had to go through their paces – leatherwear, sexy outfits, formal leatherwear, speeches on topics, answers to questions put to them by Carlotta, and not least, the fantasy scene. One involved a housepainter and his assistant – don’t we all have that fantasy? Don’t we all want to hold some sexy painter’s brush? Another was a businessman or maybe even a politician, who after stripping off his suit and tie made hot time with his visitor or constituent. There was an Odd Couple take-off in which sloppy Oscar finally gets his revenge on Felix – but what revenge! Felix gets fucked doggie style and both he and Oscar seem to be enjoying themselves. Revenge is sweet. The fourth fantasy rounding out the show was a seasonal one: Santa and his elvish helpers have a holiday romp that we can only dream about. That is if Santa is your fantasy man.

The big winner for the evening was John Loesch – Mr. Leather 2007 – a handsome, sexy guy who will do us proud. He lives in Collingswood, NJ a very gay town just outside Philly. He’s the captain of the Philadelphians MC and hopes to promote the Leather community and its activities.

New York

Went to New York for Jason’s birthday. The weekend after Thanksgiving is one of those mad hectic times but although the crowds were huge, it wasn’t bad at all. We met wp with friend Yurong who is a lovely person and had a great Korean dinner after seeing Mama Mia. The Korean restaurant was a midtown establishment in a very Korean centered area – lots of restaurants and though it was late when we finished, there were scads of young, very cute Koreans hanging about outside the restaurants, bars and clubs. Made me curious and hot.

Eralier that evening we went to The Leather Man shop in the Village – a great, great place to buy whatever strikes your fancy in leather. And the way they do business is unbeatable.

Next afternoon, Jason and I had a great lunch at a place called Papillion – we dined with his colleague Karen and her family. And, the place has a “free” something if it’s your birthday. In this case, Jason got his entire meal free.

Later we returned to the Leather Man where I bought Jason his birthday gift – a rather wonderful harness. One which I’ll eventually get for myself. It’s a great contraption which is easier to step into and out of than other harnesses. But, David, our salesperson, said that people do often get them tangled up and in most cases there’s no remedy except to bring it back to the shop and have them untangle and readjust. And that’s the great thing – they fit each item to you specifically – no charge! Of course, Jason did not waste the opportunity to shed his clothes and try on the harness before and after adjustment.

That night we had a birthday dinner with several friends, including Yurong, and went to The View atop the Marriott Marquis on Times Square. It’s a restaurant which revolves 360 degrees giving you some spectacular views of the city. It takes an hour for it to turn completely but you’d never know it. Everything is priced as high as the building – and you come away with a thinner wallet but richer for having seen the city the way it lets you see it.

The next day we had some time to go back to some shops and just enjoy the city and then it was back to Philadelphia and the workaday world.