Cool Photographer Eric Robinson gets Hotter by the Minute…

Eric Robinson. photo: Gay Highwaymen

Friend of this site Eric Robinson has been shooting us, and our friends for a couple of years now. Tintypes! Ambrotypes! Pics on metal and glass…way old school, 19th century-style. PDQ, he will be a “Master.” No, not like That! His MFA (Master of Fine Arts) show opens in August, and he is already showing all over like the worst exhibitionist ever. His ongoing Leathermen series is part of a larger archival project called Other Ways of Being. Robinson says of his work: “What I seek with my camera is the difference – visible difference – that allows us to identify or disassociate with groups, cultures or communities.” These are important cross-cultural concerns, and Robinson’s unique camera view points our brains at them. Leathermen has already shown three times nationally (Chicago, San Francisco and Vermont) and is BIG in Indonesia, where it is featured in the glossy mag, PhotoArt Contemporary. Cool. Keep watching, ’cause this fantastic old-school shutter-bug boy is going to be BIG. Well. If we have anything to do with it anyway…more here. Enjoy!

Road Trip: Weed, CA

I’m traveling through the Pacific Northwest this week. Here’s a picture from the town of Weed, in the far north of California.

GEAR UP! (New Gear Men host Old Leather in Cali’s Saratoga Springs)

Photo and Design: Gay Highwaymen 2011

Old Leather; New Gear. Same fucking twisted kinky throbbing bobbing dripping ass-kicking mind-bending challenging pervert stuff as always. Of course. Style changes but stiff pricks and throbbing balls always rise to the particular season’s occasion. It’s about what got us hot and hard when we were young, and what does it now. N’est pas? See-see bone! Leather? Kevlar? Rope? Metal? Crazy new materials fresh out of R/D labs? All the wonders of modern technology? Or go way old school: kidnap a willing victim to the woods for some paleo-punk action in private. Way past medieval. Lots of room to get lost. Or…show off under the spotlight. Or…or…or. Sure. Why not? If it gets you hard and he’s game, have at it! Do the hokey-pokey. Because that really is what it’s all about…

Gear Up! is a Mens weekend party/run happening this weekend at Saratoga Springs. (The Cali Stagecoach Stop not the NY Resort!) This is the run’s first year and it is “geared” towards the younger set, to the post AIDS-crisis generation of men who lost most of the Men who would have been their generational elders and mentors – had more survived. Thankfully, some did! So…it’s a mixer. As the GearUp guys say: “amid open playspaces and numerous educational workshops, GearUp brings together the open-minded beginner with the trustworthy player.” Sounds like a plan! For more information on GearUp click here. More on Saratoga Springs here. Plus…if you are at the run and want a cool opportunity for a little silence and solitude in the midst of so damned much hotness, check out the Nishikigoi (Koi) Pond, here. Oh, oh oh, ommmm….!

Beatitude and Beat in NorCal: Saratoga Springs Nishikigoi Pond

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California’s Saratoga Springs  used to be a stagecoach stop. That was way back in the 19th century day. Now it is a “retreat and conference center.” Yoga retreats, raves and weddings are part of the draw, but they also host Leather and S/m Club Runs. The 15 Association does the annual Boot Camp run every June. Leather Levi Weekend does a mixed ‘Twisted Summer Camp’ run in August, and this year, a new mens’ run called Gear Up premieres in late July.

All that hard play can be hard work, and the deeper it gets, the realer it becomes. From degradation to grace and back again, turning forever on itself like a mobius strip. Beat, Beat-Up, Beatitude: words to fly by from the jam-sweet lips of angel-headed hipsters.  Top or bottom, sometimes retreat is a good option. For those times, just outside the dungeon (aka The Heart Lodge) mildly hidden in the landscaping, a small magical nishikigoi (koi) pond waits. A rock ledge provides enough room for a semi-lotus, and a fine venue for adventures in ego dissolution. Flash of Orange. Take me…OM…country roads…splash sky water…gone.

“Hey, Soldier!” New Gay Cali Style Manga from JoJo Mendoco

Story adapted from a true story originally published in Meat: True Homosexual Experiences from STH. “How men look, act, walk, talk, dress, undress, taste & smell.” Published by Gay Sunshine Press, 1981. “Sex for an Armless Vet.” Edited by Boyd McDonald, the STH: Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts were a series of compilations of true stories and reader photographs. Literary porn with big props from the likes of Gore Vidal,  William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, who wrote:

“Everybody loves the first glimpse of naked love. Everybody’s story is the most thrilling in the world. Everybody tells their best friend their tale of the raw behind. First time they discovered an open heart with their pants down.”

For more from JoJo Mendoco, click here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Fukya! New from JoJo Mendoco. Cali Mangaka. G-Men inspired Leathersex Art.

Fukya! JoJo Mendoco c2011

“Let’s enjoy G-Men’s way.” New from JoJo Mendoco. This one is directly inspired by the Japanese G-Men series. Mainly manga for gay men, G-Men focuses on Bara (Bears),  Gaten-Kai (Blue-Collar Men) and other masculine types. G-Men features photographic material as well as cartoons and personal ads. Mangaka (manga artist) Gengorah Tagame is a driving force behind this hot series. More on him soon. Very visual in its impact, no reading knowledge of Japanese is needed to enjoy G-Men’s way!

Boulder Daily Camera gets the Picture, but Prop 8 overturn is not a Dunn Deal.

Aidan Dunn and Sheree Red Bornard - AP Photo

Everyone, from legal eagles to the peanut gallery, agree that this will go to the US Supreme Court. Meantime, let the celebration commence! Friend of the site Aidan Dunn shows the back of his head in this shot. From the well-named Boulder Daily Camera out of Colorado. News of the same day: the dismissal of Lt. Choi under DADT. Ironic juxtaposition. The nation watches.

“Sheree Red Bornand, right, hugs Aidan Dunn after hearing the decision in the United States District Court proceedings challenging Proposition 8 outside of the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010. A person close to the case says a federal judge has overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban in a landmark case that could eventually land before the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker made his ruling Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by two gay couples who claimed the voter-approved ban violated their civil rights.” (via Boulder Daily Camera. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Aidan Dunn in USA Today

Update: the back of Aidan’s head gets famouser and gaymouser by the minute. The photo was printed in papers in Mexico, India and other foreign and remote locales. Closer to home, the dubious honor of the front page above the fold of the USA Today.