Mr. Marcus

[News]



NATIONAL & San Francisco Leather

by
MISTER MARCUS


WEEK 11 March 15, 2001

HOUSTON GOES TO CHICAGO

Until last Friday night, March 9, 2001, Houston Davenport was Mr. Powerhouse Leather 2001 - and he still has that title - but before a standing room only crowd at Club Townsend and right around 2155 hours, Houston Davenport became the 23rd man to win the Mr. Leather of San Francisco title. The first runner-up was Eric Bernier (Mr. Edge Leaher 2001) and the 2nd runner-up was Chris Ross (Mr. Daddy's Leather 2001). This is exactly the same order in the scoring as last year when Lance Gear won the title with Bob Miller and Rob Esmonde the runner-ups.

It was a grueling week for everyone involved with the Mr. SF Leather 2001 contest. Producers Bob Brunson and Glennon Sutter have barely recuperated from their odyssey into contest producing. And a damn good job they did too! Oh sure, there were several glitches before and during the contest, but it all worked out just fine and nobody in the audience was aware of any problem.

For Houston Davenport, it was especially trying dealing with preparations for the competition and almost very frequent visits to his ailing partner Bob Miller hospitalized due to pneumonia. Accompanied by Lance Gear, his first stop after the contest was to the bedside of his ailing partner.

But how sweet it is for Mr. Davenport. Besides the prize of round trip air fare, hotel accommodations and representing San Francisco at IML in Chicago, he was also awarded $1000 cash to spend as he sees fit for more leather gear and whatever expenses he may have to deal with. And get this, The Sling (thanks Russ Libby!) donated "one exclusive night for the winner and 10 of his friends." I'm assuming it will be long after Memorial Day weekend before Houston will be able to host this little soiree¢.

Viola Wills rocked the place with her musical renditions both in the opening number where the contestants were in jail cells in a twisted version of "Oz" and "The Wizard of Oz", complete with a yellow brick road from the front door of 177 Townsend to the seating area. Queen Cougar was in a wheel chair at the beginning and Viola Wills ripped off the prisoner suits as the contestants were introduced.

"Dreamer", that hunk, dreamy man from Guerneville did an excellent job "signing" and the tally masters were Tim Wong and Bill Weaver who delivered the results to Queen Cougar in record time. It wasn't easy for the judges, either. Lance Gear headed up the panel as the Chief with IML Chief Judge Thom Dombkowski, Mr. Los Angeles Leather Jeff Wacha, Ingu Yun, Gary Kenyon, Mike Martin and Laura Federico joining in the scoring. Andy Rose was the judges' slave and Art Tomaszewski was the Den Daddy.

Vern Stewart (Wicked Witch of the East) flew in from snowy upstate New York to present the Peter Austin Award. This year, it went to Paul Lester, the past 5-year president of the board of directors of SMMILE. Later in the evening, the Mr. SF Leather Committee presented the Unsung Hero award to Ingu Yun. Both awards were well-deserved and well-received by the audience.

Lance Gear was both sincere and eloquent in his stepping aside speech. It was only 9 minutes long but it was thankful, clear and gracious. I use the word "gracious" because there are those in this community who had/have a "problem" with titled people who work in the porn industry. Well, get over it (and you know who you are, Ms. Dame May Whitty). A person exploring their sexuality is as much a right to all as it is a right to live in peace, harmony and happiness in this world. Lance Gear may have stepped aside from the title last Friday night, but he will still be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Thanks Lance, for a job well done and making us very proud of you at IML last year.

Houston Davenport (center) acknowledges the roar of approval from the crowd (almost 700 strong) at Club Townsend in San Francisco last Friday night, March 9th when he was announced Mr. San Francisco Leather 2001. (L.) Chris Ross (Mr. Daddy's Leather) was the 2nd runner-up and (R.) Eric Bernier (Mr. Edge Leather) was the 1st runner-up.

The march towards IML and Chicago next May did not stop in San Francisco. Thanks to Mike Siemer flashes that in far off Kansas City, Missouri, the Dixie Belle Complex (formerly Saloon), hosted their annual Mr. Dixie Belle Leather competition and added the Heart of America Leather Boy contest as well. At my deadline, Mike advised that Bill Snook is the new Mr. Dixie Belle Leather 2001 and Scott Rower is the new Heart of America Boy. Bill competes at IML in May and Scott competes for the American Leather Boy in Washington, DC the last weekend in April. The roster at that particular event is growing and it should be a great event in 2001.

One more thing, the SMMILE people are looking for someone to build their float for the Bare Chest Calendar men who will once more participate in the Alphabet Soup Parade in June. Know anyone with talent in that area? It's worth some $750 to the right ###

Click here for accompanying pictures.

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