"Spring has sprung; Winter has went. It was not did by accident"…


Spring has roared in like a lion for us. First the wedding. Then LeatherFest and later IML. Woah - guess we're becoming Leather gypsies. This is being written in-between putting coats of paint on 'Mr Van Dodge', our 'utilitarian vessel' which sits outside in front of our RV - that's why we got it - to tow our RV actually. But it's a great roomy versatile mode of transportation for us even if it's V8 gets terrible mileage. We can cook, sleep and entertain ourselves so it all averages out. And we can take everything including the kitchen sink with us when we travel. We use it for storage too, to keep the house clear. Anyway, after Dad tinted 11 of it's 14 windows we decided it would look good from the outside if we pained a semi-gloss black band around the windows to give it a nice flowing limo look. We shopped for the paint in Palm Springs last Monday. It's working out fine. So next we'll make the curtains. Bought the material already and some friends gave us a sewing machine which we gave to a neighbor in exchange for sewing the curtains for us. Everything works out.

This Saturday is the Sabastapol Apple Blossom Festival -and they're ready just in time. We were out over the weekend taking pictures on our way to the flea market. Dad got a gadget to turn the lights on and off at night and boi found his long awaited Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner for $5. complete with attachments

Yep, we are home from our wonderful trip to the Southland. Most folks thought it was our honeymoon. Well kinda-sorta - parts of it maybe - like dinner at the Chart House in Palm Springs. We had reservations at Lakeside out at the Marriot in Rancho Mirage but when we got there, the boats that take you there were shut d own due to sudden high winds. Dad was pissed and we loaded ourselves into the van and went down the road. Our good friend Ed Williams was with us and we celebrated his birthday (March 13th); Dad's birthday and our wedding. The waitress was hip. Turned out her birthday is the same as Dad, February 13h.. Oh my, another Aquarian. Female Aquarians are rare and usually way out there. She lives with her six dogs 20 miles up in the mountains above The Springs. She wants to come to the next LeatherFest. She bought us a Mud Pie for our dessert and we stay'd 'til the place closed drinking California Merlot.

The pace of our ten day trip was pretty fast and full. So much so that we stay'd an extra day at Kent's just to rest up. Who's Kent? Think 'Toy's For Tops'. Think interracial switch. Think organ engineer - as in musical instrument. Think German blond. Think 35ish. Kent is cool and we were well cared for at his wonderful home in Long Beach by both Kent and his former boy now roommate (Top) Irwin. Whoops. While we were there we were treated to a grand dinner party of both old and new LeatherFetish friends. For 'dessert' boi rodtney received a double flogging. The boi's Master had promised Kent the opportunity to break in the new Jeanette Hartwick he had presented us for a wedding gift. Kent has very successfully transferred his double fan technique from the days of disco into an expert dance of another kind.

On the first day we left our earliest ever: 06:30. It took us three hours just to get out of the Bay Area and out onto the '5'. After that we flew - but with only an hour and a half sleep the night before we both had to take turns taking naps in the back of the van. By the time we reached the southern end of the San Juaquine valley (Bakersfield) there was beautiful snow on the mountains all around us. The ride over the grapevine was breathtaking winter/spring.

As we cruised the diamond lanes into L.A. we headed straight for West Hollywood where we had three tasks to accomplish: First to CBS to pick up our tickets for a taping of Simbad five days later; then to find a t-shirt shop to make us some LeatherWeb shirts to wear at LeatherFest. Hollywood Boulevard - we found it; then on to visit with Dimitrius at 'Tribal Earth' on Santa Monica Boulevard. He was getting ready for a buying trip to India, Greece and Africa to find materials for his latest project: Global Leather! Formerly Black Eagle Leather Klub, Dimitrius hasn't skipped a beat after the recent loss of his life-partner , Ricardo who certainly would approve.. Together they brought LeatherFetish fashion to a whole new world class level over the past few years. Now, Dimitrius is about to become the new gay Swami of West Hollywood.

The minute you hit L.A. everyone's talking about some part of the (entertainment)'Industry'. One night at Kent's we had a small party of five. Our guests were old running buddies of the darker hue. Thomas was celebrating having signed with his new agent at ICM, the largest talent agency in the business. He is a make-up artist and dresser. Oh yes, he does know how to dress to catch and dress to thrill. Our other visitor was 'Famous Fred' who is a true hip-hop thug lookin' high school track and football coach. His team just became State champs so he was 'high' too. Actually Fred is usually high. Kent can't understand a word of his dialect - but this Dad can. We use 'ebonics' exactly the way it was designed four hundred years ago as a means of communication between slaves from different tribes without the master knowing what was being said. It's a wonderful 'living' language which changes every six months/days/hours to fit the circumstance. Fred presented an audio tape he's just made as a gift. Listened to it on the road. Gotta 'edu-kate' my boi, ya know J. I'm smilin' here. Life is goodt - All the time!

Speakin' of the "Life Is Good" phrase. It comes from our Church. We say it all the time. And while we were South we planned our stay so that we could attend the first Wednesday evening service of the month when the choir sings. All of the music is inspirational and written by the minister and the director of music: Reverend Michael and 'The Doctor', Rickie Beyers. The house band is none other than Earth, Wind and Fire when they're not on the road. In one word: Fantastic. The church is called AGAPE. It's an interdemonational Church of Religious Science. Reverend Michael Beckwith is president of the National Association of New Thought Churches of which this is one. Upon announcement of our marriage, The Rev. gave boi rodtney a big hug and Dad a high-five.

In case you'd like to visualize what we look like when we travel to all these places, it's a vaiiety on a theme. Master Ross likes, "Tight is Right", and boi complies with "Tigher Is Righter". That's the theme. So much of the time it's skin-tight levi 501's with a tight t-shirt or a levi jacket and no shirt. boi always wears his chain and lock on the outside. Always! It's 'promise'; a wedding ring, adornment - ownership. We have three levels of leatherness. Formal; Casual, and Play. Slaveboi has several collars. One never comes off until the other is locked. The slave has not had a haircut since the day we met - at least on the top of the head. boi dresses his Dad. Dad dresses his boi. It works for us. boi is Dad's best 'cruise'. We constantly tell each other when he's being cruised. Yesterday at the Flea Market, boi was feelin' loads of Mexican men's eyes some of whom were being very careful not to let their women know.

Speaking of Mexican, we went to Mexico for lunch on Friday afternoon. After checking into our hotel at LeatherFest we put the van in the garage and took the red train to the border. Conversations were struck in both Spanish and English with the locals who gave us all the tips we needed for a good time. One guy who was on the way to the Greyhound races volunteered the name and location of all the gay bars - guess he figured we must be… At the border we boarded a bus into town. It was full of teen agers who giggled at rodtney's nose spike. The boys just couldn't get over it. On a street corner later on - deep into the city a woman held her hands over her face and said, "AO-U-GH" The men around laughed. One guy coming towards us pointed to his nose and said, "nice", in English.

We had a great lunch outside along a plaza. Dad burned his taste buds with some salsa. The gay queens stood outside the bar across the street and stared at us. And there was the constant hustle as is the order of the day - every day in Mexico with .8.34 paso's to the Dollar. So that makes it a 9 paso store instead of the 99 cent store. Lunch was eight bucks with drink and the tip. We could have eaten on the street for a lot less. Don't drink the water, though. The youngish cops on the corner barely looked at us. It was spring break and kids were everywhere hanging out of the upstairs club windows.

But on the way back was our big adventure. On the bus back up to the border there were about seven people. One man - a retired pot head from Northern California was telling us his life story about being in and out of jails - his many wives - and his future fantasy life in Tecate, Mexico. He figured he could live a whole lot cheeper there. "Do you wanna buy a car?", he called out. Dad looks at boi and says, "No… What kink of car is it?" :'81 Cadillac' "What kind of condition is it?" 'Not a dent… just drove it down from L.A. It's in an all day parking lot across the border…. Wanna see it?' "How much?" 'Fifty dollars!" Dad looks at boi once again thinking why not take a look?

The bus stopped. Everyone walkes through customs. Boi is asked by the Mexican American officer what he was doing in Mexico. He says, "Business". That was it for both of us. He asked Dad what his citizenship was. No request for id's. We get back on the bus and it soon stops right in front of the car park. boi goes to take a piss. Dad goes to see this Cadillac. It's dark brown with a gold stripe. Not a dent. It starts - runs on all eight cylinders. "Ya got the 'pink' (title)?" 'Sure' right here. The tags are good until December.' "We gotta find an ATM" The man asks for help with his suitcase to the bus back to Mexico. It's a done deal. Lights work. Radio works. Six way power seats work - on both sides. The driver's door has no handle on the inside - but the power window works so just reach out and push the button..

boi walks across the street to the bus with the former owner. Dad drives to the lot exit. They want to get paid. Ops, but the guy is cool and lets it go. There's a new VW sitting there. We stop to take a close look. Sure, we'll take one! Anyway, here we go - it's twenty miles back to the hotel. Suddenly a downpour. No problem. The wipers work too. At the hotel we put our 'new car' in the garage next to our van. We'll worry later how to get them both out on one pass. Now what are we gonna do with two vehicles six hundred miles from home? Boi thinks wc can sell it for maybe $500. If we follow each other. But Dad doesn't much like the idea of traveling without his boi by his side. We rush to our room to get ready for the first play party of the weekend and forget about the car. It soon becomes a topic of conversation, "Guess what we got for a souvenior in Mexico?", etc.

LeatherFest X is well under way. For the third year in a row, they can't find our registrations. We get 'banded' by Kim, it's director and that's that. But we've got now LeatherFest T-shirts to wear to our workshop presentations. So we wear our LeatherWeb T-Shirts instead. Serves them right. The dungeon is huge this year. The entire Fest takes place in the converted parking garage below the hotel. Cute. The decorations are fab… they've really outdone themselves in this area. And the equipment is good too - although no cages for the boi . Last year some folks got all shocked seeing a naked Black boi in a cage. We weren't really in a play mode so we walked up and down watching the people watching. They were the interesting ones. LeatherFest is a pan-sexual event so every possible configuation was hard at it. Bunny, a transexual woman with a male victim. Does that make her Straight? Gay?, or Lesbian? Couldn't tell - but the guy was smiling afterwards so go figure.

All of the sudden there was a set of stocks being unused. Master & slaveboi Ross were in Leather. Hummmm. "Take that shirt off boi". 'Sir, Yes Sir.. Task accomplished Sir.' "Come over here!" 'Sir, yes Sir!' the slave is placed in the stocks - leather pants still on. This Master is 'Gay For Leather' which means we do it in gear and take it off after. boi gets his overdue and awaited for 'spank' several hundred of them actually. A Master's hand always get's tired before his slave's butt that's forsure. Master leaves the slave in the stocks and goes behind a black curtain to peer through holes made for viewing. This is repeated several times because the visual is so hot. The slaveboi gets off on the anticipation also. Master takes slave over and over. Finally we can't stand it anymore and we head out for our room. This year there is real sex going on in the dungeon. But we're married, right? And LeatherFest has provided us with a very nice double on the first floor. It's late. We're tired. We play anyway.

In the morning the first panel is the Diversity Panel. We make it along with 13 others and about 10 floaters. The panel had Graylin Thornton as facilitator. He is still the first African American Mr. Drummer ('93), and editor of Gay Black Male Magazine. Graylin says it's not his responsibility to bring out men of color into the Leather community. He says the opportunity is there. What his responsibility is is to be accessablle and visible. There is an Apache lesbian Jo Blas; a differently-abled woman called Sue Byrd and our good friend the Dragon Master himself George Wong . George was born in Hong Kong; raised in Mexico and lives in L.A. where he is the PR officer of AVITAR Leather Club among many many other diverse interests. An representative of someone living w/HIV was slated but didn't appear, and sadly, was not replaced.

The group is good. It covers a lot of territory. Questions are answered. Lessons learned. Everyone should have the opportunity to attend - and should attend such a discussion. Bottom line is that most of us need to be a little more welcoming to all newcomers to our midst. We should take the time to walk over and speak to those who may appear just a bit different than ourselves The panel guarantees no one will bite - unless that's their fetish.

During the panel, Ms. Bunnie is sitting in the front row. She reaches into her purse and pulls out a flash camera and asks if she can take a picture. The panel respondsaffirmatively and the shot is taken. Ross starts to get up a nd stop her and then sits back down. Why is he concerned with this? Because one of the (Top) female Board of Directors has told him under no uncertain terms would ANY pictures be allowed on the LeatherFest turf. Period. This after arragnments had been made with all parties concerned to do on-line updates for both LeatherFest and LeatherWeb during the event. So much for modern multi-media times. So much for PR and reporters. Immediately after the workshop Ross goes to the first man with a headset and asks to speak to Kim Sontag immediately. The man calls for Kim and announces himself as Madoc. Woops. So this is Madoc Pope, the Program Director. We had never met him. Never mind. Here comes Michael McKeon, the PR guy. Privacy, insurance, liability notwithstganding; this is a bad policy. Michael says we can take posed model shots later in the dungeon - and during the fashion show. We say we didn't come to shoot models. We came to doucment lifestyle. We have releases. We know how to use photoshop to cut out anyone in the background. So, if you see ANY picture whatsoever from/of/about LeatherFext X - it is illeagal. Hopefully they will come into the 20th century and correct this policy before the 21st gets here.

The very next panel was the Master's panel. Six panelists: Facilitator, Matt Masterman, Phil Ross, Taylor Burke - facilitator, Stephanie Houfek, and slaveMaster Mike McDade. A true cross representation of successful Masters. The audience is packed. The energy is the highest to be found anywhere. It's a great group. One of those out front was Faith, the Program Director of APEX Phoenix who likes thinks her group can benifit from the ROSS & ross Spirit and invites us to come and do a presentation. We gladly accept to do this in the near future. There is not way to tell you all about what was said in this presentation save to say, whatever it is you might be thinking about, rest assured someone's out there doing it and well. And whatever it is that you are doing, there are people out there who would love to hear you disuss it at next year's LeatherFest. So let them know you'd like to present and go ahead on and do it.

Forty five minutes for lunch and the slave's roundtable begins. Six more presenters up front. Facilitator, Keath Butterworth; Pup to Matt, Wade Brown; rodtney ross, slaveboi to Master Ross; Leslie Finney, who's Master Peter, slave to slaveMaster and Dan Hughes, International Drummer boy 1997. Equally good panel. Peter is brilliant with humor that reflects his contentment. He should be the facilitator next year for sure. And another full house. One important outcome of both the Master and slave roundtables is the extent of love and spirit that prevails - and humor too. Sometimes we can't imagine how life sometimes just isn't quite like the fantasy. It's far far better in this instance. While these are the workshop sessons of the most interest to us there were also three dozen or so other things to attend. Many of them about technique which is the other side of the kinky lifestyle. Everything from edge play and female genitorture to the usual bondage, flogging and scene development standard fair which happens a most gatherings of this sort.

Late afternoon Saturday ROSS & ross hosted a People Of Color reception. Surprise, surprise: More people showed up than at the Diversity Panel - and two of the panelists as well: Graylin and George Wong. Some of the folks from last year's POC panel came as well: Arlene and Deseree, a Black & White lesbian couple from L.A. and David, a gay Japanese man from Oakland. A Native American woman joined us as did Jose', a Black heterosexual female Top from L.A. with her White boy. Several others just dropped in. We were treated to a wonderful report on Leather Culture all over Europe by an Italian leatherman who travels there regularly. We had thought this would be a social gathering. Instead it quickly became a true leaderless workshop with People of Color dealing with People of Color issues such as predjudice from one's own culture. George announced that he is starting an Asian, Men of Color in leather group in L.A.

The difference between this group and a panel or workshop is that there was no audience. It was most like a clan or tribal council meeting with everyone participating equally and no bystanders. Jumping ahead for a moment, the scheduled Diversity Closure reception the next morning drew zero partipicants. While the time is a consideration it would seem that the people have spoken. There IS a need for a continuuing People of Color gathering separate from, and perhaps in addition to, any meeting about Diversity. We did take the time to fill out and personally submit evaluation forms. Hopefully LeatherFest will take heed and avoid the unnecessary controversy that occured prior to this years event. Regardless of whether this happens or does not happen, the concensus is that each and every one of us carries the responsibility to welcome in all newcomers to our already diverse leatherfetish community. One curious note is that there was no participation by any of the heterosexual Men of Color at any of the last three year's panels. My sense about this is that they are less than confortable with their gay brothers and sisters. Let’s find out

We simply didn't have time to attend any other sessions this year. Our time was full. We did manage to visit the vendor area and spend some money there too. All of the ones we spoke to were profitable this year. They even offered us lay-away on some new shirts and shorts - but we gotta lose some of those winter pounds first!

Saturday night was the big sit-down formal dinner and fashion show. While we missed the catered meals this year during LeatherFest, the banquet was a very nice touch. We counted nearly 700 in attendance with maybe 15 or 20% being gay and lesbian. Still it felt balanced. There was a notable absense of national celebrities save Any Marie Meek and Joseph Bean, Executive Director of the Leather Archives. Most panalists were new, regional or local. The evening had it's usual awards ceremonies. Kim and Madoc announced that this was their last year having carried through to the tenth anniversary this year. Ms. Sontag reminded everyone that if they didn't like something they should volunteer and get it changed. Here here! And that's exactly what we did actually. Applause to each and every volunteer and partipant for making this another successful year for LeatherFest San Diego. If you haven't attended an event like this you simply must! It can easily change your life for the better - forever! The next big gathering of this type will be BLACK ROSE Leather Retreat; Pantheon winner of Best Club and Best Club Event. [www.br.org]

The fashion show was alright - sort of a kinky Rocky Horror Picture Show. Not nearly enough gay/lesbian representation though. The music was fantastic this year compared to last year when people actually walked out. We took loads of pictures and gave them to LeatherFest for their home page. You can see some of them here also. Perhaps the real fashion show was the audience itself which was dressed to the nines in favored regalia from corsets to tuxedos. But we had to rush to change for dinner and rush again to change for the play party afterwards. boys need boys just to keep up with all the changes. My boi rodtney always had our gear laid out from head to toe on the bed prior to each event. Nothing was missing. Nothing was lost. And the boots were always shined, too. He did his daddy proud every step of the way. Makes ya wanna give him a little extra spank. Thanks boi!

We decided to rest awhile before going to the party. It was time to set the clocks ahead for Spring. An hour's rest would give us our second wind. Knock knock. George at the door to inform us that the dungeon had been closed There are now two stories how this happened. Both involve a woman who fainted during a hot wax scene. The official story is that the medics on duty called the paramedics to assist. The unofficial story is that someone called the paramedics instead of the nurse on duty. Anyway, the police came, the paramedics came - and the fire department came. The latter shut it down due to there being no permits. The police were ok. The woman was ok although reportedly she had been drinking (no liquor is allowed during LeatherFest). No one has complained really. But all night long you could hear the screams and slaps and all that throughout the hotel where the scenes that were in prgress, progressed to their climax. Seems a good time was had by all. (LeatherFest promises to have proper permits in place next year.)

We also had another knock on the door about this time. It was Jose with her latest boy in tow. "Come on in. Do you need a place to stay? We've got a bed for you." It seems that Ross & Jose' have bunked together for several years running at both LeatherFest and Folsom Street. So this came as no surprise. We chatted awhile. Jose decided to go out and prowl the halls - which got them in trouble later. "Ya know anyone who needs a car? Master Ross asked Jose. 'Sure, I do - my car blew up last week.' "You got a Cadillac now", said Ross. How's $75.? 'I'm not going to quibble', said Jose. 'I better be careful what I visualize. I just pictured someone giving me a car and here it is.' Done Deal! Now Dad and his boi can hold hands all the way home in the van. Seems our task was simply to deliver Jose's vision. Task accomplished.

Sunday morning we said our good bye's with a very special thanks being extended to us by Mark O'Keefe, Co-Director of LeatherFest X. Thanks Mark for the positive send-off! We drove both vehicles out of the garage using the single pass. Dad checked the car over while boi packed. It seemed like it would make the 120 miles to L.A. We drove the car and the van to Long Beach and left the Cad at Kent's until the following Wednesday dinner party when she rode out with us and drove it home to Hollywood. Cool. Real Cool. From Long Beach we headed out to Palm Springs for our visit to Butchmann's, Steve Sampson and our wonderful friend Ed Williams who lives there also. On the way we stopped at Pistons for the Sunday afternoon Beer Bust and talked to the owner for awhile. Pistons is a real neat bar in North Long Beach with an outside patio and plenty of men. A real diverse croud actually.

We got to The Springs just in time to be greated by Master Steve and his cadre of weekend slaves all of whom 'presented' as we approached. As Master Steve always says, "It's a good thing." Mastger Luke Owens and his slave Phydeaux (Scott) are living there also. Butchmann's is such a cool place. It's situated just under the tramway with beautiful views of the snow capped mountains and the wildflower covered desert sand. The temperature was perfect, in the low 70's this time of year. The boys don't wear clothes at Butchmann's. The dungeon is one of the best anywhere. Master/slave is a totally natural thing. One would think it's the norm of the world after a very short time there. Everyone knows their place and they're in it doing it 24/7. Talk about peace and tranquility; but with plenty of testorone and constant change. Thank you Master Steve for the priviledge of your hospitality once again.

While we were there we were able to update LeatherWeb a little; answer 69 e-mails, and enjoy the sunshine. We put together the rest of our trip; researched a lake that was being built nearby for future visits - perhaps with our RV, and enjoy'd one another which is the best part. Master Steve is so busy the best way to communicate with him sometimes is to send an e-mail from one end of the villa to the other. He had quite a cold and we wished him a speedy recovery.

Our trip back into L.A. started about 11:00 hrs. It's about 150 miles actually - all freeway; out past the windmill farm, up over the Banning Pass, across the Inland Empire and down into the L.A. Basin. We headed straight for CBS on Fairfax and Beverly. Stopped at the 50 year old Pink's on LaBrea for Hot Dogs and fries (boi had a pastrami dog - Dad Chili-Cheeze). Five minutes more down Melrose and into the parking lot just in time to be at the head of the line for Simbad' VIBE TV Show. Jose show'd up too. By the time all the friends of friends of friends got in we were the last three of the 310 inside. But our seats were dead center. boi hadn't been in a studio before and it turned out to be a highlight for him. It was the fastest pace production I've ever seen - and I've been at plenty both in front and behind the camera. I would have loved to be in the control room. They used five camera's: 3 on dolly's; one remote on a boom and one hand held. They had a ball making good fun and taking close ups of boi's nose spike. Who knows where you'll see it. One of the special features of this show was to see how many people they could get inside one of the new Volkswagens. Cute. Real Cute!

After the show we hurried home to Kents for a fab pasta dinner and the visit with our friends. Kent gave us a demonstration of his computer driven theater organ compositions. boi entertained us with his presence in the stand-up cage in the living room (so the LeatherFest dungeon experience was now complete) Later in the evening we romanced in the jacuzzi. The warm Southern California sun awoke us early through our east facing bedroom window. Dad readied the van for the 600 mile drive home up the coast. On our last evening we drove down to the Naples section of Belmont Shores and walked the canals. If we ever return to live in the Southland, this would be on the short list. Just at sundown we took pictures of the Queen Mary which is anchored across from the Long Beach marina.

Our trip up the coast on Good Friday was beautiful too. We stopped in Venture to visit with some other good friends, Bod and DAS. Then up a ways to the Madonna Inn where each room is done in a different theme. Later we checked out the setting sun over Pismo Beach. This is where it's possible to drive right on the beach. We took pictures of wildflowers in the sand and walked hand in hand appreciating our blessings. Dad slept while boi drove across the central valley and Dad drove on into the Castro just about midnight. San Francisco was chrystal clear and we could see the entire bay area all lit up like Christmas. After picking up our mail and the local papers we headed up the coast to our home in the woods arriving about 01:30hrs. We drove a total of 1,498 miles. Gas was cheap - about a dollar a gallon so the whole trip cost only about $150. Plus food - most of which we carried with us. You don't have to be rich to have a good time, folks. You just have to be resourceful.

It's taken a day or so to get unpacked and situated. We've got just about 40 days and 40 nights to get everything in order for our next adverture: Driving to IML and Michigan on Memorial Day Week at the end of May. That trip will be about 6,500 miles. Stay tuned!