Welcome to the LA&M Road Show Blog for 2008

BoundCon V Europe “Destination Bizarre“ - European Fetish Convention

Following in the footsteps of Matthias Peuser, former European LA&M Coordinator from his many outstanding LA&M ‘Road Show’ appearances he accomplished throughout Europe, bringing the LA&M to more of the world than dreamed possible and MANY thanks to Tom Gross of Portland, Oregon for providing this ‘lead’ to this event and his hard work to make it happen for us, the LA&M ’Road Show - USA’ made it’s European ’debut’ at BoundCon V Europe (www.boundcon.com), one of Europe’s largest Fetish Conventions of shows, workshops, shopping and MORE, held in the Zenith Hall in Munich, Germany, presented by FetishMovies.com.

Since the start of the LA&M ‘Road Show’ Program, it has been my long standing ‘dream’ and great honor to, one day, have the opportunity to take our wonderful LA&M Archives and Museum ‘across the pond’ and be present at an event that would give many more individuals who share our desire to gain and maintain our vast Leather/Rubber/BDSM/Kink Fetish history preserved while also making it accessible and available to our fellow enthusiasts around the world who appreciate who we are and what we represent. At BoundCon V Europe, I feel we achieved this goal and SO much more!

After surviving another successful IML 30 here in Chicago on Monday, May 26th, I enjoyed one ‘day off’ then boarded an AA flight to Frankfurt, Germany on Wednesday, May 28th. With a change of planes in Frankfurt, I continued my travels onto Munich, Germany on a Lufthansa flight and reached the host hotel mid-afternoon on Thursday, May 29th. With the knowledge of having a donated small exhibit space at BoundCon V and electing to make our presence at this event primarily informational, I carried with me our LA&M Leather Banner, the LA&M ‘Road Show’ pull-up horizontal sign and several LA&M brochures, e-mail sign up cards, various LA&M informational postcards and a LA&M logo ‘paddle’ for our display. This proved to be a GREAT call as ALL these ‘items’ fit nicely I into my carry-on luggage and, as a result, negated the need for any shipping expenses for this appearance. After checking into the Park Inn, Munich and with the knowledge of having Thursday night as a ‘free’ night off, I went into the center of town to meet friends and enjoy a great Bavarian dinner before BoundCon V began the next day.

Early on Friday, May 30th, I met Tom Gross at breakfast in our hotel. Having never had the pleasure of meeting this man before, he easily spotted me when he arrived and together, we got to know each other and Tom provided me with some valuable information about this event and what we could expect to gain from this experience. The BoundCon V Opening Schedule for both Friday and Saturday was from 3:00 PM until 12 Midnight and on Sunday, from 1:00 PM until 10:00 PM. After discussing what I has brought with me for our display, we agreed that after completing our set-up tasks and ‘feeling out the crowd’, we’d establish a manning schedule that would achieve our goals while also allowing for some ‘flexibility’ between us to enjoy this event and see what was on display for all who attended.

When Tom and I reached the Zenith Hall early on Friday and directed to our exhibit space, we met Andreas Votterl, Event Managing Director and many of his volunteer staff. We were given a small space, VERY close to the main entrance of the hall, which was the 1st space attendees saw as they entered this event after passing the doorman. With the help and GREAT support of the BounCon V volunteer staff, we were given a long, narrow table with 3 chairs for our use, assistance with hanging our LA&M Leather Banner high above our display area then provided us with lighting for our area, everything came together quickly that truly made our LA&M “Road Show” appearance both ‘eye-catching’ and very professional. It was also helpful that I ‘borrowed’ a duet cover from our hotel for use as a table cloth as no such items were available from the event organizers ( yes, I DID return it back to our hotel after the weekend ended! )

Throughout the weekend, both Tom and myself manned our exhibit, often ‘switching off’ to give each other many chances to take a break and view the many exhibits, demonstrations and items for sale that this event had to offer. Our location also gave us the PERFECT ‘people watching’ spot as with a smoking ban being enforced inside the Zenith Hall, those that needed a cigarette break needed to pass by our area to go outside to smoke. To see the many ‘bizarre’ and ‘creative’ outfits and meet the people wearing them gave us many opportunities to share information about the LA&M to those who visited our table. Practically everyone who stopped by have never heard of the LA&M but took several of the LA&M Brochures and Postcards with them with others even filled out LA&M e-mail address mailing cards for us to bring back to Chicago and add to our mailing lists.

Various ‘demonstrations’ were taking place throughout the weekend for attendees to observe and photograph, both on and off stage. With a primary Heterosexual clientele on hand at this event, many local female models were available to assist with rope/bondage displays, various examples of domination techniques such as pony/puppy play educational workshops available observed. With my ‘limited to non-existent’ knowledge of the German language, I wasn’t able to make out what was being explained by each presenter but the ‘visuals’ MORE than made up in my ability to understand what was being presented. This was truly an event like no other I have ever attended and I am confident we made some new friends and supporters for the LA&M that will hopefully ‘open more doors’ for us to continue to ‘serve the world’ and attend MORE world events.

After manning our final day on Sunday at BoundCon V and with the crowd attendance diminishing as the day progressed, Tom and I ‘closed up shop’ around 6:00 PM and prepared to make our way back to our hotel for the night. Before leaving, we located Andreas, presented him with the LA&M Logo black paddle as a ‘thank you’ gift and expressed our appreciation on behalf of the LA&M for having us attend this event. Andreas thanked us as well and extended an invitation to attend BoundCon 6 next year! We exchanged contact information, said good-by to new friends we had met and headed back to our hotel for dinner, packing and plans to fly back to Chicago via Frankfurt the following day.

All in all, this was a great event and very well run by those who organized and planned BoundCon V. Of the many heterosexual events I have had the pleasure of attending on behalf of the LA&M in the past, this one is, by far, my favorite to date. I say this because attending this event, even with various language and cultural obstacles we faced, the MANY common interests people shared with us and a real desire to come together and celebrate all that makes us who we are FAR surpassed my greatest expectations I would gain for having this experience. For me, this was the best part of being at BoundCon V in Munich, Germany and if asked to return again next year, I would say YES!

Special thanks needs to go to Tom Gross for being BoundCon V to the LA&M and for being such a great supporter of the LA&M and it’s mission. It was truly my pleasure to get to know him and I hope to have many more opportunities to do so in the future. Although I’ve always felt this to be true, I now know ‘1st hand’ just how important our mission statement is for the many who had the vision, saw the need and created and maintain the LA&M to preserve our past, work hard in the present to build and grow our ’home’ and look ahead towards the future that will forever ’serve the world’ with great pride! I came home with a better understanding and greater appreciation for all I was able to see and do with the LA&M ’Road Show” and for that, I am grateful!

International Ms. Leather

I arrived in San Francisco early Thursday afternoon to cooler weather than we had in Chicago. It would have been impossible to not warm up once I walked into the host hotel. Leather, leather everywhere. The scent of it was enough to start the heat blasting. I quickly found the vending area where we were to set up and found that our display was to be right next to Cristo's Blades. Not only did I learn more about knives, but I was able to enjoy a very enjoyable dinner with Cristo that night. I set up the "Women of Leather" exhibition, curated by Alex Warner who was attending the event. The Women of Leather exhibit is sponsored by IMsL.

Thursday night brought an evening of burlesque, strip tease and more with a terrific show presented by Good Vibrations. I can’t wait to try out some of the new moves I watched.

Saturday night was the big night. The contest. After stepping aside speeches by ImsL2007 Lauren and ImsBB2007 Ms V, we were entertained by the questions, personal ads and hot fantasies of the contestants. It was very funny and exciting night.

We had lots of visitors to our display. The comment I heard the most often was “I was there, and I was there, and I remember that and oh my god I am so old” I think that everyone was genuinely excited to see our exhibit of past Women’s events. Minax held down the fort so that I was able to get a few breaks and introduced me to some very interesting people as well.

The bootblack area was constantly busy. I kept trying to squeeze in to see my friend Ms V, but we weren’t able to connect until Sunday as I was checking out of the hotel.

The 22nd Annual ImsL was a wonderful event and I urge everyone to plan on going to the 23rd.

Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend

Rick, Dave and I packed up the cars very early Friday morning and headed off to the 7th annual CLAW. Upon arriving in Cleveland, we set up our booth and started renewing memberships; after all, it’s membership renewal time. Most people were very receptive of the new membership structure including the new $16.67 Voting Membership Program Dave implemented. The booth was pretty busy Friday, lots of people from Chicago we knew and chatted with but also a lot of new people who were unfamiliar with the LA&M and what we do.

Since Dave is still new to the LA&M and doesn’t know the history behind us, I gave him the 15th anniversary newsletter that Justin Tanis pulled together and told him that just about anything he need to know on the history of the LA&M was in this newsletter. Dave read it from cover to cover and was an instant wealth of information from how the LA&M started to some of the more interesting items in the collection.

Friday night, Rick and I had dinner with our friends from Sandusky Ohio who also happen to be very involved in CLAW. We hadn’t seen them in almost a year and had a lot of catching up to do. In the meantime, Dave went to the CLAW Carnival where they had a fortuneteller, balloon sculptor, games, and prizes and, of course, a puppy pen. Rick and I were pretty exhausted so we went back to the Embassy Suites while Dave went out on the town with some new friends.

Saturday we enjoyed a quick breakfast before heading back to the Wyndham for another day with the exhibit. We decided to take the Canadian Pride exhibit since CLAW draws participants from allover the world. The exhibit, as always, was a big hit especially Syd Creighton’s scrapbook on her year as Ms. Toronto Leather 1993. We also received a donation for the Leather Rose collection from MT Leathers. CLAW 7 was also where we introduced the new Leather Archives & Museum friendship pin, which turned out better than we had hoped. By the way, you can purchase that pin in our on-line store.

Saturday night, we attended the Titleholder Cocktail Party before the formal Leather Dinner where Mary Elizabeth presented several awards to the CLAW Nation Party Tour organizers and volunteers of CLAW. After dinner, we helped with the silent auction, which is an event in itself. After an exhausting day, Rick and I went to the to the smoking deck and enjoyed a cigar and chatted with Bob Miller and Jim while we waited to see the CLAW Logo bright as day appear on the huge city information sign in the square. Dave in the meantime went out for another night on the town while the old married couple went back to the room for a good night sleep.

Another CLAW comes and goes, gets bigger and better and raises thousands of dollars for charity including the Leather Archives & Museum. Here’s to another great event by Bob and Dennis and the CLAW staff. We hope to be back again next year for CLAW 8.

Beyond Leather, 2008

The Road Show was invited to exhibit at the Beyond Leather pansexual event in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We set up the Jim Kane Display, along with a new a new exhibit on whether or not Benjamin Franklin was kinky. Our space was directly outside of the classrooms/dungeon and was well trafficked during the day and into the evening.

The Benjamin Franklin display was well received, with some people taken aback, but a good amount not surprised at his membership in England’s Hell-Fire Club. It was a wonderful icebreaker when speaking to the attendees about the Archives.

Chuck was asked to speak at the opening ceremonies about LA&M. He explained to the three hundred people plus in attendance, the meaning of LA&M and the need to follow Chuck Renslow’s “Start a Box” program. The talk was well received, and many people stopped at the booth to ask how they could become members and ask for other information.

Thank you to Sir Top and slave bonnie for making us feel very comfortable, and looking to our needs as well as they did. It was an excellent opportunity to extend the reach of LA&M into the South Florida Pansexual Community.

Leather Leadership Conference, 2008

The LA&M Road Show made an appearance at LLC XII as part of the poster session. The LA&M displayed the Canadian Exhibit, featuring artifacts and information from Vancouver to Halifax. Rick spoke with leaders from many organizations about the Road Show and demonstrated how event producers can have leather and fetish history at their conferences. Founder of the LA&M Colors Project and Canadian, George Cameron, stopped by to share observations about some of the artifacts included in the exhibit.

Rick also spoke with several of the Folsom Street Events folks. This is a big year for Folsom Street Fair, number 25! They've got some great stuff planned for the big anniversary including a historical exhibit of the Fair put on by the GLBT Historical Society. It's a great year to make a trek to San Francisco in September!

Kudos go to the LLC XII conference organizers and volunteers for putting on a spectacular conference. The positive energy and networking opportunities at the event complimented the diverse selection of presentations and speakers.

Motown Sash Bash, 2008

The LA&M Road Show traveled to Detroit, along with some other Chicago folks including the Chicago Leather Kennel Club.  The first night of the Motown Sash Bash was your traditional meet and greet social bar night.  Several current and former titleholders helped sell raffle tickets, hand out door prizes and ensure the weekend was off to a good start.  Rick was drooling while admiring the historical colors and posters that decorate the Detroit Eagle.  If you happen to be in Detroit, be sure to stop in the Eagle and have a look at the beautiful history on display there.

The event was hosted by Randy Wrisinger, Mr. Michigan Leather 2008.  He was joined by:

Spot, International Mr. Bootblack 2007

Steve Tompa, Mr. Mountain Leather 2007

Dave Watt, Mr. Fetish Detroit 2008

Freddy Marshall, Mr. Chicago Leather 2008

Bryan Parker, Mr. Detroit Eagle 2007

Randall Davis, Mr. Leather Cowboy 2007

Rich Wilson, Mr. Missouri Leather 2006

Craig Anderson, Mr. Detroit Eagle 2005

Matthew Pavelich, Mr. Leatherman Toronto 2008.

Saturday’s events included a brunch, a workshop by the Chicago Leather Kennel Club, a wonderful dinner hosted by Randy Wrisinger and Rich Wilson, followed by the main event.  The Detroit Eagle started to pick up by 10pm and was full of hot leathermen shortly thereafter.  The LA&M Road Show exhibited the Canadian Leather History exhibit.  There were several Windsorites (from Windsor, ON) in attendance who enjoyed exploring their national leather heritage.

Duane and Rick spent their time at the Eagle showing leathermen the Canadian Leather History exhibit and the Detroit related artifacts that came along as well.  We proudly displayed the colors from the Selectmen of Detroit.  The evening was capped off when Frank, owner of the Detroit Eagle, presented the colors from the Renaissance Men Detroit, a leather club founded in 1980.

The LA&M expresses its gratitude to Randy Wrisinger, all the volunteers who helped put on the event and did a great job raising money, Frank and the staff of the Detroit Eagle and CLAW for a fun event and a wonderful opportunity to display our history.

Iowa Leather Weekend, 2008

My sense of direction is not the best. But a trip to Des Moines would be mostly straight shot along I-88, my partner had just given me a TomTom, and I had craftily talked Iowa native and MACC President Threasa Rushing to accompany me and Riley the Bootblack to the Iowa Leather Weekend, February 8-10.

Our road trip started at 11 am on Friday when Threasa and Riley showed up at my home in Saint Charles. They quickly shifted their one suitcase and one personal item each into my car and we were off on our interstate adventure. We paused at the Iowa-80 Truck Stop and made it to Club Ho by 5 pm. We set up our display, put out the LA&M wares across the aisle, and dropped off some promotional literature near the door.

The Jim Kane: Old Guard If Anyone Ever Was exhibit was well-received when the market and art show opened Saturday, as were the Iowa kink memorabilia we’d collected and displayed. Some Corn Haulers were very excited to see that the LA&M had kept a copy of their club’s anthem, composed five years ago as a pledge project but missing from the Corn Haulers archives. We’ll be sure to send a copy right out to them! The old Blazing Saddle and Barndoor posters also attracted attention, as did a personal collection of club and run pins and patches. Leather Journal publisher Dave Rhodes gave the LA&M a good plug during his presentation on A Living Leather History and we sold several shirts and patches when that let out.

Our display was complemented by a Tom of Finland Foundation display and several artists were vending their photos, sculptures, prints, and paintings. Notably, Axel had jazzed up his booth with a well-labeled, functional gloryhole, which helped draw people through our exhibit.

Saturday night, the Blazing Saddle hosted the Mr. Iowa Leather contest. One of the contestants, Liam, wore an LA&M tank top I had sold him that afternoon—and he went on to win the contest. I can’t prove that his excellent taste in barwear won him the title but I know what I believe!

Back to the 2007 Blog