Road Show Blog Archive

John and I arrived in Palm Springs a couple of days early to soak up some of the beautiful California weather and to get to know some of the PSLOD (Palm Springs Leather Order of the Desert) guys before the event started. The Villa Resort in Cathedral City was the host hotel for the event and it was beautiful. Everything was well appointed, bright and cheery. The Villa Resort was once a “beauty farm” for the Elizabeth Arden Corporation, leave it to the gay men to turn it into a gay resort. John and I got settled into our casita and decided to go for a little drive, pick up some supplies and scope out the area. We found all the comforts of home including a Target Department Store just 2 blacks away from the resort.

On Thursday night, John and I got to know the bar tenders, a few of the regulars and a few of the weekend guests at the poolside bar. The food was good and the company even better. We talked to Lenny Broberg who was the MC for the contest, Dodger Allen, (IML) Bo Ladashevska, (IML) Steve Mayers (Mr. Deaf Hayes Valley Leather 2007) and Dave Rhodes Publisher of the Leather Journal, along with other countless titleholders.

Friday evening was the formal leather dinner hosted by PSLOD at the Villa and it was excellent. Lenny took the stage to introduce the contestants and judges and the hard working men of PSLOD. There was a vendor fair afterwards in the parking lot behind the ToolShed which was well attended, hundreds of leather folk were there having a good time and socializing and greeting old friends. Inside the bar was another meet and greet taking place, where judges and contestants were introduced.

Saturday was our day to get to work. We were up early to get the exhibit set up in the courtyard of the Villa along with 20 or so other vendors. The exhibit was a little different this time because we were outside. Our usual exhibit wasn’t with us this time, which is a good thing because it was quite breezy on Sunday. We did however have a lot of artifacts from Los Angeles, which is about two hours away from Palm Springs. The Avatar Clubof Los Angels is a sister club of the PSLOD and many were in attendance. One of the highlights of Saturday, other than being poolside and watching a lot of hot men walking around in next to nothing, was DJ Reed a member of Maximus Cigar Club and former member of the Blue Max Motorcycle Club who was vending next to us. As we were setting up, he yelled out to us “hey, that’s my vest, where did you get that?” I told him that it was donated to the LA&M but I didn’t have any other information with me. He said his ex lover must have donated it to us after they split up. He said, “That’s OK, at least I know it has a good home at the LA&M.” DJ posed for a picture and reminisced for a while, then it was back to setting up. We had a lot of traffic Saturday, lots of men that came to Palm Springs to retire remembered the posters from the bars that we brought to display. Many of them were fascinated by the Jim Kane artifacts the we had on display and we got to talk to a lot of people.

Saturday night was the contest, which was held at the Heaven Night Club. A pretty modern club in a strip mall in down town Palm Springs. Lenny kept the crowd entertained along with the 5 hot contestants. Tom Orr was the entertainment for the evening along with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The ASL interpreter was also very entertaining when Lenny asked her to teach the audience the sign for “feltching”. After the contest was over, I was beat. John was still up for partying so I dropped him off at another party, I went to McDonalds, got something to eat and went to bed.

Sunday was a pretty quiet day. Most of the event participants were sleeping in or getting ready for the clothing optional pool party that was hosted by Avatar at another local resort. John and I had fun talking to the PSLOD men who were more than generous to us. We were treated like royalty at the event. We got to sit at the head table at the banquet on Friday and they donated T-shirts, books and pins from their past events. We also received a FeBe’s original leather vest form another vendor and some beautiful artwork from Debbie who dropped of the original art from LeatherFest 8. We also received 2 pieces of distressed art from Bill Arata. After we packed up the exhibit, John and I went to the Tool Shed for their infamous Sunday Beer bust, which was holding a fundraiser for the Tom of Finland Foundation. Ironically enough, there was some Etienne (Dom Orejudos) artwork on display as well. Etienne and Tom were great friends and admired each others work. The place was packed, barely enough room to move. I was tired, John was hungry so we went back to the resort and rested for our long journey back home the next day.

Monday, it was time to leave beautiful Palm Springs and head back to Chicago. I would have to say, Palm Springs is a great leather city.

FolsomFringe is one of the best attended pansexual events in the Silicon Valley. The event is packed with two huge play parties, two days worth of classes, charity fundraising and luxury coaches to and from the Folsom Street Fair.

Jeff and I flew out of Chicago on Thursday afternoon to San Jose, via a stop over in Salt Lake City. Our destination hotel, the Doubletree Inn, was only a half-mile from the airport. The hotel was welcoming and very well appointed.

Jeff woke up early on Friday morning, and confirmed our Road Show exhibit had indeed arrived. He proceeded to set it up, while I merchandised the Museum Store. We were situated in the foyer of the play space, and everyone who went into the room had to walk right by our display.

At the dinner Friday night, the speakers mentioned the Road Show, and that everyone should take a look at us. Also, at the opening ceremonies, Rhonda reminded the group that they should all come and see us.

Friday late afternoon and evening we were very busy, with both Jeff and I speaking to many people. The visitors were lavish in their praise of the Road Show, and the Leather Archives & Museum. Most people were well aware of who we were. The local San Jose memorabilia was a big hit. In fact, there were at least two people almost brought to tears over an event program from 1998, that they both had a hand in creating. There were many memories wrapped between those covers for them.

Great interest was shown in the Jim Kane equipment, especially the leather woven whip, with the twisted spike dagger hidden in the handle. The time line also drew the attendees. Almost everyone who read it commented that they did not know how kinky former President Ben Franklin had been.

The Museum Store was also quite active. We sold out of leather jacket key chains, and almost all of the cigar cutters were gone. A good number of pins and tee shirts were also sold. We kept the display open very late that night, and only closed after everyone was well inside the play space.

We opened Saturday morning, and it was a light day, as there was only one class near our space. That afternoon had a bit more traffic, as there was a popular class near our position. Saturday evening, we opened again, and had a lighter turnout. It seemed everyone had stopped on Friday night to see us.

Sunday we closed, and Jeff packed up the display to send it back to Chicago. The event provided luxury coaches on Sunday, to takes us directly to the Folsom Street Fair. Jeff had attended an earlier fair, but this was my first time. After being in the Lifestyle for almost thirty years, I thought I had seen everything at least once…. I had not! The naked Cheer Leaders and other sights, have to be seen, to really be appreciated. Let us just say, we had a great time.

Monday we wended our way back to Chicago. The plane arrived a bit early into O’Hare, where we were both met by our smiling S/O’s. We both said it was a great trip, but it was sure nice to be back home.

Both Jeff and I would like to thank the FolsomFringe’06 staff that made us feel very much at home, and Rhonda in particular for all of her help.

I want to thank all those who attended, not just those that I have met many times before. It was such a great crowd, everyone was so down to earth and friendly! I would definitely recommend to people that this is a "must go to" event! I also send a heartfelt thank you to Ms. Kendra, the entire GLLA Board and all of the staff and volunteers that enabled the LA&M to set up our Road Show at GLLA 2006.

Ms. and Mr. World Leather 2006

Event: Ms. and Mr. World Leather
Dates: August 25-27, 2006
Place: Philladelphia, PA
Who: Rick Storer (blog author) and Minax

The LA&M headed to the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, to set up the traveling show at Ms. and Mr. World Leather. Philadelphia was a fitting city for the event, as that is where Jill Carter (President of the entity that produces Ms. and Mr. World Leather) had won the International Ms. Leather 1996 title 10 years earlier.

Alex Warner's Women of Leather exhibition was set up for event participants to enjoy and learn. Rick got to spend time with Gwen, talking about her Colors of Leather project. The weekend was also highlighted by a trip to the legendary Bike Stop in Philadelphia. If you love leather history and are close enough to the Bike Stop to get there .... stop in. The place exudes erotic history .. with the historic motorcycle and the story that goes along with it. (Ask a bartender for the story). Ms. World Leather 2004 Pandora was kind enough to share the story with me.

Another highlight of the weekend was looking at Matthey Cary's collection of photos from the Mineshaft. There's a story about how the photographs ended up in an attic in Knoxville, TN .. but that's where they were found. Matthew (1st runner up for Mr. World Leather 2006) has promised that this collection will end up at the LA&M in the future.

The LA&M expresses gratitude for the organizers and volunteers of Ms. and Mr. World Leather for their hospitality in helping the Road Show appear at yet another event.

Next stop : FolsomFinge '06 in San Jose, CA. Sept. 22-24.

Hamburg Leatherfest, 2006

Event : Hamburg Leatherfest
Dates : 7-14, August 2006
Place : Hamburg, Germany
Who : Matthias

The first stop of the European Road Show 2006 was at the Maennerschwarm Bookstore in Hamburg, Germany. The exhibit was mounted from August 7th to 14th 2006. This cooincided with Hamburg Leatherfest.

International Ms. Leather 2006

Event : International Ms. Leather
Dates : July 14th - 16th, 2006
Place : Omaha, NE
Who : Rick Storer and Minax

As an advocate for history, I'm always in awe of events in our community that survive long enough to carry on traditions and past. So, I was certainly in awe at the 20th International Ms. Leather Competition held in Omaha, NE. The LA&M Road Show had the opportunity to set up our new "Women of Leather" traveling exhibition. This new exhibition was curated by Alex Warner, a graduate student at Rutgers University who is working on a dissertation about Leatherdyke history. The exhibit is about more than Leatherdykes however, it touched on all aspects of leather women's history.

The new exhibition was very well received. Rick and Minax were able to talk to several individuals about their history. Ray Castro was attending the event and filled us in on some history from the Stilletos, a defunct leather club from Jacksonville, FL. Since Alex (the exhibit curator) was not able to attend the event, her girl dawn marie and Glenda Rider's boy Levi were on their cellphones giving Alex the play by play on their reactions to the exhibit.

One of the highlights of the weekend was a panel interview session with all of the International Ms. Leathers from previous years who were on hand. This included Jill Carter (IMsL 1996), Jo Blas (IMsL 2000), Joni Perrie (IMsL 2001), Pat Ballie (IMsL 1995), Tammie Nelson (IMsL 2003), Jessi Holman-Ahart (IMsL 2005) [pictured right to left]. Amy Marie-Meek (IMsL 1993) and Megan De Jarlais (IMsL 1998) were busy producing the event but were able to attend part of the interview. The panel was organized by KC Leather University.

All three weekend competitors have been supporters of the LA&M. Lady Faye of Dallas, TX and Beth Roberts of Indianapolis (both pictured with the Road Show) were IMsL contestants and Alex Bettencourt was the International Ms. Bootblack contestant. During the contest it was announced that Glenda Rider would be taking over producer responsibilities for IMsL and the contest will be held in San Francisco in 2007.

Kudos to Amy, Megan and the IMsL family for an entertaining weekend in Omaha. Your support of and hospitality to the LA&M and our history is appreciated. It's great to hear that Amy Marie and Megan will continue to be involved with future IMsL events. It's crucial that we carry our traditions and legacies forward and allow them to converge with the traditions that current and future generations will undoubtedly establish.

Next stop ... World Leather Weekend in Philadelphia, PA August 25 - 27, 2006.

Southeast LeatherFest 2006

Event : SELF
Dates : June 9-11, 2006
Place : Decatur, GA
Who : Jeffrey Storer (blog author) and Todd Davidson

The Road Show headed south from the windy city for a 3-day event near Atlanta. After relaxing drive through parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and all of Tennessee with a brief stop over in Manchester, Jeff along with the LA&M Road Show made it to the Holiday Inn Select Friday afternoon. SouthEast LeatherFest was held in Decatur Georgia which is right outside Atlanta and only a few miles from the Atlanta Eagle. I met with Elegant, the Marketing and Public Relations Chair/ Program Book Editor for SELF and she showed me our spot. We were in the middle of it all. The best space we could have hoped for, smack dab in the middle of everything. Everyone had to at least see the LA&M exhibit as they were going to one of the many events, classes or the vendor mart on their way through the grand hall. Before I could even finish setting the exhibit up, there were people looking at the exhibit. One of the more popular parts of the exhibit were some artifacts from the Jim Kane collection and some great Atlanta history including 6 T-shirts from the Fibers collection of South East clubs.

Todd arrived later in the day, after relaxing for a few minutes we went down to check in, get our weekend packages and open the exhibit. The first person I bumped into was Matthew Cary from Leather Journey magazine and soon to be Mr. SouthEast LeatherFest. Matthew is a huge supporter of the LA&M and couldn’t wait to talk to me about the LA&M and some future projects he is working on. I was a little overwhelmed by the attention that the Road Show was getting at SELF but Todd was there to help when things got a little hectic. We made it to the Meet and Greet held Friday night at the hotel but after a long hard day, Todd and I retired to our room for some much needed sleep.

Saturday morning the Road Show exhibition opened once again. Again, the response was overwhelming, people bringing in items to add to the collection, asking questions about the LA&M and purchasing items form the Museum Store. All day Saturday we continued the momentum of answering questions and talking to people about the LA&M. I was privileged to get the chance to meet and talk with Solitaire, one of the contestants for Ms. SELF. Solitaire was a victim of Hurricane Katrina but you would never know it with the enthusiasm that she exuded. She almost wore us out! Saturday night was the main event. The contest started right on time along with a huge silent auction, which benefited the SELF Travel Fund. With only 4 contestants, the evening moved along. Some of the highlights included the Silent Auction, which raised well over $4,000.00. Another highlight was the “fantasy” performed by Matthew Carey. He showed the audience the importance of leather history and the Leather Archives with his performance as a man in the future learning from our past. It was done so well that it received a standing ovation. Solitaire’s performance was equally as memorable with her rendition of Leather is a Girl’s Best Friend that she actually sang herself. After the contest it was time for a night at the Atlanta Eagle with Todd, myself, Dexter Edmond, International Leather Sir 2005, and a few others that were attending SELF.

We opened once again on Sunday morning. Jeff received a donation from the Atlanta Littles Munch Group, an Age Play group that was holding a play date event at SELF. Vi Johnson introduced us to Steven who presented the LA&M with the age play pin and CD of the Littles history. The day started winding down and we had to hit the road. After a few goodbye’s Todd took off for the airport, Jeff packed up the exhibit and started off for home.

The Road Show would like to thank Catherine Gross and Kyle Fulkerson and the SELF-Committee for their southern hospitality. Jeff and Todd were shown the utmost hospitality throughout the weekend. We're very appreciative of the opportunity to display South East history and meet the many people who make the South East a great place to be kinky.

Next stop International Ms. Leather (20th) Omaha, NE July 14th - 16th

Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend

Event : CLAW
Dates : April 28-30, 2006
Place : Cleveland, OH
Who : Rick Storer (blog author) and Jeffrey Storer

For the 4th consecutive year, the Leather Archives & Museum brought an exhibit to CLAW, a Midwest gathering that's been growing by leaps and bounds since its inception in 2002. The LA&M set up in the CLAW Vendor Market on Friday afternoon. We brought as much "Tower City" history as would fit in the back of Rick and Jeff's truck. The majority of Cleveland history at the LA&M comes from the Stallions, a leather / levi club from 1971 to the mid 1990s. We brought photographs, 2 Stallion banners, the Stallion pin collection and a few papers from the club. We also managed to dig up a pin from Tower City Corps (a short lived Cleveland club) and Unicorn MC, Cleveland's oldest bike club ... still going strong.

Rick and Jeff enjoyed chatting with David Laws of Laws Leather about the Stallions and several Unicorn MC members who attended the event. Having the Road Show set up next to Purple Passion from NYC made for a great time. Rick and Purple Passion owner Hilton Flax discussed the early NYC scene, from Hellfire to the founding of TES to the scene of today. Hilton said his collection of NYC history was vast and promised it would end up at the LA&M some day. Lolita Wolf was helping Hilton at the PP booth, and thanks to her the LA&M booth was used as a changing room on several occassions. Hats (and clothes) off to Lolita!

Rick had an opportunity on Saturday evening to conduct an oral history with Jon Brittain. Jon has been active in the Cleveland scene since the mid 1970s. Our conversation filled in gaps about Cleveland's clubs and reaction to the AIDS crisis. His stories were entertaining and engaging. The LA&M looks forward to sharing them with the world once the history is transcribed, cataloged and posted to the LA&M website.

The LA&M Road Show gives a huge round of applause to Dennis, Bob, the CLAW Board and the 300 some volunteers that made the weekend a huge success. CLAW has contributed $10,000 to the LA&M in its first four years (plus thousands more to other Cleveland charities). The good times and charitable fundraising make for a great event. We're looking forward to CLAW 2007 already!

Next stop ... International Mr. Leather Weekend in Chicago, IL May 25 - 29 2006.

The Road Show was excited to set up its exhibition in the legendary New Yorker hotel at W. 34th and 8th in NYC. We set up the women's history display, a photo album from the LA&M archives, some artifacts from the Jim Kane collection and some great NYC history. We pulled out the entire run of Wheels Magazine, a critical publication for the documentation of many New York MC clubs. We also brought a substantial portion of Wally Wallace's collection. Wally Wallace opened and owned the Mineshaft in NYC. The Mineshaft was one of the most legendary leather and fetish sex clubs in the world.

As conference attendees popped in and out of the great programs offered at LLC, Rick and Minax got a chance to talk with several people about leather history. Chuck Renslow, president and founder of the LA&M, had the opportunity to chat with Gil Kessler from GMSMA. Hilton Flax from Purple Passion also stopped by. Hilton briefly discussed his extensive collection of NYC history, including The Eulenspiegel Society.

The LA&M made two great acquisitions during the LLC weekend. Matt turned over a huge banner from the 1993 March on Washington. It's in great shape thanks to the security provided by the TES storage locker where it's spent the last 13 years. slave david stien also donated source papers from an article he had compiled for International Leatherman magazine in 1997.

One of the final programs of the conference was a history presentation by Rob Bienvenu and Chuck Renslow. It was interesting to hear the academic (Rob) and the practitioner (Chuck) discuss their takes on the history of leather, fetish and sadomasochism.

The Road Show would like to thank the Local Organizing Committee of LLC X. This was a great opportunity to not only exhibit our history, but also add to our collections.

The Road Show headed east from the very windy city for a 11 day tour of the East Coast. The Three Rivers' club members helped us get Rick's Rav4 unloaded and the show setup. Chuck was delayed out of Chicago, but arrived safe on Friday night. We set up the women's history display, a photo album from the LA&M archives, some artifacts from the Jim Kane collection and some great Pittsburgh history. The exhibition was a great opportunity to pull out some fascinating history from Crucible MC and Pittsburgh MC, 2 long lasting but now defunct PGH clubs. We also had a few programs from the Leather Grrrls of Pittsburgh (we'd have love to displayed more ... if you have anything from this group, please send it our way).

Rick and Chuck had the opportunity to meet some great people at the TRLC exhibit. Mike Natale, Mr. Pittsburgh Eagle Leather 2004 donated the baseball he threw out at the Pittsburgh Pirates game. We also met some of the guys from the Satyr Men, a loosely knit social club from Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Christopher Gianta shared some memories from Pittsburgh MC.

The highlight of Friday night was a bar crawl to Pittsburgh Leather Central, a bar for which the name escapes me right now, and ending up at the Pittsburgh Eagle. At one of these bars I got the chance to meet a couple of the founding members of BLUE, a new leather club in Stuebenville, OH. The bus returned to the hotel for the afterhours party. OK, so maybe the bar crawl wasn't THE highlight of Friday night.....

Saturday morning the Road Show exhibition got set up once again. While Chuck manned the exhibit, Rick got the opportunity to visit the Warhol Museum, the National Aviary and Mt. Washington including a ride on the Duquense Incline. The Warhol Museum is really incredible. Rick is still trying to decide whether he was more fascinated by Warhol's art on exhibit, the glass walled archives, or the "Does This Make My Ass Look Big?" gum he purchased in the museum store.

Raffle tickets were sold on Friday night and Saturday morning for a great quilt made by Captain (Mr. Pittsburgh Eagle Leather 2006). This, along with other fundraisers held during the weekend, netted a $600 donation for the Leather Archives & Museum. The check was presented on Sunday morning at the closing brunch.

On Sunday evening, Rick had the pleasure of conducting an oral history with Mike Zuhl, the Director of the International LeatherSIR and Leatherboy titles. Once transcribed, the history will be available on the LA&M website.

The Road Show would like to thank each and every full member of the Three Rivers Leather Club. Chuck and Rick were shown the utmost hospitality throughout the weekend. We're very appreciative of the opportunity to display Pittsburgh's history and meet the men who make Pittsburgh a great city to be kinky.

Road Show was happy to depart the frigid Chicago winter for the mild, albeit rainy, weather in Dallas during SouthPlains Leatherfest weekend. Kudos to Lou Molnar, the SPLF Vendor Coordinator, for setting up primo space for the LA&M. It was impossible to navigate through the Crowne Plaza without walking in front of the Road Show, so everyone got a chance to see the exhibition. We set up the women's history display, a photo album from the LA&M archives, some artifacts from the Jim Kane collection and some great Dallas history. We displayed historical artifacts from several Dallas leather clubs including the Firedancers LLC, Wrangler MC, the Disciples of DeSade and the 20th anniversary program from the Flying W MC, a women's motorcycle club in the Dallas area. We were also showing "Leather" a short film by Dallas native Hardy Haberman that won acclaim at several film festivals.

Rick and Natalie had the opportunity to meet some great people at the SPLF exhibit. One of the founding members of Firedancers LLC stopped by and told stories about the club's history. He also donated a Mr. Firedancer title sash on the spot! We also spoke with someone (the name escapes me at the moment...) who was involved with the Dallas Jalepeno Appreciation Society. DJAS was the first, but short lived, pansexual group in the Dallas area. We talked about DJAS and his involvement with Texas MC. Frank and JP were able to identify some nameless faces in the photo album we brought ... always a good thing!

Rick spent Saturday morning conducting an oral history with Hardy Haberman. Hardy's been involved with the Dallas scene for over 30 years. We spoke about Dallas MC, Inquisition Dallas, NLA Dallas, his documentary Leather, his book Family Jewels, spirituality, his careers and personal life, and the history and future of leather and BDSM. This history will be made available through the LA&M catalog at some point in the future.

The Road Show would like to thank Master Jim, slave marsha, Mark Frazier, Lou Molnar and the entire SPLF family for the opportunity to exhibit at SouthPlains. "We Will Not Forget" is the SouthPlains mantra. Rick, Natalie and the LA&M Road Show were proud to be a part of a great event that indeed will not be forgotten. Thanks all!

The LA&M Road Show made it's first official exhibition at NELA's Fetish Fair Fleamarket. The exhibition featured artifacts from the Jim Kane collection and information about early publications, including reprints of Bizarre Magazine, Exotique Maqazine and Justice Weekly. The exhibition also featured information and artifacts from Boston's leather history. A bit of info about the many backpatch and MC clubs from Boston, some information on Urania (a woman to woman SM group in New England in the 1980s), some NELA history and an exhibiton about EIDOS (Everyone Is Doing Outrageous Sex) magazine and it's publisher Brenda Loew Tatelbaum.

The FFF was another great exhibition for the Road Show. We had the opportunity to speak with many individuals who hadn't heard of the LA&M before. We also spoke to many individuals from the New England area who own materials and collections that can help fill in gaps in the LA&M's collection. Overall, this was a great outreach opportunity for the LA&M!

Rick Storer and Eve Minax had an opportunity to talk with Laura Goodwin from United Leatherfolk of Connecticut about the local scene, and the history of the munches in the New England area. Rick spent Friday evening of the event at a titleholders reception, sponsored by Thomas Keckler, a very cool rope bondage kinkster and all around nice guy. Saturday evening he was given the "nickel" tour of Boston's rich history by Scott Erickson, Mr. Boston Leather 2004. Minax spent Saturday evening hanging out with the women from MOB. Thanks to those listed above and everyone else who showed us top notch New England hospitality. Rick's only regret is leaving his leather gloves in Chicago, as he had the opportunity to meet Jim Maciel, Mr. Boston Leather 2005 and founder of FLAG (Fits Like A Glove).

The Road Show would like to thank Cecilia, Danny, Monique and the entire NELA family for the opportunity to exhibit at such a unique event. The staff and volunteers were a great help. The mix of leather and kinky people attending the event was really phenomenal. A perfect opportunity to spread the word about the LA&M!

The LA&M Road Show made a "preview" exhibition at the Leather SINS Holiday Fetish Fair. The exhibition featured 2 standing exhibits, artifacts from the Jim Kane collection, historical papers and artifacts from Chicago's leather scene, a video showing vintage footage from a motorcycle club run, and a few old books and magazines.

This was a great preview showing for the exhibition. We'll be adding lots to it in the future and constantly modifying it as we go from town to town. This was a great preliminary exhibition though, because many of the Fetish Fair participants had not heard of or had not seen the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago before. This was a fantastic outreach opportunity for folks who live in the Midwest to come see the 10,000 sq. foot building that stores and exhibits the rich history of the leather community.

Rick Storer, LA&M Exec. Director, had a wonderful opportunity to chat with the owner of Couples Sensations about the earliest days of the Leather Rose, Chicago's first pansexual dungeon space. His stories about Hans (who now lives in the Netherlands) and the Skulls, a bike group that helped to found the organization, were interesting to hear.

Minax, a member of the Road Show Team, was not at the LA&M exhibition today. She spent most of the day on the other end of the room pushing some of her BDSM equipment that she wasn't using any longer. It's great to see BDSM equipment and gear pass from one person to the next.

After a long day, vendors and shoppers alike gathered near the information booth for the big raffle. Each vendor at the Fair had contributed a major prize to the raffle. The proceeds of the raffle will benefit the Leather Archives & Museum, the Howard Brown Health Center and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. Leather SINS is obviously committed to preserving our past (LA&M), present (HBHC) and future (NCSF). Way to go!

The Road Show would like to thank Master Z and the entire Leather SINS family for the opportunity to exhibit at such a great event. The staff and volunteers were a great help. This was a fantastic outreach opportunity for the LA&M. Thank you!