Two favorite annual leather events in our region are coming up very soon
Coordinated by Cowboi Jen, Mid-Atlantic Leather Woman 2009, the fourth annual Philadelphia Leather Pride Night (PLPN), which, we’re proud to say, won the 2012 Pantheon of Leather Community Service Small Event of the Year Award, and now involves a full weekend of events, is slated for November 8 to 11, with Pride Night itself occurring on Saturday night, November 10, at Voyeur Nightclub, 1221 St. James Street, from 6 p.m. to midnight. PLPN is hosted by the Carter/Johnson Leather Library’s Jill Carter, International Ms. Leather 1996, and Onyx Rod, Leatherman of Color 2011, and features entertainment by local and guest performers, and an auction of artwork, leather and fetish clothing, leather event tickets, and gift certificates, benefiting charitable organizations that assist the leather community locally and nationwide. Beneficiaries this year include the Chicago-based Leather Archives & Museum and the aforementioned Carter/Johnson Leather Library, both of which will have extensive exhibits of leather history interest on display at the William Way Center, Philadelphia’s LGBT community center, which is another of the beneficiaries.
Look forward as well to the Philadelphians Motorcycle Club’s Friday night Kinky Karnival, taking place at the Bike Stop, the leather bar at 206 South Quince Street, and benefiting the Mazzoni Center Food Bank; “Pages from a Black Leatherman’s Journal,” an exhibit of the artwork of Sir Nagrom Morgan Monceaux, from Baltimore, Maryland, at the Way Center; and panel discussions and classes about leather, past and present, such as “Back in the Day” with Leather Journal publisher David Rhodes, artist Judy Tallwing McCarthy, Mary Elizabeth Boyd, Mistress Mir, Sir Nagrom, and this writer, moderated by Carter/Johnson’s Vi Johnson; “the Master/slave Dance;” “Bring your pup,” with Mr. Eagle NYC 2011 CB Kirby; “Giving Good Chair,” with 2011 International Ms. Bootblack kd; and a look at the Lesbian Sex Mafia of the early 1970s .with Jo Arnone, founder of By Grace of George, for leatherfolk who need assistance in caring for their pets.
Jo is the experienced barker extraordinaire who conducts the lively auctions that are the centerpieces of both PLPN and Santa Saturday®, which is the exclusively registered trademark of the Pennsylvania-based Bucks Motorcycle Club’s leather charity event, now in its 39th year, and taking place at Paradise, in the Empress Hotel, at 101 Asbury Avenue, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on November 24, the Saturday of Thanksgiving Weekend. Doors open at noon and the auction and show will go from 1 to 6 p.m.
In addition to the auction, there will also be entertainment by performers associated with the Bucks and Paradise, presentation of community service awards, photos with the Bucks’ bear Santa Claus, a leather shop, a 50-50 raffle, and refreshments and drinks available. A highlight of the auction is, invariably, the highly competitive bidding on leather and other items of clothing modeled by the current Mr. New Jersey Leather, with the top bidders getting not only the clothing, but also the opportunity to take it right off Mr. Leather’s body on stage—mostly!
Beneficiaries of Santa Saturday® 2011 were, for example, LGBT-related and AIDS services organizations Check-Mate, Inc. of Monmouth County, the Center of Asbury Park, the VNA Ryan White Program, the Bucks County Area Agency on Aging, and FAACT Bucks/Mercer/Hunterdon Counties.
The Independent Hotel, at 1234 Locust Street, in the Gayborhood of Philadelphia, serves as host hotel for PLPN, and the Empress, at 101 Asbury Avenue, barely a block from the Atlantic Ocean and the beach in Asbury Park, is host hotel for Santa Saturday®.
For further information about these terrific community events, visit www.plpn.org and www.bucksmc.org. See you there!