NYC Leatherfest

There is something very sexy about leather. Olivia Newton John in "Grease" knew this, and that is why at the end of the movie she got all dressed up in leather to seduce Danny Zukko. Or was that black Spandex?

In the gay world, there is something very naughty, masculine, and manly about leather. I wonder if straight people have leather fetish bars like we do. With the wearing of leather comes a whole other sexual lifestyle as well. One of dominant masters, and submissive slaves. Frankly, I love the whole look of it all -the chaps and the harnesses, maybe a manly muscular hairy man-- Its all very sexy. I just don't know if I'm too keen on the sexual lifestyle part of it. I could possibly get into being submissive, just not sure how much of it involves pain-- which I am not into.

One Sunday I called Ivan to see what he was up to and he said "Let's check out the NYC Leatherfest". I called Herbelicious and said "Let's do it!". Confession time! 3 months ago, the same exact scenario took place where I called Ivan and he said let's check out the Fulsom Street East Leather Festival and I must say it was HOT! Eye Candy everywhere in hot leather! Herbelicious missed out on that event, and so when Ivan said lets go to the leatherfest,
there was no hesitation, and I knew I had to call Herb. Mental note: How come Ivan seems to know about all the leather festivals? I don't recall seeing leather in Ivan's closet.

The Leatherfest wasn't as large as Fulsom Street East, or as interesting. They did not have the man in a Speedo all bound up, or the Drag Queen
wearing all leather singing her heart out. Rather, this was a small affair held under the Highline Park (Bridge) on West 13th Street between Washington and West Street-- A Dark part of the Meatpacking district-- How appropriate.



The first thing we saw when we got there was an exhibit of a man completely covered in black plastic, and a purple latex mask being duct taped to a chair. Wasn't quite a turn on to me, but clearly a turn on for some of the audience members who stood by licking there lips. Whatever floats your boat.

A few booths down was a wrestling exhibit. 2 cute guys in wrestling singlets rolling on the ground, clearly aroused. HOT!! Maybe I should take up wrestling. My last sexual partner did comment that I was a little too rough with him.

There wasn't as many hot guys walking around as the last time, but there were a few, all very reminiscent of Tom of Finland artwork.

                                            The Hot leather cop.

The Leather Cowboy.



                                Mr NYC Leather.


All very hot guys.

The festival is also an opportunity for people to purchase leather and fetish items at a discounted price. I caught a great picture of Herbelicious looking at a red leather vest, the wind catching his hair just right to create that Farah Fawcett effect. (Does Farah Fawcett like leather?). I found myself a little intrigued by the leather jockstraps though I'm not sure I'd have an appropriate venue to wear it to.
Ivan being the diva that he is took interest in a feather fan... the Karl Lagerfeld look maybe? I ended up purchasing a leather bracelet with the word "Virgin" in metal letters across it. Technically by dictionary definition I am still a virgin. HA!



On our way out, we stopped by a booth to check a woman dominating a man using two sticks. Actually I'm not sure exactly what she was doing, looked sort of like a massage, until she stepped right on his balls and then sat on his face. That.. I'm not into.


All in all it was an interesting day, and as we posed for our final pictures, Herbelicious ripped his pants.. right up the crotch. I guess ripped denim goes right along with leather.. except that he was wearing Pink Flamingo underwear!

I think that sometimes, we have to explore and expand our comfort zones. You don't have to necessarily take part in something you might think is strange, different, or scary; but you should explore it even just for a little bit. You never know what you might like. After all, how can you say you dislike something if you haven't ever tried it. To think, we did this all for $5!  ......So... Anyone looking for a slaveboy?

Learn Spanish!  Cuero- Leather

There is No Place Like Home

I know some of you have waited weeks for a new blog entry. I’m sorry. I took a little vacation down to Atlanta and then when I got back, I got really sick with an upper respiratory infection that took me out for a few days. I’m still exhausted actually. I know that some of you are saying that since I was at home, I should have been able to write. But really, If I wasn’t asleep; I was sulking over the fact that I could not be Out N About. And while I was in Atlanta, I was so Out N About that I didn't have time to write.

I love Atlanta. It was my home for 5 years, and every time I go for a visit, I return to NYC feeling extremely depressed because I miss Atlanta so much. I guess I love it so much because it’s the city where I came out. The friends I made there were the first friends who knew the REAL me. They say that the best friends you make are the ones you make in college, probably because you discover yourself in college. I think for a gay man, the best friends you make are the ones you make when you come out. Atlanta feels like home to me. I know all the streets, and all the back roads. I know the gay bars, and it seems everywhere I go there is a familiar face. People in general are just more polite and have manners. I have not been able to make New York feel the way Atlanta feels to me. Ultimately, I know that I am probably going to end up there again. Just not sure when....because just as I always get homesick for Atlanta, once the homesickness passes, I get all excited about living in such an amazing and busy city like New York. Its like being a kid going away to camp. The first day I'm on the verge of tears missing home, but once the activities begin I forget about home and start to enjoy camp!

I know that this blog is called Out N About New York, but Atlanta is one of my homes and so I'm going to blog about it. One of the first Gay places that I encountered when I first came to Atlanta almost 10 years ago, was a tiny coffee shop and bookstore on the corner of Piedmont and 10th Street in Midtown.

When I say bookstore, I don’t mean the seedy darkroom porn shops with sex taking place in back, kind of place that people associate with Gay Bookstores; Rather this place is warm and welcoming. The name of the place is “OutWrite” and they specialize in books dealing with Gay subject matter, Gay authors, or anything associated with the LGBT community.



Though they carry a small collection of erotica, the majority of their merchandise has nothing to do with porn. It is primarily a coffee shop with a cute place to sit and read (or blog), and be social. I have yet to discover a place like this anywhere else, not even in New York City (The Big Cup came close, but they closed). Sure NYC has coffee shops and bookstores, but I have yet to discover one that is both and specifically catering to the LGBT community. My friend Tyler and I spent a few minutes at OutWrite reminiscing about when I used to live in Atlanta.

Now let me tell you the Barista there is sort of an Idiot. Blond girl who insisted on trying to speak Spanish to Tyler and me though neither of us speaks Spanish. Not only did she mistake us for being Spanish, she was just bad at speaking Spanish saying things like “pour fay-vor”. We told her to speak English but she continued to try to speak in Spanish. She was completely deaf to our orders. "May I have a vanilla latte with soy milk please" I ordered. "And what kind of milk would you like" she replied. "SOY" I answered. "And would you like a flavored syrup?" she asked. "ah yes, VANILLA!" I replied "Hence a soy vanilla Latte". "Per dona me.. oops there I go in spanish again" she laughed.

The coffee was good, and Tyler and I proceeded to browse. Coffee Table books of hot men in black white photos, The Damron guide to Gay travel, and even “The Cunt Coloring Book” for those of us who feel the need to color cunt (does crayola make such colors or is it just pink or carnation?- we're all pink on the inside honey).
The atmosphere is very lively and friendly, somewhat cruisy I guess. It's a lot of fun. They sell fun knick knack items like sin soap,Jesus Dashboard statues, and even CD's and Movies. Tyler and I don't remember why we didn't hang out here as much as we had liked. One thing about OutWrite is that everyone is welcome. I use to get annoyed because a lot of high school students would hang out there after school. But I realized that other than gay bars (where students are too young to go), what other place do young gay people have? I'm glad they have OutWrite.

Across the street and down a block from OutWrite is one of my favorite parks: Piedmont Park. Just think about Central Park in NYC, and then thinks of it as being way cleaner, and less crowded. I use to spend hours in the park with my dog, or walking after lunch or dinner, or just strolling with a date. It’s such a calm peaceful place. Rolling hills with trees and the Atlanta skyline in the back. Even the dog park tucked in the far back corner is great. The dog park is as big as some of the regular parks in New York with hills and rocks for the dogs to explore.

Both OutWrite and the park were just blocks from my old Apartment in Atlanta. First the 2 bedroom apartment upstairs of the old house on Myrtle street, and then the 2 bedroom apartment in the complex on 7th and Piedmont. Great memories with great friends there. Meeting at my house for drinks, and then off to the park for the dogwood or gay pride festival. Speaking of drinks, Tyler and I decided to meet our friend Catherine for drinks at a place called Joe's which is also near the park. It was a nice way to end a day and start and evening.




My friends who live in Atlanta think its such a boring place that has no night life. I don't see it that way. Sure if I moved back I'd probably bored out of my mind since New York always has something going on, but still, Atlanta feels like home. I think that sometimes in order for you to truly realize how special something is, you have to give it up. Now that I live in NYC, I'm homesick for Atlanta. Give me two weeks, and I will realize why I am still in NYC. Oh, and in two weeks.. my friends Tyler and Catherine from Atlanta are coming to visit me here!

Learn Spanish: Casa - House, Home
Congratulations - Felicidades

Felicidades to my friend Theresa and the new addtion to her Casa: her new baby Annie Masae Pualanikai'imiponoinameaapauloa Kuehu (Hawaiian meaning The royal child who strives for righteousness in all things)- thats 31 letters folks!

Scrumping!

Today, Scrumping means something sexual. But once upon a time, it meant to steal apples from someone else's orchard. This Past weekend, Jose, Herbelicious and I went Scrumping (NOT the sexual scrumping , the apple stealing!) - Well not really, we paid so it wasn't stealing.

The first time I ever went apple picking I lived in Akron Ohio. It was when I first left Hawai'i in 1997. It had only been a week since I left Hawai'i and I was home alone in my apartment, depressed. Both my roommates had found jobs, and I was still living off credit cards. There was a knock at the door and when I opened the door, this overweight couple introduced themselves as our next door neighbors, knew that I was new; home alone; and wanted to know if I wanted to go apple picking with them in the orchards. Being from Hawai'i and having never experienced a true autumn, I jumped at the chance. They could have been murderers looking to dump me on the side of the road, but I trusted my gut and went anyway. I had a blast picking and eating apples, and drinking cider. When I got home that day, boy did I have to go, and boy was I sick of apples. Later that night, the neighbor who invited me brought over two apple pies that she made. Apples baked in a pie I could still do. Yum!





11 years later, I convinced some friends to go apple picking with me. There are several Orchards north of New York City. We drove 42 miles into the beginnings of Connecticut and then out and back into New York State to the Outhouse Orchards in North Salem where the temperature of the air is a few degrees cooler, and the leaves on the trees have turned beautiful red, yellow, and Orange.
Why we chose to go to a place called the OUTHOUSE orchard was simply because it was close. Other Orchards were twice as far and we really wanted to spend the day "scrumping" not driving.

When we got there, a fall festival was in full bloom. It was so much fun. Fresh fall produce was being offered (Corn and squash) and there was a pumpkin patch!
Beautiful Orange pumpkins in every shape and Size everywhere! We were not in NYC anymore, but rather it felt like we were in Kansas!
Of course Herberlicious and I, being the Naomi and Tyra that we are, turned the whole experience into one big photo shoot.

We had a blast posing in the pumpkin patch, holding pumpkins, and sitting on pumpkins.

I think a lot of people like posing in the pumpkin patch because in the pumpkin patch the Orchard put up cut-outs that you put your face into.








They even set up a tractor so that you could take your picture on it (at least we think they did, maybe we were just climbing all over it and wasn’t supposed to).


Beyond the pumpkin patch was a forest of tall sunflowers. Naomi wanted her picture taken there in hopes of re-creating another Dolce & Gabanna Ad.
I was reluctant to pose in the sunflowers because they were full of BEES! I’m allergic to Bee stings! But like a girl on America’s Next Top Model who wanted to win the challenge,
I carefully walked into the sunflower patch and posed without disturbing a single bee (because my life depended on it!). I think Naomi won that challenge anyway.

Just beyond the Sunflower forest was a field of Mums that was reminiscent of the field of poppies in The Wizard of Oz.

Of course Naomi and Tyra had to pose there too. I think Jose was getting annoyed as I tried to figure out how to pose with the goats in the petting zoo.

Into the general store we went. While posing for each other modeling the homemade jam and jelly jars, a woman approached. “Y’all not from around here are you?”
“Can you tell we are from the city?” Naomi replied.




“Hahaha yes” the woman replied “but its okay, city folk do this all the time. Do you want me to take a picture of the both of y’all together?

“Great!” we shouted. The general store offers a variety of homemade jams and jellies, Honey (still in the comb), Real Maple Syrups, Homemade fudge, and other seasonal items such as apple cider.


The Apple Orchards were across the street from all the fall festivities.





It costs $20 for a large bag. We purchased 2 bags. “On the right are McIntosh apples and on the left are Cortland apples, both are ready and both are good for cooking too” said a man.
We decided to get a bag of each. In the McIntosh orchard we realized that everyone had a “picking stick” And all the good apples were at the top of the trees. Where do we get these sticks? Lucky for us we found one on the ground in the grass.
We grabbed it quickly before its real owner noticed. Jose immediately began using it to pick apples. Naomi and I took this as an opportunity to sample the apples as we did “America’s Next Top Model at the Orchards.” Jose wanted help with the picking, we wanted better lighting. Jose then made it his mission to ruin my photos by jumping in them. The final straw for Jose was when we asked him to give us the stick so that we could pose with the stick, and fake picking the apples for the photos.


Once we had taken the stick, Jose did not want it back. In the Cortland Orchards, he just watched and laughed as Naomi and I struggled to pick apples.
This was hard work. This is why I go to the grocery store to “pick” apples. It’s so much easier. But the apples here tasted so much better. After about 30 minutes of struggling, Jose finally came over and took the stick from us. He had the second bag filled in no time.


After loading the apples into the car, we headed back to the festival side of the street. We purchased some smoked turkey legs for dinner, and Herbelicious could not pass up the funnel cake.




We headed back into the store, bought some fresh donuts; some jams and jellies, and then headed off home into the sunset- which happened to be a beautiful orange sunset that evening. What a beautiful way to end the day.


UPDATE: We split the 2 bags 3 ways. In the last 3 days I have been to both Jose’s house and Herberlicious’s house to teach them how to make apple pies. I have also made apple pie for my roommates. Using Fresh apples makes the most DELICIOUS pies you have ever tasted. We still have tons of apples.


Learn Spanish! Manzana- Apple
Sentence: La Manzana Roja es una fruita prohibida por ser tan jugosa!!!