October 24, 2003

by Ray Tilton (Mama's Husband)

It has been since September 2 that I last wrote.  So much has happened as always in our community and family.  Julian  won Mr SF Leather and our very own Keith Folger was runner-up.  The family photo at Folsom was one of the biggest ever.  Our empress was on Maury Povich (PoBitch) and it was actually very touching.  SNATCH you did us proud. 

The wife and I traveled to Palm Springs for the Mr. Sidewinders contest and Sidewinders second anniversary.  It was great to see a lot of the Palm Springs family.  Quite a few made the trek from here.  SNATCH, Saucey, Rick, to name a few.  I have to say that the staff at Sidewinders sure sets a high standard for treating it's out of town guests.  They flew us in, fed us, cocktailed us.  Did I say cocktailed us.  And did I mention they cocktailed us. 

We flew home and went straight to Keith Folger's first event at the Loading Dock.  He did a great job and it was well attended.  The beneficiary was MAGNET and over 400 was raised. 

Leather Walk for me was once again a miracle of humanity and beauty.  It is always an honor to serve with such great people as Suzi, Art, Tony, Briggs and Ross.  The wife of course with her neverending heart continues to provide me with the inspiration to serve our community.

Mark Paladini won Mr Sweater this year at Dan Alexander's hilarious annual event.  The knitting needles and crochet hooks were flying.

Roger Gregg, David McCammon, my roommates here at the river and I flew to Florida for the International LeatherSIR/boy contest.  Brian Williams and Roger Hunt did us proud and represented Northern California with manners and respect.  It was hot and humid but Marcus managed to keep from melting and all the attendees seemed to sweat through many events and "entanglements".  If you have not attended this contest I hope you all will consider it in the future.  It is a great gathering of leather folk from all over the world.  It was a great reminder to me that there is a global family that is so valuable and vital.  Northern California won region of the year and picked the theme "The Great Outdoors" for next year. I came on board as an official regional sponsor with Roger and David.  We formed a new production company called HRDR Productions (House of Roger, David and Ray) which will be producing events specifically related to the LeatherSIR/boy locally, regionally, and internationally. 

This past weekend Mama came up for the Annual Pie Throw at the RRR.  We were pied together as a couple and went for over 1000.00 thanks to the wife herself opening the bid with 500.00.  This of course was the money raised for her by the river family to replace leather stolen last month.  As usual, she donated it right back.  That's my wife.  We then judged together Saturday night at the Russian River Eagle contest.  Lee Young, (Mama's Sweetness) came home with the title and will represent the Eagle at Mr. NorthCoast Leather next month.  When all was said and done over 15,000 was raised over the weekend.  It was great to see SNATCH pied, Lenny's ass, Donna in the pool and Jeff Bridges so pied that he couldn't see or stand real well.

Just my opinion:  There has been so much talk about the lack of interest in titles and the struggle to field contestants. After my recent trip to Florida I feel that the heart of the contest is still beating strong.  The quantity of people running for titles may be dramatically less but the quality of people running is outstanding.  Nothing stays the same, communities shift, change, diminish and grow.  The leather tribe's desire to be a loving, caring, and compassionate family remains constant.