“A Fireside Chat” is a co-production of Douglas O’Keeffe, Christina Court and Joanny Goaddy in association with the Leather Archives and Museum. The “Chats” seek to capture the memories, reflections and experiences of community leaders. Presented live on stage in a talk show format, the “Chats” consist of a formal interview followed by an opportunity for the audience to ask questions of the subject. Each “Chat” is filmed for historical preservation at the Leather Archives and Museum.
During his 25-plus years in the Leather arena, Mark Frazier has been an activist, player, judge, producer of events/contests and an educator (where he has given over 1600 workshops). He has held various local, regional and International leather titles, and he has sat on numerous local, regional, national and international boards. Mark has been acknowledged with many awards and accolades over the years. He is a long-term member of NCSF, NLA-International, NLA-Dallas, Discipline Corps and an Associate Member of CHC. Mark currently owns and operates the Dallas Eagle and is the Executive Producer of the International LeatherSir, Leatherboy and Community Bootblack contests.
Cannon was among the earliest volunteers for Chicago House. Her maternal instincts, her totally irreverent sense of humor, and her high-energy approach to everything put her at the center of everyday life at the agency’s first community residence for PWAs. She helped to plan the weekly “family meal,” the regular Thursday-night dinner that was intended by the residents to include volunteers, staff, and other individuals visiting the site. She also assisted residents in completing routine tasks that had, for many, become a challenge; these included shopping, laundry, and personal care. She called on her numerous friends, acquaintances, and business associates, scheduling hair stylists and planning recreational outings “for the boys,” “borrowing” a school bus from time to time as the situation warranted.
A fireside chat with founder and publisher of The Leather Journal Dave Rhodes.
Filmed on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 at Center on Halsted in Chicago, IL. The Legacy Walk is an outdoor public display which celebrates LGBT history and people. According to its website, it is “the world’s only outdoor museum walk and youth education program dedicated to combating anti-gay bullying by celebrating LGBT contributions to history.” It is the world’s largest collection of such monuments. It is located in Chicago, Illinois.
Sandy “Mama” Reinhardt is a leader in the leather, BDSM and LGBT communities. She claims she has been a leader for many years and very active in the fundraising arena for most of those, including her annual Breast Cancer Dinners, LeatherWalk (for the AIDS Emergency Fund & the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund) which kicks off Leather Pride Week leading up to the Folsom Street Fair and Toy Drive for Camp Sunburst, a program for children and families affected living with HIV/AIDS. Based in the San Francisco / Bay Area she has devoted her life to helping others by networking and organizing community activists for short-term and ongoing campaigns.
Mary Elizabeth also known as the First Lady of Leather is interviewed in front of a live audience at CLAW in Cleveland, OH in 2011
Ask just about any Leatherman or leatherwoman you meet who Chuck Renslow is, and you’ll get an answer right away. Here are some of the answers: He was the founder in 1950 and photographer of Kris Studios, one of the earliest and most durable of the physique houses (and the one where leather always had a place). He was also a noted photographer of the Ballet. His dance photography is now in the Newberry Library dance collection In the “Chuck Renslow Dance Photographs” collection. He opened the first leather bar, the Gold Coast in Chicago, in 1958. He was the publisher of Triumph, Mars and Rawhide Male magazines. He was a founder of Second City Motorcycle Club, the first club not on the West coast, in 1965. He was the founder of many bars and sex clubs since the 1960s, including Mans Country, which has survived for more than 40 years. He was among the earliest member, often among the founders, of many gay liberation organizations and movements. He has sat on the Board of fourteen different LGBT organizations. He was the founder of Prairie State Democratic Club in 1980. He was the former owner of the Chicago Eagle.
From the LA&M Fireside Chats interview of ONYX founder, Mufasa at Center on Halsted January 28, 2015.
Mr. International Rubber 2003 – William “rubberwilli” Schendel Co- Owner & Chief Operating Officer MIR Contest, LLC
Joey McDonald’s community service dates back to 1974, when the Chicago native joined the U.S. Navy. As an out and proud gay sailor, he spent six years on active duty helping to break down his fellow crew members’ stereotypical attitudes toward gay men. While on active-duty leave in Chicago in 1979, McDonald volunteered as a greeter at the first International Mr. Leather (IML) contest. What started as a serendipitous moment would lead to volunteer work that has consumed a large part of his life.
Master Alex Keppeler is the Director Emeritus of MAsT International (Masters And slaves Together), a non-profit education, support and resource group for people living or desiring to live in the Master/slave lifestyle and a division of Butchmanns, Inc. During his tenure as head of MAsT, the organization has more than quadrupled the number of its active local Chapters and has gone international. Prior to assuming control of MAsT in 2000 and for many years after, Master Alex was the Webmaster for MAsT and for many of its local MAsT Chapters. Master Alex heads Household Keppeler, a residential community of gay leathermen living in Jackson, Michigan. His leather family, which has existed continuously since 1996, currently includes two live-in 24/7 slaveboys, one of whom has served the House- hold since 1997, and an external submissive. Master Alex has served as a judge at numerous Master/slave con- tests and a variety of leather contests. He has also been a work- shop presenter at many Master/slave and leather events. Master Alex is active in the Midwest leather community and is regularly involved with leather clubs and bars in Detroit and Chicago. He is an associate member of the Chicago Hellfire Club, ICON Detroit and Trident Windy City. He is also an active member of Detroit’s gay square dance club, the Cadillac Squares. Master Alex, the father of two children from a prior marriage, is 68. He is retired from Consumers Energy Company in Jackson for whom he continues to work part-time as a contract computer systems administrator and employee benefits consultant.