Honky Dore

As I mentioned earlier, Dore Alley/Up Your Alley was its usual low key fetish fun, even though it's getting bigger and bigger each year and is in danger of becoming the mess that if Folsom, whose original scene it was meant to sort of replicate. If you want all sorts of outlandish and debauched photos, head over to Flickr or try an unsafe Google search. I had no intentions of "documenting " this event and even forgot my camera entirely. I did, however, snap a few shots with the iPhone of scenes which amused or provoked me.

So here's some quick observations from my actually lovely day at Dore Alley —

First, here's a cute shot of Matthew.


I believe 99% of the photos ever taken of him are in leather or comic book-related garb. A truly pleasant surprise was hanging out with First Runner Up IML Lance Holman (old friend of the blog) and his IML blue-haired buddy visiting from L.A. and representing Oil Can Harry's, which is our SoCal gay country dance bar.

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Greg cracked me up because even though none of us had flashes on our camera phones, he still managed to have his eyes closed in every shot. Okay, now this is the typical Dore Alley festival goer.
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It's a safe place for not just fetish play, but fetish celebration. Most folks aren't actually all that into whatever fetish garb they adorn, but they are in the spirit and celebrating freedom of kink. This is a leather/sex fetish fair, so really, do you think this is the best street fair for a hipster hat vending booth? I'm thinking "wrong demographic."


WTF? I saw some crazy shit on Sunday, like these feather back piercings,


and I still think that the hipster hat booth was more fucked up. That, and the situation of a site called "cumhunt.com" next to the Stop AIDS booth.

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Then again, Jorge (above right) was there raising money for Stop AIDS by whipping and flogging people who paid to be chained to a post and, well, be flogged at whipped. To each his own. My "fetish" gear was just cowboy garb, and it was nice to walk around this year instead of running a Rodeo-benefiting beer booth. (I did get to spend some time with my boys at the Rodeo exhibit booth.) The man that totally turned my crank was in some subversive fetish wear: a perfectly tailored suit, double Windsor, cuff links, and he wore it well. Other notable sights among the pretty muscle, fur and leather (oh my):

Super hot straight couple, shopping for toys:

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Welt in a perfect handprint shape from a significant slap on the ass:

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The boy that was not only hot but clever—he had rigged just a belt and a bandanna from one hip to hold his business. He posed for me to take a photo when a more professional photographer got in there, took his pics close up, and then began to unwrap his model (so my first shot of the clever little sling is skewed, and overshadowed by the odd masked guy walking by).

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Those photos are set as 'restricted' on Flickr but online if you'd like to see them and have your safety settings off. They will not be posted here (have to keep some semblance of PG-13 here).

Finally, a fun shot of the guys working one of the beer booths. One guy had a serious shiner on his left eye. Check out the name tags.

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Upon closer inspection, the shiner was real. I am hoping the abuse was not.



Update: Michael Smith, local photographer whose images are consistently stunning, has uploaded his views from the day.