Dead Cow

[octothorpe]

I was having an interesting IMversation (no, that's not a word) with notdefined, and the subject turned to leather bars. A lot has been said over the years about the golden age of leather bars and biker bars, and how today it's just not the same, blah, blah, blah. A few interesting points came out of this:

• A lot of people know what a leather bar/biker bar is "supposed to be", but they always fail to make what they've got, into their ideal. This isn't a problem with the owner, it's a problem with the patrons who think this. If you don't like it, *change* it. A bar owner only provides a venue, the rest is up to the people who go there. I've gone into straight bars and made them gay bars for the evening. Nothing is stopping anyone from making their bar into their ideal.


• We're a much more "out" and open population. We simply don't need to sneak around dark alleys looking for sex in dodgy places. Of course, some of us still want to.


• Bars-as-hookup-spots have been made totally irrelevant by the internet. Why bother going through the cruise dance, when your sex partner can be delivered to your door, not unlike "Fresh Direct"


• There is a lot of nostalgia (and I mean this in the correct sense of the term, not just "memory") out there for that "Golden Age" of dodgy leather/biker bar. This is an age that never *actually* happened the way people like to think it did. Today, people either weren't alive when it was all happening, or they're just remembering their fondest bits. Many of the memories people have, are actually second-hand stories of "how it used to be", mostly because those who were around "back in the day", are sadly, no longer with us.

Discuss!!

Comments

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

But that's kinda what I am getting at…

You may not think it was exaggeration, but you weren't there 24/7. As I told George/Furr above, it's in our nature to remember the good things. If you look objectively over time, there would be "up" days and "down" days (and all the way down days). It's not that the times you had *weren't* hot, but they weren't super-mega-white-hot all the time. Yes, there was a Golden Age, but that age is personal, and therefore different for everyone.

As far as the cruise… I'm totally right there with you. That's how *we* operate, but anecdote does not equal data. My Flist is pretty small, and skews toward such things. Sadly, we're in the micro-minority. With that remark, I am not condemning those who like the insta-hookups the Net provides, but I'd like more folk like us to populate the bars!

Remind me to ask you about the stories you have re: Net hookup tragedies. I'm curious.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Hm... I don't think anyone I'm aware of has tried to claim that during a certain period, certain bars were "super-mega-white-hot" every moment they were open.

They were, however, frequently so; the beerbust at Griff's might be thin because the Gay Rodeo's in town that weekend, or because it's Labor Day weekend and a lot of the bikers are off in the woods on the Badger Flat run.

I suppose the point being that - especially on the key Friday and Saturday nights, possibly Sunday afternoons - the places that get lauded were reliably (if not perfectly) hot during their "golden" period. Sure, the Lone Star in SF was wall-to-wall horny fur during IBR or Gay Pride - but it was still pretty damn hot on a random weekend I managed to make it up to SF.

And keep in mind, this is from the perspective of someone who's cruise-blind! Great Maker only knows how much I managed to miss. ;)

Take Me As I Am

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I do understand your point about the bars not being exciting or hot 24/7; of course not ... nor are internet hookups. But a bar doesn't have to be busy for you to have a hot time if the one other person/patron there gets your juices going. Perhaps, my times were hot because I was there and I made them so:) *rolling eyes*

Since I don't drink, the only reason I ever went to a bar was to dance or get laid ... or both. I have to take clear-eyed responsibility for all of my actions. Oddly, the more I kept my mouth shut, the more other men projected their needs and desires on me. I'm firmly in the camp now that I have a personality and warmth to offer. Take me as I am.

HUGS!

ps .. I'll tell you the story. My opera acquaintance was peripheral damage. His roommate hooked up with someone from the internet; both were robbed and murdered by the roommate's trick.