The boys had their fund-raiser last Friday (Good Friday) and raised over $1000!

The Barracks Bar was packed with locals and tourists up from L.A. and San Diego and San Francisco for the holiday weekend. I think there was a good number there also who normally wouldn’t make the trip to Cathedral City from Palm Springs but who wanted to escape the crowds in PS for the White Party.

The evening began with the introduction of the two MCs, PS Daddy Bear Edward Espindola and Snatch. Edward did his usual trademark deafening yell of "Woof" and cajoled the audience into giving "Woofs" back in return and Snatch performed in the way that only Snatch can and some members of the audience were persuaded to join in his routine, especially one little cute guy who was dressed as a spotted dog for the occasion. Much fun was had with his tail.

A fashion show then took place with Tuff Stuff Leather, Gear, Twist my Links (chain gear) and LeatherSmith all participating and showing off their wares.

A couple of well-known porn stars were among the models, including Rick Jammer, whose very tight red leather jeans shows very clearly why he’s so popular on video. Rick won a 10lb basket of chocolates in the silent auction, to go with his own basket no doubt.

That was just one of the many items offered in the auction, and it was donated by Palm Springs Councilperson Ginny Foat. Even the basket containing the chocolates was made of chocolate itself. Other items included a San Francisco police uniform, a Mid Atlantic Leather poster autographed by a former IML Tony Mills, a Leather Basket filled with over $500 worth of toys and other leather items, donated by LeatherSmith; a weekend package for PSLOD’s Leather Pride weekend events, donated by PSLOD; a vintage poster from the Cal Pacific Exhibition, and a basket from The Leather Bear resort including a certificate for a night’s stay there. There were also lots of raffle prizes given away, so a lot of people went home that night very happy. Also among the things auctioned off were some of the boys themselves offering services such as house cleaning and in BOL President Henry Jordan’s case, cooking a barbecue dinner for 14 guests in the winner’s house. JD of Leather Smith, as if he hadn’t done enough already to support this event, was the top bidder for that offering. Henry‘s barbecue sauce is something else. (I hope nobody it taking all these comments the wrong way!).

By the time you read this the Southern California Leather Sir and boy contest will have already taken place so there’ll be more about that next week.

Coming up in the next few days is an event called MELT, or Sweat PS 2006, presented by xDelmar and Castrobear . This isn’t a specifically leather event but there are definitely some leather overtones. The weekend opens with an unofficial kick off party on Thursday night at The Tool Shed for those who arrive early for the weekend. On Friday night, which happens to be Cinco de Mayo and a good excuse to party anyway there’ll be the official Ice Breaker opening party at the Barracks Bar and this will be hosted by the "sizzling" South of Market Bare Chest Calendar Men from San Francisco. It’s also PSLOD beverage benefit night at The Tool Shed so there’s lots to do that night and abundant cruising I’m sure.

There are lots of non-leather events associated with this weekend going on as well and it all ends with the Sunday afternoon beer bust at the Barracks, which , by the way, has opened an extension to its patio meaning that even more sexy men can crowd in there. It’s probably the biggest bar patio in California now. By the way, don’t fall for the con man who tries to persuade you to pay for parking in the lot across the street. It’s not for real. There’s no license to charge for parking there and the Barracks put a stop to it as soon as they found out. There’ll always be somebody trying to make a buck off us, won’t there?