Legendary Drummer Photographer & Writer Mark I. Chester: A Preview from His New Book
Story by: Mark I Chester
Photography by: Mark I Chester
January 1, 2022
DRUMMER MAGAZINE HOLDS A VERY SPECIAL PLACE in my heart. I was living in Madison, Wisconsin and teaching emotionally disturbed high school youth. When you’re young, gay, and into non-standard sex and living in Madison, you spend every possible weekend in Chicago going to the Gold Coast bar. The street level bar was for a more generalized masculine audience, while The Pit, downstairs, was specifically for men into leather and kink.
It was in The Pit that I saw the very first issue of Drummer in 1975 and it knocked me on my ass. I had never seen a gay leather magazine before. Mainly because there hadn’t been a gay leather magazine before. There was porn where models wore leather but it never looked real. This was different. We were all amazed that anyone would or could do this. It was magical. A magazine about us. Our sexuality. The kind of men that turned us on. It was transformative. The photos and writing had a tremendous personal influence on me. Like many men, I jerked off repeatedly to Drummer, eagerly awaiting each new issue and what new fantasies it might hold. I especially loved the ads in the back of the magazine because these were real guys into real leathersex.
I moved to San Francisco in 1977 and Drummer remained something very special. One thing I especially loved in Drummer was seeing the work of new writers, photographers and artists each month as it opened up my world to new possibilities. Due to complicated circumstances, in the early 1980s, I reached out to Drummer to see if they were interested in publishing my personal play photographs of bondage. By that time the editor was John Rowberry and John was not into the leather scene. My very first feature in Drummer in Issue #48 was a selection of my personal rope bondage photographs. Rowberry titled these images “Rope Tricks.” While I loved my work being in Drummer Magazine, a real fantasy come true for me, that title also came to represent the on-going divide between us. Rowberry would title my pieces as if Drummer was one of those sensational “crime magazines” with lurid titles. My brand was authenticity and it still is.
WHAT WAS THE POINT OF COMING OUT AS A GAY MAN IF I THEN WENT BACK INTO THE CLOSET AS A GAY LEATHERMAN? I WANTED MY LIFE TO BE A SIGN, A SIGNAL, THAT ONE COULD LIVE AN OPEN AUTHENTIC LIFE AS A GAY SEX RADICAL.
It started with using my real name. This was not common in Drummer. Many of the contributors were writing, photographing or creating art under pseudonyms. And it’s not difficult to understand why. In real life they were writers who wanted to be taken seriously, photographers with clients that wouldn’t understand and artists who knew they might lose their jobs if they came out of the leather closet. Even John Preston, whom we define as a gay and leather writer, used the name Jack Prescott on the beginning chapters of ‘Looking for Mr. Benson,’ which premiered on the pages of Drummer. But I was determined. For me it was a matter of pride.
In a sense, I grew from a lost lonely boy to a public sexual outlaw on the pages of Drummer sharing both words and photographs in a way that, I believe, was quite unique. As I explored the scene, I shared those experiences in Drummer including bondage, Sir/boy scenes, rubber, spandex and even the fetish for men who are physically different. It means the world to me when men tell me that my photos and essays opened a door for them. That my work let them know that something else was possible in this strange, dark world. That they were not alone. And that is damn powerful.
I wouldn’t be the man I am now without Drummer Magazine. It was an essential part of my development as a gay man, a leatherman, a photographer, and a writer. At the ripe old age of 70, I proudly stand on the shoulders of Drummer Magazine, even if in the intervening years, the community has not only caught up with me, but honestly, has leapfrogged over me. I feel so vanilla these days. I just like to tie guys up and torture them to orgasm. Well that’s not all I like to do….. but still…
After Drummer Magazine, I continued to document my life in San Francisco’s gay sexual underground. I did fine art black and white photography until 2000 and then I switched to color digital. About 3 years ago, I met Nick Wolfe, who is Drummer Magazine’s new editor. He was leaving town and offered to pose for me, but we had just done a great studio shoot so I wanted to do something different. I knew that Nick loved the gay leather sexual history of the South of Market and the men that roamed and had sex in the streets so I asked him to trust me and follow me out on the streets of South of Market at night. Something happened that night. Some magical interconnection between Nick and the SF leathermen of the 70s and 80s…and me. It left me changed forever. And out of it Street Sex Photos was born.
A LOVE LETTER TO NOT ONLY THE MEN OF THE 70S AND 80S, BUT EQUALLY AN INSPIRATION TO THE GAY/QUEER LEATHERMEN OF TODAY.
It is with immense pride that these images are appearing on the pages of the revitalized Drummer Magazine. If there is any place where they deserve to be highlighted, it is on the pages of Drummer Magazine. It is, as if, I have come full circle to the one place that allowed me to speak authentically about my life and sexuality as a gay leatherman. I hope that you will feel that I have honored and respected the rich sexual history of Drummer Magazine with these images. They are a dream of the past and a hope for the future. A love letter to not only the men of the 70s and 80s, but equally an inspiration to the gay/queer leathermen of today as they look towards their unknown future.
By the time this piece appears, Mark will have self-published a 100 page hard back book, print on demand, of gay men having sex on the streets of San Francisco’s mythic South of Market. For more information about the book and how to purchase it, email Mark at [email protected] or text at 415-613-0369.
