Leading B.A.R.: We're getting all leather-y

What I'm reading in our little weekly today: LEATHER NATION. Folsom Street Fair weekend approaches and leather columnist Mister Marcus can barely keep a dry eye. To wit: "At approximately 12:30 p.m., the crew and spectators gathered in the area of the Harvey Milk Plaza to witness what is always an inspiring scene, the raising of the leather pride flag." (Oy.) CRIME & PUNISHMENT. A gun is seized, plus a rash of robberies and burglaries. WISH YOU WERE HERE. Florida tourism officials want a bigger slice of the gay market. KARRNAL KNOWLEDGE. Who knew? Porno producers unleash a raft of new flicks every year tied to Folsom Street Fair -- including this year's Folsom Leather, with newcomer Rick van Sant (shown above). OUT THERE. Our weekly's occasionally zaftig columnist notes: "It's such fun being clean!"

Leading B.A.R.: Drama on the high seas

What I'm reading today in our little weekly: MEOW! San Francisco lesbian cruise operator Olivia is embroiled in a nasty -- and I mean nasty -- series of lawsuits involving its founder, ousted CEO Amy Errett and three other former executives; the four execs want the company dissolved. KARRNAL KNOWLEDGE. Porn star Eddie Stone (left) -- with lips in a "perpetual kiss of sharply carved, bee-stun seduction" -- is fabu in Workload and H20. MISTER MARCUS. Even the prospect of the upcoming Folsom Street Fair can't get the B.A.R.'s odd leather columnist out of his funk. Again. OUT THERE. Fashion history, Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg, and his love affair with his own cock.

[Photo: Eddie Stone's MySpace page]

Leading B.A.R.: A ban on Castro chain stores?

What I'm reading today in our little weekly: CHAIN, CHAIN, CHAIN. Merchants debated a plan to ban chain stores along Castro Street between Market and 19th streets and along 18th Street between Hartford and Collingwood streets; chain stores already in business could stay. BAD VIBES. Strapped for cash, famous sex retailer Good Vibrations is seeking investors. OUT THERE. Fag Fridays, the 11-year-old party at the EndUp, is kaput after Oct. 19. MISTER MARCUS is already hyping that most stirring of annual events, the Leather Walk, leading up to Folsom Street Fair.

U.S. life expectancy sets a new record

Oh, joy! It's now nearly 78 years. Does that mean the minimum age to be considered a hot daddy is now higher, too?

Except gay men, who want big cocks, too

Science is confirming what most women know: Given the choice for a mate, men go for good looks, the Associated Press says in a new story, citing research to be published in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

On anniversary, 'Querelle' pushes envelope

Australian gay guy's glossy DNA observes the 25th anniversary of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Querelle, "without doubt one of the most envelope-pushing gay films of all time,'' the editors say in the magazine's new issue. 'Course, star Brad Davis (above) was even more smoking-hot four years earlier in Midnight Express. Arkansas buds claimed to have seen him scootin' boot at Discovery when I was living in Little Rock and Davis was filming the hilarious 1989 comedy Rosalie Goes Shopping in nearby Stuttgart. (Davis, an IV drug user, had AIDS when he committed suicide with a drug overdose in 1991.) Plus, in the same DNA issue, reader results from the annual Sexiest Men Alive contest.

Leading B.A.R.: Karr's sex-change of heart

What I'm reading today in our little weekly:

• TRANSSEXUAL KARR. Creepy-crazy one-time JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr tells B.A.R. that he had sought a sex-change operation to evade the cops.
• FUR-SURE. The annual Lazy Bear Weekend grabbed $180,000 for charity.
• AIDS IN DA HOUSE. Developers are interesting in building housing for folks with AIDS on two city-owned parking lots in the Castro: one behind the Walgreen's at Castro and 18th, the second behind the Castro Theatre.
• CRIME & PUNISHMENT. Scads of burglaries, including an 18th Street house robbery while the victim was still home.
• OUT THERE. Esteban Sabar Gallery in Oakland is mounting (harr!) bare-naked art in "Full Frontal: a male view of the male figure" from Sept. 7-30.
• KARRNAL KNOWLEDGE. Although No. 1 sucked (harr again!), A Rim with a View Number 2 is a hit; "relish each wisp of corn-silk hair that rings the rosy rectums of the movie's blondes." Gorgeous!

[Drawing: Curious Glance, by Fernando Reyes; charcoal, white chalk on tan BFK Rives paper, 30"x22"; 2007. From "Full Frontal" exhibit]

Murdoch wins; 'Don't Ask' review, sex science

Exceptionally unattractive late-in-life babymaking media mogul Rupert Murdoch, dark overlord of the anti-gay Fox News channel, is adding a new jewel to the crown of his evil empire: Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the ultra-conservative Wall Street Journal and other rags for the monied set. Adm. Michael Mullen, President Bush's nominee for the nation's top military post, told a Senate panel yesterday he welcomes congressional review of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." So sad: Lately underdressed actor Matthew McConaughey may start wearing clothes again. Plus, researchers have discovered why people like sex: It feels good to cum!

[Photo: AP; Murdoch doppelganger C. Montgomery Burns, Fox]

Leading B.A.R.: Counting down to Dore Alley

What I'm reading today in our little weekly: MISTER MARCUS says up to 20,000 leather queens are expected for this weekend's leather-palooza, Up Your Alley (above; inset left, from last year). HOMICIDE HELP? Police need help solving the S&M-related murder of a local man after finding a suspicious B.A.R. advertisement by a suspect arrested in the case. BLUE CHAIRS: Puerto Vallarta joins Palm Springs, Provincetown and Key West as a growing gay hot spot. CRIME & PUNISHMENT. Vandalism at a coin-operated laundry; and Albertine, a 9-year-old Saint Francis terrier, left his Dolores Park play group, ran up to a man, bit him on the right calf, "then ran back to the pack as if nothing happened." How rude! KARRNAL KNOWLEDGE. Fist and South, Part I stretches, uh, celestial boundaries: "The dildos used in two scenes have the circumference of small planets." Plus, OUT THERE begs John Travolta: Get off your knees!

[Photo inset: That sexy alley cat is from dram's Flickr page]

Leading B.A.R.: Serving up a 'Shirley Temple'

What I'm reading today in our little weekly: HALLOWEEN RUMBLE. The only person charged in the Halloween night shootings that injured nine people in the Castro last year has pleaded guilty. KARRNAL KNOWLEDGE. The new porn video Rich Kid (left) overflows with the sort of sex this reviewer loves: "It's like Shirley Temple's animal crackers -- I gobble it right down." OUT THERE. Dishing up a tale about the late, great Beverly Sills "that makes Eve Harrington look like a girl scout." MISTER MARCUS. An East Bay leather beauty pageant features a contestant pulverizing beef steaks to the tune, I Beat My Meat. (Does PETA know about this?)

Ian Roberts: Always 'the thug'

The Australian rugby player-turned-actor tells the Advocate in its new issue that his imposing size -- he's 6-foot-5! -- makes it hard to get acting gigs. "I’ve always been ‘the thug,'" he says of a career that's included Aussie TV and roles in Superman Returns and Little Fish, alongside Cate Blanchett. “I don’t mind doing that sort of role either, as long as I work."

Fucking Availability Index: Lowish. The story notes his "sparsely furnished" West Hollywood apartment is full of photos of his boyfriend, Daniel, who lives in Sydney. Of course, that is a long way from Southern California...

Leading B.A.R.: North's death mystery

What I'm reading this morning in our little weekly: San Francisco porn actor Kent North (real name: Ben Grey) died in London of a drug overdose that may have been accidential -- or not. People keep fussing over whether to build old folks' housing at the former University of California at Berkeley extension campus near Market Street. Porn actor Mark Dalton's performance in Mark Meets Zeb is a "testament to the persuasive power of his juicy physique." But he's still a schmuck and a jailbird. Plus, Out There's Roberto gets all July 4th on us, celebrating "our steamy melting pot, and the chunks of immigrant beefstud simmering in it." [Photo: B.A.R.]

Leading B.A.R.: Bisexualists are griping

What I'm reading today in our little weekly: BI-CRY: Bisexuals have their panties in a knot over news coverage during the gay pride parade, giving rise to a new (to me, anyway) term, biphobia. CRIME & PUNISHMENT: Lots of assaults, including a malicious pepper-spraying and a Muni driver attacked at Church and Market. KARRNAL KNOWLEDGE: It's, "Hi, boss,'' and away they go in Dad's Automotive, Panetheon Productions' latest mature-man themed flick. MISTER MARCUS: More high drama -- amazing, ain't it? -- in San Francisco's soap-opera-esque leather community. OUT THERE: Margaret Cho isn't very nice to super-nice First Lady Laura Bush. So mean!

Leading B.A.R.: Beefcake on parade

What I'm reading this morning in our little weekly: PRIDE PEACE. The weekend's events were trouble-free, police say, quashing fears of Halloween-like violence. SAY CHEESE! Cuties galore like that smiling stud (left) in a Gay Pride photo essay. MISTER MARCUS. More leather drama in Seattle as an elephant lumbers into view. OUT THERE. Last weekend's social whirl -- more like a social tornado! -- recalls the '90s, when "the champagne poured! And party favors were proffered!,'' Roberto says. "'Aromatherapy eye-pillow, anyone?'" [Photo: Rick Gerharter, B.A.R.]

Leading B.A.R.: Pink Saturday on the Q-T

What I'm reading this morning in our little weekly: HUSH, HUSH. Pink Saturday organizers are tamping down publicity for the annual Castro street party (above) so it doesn't draw the bridge-and-tunnel crowd that ruined Halloween in the 'hood. (Urgent correction: Ignore what I just wrote!) GAY SHAME is proud of their shame. Or maybe they're ashamed of their pride? So confusing! KARRNAL KNOWLEDGE: Surprises galore, including No. 4: the reinvigorated Mustang video line's Limits; it's "steamy hot, solidly butch." OUT THERE: Pre-pride, Roberto is quaking in his Uggs and all queer-and-questioning about Hanukkah candles. [Photo: B.A.R.]

Why we're so very, very special

Gay men are more likely have a counterclockwise whorl in their hair -- part of a growing body of evidence in the Science of Gaydar. We're more likely to be left-handed, and our fingerprints are distinctive, too. “These are all part and parcel of the idea that being gay is different -- that we are different animals to some extent,” Simon LeVay, the British-born neuroscientist, tells New York magazine. Kind of a densely written piece, but interesting.

Photo fuss; name-calling, a leather 'disaster'

The lowdown in today's B.A.R.: CAUGHT WITH PANTS DOWN: Castro resident Steve Baechtle (left) is suing AutoErotica after that 18th Street shop displayed his nude photo in the window; the store's owner found the photo on the Internet. (Imagine that!) And his lawsuit's really not just a $20,000 shakedown, either! OUT THERE: An epic pub-crawl in the Spanish beach resort of Sitges, found "dripping with gays'' and various poofters. PC ALERT: Some people are whining that someone used the word fag to promote a party. Mean! CRIME & PUNISHMENT: Stabbing near 19th and Sanchez streets. MR. MARCUS: The leather gays are hyperventilating over a Mr. SF Leather Contest change that "would spell disaster in capital letters.''

Ed Jew throws in the towel

Word for word from the Chronicle: Embattled San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew surrendered to Burlingame authorities Tuesday night after San Francisco's chief prosecutor filed criminal charges against him and issued a warrant for his arrest, saying the lawmaker lied about where he lives in order to run for office.

Stop the Presses Department

The San Francisco Chronicle discovers that we don't like Muni.

File under Department of Serves Him Right

The Bush administration has just canned creepy looking homophobo Gen. Peter Pace, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announcing plans to replace him as the nation's top military officer rather than reappoint him and risk a Senate confirmation fight. Pace caused a ruckus in March when he told the Chicago Tribune why he supported the military's backward "don't ask, don't tell" policy. "I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts," Pace said, prompting days of controversy in which he was both criticized and praised.