Buttfeed

ULAN BATOR, MONGOLIA — I was in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, and had been surprised when a web search for gay bars had brought up an address behind the parliament building. Naturally it was the first place I headed for. I thought I’d got the wrong venue when I walked into a bright little bar and saw four Mongolian dudes in sheepskin jackets and flat caps eating steaming plates of beef stew, but one of them immediately hailed me in English and invited me to sit with them. The English speaker was the oldest of the four, a squat chubby guy in his mid-30s, though it was hard to tell. All four of them had red, wind-streaked faces from lives on the steppe as yak herders, he explained. They were visiting the city for the weekend and particularly the one ‘special’ bar here. Beef stew and vodka was quickly brought for me, and the older guy, who was clearly the alpha-male in the group, kept the conversation going and flirted with me, although his three younger friends were all far better looking and smiled at me shyly every time we made eye contact.

I first met Dennis Cooper in Chicago in the mid ‘80s when a friend asked if I could put him up for a couple of nights. He was flying in from L.A. for a reading at the friend’s art gallery and needed a place to stay. I had been a proselytizing fan of Dennis’s poetry for a few years, and more recently had been blown away by his small-press novel, Safe. It was like nothing I’d ever read, a beautiful, severe three-part altarpiece to sexual obsession. Like Georges Bataille, but seen through the prism of L.A. youth culture.

When Dennis arrived we hit if off immediately, mostly talking about music, and within half an hour we were on a Clark Street bus going record shopping. He seemed to know something about everything, and I was particularly fascinated by his singular opinions on gay sexuality and politics. A radical in the ‘80s was a rare bird.

After that, whenever he was in Chicago on a book promo tour he’d stay in the same tiny guest room. There were epiphanous late-night yacks about writers, movies, music, art and porn, and I have a clear memory of him working on his most notorious novel, Frisk, while sitting on the living room couch half-watching 120 Minutes on MTV. Dennis wrote by hand in notebooks, and it was startling to see them afterward with half the words crossed out. Precision above all.

Over the years I’ve interviewed Dennis for various publications, I’m guessing at least 8 or 9 times. When I phoned him for Butt, we laughed at that fact and predicted that I’d be doing it until one of us drops dead. A lovely thought, as far as I’m concerned.

Two pages of amazing bear fashion from our collection of vintage Honcho mags.

When Michael Kowalinski interviewed Xavier Dolan for us earlier this year, the 21 year old French Canadian director remarked, 'When people play hard to get it turns me on.' Dolan might just as easily have been describing the theme of his second film Heartbeats, which screens at the Toronto International Film Festival today.

I met John. John knew me as Stu, my Silverdaddies.com alias. John was a slow typer, which I liked. Also, like ninety nine percent of the men on the site, John was an older guy who had only recently come out. He told me he had a Jaguar which I think was meant to impress me. He had a beard and was the atypical daddy.

This past weekend was Labor Day in the US, when that rare breed of Americans - the employed, get a day off. Blake, on the left, is a Dallas native, while Evan, on the right, lives somewhere rural on the East Coast. In some kind of strange cross-country harmonic convergence, both Blake and Evan took the time this weekend to send us pictures of themselves without pants on. Which would you prefer — if you had to choose?

In the realm of freaks Samuel M. Steward was a God. During his 84 years on Earth, he would make it nearly half a million times with roughly 800 men, getting it on with everyone from Rock Hudson to Lord Alfred Douglas. Simply put, he was one of the most prolific fuckers the world has ever seen. With two upcoming, and painstakingly researched volumes, Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward and its companion, An Obscene Diary: The Visual World of Sam Steward, biographer Justin Spring mines the myriad aliases and varied identities of this accomplished old slut.

Buenos Aires-based Brazilian photographer Eduardo 'Dudu' Alcon Quintanilha, a frequent BUTT contributor, makes some extra money on the side by assisting on porno shoots. Here he is seen hard at work, flanked by two performers from a recent production in Buenos Aires by German adult director Wolfgang Bang.

Looking through old issues of the classic gay porn mag Inches, I became intrigued by the pull quotes in bold that highlight lines in the many sex stories. I decided to convert some of these lines into poems, often combining one or more pull quotes from the same story. Here's three such poems, all taken from the May 1993 issue. They're easy to make, so grab your old porn, get creative, and share them with us!

The Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto is honoring the late artist Will Munro, whom we chatted with in BUTT 24, with an exhibition of selected works entitled 'Will Munro: Total Eclipse'. As you may recall, Munro helped define Toronto's queer nightlife scene with unforgettable parties like Vaseline at El Mocambo and ran the oh so hip Beaver Cafe, both of which have passed into Toronto legend. He was interested in everything and everyone and crafted tributes to his queer and punk heroes, like Klaus Nomi (above), Cherie Currie of The Runaways, and Leigh Bowery, whose portrait is comprised of hand-stitched underwear with sequins. Will's affinity for making art out of underwear was well documented, but he is most remembered for his multidisciplinary works and wit, which are on display. Will Munro: Total Eclipse runs at the Young Gallery in the Art Gallery of Ontario until September 26th.

A picture of a nice pair of wet Hawaiian shorts taken by photographer Andrew Ferguson on a recent summer day in a plastic plunge pool in the backyard of a one-family home in Farnham, Surrey, England, located some 42 miles southwest of London.

Chris Bogia makes sculptures resembling alternative universe versions of images you find in interior design magazines. He creates tapestries out of yarn, sometimes with intricate floral patterns, other times he makes large versions of popular albums like Patti Smith's Horses or Nico's Chelsea Girl. He then arranges cabinets, chairs, tables, and plants to finish it off.

The 67th issue of pioneering true-sex-story zine Straight-To-Hell was released with a big bash in the States last month, and now editor Billy Miller is throwing another launch party in Berlin this Saturday night, July 31st from 7—10PM at the Exile Gallery. This latest issue of STH is filled with well-written tales of secret sex around the globe, including cum-filled stories from Egypt, Sudan, Brazil, Spain, and an especially hot tale of mutual masturbation between two big-dicked Cuban men who meet and get off on a crowded plane. There's no shortage of tales about secret American affairs either, but the international feel of this issue is a welcome change. Also at the Berlin launch party: a variety of titillating sex videos from Latino Fan Club's Brian Brennan, AMG, Old Reliable, Slava Mogutin, and Stuart Sandford — all curated by Billy Miller himself.

During a recent visit to the Pleasure Chest sex shop on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood (‘We've been making life sexy since 1971’) a roll of hot pink tape stood out among all the dildos, butt plugs, harnesses, and other sex accessories. It turns out that it's latex bondage tape that actually only sticks to itself — and it looks great on people's wrists and ankles, according to Gabriel, a member of the sales staff who was wearing a plaid miniskirt, school girl stockings, a stuffed bra, a three-day stubble, and a tiara. 'Once you've been bound and gagged with it, it's actually so tight that there is no way you can get out of it by yourself,' says Gabriel, 'That's why we call it the rape tape.' A roll costs $6.95, is made in China, and comes in three different colors: black, blue and of course hot pink.

Young Turkish activist Erdinch is part of a new generation of gay men in Istanbul who are out and proud and demanding equal rights in their very homophobic country. Erdinch recently helped organize an award show against homophobia, where genetically modified tomatoes were awarded to prejudiced people in the media, politics, and elsewhere. He also curated a show at the nearby Algier apartments entitled: 'Proudly African and Transgendered.' Erdinch says that despite the negativity in his country, he's surrounded by a loving, fun, and caring gay community. He also has a very active sex life, which we discussed in great detail at his place in Tophane, a conservative corner of Istanbul.

Brooklyn artist J. Morrison and Xiu Xiu lead homo-singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart have been friends for the past few years, and their friendship has yielded several collaborations. Morrison designed the vinyl sleeves for several Xiu Xiu albums and singles, as well as band t-shirts, and the stickers included in the most recent album, 'Dear God, I Hate Myself'. Each sticker was part of a set of twelve drawings of mythic homosexual figures with intersexed genitals. Now Morrison and Stewart have decided to release the drawings in a limited edition box set also titled 'Dear God, I Hate Myself'. Stewart has written twelve new haikus to accompany the drawings, a pastime he enjoys as a respite from the intensity of writing lyrics for his band. The set should appeal to fans of collectible homo zine minutiae. It's a little pricey at $40 dollars but if you're a hardcore Xiu Xiu fan, it may be a nice present to yourself. They're available here and soon at Printed Matter.

Growing up, Rodney Morgan was the only gay black kid in the far away land of Whitehorse, a small city in the Canadian Territory of Yukon which lists visiting a riverboat from the 1930's as one of its main attractions. When Rodney left for Toronto, he let himself become obsessed with performing, wearing wigs and posing for photos. He took on the performing name Fritz Helder, and became the front man for the band Fritz Helder and the Phantoms. Their song ‘Lagerfeld Lady’, was a big hit on the Toronto club scene and they got signed to Canadian singer Nelly Furtado's record label, Nelstar. Fritz is currently working on a solo album and preparing for a European tour in September. I chatted with him on his front porch in Toronto's Queen West area, where we watched his gorgeous shirtless neighbors working in their yard.

Taner Ceylan is the star of the new Turkish art scene. Since one of his paintings broke a record at auction two years ago, his works have been included in the permanent collection of the Istanbul Modern Art Museum and shown at Art Basel and biennales around the globe. Meeting him, I was worried to find an egotist and capricious star of the art world. Not so. At 43, Taner is humble, gentle mannered, a bit shy, and was most importantly open minded and eager to share his life story with me. The first painter to introduce homoerotic subjects in Turkish art in the late 1980's (and possibly in the Middle East) he has worked against criticism and hostility his whole life. Today Taner hardly ever walks out of his studio on the outskirts of Istanbul, where he spends ten hours a day, seven days a week, working intricate details on his large scale oil canvases. We spoke about his craft and the secret lives of Turkish homosexuals at cafes in and around Taksim Square.

BUTT's favorite gay tumblr blog CTRL + W33D is leaping off the world wide web and into the physical world with TROLL, a show of original artwork curated by the bloggers that opens Thursday night at the Envoy gallery in New York City. The boys behind W33D have long been collecting the strangest gay graphic ephemera from all corners of the net, with a focus on cut-and-paste Photoshop artwork about cocks or pot. For tomorrow night's show, however, the focus seems to be on 'trolling', as in trolling the internet for content, articles, pictures, or sex, or being a 'troll' - either one who leaves anonymous hateful comments on sites to provoke 'breakdown or chaos', or a seemingly unattractive person who others find gross.

It was a hot June morning in New York when after a long hike up an endless flight of stairs, I met the photographer and filmmaker James Bidgood. Famous for his ethereal photography of beautiful young men in the 1960s, James Bidgood directed, produced and wrote the iconic 1971 film Pink Narcissus, starring Bobby Kendall. Nearly all of the film was shot in Mr. Bidgood's Hell's Kitchen apartment between 1963 and 1971 where he lived within the sets he built. Before the film reached completion, it was taken from him by investors and edited without his involvement, creating something Bidgood says he couldn't even follow himself or stay awake through. Devastated after having spent the past seven years of his life making the film, he refused to sign his name to the project and for years it was credited to 'Anonymous', which led many to think that perhaps Andy Warhol was behind it. When I arrived at his apartment, Mr. Bidgood asked the first question.