I read books, a lot of books. I have shelves lined with books covering anything from fiction and history to erotica and home improvement; I can say with absolute certainty that none of the books in my collection contain as much unadulterated information, insight and significance in relation to the Leather lifestyle as does Jack Fritscher’s newest book "Gay San Francisco". Packed behind a modest cover are 700+ pages of history as it happened and as it developed and gave birth to the relative cultures it encompasses today. Filled with pictures with accessible thumbnail captions, personal reflections, humorous stories and a seemingly infinite number of historic "Drummer Magazine" articles, "Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer" is a book dedicated to the future of gay and straight kinky Leatherfolk around the world. Read about the history of our community and walk with the man who beat the Drum as it happened. The book’s explanatory subtitle is “A Memoir of the Sex, Art, Salon, Pop Culture War, and Gay History of ‘Drummer’ Magazine from the Titanic 1970s to 1999.”

Opening this book of eyewitness Leather history can be (and was for me) a very intimidating experience; quotes fill the first few pages, quotes by people who have been instrumental in advancing this lifestyle and deserve the attention of everyone interested in BDSM/Leather. Joseph W. Bean, Larry Townsend, Rick Storer— the list goes on and on of people praising and remarking on this collection of experiences, thoughts and reflections. What more can be said that these people, better people than I, have not already said?

As I walk down my path, I search for answers of the history of the culture I embrace and believe in, Leather, and far too often I hear the words "things have changed" followed by a look that tells me few are around to tell me the history of what I want to learn. There are books out there, Larry Townsend’s "Leatherman's Handbook" for one, that tell a story of what once was but I have always felt something was lacking and had questions unanswered—possibly because the “Leatherman’s Handbook” was published in 1972. Larry Townsend and Jack Fritscher were longtime pals, and, in a way, “Gay San Francisco,” published in 2008, takes up “back to the future” where Townsend left off.

"Gay San Francisco" took me for a ride into the past and showed me not only what was happening from the 1970s on but who it was that was telling me these things. I learned about author and photographer Jack Fritscher before I saw what he saw. I knew my guide before we began this insider’s journey. Did that help me understand a time I never saw and a place so changed today? I think it did.  I think having Jack Fritscher talk to me through the pages before me and tell me his stories as Founding San Francisco Editor in Chief of "Drummer Magazine" helped me see why things were important to him and why he chose to share what he did.

If you saw the rise of Castro and Folsom, read this book and relive those times with an eyewitness participant who was there “for” you. If you missed the days that later came to define South of Market aka SoMa, then grab this book and learn what motivated a man to get involved in a magazine read by millions and why his BDSM Leather was not a walk in the park. If you just want to have some fun, read a “Drummer” horoscope chart obviously written for the Leather audience and find out if Nazis ever tried getting published in "Drummer."

It’s worth noting that as a free “Leather community service” during this hard economic recession, Jack Fritscher has posted the entire text of “Gay San Francisco” in a series of “free and green” pdfs at his research site www.JackFritscher.com where the SEARCH feature will take you anywhere you want to go in this book.

Trade Paperback Publishing Information: “Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer”  – A Memoir of the Sex, Art, Salon, Pop Culture War, and Gay History of Drummer Magazine from the Titanic 1970s to 1999, illustrated, index, 733 pp, written by Jack Fritscher, edited by Mark Hemry, San Francisco: Palm Drive Publishing, 2008