Bob Wingate's Blog

Kidnapped in Utah

I have nothing to say about this story, which appeared in Issue 45 (March 1995), except it's one of the strangest I ever received. One day I'll have to play around on Google and see if I can unearth any copies from the early 50s of True Detective, which I remember seeing on newsstands when I was very young but never read. Or maybe some of you out there can do that for me.

 

KIDNAPPED IN UTAH

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. If you read True Detective magazine, you know of my six months of captivity (in the early 50’s).

 

I was 15 years old in Provo, Utah. My dad owned a used car lot and in the summer I had to wash the cars every day so they shined like new.

Houdini Wannabes

I don't know about you younger guys, but many of us who were turned on by bondage before magazines like Bound & Gagged and then the internet came along, found a respectable role model for our interests in the person of the almost mythical escape artist Harry Houdini (1874-1926), who got himself tied up and chained up and straitjacketed—and freed himself from those restraints—to popular acclaim, long before even we were born. Houdini gave a certain respectablity to being tied up, and any kid who wasn't too ashamed of his desires ever to let his parents know about them might easily and openly play escape games in his own home with his friends, even while his mother was somewhere in the house. Lots of kids were Houdini wannabes.

I don't know if there are many (or any) professional escape artists still around—they used to be popular at county fairs; on the other hand, I don't know if there are many county fairs still around—but here's the story of one of them. He sent it to me in 1994 and it was published in Issue 44. 

 

MY LIFE AS AN ESCAPE ARTIST

ESCONDIDO, CA. I’ve enjoyed reading your magazine for several years now and finally got around to writing down some of my own experiences which I believe your readers might find interesting. I began my career as an escape artist when I was about ten after seeing the movie “Houdini” with Tony Curtis. In it there is a great scene in which Tony and several other volunteers are challenged to escape from brown leather straight jackets. The movie is a bit hokie, but that scene really got my heart pounding—I knew then that I wanted to get tied up like that!

Fun with a Suspension Harness, and a Box

Here are some more pics from the same photo contest guy I posted yesterday. 

Bound Together

As exciting as it is to be hooded or gasmasked and bound, so much more satisfying is it to be hooded or gasmasked and bound to somebody else, especially if one of you starts out suspended above the other. These photos, of two scenes that may not have been taken during the same session, were submitted by a reader for our first bondage photo contest.

Bondage Afternoon (Continued)

Bondage Afternoon

Nothing like a hot guy tied up in a cool, dark room to while away the midsummer midweek blues.

Camp Counselors Out of Control

Ask and ye shall receive, if I can figure out what you're asking for. In this case, a reader asked for an old story about two counselors at a summer camp. Well, this is perfect weather for a summer camp STORY, and I had no trouble figuring out which ONE he was referring to. It was originally published in Issue 18 [Sept/Oct 1990].

 

CAMP COUNSELOR LICKS BEER OFF BOUND BUDDY

MISSOURI. I went to grad school at a university in the Midwest. To make some extra money one summer, I worked as a counselor and instructor at a music camp for high school students, run by the university. The students lived in the campus dorms and took classes, but it was really just an excuse for high school juniors to escape mommy and daddy and play on the beach by a nearby lake for a few weeks. (Now don't panic. This is not a tale of sex with high school kids. Some of them would’ve benefitted from a few hours of being tied and gagged, but I'm not into that sort of behavior and I didn’t need the hassles.) The counselors taught the little creeps about music during the day, and kept an eye on them in the dorm at night.

Boy on a Keg (the whole set)

Back in 2011, I published a chapter of Eric Tide's memoirs, illustrating it with a photo I'd taken years before of a boy tied on a keg. I got several requests to post more photos from that series but could only find one other at that time. I never throw anything away so knew I would stumble across the whole set, eventually. And today, miracle of miracles, I did.

Unique Bondage Control

I've never knowingly published or posted something that appeared elsewhere first—I've always liked the idea of having first dibs on the great material I've offered you. The author informs me that today's story, however, may already have been posted on two or three other sites (MrSdungeon, Eckie.com, possibly Metalbond), even if he has rewritten it a little for me here. I can't resist posting it. There's something about the idea of following step-by-step instructions to put oneself into an inescapable bind under someone else's control that I find a tremendous turn-on. It's even hotter when you're forced to appear in public that way, with only the two of you knowing what's going on under your clothes.

 

BUSINESS TRIP

 

I had been chatting online with a guy who lived in a town I would be taking some business trips to the following year. We had talked on the phone and become pretty comfortable discussing our mutual interests. We both liked the idea of subtle bondage: control in public that the participants would be keenly aware of, but that the casual passer-by would have no idea about. 

Naughty Pup Goes Alpha Plus

At the end of IML the leather magazine Leatherati did a video interview with me, which I only saw for the first time the other day. I did tweet it, big twitterer that I am, but am not sure I did that right, so maybe giving the link here will work better.

 

Here, too, is a new piece from one of my favorite correspondents. I don't know why guys who practice puppy play as a lifestyle think he's wimping out, as the writer says in his first paragraph. You don't see many people leading human pups by leashes down the street. Which may only suggest I don't know what practicing puppy play as a lifestyle means. I love puppy play myself, but only do it behind closed doors.

 

PUPPYBOY TURNS TABLES ON OWNER/MASTER

 

I know a few guys who practice puppy play as a lifestyle, and that’s fine for them, but when I’ve described how Aaron and I play with it, they tell me we’re totally wimping out. I don’t really care, because we have a certain routine that works for us. But first let me explain my relationship with him.

Caleb Beach Spreadeagled

At IML our partner Bryan tied up and clothespinned a real cute young guy, who was too quickly set upon, tickled and carried off by his buddies in the chair he was tied to. As a result, we didn't get nearly as many photos of Caleb as we'd have liked. He and I corresponded afterwards, and I asked him if he and the Dom who was leading him and his buddies around (Mplsguy on Recon) would be willing to do a scene for me. Happily, they were, and here are the photos they took.

All in a Day's Work

A favorite correspondent recently sent me his memories of the time he came to my office and I fooled around with him. Lee and I have been together for 19 years—the writer says I found a boyfriend soon after the session—so I'll have to be forgiven for having forgotten the details of what happened all those years ago. I nevertheless do very much remember this correspondent arriving at my office. I didn't often invite people I'd never seen before, not even in photos, to come on over for a bondage scene, but it must have been a slow period, and the writer, who turned out to be a very sweet kid, had a real nice voice. 

I don’t know what possessed me to pick up the phone and call Bob, except that he ran THE gay male bondage magazine of all time and was also the founder of the New York Bondage Club, and he happened to be in New York City like I was. I’d placed a personal ad and got some nice responses, but not a lot of action from it. So I took the plunge and called and they put me right through to him. We had a very pleasant interaction for a few minutes, and then I asked, “Look, I placed a personal ad in the magazine but I wasn’t really pleased with the results. Could you possibly recommend a better way for a guy who’s into bondage to meet somebody nice and have some casual fun for an afternoon?”

Dart in Bondage

The inimitable Dart tweeted that he has a birthday coming up the day after tomorrow. Now that I'm on Twitter (@bobwingate1), I tweeted him an early Happy Birthday back. To start the celebration, the photos here show a session he and I did together on

Brotherly Love

I'd hoped to find a 4th of July story to post here today—I'm sure I've got one somewhere—but no such luck. On the other hand, I did find a nice story about an American family, if not "The American Family," and that's kind of what this holiday is all about…isn't it? This story appeared in Issue 70 [May, 1999], and refers to a time when pretty much everyone smoked. It comes with a wonderful illustration by the late artist Sean—several readers have asked for more of those—who was always so scrupulous about getting every little detail right.

 

YOUNG MAN FALLS VICTIM TO THE PERILS OF LEATHER, TOBACCO AND MASTURBATION

 

My dad is a very affectionate man. More than most I’d say. My favorite hugs as a young boy were those I got after he’d been out for a Sunday afternoon ride on his bike with “the guys.” He’d come in the door, scoop me up and ask, “How’s my little buddy?” I’d hug him tight and bury my face in his shoulder. Looking back, I remember the feel, sound and sweaty, smoky aroma of his leather jacket as it was against my face. As a teenager, I realized my older brother’s jacket aroused me much the same as dad’s jacket did back then.

Reckless Kidnappee

Here’s a great story that just arrived in my mailbox from a favorite correspondent:

 

Twenty years ago, I was pretty reckless. I’m not proud of that, but I was. I’m also a major bondage freak. I was probably four years old or so when I first saw a man get tied up and gagged on a TV show (it was actually Jim Nabors on an episode on “Gomer Pyle”), and that was very much the beginning of the beginning. I was hooked on it.