Tim Brough has been writing for various gay fetish magazines over the years. He also helmed two of his own publications, the ground-breaking "Rubber Rebel" and "Vulcan America" magazines. Tim has also participated in all sorts of other exploits, including the infamous Rubber Buddha episode of HBO's SEXBYTES series. He has also frequently been invited to judge at the Cell Block Chicago's ongoing Mr. International Rubber competitions, as well as the recently-founded Mr. East Coast Rubber in NYC. He also appeared as Brutux Kahn in the Zeus/Can-Am production "Brutal Kombat." "Black Gloves, White Magic" is his first collection of stories.
While the twenty stories in this volume do have a decidedly kinky leaning, there are a few that don't veer off into the heavier areas of play. In particular, "The Forest Ranger" is almost new age in its description of sex in the great outdoors, and "Vanilla Extract" is a leather story through a Monty Python filter. The stories are also allowed to end on unexpected notes, motivated just as much by character as sex. The protagonists in "Blaine" debate the whys and hows of their lives and losses even as they engage in a heavy session, and the hallucinatory out-of-body experience described by the bottom during "Someday Never Comes" deals with the spirituality that kink enthusiasts sometimes share.

There is plenty of hard-core fantasy to be found here. Cops, truckers, municipal workers and magicians populate "Black Gloves, White Magic," but Tim also injects an understanding of the philosophy of kink and those men who inhabit the lifestyle that most writing in this field lacks.

I'm Tim Brough, and I collected a wide variety of information for my latest book. "First Hand: An Erotic Guide To Fisting" starts with a history from noted Leather historian Jack Fritscher Ph.D. (which reads like a chronology of San Francisco through '60's and '90's) and ends with a hot piece of fiction from former Drummer magazine contributor and disabled-rights advocate, Michael Agreve. In between I covered health with a Doctor and Physical Therapist, club life with two club presidents, the online experience via the webmaster of the RedRightWeb site, a man who recounted his first encounter with footing, and, in the book's sixth chapter, dozens of brief interviews where the participants related their thoughts about handballing to me.

The books has nine chapters, if you include Dr. Fritscher's introduction. The chapters include segments on anatomy, play "guides" and instructions, the chapter with the Doctor and therapist, the segement on clubs community and the web, and the 'first hand' accounts that make up the interviews chapter.

I interviewed over 200 individuals in preparation for "First Hand," and the diversity shows. There's everything from poetry (really!) to hardcore Sm related through the book's near-160 pages. A brief index includes references to books, DVD's, events and people. I feel this is easily the most comprehensive guide to this fetish ever compiled, and I am proud of the final work. I hope you share my enthusiasm, and thanks for reading.

Greetings - My name is Tim Brough and I am the principle author of "Skin Tight: Rubbermen, Macho Fetish and Fantasy." I have spent a great many years documenting the gay rubber fetish community, beginning with editing Rubber Rebel magazine from 1994-96 and continuing with helming the Vulcan America magazine and website from 1997 till 2003. Much of "Skin Tight" is material selected from the best of what those magazines had to offer. There are also several new and never before seen articles and interviews.

Some of what is included in "Skin Tight" was previously only available in the since discontinued Vulcan America website. There is a graphic story called "The Rubber Frogmen" that is very heavy on underwater kink, and has never been in print until now. Several of the interviews have been updated and expanded from their original editions, and new interviews conducted in 2006 appear.

"Skin Tight" also covers a basic tenet: taking care of your gear! Two different rubbermen give their advice and directions on keeping your wardrobe at its finest, and there's a brief chat with Invincible Rubber's Paul Lewis on how some of the best gear in the world gets created. Mr. Lewis is one of three "Rubber Personality" profiles, the other two are noted rubber fetish photographer James Bond along with balloon fetishist and adult video star Buster.

Scott Moats and the late Peter "Rubber Bear" Tolos designed the Rubber Pride Flag and their tale is presented in "Skin Tight: Rubbermen, Macho Fetish and Fantasy." Peter's best known erotic story, "Zach" is included in its entirety, pulled together from the serialized chapters first printed in various Rubber Rebel magazines.

The greatest single addition to the book is a tenth anniversary history of Mr. International Rubber, the annual contest held in Chicago. From its start in Boston to its present standing as America's leading rubber event, many of the participants and organizers shared their thoughts and experiences with me about MIR. Events such as RUBBOUT and clubs across the country are also profiled, including a conversation with a founder of America's first rubber club, The Five Senses.

"Skin Tight: A Guide to Rubbermen, Macho Fetish and Fantasy" is probably - more than any of my previous three books - a labor of love. Come and meet some of the folks in my extended family, and thanks for reading.

Dr Joseph Neuschatz's medical/political thriller is based on an interesting and original premise; What if terrorists convinced martyrs-to-be that dying on a surgeon's table was just as noble as wearing a suicide-vest in a train station? It's a pretty frightening thought, medical liability being what it is, but "TerrO.R." spells it all out with frightening plausibility. Dr Phillip Newman is an Anesthesiologist who enters "TerrO.R." as a young patient unexpectedly dies during a mundane typical procedure. As would be expected, lawsuits start flying and Dr Newman is suspicious of something darker when the amounts leap into the hundreds of millions. What he and other doctors begin to discover are similar deaths with similar legal actions...and Dr Newman battles to find out the connection. The book is well done and a quick read. (I got it done on a mere 3 morning subway commutes.) I was also able to read through the medical procedures without feeling lost, which is no minor feat for a medical writer. If you're ready to deal with that, then you'll enjoy the suspenseful "TerrO.R."

I loved Peter Gabriel's third album, but it is a primarily English affair, even with the hints of African rhythms that began to creep in around the edges. When it came time to make his fourth album, Gabriel decided to take strides into areas outside his island, and the resulting album (and first to bear a proper title), "Security," was rich with African, Native American and other worldly influences. Not only were the sounds more internationalist, so were the characters involved. From the American Indian who's sadness at seeing his culture dissolve into trivialities like the "Sit'n Bull Steakhouse" to the tribal marriage in "The Family and The Fishing Net," these are people more real than anyone Gabriel had imagined on any of his other recordings. And they certainly did not sound like they were taking tea on the row.

The sound of "Security" influenced many to come. The newly reformed King Crimson and the Talking Heads were dabbling in this style of music, and it was still four years before Paul Simon would make "Graceland." It is easy to say that PG3 had as much to do with these musicians' sounds as "Security" did, but it was Gabriel's "Shock The Monkey" that wedged the tribal sounds onto MTV and out from under the novelty aspect. (Adam Ant anyone?) Also, "Security" is easily the first album that carried the term "world music" out and into the general public. Even a band as innocuous as Starship wound up quoting from "Security": their "Connection" from "Nuclear Furniture" lyrically references "I Have The Touch." (There's a line about needing "Peter Gabriel like contact.")

Still, that almost sounds like I am somehow slighting this album by comparing it to others. I'll even go so far as to say that the "Biko" derivative "Wallflower" makes the album come up a bit short between PG3 and "So." It's hard to do that with an artist as consistently creative as Peter Gabriel, who chose to keep challenging himself even though commercial success had been eluding him for quite some time. "Shock The Monkey" finally gave him the watershed American momentum that would codify with "So."

This is a difficult album to listen to. It is dark, filled with images of death, despair and alienation. "Up" starts off with "Darkness" and concludes with "The Drop," which describes people as they plummet through the sky (and "nowhere to go but down"). "No Way Out" describes what almost sounds like a murder of a friend. The Blind Boys of Alabama add mournful harmonies to "Sky Blue"; Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan wails painfully throughout "Signal To Noise." The final line on "Up" is "I wonder where thay are falling to." And to make sure that you know that this CD is not a party disc, the strongest song here is a cheerful ditty called "I Grieve." Yes, after over a decade of waiting, Peter Gabriel has returned with an album that turns itself inward so intensely that you begin to wonder if he hasn't been spending a little too much time with Nine Inch Nails' "The Fragile."

The NIN connection starts with "Darkness," which softly bubbles at the beginning of "Up" before exploding in a distorted rage of loud guitar chords and heavily treated percussion and drums. The industrial crunch then gives way to a whispered "every fear I swallow makes me small...alarms are triggered, memories stir." Peter then discourses with himself over a litany of phobias and the admission that "I have my fears, but they do not have me."

It doesn't get much brighter than this. With the exception of a semi biographical "Growing Up," and the demonically satirical pop number "The Barry Williams Show," the sound of "Up" rarely veers away from the sounds of men in mid-life agony. "Barry Williams" is still an ugly listen, it shreds the worst aspects of shock TV with a cast of child molesters, wife beaters, prostitutes and the host who allows that "dysfunction and excess is all it took for my success."

This CD is kind of like being given access to a display of an open wound. You want to turn away but remain glued to the stereo by the macabre fascination. There comes a time when you hope for redemption, but even as Peter talks about the little noises in his brain ("My Head Sounds Like That"), the beauty of the horns and piano can't disguise the pain. The closest we get is in "More Than This," where at least Peter admits that he's looking to see if there is "something out there" worth looking for.

This would all be depressing hogwash if were not for the fact that Peter Gabriel is the undisputed master of magnifying his dread into art. With "Up," he has accomplished what few of his peers, save David Bowie or U2 have managed, and that is to carry it into maturity. It may scare away a few of the MTV generation weaned on "Sledgehammer," but if you're prepared to stare into Gabriel's heart of darkness, then "Up" will make for a very happy downer.

Peter Gabriel capped his troika of five star albums with what became his commercial high-point, the energetic (for him, anyway) "So." I guess when you say energetic in regard to Gabriel, that definition comes from the hits "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time." The hard hitting rhythms and memorable videos from those two songs made them huge hits and -- peculiar enough -- dance floor sensations. The hook in "Big Time" is so mammoth that it has since been used to do everything from promote movies to selling automobiles; ironic, considering the song's focus on falsity of the commercial world.

For those who viewed this sudden burst of commercial acceptance as sell out, "So" has something they obviously missed. This is Gabriel's most spiritual album. "Mercy Street," "In Your Eyes" and "Don't Give Up" are unbelievably uplifting songs. Having explored African music for the basis of much of "Security," this time Gabriel enlisted one of that continent's foremost vocalists. The exuberance of Youssou N'Dour at the close of "In Your Eyes" and the angelic (I can't think of any other way to describe it) lead of Kate Bush on "Don't Give Up" make both of these the kind of songs I turn to in moments of despair.

In addition to N'Dour and Bush, "So" has an amazing list of player's players contributing. Everyone from Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, Michael Been of The Call, Nile Rogers of Chic, and producer Daniel Lanois all contribute to making "So" a stunning album of rich musical tones. In fact, this may be the Peter Gabriel album that benefited the most from its remastering. Lanois' production tends to lean on more organic sounds, and this new edition of "So" finds them sounding more crisp and spaced.

The remastering did leave me with one gripe. How come "In Your Eyes" got pushed to the end of this CD as opposed to the track five slot of the original? (This CD's participants' track listing didn't change the guest musicians/running order, either!) On original discs, "In Your Eyes" came between "That Voice Again" and "Mercy Street," leaving the album to end with the more peculiar (and more satisfying) "This Is The Picture/Excellent Birds."

That's just a minor question in perspective to the overall impact of "So." This was one of the Top 5 albums of 1986, and along with albums by Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Simple Minds, one of the best of the eighties as a decade.

Peter Gabriel has always been at his best when he explores his almost existential sense of dread. But it wasn't till his third solo album that he gave the paranoia free reign. While the first two albums seemed more self consciously eccentric, PG3 dropped the quirkiness in favor of characters that were scary and foreboding.

"Intruder" sets the stage for the rest of the album. Having removed all the metal percussion from the studio, the forbidding sounds of the drums and the creaking scratch of the piano string remain one of the most frightening introductions to kick off an album. It was also an environment that Gabriel held through the duration of PG3, be it from the alienation of "Family Snapshot" to the slyly political "Games Without Frontiers;" that atmosphere of impending disaster sucks you in.

This was also the album where Gabriel discovered the earthy rythms that became central to his future albums. Both "Intruder" and "Not One Of Us" take a significant amount of their edge from these arrangements, and producer Steve Lillywhite knew exactly how to make that kind of percussive sound work in favor of the artist. Perhaps it is best exemplified by "Biko," one of the finest politically tinged songs of the eighties and one that still holds up well today. "It was business as usual in police room 619" Gabriel informs us, as chants and drums give us a greater sense of place. It's a relatively simple sound with a softly delivered message ("the eyes of the world are watching now"), and brings PG3 to a satisfying and emotionally charged conclusion.

The remaster really does make a difference for this CD, and I already consider this Peter Gabriel's high water mark. But it's also the first of three five star recordings, and a great place to start.

Funny how one of the things I got out of seeing Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" was a desire to pull out this best of set from the Go Go's. "Vacation" is used as a predominant backdrop for one of the more humorous scenes in the film, but the song itself is a simple pop confection from one of the best new wave bands of the eighties. In three albums, the Go Go's made super hooky pop tunes guaranteed to stick to the roof of your brain, starting with the impossible to ignore twin blast of "Our Lips are Sealed" and "We Got The Beat" from their number one debut album "Beauty And The Beat." The ladies became inescapable during the summer of 1981, their cutesy image all over TV and their album played everywhere. They became the super safe face of "new wave" and the first bona fide smash on IRS records.

But underneath that image of America's Sweethearts throbbed the triple rock and roll threat of excess, drugs, booze and ego. "Vacation" may have been a terrific follow-up album, but the Go Go's were beginning to split at the seams. And by the third (and arguably their best) album, "Talk Show," tensions drove Jane Wieldlen away and the band called it quits.

Darn shame that. Those three albums kept showing growth as a band (listen to "Mercenary," the best track off "Talk Show") and the semi-biographical "Head Over Heels" was as good a rocker as most of the new wave was churning out in 1984. The songs on all three albums were frequently deceptively simple songs that were radio safe but deliciously memorable. Given the frequently style mad bands that zoomed in and out of the picture so quickly in their wake, the Go Go's have managed the neat trick of ducking the novelty status that many of their initial critics threw at them, and paved the way for other memorable all female and self contained acts like The Bangles. (Don't forget, a successful all woman act that wasn't being puppetted was considered a stunning accomplishment back then.)

There are a couple minuses here - I miss "Cool Jerk" from the first "Greatest Hits" and there's enough material from "Beauty and The Beat" here to basically say you could get all three albums and not miss very much (or the double "Return To The Valley of the Go Go's"). Maybe a rarity or two might have made this a better set. But for a band that crashed and burned in barely four years, the Go Go's have a body of work that any band could be proud of.

Bowie's star was rising so fast that it was hard to believe this album came less than a year after "Ziggy Stardust" and was followed almost immediately by Bowie's first of many announcements that he was retiring. But with the Spiders band firing on all cylinders, Bowie was writing songs so quickly that he had recorded "The Jean Genie" in one night, was playing it in concert the next day and saw it hit the charts in England by the end of the month.

It was that kind of enthusiasm that informed "Aladdin Sane." While it may not have the knock out sensationalism that snuck up on unsuspecting listeners the way "Ziggy Stardust" did, it is still an amazing document of an artist in his element. The glam rock is still the predominant element, but pianos suddenly move forward and the music became as theatrical as the stage persona. "Time" has always reminded me more of Brecht and Weill than Marc Bolan. "Cracked Actor" also just oozes a sleazy Hollywood sentiment that mere rock couldn't. Bowie was aspiring to be "art" here and hit the mark pretty often.

But it never meant he was passing on rock and roll. "Watch That Man" states that firmly, and "Panic In Detroit" is brilliant. The Spider's run through of "Let's Spend The Night Together" captures the directness of The Stones but getting Bowie's distinct handprint. "Lady Grinning Soul," the disc's closer, is one of the most intriguing numbers Bowie's ever written. As a whole, "Aladdin Sane" maintains its status as a great Bowie album.

The remaster and bonus cuts are OK, but don't add much to the Ryko Version, and the liner notes are fun. The plusses to the bonus disc are the superior sax version of "John I'm Only Dancing," the single of "Jean Genie" as well as the live versions of "Changes" and "Drive In Saturday." ("All the Young Dudes" actually pales next to Mott's.) If we keep getting this kind of quality from the Bowie reissues, I anxiously await more!