It almost feels like this issue is about catching up with old friends.
Not that Jeff Stryker is an actual old friend, however, there’s a feature this month called Getting Slammed: Male Sex In Prisons, written by Dr Joseph Brennan, who some readers will remember from his in-depth look at gay sex among pirates. His new feature begins with a reference to Stryker in the classic 1986 porn video, Powertool.
I did meet Stryker once, a long time ago. He’d come to Australia in the early ‘90s to perform at some parties. I saw him hanging out in the piano bar of The Albury Hotel on Oxford St. Like a lot of famous people, he was shorter than I expected, and he was sweating up a storm – it was a very humid Sydney night. He was softly spoken, humble, and seemed amused by all the fuss around him.
Fast-forward to another place and time: a tiny comedy club in Kings Cross, sometime in the mid-2000s where an unknown gay stand-up named Nathan Valvo was absolutely killing it… to a room of only 20 people. I don’t think he’ll mind me mentioning that he had a cold sore, after all, a lot of his early material was about his Grindr addiction. I thought he was hilarious and hoped he’d make it. Happily, he did, and you can find one of my favourite comedy routines ever by searching “Nath Valvo – Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala 2018” on YouTube. Nathan gets The Last Word in this issue.
Also this month, we catch up with “Farmer” Dave Graham. I first met Dave at a café in Darlinghurst in 2006. Photographers Scott Riley and Mark McFarlane wanted to introduce me to him – they thought he had cover model potential. Even though he’d been up all night enjoying the delights of gay Sydney while away from the family farm, I agreed. He was funny, self-effacing, and very handsome. We decided to go ahead with the shoot but, a week later, Mark and Scott phoned me one night and said, “We won’t be shooting Dave for a while… turn on your TV.”
And there he was entering the Big Brother house! Many Australian readers will recall Dave’s tearful coming-out message to his family while still in the house, and the storm of media that ensued, especially when, on the Big Brother eviction stage, he kissed his boyfriend at the time on live TV.
Dave and I have stayed in touch, and I recently discovered the amazing work he’s now doing with traumatised kids and using his skills with working dogs as part of the therapy. That story, and Dave’s exciting engagement news, are in this issue in a feature written by Gary Nunn.
Western Australian photographer Richard Matias has a new book of work coming out called Handsome. I’m a big fan of Richard’s work and he has shot for DNA. We met, very briefly, for the first time, during World Pride. But I feel a familiarity with him. I’m also from Western Australia originally, and we share an appreciation of the same sorts of aesthetics when it comes to men and photography. We discuss his new book at length in this issue.
Of course, I never met JC Leyendecker, but I’m a fan of his work. Way back in the early 1900s he shaped the way magazines looked and were designed. His influence remains today. Aside from that, his illustrations stand alone as elegant pieces of art. Now, his story has been told in a beautiful film, Coded. I spoke to the director, Brent Miller for this issue. If you are unfamiliar with Leyendecker’s work, I hope you enjoy discovering it and all its coded gay messages.
Finally, Konstantin Kostyn, our cover model this month. His face and body are very familiar to DNA readers. He’s almost a constant presence on our website and he’s a favourite model of our advertisers. We finally had a chance to chat and it was so nice getting to know the man behind the image. He’s Russian so, of course, things are difficult for him at the moment. He left St Petersburg last year and relocated to Bali but, he tells me, he misses home.
There’s a lot to read in this issue and some beautiful men to enjoy. Until next month, remember to treat yourselves with kindness.
Andrew Creagh, Founding Editor
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