Since 2008, Rick Talons and Pito Savage have directly marketed and promoted the Leather Community through their company, Savage Talons Media.
The Orlando couple, who have shared their lives together for a decade, are not shy about discussing the videos in which they star and produce.
The videos, whichshowcase many aspects of leather ranging from men posing in leather to the use of a whipping most, are a natural extension of the men’s lives.
“We have a whipping post when we go to events,” Savage says. “Our brand is more rugged and geared toward leather and stuff like that… We like to flog. That’s like our niche. When we go out with the whipping post and we flog people.”
Talons, 46, came out when he was 21 years old and describes himself as a wild boy. He credits his five-year relationship with a man named Daddy Jim for teaching him what the Leather Community was about.
“The first time I met him I actually walked in [the leather bar] with white tennis shoes on—brand new white tennis shoes,” Talons remembers. “I spent some money on them so I was kind of proud of them. He came up and started grinding his foot into them and just scuffed them all to hell. I was pissed. He’s like, ‘You can’t come in here with those shoes. That’s what’s gonna happen.’ So one thing led to another and I asked him to start training me and he did.”
Talons passed along his knowledge of the Leather Community to his husband years later.
“I was in the military, so the leather community symbolizes this chain of command just like the military,” says Savage, 37. “That’s what attracted me to it.”
Savage draws a connection between his past experience in the military and the brotherhood that the leather community creates.
Both men say they relate to the Old Guard, which represents responsibility, service and integrity.
“Leather actually originated from the World War II vets; they started the leather community and it’s very military,” says Talons. “There’s a chain of command. But unfortunately somehow that’s gotten lost over the years and it has become very lax.”
But not in their personal lives. The couple say they honor the Leather Lifestyle all the time.
“If you’re going to put on leather, you have to wear it like a uniform, as if you were in the military,” Savage says. “You need to have discipline if you’re going to wear it. Don’t wear it as a costume. If you don’t know how to wear something, ask somebody. Don’t just throw the piece of leather on.”
That’s something that isn’t well-represented in Orlando, according to Savage. He says it’s more of a private and distanced community and it lacks the brotherhood mentality that is so prevalent in other large cities. But the leather lifestyle goes much deeper than what someone puts on their body.
“Leather is not about what you wear all the time,” Talons adds. “I know guys who have very few pieces of leather but I respect them with a tremendous amount. It’s how you live—it’s a set of morals and a set of beliefs.”
Savage Talons Media has won several awards since releasing its first video in 2010, including “Best Website” from the Raven Eden Awards. For more information, visit SavageTalonsMedia.com.
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