LOS ANGELES, ALASKA
In what many are calling the natural evolution of the leather family, Martin “Marty” Krampowitz has been elevated to the rank of Greatgrand Master in the local leather community.
According to Krampowitz the whole process started nearly 10 years ago in 2006.
“I was having dinner with Jeffery Schmidt one night and we were both pretty new to the scene. He kept talking about how much he liked the leather hat I was wearing the night before in the dungeon. At the end of the dinner, he asked if I would cover him. I thought he was talking about the check, so I told him ‘sure, no problem.” It turns out he wanted me to give him a hat and call him Master Jeffery.”
Krampowitz, who said he had just bought the hat off of Amazon.com because he thought it “looked pretty cool,” was a man of his word and after doing some internet research developed an elaborate ceremony and bestowed the title of “Master” on Jeffrey Schmidt.
According to Schmidt, it was like “validation from the father he never had.”
When Schmidt capped Cyril Bronk the next year, he joked that Krampowitz was now a “Grand Master” and Bronk was his “leather grandson.”
The new capping caused a bit of a rift between Master Jeffery and his mentor. “He spoiled Cyril. He gave him all kinds of gifts and spent time with him in a way he never did with me,” Jeffery told The Daily Flogger. “I could feel the love he had for Cyril. It was easy for him, I think, because he didn’t have to do the work. He was hard on me in a way he never was with Cyril.”
Bronk confirmed the gentle treatment by the elder leatherman. “Whenever I would visit, there was always a dish of hard candy out and I was free to take as many as I wanted. If Master Jeffery ever tried that, he’d get his hand slapped and a good talking to.”
Within two years, Bronk had decided to hold a covering ceremony for Joey Rodriquez, who one insider described as “not that bright, but pretty good with a flogger.” Once that capping was complete, Krampowitz’s leather family then had four full generations, making him the community’s first leather Greatgrand Master.
Community members banded together and purchased an Ermine stole and a Shimano fishing rod for the “old timer.”
When asked about his future plans and possible retirement, Krampowitz showed some of his trademark agitation. “I wish people would stop asking me that. For god’s sake, I am only 36!”
Photo by: «davemc» CC: SA
