Goodbye, Ken Russell

A couple of years ago I had the honor of meeting Ken Russell when he and his wife Lisi came to the Florida Film Festival for a screening of Crimes of Passion, written by my pal, Orlando's own Barry Sandler. At the time I was a blogger for Fairvilla Megastore, the local treasure / adult boutique on Orange Blossom Trail and thought that, considering Mr. Russell's exceptional gift for bringing wild, hysterical, bizarre, alarming, jaw-dropping, tingling-in-all-the-right-places-especially-your-brain sexual imagery to the screen, he'd be the perfect person to comment on some of the adult novelties I blogged about. In fact his first full biography is called Phallic Frenzy: Ken Russell and his Films.

So when I got to meet the great director - a genius, as  Martin Scorsese and Ben Kingsley will tell you - I casually threw out "You should come to my store," thinking I would get the celebrity brush off, i.e., that he'd say "Oh, that's nice, but we don't have time."

     "You have a store?" he asked instead.. and that question lead to my getting to do one of the coolest things I've ever done, which was, with the aid of my wonderful videographer Matt Reyes, share a penis pinata, some fetish shoes and a vibrator the size of a muffler with Ken Russell (that's Lisi, Matt, Ken and me, below).

  If you're reading this you're probably a fan and know why anyone would be - watching a Ken Russell movie is like being in a dream that's a thousand times cooler than any you might have. In fact, scenes like the one in Gothic where Claire's nipples turn into eyes, Amanda Donaho making various sacrifices to her snake god and of course Ann-Margaret wallowing in suds, beans and chocolate

could potentially open up your mind to possibilities you literally never dreamed of. 

There was so much more than this to love about Ken Russell....his combination religious and sexual imagery, his risk-taking (I had never seen Nazi fetish wear before Mahler), his unabashed love for his subjects....it all added up to a cinematic experience profoundly unlike any other and all for the good.

In fact, looking back after more than 20 years of being a Ken Russell fan I think I can say that his look on the power, absurdity, humor and immense importance of sexuality probably influenced me more than I realized and it's an influence that, as a 20-something writer, I was really lucky to have.Ken Russell died yesterday at the age of 84 and while you'll read a dozen tributes in the next few days I wanted to kick in my little piece about bringing Ken and Lisi to the store, which I'm so grateful for. They were wonderfully good sports, especially since they'd been traipsing around the Holy Land Experience all day when their assistant here in Orlando, Chrsitine Robison, brought them to us at the store. Still, they good-humoredly had fun with us, stuck around, looked around and agreed to a little video, which you'll see below. As of this writing it's getting stuck a bit around the second minute or so but I hope you'll get to see it through to the end...you haven't seen the true potential of a fetish shoe until you've seen Ken Russell lick one, which, if memory serves, he did.

Or it might have been a dream after watching one of his films. 

   

BOOK PARTY ON THURSDAY!

As some of you know I worked very hard throughout 2010 and a good chunk of 2011 to write a book, Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive Us Mad. It's about the extremes we sometimes go to in love, how it makes us all feel crazy, some people who had really crazy times with it and some of the chemical and psychological reasons that love makes LSD look like Ovaltine.


     I was honored to have the book debut at Bluestockings Bookstore in Manhattan and then another event at the Chat Lounge on Broome St. the next night and now I finally get to celebrate on my home turf here in Orlando. 


     RhodeHaus productions has put a party together for me at SIP, 724 Virginia Drive, Orlando, 7-10pm, no cover. Sam Singhaus will be DJ-ing and performing so you know the music will be the best. 


      If you've already pre-ordered a book and bring it with I'll be happy to sign it and I'll also have some copies available to buy (at the $20 book cover price). You can also order it online at the Cleis Press / Viva Editions website (link above) or on Amazon (though I can't say whether it will get to you in time for Thursday).


     At any rate the book was a lot of hard work and I'm very, very proud of it. I hope you'll come celebrate with me! 
     Cheers!

Four in the top 25

There's something about not getting a chance to celebrate your birthday (which I didn't) that seems to mean you get to celebrate a dozen or so other things that happen after your birthday, like this one - I didn't realize until I was browsing SeXis this weekend that I had four stories in their Top 25 stories for October, including one on The Scar Project, photographer David Jay's fantastic portraits of breast cancer survivors, SexCult: Spectrophilia about sex with ghosts, SexCult: Is He a Sex Addict or Isn't He? about Phil Varone going on Dr. Drew's show for sex addiction...and then coming out with a line of porn products, among other things, and finally Sex While Sky Diving Totally Worth Getting Fired For about...well, you can figure that out.
       You can check these out and all the other excellent SeXis writers at Top 25 Most Popular Sex Articles in October and, as always, enjoy!

What's Hot in CF - LOTS including my book party!

There are so many things coming up  that it was tough to chose what to talk about on What's Hot in Central Florida today on WMFE 90.7 FM at 4:32 pm (you can check out the podcast if you miss it) but I think I got some great ones in there. On Saturday there's PURE Reflections: Beauty Reimagined, an international showcase of dancers from PURE (Public Urban Ritual Experiment) dance troupes everywhere, exploring issues of body image through dance. Sunday afternoon promises Hanging of the Greens ensemble harp concert at the Broadway United Methodist Church downtown and on Sunday night Will's Pub's Sick of it Sunday will feature Black Flag karaoke - where you can shout out the lyrics of your favorite Black Flag songs backed by a live band.

       I have to give a special mention to Michael Wanzie's A Christmas Carol, opening Saturday night at the Footlights Theater  featuring everyone's favorite female impersonators rocking the Dickens classic as Carol Channing, Marlee Matlin, Miss Piggy and many, many more. It's a pants-wettingly funny show guaranteed to make the worst Scrooge giggle like a school girl.

Finally, not this weekend but on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, RhodeHaus productions has put together a book launch party for Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive Us Mad. It's about the extremes we sometimes go to in love, how it makes us all feel crazy, some people who had really crazy times with it and some of the chemical and psychological reasons that love makes LSD look like Ovaltine. The party is at SIP, 724 Virginia Drive, Orlando, 7-10pm, no cover.

      You can get the book at the Cleis Press / Viva Editions website (link above) or on Amazon and I'll have some copies for sale at the event for the $20 book cover price. I'll be signing books and generally just wanting to celebrate the culmination a lot of hard work and a project I'm really proud of. I hope you'll come celebrate with me! Cheers!

What's Hot in Central Florida

D'oh! I missed posting on What's Hot in Central Florida on WMFE, 90.7 FM earlier today but there are still some great events to be attended in Orlando this weekend, like the Southern Pinball Festival that's running all weekend at the Maitland Civic Center with games of all kinds from all eras, set on freeplay with your ticket purchase! There's also A Woman Scorned: The Hannya Mask Project at Twelve21 Gallery, celebrating the Hannya Mask of the Japanese Noh theater which represents a jealous or vengeful woman whose anger has turned her into a demon - but who still has traces of humanity left (I know her...wait, I've been her!). That opens Saturday, Nov. 19 - more details on the above link and at Ascension Custom Dermagraphics.
     By the time I post this Southern Culture on the Skids will almost have started playing at The Social, which is too bad because I LOVE that band!!!!! And I hope lots and lots and lots of you get to go see them. My apologies for missing out on posting earlier - you can still hear the podcost on the 90.7 link above - it's been a traveling week so I plead jet lag (despite not having left my time zone).
      Anyway, hope you all get to all these and I will see you out there!

What's Hot in CF! Peter Murphy, parades and my birthday

Kurt Vonnegut was born on this day, 11/11, only in 1922 and while it's not actually a Central Florida event it's still a noteworthy one. I'd tell everyone to read Welcome to the Monkey House this weekend, but then you'd miss the fun stuff coming up in What's Hot in Central Florida on WMFE, 90.7 FM at 4:32 pm which includes, not one, but TWO parades! There's the Veteran's Day Parade in downtown Orlando on Saturday and also the rescheduling of Come Out With Pride's Pride Day events which got rained out a couple of weeks ago. AND Peter Murphy (or, as I once referred to him after I'd had a few, Purty Meefur) is going to be at Firestone tonight, so the reading assignment will have to wait.
     One assignment that won't wait, though....my birthday is on Sunday. I'd recommend cake and champagne but you celebrate as you see fit. XOXOX!!

What's Hot in Central Florida on WMFE!

Listen for me on WMFE every Friday at 4:32 pm for What's Hot in Central Florida where I hand-pick some of the best stuff to do in town this weekend!
Fishbone fans are going to be thrilled this weekend with TWO opportunities to see the legendary band, the first at Enzian, which will be showing the documentary "Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone," and later the band will play downtown at The Social.

     Playfest! The Harriest Lake Festival of New Plays will be going on all weekend at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater - there's a packed schedule and some of the events are free.
     Finally the 25th Annual AIA (American Indian Association) Orlando Powwow is going to be at the Central Florida Fairgrounds this weekend with Native American music, dance and food. There was a call on their website for "former Powwow princesses," who will be honored at a ceremony starting at 3:45 pm. The whole event sound like a great chance to explore a lot of aspects of a culture we want to see more of.
       Hope to see you out there!

OMG!!! IT"S A TUMOR WITH A FACE!! More catching up with Sex Feed

OMG!!! It's a tumor with a face!!!!
A man who came to doctors complaining of pain in his testicles. They took THIS ultrasound photograph. You can click on the link to my Sex Feed item about this breath-taking spectacle - and then click on a link within that link to read even MORE about the story.
All that's really important is that this image haunts your dreams.

 

I know it's really hard to care about anything after that but just in case, here are some more from this week:

Lesbian couple voted homecoming king and queen. Nice.
DSK alleged assault to be parodied by porn company. Ew.
Sexual Harraasment claims could cloud Cain's presidential chances. Ew. and a few from the archives:
Some Women Complain About Premature Ejaculation...Theirs
Hypersexuality: fun or a rabies symptom?
CDC recommends boys get HPV vaccine
Mooning Queen Elizabeth
Indian girls named "Unwanted" get renaming ceremony

Ghost Sex Update!

Last week  in SexCult: Spectrophilia on SeXis I got the skinny from author and metaphysical expert Rosemary Guiley about ghost sex - people returning to the temporal world to get busy.

Today a woman in Ohio claims her 4 year-old granddaughter snapped a picture of two ghosts having sex.

I'm still dubious. But the video is very funny and worth a gander. And who knows? Wouldn't sex have to be one of the things worth coming back for?