Since publishing my debut novel Diary of a Sex Addict, I've been slammed with invites to parties and events that are mildly subversive, suggestively literary or just plain outlandish.
Busy at work on my fourth book Three Brothers, and being a method writer (Three Brothers is set in 1930s NYC and involves the Irish Mob so I'm deep into that era) I don't have time to attend much.
I did stop by fetish party SkinTightUSA (while I love the concept of humpy superheroes, the night I went was less than revealing); I fell in love with Dame Lori, a divine spin-off from the Mama Gena School of the Womanly Arts. The Dame teaches women the true power of their pussies. And this month, I discovered Mo Beasley's UrbanErotika.
Granted, a dear friend of mine was in the show (a true Renaissance singer/actor/poet/photographer with way too much talent for any one man, he goes by both Caayab and his drag alter ego, Qi Vital). He was recently added to the line up of Mo Beasley's UrbanErotika which is billed as a show heralding "erotic love through poetry, spoken word, music, dance and theatre."
I headed over to The Triad for the Saturday night show but had immediate misgivings when the lean, manicured cocktail waiter had so much sass and attitude I wondered if he were an S&M pre-show element (which he may well have been). I ordered my obligatory Diet Cokes and waited. Once Mo hit the stage things took off.
A series of four Eros Suites -- infatuation, seduction, sweetbliss and finally raw -- the show offered a loose collection of poets, singers and a few particularly hard-bodied male dancers who mostly shimmied about.
My friend Qi kicked things off, bejeweled and suited in authentic Chanel shooting the glamour quotient through the roof. Qi read a selection from her poem "Seduced on Madison" and had the crowd in the palm of her hand (or the heel of her shoe which will make sense when you read the poem.)
I was impressed with Mo's inclusion of a recitation from Song of Solomon (read by himself and Shannon Lower) this backed up by the impressive opera singing of Kanari Haywood.
Another stand out was a particularly smart and funny scene called Consume (written by Jake Thomas, directed by Shannon Lower and starring Chelsea Roach and Mieko Gavia.) The way Chelsea consumes a burrito is not to be missed.
Having studied the works of the Marquis de Sade and cut my literate teeth on Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho (the rat scene still haunts me) I have to say the much touted raw segment was, while enjoyable, a tad tame. I sense Mo could kick it up a notch if he chose to. Also, like my glutes, the evening could use a little tightening, but hey, we do what we can.