After calling San Francisco home for 26 years, the Exotic Erotic Expo & Ball has finally made its way to New York City. It was a night full of costumes with a sexually charged atmosphere, drawing hundreds of people from all walks of life under one roof. From middle American-types venturing out of curiosity, to Goths dressed up in their highest pair of platform boots; gays and lesbians, geeks, outcasts and hipsters, the ball welcomed everyone who was a star in their own right. We can honestly say the Exotic Erotic Ball was definitely our kind of party.

After touring the lay of the land, we found the ball had virtually everything available to satisfy every horny pleasure, and exhibits, so to speak. We found dom-sub depravity, a burlesque stage featuring sexy rubber attire and antics, including the Yo-Yo Ninja, Steve Brown, and the Torture King, to an appearance by Ancilla Tillia, a Euro-beauty teaching the crowd of admiring men and women the fine art of shaving. As Perry Mann, the founder of the expo of freakish behavior has said many times in interviews, “We’ve got something for everyone,” and that they did.

Started in 1979 as a political fundraiser for Louis Abolafia, a nudist presidential candidate whose campaign slogan was “I have nothing to hide,” the Expo has attracted its share of oddball freakazoids, usually numbering in the thousands at its yearly event in San Francisco. And, what’s an event of this capacity and this strange without music? Past performers have included top name acts such as Madonna, Chris Isaak, Joan Jett, 2 Live Crew, Motorhead and Grace Jones, among others. This year saw the likes of George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic and Tommy Lee.

This “erotic version of Cirque Du Soleil,” with its bondage and discipline demonstrations, fetish fashion shows, latex body paintings, gives people the opportunity to safely act their fantasies. To sum up, the Ball was part-masquerade, burlesque and rock concert with loud music, DJs, erotic performances, exotic dancers, wild slideshows, theme rooms, BDSM demos, fetish fashions, and plenty of the bizarre.

The party was really going on at the main stage where Paul Nathan and his porn pal sidekicks Violet Blue and Raquel Devine were orchestrating the debauchery, seducing the audience with their sexy stage shows feature dancing, which went on for most of the night. Performers from all over the world were represented at the ball, from Rebecca of Rebecca’s Rubber Room, burlesque artists The Lollies and Kitten on the Keys; The Dark Garden Corset Show and Mystic Midway also drew in sizeable crowds into their shows.

My favorite part of the event was the porn stars of course, and while the Exotic Erotic Expo is not really a porn industry event, it was hard to miss the bevy of porn beauties in stylish, devilish costumes interacting with fans. While they were there to party hearty, not really interested in talking too much, many were gracious to pose for pictures. But here’s our recap of the babes we saw and how they looked.

Caliente comes to mind when we saw Carmen Luvana, a real sweetheart. Flower Tucci looked amazing, while adorable comes to mind when we saw Sunny Lane.

Brooke Haven is a big-boobed goddess who was not shy about showing them off (no nip but her barely there outfit really didn’t cover too much), and Mercedez looked absolutely stunning and actually gave her biggest fan a hug! Joanna Angel is the most down-to-earth porn star and one of the nicest.

From the turnout of the crowd to the smiles on their faces, to the excitement and energy the Ball provided, it seemed everyone was looking forward to the next Exotic Erotic Expo and Ball. With New York City regaining its footing in all things adult, the Ball could end up becoming one of the many huge East coast events for the sophisticated and glamorous crowd this kind of event can most certainly attract.

Erotic Expo Tantalized and Left Attendees Wanting
By SexHerald Staff

While the Ball certainly did not disappoint fans, even with its huge reputation preceding it, the Erotic Expo was somewhat disappointing. When I arrived, things appeared to have barely started. Hoping for some action later, I kicked off the afternoon with Luv Explosion, a new gel that can be placed on a woman’s genitals and allegedly tingles said spot (particularly the clitoris) for sex like none other.

Next came the booth with the Lube Shooter, a device that makes the application of lube a lot easier. This contraption was conceived by a lesbian couple who grew tired of vaginal dryness. Unwilling to sacrifice sexual pleasure as a result of aging, the Lube Shooter was invented—pure and simple. It’s great for anal; I’ll take their word for it. I moved on to Ruff Doggie Styles, a company that creates interesting leather designs and caters to the Dom/Sub lifestyle, and in particular dominant women. There were paddles shaped like cats and apples with worms, and had the requisite masks as well. All the products are hand designed by women for women. They were all extremely pretty and definitely added style to the lifestyle. Needless to say, I was impressed.

Keeping on the fashion mentality, I ogled as I stopped by Lust Designs and Dark Garden. Lust Designs is a company run by Penny McClish in San Francisco and creates PVC outfits that are “Custom Creations for the Discerning Deviant.” The outfits differed from elegant dresses to bra and panty sets, where the panties’ zipper opens for easy access. All were featured in the fashion show du jour, where women of all shapes and sizes posed in their chosen creation, much to my delight. Just on the backside was Dark Garden, a custom corset company also from San Francisco. I have seen mostly the generic “corsets” from Frederick’s of Hollywood or Shirley of Hollywood but those are not as beautiful as the ones that were at the booth. I didn’t know there were 17 different styles or how many different fabrics they can use. They had a gorgeous portfolio as well that featured their wedding gowns and were far more elegant that anything seen on cable.

While many of the sex toys were the same old ones you’d fine anywhere in New York, there was one new line that was intriguing. Outrageous Toys has a new line called “Passion Produce” and Pink Minx had many of them to check out at their table. “Passion Produce” are vibrators that are shaped like produce or flowers such as a carrot, an ear of corn, or a lavender flower and the extra bonus is they smell like what they look like, making it almost like the real thing.

The highlight was actually probably the most nondescript booth. It belonged to body artist Jim Su. An architect and interior designer by trade, Jim Su uses latex, water soluble crayons, and henna to create gorgeous works on people. He got started just doing face painting at kids’ parties and camps and grew into the S&M scene. Why the S&M scene? Well, Su is a professed theatre buff and a lover of set design. He feels that body paint is theatric, much like sets and that how it is linked into S&M, where the dungeon is a set for dramatic actions and that connection appeals to him. It’s almost like “the perversity of Disneyland” in how it creates a world.

I meandered into the erotic theatre where porn was being shown at a decibel-defying volume, beckoning me to sit down for a while. There were a few stragglers aimlessly watching the fetish film that was on. The room felt like Show World on 8 th Avenue except well-lit.

Now that I mention New York, most everything was imported with the ball from San Francisco and had failed to draw some local establishments. I figured such erotic NYC staples as Babeland or The Slipper Room should have been there. I also only found out about it with the ad in the back of the Village Voice. There should have been maybe a larger effort to promote the event with flyers or posters or more press. Hopefully, if the Expo returns, a larger effort is made not to just try to bring San Francisco to New York but allow erotic New York a chance to show its real self.