INIQUITY
NEWS #27
Friday, January
31, 2003
Table Of (modified) Contents:
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BondCon 2003 Las Vegas --
A Wonderful Surprise
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A bondage convention? What do you picture? A thousand
drooling guys with cameras and 4 models around whom they swarm?
Then think again. This Las Vegas premier event pretty much blew
everyone away with the quality and exceeded almost every imaginable standard.
First,
a little bit of history regarding the most crowded week of the year in
Las Vegas. Originally, there was ONE convention which overwhelmed
LV in the beginning of January every year: the CES Convention, which stands
for Computer Electronics Show. The CES was THEE place for both wholesalers
and retailers to find out the absolute latest news in America about what
kinds of gadgetry would be available in the coming year. Needless
to say, capitalizing on tens of thousands of horny business men became
the focus for the regular businesses of Las Vegas during that week.
Then
someone clever decided they could further capitalize WITHIN the CES by
adding a little section to the VCR / VHS area of the CES, namely an area
that sold Porn. To help stimulate the draw, various Porn stars attended
this sub-section, or "Adult Area," to further gain the attention of the
many men by signing autographs and posing for pictures. As time
went on, this "Adult Area" grew in size and scope to become an actual
area for those within the Porn industry to network.
Eventually
the "Adult Area" became large enough in the late 90's to break away and
become it's own convention put on by the top name in Porn Movie Review,
AVN (Adult Video News). The AVN convention flourished, providing
a separate-but-simultaneous convention dedicated to the Porn industry
in it's many aspects. "Industry-Only" hours were set wherein only
those who worked in Porn in one fashion or another could meet and talk
on the AVN convention floor, before the Public Hours where zillions of
fans (ok, basically men) could swarm the floor. AVN instigated their
infamous Awards Ceremony ("Best Blow Job" "Best All-Sex Video" etc.) within
the same convention, and the paparazzi came out to photograph the starlets
in all their effulgent glory.
THE
FETISH ELEMENT was always present at the AVN in a corner here or there,
and Bondage & S/M videos had their own little booths, though always
dwarfed by the enormous booths of the big name Vanilla Porn companies.
In the last few years, right beside the increasing appearance of Fetish
Clubs and activities around America, so too did the presence of Fetish
at the AVN grow, bit by bit, drop by drop. No longer merely one
or two booths, several mainstream Porn companies even started generating
a Fetish line once in a while. Still, the Fetish sector only amounted
to maybe 10-15% of the total booth presence at the AVN, growing little
by little each year.
Well
once again we have the big event spawning a small event (more or less).
BONDCON actually first appeared as a tiny New York event about 3 years
ago put together by a few videomakers within the Bondage (Damsel-in-Distress)
video genre. Moderately successful, apparently the organizers had
a split, and a West Coast faction developed. Simply and smartly,
the West Coast organizers brilliantly realized the value of adding their
name to the roster of Las Vegas' busiest week, and thence came BONDCON
2003, for the first time ever in Las Vegas.
Soooo
many things could have gone wrong with this move, but to eyes and ears
of this attending author nothing did. For a first year event, it
was basically FLAWLESS. The choice to overlap and even court attendees
of the AVN was immaculate. The ignorant thing to do would have been
to set the convention at the usual times from 9-5 or 10-6, just like
all the other conventions. ONLY the BONDCON organizers had the insight
to have the convention run from Noon to 8pm every day, allowing the attendees
the luxury of knowing they could party as late as they wanted and still
make it to work, as well as create an "only-convention-left-to-check-out"
phenomenon for the last two convention hours every day. Attendees
of CES or AVN were notified about BONDCON, and the BONDCON floor noticeably
increased in traffic from 6pm to 8pm. Simply brilliant.
Furthermore,
the BONDCON creators could equally have dropped the ball by allowing the
individual booths to create the post convention entertainment like they
do at AVN and CES, where you either have to be connected or get a pass to
get in, or you have to sort out the ensuing chaos of what is openly happening
for the attendees on any given evening. But BONDCON never made that
mistake. Starting with the night of Set-Up, even BEFORE the
actual convention floor opened up the next day, the BONDCON organizers
provided a cocktail party each and every night from 8pm to 10 or 11pm
in one of the Stardust's elegant ballrooms. Complimentary finger
foods were plentiful and there was hardly ever a line at one of the various
bars. On a few of these nights the organizers also provided entertainment,
including the famous Dita Von Tease and Catherine D'Lish doing their well-known
giant bird cage and giant martini glass burlesque shows. If attendees
found themselves with nothing to do during the day, there were several
purely-bondage oriented workshops to attend.
The
crowd seemed to seize these cocktail parties as an opportunity to break
out their Fetish Fashion. Although there was no dress code whatsoever,
the environment simply seemed to inspire people to dress up, and for
the most part people looked elegant. The convention itself ran like
clockwork, with a wide variety of booths. Famous bondage models
such as Emily Marylin and Stacy Burke had their own booths, numerous
Bondage and S&M video companies were present, and several toy manufacturers
were there to set up both wholesale arrangements as well as sell
retail to the attendees at reduced convention-only prices. The convention
itself was held in a hall which had food and beverage service running
the entire time, and even after the convention was finally over the organizers
continued to carry the gold medal by having one last get-together "Lite"
cocktail party on the convention floor after all the booths had been cleared
out.
Truly
the organizers of BONDCON 2003 in Las Vegas went WAY past what a typical
convention promoter needs to provide for the attendees. They created
a round-the-clock experience which was both a professional occasion, a
social occasion, a party, a market place, and a solid networking arena.
Seriously above and beyond the call of duty. The attendees were
an amazing bunch of people from all over the U.S. and from many aspects
within the greater BDSM Industry, from Videomakers to Models both recognized
as well as new seeking to become known, to Dominatrixes promoting themselves
and their websites, to manufacturers, all manner of talent within Fetish
Video production (Producers, Directors, Editors, etc), to several
Fetish-Art Photographers, to simple, curious attendees. In truth,
the last group, the simple curious attendees, were the fewest in number,
which made BONDCON something of an Industry Convention where real business
was done and real deals were struck. Of all the groups, I doubt
any of them would say they found the convention seriously lacking.
About
the only things that were not present at BONDCON were an actual dungeon-party
or play area, and a stronger presence from the Fetish Art community.
Once in a while you would see someone doing a bondage show or a whipping
demonstration, but although there were certainly social occasions organized,
BONDCON itself could really have used a more focused event, party, or
convention-floor area of this sort. This was about the only constructive
criticism that I heard from a variety of attendees, and even these people
had to agree that overall BONDCON was an outstanding event. One independent
group organized the lone Play-Party at an outside permanent dungeon space.
The event, METAMORPHOSIS, was looked at with dubious eyes by many who
suspected it would be a warehouse full of sloppy scenes by people you
didn't really care to meet. However, as the night approached on
the eve of the party, more and more people decided to check it out as
it was pretty much the only event of its kind for the entire convention.
I went with a group of a dozen or so people, and we were all delighted
at what we found -- a viable party in a great venue filled with all manner
of people who were mostly dressed up for the occasion doing all kinds
of scenes, many of which were a pleasure to watch. Of course the
emphasis seemed to be on Bondage (go figure...), but I witnessed at least
one scene of immaculate whip use in a more or less anything-goes environment
(no knife play or fire play allowed). As you can imagine, the bondage
scenes that did occur tended to be pretty spectacular in themselves.
Although I did not personally play I am happy to say it was a perfectly
pleasant and well attended event.
The
other factor, the lack of Fetish Art is something that was probably due
to the newness of the event and the promoters personal network.
Hopefully they will contact many more Fetish Artists (Painters, Graphic
Artists, more Fetish-Art Photographers, etc) for next year's convention.
Certainly for the incredibly reasonable booth prices that BONDCON asks there
are dozens of artists who could use the exposure.
Having
spoken with some of the organizers of BONDCON, I can already tell you
that providing a play-space is a priority in the works for next year.
I have no doubt that the word of BONDCON will get out to even more people
in a variety of areas within the industry and so next year should be even
bigger. BONDCON may well end up taking most if not all the Fetish
traffic from AVN one day, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the big
name Porn companies who are starting their Fetish lines begin to have
booths at BONDCON as well.
Immaculately
planned and executed, well attended with positive room to grow, focused,
professional, and smoothly run, BONDCON 2003 was a truly fine event even
to this author's jaded eyes. The success and quality took me absolutely
by surprise. I had expected to hop back and forth between BONDCON
and AVN, but after one day at each I tossed aside all further concern
for AVN and made BONDCON my sole focus. They took a lot of chances
running parallel to AVN, and in my opinion they soared. But most
of all, beyond the excellence, the professional opportunities provided, and
the chances the organizers took, BONDCON succeeded in one key area
that is critically important for absolutely everyone involved and attending:
BONDCON 2003 was Just Plain FUN.
INIQUITY
congratulates the BONDCON 2003 Las Vegas staff.
Ticket Info:
Tickets go on sale Monday, Jan. 27. General tickets are $8.50. Opening Night Gala tickets, includes after-party at 1015 Folsom, are $20. Matinees, all films before 4 pm, are $6.
Advance tickets
and passes are available with no service charge at our walk up Box
Office Monday through Friday 5 pm to 9 pm starting Jan. 27. The Box
Office is located at Jezebel’s Joint, 510 Larkin at Turk. Advance
tickets are also available online at www.sfindie.com, through TicketMaster
by calling 415.421.TIXS and at most Bay Area Rite Aid stores and all
Tower Records. Phone and web orders will be available for pick up
at the Will Call table the day of the show. Same day tickets are only
available at the theaters. The box office will open 30 minutes before
the first show of the day and will sell tickets for that day’s shows
at that theater only.
Hopefully, the film will be accepted to more festivals soon!
Thanks for all of your support!
Mia Olin
Headspace Productions
www.headspacefilm.com
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Upcoming
EVENTS!!!
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TG performance line up for events around the world include New York, LA, San Francisco, Texas, Amsterdam, Japan, Zagreb/Croatia and even Milton Keynes!
T.G. has collaborated on shows and performances for Archaos Circus and Erotica, organized the launch party for Bravo TV, and supplied extras for films such as Judge Dredd and Preaching to the Perverted! (Credit: www.TortureGarden.com)
This group of Fetish-Friendly DJ’s, performers and artists will converge onto Alter Ego to present an event like no other in the history of the South Florida Fetish Scene.
Already scheduled is a fire show by renowned diva Luci Fireand a fashion show featuring the US Launch of the new TORTURE GARDEN Line of Latex clothing!
SIN! returns with "Lust Redux" this Valentine's Day
9 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.
The Rawhide
280 7th St. (at Folsom), SF
Dressed: $5 til 10 p.m., $10 after
Drab: $15 all night
Heated roof deck (smoking OK!)
Separate playspace room
Special offers & dress code online
DM: Hawk
Host: Rev. Gladhand
Music with a leer and a sneer by:
Sage (Slick / Dark Sparkle)
Skip (New Wave City)
Squee! (Wicked City)
Kit (Midian)
415.626.4561
www.sinfusion.com/sin
21+ w/ ID
GERMANY
-- Another NIGHT OF PASSION (one of the FINEST Fetish Parties
In the WORLD!)
March 8, 2003
The location for this 'Night of Passion' is the same as last November. We are celebrating in the gorgeous old palace North of the historic city Bamberg. We extended the space available for the party, so you find even bigger playrooms and some quite rooms to linger. If you have time, you should come over to Germany on March, 8th. It will be worth it and it is cheaper then you may think.
The party tickets are still at 75 Euro a person, including a delicious buffet. And we can offer special hotel rates (including bus transfer to the castle and back) at 67 Euro for a double room, including breakfast for two. Next airport is Nuremberg and there are special rates from London Standsted with http://www.airberlin.com (from 78 Euro a person for two way, including fees) and surely you can find the one or other cheap carrier if you are located somewhere else. From Nuremberg airport you best get a rental car, the biggest and cheapest companies over here are http://www.sixt.de and http://www.europcar.de (BMW 3 or Mercedes C about 159 Euro a whole weekend including all miles).
You can order your
tickets online:
http://www.xklusiv.de/english-formular.html
More party information
can be found on this site:
http://www.xklusiv.de/english-party.html
And our new gallery
with pictures of previous parties can be viewed here:
http://www.xklusiv.de/english-galerie.html
Our program this time
includes:
- Exhibition by Tom (sm-heaven): http://www.sm-heaven.de/
- Big slave auction
- Exclusive, delicious buffet
- Dancefloor with DJs Michaela and Axel
- Presentation by Marc et Celine: http://www.marc-celine.de/
- Temporary Tattoos by Body Fun
- Various play areas with enough privacy all over the castle
... and everything until the early hours
Even though we have no set dresscode, we prefer nice or spectacular fetish outfits or an evening dress or tuxedo. Our party is one of the most elegant events around. Therefore we ask you, to spend some time on the choice of your wardrobe. It doesn't have to be expensive or unique, but it should fit to the setting.
The exact location is, as usual, kept secret. Only ticket holders are given the address and the roadmap to the castle. Therefore we ask all of you not to tell any one where the party takes place.
We have no ticket sale on the evening of the party and our party always is sold out quite quickly. People who order tickets and don't pay in time, have no right to get tickets, if the party is sold out by then. Of course we will immediately transfer back the money of people who did not get a ticket. If you want to make sure, that you get tickets, submit your ticket order and sent us an additional email, asking for it. We usually don't do reservations, but can hold back tickets for people from outside Germany.
The party is mainly for couples and people, accompanying them. Of course homosexual couples are welcome the same way and if a group of friends would like to come along, it is also fine with us. And for exceptionally nice singles, we have ten tickets left, so that they have a chance to participate at this unique event. This has worked fine in the past and we hope it will do so for the future as well. And the misbehaviour of anybody, which is coming to our attention, will result in a permanent ban from our events.
OUTLOOK: We currently setting up our next event. This time it will be one of our rare weekend parties. So look forward to the unique Weekend of Passion from May 23rd till May 25th, we will announce it in the near future. Tickets will then be limited to 100 people only, to keep the weekend cosy and unforgettable.
Your Xklusiv-Team
Jacqueline und René
http://www.xklusiv.de/english.html
Up and coming Fetish Photographer "Federico" is a name that some of you know and many more will learn about. His images grace the pages of various Fetish Magazines on rare occasions, but his style and skill are without dispute. Truly original in his unique methods of capturing light Fetish Moods and beautiful models wearing Fetish Fashion, Federico is going to be a force to be reckoned with in years to come.
(Ed. -- I have seen tons of Federico's work -- he is the real thing.)
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Perversion without
Pain (to animals that is)....
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The Great conundrum of the Social Responsible Perv: we love our environment and we respect nature (gotta have trees to tie someone to, you know), and we love leather. Ooops. (*Embarrassed shuffling of feet*) Um, yeah, we really do love leather. It is implicit in almost every aspect of S&M, and a huge faction of the Fetish Fashion Scene. And yet, a few of us feel just a little embarrassed now and again to be supporting the cattle industry and therein a thousand worldly evils not the least of which is the destruction of the rainforest.
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Wrap Up
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How about online S&M Dating services for people who hate computers?
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