The Los Angeles Chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence turned out in drag force, officially opening the show with a blessing that included three nuns, a leather daddy and several dildos instead of candles.
“This show has a little bit of something for everyone,” Expo production manager C. Brian Devinney told XBIZ. “We have toys, we have leather and fetish. We have clothing and movies. Whatever your stroke is, you can find it.”
The Saturday crowd, which seemed sparse at times, was able to take in a variety of vendors on the show floor.
Channel 1 Releasing and Pitbull Productions saw a lot of action from fans taking pictures with models and purchasing videos.
Channel 1 Releasing partner/director Chi Chi La Rue promoted their latest release, “Link: The Evolution” with C1R exclusive models Blake Riley and Eddy Diaz signing at the booth. La Rue spoke to XBIZ about the company’s recent acquisition of legendary gay studio Catalina Video.
“Somebody asked me if I collect anything and I said, ‘Well, I used to collect Barbies, but now I collect porn companies,’” La Rue said.
“It’s where everything should be,” he said further. “I started at Catalina 20 years ago and now it’s with me, which is very bizarre. We went to the warehouse and cleared it out and in the back was this box tucked with Jeff Stryker ‘Power Tool’ posters that I had packed in tubes to mail out for the promotion 20 years ago. So, it’s very, very bizarre.”
Director/performer Tiger Tyson’s New York-based Pitbull Productions attracted a lot of attention from fans interested in the ethnic genre.
“We’re getting there, baby — we’re right on top and about to shut some other companies down,” Tyson said. “We’re raking them in and we have more releases coming out than most companies. We just won the 2007 GAYVN for Best Ethnic and we also got several other nominations.
“I come back [to the expo] because I have a nice following here in L.A. and my booth is so busy, so I come back every year just because of the fans.”
Primarily straight European production company Private hosted a booth promoting their Private Man, Mansize and Manstars lines.
“We were getting a lot of calls [from fans] at the office asking if we were going to be at this year’s expo because they saw us at the Pride Festival. So we’ve got a great response from everybody,” Private marketing executive Cesar J. Dimas said. “We’re trying to push every single line that we have and we’re back in full force. We’re having a good time.” Online video-on-demand provider NakedSword.com’s Albert Jones talked about the importance of community outreach and upcoming plans for the company.
“We’re creating a gay video-on-demand brand that’s out there. We represent ourselves everywhere and we’ll be doing over 80 events this year,” Jones said.
“We’re producing new products that you’ll see in the fall. We’re relaunching our membership site at the end of this month,” he said, “and we’re also creating a community site. We’ll let you know more, hopefully by November or December.”
Non-condom studios Paul Morris’ Treasure Island Media, Tipo Sesso, Street Corner Studios and Helix Studios also saw a fair amount of fan traffic. Treasure Island promoted “Built to Fuck,” a title released specially for the expo.
Hoping to fill the twink niche, show sponsor Helix Studio brought exclusive models Mason Cox and Nick Angels as well as Tyler Kayden and Ricky Cruz.
“They love it,” Helix Studios’ affiliate manager Sean “Pickles” Banks said of the fans. “They love seeing the boys. A lot of the same people turn up at the shows because they want to see the boys, which is really good.”
Throughout the day the crowd was entertained with three sets on the show’s center stage by drag diva Jackie Beat, who wore a silver and black caftan that, she said, would make access easy in case there was a “bisexual, chubby chaser man of color that’s blind in one eye in the house.”
Gender-bending dancer Sir Heffington did a sexy striptease to Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana” complete with thigh-high boots, a scanty leopard-skin outfit and long brunette curls with matching mustache and chest hair.
Director Jorge Amir from Hollywood Independents and the Glitter Awards got onstage to solicit actors for his latest production. The Glitter Awards honor movies and performers that bring GLBT themes to mainstream cinema.
Other events promoted at the expo included the NYC-based Hustlaball, which shared a busy booth with models from RentBoy.com. Representatives from New York’s Leather Weekend also were handing out fliers.
Retailers like Tantus Silicone found business brisk on Saturday, debuting their "Just for Boys" line of male-oriented novelties. Tantus marketing manager Jeff Muesse said they were selling product “left and right” as customers looked over their selection of cock rings, prostate stimulators and other high-end novelties.
Ginch Gonch boys Ethan Reynolds and Benjamin Bradley showed off the underwear company’s flamboyant designs, which Beat called “Underoos for adults.” Other retailers on the floor included MindFetish (launching its fall line of fetish-inspired bedding); KoalaSwim.com with men’s thongs for true sun worshippers; Dr. Joel Kaplan with his patented, FDA-approved penis pumps; and Wet Lube with their rainbow-decorated booth.
For the first time in several years, representatives from Adult Industry Medical Healthcare (AIM) had a booth, providing show attendees with information about STDs and also offering HIV and syphilis tests onsite.
“We got an email that the Gay Erotic Expo was coming up and (AIM founder) Dr. Mitchell passed it on to me and asked if anyone would be interested in doing it, and I said, ‘Heck, yeah. Let’s do it,’” AIM chief medical director Patric Hernandez-Kline said. “We [have] been doing free HIV Eliza tests and syphilis tests and we’ve actually had a really good turn out.”
On the straight side, gay-friendly adult performer Jack Lawrence made his fourth appearance at the expo, courting the gay market to promote his website.
Also on Saturday, adult directress Lynn LeMay and business partner Bud Lee shopped the expo and said they are considering producing a gay line for LeMayzing Productions.
More female attendees were spotted in the crowd this year as well, lending credence to the theory that women enjoy gay adult films and entertainment.
“The Gay Erotic Expo is not only gay, but also erotic and an expo,” Beat said on her way to do a second set. “And they can’t take that away from us.”
The New York Gay Erotic Expo will be held Oct. 20-21 at the Puck Building in Manhattan.
