Well, we missed out on that one, eh?

Friday and Saturday marked the first Exotic Erotic Ball and Exposition on Pier 94, and the Times sent their man Alan Feuer down to describe the scene. And describe he does:

Fix in your mind a trade show as conceived by Larry Flynt, but produced by a man who cut his teeth promoting Bat Day at Shea Stadium, and you will get a sense of the exposition's seamless blend of carnality and price-point marketing — for there, on the convention floor, naked as it were, was the latest phase of the corporatization of American desire.

On the main stage, there were dungeon demonstrations and a latex fashion show complete with smoke machines, while in the trade booths vendors peddled everything from aphrodisiacal energy drinks ("the Ultimate Erotic Energizer") to a mood-enhancing pheromone rub that boasted "top notes of vanilla and sandalwood."

Numbers at the expo were apparently less then expected ( the $15 billion dollar porn industry is mostly based out of the West coast not the East) but still managed to get some pale eager fans and "business" men out for the festivities. And the story has a great bonus bit of political trivia about the one-time presidential candidate for the national Nudist Party who ran on the slogan "I have nothing to hide."

Photograph from the Perry Mann's Exotic Erotic Ball NY info page