Midnight Sex Talk

STRIP SHOW FOR CHARITY!

A reminder about Erotic Awards Showcase on Thursday 9th June, at the fabulous Hoxton Hall, 130 Hoxton Street, London, N1 6SH.

This is the semi-final of the Erotic Awards for strippers and performers. It'll be a long night of kit coming off, in part or fully; from the artistic to the downright dirty. And it's all for charity, the Outsiders Trust, which has been helping disabled people find partners for the last 25 years.

I won't be stripping, sadly, but I'll be there, in the front row. ;-)

And don't forget to book your tickets for the Night Of The Senses on 3rd September. The best fetish event of the year!

DIRTY OLD TOWN ROUNDUP

This Midnight Sex Talk came together at the last minute, and a cracking one it was too. We were fortunate to have Piers Gibbon, presenter and Voiceover King doing some readings. Historic Moment: Piers' first time saying the c-word on air!

We had an interview with Matthew Glamorre about Polari, the gay slang that grew out of C18 thieves-and-theatre culture. There is, I discovered, a Polari Bible. Shame we didn't have time to read some of that out - it's hilarious.

We also spoke to poet, playwright and shaman John Constable, AKA John Crow, author of The Southwark Mysteries, about Cross Bones, the ancient prostitutes graveyard in Southwark. (More on my visit below...).

And, at the 11th hour, we got Hallie Rubenhold on the phone, to talk about Harris's List. We also had a message from Alex Fitch, our film reviewer, who only discovered recently that he's a direct descendant of Samuel Pepys! Man, the connections were flying on Sunday.

A VISIT TO CROSS BONES GRAVEYARD
Every Halloween since 1998, and more recently every 23rd of the month, John Crow and his crew, plus whoever else feels the pull, meet at 7pm at the site in Red Cross Way, off Southwark Street in SE1. Fortuitously, this month's meet-up was the day after the show, and it was full moon as well. Shout to Ian who heard about it on the show and came down. Shame about the nutter in the pub. Sounded like he was running girls, and not very successfully at that.

You can't miss the big red gates, which are covered in ribbons and personal totems all year round. All you can see of the site now is waste ground and rubble, but beneath the concrete lie the skeletons of perhaps 15,000 people. Back in the day they only closed it because it was full up.

Songs were sung, a gin offering was made to the outcast dead, and the gates rippled in the evening breeze. This is an important place. More pictures in the art gallery to the left. I only discovered later that there was a whopping great fingerprint on the lens - what can it mean?

Update: There was a bug in the album, and you could only see the new pictures. I think it's sorted now - we can't have Kim in his kinky boots dropping off the page!

SUNDAY 22nd MAY - DIRTY OLD TOWN

This week Midnight Sex Talk is delving deep into London's seamy past: stews, molly houses and the clap. It was just like today, really, but with different clothing - and without the latex condoms and antibiotics. If you know any good stories about London's sexual history, about your own street perhaps, please drop us a line. As always, click on 'Email me' on the left.

Now then, the guy in the picture - is he holding what I think he's holding??

For background reading, here are some fascinating books: The Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack And The Extraordinary Story Of Harris' List by Hallie Rubenhold; Empress Of Pleasure: The Life And Adventures Of Teresa Cornelys by Judith Summers; and Courtesans by Katie Hickman.

Where & When: Sunday 22nd May, 11.30pm-12.30am GMT, on Resonance 104.4 FM in London, and on the internet at Resonancefm.com everywhere else in the world. And you can text us during the show on 07957 362 182. See you there for a hefty dose of history!

I'm not going to write any more today, because it's my birthday. Click here to find out why May 18th is an especially good day. :-)

PAIN & PLEASURE ROUNDUP

And what an wide-ranging show it was, thanks to our great guests, Monkey and Mistress Vamp. Here they are again:

It was a bit of a smorgasbord, albeit a tasty one. We get to the end of a show like this and realise there are entire programmes to be made about stuff we've covered only briefly. In this case: pain, consent, domination and submission, topping and bottoming, not to mention mainstream culture's attempt to absorb the world of BDSM. Remember that ad with a very dominant lady bellowing Give me juice! ? That was outthere, if you think about it.

If you just want to read a good book, start with The Story of O. For a bit of historical background, you could move on to 120 Days of Sodom, just to tick it off on your list. Nowadays it would be called Four Months In Gomorrah, and be marketed as a crime novel. At least one of the characters would be a junkie. Lots of women would be slaughtered colourfully, and be revealed to have equally colourful pasts. There'd be a TV tie-in, with Colin Firth as the Marquis. Blah blah blah.

Kim did a nice interview with Demolition Red, who provided a very enticing aural demonstration of some of her implements. Goreans came in for a bit of a drubbing, whether they liked it or not.

In the end, we actually had two sets of tickets to Kinkfest2 to give away. The lucky winners were Mistress Glampers and Roger. (See pic further down; he's a Leo, remember).

SEXUAL FREEDOM COALITION THIS SUNDAY
If you're in town this Sunday, come down to the Sexual Freedom Coalition conference at the Horse Hospital, Colonnade, Bloomsbury London WC1. 2-6pm, with after party. Entrance £10/£7. We'll be there, and so will our guests, who'll be treating us all to a demonstration...

KINK WORKSHOPS COMING SOON
On 26th June, Mistress Vamp will be giving a tutorial in strap-on play, and Monkey will be instructing in the art of interrogation scenes on 25th September. Check out the rest as well.

In contrast to all things dark and rubbery, Midnight Sex Talk may be attending the Hay-on-Wye festival at the end of the month. Whips and gags will almost certainly be needed. Watch this space...

SUNDAY 8th MAY - PAIN & PLEASURE

BDSM, CP, topping, bottoming - what does all this mean to you? Do you think the first two are network protocols, and that the others must be cookery terms, even though you've never heard Nigella mention them? Or are you a fully fledged member of your local community, and a regular attendee of the kinds of club that the tabloids send undercover reporters to, (even though they already know what they're going to write)?

If you're still in the dark, click here for some explanations. Sadly, despite endless efforts by the community to be clear about what goes on, there is still a lot of fear and ignorance around. Hence the existence of groups like Unfettered, which holds monthly Kink Workshops, and is behind this year's Kinkfest2 on July 30th.

As usual, double standards abound. The image of the dominatrix emerged from the dungeon quite a while ago now; she's been embraced by mainstream fashion and advertising, and people would find it odd if a well-known MP wasn't into something involving whips and blindfolds, which have become staples of mainstream comedy.

But do you think that inflicting physical pain on someone, (or having it done to you) however consensually, is simply torture by another name? Or is it the ultimate transfer of power, and the only true way to work out your own needs and desires? Tell us what you think. Tell us what you do. You can email us anytime, (click on 'Email me' on the left), or text us during the show on 07957 362 182.

Where & When: Sunday 8th May, 11.30pm-12.30am GMT, on Resonance 104.4 FM in London, and on the internet at Resonancefm.com everywhere else in the world.

Helping us tease it all out in the studio are Monkey and Mistress Vamp from the Kinkfest community.

So, be there, or we'll have you all done up like a kipper. And this time we really mean it. What's more, there's a PRIZE for the most interesting question - two tickets to Kinkfest!

EROTIC AWARDS NEWSFLASH
Abby St Clair (linked further up) was one of the finalists in 2004. Watch this space for info about this year's Awards, and the Semi-Finals on June 9th at Hoxton Hall, a night of striptease and full-on erotic performance art. The little picture up there on the left is Anna, another of last year's finalists.