Thursday, May 28, 2009

My darling wife of 20+ years, Tambo does not make many appearances on this blog. While the greatest, most supportive wife in history she much prefers to stay behind the camera and in shadows. Happy to watch, support and offer her own devious twist on my various mis-adventures.

Now when she is persuaded to step in front of the camera, like she did here at SEAF, the result is a treat (for both you and me).

Is she not just stunning? Yeah, I know. I'm the luckiest SOB on earth. Thanks Malixe for capturing the radiance that is my dearest wife.

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May's Color of the Month: Spring Showers

After taking April off, the Color of the Month returns! Using a very time consuming process that slowly layers brighter and brighter shades of pigment, we are able to turn a normally tan rope into s bright, vibrant yellow.


The color of the month sells out fast and this is a pretty small run, so hop on it quick if you want some seriously eye popping rope.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Rebuilding

The process of rebuilding the lost data from the great laptop theft of 09 seems to be almost complete. While I am certain that there are email addresses that I missed as well as a few other lost bits of random data. Now since both my MP3 player AND my laptop were stolen in one single act of random vandalism, I lost all my music. Well not quite, I converted from the cult of i-tunes over to the Rhaposdy subscription model some time ago so the actual music is not lost, rather I just need to log in a pull down the tunes I want from the Rhaposdy archives.

The problem however is the play lists. Those mixes of tunes, each one crafted to fit a particular mood. Be it a lazy Sunday morning with a lover or an adrenaline fueled mix for a long, sweaty session in my dungeon. The mix, that is what I am missing and it, dear readers, is bugging the hell out of me. I’m piecing some bits together yet there are still holes.

So, one of the mixes I had was what I called my, “I am not a barcode” mix, great for working out when you just can not seem to muster the motivation or on those days when you feel like squaring your shoulders to the world and flipping the mainstream the bird.

Tunes like,
Saints of Los Angeles, Motley Crue
Thrash Unreal, Against Me!
21st Century Digital Boy, Bad Religion
1000 Fists, Disturbed
Fuck Authority, Pennywise

And? What else? Suggestions?

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I think perhaps I am having a wee bit too much fun with the whole 12 seconds thing....


Me, pre-coffee and planning my day on 12seconds.tv

Saturday, May 23, 2009

4 hours and a gallon of polish later


4 hours and a gallon of polish later
Originally uploaded by Mr Monk

Much like its owner, my Boris cleans up well. Now the next question would be, who wants a ride?

Thursday, May 21, 2009

random bathroom graffiti


random bathroom graffiti
Originally uploaded by Mr Monk

onr thing about sharing a building with a bunch of outlaw artists, the graffiti in the mens room is always entertaining.

Another entry into my experiment with 12 second video, yet more random things found in the Abbey.

Yet more random things in my office on 12seconds.tv

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Every time I show someone my office for the first time I need to pause the conversation and wait for them to take it all in. See, with out fail they get sidetracked by all the odd and random things that I have collected over the course of my kink career. I think I should start sharing some of them with you via 12 seconds video. Some things will have historical value, others are just simply silly and random.

And so, with out further adieu. My favorite coffee cup, a gift from an old friend.


Radnom things in my office on 12seconds.tv

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Saturday, May 16, 2009

family


family
Originally uploaded by Mr Monk

my sis sent me a care package today, inside was this photo of us from back when we were kids on the farm.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Happy Birthday to The Mom

Today is my amazing mother in law's birthday, aka "The Mom". Now I've blogged before about just how cool a gal she is, but for those of you joining in... The Mom is pretty damned fantastic on all counts. Super supportive of both her bio kids as well as those of us to be married into her family. For the last 25+ years she has been nothing short of tremendous in her support of me. While my family imploded with internal strife and drama, she reached her arms wide around me and shielded me from the storm. She has sat across the dinner table from my other partner Matisse and shared holiday cheer with my adoptive family. No mater the crazy turns my life has taken, she has been there for me and loved me with an unconditional love.

If this is not enough reason to wish this one of a kind woman a joyous and happy birthday, then consider this. She, and her partner, were the ones who gave me my very first book on rope bondage. The genesis for this company and all that I have created. In short, if you love the rope you have in your toybag from me, she is the one you have to thank for it.

And so, to The Mom. Let us raise our glasses and say cheers!
Love you.

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Bindings Project: Blind

My dear friend and photographer extraordinaire has done it again. Michele Serchuck just knows how to shoot me when I tie. These are shots from the SEAF peace we called “Blind”. So far I have seen several great images from this piece, but yet again Michele seemed to capture the moment so well. Trapping all the passion and trust between the beautiful Sophia and I as we undertook what was, for me, a transformative moment.

Tying blindfolded is not a new trick by any stretch, however most of the demonstrations I have seen were more sterile than sexy. A display of the rope rigger’s prowess and skill, or worse a garish sideshow spectacle. This was the opposite of what I wanted, for me the very idea of giving up my eyes while tying scared the living crap out of me. It is one thing for a partner to trust me enough to let them do something as potentially dangerous as suspension bondage on them, do it while blind and in front of a few thousand people? I’d need someone very, very special and perhaps a little crazy.

Enter Sophia.



Artist, instructor and a damned fine rope rigger in her own right, Sophia did not bat an eye when I told her my idea. Rather, she agreed wholeheartedly that this should be about the tactile, my hands, her body and how the rope connected us together. Considering the very cool friendship we share, I think we had a winning plan.

Our rehearsal time was minimal, focusing on the safety and non-verbal communication required to pull this off. Again, Sophia just blew me out of the water with what she brought to the practices, what you saw as the simplest touches on my face as I tied were, in fact, well planned signals and queues for where I was in relation to a thousand variables.

We would perform this once and only once, creating a moment never to be repeated.

Friday night, second night of the installation’s run. The place is packed and I’m wired from a mix of adrenaline, fear and the intoxication that only comes from being on stage. Add to this, endorphin high after just pulling off the Mayhem piece with Delano to the roaring cheers of the crowd. While a bouncing, happy Monk is a good thing it was the exact opposite of what was needed to pull off a slow, sensual and (potentially) dangerous blindfolded suspension scene. Again, enter Sophia with her calm touch and low voice leading me, centering me, breathing with me.



When we took the stage and she placed the blindfold on me, the world dimmed. The ruckus of the crowds dulled into the distance as all I could hear was her breathing and the soft words she would whisper to me as my hands moved across her body. Smells exploded, the hemp, her skin, my sweat. I remember there being hot lights burning down upon us when we started, but there in that dark moment all I felt was the heat of her skin as my hands, trembling at first, took the rope.

It was not until we were almost through, at that critical moment when I took all her body weight into the ropes and drew her into the air that I heard the mc from across the vast expanse that was SEAF, stop what she was doing and direct everyone’s attention to our stage. In that split second there was silence, a collective gasp lasting for but an instant, and then the sound of the festival with all its carnival revelry roared back into my ears.

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Friday, May 08, 2009

More from SEAF, Mayhem



This would be my dear pal and inspiration, Delano and I doing what we referred to as Mayhem". The idea was simple, we are both straight identified rope switches who share a bond through rope that is one of comradeship and friendship. This was not about a power dynamic, or sex or even something "artistic" rather what we did was divide all the rope I had made for the show into 2 piles, set on either side of the stage. We each took turns placing one piece on the other till we were either out of rope or unable to move. The only rules were, no crotch shots, the support lines had to finish through your own hard point and not to make the other one's butt look fat.

What resulted could best be described as a free form madness, like some kind of DJ battle where with every rope we taunted the other, "oh is that the BEST you got?" and with every tie, we became a larger and larger tangle of hemp.

Was it "art"? Not sure. Was it "entertaining"? Oh hell yes! Did it get my point across that rope is more than just a sex toy, but rather a medium through which people can communicate and connect? Yeah, I think so.

In other news, Tambo and her bro got decked out in their old school trek best for the new film's opening last night. Here is a 12 second clip of them getting photographed by all the other folks in line. Now being the good poly person I am, I'm seeing it again tonight with Matisse. I doubt she will don a uniform tho...

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Thursday, May 07, 2009

Still digging out from the post SEAF madness.

You know all those things I said I would get to "after SEAF"? Well yeah, now I am ass deep in getting caught back up with the day to day operations of my company, getting my digital life rebooted (this would be the first blog post from my new lappy, I'm calling it "mini me") and reconnecting with all those folks that have waited so patiently as buried myself in the madness that was the installation.

So images and stories are starting to trickle in, here is a shot taken from a piece we called "The Skeleton Dance" what was really astounding, for me at least, was getting to work with Thomas. As a classically trained dancer, his understanding of how his body could move and how the level of muscle control was amazing. Allowing me to shape and pose his body effortlessly while could go from rigid to a slow, mournful melting of his limbs.

Made for a real visual treat.


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Sunday, May 03, 2009

I am fucking exhausted.
My entire body aches, my fingers are so swolen that i cannot close my hands into a fist with out wincing, but I really do not care. If I were a macho type I'd say something like "pain is just weakness leaving the body", but that really ain't my speed. No, the pain is more a reminder of what was created and what, in the end, was released into the universe.

When I took up the Binding Project some 3 months ago, I knew it would be a lot of work, it was not untill 28 days ago that it took a turn for me. That was when my family was struck with a sudden and pointless death. In the days that followed, the drama and divisions that have plauged my family for years came to an ugly, ugly head. Old predjuces transformed into open, hatred and people I thought I once loved so dearly that I was willing donate parts of my body in order to keep them alive showed me just how much hate and predjucice can posion a person's soul. 28 days of drama, constant calls from family torn by not only death but now division.

Add to this, more loss. The loss of my laptop, the container in which I kept all my creativity. My words, my art, and my fears... gone in a single act of vandalism. Add to this watching helplessly as someone you love greives thier own private loss, wishing desperatly to help carry that burden yet knowing you cannot, just as they could not help carry yours.

Determined to not let this derail me, I poured every ounce of grief, anger and frustration into the project. If I had to experince this hurricane of emotions inside myself then, by god, I vowed to not let it destroy me. Rather I would create... something.

at the end of the film we made as part of the Bindings Project, I asked my film guru to add this quote after the credit sequence.

"Dedicated to the memory of those we have loved and lost, may we channel
our grief into creativity and transform the void left behind into something
beautiful."


And so today, today as I type with gritting teeth hoping the pain killers kick in soon, I feel so filled with pride and love. The pain is a good thing, a reminder of what we made, something beautiful was released into the world this weekend and I, I no longer feel the hurricane. Only pride and delight at what has become a transformative act.

Go, create. Sing, dance, write, paint, sculpt, love and never let your fears fool you from knowing who you really are.

Saturday, May 02, 2009

end of day 2


end of day 2
Originally uploaded by Mr Monk

8 hours of performance down, 4 still to go. my hands are getting torn to shreds but damn if it does not feel great to create something and see people respond so positivly and with so much love. must collapse, tomorrow night we pull out all the stops!

Friday, May 01, 2009

Opening Night

Hands are sore today so it is hard to type, but last night rocked. The entire show was fantastic, but I must say that our little corner of it was especally awesome. My crew kept things moving flawlesly as I split time between performing and talking to all the cool people who came out. Tonight the doors are open to the public so they are expecting a LOT of bodies, like 2000 or more. I need to repair my costume, rest my hands and drink a fuck ton more coffee.

Oh and did I mention that the festival got written up in the Seattle Times? Your's truly just got name checked by a major metropolitan newspaper! Pardon me while I have an "OMG SQUEE" moment.

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