Friday, April 30, 2010

What the hell has Monk been up to now?


No, no this is not me doing a live action version of Bioshock 2. Rather, this is me being a cabaret performer at this year's Seattle Erotic Arts Festival. Now I gotta admit this is a bit of a stretch for me. I was originally hired to be just a "bondage consultant" and ended up as a cast member. I'm doing less rigging and more "theater" type stuff. Stuff I have not done in... oh lets say 25 years? Back when I was doing Cole Porter musicals in high school.

The process has been a stretch for me, I think I have grown used to letting the rope take center stage and respond to the person being tied, rather than being an actor in a role. This week, the long rehearsals, the last minute changes and exhausting stress has sucked, hard. Thankfully I'm part of a really talented cast who are all super supportive and really amazing to watch. I almost missed a cue last night due to being distracted by the other stage acts.

Its funny, I've always believed that in order to grow and thrive in life that you must constantly do something that makes you uncomfortable. Staying in your "safe place" leads to stagnation and unhappiness. Normally I would think of myself doing something crazy like racing an antique motorcycle across Russia or starting a bondage rope company as things like that, but getting on stage and dancing?... Oh kids, edge play for me.

Yes, even the larger than life showman in me gets nervous on stage still :)

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Look at me, ma! I'm all "high-brow" and crap!

Let me begin by saying I am not a "writer", nope not by any stretch of the imagination. A writer is someone who has both something to say as well as the skill to deliver said message with grace and deft turn of phrase. My darling lover, Matisse is a writer, a damn fantastic one in fact and I'm rather envious of her ability to consistently deliver a high quality blog and column on a regular basis.
Me? I'm an entertainer, a story teller, in another life I was probably a bard. Telling my tales in some mid-evil Inn to half drunken travelers en-route to a lost city or holy crusade. When I sit down to write here, my goal when I put words to paper is to illicit a laugh. Add some good, old fashioned physical comedy into the mix and I'm in heaven. Now if you actually *learn* something or, heaven help you, you find what I say insightful?

Bonus.

Left to my own devices I'd probably resort to what Monty Python's Eric Idle calls "the two oldest, most universal forms of humor", The fart joke and dressing up in drag."

Now how the hell I ended up sharing a stage at the In the Flesh Reading last month, with some very talented "writers", we are talking folks who have books published and such, is beyond me. Somebody somewhere convinced the host, Rachel Kramer Bussel that I had something worthwhile to tell (lord knows she won't make that mistake again). But I was there, wearing pants even, and true to form, I had one goal in mind. Make em laugh and leave em wanting more.

That was two goals wasn't it? I was never good at math, probably why I ended up getting a degree in propaganda... but I digress.

The story I am reading is taken from one of my all time favorite blog posts, one that while funny in text, I have always thought would be best if done live.

So here is it, me doing "The Perils of Penetration" live.


Who knows, maybe there is a future show here? Me drinking and ranting for 60 minutes about scrotum slapping and bacon... hmmm?

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Oh so very not safe for work!
But worth the wait, that is for sure. Hello again, loyal blog readers, Monk here with another bit of fleshy goodness for all you perverts out there. Last week it was my distinct pleasure to be invited by Madison Young to perform at The Art of Restraint.

Now here is where things get... interesting... until the evening of the performance I'd never even been inside Madison's gallery, Femina Potents, I know what you are thinking. A hard point is a hard point, right? Thing is, when I got there I was informed that there was no real "hard point" to work off of. Rather a huge pole in the center of the room with mounts at the top. Next issue, my model, Calico Lane, yeah I'd worked with her once... and by work I mean we spent an afternoon rolling around with rope and laughing. Ever the pro, when I informed Calico of the challenges facing our performance, that we had yet to rehearse or even really plan, she gave me a smile and said those words that make rope tops shiver and sweat in terror at the same time, "I trust you, it you will make it look awesome"




Twisted Monk at Art of Restraint 3/27 from Twisted Monk on Vimeo.



While my ego would like to take credit for pulling off a nice performance, I think it was Calico who stole the show. Just before I pulled her into the air, I whispered in her ear "if you feel the harness start to slip at all, just wrap your legs around the pole" The rest was just... well the rest was just perfect.

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