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ROMANCE
STAFF PICKS
Best
Blind Date:
Food and wine never tasted and felt so good than at Dinner
in the Dark’s monthly four-course dinners held at
upscale restaurants in pitch black darkness. Presented by DoYouFlirt.com,
participants are encouraged to experience food and company through
touch, taste, smell and sound only while being served by a staff
wearing night-vision goggles.
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Best
Place to See and Be Seen:
CAC’s Voyeurism Party
Photo:
Wendy Uhlman
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Best
Place to See and Be Seen:
CAC’s Voyeurism Party
Captain America with his face buried in an ample bosom. Patent-leather
and feather-clad women twerkin’ and spankin’ behind
a translucent, back-lit scrim. Multiple, intertwined limbs being
videotaped on a bed fit for Scheherazade. Gorgeous women “clothed”
in body paint and little else. And smiling uniformed Cincinnati
Police officers.
Held in December at the contemporary/industrial Over-the-Rhine headquarters
of Lightborne as a fund-raiser for the Contemporary Arts Center,
the Voeuryism Party goosed the puritanical boundaries of a city
still infamous for its trial of the CAC’s exhibition of photographer
Robert Mapplethorpe’s “dirty pictures” and its
director, Dennis Barrie. Titillating but tame was the Frederick’s
of Hollywood attire. The eyebrow raiser and drool draw were the
partially nude, voluptuous women waiting in line to have waists,
breasts, shoulders and arms intricately “dressed” by
body painter Jim Shadow. Alongside a detail officer, I stood by
and watched as bare skin was transformed into mermaid scales and
bustiers, bewitched by the wordless, intimate relationship of voueyer
and voueyered.
Still, it was a waist-up gig. Just how far could the boundaries
be pushed? “Do you mind holding my pants while I get my ass
painted?” I asked the attentive officer. Oh, OK, that’s
how far. (Donna Covrett)
Best
Sexy Festival:
The University of Cincinnati held its third annual Masturbation
Celebration last May with a series of games and information
tables promoting the “world’s oldest sport.” AIDS
Volunteers of Cincinnati distributed literature on safe sex practices,
while Hustler Hollywood donated colored and flavored condoms, sexual
lubricants and masturbation aids. Said a UC graduate student who
helped organize the celebration, “If people are so uptight
about touching themselves, what else are they uptight about?”
Best Hope for Safe Sex:
The federally funded RARE Project
(Rapid Assessment, Response and Evaluation) came to town specifically
to study HIV and AIDS in Over-the-Rhine. The three-month study was
geared to finding out the neighborhood’s viewpoints and knowledge
of the diseases — findings pointed to better education in
safe sex practices and in early warning signs of HIV/AIDS.
Best Reason for Hope:
Those tired of the old routine of finding dates through personals
ads, singles bars and friends of friends have more holistic and
interesting options these days with the food-oriented services like
Single To Mingle, Food Chain Cincinnati, It’s
Just Lunch and others. They offer low-pressure and low-key
gatherings of as many as a dozen people over lunch, dinner and other
settings but don’t necessarily see themselves as “dating
services.” It’s whatever you want it to be, and it can
be a real break from the routine.
Best Burlesquus Interruptus:
A single complaint call to the Newport City Solicitor’s office
set off an unfortunate chain of events that resulted in a self-censored
Suicide Girls Live Burlesque Show at the Southgate
House in February. The popular pinup Web site suicidegirls.com brought
its provacative burlesque tour to the Southgate House two days after
Valentine’s Day, offering a little dancing, a little stripping,
a little whipped cream and some hilarious hijinx. But once Newport
officials started reminding Southgate’s owners that their
liquor license was in jeopardy — they were just trying to
be helpful, ya know — the girls toned down their show. “Sorry
about your state laws, dudes,” lead Suicide Girl Siren told
the crowd at the show’s close.
Best Bet for Wine Lovers:
Yes, it’s a stretch to include this in the Romance category,
but wine lovers are crazy people — and locally they love the
Cincinnati International Wine Festival. Held in
March, the festival recently was another smash success, drawing
wine makers, wine sellers and wine tasters from all over the country.
It’s even done for a good cause, raising funds for several
local charities. If you missed this year’s version, catch
up with fellow fanatics at www.winefestival.com.
(See “Becoming a Wine Wonk”
for more on learning about wines.) ©
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