The Gay Erotic Expo National Tour came "home" to New York City's Copacabana nightclub over the Columbus Day holiday weekend.
The two-day event, produced by Consolidated Management Associates, drew large crowds of gay men eager to see, meet, touch, and photograph such porn stars as Michael Lucas, Tod Parker, Rod Barry, Chad Hunt, Tag Eriksson, and Bret Wolfe, as well as examine the wares of upwards of 25 exhibitors.
The tour's 21 sponsors include HX Magazine, AVN/GAYVN, CocoBoy.com, Cybersocket, TLAvideo.com, Specialty Publications, HairyStudsVideo.com, Lucas Entertainment, NakedSword.com, Big City Video, and Jet Set Productions, all of whom had booths. Exhibitors ran the gamut from video to sex novelties to Internet companies, and Expo-goers took the opportunity to purchase their products on the spot, often at a discount.
Among the exhibitors were MovieMountain.com, Colt Studio, Hot House Entertainment, Liquid Dreamz, Ari Productions, Koala, Rainbow Rope, Good Catch!, theMaleBox.com, and SmokingHunks.com.
Mistress of Ceremonies Cashetta and her sidekick Lambert introduced the hourly entertainment which included performances by CocoBoys, Lucas Entertainment's Michael Lucas, Wilson Vasquez, Chad Hunt, and Rob Ramos, Colt Men Tod Parker, Dave Angelo, and Ray Dragon, Hot House's Dick Wolf and Collin O'Neal, Rod Barry, and Bret Wolfe.
The highlight of Day Two's entertainment was a live version of "Who Wants to Be a Porn Star ?" a game show hosted by Jet Set's Brett Drysdale that teamed audience members with models Tag Eriksson, Lorenzo Vargas, and Connor Banks, for a chance to win cash and product prizes and a part in a Jet Set movie.
A majority of the exhibitors who had also taken part in the Expo's September event held at the Los Angeles Convention Center praised the New York venue as being more intimate and, because liquor was available, more party like. Californians in the sex industry, accustomed to their state's strict "no dicks with drinks" prohibition, were shocked to discover that New York suffers from the same prudish ordinances. So though video screens displayed the raunchiest of sex scenes throughout the hall, not one live penis was allowed to rear its head onstage.
Although attendance figures were not immediately available, estimates place the crowd at between three-and five thousand over the two-day period.
