SMack! July 6th party
review from SexyNYC
by Abby Ehmann

Finally, a fetish party I can relate to! It doesn't cost twice as much for men to get in; in fact, it's a reasonable $10 per person, and couples consisting of any sexual permutation receive a discount. It isn't in the bowels of the meat packing district; in fact, it's only a block from my apartment, in the fashionable and happening East Village. And it isn't crawling with overweight 60-year-old guys in droopy drawers, absent-mindedly pulling on their puds. Nope, instead it's populated by hot young Goth boys in lots of black eyeliner and taut, tight, tender missies in Spandex, PVC or just the right amount of luscious leather. Truly a fetishists nirvana! SMack! has arrived, ladies and gentlemen, just in time to save every sex maniac's night life.

The brilliant brainchild brought to you by two of the SM scene's most prominent Chris', (Xris & Chris Ward) SMack! brings together the tastiest components of divergent camps: Cyber, Goth, SM and Industrial, as well as your average, garden variety freaks. A forum for the city's 'sensory pleasure devotees', as the producers call it. Two computers were available for play, one with Eric Kroll's "Fetish" CD-ROM, the other with the interactive Virtual Valerie sex game. Baby head sculptures courtesy of John Eberenz beamed down on a shelf jam packed with party fliers and free smut. Art and slide visuals by Feedbuck Galore flashed on the walls and caught unsuspecting drinkers in their glare. Eye-popping videos were rolling on a number of screens, provided by Matty Jankowski of Body Archive fame. And since Matty has managed to archive all the HBO Real Sex installments, it wasn't unusual for one of the attending hedonists to look up and say, "Hey, I'm on TV!" I especially enjoyed the rubber fetish video featuring two totally hot babes in layers and layers of impressive rubber outfits.

Atmospheric music ranging from dark ambient to cyberpunk pulsed from a DJ booth manned first by DJ Tranwrek, followed by James Galus and then Michael-23 (from the Batcave). Comfortable couches lined the newly redecorated club, offering the high of heel a place to descend from the ozone. People-watching was at its finest, as shoppers with expensive taste paraded their metal-embellished purchases. And down in the basement, Mistress Damian, of Deviant Playground fame, used mood lighting, cobwebs and SM toys to create a convincing dungeon atmosphere. As always, Kinky Joe brought in a few pieces of his sex furniture, including a beautifully sculpted cross. "I just got a new lathe," Kinky Joe enthused- and this "Shaving Chair." With padded "arms" on which to rest one's spread thighs and an adjustable mirror aimed at the crotch, this would be just the thing for genital grooming. However, that move-your-hand-left-and-it-goes-right phenomenon usually encountered with mirrors might prove a bit, um, painful.