The Exotic Erotic Ball (often referred to as The Ball or Perry Mann's Exotic Erotic Ball[1]) was held annually from 1979 to 2009 on a weekend, usually before Halloween night, in the San Francisco Bay Area, California and was a public, adult-themed event. Over three decades, the annual indoor event was attended by nearly half a million people since its inception with steadily increasing growth in attendance each year until 2010, when the event was cancelled due to poor ticket sales and cost overruns.[2] The 2011 ball was never planned. Due to the worldwide popularity of the event the City of San Francisco issued three proclamations for “Exotic Erotic Ball Day,”[3] twice by Mayor Willie Brown in 1999 and again in 2001, and once by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004.
Many attendees of the Exotic Erotic Ball came to the event in elaborate and creative Halloween costumes[4] to compete in the annual “Best Costume” contest[5] which in later years typically awarded the winner prize money and merchandise in the US$10,000 range.
While the Exotic Erotic Ball by definition would be considered a "Festival" the event is rarely categorized into conventional terms by attendees, the media, or event organizers. Because of the broad spectrum of conventional and unconventional entertainment offered on multiple stages at the Exotic Erotic Ball, it may be described as a combination of Adult-themed; Halloween festival, Music Festival, Burlesque show, Lingerie party, Masquerade ball, Fetish club, Swingers party and Adult IndustryTrade Show.
History
In 1978, The Nudist Ball, a precursor to the Exotic Erotic Ball, took place in Mann's Tenderloin, San Francisco, California apartment in 1978 and attracted a few hundred people.
In 1979, Perry Mann organized the first Exotic Erotic Ball, moving it to California Hall, in San Francisco, with 800 to 900 people paying $10 apiece, to raise campaign funds for his business partner and best friend, Louis Abolafia, who ran for President of the United States under the Nudist Party with the slogan: “I have nothing to hide.”[6] Louis also coined the phrase, “Make love, not war!” and his legendary Greenwich Village love-ins inspired the New York press to crown him “The Love King.” Abolafia had previously run in 1968 under the Cosmic Love Party, even then with the slogan "What have I got to hide?".
The Concourse Exhibition Center, 635 8th St, San Francisco was a long-time venue.
Around 1999, the location changed to the Cow Palace in Daly City.[2]
In 2001, Mann released the book The Exotic Erotic Ball: Twenty Years of the World's Sexiest Party ( ISBN156171917X).
From 2004 through 2009, organizers expanded the Exotic Erotic Ball to include the Exotic Erotic Expo, a two-day Adult-Expo typically held the day before and the day of the Exotic Erotic Ball. Activities included panel discussions on First Amendment rights with adult actress, actors, and media, wine tastings with porn stars, and various oddities such as the "spiritual oasis" with psychic readings and massage, body painting, a classic adult cinema, and a human petting zoo. It also features a commercial area with vendors and exhibitors who showcase the latest in exotic fashion, erotic art, adult products, games, websites, and adult novelties.
In 2008, Snoop Dogg headlined a first-ever Friday night concert attached to the Exotic Erotic Ball and Exotic Erotic Expo.[7]
In 2010, the expo and ball relocated from the Cow Palace to the new Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, California.[17] The move meant that instead of having 20,000 people, organizers would be limited to 14,000 attendees into the Craneway Pavilion on the Richmond waterfront over two days.[18] Organizers expected 7,500 attendees, but canceled the 2010 event the day before it was scheduled to occur, citing poor ticket sales and cost overruns.[19] Many longtime Exotic Erotic Ball attendees were apparently unwilling to travel to Richmond, an industrial city located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco, citing its longtime reputation for being crime-plagued (the city's own police department described Richmond as having a chronic violent crime problem for "decades" and in 2010 was ranked as the 6th most dangerous city in the United States).[20][21][22][23]
In 2011, Howard Mark Mauskopf, 53, the owner of Perry Mann Productions, of Beverly Hills, which put on the 2009 Exotic Erotic Ball at the Cow Palace, faced felony charges for allegedly writing at least $10,000 worth of bad checks and using a fraudulent credit card to cover expenses for the event.[24]
In 2011 and 2012, similar but unrelated events, Masquerotica and the XO Ball & Expo, respectively, filled the void left by the demise of the original Exotic Erotic.
In September 2011, Mann announced that they were "pursuing an international opportunity" and "editing our 30-year documentary" but not producing an event. They did recommend a new event called: Masquerotica, to be held on October 22, 2011 at The Concourse in San Francisco—one of the old Ball's longtime venues. In an announcement posted on the Exotic Erotic Ball's Website,[25] Mann promised, "You'll see a lot of familiar faces ... and other body parts." Masquerotica is produced by different local event producers and other than being recommended by Mann has no affiliation to the Exotic Erotic Ball.
In September 2012, another similar but unrelated event, at Cow Palace, was the XO Ball and Expo.
Exotic Erotic New Year's Eve Ball
For several years, Mann also held an Exotic Erotic New Year's Eve Ball, but discontinued it in 1995.
Charities
The Exotic Erotic Ball fostered strong ties to the San Francisco community. Over the years, the Ball distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities[26] supporting causes such as helping the victims of natural disasters,[27] AIDS,[27] homelessness, domestic violence, child abuse, and has always supported freedom of expression and First Amendment Rights. The Exotic Erotic Ball hosted an annual blood drive with Blood Centers of the Pacific whereby free tickets were offered to those who donated blood.
Related Research Articles
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., known professionally as Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper and actor. His fame dates back to 1992 when he was featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, "Deep Cover", and then on Dre's debut solo album, The Chronic. Broadus has since sold over 23 million albums in the United States and 35 million albums worldwide. His accolades include an American Music Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and 17 nominations at the Grammy Awards.
The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States and Canada, and the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). It was established under this name in 1948 as a non-profit trade organization in order to promote the sport and organize its players via tournaments at various levels. The BCA is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. The voting members of the organization are mostly equipment manufacturers.
The Cow Palace is an indoor arena located in Daly City, California, situated on the city's northern border with neighboring San Francisco. Because the border passes through the property, a portion of the upper parking lot is in San Francisco.
Guavaween was an annual Latin-flavored Halloween celebration which took place on the last Saturday of October in the historic neighborhood of Ybor City on Tampa, Florida. It was named after Tampa's nickname, "The Big Guava".
A costume party or fancy dress party is a type of party, common in contemporary Western culture, in which many of the guests are dressed in costume, usually depicting a fictional or stock character, or historical figure. Such parties are popular in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, especially during Halloween.
MegaCon, short for Mega Convention, is a large speculative fiction convention that caters to the comic book, sci-fi, anime, fantasy, RPG, and gaming communities, often occurring in spring at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The convention is the largest Fan convention event in the Southern United States and second largest in North America with an attendance of 160,000 recorded in 2023.
The Players Ball is an annual gathering of pimps, held in Chicago, Illinois. Other Players Balls take place across the country, most notably in Miami and Atlanta. The first Players Ball held in 1999 took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Presently, there are "Players Ball" events in Las Vegas and Memphis, Tennessee. On December 16-18th 2011, a Players Ball was hosted in Hollywood, California.
PAX is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia. PAX was previously held annually in San Antonio in the United States.
The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is a multi-purpose arena in San Francisco, California, named after promoter Bill Graham. The arena holds 8,500 people.
Otakuthon is Canada's largest anime convention promoting Japanese animation (anime), Japanese graphic novels (manga), related gaming and Japanese pop-culture. It is held annually for 3 days in downtown Montreal during a weekend in August. It is a non-profit, fan-run anime convention that was initiated by Concordia University's anime club, named Otaku Anime of Concordia University. The name "Otakuthon" is a portmanteau of the Japanese word "otaku" and "marathon". Otakuthon strives to be a bilingual event, having programming, the masquerade and the program book in both official languages. The first edition of Otakuthon was held in 2006 in mid-June, but later moved to early-mid August / late July from 2007 onward. The most recent edition, Otakuthon 2023, was held on August 11–13, 2023 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. As of 2023, Otakuthon surpassed Toronto's Anime North to become Canada's largest Anime convention.
Outside Lands is a music, food and art festival held annually in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The festival is produced by Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents, and Starr Hill Presents. It is the largest independently owned music festival in the US. In 2019, it was one of the world's highest grossing festivals with revenues of almost $30 million.
Craigslist is a privately held American company operating a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums.
BrickCon is a LEGO convention and exhibition in North America. It is held annually for adult fans of LEGO and hobbyists in Seattle, Washington. BrickCon runs 2–4 days, generally Thursday through Sunday, and is usually held the first weekend in October. The event brings together the fan community that has evolved as a result of the Internet and helps them explore and develop their LEGO hobby. BrickCon is not affiliated to the LEGO company. BrickCon is made up of two parts: the private convention and the public exhibition.
Halloween in the Castro was an annual Halloween celebration held in The Castro district of San Francisco, first held in the 1940s as a neighborhood costume contest. By the late 1970s, it had shifted from a children's event to a gay pride celebration that continued to grow into a massive annual street party in the 2000s.
Louis Abolafia was an artist, social activist, and folk figure. His candidacy for president of the United States under the Nudist Party on the hippie Love Ticket at various times in the 1960s and onward was a form of political theater or performance art. He ran against Richard Nixon in 1968 as the naked hippie love candidate with the slogan: "What Have I Got to Hide?" Abolafia previously had run in 1967 under the Cosmic Love Party, also then with the slogan "What Have I Got to Hide?"
The APW Worldwide Internet Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the independent professional wrestling promotion All Pro Wrestling.
"California Gurls" is a song recorded by American singer Katy Perry. It served as the lead single for her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010). The song features verses from rapper Snoop Dogg. The artists co-wrote the song with Bonnie McKee and its co-producers Dr. Luke and Max Martin, with additional production from Benny Blanco. According to Perry, "California Gurls" is an answer song to "Empire State of Mind" (2009), by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. Its mid-tempo production incorporates disco-pop and funk-pop with influences of new wave and electropop. Its lyrics are an ode to the state of California, in which both Perry and Snoop Dogg were born and raised.
BottleRock Napa Valley is an annual music festival held at the Napa Valley Expo in Napa, California.
Crunchyroll Expo (CRX) is an annual three-day anime convention held during August/September at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California over Labor Day weekend. The convention is organized by anime licensor Crunchyroll and LeftField Media.
↑ Gardner, Jim (October 21, 2007). "'Exotic Erotic' puts on the Dogg, and dresses itself up as a benefit". bizjournals.com/sf. Retrieved 19 September 2023. ...Snoop Dogg, the rap performer and impresario who has been signed to headline a first-ever Friday night concert attached to the annual Halloween Cow Palace spectacle...Promoter Howard Mauskopf bought in a few years ago and has been busy expanding it, with parties in New York, South Florida and soon Las Vegas. There has been pay-per-view of past events, a documentary and talk of a reality TV show. There's also been revenue: About $3 million by 2009, Mauskopf and partners figure, six times what it was in 2003. They are hoping for 30,000 ticket sales this year. Fund raising...going back to...1979 ...Other causes...in years past include AIDS research and domestic violence prevention. Every year there's a blood drive for free ball tickets...
↑ "Exotic Erotic Ball returning to Cow Palace". bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco. July 31, 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2023. San Francisco's annual Halloween celebration of fetishes will move back to the Cow Palace, after a stint on Treasure Island. The event will be Oct. 23-24. "The Cow Palace has lots of seating, lots of room and parking," Howard Mauskopf, executive producer of the event, told the San Mateo County Times. "It has big bathrooms, which the women like." Mauskopf expects the event will bring 30,000 people to the Daly City venue.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
