Friday, Aug 24, 2007    Text size: 

The Exotic Erotic Ball and Expo has teamed with XBIZ and XFANZ for the 2007 show, which takes place at the Cow Palace in San Francisco over Halloween weekend, Oct. 26-27.

The Expo, the internationally acclaimed celebration of flesh, fetish and fantasy, is a two-day event that features live entertainment and more than 100 selected exhibits showcasing the latest in exotic fashion, erotic art, adult products, games, websites and novelties.

Snoop Dogg will perform live at the Expo on Oct. 26 as part of a benefit performance for The Healing Circle and other Bay Area charities. Snoop will return the next night as a special guest at the Ball, where he will join Tera Patrick and Danny Bonaduce as judges of the Ball’s world famous costume contests.

Other musical performances include the Bay Area debut of The Spyderz (the latest rock outfit from Evan Seinfeld, ex-Biohazard frontman and star of HBO’s hit series, “Oz”), glam rapper Mickey Avalon, the all-little person tribute band Mini-Kiss, and — as part of its new mission to help discover and promote the best independent bands — the Ball has joined forces with indie-music powerhouse SonicBids and is presently reviewing submissions from hundreds of hopeful applicants, two of whom are guaranteed slots at the Ball as winners of the Ball’s first-ever indie music competition.

In addition to all the festivities that take place at the Exotic Erotic Ball & Expo, there is also a serious side, where serious issues are discussed and important monies are raised.

Since its inception in 1979, the Ball has donated and raised more than $1 million dollars to causes that include personal freedom, equality and 1st Amendment rights. In 2007, the primary beneficiary of the show’s charitable element is a local Bay Area organization selected by Snoop and his Bay Area producer and friend, JT the Bigga Figga.

"We're excited about Snoop Dogg's performance and of course, we love the music," Ball producer Howard Mauskopf said. "But more important to us is that this has turned into a true case of an artist doing the right thing. Snoop’s people came up with the idea that all the money would go to neighborhood charities — directly into the hands of mothers who have lost children to inner city violence. The organization is called The Healing Circle, and it provides support for mothers so easily forgotten by society, the real victims of violent crime. This is the kind of charity you don't read about in the society pages. This is money that helps change people's lives. Snoop is doing a wonderful thing and we're just glad the Ball can help."

Adds JT the Bigga Figga, hip hop producer and Vice President of Doggystyle Records: "Snoop knows that every single move he makes is big news. Snoop can take the easy way and give to some big popular charity with a hundred other celebrities involved. But that's not what Snoop is about. Snoop is about getting real results you can see in the communities he cares about. He is all about the neighborhoods. He's about educating them and helping to fix them. This is his roots, and he will never ever forget his roots."

The 2007 show also emphasizes the Ball’s commitment to independent music via its first-ever arrangement with SonicBids.

“We know that the Ball is a visible gig,” founder Perry Mann said. “Each year, we get hundreds of requests from bands wanting to play, and we get inundated with DVDs, CDs, mp3s and links. We don’t have the manpower to sift through those submissions and this has always bothered us because we do have a commitment to the indie music market. So we hooked up with SonicBids. In 2007, every submission thru SonicBids gets listened to and rated for our purposes, plus every band has a real electronic press kit, so we can instantly see video, photos, and read bios. We are reserving two performance slots at the 2007 Ball for SonicBids submissions.”

The event also will feature dancers from Chippendale’s, an arts installation with the theme Make Love, Not War and a customized Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Animation Festival, with Spike himself creating the all-star lineup for the occasion, mixing his favorite erotic classics with new never-before-seen shorts.

Through its unique combination of mixing live mainstream musical, burlesque, and circus performances with political irreverence, humorous hijinks, and the outright bizarre, the Exotic Erotic Ball has delighted and regaled over half a million attendees and participants over its highly acclaimed history. Celebrity guests and performers have included Grace Jones, Joan Jett, Kool & the Gang, Chris Isaak, Madonna, Sugar Ray, Dennis Rodman, Ron Jeremy, Motorhead, The Tubes, the Allman Brothers and Everclear.

To order tickets, call the festival hotline at (415) 567-BALL, or visit ExoticEroticBall.com