Sexual Perversity in Chicago

Rush hour in Chicago, a freeway is shut down and I’m stuck in the back of a cab taking me to Quimby’s. The event starts at 7:00, I’m already late, and the cab driver is frightening me in his high speed attempts to get me there on time. I call Logan, my contact at Quimby’s to tell him I’m on my way, I'm almost there, please tell everyone to wait...

While arranging the details of the event with Logan a few months back, he expressed some concern about allowing me to present a slideshow, stating “ Whenever we turn off the lights in the store, we always have to worry about theft”. WTF? Is this Quimby’s in the middle of some crack ridden Chicago neighborhood? Is this audience of thieves really going to be into hearing about my book? Abbie Hoffman's famous line “ Steal this Book” takes on a whole new meaning I fear as I head to the store.

No worries, all looks good as I arrive at the busy hipster neighborhood that Quimby’s resides in. I walk in and happily see most of the chairs filled, people milling about...all due to a plug in the Chicago Reader and the relentless efforts of the Quimby folks.

An emotion I can only describe as thankfullness takes over when I look out at the audience tonite. There are really no words that can describe the feeling of being in a strange town, being exhausted from a lonely day of travel and looking out at the faces of the people who stopped their lives, put down whatever it is they were doing, and came out to the Sex Machines event.

There is this familiarity to the faces in the group…I don’t know them, but their openness and eagerness, their positive vibes make them all seem so familiar. It’s like they are sitting there, smiling, wordlessly telling me “It’s all right…we get it, we’re on your side, don’t be afraid, you don’t need to win us over…” This sets me at ease, rids me of any stage fright, and we all get into the talk....and this event was different from the others. It seemed like the audience already knew about the book, some had it already, and just came for the talk. And then , for the first time, the audience gave me stuff, wonderfull and curious stuff:















Graphic designer Jon Resh hands me a copy of his own book of killer graphic design work, titled “Five Years of Insomnia”. Chicago artist Patrick Dunn handed me two reproductions of his strange yet beautiful artwork: one drawing of a woman seated on a train. The view out the window seems to be a bucolic Midwest landscape and the woman is wearing a bondage mouth harness! Very curious. The other drawing depicts a sepia toned giant female figure reclining along the Golden Gate Bridge! Patrick says “ I thought these would be good to give you: one is inspired by something sexual, and the other is inspired by San Francisco.” Patrick left the store before I was able to fully digest what he had handed to me. Very, very curious.

I finish the slideshow and the audience is filled with questions about the inventors intentions. Some questions I can answer, most I can not. I ask the group if anyone in the audience has ever made a sex machine and one guy, off in the corner, raises his hand. “ Yeah, I’m a sex machine inventor. You and I corresponded for a while and I sent you some pictures of my inventions. I’m Jim Rezkowski, the engineer from Chicago.”
















I’m stunned. This was one of the inventors who I corresponded with, wanted to include, but then never got out to visit! I forgot he even lived in Chicago! Jim comes up to the front, joins me, and now the audience has what they want: an actual sex machine inventor they can interview themselves!
We wrap it up. I buy a copy of Peter Bagge's comic book titled HATE before I leave...remembering how much I had liked it in the past. I eat a piece of pizza, drink three glasses of Bud, and enjoy the comic and my solitude before heading back to the hotel.

Last Image: Jim Reszkowski, Inventor