A Quest...

[Jesse Usher]

MODERATORS kindly pardon this blanket posting. I know I rarely post to
these multiple groups, but I've something that need be said. If any of
you have any information on the following topics, PLEASE contact me
offlist, as I have many of the groups this is being posted to set to
"no email". Thank you.
*******************************

As some of you may be aware, in the Summer of 2006 I was approached by
a young woman who was doing a documentary on Sexual Asphyxia. Less
than a year before, a close male friend of hers had been found dead in
the bathroom of his family's apartment, wearing women's clothing and
hanging by a noose from the shower curtain rod. The 18 year old film
student, a Ms Yao, decided to use it as a film project, and as an
effort to understand what had happened to her friend, and why.

As part of the research process, Ms Yao posted an open casting call on
New York's craigslist. But, as is my experience, I did not react to
her. She reacted to me, responding to a personal ad I had posted,
which ran as follows:

***************
Pass Out, Dream Game, Blackout, Flatliner, Tingling, Suffocation Game,
Funky Chicken, Space Monkey, Tingling, Suffocation Roulette, Space
Cowboy, Knockout, Gasp, Rising Sun, Fainting Game, Pass-out Game,
California Choke, Airplaning, Purple Dragon, America Dream Game,
Chocking Game (Choking Game), Dreaming Fame, Fainting Game, Flat Line,
Hyperventilation Game, Something Dreaming Game, Scarf Game...
Any female who has played the above, or continues to do so, wanted by
tall slim white male with full size 3 roll dry cleaner's bagging rack
and Lots and Lots of Plastic.
****************
Or maybe it was THIS one:

When the tension, anxiety and loneliness have become too much to bear,
do you find yourself craving a few minutes alone inside your airless
world? Did you horde these bags as a child, modeling them as
nightgowns when no one else was around, secretly wearing them under
your clothes on runs to the store, wishing someone would hear that
unmistakable sound of swishing plastic every time you moved? Have you
used them as sleeping bags, or submerged yourself bagged while taking
a bath? Have you brought yourself to climax gasping, praying someone
would notice how you stare at every dry cleaner's you pass, how you
wistfully stroke the bag when you purposely take your cleaning home on
the subway? Have you envisioned him touching you, holding you, kissing
you through the plastic, exposed but completely enclosed? Is your
pulse racing now, wishing to be bagged?

Had I known you when you were younger, our lives would be that much
more beautiful, but I'm here NOW. You are not alone.
******************
Ms Yao pitched her idea to me, and I agreed to have her interview me
at her apartment, which was surprisingly close to where I live. All
told, the interview lasted for 6 or 7 hours, as I lay my soul bare to
her. The documentary took a long time for her to complete, and the end
product butchered my story so she could make her own moralistic
statements, but all things considered, my contribution was able to
convey some important truths.

Fast forward to this week, and a frantic message on my answering
machine from a friend of mine, stating that an ex boyfriend of hers
had seen the documentary, titled THE CHOKING GAME, on the local
Channel 4 television station in Cleveland, Ohio.

Have any of you seen this? What did you think? The female friends I
have shown it agree with me that it was badly shot and edited, and
that Ms Yao has poor storytelling skills, but that I presented the
sole human presence in the documentary, and truly bring the subject to
life, not just as something heard of, but as something LIVED.
***********************
Alright, now for Topic Number Two:

Periodically I have been posting regarding a performance piece I had
first seen at age 12, and have been hunting down a recording of for
ages, to no avail.

The video was called MUSIC AND DANCE FROM THE THIRTEENTH MILLENNIA.
Although I'm not certain if it's Thirteenth or 13th, or if Millennia
is spelled with one N or two. It's either 30 or 60 minutes long, and
was originally broadcast in 1982 or 1983.

The troupe, both male and female, wore nothing but glass clear
lightweight plastic bodysuits that covered them from head to toe,
including attached gloves and feet, and plastic bags over their heads
that were secured at the neck to the rest of the suit. Which led me to
believe there must have been a small breathing hole at neck level that
was not easily seen.

The performance was divided into three (?) sections, the longest of
which was ballet/modern dance, with a modern/jazz soundscape. The
dancers either seemed to take no notice of how they were dressed, or
to use it as if they did indeed understand.

The second, or maybe last, section was a domestic scene, showing a day
in the life of a clear plastic clad couple, he a businessman, she a
housewife. All the housewares and furniture were similarly constructed
of clear lucite and plastic. They woke and had breakfast, she donning
a clear plastic apron over her full bodied suit, then he put on a
clear plastic overcoat and hat, kissed her goodbye through the
omnipresent plastic bag, and went to work, while she performed a day's
worth of plastic covered chores. The lighting showed the progress of
the day, and towards 'sunset' he returned, sat down to an evening
meal, then after a dance interval, they lay down in a clear plastic
bed with clear plastic covers, sheets and pillows. As they embraced,
the lights dimmed.

At the end, after the credits rolled, a female voice came on asking
viewers to write in to the troupe's address, asking questions like,
"What did you think of this performance? How did it make you feel?"
and giving a Post Office Box where people could write and order a copy
for $12.95.


Fortunately, my first love (I was 11 when we began experimenting) also
saw the performance, and we shared our appreciation and awe. I know
her having seen it when I did opened her to the idea of my eating her
out with a plastic bag over my head.

Have any of you seen this wondrous broadcast, and do any of you have a
copy? I miss her so, and being reunited with it would remind me of
sweeter times...

KINDLY CONTACT ME OFFLIST WITH ANY INFO. I MAY NOT STOP BY THESE
GROUPS OFTEN ENOUGH!