The & Show: Sex AND The City

The & Show: FAN MAIL

The & Show: Meet Nkosi Brown

Episode 17 - The Tunnel

------- Episode 15 - Reboot

And now the month of MAY...

It's MAY! May is my absolute favorite month of the year. It has always been a transition period for me in my life. My birthday is this month and I will be another year older. I am very happy right now. I have great friends, a loving family, my health, the ability to see and hear sometimes people take these things for granted but I'm very thankful.

This month is the GLOBAL WARMING Issue. I just felt like being creative because none of the interviews have anything to do with global warming. I chose that as my theme to challenge myself with my photography and graphic design skills. I think you will find this issue the most visually stimulating to date. I wanted to make the month of MAY special. I hope you enjoy it.

I've fallen in love again! Yes, I've fallen in love with Jared Shuler and so has my camera. He graces the cover this month. As you know, Jared is my co-host on The & Show. It just made sense to put him on the cover this month. He has that star quality wouldn't you say? It's crazy I know but hey. He's sexy as shit you have to admit. Tiffany E. Wring interviewed Jared after our Harlem photoshoot a few weeks ago.

This month's FLAWLESS model Rodney Austin is now one of my favorite things. This young man is gorgeous. The day of the photoshoot, it was chilly but like a true model he did his thing anyway. Keep your eyes on this one. You might want to right click and copy his layout to your desktop. I have it on mine and it looks incredible.

My good friend Nathanial Portis gives us a peek into his new novel 'Married to a Married Man'. Make sure you pick up this novel. I hope you enjoy the issue. Have a great month!

interview with Jared Shuler

1. It was a pleasure to join you at the photo shoot, I must say the camera loves you? Do you like the camera? How do you feel knowing the lens is on you? LMAO @ the camera loves me, but thank you. Me and the camera have a major love-hate relationship. I guess it all depends on what I’m doing. Lol. It is a little strange for me when taking pictures; I’m taken aback because I’m no model. Now performing in front of it is all together another story!

2. Nathan is a good friend of mine so he asked me to come along on this shoot. So let's talk about hisdailyvariety. When did you do your first video blog? Why did you start it? Well my blog, my baby hisdailyvariety.blogspot.com, started a little over a year ago. I was at an open talk with a group of black men. Certain subjects kept coming up, and I saw myself taking the floor and talking a lot. That night a friend told me that I needed to start a blog. So it was born!

3. So you are essentially, venturing into television with this online show. Just how far do you think this show could take you and how committed are you to its success? The show has been such a blessing; it has truly come together on its own, like it was so meant to be! The aim is that we get our own television show. And it will happen, one way or another. If anyone knows me, I get what the hell I want, so I’m committed till things happen, and way after.

4. Where did you grow up? What was it like growing up Jared Shuler? I was born and raised in The Bronx. Lived in South America as a teen for a spell. Growing up Jared LAWD! I’m an only child, so everything I did as a child I felt odd, I guess because I had no one to share my feelings with. I always felt different, an enigma in a sense, I still can’t totally figure myself out. But I guess we are all lessons in progress.

5. I hear you are in a committed relationship can you tell me more about it and how it came about? Damn word travels FAST! Yeah I’m madly in love. Man I haven’t said that out loud in more then half a decade. I have met someone that gets me and all my craziness. It’s refreshing. He loves me for more of what I’m not than what I am. Sometimes love is staring you right in the face; the key is knowing how to recognize it.

6. Where would you like to see yourself by the end of the year? What would you like to have accomplished? I’d like to see myself waking up every morning, thanking the universe for what I do have, and staying positive in the things I need. In one year I would love to be well on my way and to have The & Show syndicated on a major level. To be publicly speaking at events, and be a part of this black gay Renaissance. I want people to look back, and see that I was right up in the mix.

7. How do you feel about people who have POWER? What power do you possess? Power over all is something earned. You have to be clever or work hard to be at a certain level of authority. Having that power is fine, if we know how to use it. Most times in life we cannot get past our own egos. Whether one knows it or not most things come back to ego, jealousy, fear, selfish behavior, power is what feeds the ego the most. Power is fine as long as it is used to enrich and develop. I have people’s ears. People know that what I say and do comes from an organic place. Power doesn’t seem like power when it comes from an inspiring place.

FLAWLESS - May 2007 - RODNEY AUSTIN

1. Tell me 5 things about you. I love dancing salsa and used to be on a salsa dance team. I'm always late for EVERYTHING. Its an annoying habit, but kind of endearing after you get to know me. I was born in California and my parents drove across the country with me when I was two weeks old. I was in the Army for four years and then in the Airforce National Guard for 3 years. I'm an obsessive over-eater!!! Yum!

2. What do you enjoy about modeling? Honestly, modeling is not my primary focus, it's kind of a "part-time job" of sorts. I have to admit it is nice getting free clothes sometimes and having people recognize you for work you have done.

3. What are your favorite electronic gadgets and why? I'm not really much of an electronic gadget person. Growing up I never really had video games and what not, but I have to say I do love YouTube!

4. Tell me about your role on Christopher Street TV. The character I play on Christopher Street is Tony and he is the struggling actor boyfriend of Jharemy, one of the four main protagonists. He ultimately wants to be supportive of Jharemy, but ends up hurting him unintentionally. He means well.

5. I hear there is a scandalously hot poster coming out with you on it, tell me about the day of the photoshoot and how you got into character. The day of the photoshoot was cool. I was running late that day and yes it was chilly. The bristles on the make up brushes tickled my body. It doesn't take much for me to get into character. They were going for this futuristic sex siren theme so I just did what i know to do. Be sexy!

6. Do you have any travel plans for the summer? where are you going? I tend to travel on a whim. It makes for a more exciting summer. I love amusement parks so I will definitely be going to Great Adventure. Road trips are great as well. I do want to go abroad but I am not sure where I want to go nor do I want to go alone. We'll see. Let's make it to the summer first.

7. Describe for me what you would do for someone special for a date. I'm not sure I want to give that away right now. Let's just say that when I take someone out, they always remember it.

interview with Nathanial Portis

1. So Nathanial, tell me a little bit about yourself, where were you born? what's your family like? are you single? Whats going on Mr. Sev? I was born in Cleveland Ohio, I come from a fun, middle class family, you know the kind of family that's always having backyard BBQ's in the summer and house and card parties in the winter, growing up was fun for me. And yes Sev, I'm happily single.

2. How old were you when you published your first novel and what was that like? I was 23 when I published my first novel 'Things IN Between'. I kind of shocked everyone, I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want people to actually expect the book, but one day I just called up my friends and told them to go to the bookstore and grab my book, it was cool seeing the shock on everyone faces. LOL!

3. So your latest novel, 'Married to a Married Man', how did that come about? Did you take any of it from real life experiences and possible stories that you've heard? Well 'Married To a Married Man' took me almost two years to write. I tried to be as creative as I could with this one, because a lot of book reviewers said my last book matched too similar to myself. So I wanted to write something that couldn't be compared to me, and also something that was realistic, I did join some chat groups interviewed some divorcees and some newly weds I just wanted to learn what goes into an affair and what causes one.

4. Now you say you are the REAL FICTION writer, what makes your fiction more real than other writers? Well, I can't speak for other writers but for me and based off of what the reviewers tell me, my writing takes the reader to a time and place. I usually cover broad time frames in my writing but to take the reader to a specific time and place, I tend to use popular songs, news events, and even popular trends, all relative to the time frame I'm trying to take the reader to.

5. Tell me your favorite writer and why. My favorite writer is James Patterson without a doubt. I hope to one day be able to write on his level. I like Patterson because he's not afraid to step outside of his normal genre and his books just keep you wanting the next.

6. How do you feel about global warming? Well Sev, that's a serious issue and I could talk about it all day but to put it as short as possible, something is definitely going on with our planet, our seasons are way off track and we need to start correcting the issue fast.

7. Have you ever made out in public? Tell me about it. LOL Sev. you're my boy and all but you now I can't give that up, but I will give you a steamy excerpt from the book: (Excerpt from Things In Between available on www.amazon.com re-release June 2007)

They listened to the Marvin Gay CD all the way to the motel. Upon entering the motel room that he’d reserved for the night, Cameron turned on the light, his eyes focused on the fresh vacuum patterns embedded into the blue carpet of the floor. He looked at the queen sized bed and immediately began picturing Talana’s thick legs spread open in the center of the mattress with him lying comfortably between them.

Talana closed the door behind them, walked into the room with her purse in her hand and began to take her coat off. Cameron put his boom box on the night stand and placed his duffel bag, consisting of lube, oil, condoms and a change of clothes, on the desk. While Cameron turned on the bathroom shower, Talana adjusted the heat to a comfortable warm temperature.

By the time she sat down on the bed to take her shoes off Cameron was completely naked and Talana could see his bare butt cheeks reflecting in the bathroom mirror. She turned on the boom box radio and tuned to her favorite station that played soft slow jams as she began to undress.

“Wassup baby; you gonna make me wash ma own back?” Cameron yelled out from the shower with his back to the door as the warm water poured over his toned muscular body.
“You ain’t got to yell I’m right here.”
Cameron turned around to see Talana’s nude body standing close by.
She displayed her perfect breasts and soft smooth caramel colored skin as she stood in the doorway smiling. Talana walked over slowly and put one of her legs in the shower.
“Ouch… turn it down, it’s too hot!” Talana jumped back and Cameron quickly adjusted the water to a lower temperature.

After testing the water with her foot, Talana gingerly moved her slim, shapely body forward as Cameron welcomed her into the shower. Using his strong arms, he pulled her into the steamy warm waterfall. Cameron gently kissed Talana’s soft lips then turned her around and licked down her back, gently grasping her breasts in the palm of his hands as the warm water poured over their naked bodies. Cameron sucked on Talana’s neck while he listened to the tones and moans of her calls of body pleasure.

In the song that played, Teddy Pendergrass shouted to turn off the lights over the radio waves coming from the boom box. Talana felt Cameron rise between her thighs as he softly rubbed against her backside with a slight tease. Cameron slurped the running water off Talana’s back as it ran down the tunnel of her spine. Wanting more, Talana bent over into a doggy style position allowing for Cameron to lick the center of her. The water gave extra lubrication as Cameron slowly worked his tongue, pleasing Talana’s every desire. A gush of pleasure crept from Talana’s mouth as she stood with her legs spread open in a gaping position over Cameron, giving way for him to take to a kneeling position.

With her eyes closed the warm shower water poured down Talana’s head and neck and slowly drained down between her breast and stomach then sensuality made its way all over Cameron’s working face at her pleasure point where he was practicing tong kung fu.
Getting up from his kneeling position, Cameron reached for the condom that was waiting in the soap dish as he continued to massage Talana’s sensation while he rolled the on the condom right before he slowly inserted every inch of his meat into her. Cameron listened to Talana gasp as he inserted and held his erect manhood in her while tugging on her breast nipples and softly licking the water off the back of her neck.

“I bet I can make you cum in less than five minutes,” Talana replied through deep gasps for air as Cameron had begun his full penetration.
“I love a challenge, cuz I bet I can beat it up all night right here in this shower.” Cameron replied as he pulled out of her, leaving only the tip in as he stared at the warm water running all over their joined love pieces. When he began to deeply penetrate her once again Talana grabbed tightly onto one of the towel racks on the shower wall.
“ uh damn, oooh yeah!” Talana began to scream out.
“You cumin? You cumin?” Cameron began to ask repeatedly as he was pounding Talana’s woman hood in a circular rhythm.
“You cumming? Huh? How many times you cum?” Cameron began to demand a response as he pounded away at her.

Talana raised her back to an upright position taking away from Cameron's deep penetration. She could feel Cameron’s strong stomach muscles beating against her cheeks as he pounded his way deep into her. Talana gasped then lifted up in pleasure as Cameron gently put his arm on her back and pushed her back down into the doggy style position as he resumed his deep penetration.

“I said how many times you cum!” Cameron was in a full thrust and changing his rhythm from slow to fast while demanding a statement.
“Uh, three…no four…ohhhh dayum, five times. Uh, again!” Talana responded, all the while gasping for air and enjoying the pleasure that Cameron was giving her body.
Cameron looked in the reflection of the mirror and noticed that they had been going at it for well over twenty-five minutes. “You like dis baby? Huh, tell me you like it? Make me cum!”
“Oh yea I love it baby, I love it,” Talana passionately replied.

Suddenly, Cameron let out a moan of pleasure. “Oooh, shit I’m about to bust baby, damn!” Cameron wrapped his arms around Talana’s tiny waist as he thrusted all of him inside of her. She shouted out in a mixture of pleasure and pain. Talana’s could no longer hold her grasp on the towel rack as her knees and body got weak and the two of them fell to the floor of the shower.

Cameron found himself on Talana’s back lying on the floor of the bath tub with the water running over his back while still slowly grinding in her with pleasure. “Oh damn baby,” he gasped, trying to catch his breath.
“Okay, you won.” Talana whispered, gasping as well.

For several minutes they lay in the bathtub floor listening to the slow jams over the radio with the warm water running over their naked bodies. Finally able to stand, they both grabbed clothes and used them to fully wash each others’ bodies.
The bed sheets were soft and cool as Talana laid in Cameron’s arms.
“So now that I got ma own spot you can come visit me down in Ohio for a few weekends or something.” Cameron said as Deborah Cox was asking How Did You Get Here in the background music on the radio.

You can visit Nathanial Portis at: www.NathanialPortis.com

EYE2EYE with special guest Jonathan Perry

The SHADOW: On Domestic Violence

a few days ago, i was hanging out at a friend’s apartment and we heard this rumbling. now, we usually ignore any noise we hear because well, we live in new york. bitches are loud here! but after 10 minutes of hearing this rumbling and what sounded like yelling, we turned our music down and took a listen. there was a male and a female voice and by the sound of the screaming, it really seemed like someone was taking a serious beat down upstairs. that got me thinking, “why would anyone ever take it upon themselves to beat someone they supposedly love?”

domestic violence is an issue, that up to this point, i have never really had to concern myself with. i’ve never been a victim of domestic violence; and i don’t think i have it in me to hit someone that i share a bed with. but obviously, there are those who have no problem with giving someone a beating, as well as those who find themselves victims on a regular basis. my question is- what gives anyone the right to make use of another human being as your punching bag? i just don’t understand how anyone could be *that* angry. i’ve heard stories from friends, acquaintances and the like of people being provoked by jealousy, greed, or just plain anger and i don’t get it. in my opinion, those who hit are sad, conflicted, insecure and self-hating human beings. instead of getting to the root of their anger, and research what, inside themselves, actually makes them so mad, they take their frustrations out on someone whom they claim to love. all i know is… i’ll be damned if i’m going to let you beat me!

part of what adds to my frustration is the extent to which we may or may not be bringing any sort of domestic violence on ourselves. some of my friends have recently shared with me that while in the throws of passion with their significant others, they like the sensation of being choked, slapped and sometimes even beaten, spat on… you get the picture. what happens when that is taken too far? even further, who’s to say what “too far” actually is? where does the line get drawn in those situations between a sexual encounter and domestic violence?

the same question can be asked when it comes to children. we all, especially if you’re black, have at some point in your youth encountered being disciplined by your parents. my parents always quoted the saying, “spare the rod, and spoil the child” in my growing up, and to this day, i still have issues with it. i don’t personally agree with beating kids as a punishment; however i am able to take a step back and acknowledge the benefits of such a discipline. i do, however, believe that many, if not most parents who “spank” their kids tend to take it too far. let’s take, for example, a parent that has had an incredibly bad day only to come home and find that their child has done something bad enough to warrant getting a spanking. you cannot tell me that the parent will not take out some of that other aggression onto their child. at what point first, do you stop spanking your kid; and second at what point does the spanking become an act of domestic violence?

i don’t have any answers when it comes to this subject. i’m just an observer. like i said, i’ve never been hit, nor have i ever raised my hand toward anyone. as such, i cannot say what provokes someone to hit a loved one, or take a beating from one either. but i can say this. if you find yourself either being a victim or an attacker, ask yourself why! why are you allowing yourself to reach that low? what is it inside you that makes you so angry or feel so little for yourself that you would violently act against someone or accept someone acting violently against you? you are not made a man by hitting someone, nor are you allowing yourself any freedom by letting someone hit you. think about it. if you really cared for yourself, would you allow such a thing to happen? i don’t think so.

The IPOD PARTY - MAY-BE

On Wednesday May 9th, YOU can win a date with RODNEY AUSTIN. Don't miss this off the hook party.... it's called MAY-BE. This is the summer kick off party so don't miss it!