There is a special place in hell for whoever booked my 5:45 am flight to Florida for the "Lady Jaided" magazine premiere party and Ellora's Cave Borders book signing. Buff, Black and beautiful Rodney Chatman accompanied me to serve as eye candy for the events. We got to the Hooterville airport in the nick of time. Checked our bags and literally walked onto the plane. The strange thing was throughout our entire trip the airlines stapled our boarding passes together. I started to feel like we were a Gay couple on our first vacation as "life partners". When I told Rodney he laughed and I also added "We BOTH could do worse!"

We made it to Tampa by 9:30am and the heat and humidity was like punch in the face when we got off the plane. Rodney and I were met by fellow EC calendar/cover hunk, Peter DeCicco. We were also joined by romance cover supermodel John DeSalvo who was visiting Peter in Florida. John may be joining the ranks of the EC Cavemen for the upcoming calendar and cover shoot. Keep you posted on that.

I did get some sleep before the party Friday night. The cover guys, who were all dressed in tuxedo pants and snappy black fedoras, helped host the "Lady Jaided" magazine's premiere party. Since I write for the magazine I was given a white vest to wear, while the other guys went shirtless with suspenders. We were nicknamed "The Gangsters of Love". I had the most fun riding in the EC tour bus to the party, swapping stories with the other guys. It would have made for a GREAT reality TV show. But, I have been sworn to secrecy and what was said on the EC bus stays there. John D. was afraid anything he said would be used in one of my future articles. I have already done an interview with him for an upcoming issue. I had to assure him anything he said wouldn't be held against him and was totally off the record. You have to have a brother's back.

With an open bar we all had a good time. The company did a great job putting on the party. Owner and author Tina Engler (aka Jaid Black) looked fantastic in black and was very proud of her new enterprise. Her mom and CEO, Patty Marks was also on hand for the festivities. Editor, Susan Edwards introduced me to the many Tampa media party goers. She is still trying to get me to spill my guts on what was said on the bus. I will say on the record that John D. did help me cut the cake at the party, but didn't eat any. (Off the record Peter and I BOTH had 2 pieces!)

Saturday morning we got up and did a photo shoot outside of our hotel. As you might imagine we caused quite a stir. Cars driving by stopped to ask if we were shooting a Chippendale's calendar. I noticed people hanging off their balconies watching us from the neighboring hotel. I can only imagine the riot we will incite if we shoot our next calendar at an Egyptian themed hotel in Las Vegas this year. (But, that's a secret!) 12 naked male models, you do the math.

Then, we once again hopped on the tour bus and were off to the book signing at Borders. Even with a computer on the bus giving us directions to the store we still got lost.

We met a lot of EC fans and made new ones. You couldn't miss us in our white tank tops and tight black jeans. Well, mine were tight anyway. We signed a lot of calendars too.

This weekend (Aug.20th from 12-6) we will be having yet another signing at the Borders at the Chapel Hill store in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. We will be promoting the new magazine as well. All the local EC "Cavemen" will be there, as well as a local radio station who will be doing a live remote. Look for that story with pix soon.

Pictures

Click on the images below to see a full size view (You can drag the large images by clicking and dragging the image)

Susan Edwards, Giselle McKenzie, CJ and Jaid Black		CJ, John DeSalvo, Jaid Black, Rodney Chatman and Peter DeCicco	Rodney, CJ, Jaid, John and Peter	CJ with the Lady Jaided banner at Borders Books in Tampa
CJ and John "Cutting Up"		Still cutting the cake	More cake shots	CJ with Jaid at Borders
A "Rose" among the thorns.....		The whole gang at Borders.	Patty Marks and her biography!	The guys with the webmistress' niece, Robin Davis.
Photoshoot at the hotel.