2948 16th St
San Francisco, CA, 94103
The “Video Nasties” was a tabloid campaign of moral panic across Britain in the 1980s, barring the distribution of obscene images on home video. Softcore snuck by, however, if deemed “educational.” At the time, the legal age for gay sex in the UK was 21, and yet the age restriction in film was 18, creating a catch-22 in creating any film titles that promoted gay sex, safe or otherwise. Mike Esser collaborated with Terence Higgins Trust to broker with the British Board of Film Classification. Esser then hired Basilisk Productions, known for their work with Derek Jarman, who roped in experimental music outfit, Coil (Jhon Balance and Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson), to soundtrack two sizzle reels that purport to train viewers about safe sex and sensual massage. Dirty Looks is thrilled to partner with Coil’s stateside label, Dais, to co-present the tapes in their entirety: The Gay Man’s Guide to Safer Sex and Sara Dale’s Sensual Massage: The Stroke of Pleasure
David Lewis, The Gay Man’s Guide to Safer Sex, VHS, 49mins., 1992
David Lewis, Sara Dale’s Sensual Massage: The Stroke of Pleasure, VHS, 43mins., 1992
Few groups in recent history forged as confounding and alchemical a body of work as Coil, the partnership of Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson and John Balance. From album to album and phase to phase their recordings spelunk perplexing depths of esoteric industrial, occult electronics, and drugged poetry.
David Lewis was part of the stable at the production company Basilisk, founded by James MacKay. There, he assisted Derek Jarman in directing The Garden (1990) and Blue (1993). He currently works as an editor on British broadcast television programs, including Antiques Roadshow.
Design by Benjamin Rodgers @opticalsoundexperience