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SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

“On yer bike [Steve Crow] – don’t blame council for flop [of Erotica Expo]” – Manawatu Standard

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OPINION – by Warwick Rasnussen – Deputy Editor – Manawatu Standard. 01/03/2012

Fairfax NZ News Story

“fringe conspiracy theory thinking does Mr Crow no favours. And if he seriously thinks that the council plotted against him, he’s got to be kidding.”

It caused plenty of reaction when it first arrived in town, but it will leave with barely a whimper.

In 2005 when it first came to Palmerston North, and every subsequent return, the Boobs on Bikes parade and Erotica Expo it promoted raised the hackles of people who thought it was filth, degrading to women and downright inappropriate.

It was hard to gauge whether the anger towards organiser Steve Crow’s activities was more aimed at the parade or the expo. He also had his share of supporters, who used the defence of “if you don’t like it, don’t look at it”.

Now that Mr Crow has announced that the expo and parade will no longer be in Palmerston North, you’d think that would be the end of it and both sides would move on.

Clearly, it had a lot of impact in the first few years, but the shock value and free publicity that Mr Crow and his events had simply wore off.

Marketed as something a bit risque, it ended up being something of a sad fizzer.

It had done its dash and once the money and the punters started to dwindle, it would have been an easy commercial decision for Mr Crow to make.

That didn’t stop him taking a pot shot at the city council, claiming that they should be “embarrassed and ashamed of themselves” in an online rant.

The verbal spray was because Mr Crow believed there was some kind of deliberate plan by the council to put on a number of other events the same weekend as the expo, just to make sure his event didn’t succeed.

He failed to consider that Palmerston North is actually a city where things happen and, during summer especially, there are plenty of events on when the weekend rolls around.

That fringe conspiracy theory thinking does Mr Crow no favours.

And if he seriously thinks that the council plotted against him, he’s got to be kidding.

Events run their course and just because you turn up year after year doesn’t mean you should expect the same result each time.

ONE MORE THING…

While many would be glad to see the back of the Boobs on Bike parade and associated Erotica Expo, the same can’t be said for the Lift Off Levin balloon festival….

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/6504784/Editorial-On-yer-bike-don-t-blame-council-for-flop

 

Freebies ‘spoiled expo’ – Diddums – says Family First NZ

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Manawatu Standard 29 Feb 2012

The controversial Erotica Expo and Boobs on Bikes parade will no longer be held in Palmerston North – but organiser Steve Crow has fired some parting shots. Mr Crow confirmed the expo, which first came to Palmerston North in 2005, would not return after door sales were down 50 per cent on previous years. He blamed the city council for scheduling other, free events on the same weekend as the expo. “I suggest that Palmerston North City Council should be embarrassed and ashamed of themselves,” he wrote online. “We help them out by moving our show dates because they originally clashed with the 2011 Santa Parade … then they put on a number of free events on the same weekend they rent us a venue for our event.”

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/6498127/Freebies-spoiled-sexpo

Posted by Bob McCoskrie, National Director, Family First NZ – a registered charity

on http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/2012/03/freebies-spoiled-expo-diddums/

STEVE CROW Makes a Boob of himself: Editorial – Manawatu Standard

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Editorial: by Michael Cummings – Editorial. Story Fairfax NZ News

OPINION: It’s just as well that pornographer Steve Crow seems immune to public embarrassment, otherwise the sad and shambolic affair that was his Boobs on Bike parade and Erotica Expo in Palmerston North might have really stung.

Friday’s parade – if it can be called that – resembled a bad Monty Python sketch, with Mr Crow scrambling to find some motorbikes (“I forgot to book the hog guys so we had to borrow some bikes”), delaying the scheduled start. When things finally got underway, one of the five bare-breasted women on show missed out on a lift from a black, menacing steed and had to instead settle for the back of a dainty pink scooter.

She probably felt silly (maybe even self-conscious?) until the convoy set off and she realised that there wasn’t actually anyone lining the streets to catch a glimpse of her wares.

As the riders dodged the metaphorical tumbleweed and the women waved at bemused elderly men walking home with their groceries, the human indignity of a parade with no spectators was palpable. It was about as seductive as a sock puppet show at a church gala.

While ticket sales to the expo in the Barber Hall were still being tallied, Mr Crow didn’t sound hopeful there would be enough public support to warrant a return to Palmerston North. With only a couple of dozen stalls this year – including one selling fudge and another promoting overseas holidays – it’s a fairly safe bet the Erotica Expo won’t be back any time soon. It’s a curious change in fortune for the event, which had hundreds of people lining the streets for the parade and many more visiting the expo when it first came to Palmerston North in 2005.

For more see:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/6483649/Editorial-Crow-makes-a-boob-of-himself [Read more…]

Cynical Porn Parade Will Confront Children – says Family First NZ

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Cynical Porn Parade Will Confront Children: Family First NZ Media Release 22/02/12

Family First NZ [a registered charity with the Charities Commission] is advising parents of school children in Palmerston North to be aware that there will be a public pornography parade featuring topless girls happening after children have been released from school on Friday. [It is again calling for politicians to “amend” the law “so that public porn parades and public displays of nudity are deemed offensive and indecent, and thereby illegal.”]

“The Erotica [Lifestyles Expo] Promotion, also known as Boobs on Bikes, is scheduled to travel around the central city square from 4pm. This is a cynical move by the hard core porn industry to expose children and young people to the industry,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

“We would advise parents to do everything they can to avoid children being exposed to this parade, and if necessary, they should keep their children at home for the day.”

Family First is disappointed that the parade is even able to happen in such a public venue but points the blame squarely at the police for not enforcing the law consistently, judges who believe that topless porn parades and nudity are not offensive, and the lack of political willpower to act in the best interests of families and children.

“Steve Crow can label it a ‘freedom of expression’ event, but to the intelligent, it is simply a cynical attempt to market and normalise the porn industry to families.”

“It is time that the rights of families not to be exposed to offensive and adult material are put before the rights of the pornography industry to promote themselves,” says Mr McCoskrie.

Family First NZ continues to call on the politicians to amend the Summary Offences Act and the Crimes Act so that public porn parades and public displays of nudity are deemed offensive and indecent, and thereby illegal.

ENDS

www.familyfirst.org.nz

Note: The licensee for staging Erotica Lifestyles Expo is Esprit Events Ltd , a company incorporated on 10 November 2011 by John Malcolm Carr CPA just days before the former licensee Eden Digital Ltd, also directed by John M Carr, was put into liquidation on 22 November. Carr is sole director of CVC Group Ltd,  which  owns Eden Digital Ltd (In Liq) and Esprit Events Ltd. On 16 September 2011 John Carr revoked the license Eden Digital held to stage Erotica. This was done on the same day he resigned as director of Eden Digital Ltd. On 11 November the license was transferred from Eden Digital Ltd to Esprit Events Ltd. CVC Group Ltd owns the trademark for “Boobs on Bikes” – used in the Erotica parade which markets Mr Carr’s hardcore porn business.

 

 

 

Erotica Lifestyles Expo rejected as unsuitable for Hamilton city

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The Hamilton City Council has turned down an approach by the organisers of the Erotica Lifestyles Expo to hold the event at Claudelands next March. [The expo was to be run by Esprit Events Ltd, directed by John Malcolm Carr and owned by CVC Group Ltd – also owned by Mr John M Carr] .

The Strategy and Policy Committee yesterday rejected the proposal, viewing the event to be held at the Council-run Claudelands events venue as unsuitable for the city. [The expo promotes hardcore pornography].

The Committee agreed that a report into the need for a policy on appropriate events to be held at Council premises, including Claudelands, and in public places was required. This report will return to the Committee early next year.

Committee chair Maria Westphal said: “We had a full discussion around the proposal to host this event, but our view was that it was not appropriate to hold it at Council’s Claudelands venue.

‘The view of most councillors was that the adult lifestyles aspect of the Expo, and the likely promotion of it with the ‘Boobs on Bikes’ parade was not a good fit with the family friendly values of our city.”

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/11941317/thumbs-down-for-erotica-lifestyles-expo/

Note: Esprit Events Ltd (Co. No. 3648912) was incorporated on 10 November 2011.  Its spokesperson in media reports on the expo has been David Bruce Crow. Its registered office is at 2b/18 Triton Drive, Albany, NSC 0632.