Needless to say, Butch Cordora is a very busy man these days. Not only the local celebrity has been prepping the tenth anniversary of his TV show In Bed With Butch, he has been working on a calendar project for the past two years. The 2009 wall calendar, called Straight and Butch, featuring provocative photos of Butch posing with twelve different naked straight men that promises to push the artistic envelope. His project has gotten a lot of publicity, including coverage in publications like Philadelphia’s City Paper, and a film short documentary, also called Straight and Butch, that was part of the “Out In Philly” local shorts program at this year’s Philadelphia International Gay Film Festival. (A feature length version is also in the works.)

With a big calendar signing at Giovanni’s Room slated on Monday September 22, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM, and a launch party at 12th Air Command later that evening, Butch was happy to discuss about his project with me last week:

Why this project? What inspired you to do this?

Like a lot of gay guys, well actually the human condition in general, we want what we can’t have. That is to say, it’s almost the thrill of the hunt more than actually getting or seeing straight guys naked. I mean really, I see dozens of straight guys penises every single day of my life at the gym! It’s not about getting with straight guys or turning straight guys gay, it’s more about toying with sexuality, and also pushing the boundaries and limits to what heterosexual men will do! Comfort zones, all that stuff…

How did you get the photographers for this?

The initial plan was to have Tony Ward do all 12 photos. When I met with him, he was intrigued by the whole thing. He had never heard of anything like this and felt it was a strong conceptual, bold idea. And while he’s incredibly straight, photographs the naked female body and has no desire what-so-ever to shoot male nudes, at the end of the day, all photographers want is a powerful, never been done before, in your face project to work on.

However, as the project moved along, I felt multiple photographers would only add to the juxtaposition and diversity of the photos. I ended up with six photographers total.

I remember the City Paper article last year that ran an article on the project and published the photo of you and Billy Barton at Tattoo’s Mom’s, which I found quite edgy. Does that photo give an indication of the artistic style of the rest of the calendar or are the twelve photos done in intentionally different styles?

Well, yes and no. It was always my intention to do “editorials/narratives” for this project. That’s all we need is another calendar where there are two naked guys writhing around, spooning, hugging, kissing, embracing, etc. I wanted to show the vulnerability and sexual tension between myself and the straight model. So I’m doing stuff with them: working out, getting a tattoo, giving a massage, getting a haircut and shave, etc. Much more interesting I think. About eight out of twelve photos portray that.

But also, 4 out of the 12 photos are homages to legendary Annie Lebowitz/Herb Ritts rock & roll photos. Janet Jackson, circa 1993, “Cover of Rolling Stone” and “Janet” album, John and Yoko in bed, Abbey Road and the classic Cindy Crawford and K.D. Lang cover of Vanity Fair…

The bottom line is: In the art world, if your concept is strong, precise, clean, clear, focused and you have one really powerful idea, (which I think I do) then narratives, portraits, editorials, black & whites, color, sepias, can all live and play together in one calendar.

You’ve said that in the “Straight and Butch” film short that you had some difficulty in finding the right models for your project.

I had difficulty finding models! Not the “right” models, just models in general! It’s amazing how in 2007 and 2008, in one of the major cities in America, and myself being sort of well known in the city, still had difficulty finding guys to shed their clothes for a photo.

That short was shown at this year’s Philly Gay Film Festival. How do you feel the “Straight and Butch” film short has been received so far? And you also said that short is actually part of a feature-length documentary. Do you have any idea when the full documentary will be released?

Well, I already received a $750.00 grant from PIFVA (Philadelphia Independent Film & Video Association) to help me start editing the project so yea, I would say that it’s definitely been well received so far. I would love to say that by next summer it can be a part of PIGLFF but it’s a very daunting ordeal to edit down over 100 hours of raw footage into a 75 minute film.. I’m sure at some point I’ll run out of money again. There’s a lot of variables, it depends if more grant money comes in, all that stuff. Plus I will NOT rush the editing process, I want this to be an extremely well thought out project that hopefully can wind up on DVD, on HBO, who knows, maybe even at the Ritz? I’m taking my cue from “Super Size Me”.

A couple of questions about In Bed With Butch. What can we expect with the new season?

This is my ten-year anniversary! (I went on the air March 4th, 1999.) Believe it or not, I haven’t really done anything too different to mark the occasion. I mean, it’s gonna be another great season, more celebs from New York, fun segments, local gay and lesbian people, events, parties, contests, etc. But I’ve been so busy with the calendar and documentary, that I really haven’t concentrated too much on having a 10 year anniversary episode or special or party or “best of” or anything like that…

Since WYBE-TV has changed to MIND TV a few months back, it’s no longer showing In Bed With Butch on Saturday nights at 12:30AM. Are they going to show at a different time slot, or have they stopped showing it altogether? I think it’s a shame that it’s not, even though the show is mainly produced and aired by Drexel University’s DUTV, WYBE gave the program more exposure since it has a further reach in the extended Philly area than DUTV.

Yeah, it totally sucks and you can totally print that! I don’t know what the hell they’re thinking up at MIND TV, all I know is, I got an email from WYBE back in May saying that I was getting cancelled. Instead, they sent me some contract that I signed and faxed back to them allowing them to “cut up” my show in five minute pieces and air it wherever and whenever they see fit. So I did that because I figured something is better than nothing. But you never know when I’m on?

People have said to me, that they’ve seen my show on MIND TV so I know that it’s airing, but who wants to sit by their TV all day in the hopes to see IBWB? I emailed Howard Blumethal (station manager/head honcho from MIND TV) asking to please allow me to come back for the fall season, since it’s my 10 year anniversary and all. That was three weeks ago and he hasn’t emailed me back yet.

These days a lot of TV shows are streaming online. Do you have any plans to make the episodes of your show available on the net?

I spent the better part of today putting the finishing touches on my new website. it actually won’t be up and running until next weekend (probably the 19th), but I have a whole library of seven or eight minute clips of all my favorite episodes/interviews from last season.. No plans yet to air full half hour episodes. But I am selling DVD’s of past episodes.. I have a new boutique where you can buy IBWB men’s and women’s tanks and tee’s, hoodies, trucker hats, coffee mugs, etc. And I just got PayPal so people can buy the calendar through my website. And I changed it from “inbedwithbutch.com” to ibwb.tv. It looks really great, I’m pretty excited…

Do you have any final words on the calendar project? Will there be a website for this calendar?

No website for the calendar, but Giovanni’s Room is hosting a fabulous, huge “Calendar Signing” on Sept. 22nd from 5:30pm to 7pm where I will talk a little about the project, introduce all twelve guys, take a few Q&A from the audience and finally sell and sign calendars. Then it’s off to 12th Air Command for a VIP Launch party from 7 to 9. Free food, open bar, prizes and surprises! Purchase of the calendar gets you in for free! (And yes, if you can’t make it to G. Room, we’ll be selling calendars at 12th Air as well.)
Party is going to be private upstairs, third floor, indoor/outdoor, rooftop deck, beautiful view of the skyline, fabulous throw down!

PS, Gervase (Season One of Survivor) is going to be there. He was one of my models.