Stories
Comics & Images
The Bane of the LDS Church
by tommy kirchhoff
About seven years ago, a nice, little businesswoman named Cindy opened a boutique in Salt Lake. Being a non-Mormon, she chose to vend lingerie instead of garments, dildos instead of CTR (Choose the Right) rings.
After being in business a while, the authorities started coming in to harass her about her product line. They tried to shut her business down a few times; but without success, they simply continued to make appearances and pester poor Cindy.
Then one day the sun came out, as it usually does in Utah. Cindy woke up, got pissed off, and decided she was going to teach some Mos a lesson. She bought a computer and began to desktop-publish a new magazine. This magazine would eventually become a major link to alternative lifestyles, events and people. It would associate with swingers, bisexuals, orgies, gays, lesbians, monogamies, singles, porn, prostitution and more. And while it would become the bane of the Latter Day Saints, it would be infamously known in several states as "Talk & Play."
Cindy added Talk & Play to the lineup of wares in her boutique. Soon she was selling hundreds of copies every month. Other adult-oriented businesses began to carry the magazine, but none would move as many as Cindy's. Talk & Play grew, and eventually gained enough readership to turn a small profit. That was no easy task with the Church blacklisting it in typical fashion from nearly every printer in the area. (That's why out of state printers and shippers rule!)
Six years later, the legacy of Talk & Play has evolved again. Cindy let go of her boutique in December, and recently sold the magazine to a new owner. Talk & Play is now on its 72nd monthly issue. In six years, it's never missed a deadline, and never missed a beat. The magazine's new owner puts circulation at about 1000 copies per month.
Of course, any publication that's willing to print the date of an orgy, or direct a party for swingers has to keep its nose clean. That's why the legal guidelines, publication policies and editor's notes fill all of page two and spill onto page three.
The photo policy seems specific to personal ads: "We do not publish 'crotch shot' photos. Full body shots, nude or partially clothed are accepted. We have achieved our exemption status from the federal law pertaining to sexually explicit photography (1 8BUSC2257) by not publishing any of the following: 1) male erections, 2) any photo which shows any type of insertion, including toys or other sexual devices, 3) photos of anyone touching their own or someone else's genitalia."
The personal ads are particularly entertaining (just trust us on that one). They are prefaced with an Erotic Dictionary i.e. H/H stands for high heels, W/E stands for well endowed. In order to print a personal phone number, one must include a copy of his or her (or whatever) phone bill. So if you were considering any of the SLOC staff for a personal ad, better think again.
The magazine offers a potpourri of nightclubs, escort services, legal whorehouses in Nevada, alternative events, jokes and more. The cover price is $7.sixty-nine dude! and its available most anywhere you can get naughty stuff J