ONE LOVE ( ? ) Pop performer Keo Nozari ponders the "Question of Monogamy" on the page and in his sexy new video. Photography by Tommy McCall "Almost everyone has known someone quick to praise the virtues of monogamy, only to discover later that they're actually cheating on their partner. Similarly, most of us have known the serial one-night-stander who secretly longs for a committed relationship." K eo Nozari's video for "Close Enough," the lead single from his debut album Late Nite VIP, was hot enough to ride the No.2 spot on Logo's Click List countdown show last spring. With the release of the song's follow-up track "Question of Monogamy," Nozari is gunning for No.1--and turning up the heat on Logo and music video channels the world over thanks to the single's thought-provoking lyrics and steamy accompanying video directed by Aaron Rhyne with director of photography (and three time Next Magazine cover boy) Ned Stresen-Reuter. Before filming even began, "Question of Monogamy" and Nozari's concept for its video was cause for controversy among Logo execs wary of its erotic content. "I told them my only concern would be if some sort of double standard exists for gay-artists-versus-straight-artists in terms of what we can express sexually in our videos," Nozari says. "I'd like to believe what we did is classier than, say, Christina Aguilera's 'Dirrty' video and certainly no more explicit than MTV's Spring Break coverage." The verdict is still out at Logo (Nozari and Rhyne plan to submit their final edit of the video this week). In the meantime, you can see what all the fuss is about at several advance screening parties scheduled throughout the city in the coming weeks. You can also peruse the scintillating pix on the following pages taken on-location during the filming of "Question of Monogamy." As a longtime contributor to Next Magazine, Nozari offered us an exclusive first look at the video. We responded by askiung him to share, in his own words, how the idea for "Question of Monogamy" came about--and if he has any answers... ----- Monogamy's role in gay America has been an interesting dance. Not having the option for marriage (and often children), gay people have had the opportunity to look outside the straight paradigm. For the first generation of the of gay liberation--following 1969's Stonewall riots--being "sexually free" seemed a right to passage, even a political statement (and mirrored nationally by our straight counterparts 1970s sexual revolution with the invention of birth control pills and notorious swinger swap parties). With the advent of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, "sexual freedom" morphed into "promiscuouity" and the question of monogamy was viewed in terms of life or death. With the advances in HIV medication and the emergence of the "Internet hookup" generation in the 1990s, the one-night-stand made a quiet comeback. Now, viewed in the midst of today's gay marriage debate, monogamy is more of a question than ever. Is our push for marriage also a push for monogamous relationships? With statistics showing that more than half of straight marriages end in divorce, where does this leave us‹especially in a big city like New York where opportunities for hook-ups seem endless? My personal questions began when I wrote the song "Question of Monogamy." I was inspired when the guy I was dating said he wanted an open-relationship. For the first time in my life, I was forced to seriously confront the issue. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to say. So I sat down, I picked up a pad and paper and wrote a song examining every possible pro and con. In the six years since writing the song, seeing the different ways people react when I perform it has been fascinating. It makes people feel uncomfortable. I can see it in their faces. Perhaps it's the knee-jerk reaction to monogamy issues in pop songs in general‹they're usually sung by women who've been victimized by their no-good cheating man (but they've packed their bags and are moving on stronger than ever, dammit!) or racked with guilt over their own cheating (like Rihanna's recent No.1 hit "Unfaithful") or they're holding out for their man to leave their spouse and be with them instead (Whitney's "Saving All My Love For You" comes to mind). Real life is more complex than that. I realized there was an opportunity to write something unique: a song that posed all the questions of two people in love having an open-relationship‹the good, bad and ugly‹without judging the situation one way or the other. Similarly, I realized there was a unique opportunity in making the video. With the three central themes of the song being fantasy, reality and hypocrisy, I set out to make a pan-sexual video that erases the lines of straight and gay. Over the course of filming this video, I saw a double standard emerging in the number of openly gay musicians who avoided the kinds of erotic situations in their music videos that are taken for granted in the videos of our straight counterparts. When I sat down to conceptualize the video for "Question of Monogamy," I felt the need to confront this, too. I want to push things forward with my work. But "Question of Monogamy" isn't a song about monogamy. It's a song about honesty. Almost everyone has known someone quick to praise the virtues of monogamy, only to discover later that they're actually cheating on their partner. Similarly, most of us have known the serial one-night-stander who secretly longs for a committed relationship. The real question of monogamy is, "Just how honest can we really be?" It's a difficult question that demands blunt honesty that a lot of couples can't handle. But it's dishonesty--and stifling open conversation--that's the most damaging when it's a question of monogamy.--KN Advance screening parties for "Question of Monogamy" are scheduled for 9pm Wednesday, December 6 at therapy (348 W 52nd St, 212-397-1700), Thursday, December 14 at the Campus party at Splash (50 W 17th St, 212-691-0073) and Friday, December 15 at Vlada (331 W 51st St, 212-974-8030).