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Monday, February 14, 2000

Email Luke

Buck Adams Blows Up

Director Buck Adams blew up on his own set early Sunday afternoon, halting production for five hours.

Around 1 PM, Buck hugged a short busty production assistant named Trisha, who loudly protested in front of about six crew members that Buck was fondling her breasts. Buck blew up and demanded that the production manager and producer, JB, fire all women from the set (three - Trisha, Christiana, the girlfriend of the art director Jonah, and the makeup girl) except the actresses.

JB refused. JB said the women had done nothing wrong. Buck then threatened to walk off his own set. He gathered all copies of the script for his $300,000 movie and called his lawyer. Eventually the lead investor in the film, Tom, known around the porn industry as Buck Adams' dentist, arrived (4PM) and began talking to the various parties to the dispute. By the time I left (5:30PM), it still had not been solved, though it appeared that there would be scenes shot later today (Sunday evening).

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    Kiki D'Aire, Billy Glide

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    Kiki, Billy

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    JB, tough guy producer

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    Buck Adams hard at work

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    Buck wants off his own set

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    Buck Adams

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    Kiki, Tyce Bune

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    Kiki, Billy

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    Tyce, Kiki, Billy

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    Kiki, Tyce

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    Kiki, Tyce

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    Tyce, Kiki, Billy

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    Kiki, Billy

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    Kiki, Billy

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    Trisha the Troublemaker

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    Troublemakers Trisha, Christina


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    Christina
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    Troublemakers

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    Troublemakers

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    Trisha, Jonah, Christina

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    Tyce Bune, Buck Adams

I got some great sound bites from Buck.

JB tells Gene Ross: "Of course the most beautiful thing is that the day Luke comes out is the melt down day. I pull Buck aside when he first gets there. I go that guy over there is Luke F-rd. Anything you say he will print. If he doesn't have something to print, he'll make it up."

Brandy writes: "How are the PA's troublemakers when it was Buck doing the unwanted touching? I think they have a very good sexual harassment case against him and his backers."

I arrived on the Calabassas set about 12:30, following a police car. A neighbor had called the cops on the shoot. The policeman looked around the shoot and saw everything was in order. He left.

My arrival provoked a lively discussion. Director of Photography Jack Remy and Buck reminisced about the old days. Buck told me about a "Knute Rockne" type speech Remy gave him on a New York porno (Down and Out in New York City for Essex) back in 1985 that enabled him to finish the shoot.

"I'm going to need another one of those today," said Buck, a few minutes before his blow up halted production.

Unfortunately, I had my taperecorder on pause and so I missed about 15 minutes of fascinating memories.

Herschel Savage and Jeanna Fine appear in Down as well as Harem Girls.

Jack Remy gave "Jeanna Fine" her porn name "Jeanna Fine."

Buck: "Remember the guy who's doing the scene with the girl who's a topless trumpet player. He's screwing her, gets ready to cum, and he says 'Yabba, dabba, DOO!' Vinny the Dutz. He was playing a swami and he didn't know how swami's talked so when he was ready to cum, he went 'Yabba, dabba, Doo!' We had Fred Flintstone f---ing..."

Buck was in a verbal mode, walking around asking who needed their ass chewed. The production was clearly his ship. He was the captain. He wanted things done his way. "It's my way or the highway."

By the time, my recorder was running correctly (1:10PM), the Incident had already occurred. Nobody realized at the time how serious it was. We thought nothing of it. We thought Buck was just making jokes.

Buck: "I don't even want female actresses anymore. Dress up men in the parts. No women... I want to go back to the days of Shakespeare where men played women's parts. If someone has a problem with that, give them an extra $100. Women are way too much trouble. That's it. Call me when they're off the set.

"I no longer want to be around women... Fag hags... Everyone has one. Even those men who aren't gay have fag hags these days..."

Buck and Jack Remy and JB are laughing at this point. People don't realize how serious Buck is when he says he wants the women off the set. Buck is not hostile directly to the women. He just wants them gone.

Someone brings up the name of Max Hardcore.

JB: "Max Buttsore."

I get Jack Remy to repeat a few of his memories of LA Video. Lenny Burtman (who died around 1992) ran the production. Kenny Guarino oversaw the company from Rhode Island and Teddy Rothstein owned the company.

Jack: "Lenny was the nicest man in the business. I miss him to this day because he was such a dear sweet man. He also thought I was the best and treated me accordingly. He was a New Yorker and made comments about the LA people. He thought they were too casual. Even the way we dressed. He always wore a suit and tie. New Yorkers are more formal. When you'd go see him at his office, it was a beautifully appointed office. He was behind the desk, looking like Enso Ferrari [founder of Ferrari car company]. Lenny had white hair, very distinguished looking. When we went to Paris, everybody knew him."

Jack Remy asks me when he's going to get a Lifetime Achievement Award from AVN. He goes back further in the industry (1977) than any other porn cameraman. Adams started around 1983, and worked frequently with John Holmes for two years.

Jack Remy: "Holmes was a perfect gentleman. He respected me. He knew I was a good cameraman. I directed movies with him. I shot movies with him. He was always nice."

Buck walks up to Jack: "What is going to be our first shot? Or are we just going to eat breakfasts, be big shots and talk to reporters?"

Jack: "That's all we're going to do. It's celebrity time."

Buck: "Just sit down Luke and listen..."

Jack: "We have more stories than a television series could possibly do. It's called 'Buck Adams Amazing Stories.'"

Luke: "What's the name of this movie?"

Buck: "Liquid Blue."

Luke: "Who's funding it?"

Jack: "That's none of your business.."

Buck: "Buck Adams is funding it. I'm spending $291,000 to shoot the movie. As it is going over budget now [this is the third day of the shoot], I think it might crest three."

Luke: "Who's going to distribute it?"

Buck: "I am. I am opening my own company called Perfect Pictures. I'm going in conjunction with General Video of America, David Sturman and Kevin Beech. They backed me. They set me up with a really nice distribution. Foreign, Adam & Eve, and I had no choice. I have to take the money. If somebody is going to give me $2.6 million to shoot movies for the rest of the year, and I've got a way to sell them, even though I really don't want to spend the rest of this year shooting porno because I've got this big stockcar movie coming up... And I was just so in love with my wife [Aspen Brock], I would've signed my life away to anything. I signed the deal and now I'm stuck with it.

"The wife [a porn star, email me the name] is off running around doing some kind of crazy s--- and I've got to do the deal.

"And the first thing I am going to do is fire all the women on the set. Right now. They're gone."

Buck's voice takes a hard edge and we suddenly realize he's serious.

Buck tells JB to fire the women and JB refuses. Buck's in a rage, striding around the house. I stand outside with JB and Trisha and Christina.

Trisha to JB, the production manager: "When do the male talent show up?"

JB to Trisha: "When they want to..."

Trisha: "Why doesn't that apply to me?"

JB: I expect crew to show up [on time] and do what they're told."

Trisha: "f--- that... I did more. I went above my duty. I cooked the goddam bacon... I had to go through the spinach..."

JB says that he would not work on a homosexual porno. "I have to draw a limit somewhere. I was asked to once. And I didn't want to burn a bridge and offend the guy... So I tripled my rate and he said ok... Now I'm totally f---ed. But I called another guy and passed it on to him."

Remy's shooting the movie on 16mm film.

Buck: "We were going to go on 35mm but it is just too expensive for the cameras."

I talk to Buck in the office of the shooting house.

Buck: "Film's film. So long as you shoot it in 16mm right, it is going to look like 35mm. I don't want to be one of those guys who shoots on 16mm but tells everybody it is 35mm, like all the liars of the business do."

A few minutes later, I hurry after Buck striding around the house. JB's refused to fire the women.

Buck: "f--- women hookers. Hours late on f---ing heroin, on crack, on every kind of glue there is. They can all kiss my f---ing ass. And when my crew people stick up for those f---ing people or for somebody's girlfriend, then f--- them too. The f---ing show is over."

Buck walks outside to two guys unloading an equipment truck.

Buck to the men: "You might as well not even unload guys because I am gone for the day and this show is over. And I'm the guy who writes the checks."

Crew guy: "I understand. All right..."

Buck is deadly serious. He's throwing his weight around.

Luke to Buck: "Do you think women hurt morale on sets?"

Buck: "Are you kidding? I take one of the stars [Amber Sexxxum] home last night. Girl's been hawking on me for two straight days. She wants to sleep with me. I'm not going to sleep with some chick three weeks after I split up with my wife. Sorry, it is just not going to happen. I don't care if you are the star of my movie. I'm not going to f--- some girl because it is expedient or it is cool.

"Someone to hang out with... Then if you don't do it, it turns into a big war. Pretty soon the big war comes here [to the set]. This star is going to quit...

"I'm not screaming and yelling at anybody. I just want to go home. I am not going to be usurped in my authority. I'm the cocksucker with the f---ing money. And if anybody [particularly JB] thinks they are my boss, then you're fired too. I'll fire everybody. We've got some great crew here but I don't f---ing hire crew members because they are related to another crew member [referencing the hiring of Christina as a PA]. Especially not a crew member who spent three-and-a-half f---ing hours last night not doing a goddam thing on my f---ing payroll chasing around a chick in a pink top [Amber Sexxum?]. Now today he comes to work and he brings his girlfriend with him. f--- him and f--- her! Fire 'em or I'm gone! I'm going home. He [JB] told me he wouldn't do it. Fine, I'm going home. Screw him!"

Later, a calmer Buck discusses the time that Matt and Trey Parker served as production assistants for him.

Buck: "They were in the makeup room smoking pot with the girls. I fired them... I walked into the makeup room and they were smoking pot with the makeup artists and the models and I go 'everybody is fired in here.' They were f---ing absolute insanity. Trey is a f---ing smart smart motherf---er... Matt is the creative genius. Trey is the guy... I was living in that 33,000 square foot mansion in Simi Valley at the time. They were good guys but heavy potheads. You're sitting there waiting for your models to come out, and they come out high... Eyes all red, pupils all twisted..."

Buck starts walking around the set.

Buck: "I've got to get out of here. The scripts go with me. They're f---ing mine!

"I thought this up six months ago and the scriptwriter put it in form for me. So nobody can do anything creative without my f---ing permission. They can't shoot my idea. If I don't get what I want out of my crew, they can all kiss my f---ing ass. I am so sick of people kicking my butt. Every time there's a f---ing nightmare, it's all Buck's problem.

"Excuse me. I'm not the f---ing crew member [art director Jonah] who spent three hours last night chasing down a chick, not earning his dough. And today he's got his girlfriend [Christina], on the set? f--- you! What's that? What kind of inside crap is that? I don't want them here. I don't want no women on my sets.

"The PA I've dealt with for two days. I came up and hugged her and she goes 'Don't touch my boobs.' What? Grab your boobs? f--- you! You don't know how I could've f---ed the chick with big tits last night. And I'm gonna grab your boobs? f--- you hooker. Then can all f---ing die."

Luke: "What's the movie about?"

Buck: "It's about nothing because the movie is over. I'll go shoot another one next week because I have the money. I've got more money than I f---ing need but I am not going to deal with no f---ing crew who can't take my orders. Paid him [JB] ahead of time and now he has balls to talk s--- to me. Good, take your f---ing $6500 and don't ever work with me again. f--- you.

"I'm tired of running around with all the f---ing goofy people. I don't need the headaches right now... I've got more money than God. I don't even know what to do with all the money people gave me. And I've got to take crap from the crew?

"My wife's [Aspen Brock] a heroin addict. Runs off for months on end, constantly coming home with needle marks all over her body. And one night, I'm real sorry, I couldn't take it anymore and I got drunk and I got high and I screamed and yelled at her. And she left the house. And now Buck's the big bad guy? f--- you!

"What about robbing your parents house? What about f---ing screwing up your visits with your kid? And I'm the bad guy? f--- that. I'm so sick of this s--- man."

Luke: "Wasn't she [Buck's wife] doing porn?"

Buck: "She was. And I think she's doing it again. What do I care? Go. Go be the hooker you can be, as Jim Lane said. Go do another five man anal gangbang. What do I care? I just don't need the s---. I don't need crap from anybody. I've just got so much money now that I just don't need it. I'm so sick of this."

Luke: "Who's the star of this film?"

Buck: "There's no star of this film. There is no this film. Liquid Blue is toast."

Luke: "What if they get rid of the women?"

Buck: "We fired the star [Amber Sexxxum ]because she's busy telling us that she wants more money right in the middle of the shoot. Because Dirty Bob says so. Dirty Bob, f---ing moron."

Dirty Bob responds: "Amber SexXxum was hired as the lead in his film. She shot for him for 2 (out of 3) days contracted. Everything was fine until last night where Buck took his flirting with her a step too far during a get-together at his place with a bunch of people. She refused his davances; he was pissed. She went back home and was called early today and told that she was replaced on the set (obviously because she wouldn't t do Buck). Apparently Buck never left her alone! He followed her everywhere. Her mistake was going over there with a bunch of people to his house to "hang out". I am sure this is the correct story - otherwise, why would he bring her and others to his house if he fired her? The part about Amber demanding more money is bulls---! Never happened."

According to sources, Dirty Bob is in love with Amber Sexxxum. Dirty Bob says they are just friends.

In his one and only column for XXXGen.com, porner Mike South named Amber Sexxxum as the porn flake of the month.

Luke: "Who's the star? Amber Sexxxum?"

Buck: "Nope. Amber Sexxxum is nothing. Amber Sexxxum was fired, cut from the movie."

Luke: "Is that the one who was chasing you around last night?"

Buck: "Yeah, for two days. For two days, then comes into my house. I want to f--- somebody. And all of a sudden it is a big scene. I'm sorry. I just split up from my wife three weeks. Hang out. We can be buddies. Maybe talk about things. But I'm not f---ing you the first night you come to my house. Who the f--- are you? I know a million chicks who can rollover in my bed and f--- me. I'm still in love with my wife. I'm certainly not going to do anything stupid. It's ok to flirt a little bit on set with your stars but you don't just go someplace like that because that is something you can't undo. If you f--- some girl who's in one of your movies, you can't undo that.

"What do I do in three weeks when I'm having a problem with my wife. 'You were out f---ing the models...' I'm not going to do it. And I certainly am not going to take crap from everybody.

"I've just had it. I've just had it with the way these guys hand out our money. I've got another guy with twice as much money who wants to take over all this s---. And I'm not going to put up with it anymore. If you're not going to give me what I want, we're all fired. We all go home.

"They'll try and shoot. They'll try and shoot but they better not try and shoot my f---ing script. The first thing I'll do is go to my lawyer and f---ing yank it from them. I'm so mad. I have five people I really f---ing hate on this planet right now and three of them are on this set [JB, Trisha, Jonah]..."

Amber Sexxxum tells Gene Ross: "Buck Adams fell in love with me and wouldn't let off. I told him if kept struggling to flirt with me on the set during this movie, the movie would be ruined because I couldn't act to the fullest of my abilities. My driver, Steve Houston, who was there to make sure that I got home, got messed up on GHB... Within thirty seconds, Buck stuck his arm down my pants.

"I told Buck I didn't do interracial, then he set me up in a threeway with a girl who's half-black."

"Luke F-rd has a way of making a birthday party sound like a maiming," Adams mused. "We had to get rid of the girl. She was just so looped. She was eating pills a mile a minute." (Gene Ross)

Buck tells Gene Ross about Steve Houston: "My God he's there by Alec's door jacking off. I didn't know what to do to be honest with you. That's when I told her [Amber] you gotta go, your driver's jacking off. She gave me a minute-long stutter. Her comeback was this, 'well, u-u-u-h you could have done somethin' about it.' What am I going to do? Jump on the guy? Fight with a naked man with his penis in his hand?"

Sunday - 1:15 PM. Calabassas set of Liquid Blue.

Buck Adams calls his lawyer. I listen in and tape the Buck end of the conversation.

Buck: "Gary, I am in a very difficult situation right now. I'm sitting on this set. They still haven't sent my check. My checks that I pay you guys with. And they're shooting. And I'm wanting some people off my set, some females. And they won't do it. And now they're pulling this big powerplay with me.

"...The producer [John Billich] just told me that he won't fire PAs because they're related to somebody working on the set [Jonah, the art director]... I just don't want no female production assistants around, Gary. No, and we can understand why... With all the crap and with all the s--- going on [with Buck's wife]... I hugged one of the PAs this morning, just being friendly, and she goes 'Don't put your hands on my boobs.' What? f--- you! You're fired.

"So I come in and say 'Get rid of this woman' [to producer JB] and 'I can't do that.' Really? You can't? Good. Then I'll go home. My movie, my scripts, my everything. So, how do I handle this? Either everybody does it my way or they can all go home, right?"

Pause.

Buck: "No, it doesn't work that way, Gary. I am here all day long. If I want somebody gone, they've just got to go, right? Since I'm in charge."

Pause.

Buck: "Yes, I don't care...

"Umm, my producer who's listening to Tom [the Buck Adams dentist and chief investor] who's done nothing and listening to the money people who've done nothing. How would I proceed at this point?

"No, Tom is not around. JB is around. Do you want to talk to the producer? Do you want to inform him that we will shut down everything right f---ing now?"

Brief pause.

Buck: "No, no, we're going to because if I walk..."

Buck: "The only way I'm happy is we get rid of the people I want gotten rid of... I don't care what kind of personal problems are going on with Buck.

"No hang on Gary. Whoa, whoa. Mr lawyer. You work for me. I've tried to tell you what I want. I've got to be able to do it my way. I know. I understand that Gary. I'm just trying to tell you exactly what I want so you can get me what I want.... I want no females on my set except for actresses... One of them was hired because she's related to a crew guy... He spent three hours last night sniffing around the chicks and not doing his job."

Jonah, the art director, was in charge of wardrobe. He was trying to get the porn chicks into hot outfits.

Buck to his lawyer Gary: "No, no, they didn't do that yesterday. That's what the problem was. They were letting the f---ing crew guys get around the talent and it just got out of hand. There's more to it than just this Gary, but I want my check. I can't pay my lawyer because I don't have my f---ing check. I'm out shooting the f---ing movie. People are telling me 'Oooh, this check...' No, f--- you! I want my check here today. I want all $10,000 that I'm owed from before the movie. Not the ten grand I'm owed for shooting the movie but the $10,000 I'm owed from before the movie, for putting it all together.

"They're getting coffee [the PAs]. They're running around doing nothing important. They're totally unimportant. Look, the producer was paid in front so he can pull all the powerplays he wants... So, how would you like me to proceed, Mr. Attorney. Ok. Gary, hang on, I am going to go get him."

Buck gets JB who comes to the phone.

Crew members are rolling their eyes at Buck's behavior.

Later we talk about Buck's shooting trip to Hawaii around 1994.

Buck: "Scotty Fox was the cameraman. And they grabbed him because he was a camera guy. 'Ohh, news, come up to the front.' He got right up to the front. 'What? What? What?' Suddenly, here comes Clinton around the corner and he sees the camera and so he leans out and starts waving. The Bill look.

"Oh man, the tape disappeared. Either Scotty sold it or Coastline hawked it off to somebody. Because it was three porno girls standing there pulling open their tops and here is Scotty shooting the president going, 'Hey, naked chicks [Holly Body, Rebecca Wild] with their tits out.' It was perfect. They all yanked their tops down just as he was going by. And he's leaning out the window waving and they're all going wheeeeh."

Jack Remy: "Bill Wright [Frank Thring] and I were there [Hawaii] for Private. We had a nice time. It was kinda scary. We did shoot on a beach, on a lagoon. We had scouts looking out... We had Sylvia Saint and some other Hungarian girl and two French guys and they were boning on the beach. I was so nervous."

Buck: "You've just got to go to one of the islands where they don't have... I went to Molokai, the leper island... We were shooting on a beach. The girls, for four hour, were running around naked."

Luke: "Did you see any lepers?"

Buck: "There were no lepers but there were some cool condos."

Jack Remy: "Everyone who goes to Hawaii to shoot porno gets in trouble. Because the Hawaiins do not like porno. We always had to look over our shoulder. But we rented a big two story house in the most northern part of Kauai and within no time at all people found out and knew we were shooting porno. And they got word back to the Commission [Hawaiian Film Commission]. We were there a week and we were gone.

"Ron Jeremy went there one time for Summer and Eddie Brown and got in major trouble shooting sex on the beach. The Film Commission is very uptight because they want the revenue. And porno people are always trying to get away with murder and not pay... And it's a big payoff. They actually require that you use Hawaiian crew members. So you say, 'Do you understand this is porno?' And they go, 'Then you can't shoot it here or you use our people.'

"Vivid went there with Paul Thomas two years ago. They got kicked around. Mainly if you stay on a private residence you can get away with it. If you try to shoot on the beaches, you have to steal the scene. You can't really do it legally. It is too difficult."

I listen to Buck talking on the phone again to his lawyer Gary.

Buck: "What's your gist on this?

"Oh really? Are you talking to Tom? Well, tell Tom that I said f--- off, too. My scripts, my idea, my deal...

"Get what done with today? No. They either get the f---ing people off the set or me and my scripts leave, Gary.

"All right. Tell him that I said f--- off, too, the little big nosed wop."

Buck slams down the phone.

Buck: "Things go smooth until people don't want to do it my way, then crap starts arising."

Buck walks over to Jack Remy.

Buck: "You might as well pack it up... This one's a done one. The lawyers are busy getting the paperwork ready right now. They say gather up all your scripts and nobody shoots any words you came up with. He told me to pack the set. If I can't get rid of two PAs, I'm sorry, I can't pay you guys. I want things my way. I wrote this. I came up with the f---ing money. I get what I want or sorry, I am not going to do it."

Jack Remy: "Well, what about us?"

Buck: "Well, what do you want me to do about you? Tell me what to do. Can I get rid of the people I want? You say no. Good. Everybody can go. I don't give a f---. I want things my way... Go get another job. Go work for Nic Cramer."

Buck gets back on the phone with his lawyer.

Buck: "Ok, call me back within ten. Because it is really turning into an explosion here. What is the number here? No, no, that is to the producer who doesn't want to do what I want to do. f--- him too. Let me get the number to the house, Gary. Get me what I want. You don't work for Tom. You work for me."

Women who worked Saturday for Buck were Amber Sexxxum (blond), Charlie Angel and Jeannie Rivers (blond).

Buck's crew denies every receiving any form of sex on a porn shoot. Except for the still photographer Dave, who says he received blowjobs on several shoots. On an Al Borda set, a redheaded girl named Brooke did not take in the rear from Ron Jeremy as required, and so as punishment she had to blow the crew. And also on a Max Hardcore set.

Dave: "Max has to look at a girl's ass to get his dick hard. He can't any other way.

Dave's fellow crew members are skeptical of his report.

XX crew member: "We're here to work. We're not here to partake."

JB admits he's received sex on set.

JB: "Sure, but not when I was a crew guy. I had to be a guy who could hire you or sign checks. Then you become really attractive. I was the elephant man one day and woke up as Mel Gibson the next day. And I know it is real... I know the girls are not just doing it for a job or a boxcover. They truly like me. For me."

Luke: "Have any of these crew guys given you a blowjob?"

JB: "All of them or they wouldn't work. Wanna work? A little chin music, thank you very much."

JB is tiring of porn however. "You want the chick who works at the bank. When you come home at night, you want to know that she hasn't just done seven guys before she kisses me."

Several crew members say that sex is the last thing on their mind when they leave a set.

Jonah: "Talent too. I've gone out with talent. Trust me. When they get home from work, sex is the last thing on their mind."

I find Buck Adams outside.

Buck: "I don't want to quit shooting but if I have to shut down the shoot to fire everyone I want to fire, I can fire anyone I want. It's my project. If someone wants to give me s---, you're fired... I've got a whole new crew ready to go right now... This is what happens whenever you pay somebody upfront. All of a sudden they've got balls this big. They don't have to worry. They already have the money. But I guarantee you that before one o'clock today, I will get what I want. What time is it now?"

Luke: "2:45 PM."

Buck: "Dude..."

I wander inside and talk to porn stud Billy Glide.

Billy: "I used to be a stripper... And one time they wanted me to come out in a silver G-string. I'd rather come out naked instead."

Kiki: "I had a boyfriend who had a pretty big dick. And he had one of these cheesy Fredericks of Hollywood superman G-strings... The first time I saw him in it I started laughing so hard that he went to the bathroom and wouldn't come out."

Billy to Luke: "I think the last time I talked to you I had just gotten out of jail, huh?"

Luke: "Yeah."

Billy: "I just got out again, three weeks ago."

Luke: "What for this time?"

Billy: "My roommate got busted for having a pound of pot in his car. So I was away on a Shane's World. We were doing a whitewater rafting trip. I come home and my home is torn apart. And there was this little piece of paper on my living room table. My room was torn apart. My room had all my porno stuff on my desk with all my boxes of pornos around it like a shrine. With all my dirty pictures on top of it with all my AIDS tests. The Huntington Beach Police Department had set it up.

"I call them up and the detective is like, 'We recovered a bong in your room' which was a f---ing lie because I had it with me on a Shane's World. My roommate didn't smoke pot."

Luke: "What's a bong?"

Billy: "It's a water bong. You..."

Kiki: "It's a pipe."

Luke: "You smoke.."

Billy with a big smile: "You smoke tobacco out of it. And I told the detective, if you have my bong, there should be my fingerprints on it, right? So he got upset about it. Anways, because I was on formal probation, they gave me three months in jail for the probation violation. And because they found [drug] paraphenalia and a little bit of cocaine in his room, they gave me an extra 30 days to serve consecutive. Not to run concurrent. I went in November 5th and got out January 19th... I had to get a lawyer. That cost $1500.

"So now I live with Shane Collins (guy) and Shannon Blanc. They're a pretty married couples. They took care of all my legal problems. They paid my bills for me. I'm staying at their house. It's a small apartment. They want to live by themselves..."

Luke: "Are you playing with their video games all day?"

Billy: "Yes. Sony Playstation. Road Rush..."

Luke: "Does he share his wife with you?"

Billy: "Yes, we play around a lot. We'll be hanging out late night and he'll say, 'f--- my wife.' So we'll have sex... But I'm going to move out. I'm not going to get a roommate because whenever I do that, it causes trouble. This way if I get in trouble, it will be my own fault."

This was Billy Glide's third stint in jail. Once he was placed in jail for domestic violence against his porn star girlfriend Claudia Chase.

Buck walks around, muttering about his large brass balls.

Buck: "It's great when you have really powerful lawyers."

Billy: "I've never been in trouble for my own personal stuff... I mean I've been in jail for DUIs..."

Luke: "But hey, who hasn't?

"Tyce, how many times have you been in jail?"

Tyce: "No comment. I've been there a number of times but no comment."

Billy: "I'm doing all the casting for Shane's World. Shane got out of the business. She got married to Bobby from Orgy... She's my best friend in the world. I don't see her much anymore. She doesn't go on the Shane's World. I'm like the delinquent on there and do all the stupid s---.

"We went whitewater rafting on class four rapids. There were rapids ten feet high. And we went rock climbing once. We're going pretty extreme. From snowboarding to doing major s---..."

Luke: "Kiki, how did you get into the porn industry?"

Kiki: "I danced for a long time and I wanted to feature. And in order to feature you need to build up a credit list [in porn videos and magazines]. I started working through PGI (Pretty Girl International)...

"The industry is a lot of fun and I really enjoy my work. And one of these days I am going to be one of the chicks at the AVN Awards going 'Thank you all.'"

Billy: "I won an award two years ago for Best Group Sex scene (with Taylor Hayes and Mr. Marcus). I had just got out of jail from my ex [Claudia Chase]. And I had no idea I was even nominated because I was in jail. I was partying at Vince Voyeur's place and everybody came back and told me 'Dude, you won an award!' Yeah right... I would've loved to have gotten up there and say 'Hey, I just want to thank everyone for putting up with all my s--- over the years...'"

Kiki: "I did California Calendar Girls for Alex Sanders. And at the end is this really cool slide show they took of me... I didn't know until a month ago that that movie had gone up for Best Editing..."

Billy: "I got nominated again for Best Sex Scene with Asia Blue. And nobody calls you up and tells you 'Hey, you're nominated...'"

Luke: "So did anything exciting happen when you were in prison, Billy?"

Kiki: "Ass rape!"

Billy: "I wasn't in prison. I was in jail... It was like a working jail. Everybody has a job there. You wear Levis and blue T-shirts. I became friends with a couple of the deputies who were really nice in there... They took care of me and helped me out. So, it was cool. The only thing I hated was that I lost weight in jail because of the food..."

Buck Adams says the dispute comes down to how big is your nut sack.

A crew member: "We're all kids who haven't grown up. We've just got bigger toys now."

Billy Glide's dad is a former homocide detective now with the Secret Service. And Billy wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Billy: "But I can't now because I've got a Domestic Violence conviction... So now I'm doing porno and using my other gun."

I talk to Christina and Trisha, the objects of Buck's wrath, and they do not feel at all guilty for wrecking the day's production. They claim they've done nothing wrong.

Buck: "The shoot's just been going like a piece of f---ing glass. Everybody was happy. And then a couple of really stupid things happened. Normally I could just come in in the morning and go 'Hey you, don't ever do that again.' But then they [Jonah, the art director?] brought somebody with them who prohibits me from talking to them in that manner. The producer [JB] thought I was being out of line, because they were his friends... Really? He wasn't aware of some of the things I was aware of... Now I've got a producer who won't do what I say."

Luke: "Who hired the producer?"

Buck: "Me. I got JB, the best there is. You can't touch him. We've got to do this for a year. I'm already giving away half the work that I am supposed to do this year to Alec Metro because I'd drop dead of a f---ing heartattack if I had to shoot all the movies I have to shoot in the next twelve months."

Buck has suffered two heartattacks in the past five years.

Buck: "Shoot 48 movies? Shoot 24 films and 24 big budget videos in the next ten months? I couldn't do that if I was f---ing wired on crystal meth the whole time. If I never slept, I couldn't do it. You've got to delegate to people... But if the people you delegate to aren't in total control, then you are not in control... It's early on in the project and you have to establish control of your players and let them know that you aren't going to tolerate those kind of shenanigans...

"Even if I make mistakes as a person, you're going to have to back me on it. Later on, when the doors are closed, and nobody is looking, you can go 'Buck, you're an idiot.' And Buck nine times out of ten will probably go, 'Yeah, I'm an idiot. What can I do to fix it?' But don't front me off in front of everybody or I will cause a big scene. I will shut down a $200,000 movie all f---ing day long. With crews standing around waiting for something to happen. Now I'm going to bring my monkeys [lawyers] to the set and people will get plugged into the wall. And after they're electrocuted and burned up, we'll send them on their way."

Buck says women constantly want to come by and bone Buck or Alec Metro because they're shooting 50 movies this year.

Buck: "I'm married... I can't be out boning every whacky chick I meet. It's just constant. You can't believe our phone now. We've got chicks calling from Chicago going 'Hi, we hear you guys make Babewatch and we want to be a Babewatch girl. Call me...' And they leave a Chicago number. Yeah, we're going to call you up and fly you into LA for a thousand dollars..."

A crew member: "Buck normally doesn't like to touch people. Not even shake hands... And today, he just so happens to hug this one chick who's really sensitive about being touched..."

Buck complains that Amber Sexxxum did not want to have sex with a black girl nor do a four way and so she's been tossed off the shoot. Buck plans to reshoot her scenes.

Jack Remy reminisces about 1985, when Lenny Gurtman asked him 'What do you think about this guy Paul Nevit? Should we keep him? Should we let him shoot a movie?"

Nevitz is better known today as porn director Andrew Blake. But in 1985, he was editing films for Jack Remy, Lenny and LA Video.

Jack: "I said no. I don't like his work. At that time, he'd only shot some video for Playboy. And it was very pretty. It was a video calendar. But in those days, you had to have storyline to sell your videos. Nowadays it is not as important. Paul did not like the girl to talk. We talked about it one day.

"Now he's got a great line. He's a talented photographer... And he makes beautiful pictures. He brought good things to adult."

Gary writes: "Enjoyed your Sunday story about the Buck Adams aborted shoot, but your spelling of Hawaiian locations and references made me cringe. Malatai (the former leper colony) is the island of Molokai. Hawaiin or Hawaiins is spelled Hawaiian or Hawaiians. Kuwaii is the island of Kauai. There are no private beaches in Hawaii. By state law, all beaches on all the islands are considered to be public and the public is to be provided access to them at all times. Although some beaches may be isolated, they are still public. This is the reason that it is difficult to obtain film permits for beach sex. Beaches are "owned" by the State and are considered public property."

Rough Sex Debate

Jim Gunn writes on RAME: DESPITE how reprehensible a movie like "Rough Sex" may be to anyone's sensibility; DESPITE how volatile or negative attention gathering a movie like this may be, these guys still have a right to produce it. In other words, the possibility that actors may willingly get hurt during the production; the possibility that the movie may bring an end to the entire porn biz as we know it; or the possibility that the movie may indeed cause the complete undoing of cilvilization in a huge explosion and wipe out all life on planet earth is at least theoretically IRRELEVANT to the question of whether should it be allowed to be produced in a free society.

Patrick Riley writes on RAME: Jim, the usual porn apologist, says that you shouldn't blame the entertainment industry for the actions of individuals who might be tempted to enact or otherwise be persuaded to engage in illegal activity as a result of watching a movie and in response to Slouch's example of The Money Train, Ultra essentially makes the same point. The concept is that we all have free will and we all should be responsible for our own actions, suffering the consequences of illegal acts without blaming an entertainment work that perhaps gave us the idea.

What both fail to recognize is that the point is to avoid the acts occurring in the first place. IOW it's small comfort to the token booth clerks burnt by the miscreants that the perpetrators are punished and individually held accountable for their actions. To rely on the police powers of the state to prevent such happenings is impractical. Ultra continues in his post to point out some excesses of enforcement (profiling, metal detectors, etc) but fails to acknowledge that that is the logical conclusion of what he and Gunn are advocating. In order to attempt to prevent the Money Train occurrences, society has to widen police powers considerably, in this case increasing the security at each token booth by allocating a cop 24/7 to each station, erecting even more impenetrable barriers, and providing emergency fire extinction apparatus. We exchanged a freedom to see an innovative method of robbery for a considerable increase in cost, a much more intrusive police presence, and just another little reduction in communication with suppliers (the token booth clerk). Pretty poor trade off IMO.

As one of the old fogeys on the group I might point out that in addition to tramping five miles to school each day through blinding snowstorms, I can remember a time when every person handling money was not surrounded by Lexan and when you could actually talk to the cashier without screaming, not to mention the days when bus drivers made change and there was some level of trust of riders. We've sure come a long way in this cultural improvement, twofisted and Xenophile.

The difference, and the only practical way to prevent the actions patterned after the Money Train and indeed the sort of behavior to which Rough Sex gives permission, is the inculcation of a level of morality in the population and, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, that requires convincing people it's the right thing not to set token booth clerks on fire nor to beat up women--or anyone for that matter. This is not just something that occurs under the age of eighteen but a constant learning experience throughout life; demonstrations of immorality or counter-propaganda make the task immeasurably harder and perhaps impossible.

And lest you think it's only a question of the physical violence refrain we hear from the libertarian side of the aisle, let's take the question of lies. Was a time in the not too distant past when lying was a shameful act and being caught in a lie was one of the most embarrassing things that could happen to a normal person. Today, we have the example of the first raincoater (thanks, Ridley) telling bald-faced clear lies on national television and when caught, waffling about semantics.

We have the same in the porno industry: boxes with scenes that don't appear, movies that are cut between their VHS and DVD releases, girls who have their "first time" multiple times, girls who in a non-fictional interview assert that they're 18 but are really 25, compilations masquerading as original footage, amateur movies containing seasoned professionals, features that don't have a plot, and one that I saw the other day, supposed porno movies that don't have sex, not even simulated.

Doubtless, Gunn and Ultra would argue that the answer is to sue the producer for recovery of your rental fee or to persuade the local authorities to prosecute for fraud, both totally impractical suggestions given the nature of the product and ones which when employed outside the porno area lead to enormously costly (to society as a whole) class action suits and profit only the parasites in the legal profession.

The answer again lies not in the overuse of the court system and the police powers of the state but a return to the inculcation of those much-derided moral values, in this case of truth. Enough of the movies showing liars profiting from their untruths; no more excuses that "It's just porn" or It's just advertising" or "It's just politics" and no more acceptance of the waffle such as we had here on the subject of professionals being passed off as amateurs where the excuse from the editor was that it was just amateur production values.

And Ultra or may I call you "junior", far from being a chimera, the morality of the fifties did include, for Mr. Average, prohibitions against the sort of anti-social behavior displayed in these three examples and was a better society for it. Fortunately, as Guiliani exemplifies, society is getting sick of the grand and morally bankrupt experiments that started in the sixties and seventies and is starting to rein in their more exaggerated proponents. Let's hope it continues for all our sakes.

Male Performers

Will Jarvis aka Taliesin writes on RAME: The sex is great. The climaxes/orgasms can present a problem.

The sex is great in that if you are a performer your job is to have sex with many many different women. That's a turn on. However, you have to hold back your ejaculation until the director is ready for you to cum. Often you're in a position that is not comfortable for you or the woman you're with but is one that is good for the camera. It's all about what's good for the camera, obviously. The viewers have to see what's happening, so the performances of the actresses and actors are designed for their visual impact, not for the pleasure of the performers.

Certainly some pleasure is derived, sometimes lot of pleasure. But it's not the same as real sex.

Sometimes the sex is mechanical, for the women as well as the men. Everybody has an off day now and then. I have to disagree with the tern 'addition' as applied to sex. Nakita (I'm guessing) probably doesn't mean the term in its clinical sense, and in strict medical terms, there is no such thing as sexual addiction. They may be compulsive behavior that manifests itself sexually but there is no 'clinical' sexual addition that I know of.

The porn women get hit on a lot, by guys in the biz and by guys not in the biz. It's easy to see why some of them would think that the interest men have in them is only because of their sexuality. This is not an easy business to be in.

We (in the biz) tend to say that the business is tougher physically on the males while it's tougher emotionally on the females. It's tougher physically on the males because we have to 'get it up'; we can't fake it. The women can, and sometimes do, fake sexual arousal. That's certainly no surprise to anyone is it? Acting is their job after all.

But it's tougher on the women emotionally because of the sex negative stereotypes we still have in this society. And even some of the porn men can't get past those stereotypes. Society does not publicly approve of porn, but it regards the men as studs (a generally good thing) and the women as sluts (a generally bad thing). This must change.

One of the things I've tried to do with stories I've written and the videos I've produced and directed such as the Positively Pagan series or the Amateur Dreams series was to present sex as a positive, happy, fulfilling, beautiful, joyous expression. I subtitled the Pagan vids "A Celebration of Sex". I think that's the best way to present sex to an audience; show the performers having fun, show them really enjoying what they do. I think the performances I get as a director are much less mechanical than those of some other directors because I let the performers have fun with what they are doing. I believe that really comes through to the viewers.

On another note: David [Austin] is one of the fine folks, of whom there are many, who contributed a chapter to the book "Porn 101: Eroticism, Pornography and the First Amendment" which is available in bookstores everywhere and on-line at http://www.worth-a-million.com. If you haven't done so already, please check out the website for details about the book. I think you will enjoy it.

Luke Gets Mail

Chaim Amalek writes: Luke, regarding Laura's comments in agreement with NYCLU Jew Norman Seigel, does she agree with him that panhandlers should be free to "aggressively panhandle" in New York? (Since Siegel explicitly criticizes Giuliani for enforcing existing laws against aggressive panhandling, he must think that this sort of behavior should be tolerated in New York.) She mentioned that Siegel defended the right of the KKK to hold a rally, and has supported the right of Nazis to march wherever they wish. Regarding the former, the Klan was the very model of good behavior in its "march" (really a rally), which was attended by fewer members than the Black Israelites muster every time they gather on the streets of New York to declare their contempt for the lives of white people and jews (most of whom are white, by the way). On the other hand, those who gathered in opposition to the Klan conducted a mini-riot all of their own. If the Klan were not as well behaved, but instead vowed to slaughter each and every black person on the face of the earth, would the ACLU still defend their right to make such blood-curdling threats? Her other counter-example also raises some questions. Specifically, she mentioned the ACLU's defense of the right of "Nazis" to march. I assume that she is referring to the Skokie, Illinois case. In fact, the "leader" of that group was one Frank Collins, who, it turns out, was the son of a JEWISH man who survived Dachau. If he was a true Nazi, that is news to the actual nazis among us.

There are, of course, instances where a strong, ideologically neutral ACLU would be a good thing to have. Take the John Rocker case. Is it good for free expression in this country that a man's ability to continue in his chosen field be predicated on submitting to evaluation and treatment at the hands of politically reliable psychiatrists, all because he gave voice to some hateful thoughts that tens of millions of others happen to share? The ACLU could be of use here, but unfortunately it, as usual, falls mute when and where real people really need it.

On a totally unrelated topic, your friend Kendra Jade appeared on the Howard Stern show this morning as the prize in a game based on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." None of the four contestants won, as they proved to be unable to answer such questions as "how many seconds are in a minute," and "What does NaCl stand for?" I am pretty sure that semi-closeted Jew (he pretends that his mother is "Italian Catholic")Stern rigged the contest to boost the egos of his mostly male audience by picking the dumbest people he could find to serve as contestants. As for Ms. Jade, while I have no idea what she looks like, she has a very sweet voice. You should get off your ass and start that 900 phone service I mentioned, and see if you can't get her to make use of that voice for you and for similar projects before it turns hard.

Fred writes: Just out of curiosity, what percentage of the male talent has been to jail?

Luke: About half.

What percentage of the female talent?

Luke: Much fewer.

Fred: Also, what is the breakdown of what they've been to jail for? It seems that most of the time it sounds like drugs, DUI or domestic violence. Is that pretty much the range of activities that the talent has been busted for?

Luke: Yes

Do you think that a higher percentage of the porn industry talent have been to jail than the population as a whole?

Luke: Yes.

Chaim Amalek writes: Luke, this is off the record, as it concerns business. In other words, DO NOT PUT THIS ON YOUR WEB SITE.

One of the reasons that I occasionally criticize your business acumen is that part of what I do for a living is think about how businesses can unlock and better exploit the true worth of their assets. Believe it or not, you happen to command an asset that is the coin of the realm these days - information. Sure, it is not exactly "clean" information, concerning as it does fornication and serving mainly as a tool to make onanistic conduct more interesting, but it is information that others want nonetheless. And are willing to pay for.

You need to go multimedia Luke, and unlock the hidden worth of your assets. Or do you want to spend the rest of your life living in a tiny hovel, cutting and pasting the transcripts of interviews concerning socially disfunctional adults as they attempt to explain (and justify) their empty and chaotic lives to you?

And speaking of speaking, as I was earlier in the day, I wonder if there might not be a market of something akin to books on tape, customized for each customer, in which a porn starlet uses her voice to read a customer's favorite fantasy? This would be clean work, and exploits nothing more base than the sexual drive of those whom you are already exploiting for profit anyway.

Luke: This is already done by porn star fan clubs, such as those run by Dick James, who I wrote about a week ago. Thanks for the suggestions.

I am having computer problems. I keep getting a message that my computer has run out of space on Drive C. But that is impossible as I have 64K... What is going on?