Tuesday,
July 10th, 2001
NYCFantasies.com Says Hello New Yorkers
NYCFantasies.com emails to its fans: Hello New Yorkers! This is the first of our weekly newsletters that you will be receiving from NYC Fantasies. We just want to keep you updated on current tour schedules and additions at NYC Fantasies, plus there is a little bonus for you at the end of this newsletter so keep on reading!
We have a lot of incredible ladies visiting NYC over the next few weeks including Brooke Lane, Shay Sights, Kianna, Shasta, Nina Ferrari, Gauge, Lola, Nici Sterling, Elke Jeinsen, Alexandra Quinn, Teri Weigel, Gina Lynn, Brittany Andrews and more! You can find a current rate and tour schedule for all of our ladies at www.nycfantasies.com.
Call us now at (888) 375-6216 to meet Brooke Lane, Shay Sights or Kianna before they leave NYC this Friday. Trust me, you don't want to miss the opportunity to spend some up close and personal time with one of these fabulous ladies. They are all a true GFE (for you rookies that translates to Girlfriend Experience) and will leave you with a memory that you are very unlikely to forget, until your next NYC Fantasies encounter anyway! Be sure to ask about our Double Trouble special when you call.
Over the next few days we will be adding tour dates and pictures for a few more of the hottest stars in XXX including Tabitha Stevens, Lita Chase and Bridgette Kerkove. We are especially proud to welcome Bridgette Kerkove to the NYC Fantasies family. Bridgette won Best New Starlet at the 2000 AVN Awards, Most Outrageous Sex Scene at the 2001 AVN Awards and just last night she took home Fan Favorite at the 2001 Foxe Awards. You go girl!
Mike South vs David Moore
MikeSouth.com writes: Hey Lukey, Just an update on this moron. he called me yesterday carrying on about something I supposedly wrote about him on your site, but he didn't know what it was I said so I was subjected to listen to his arrogant ramblings for 30 minutes where he yapped about what a great guy he is and how he represents some second rate actor with a bit part on some TV show that is destined for cancellation.
Regardless a short time after a girl I have been in contact with calls me telling me that he was verbally abusive to her, calling her among other things a stupid cunt. Her feelings were obviously hurt. Next this asshole calls me back and leaves some screaming message to me on my voice mail that I promptly deleted.
Now Mr Moore can add me to the list of people who would sooner do business with Regan Senter or even Charley Frey (That isnt going to happen either).
Based on my experiences and that of my friend as well as the fact that many major companies will not do business with him I highly recommend that if you are considering doing business with this guy that you do so at your own risk. Ok now asshole I have said something bad about you and yes it is based on personal experience...and its my opinion...so sue me...
Rob Spallone Back On Warpath Against Sharon Mitchell
Rob Spallone called Tuesday morning: "Sharon Mitchell got thrown out of the Erotica LA show last year. She tried to blame it on my clinic telling on her. But we had nothing to do with it. I've just found out that they're not giving my clinic, the North Hollywood Clinic, a free booth this year like they've done every year. Because Sharon Mitchell called up to say they are not a non-profit organization. So tell Sharon Mitchell that the North Hollywood Clinic will be at the show and I will be as disruptive as I possibly can. I can't believe she has people drawing blood at her clinic who are f---ing in these movies. Is that disgusting?
"I'm not talking about Chloe. I like Chloe."
Porn star Chloe draws blood at times at AIM.
Private Seeks European Listing
BARCELONA, July 9 (Reuters) - Barcelona-based pornography firm Private Media is aiming for a European listing by December to fund its plan to beam hard-core porn to mobile phone users, Chief Executive Berth Milton told Reuters on Monday.
"We could raise up to 100 million euros."
Private -- which saw its revenues jump 50 percent to $27.1 million in 2000 -- already trades on the U.S. Nasdaq market and its shares have risen more than 11 percent so far this year as more traditional media stocks slumped.
In an effort to boost liquidity, it recently appointed Commerzbank to explore the listing and the company will approach Germany's mid-cap MDAX segment of the Deutsche Boerse next week, another company source told Reuters. Cash from the secondary listing will finance Private's expansion into third generation (3G) and GPRS mobile markets in Asia and Europe this year, Milton said.
Bridgette Kerkove Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette Bridgette
Andy writes: hey luke, you don't follow pro wrestling, but here's a question for your readers who might know: see if they think Bridgette Kerkove looks an awful lot like Sable from the WWF. She sure does in those pictures
Sympathetic Coverage For Paula Poundstone
I've noted the outpouring of sympathetic coverage for lesbian comic Paula Poundstone accused of child molestation. I doubt a male heterosexual would get the same. And I haven't read anywhere that these molestation concerns are part of the reason many of us oppose letting homosexuals adopt kids.
Mdl writes: And I haven't read anywhere that these molestation concerns are part of the reason many of us oppose letting homosexuals adopt kids. If molestation concerns were an issue in fostering, adopting or even birthing babies heterosexual men wouldn't be allowed anywhere near them. In fact since the majority of rapes, assaults, murders, hell all crimes, are committed by heterosexual men everyone, male and female, adult and child, would be better off avoiding them.
Helpful writes: Note the hallmark of all sexual deviants here, "She liked sleeping on the floor," Morra remembers." Guilty! Guilty!
Fred writes Luke: Already tried and convicted her, eh?
Helpful writes: Good point. For all we know she was at a Girl Scout meeting and someone asked her if she wanted to "eat a Brownie." Could happen to anyone.
Chaim Amalek writes: 1. Don't have the stomach for reading this. So tell me, exactly what did she do, and what is the evidence against her?
2. Why she should not be so harshly judged: she is a dyke (God-willing, she is NOT a jew). "Dyke" rhymes with "Kike," which is one of the perjorative terms the NAZIS used against jews. Ergo, to criticize this woman is logically equivalent to being a NAZI.
3. Check out the current Newsweek on Christian rock/pop culture. Good to see this - a welcome respite from hip-hop and (secular) jewish cultural influences.
A Special Message To Reproductively Viable White Women
I have a special message for the reproductively viable white woman - and especially the reproductively viable white JEWISH woman - who look to my site for guidance on how to live your life. You have it within you to defend our way of life, our civilization and all of its values. How? By having babies with white/Jewish (as the case may be) men. Ladies, turn your wombs into the unconquerable citadels of democracy and western culture that we all know they can be.
Lynne writes: Do you have any idea how many hours I've spent desperately wanting to have your children despite the difficulties of conceiving in vitro at my age (which increases every second?) No, of course you don't. You, me and two nice Jewish children, raised to love the Universal Spirit and exploring the Holy Land on the money we make from our writing...who would ever want anything so stupid!
Chaim Amalek writes Luke: Lots of people hate to admit it, but as Rivka has been discovering, CHAIM IS ALWAYS RIGHT. About Juden, Shvartzes, immigration, Israel (and the Final Solution to the Zionist/Arab problem), homosexual rights (and wrongs), land use, the problems of the older woman, degenerate art, music, fried chicken, solid state physics, Christian eschatology, bukke, yoyo design, Luke's relationship with his parents, just remember this - CHAIM IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
Now, what a Jewish woman can do, what she MUST do RIGHT NOW if she has any OHAVAT YISROEL in her is to solicit me to send her, via Federal Express, my semen packed in ice so that she can begin to have some AUTHENTICALLY JEWISH BABIES and extend the line of AMALEK. (I am trying to offer the deserving women of the world some special tampons that have been impregnated with my seed.) Or if not MY children then at least YOURS. Luke, just what is this woman waiting for? By her age, the average Puerto Rican woman is a grandmother (as is the typical LA Negress - see that wonderful new movie "Baby Boy"). Men can take over your work while you have and raise what one hopes will be white jewish babies. But they cannot have your babies for you. So get crackin' and use your womb the way God and Nature intended!
PS If you have any further questions, just forward them to "Luke" and he will pass them along to "me."
Are Jews Cheap?
Arch Stanton writes: Luke my man. Great job on your coverage of the Seymour trial. Your walking a great distance to save money brought to mind a question I have regarding Jews and money. Now it's true that some stereotypes have elements of truth to them. I mean have you ever met an Asian that could drive? Or an Irishman that didn't drink? :) Well, just two days ago I drove a Jewish lady to a temple and did an outstanding job in getting her from A to B at the cheapest cost via the shortest distance. She had no idea how to get to the temple and trusted me to do the job right. Well, dont you know for a $15.75 fare she shamelessly gave me $16. A big quarter tip. As my policy I said nothing but felt like she kicked me in the balls. So, my fine Jewish friend as you are the only Jew I have even a passing acquaintance with and the fact you are obviously nonPC, what is the deal? Is there something in the Jewish religion which promotes cheapness? Even at the expense of others? Or was this experience coincidental? Is the jews-are-cheap stereotype fact or myth?
Luke says: There's great truth to the stereotype. The Jewish religion encourages Jews to be very careful with everything they say and do, including how they use their money. There's a Talmudic saying that you can tell a person's character by three things - what he's like when drunk, when angry, and how he spends his money. And giving away money to a Gentile taxi driver, well, Art my friend, that's just careless. We all know that goyim just spend all their spare change on pornography and liquor.
Lynne writes: Actually they spend it all on Nascar racing souvenirs and tattoos if they are low class, and on child support if they are middle class. Luke, that means the Talmud does not deny the reality that some people get drunk and/or angry. When I am drunk, I love everyone, take off my clothes and dance naked on table tops unless someone I love screws me mercilessly. When I am angry, I cry. And I spend my money on making my friends happy. May I have my character reading now, Madame Luka?
Tell Arch Stanton, I don't know what city he drives his cab in, but, even though I am a Jewess, I always tip 15% or more for good service. I am very careful with my money -- I am buying good service for the next time I may need to use a cab and don't have enough money to do it on the meter.
Helpful writes: Judging by the size of my l-keford.com paycheck I would
have to say FACT! However, to be fair, not all stereotypes are based
in actual fact. For example: The MYTH that ALL
homosexuals are snappy dressers is clearly UNTRUE
or that ALL paranoid Aussies
carry big knives like Crocodile Dundee is also UNTRUE.
Fred writes: Tell Arch Stanton that if he sends me $2, I'll give him my opinion on that subject.
Nek writes: I think the stereotype is not accurate. I strongly suspect that the 25 cent tip was a mistake. Even if it was not an mistake, I think a 25 cent tip is an anomaly for any ethnic group.
Luke Gets Mail
MrP writes: Mr. Ford, As an avid reader of your daily journal of porn happenings, I am somewhat surprised that you didn't comment on Veronica Hart's appearance in HBO's Six Feet Under episode 5. In this episode she plays an aging ex-porn star that gets electrocuted in the bath tube. Did I miss your comments or is this just not of interest?
Luke says: I had nothing to add to the story.
Roshan writes: Hi Luke, I am setting up a website for vintage porn videos and DVDs; my problem presently is that I don't have reliable sources which can drop-ship for me; I am trying to contact wholesalers, distributors who can dropship for me, do you have a list of wholesalers and distributors who carry vintage porn?
LT writes: Luke, Helpful and Rumdar were commenting on Bat Boy, who just happens to appear in the same issue of the vaunted Weekly World News as Miss Sharon Mitchell. I've heard Sharon has him finishing his training as a phlebotomist so he can take blood at the AIM Clinic. I think he also has a big future as a porn stud since he can be paid in insects. Jeff Steward and most of the Extreme staff have already placed calls for him.
Sue Carson writes on BigDoggie.net that she's hired Vanessa Del Rio to do escorting work. Fast Eddie writes that Jenna Jameson escorts occasionally for $25,000 a night but Jenna strongly denies this. A similar allegation was published in the June issue of Philadelphia magazine.
Rob writes: Luke, What is Teri Weigel up to these days? I haven't seen anything about her at your site in a long while. Also where do Michele Raven and Harley Raine stand in the adult world? Are they considered pornstars. What would be there rating.
Luke replies: Teri is a hardy sex worker, flipping tricks and making porno. Michelle Raven and Harley Rain are mid level porn stars.
Emmanuelle Richards (Emmanuelle.net) writes this excellent piece for Online Journalism Review (OJR.org). Here are some excerpts:
This cover story by Times senior writer and former theater critic Frank Rich triggered a latent, mostly online debate about the real size of the industry. Cyber porn reporter Luke F-rd wrote that "Rich did exactly what many journalists had done before: trotting out tired and unchecked numbers from a 1998 Forrester Research study ... video sales stats AVN."
Luke F-rd agrees that polite society is embracing porn like never before. "It's true porn has become chic. Howard Stern, the Man Show on Comedy Central feature porn actresses. It's becoming more mainstream in the past five years," he says. "[But] to actually say that the industry is actually mainstream ... I would call that the biggest myth of mainstream media!"
Variety and the Hollywood Reporter don't cover porn, although Variety did for a while in the 1970s, "when it looked like porn was becoming mainstream," said Managing Editor Timothy Gray. The L.A. Daily News doesn't cover this multibillion-dollar industry in its own backyard partly because many of its readers are "conservative," Kaye said.
But this spring new L.A. Times Editor John Carroll judged the industry worthy of more regular coverage and assigned Huffstutter and Ralph Frammolino to the beat. "Ralph had been writing about the entertainment business. I had covered technology," says Huffstutter. "It's a local business. We're both business reporters, so it seemed like something we needed to do."
Whatever the new porn-beat reporters write, you can bet that it will end up linked, excerpted and discussed at l-keford.com, a unique and rather disorganized goldmine of real-life interviews, scoops, scurrilous gossip, typos, essays, corrections and letters from angry lawyers.
"The media don't catch the baloney, the lies, the true horror of this industry that you capture when you go on sets and you mix with the people, and you just see the cavalier way they deal with life," Ford says. "Every one of these people lie. Everyone. They lie by habit. When their lips move, they're saying lies -- they can't help it. ... If the greatest reporter in the world decides to make porn his beat, it would still take him a year or two to get up to speed."
American Demographics' Whelan, for one, says it doesn't feel right to read about porn in The New York Times. "I almost would rather read about the industry in a l-keford.com," says the reporter. "It's more in line with the industry -- sketchy journalist and gossip sheet covering a sketchy industry."
Rodger Jacobs also appreciates the value of Ford's first-hand experience, but wonders if porn can ever truly be covered. Like Breslin, Jacobs praises stories such as "Scenes From My Life in Porn," by former Hustler employee Evan Wright. The screenwriter thinks it's impossible to gain full knowledge of the business and its personalities without a true insider's view:
"Luke can't even do that," Jacobs says. "Did you know that both Norman Mailer and Hunter Thompson have flirted with the idea of writing about the industry and given up? If those two titans can't do it, no one -- except an insider -- can."
Marc writes: luke, have you ever met this emmannuelle woman? you should. nice pics of her
Helpful writes: Yes! A journalistic summit at Hovel de Luca is definitely in order.
Luke replies: Many times. She's married to an American journalist. She wrote the first profile of me, published July 1998.
XXX writes: MediaNews.com mentions you and the story on the upper left. The fact that Jim Romenesko refers to you as Ford means you're part of the media circle. It's cool. You can tell your ex-rabbi about it too! I didn't get his lie joke though, because you're the one cautioning people to watch out.
I thought the LA Times Viagra story was very good. The general public doesn't know about it and I guess many men who pop Viagra feel less shameful learning that professional studs need their blue pill too.
Luke says: Here's a paragraph that didn't make the final OJR.org edit: "He (Ron Jeremy) remembers being asked by New York Times journalist Nick Ravo, who was preparing a profile of controversial porn director Max Hardcore, why he couldn't get anybody in the industry to say on the record all the negative things he has heard about Hardcore: "I told Nick: 'yeah, it's because people don't like to rat'. Would you insult fellow journalists if I gave you the chance?" says Jeremy, displaying a shocking ignorance of the journalism world. "People always tend to lie to defend their friends, to defend their coworkers, it's a matter of respect.""
Mark Kernes writes to QuasarmanRants.com: "Ford is a self-confessed liar, and an even cursory look at a couple of days of his postings should make it clear that he hates porn (or at least is seriously torn between his guilt-ridden lust for it and what he perceives as the requirements of his religion), and he hates (or at least has no respect for) most if not all of the people involved in making it. Moreover, he seems to go out of his way to print deprecating rumors about people in the industry without any regard for whether there's any truth to them. It's my opinion that people who talk to him and/or allow him on their sets are doing the equivalent of cutting their own throats, because chances are good that whatever off-the-cuff remarks they may make will come back to bite them in the ass a few days or weeks later..."
Former AVN writer Randy Kaplan aka Rich C. Leather writes to QuasarmanRants.com: "I can only recall two occasions when AVN suggested that a director NOT be employed to a production company. One time, when Fishbein was in the midst of a lawsuit against Paul Norman for nonpayment, and Norman was engaging in his usual loathsome bad-mouthing, Paul got really pissed off and when someone asked him what he thought about Paul Norman, he did say that he thought they shouldn't hire him because he was a deadbeat asshole. By the way, one of the most frustrating things for me when I was Chief Financial Officer of AVN was what a soft touch and lax collector Fishbein was. He never wanted to dun people, let alone sue them - and of course, in the occasional ebb of cash flow that happens in any small business, I would get really pissed off at having to delay certain expenditures when people owed us TONS of money. And the other time AVN discouraged someone's employment, it was Randy Detroit - something I think anyone would be proud of, for any number of reasons."
The Return Of Lynne L-patin
Lynne writes: Rodger Jacobs is wrong. As a veteran insider, I was immediately impressed with Luke's understanding of the porn business. I've always thought that Luke can and does write about the porn industry with more insight than anyone else ever has. What he lacks in grammatical construction and editing skills he more than makes up for it with his intuitive grasp of how the tangled strands of the business weave together. Put aside Luke's patented "porn is despicable" rant for a moment and you'll find a reporter who, like all really good reporters, is fascinated and inspired by his subject matter.
Both Norman Mailer and Hunter Thompson are overrated, primarily by themselves. They haven't the humility to lower themselves to gutter-level, which is absolutely necessary if one wants to cover the pornography industry. Though Luke dislikes himself for liking porn, he makes even that fodder for discussion. His lack of self-esteem lets him wallow endlessly in pornographic sewage, making him as much an inside participant as anyone else in the business.
Using an archaic list from 1980 to evaluate pornography over two decades later seems wildly inappropriate given that the Miller Test for obscenity refers to "contemporary community standards." An entire generation has come of age that was born since the list was created, and their attitudes are for more accepting of porn than were their predecessors'. Rap music, personal computers and ATM cards weren't even on the horizon in 1980 - do we judge their value today based on their position in our culture twenty years ago?
So have our community standards changed any regarding these particular "deadly sins" in the last twenty years? And, if so, in what way? For starters, we've legislated against the use on minors in sexually-oriented situations on the federal level. We've developed the euphemism "squirting" for female urination which seems to be ignored even as urination tapes which honestly describe what they portray are busted. Acts of bestiality remain illegal in most, if not all, states, making it illegal to shoot the stuff here, but Internet access makes up for it. Becoming sexually excited by non-consensual sex, i.e., rape, is still prurient. "Homocide with hardcore sex" (Luke, your Freudian slip is showing), even in pretense, is a place pornographers have chosen not to visit though society at large gives sexually psychopathic serial killers celebrity status. "Excessive pain with sex?" Who defines "excessive?" "I'd like a blow job, please, with light pain on the side." "ow…ow…ow.." is okay but 'OW…OW…OW…" is not?
And then comes fisting. As Seymour himself points out, allowing the insertion of eight fingers but no thumbs is really splitting pubic hairs. Shall we allow the government, or even a jury of our peers, to decide what a woman may put in her vagina? Isn't that more than just a little intrusive into one's private life? (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) If eight fingers are okay, but not thumbs, what if Rob Spallone's father, Joey, who sliced off his thumb with an electric saw a few years back, does a fisting scene? Is it then the insertion of his wrist that becomes objectionable?
Some might say that a fist, even a dainty lady's fist, is too large an object to put inside a vagina. Silly. A vagina can stretch to accommodate a baby's head, which is much bigger than a fist. Should we prohibit childbirth because large objects don't belong in vaginas?
I can understand why putting firearms and glass bottles into a bodily orifice might be a matter of concern. Symbolically, a firearm is a threat; speaking practically, both firearms and bottles can be dangerous. A drunken rapist often has an emptied bottle close at hand - bottles are the most frequently used foreign objects in sexual assaults. But fists? As Seymore mentions, what about rubber replicas of fists? Rubber replicas of penises? Rubber replicas of ducks? Telephone receivers, shampoo bottles, various fruits and vegetables, kielbasa, kosher salamis, hairbrushes, candles? Dicks over 5.5 inches in length? Dicks over 10 inches in length.
In my video "Working Stiff," I parodied the American obsession over what should or shouldn't belong in the vagina. The adorable Cumisha Amado pulls various objects from her pussy, each sillier than the last. Through the magic of editing, she ejects a passport, a bottle of nail polish, candy and "her" cherry. All perfectly legal, even in the cable edit (where ejection is inferred.) (Luke F-rd makes a cameo appearance as the "Voice of Doom" in this movie -- his "hardcore" fans might find it of interest.)
A woman who so desires sexual satisfaction that she craves having the Empire State Building crammed into her vagina is NOT behaving in a prurient fashion, just reacting to the sad reality of the typical inadequate male sex organ. Perhaps the "prohibition" against fisting is only another patriarchal attempt to control women's sexuality, never letting us experience the glorious satiation inherent in a vagina stuffed to the limit, lest we become dissatisfied with the puny 5.5 inch penis of the average Caucasian man.
Seymore Butts Obscenity Trial Postponed Until After Yom Kippur
I attended the obscenity trial of Seymore Butts today in downtown Los Angeles. It was postponed until October 15, after the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Seymore got busted for the first widely publicized fisting scene (1998's Tampa Tushy Fest) in an American porno in over 20 years. A 1980 Los Angeles City Attorney's Office memo to the industry listed fisting as one of the seven deadly sins. Prosecutor Deborah L. Sanchez remembers the list with the acronym "CURBFPH."
C - Children
U - Urination
R - Rape
B - Bestiality
F - Fisting
H - Homocide with hardcore sex
P - Excessive pain with sex
You can apparently still order Tampa Tushy Fest at places like XXX-imports.com, from which I took this:
Seymore is despondent over the loss of Alisha, and many women try to, ah, arouse him from his depression. Most exciting for us are the efforts of Bridgette Kerkove and Kylie Ireland. In addition to some gaping ass work, and dildo-stuffing, Bridgette and Kylie anally fist each other, at the same time! Order it now for $35, shipping included.
The Buzz On the Newsgroups said:
"Just saw Tampa Tushy Fest by Seymore and Chloe gets double fisted my Alisha Klass Alisha Klass gets fisted then Chloe puts one in her ass and Alisha tries to fist herself. Unbelievable I think Seymore pushed the envelope across the table."
"It has one helluva hot scene for those who are able to see or get it! Chloe...incredible! One shows Alisha getting both hands past the wrists into Chloe's twat, Chloe was sitting on her butt, torso raised, and she was diggin' it..... The other showed Chloe in the same position, but with a big dildo up her ass and Alisha with one hand in Chloe's cunt. Egomaniac Seymour had to somewhat ruin it, by having his hand and finger manipulating the dildo in Chloe's butt."
"Alisha's best vid IMHO, was Tampa Tushy Fest #1 (the uncut version) where her and Chloe melted down my VCR with their fisting each other."
I parked over two miles away Monday morning, just off Olympic and Figueroa, and grabbed my space in a $5 parking lot. The lot at the courthouse cost $14 for the day.
Wearing my synagogue suit and fancy black shoes, I wore off much leather walking over two miles in 40 minutes to the courthouse at 210 W. Temple Street. I passed through the elaborate security and finally made my way to the Division 40 court on the fifth floor at 8:45 AM. I recognized nobody.
I wandered in and out of the court, then sat on a bench and read the Herman Wouk novel Youngblood Hawke.
"Mr. Ford," a familiar voice called out five minutes later. I looked up and saw Seymore Butts aka Adam Glasser, 37 years old, wearing a suit and sandles. I followed him into the court and we two Jews were about the only white folks waiting for trial. Everybody else was black or hispanic or asian.
Heather Barron writes: "Seymore looks really sickly in those photos on your site today. What's up with that?"
We wander out again and run into a two man crew (producer Jim Gilmore and assistant Corey Ford) from the PBS documentary-style show Frontline. I vividly remember their 1983 report on gambling's influence on pro football. Almost 20 years later, that's still the highest rating show the program's ever aired.
Scott writes: "geez,Luke-let no one question your sincerity to the Jewish faith-NOBODY but a REAL JEW would walk two miles to save $9 bucks! FRONTLINE also did a great show on the Russian mafia's invasion of hockey and the incredible DEATH OF A PORN STAR documentary about Shauna Grant."
Glasser's 58-year old attorney Roger Diamond shows up. A nice Jewish boy who graduated UCLA Las School in 1966, and married shortly after, Diamond tried his first obscenity case in 1969. He represented Walter "Frenchy" Bagnall in the 1980 MiPorn bust and Rick Nathan of Tao Productions in a 1985 obscenity case. The feds initially tried Tao Productions in three jurisdictions around th country, Salt Lake City, Buffalo and Little Rock, Arkansas.
In the 1980s, Diamond defended Sterling Austor, a San Fernando Valley porn store, for its 8mm movies which included Plunge One, which features a man with his arm up to his elbow in another man's ass.
In 1993, Diamond initially defended Mickey Fine aka Herbert Feinberg, who recently called me from jail. He won't finish his sentence until the year 2032.
Diamond was barred from defending Fine on a conflict of interest angle.
Now Diamond is defending John Lynch, who holds sex parties at a private residence in the Valley. The police say that the home is not properly zoned to license as a sex club. Diamond says it is just a private residence, not a sex club, where adults do consensual things to each other.
Roger remembers how Patrick Livingston's 1983 arrest for shoplifting devastated the feds MiPorn cases. Livingstone was one of two federal agents who went undercover in the industry from 1977-79.
Diamond, Glasser and the Frontline crew keep referring to this as Los Angeles's first obscenity trial in eight years.
Diamond and Glasser sport similarly curly unruly short hair. Seymore says his hair is naturally curly. He gets out of the shower in the morning, adds some gel, and off he goes.
Our first judge Monday is Patricia Schnegg but she delays assigning a court to the case until the prosecutor arrives.
Deputy City Attorney Deborah L. Sanchez was supposed to show at 8AM but doesn't make it until 9:30 AM. She's a big woman, over 200 pounds, hispanic and amiable. She brings with her two gorgeous latina law students at Loyola Marymount who are interning with her over the summer and two Los Angeles Police Department porn squad detectives Steven M. Takes---a and Kyle Lewison.
Takes---a should be a familiar name to pornographers. He's been on the LAPD's Organized Crime and Vice Division Pornography Unit since 1985. He pulled the sting on Reuben Gottesman and Steve Orenstein in 1990, ordering illegal Traci Lords tapes. Takes---a runs the LAPD's porn squad. He's a powerful muscular asian man of few words. Steve and Kyle have the tough chiselled wholesome look you expect in police officers. They walk into court carrying a box of evidence.
What most surprises me today is how much of business is carried on personally between the prosecutors and the defense. They banter back and forth all day in a cordial tone. Even Seymore and the prosecutor and the detectives banter back and forth. I thought these guys would all hate each other and only fix upon the other an icy stare.
When I first talk with Deborah, she lights up with a big smile. She's read my web site for years. l-keford.com was the favorite page of her previous supervisor. LA's former City Attorney Jim Hahn, Deborah's past big boss, is now Los Angeles's mayor. He is thought to have conservative Christian views of pornography and may initiate a crackdown. The new city attorney is Rocky Delgadillo.
Deborah seems conversant with all the porn gossip sites out there, from GeneRossExtreme.com to AVN.com.
Sanchez and the detectives correct our supposition that this is LA's first obscenity bust in eight years. They say there have been many. They just have't gone to trial. Porners have pled guilty to obscenity.
Orange County's Mother Productions recently pled guilty to a charge of obscenity for the tape Liquid Gold Nectar which featured urination and fisting. Mother Productions also voluntarily brought master tapes of six of its other urination tapes to the LAPD to be destroyed.
Around 10:30AM, Judge Schnegg assigns us to Court Division 47 on the seventh floor. We all pile out of the courtroom and gather in a tight circle. Diamond opens up his box of goodies to show the prosecutor his defense exhibits.
The prosecutor and detectives show concern that we should not examine the smut in public view. There might be children around. The defense are much less concerned and they start producing hardcore videos, AVN magazines, a fist dildo, last week's New York Times article on the French film Rape Me, other articles, and "scholarly" books on anal and vaginal fisting.
Seymore on the New York Times article: "This new French film shows the most graphic and violent rape scenes you've ever seen."
Diamond presents a tape of the AVN 2000 Awards where the tape in question, Tampa Tushy Fest, won an award (as it also did at the XRCO).
As Diamond finishes presenting the prosecutor with the box of hardcore tapes, Deborah Sanchez makes a revealing remark that shows she reads GeneRossExtreme.com: "Are any of those tapes distributed by Extreme Associates?"
Last week on Gene's site, Extreme owner Rob Black claimed that Seymore Butts was going to point the police in Blacks' direction as a way of escaping an obscenity conviction. Extreme and Gene have been riding Seymore unmercifully.
Seymore Butts: "No."
Detective Lewison: "These are just from other companies?"
Seymore: "Yep."
Diamond presents to Sanchez an 8mm copy of Plunge One.
Roger: "This is a movie that I defended in this building, and won, 20 years ago, called 'Plunge One.' This actually shows the guy's hand, up to the elbow, going into the other guy. This was tried by the LA City Attorney's office, Mr. Lawrence Bauer, your predecessor."
Deborah: "I prosecuted a film similar to that was sent from San Francisco."
Roger: "I haven't even seen it since the trial."
Seymore to Deborah: "Do you keep track of what is going on in the industry as far as from the web site perspective? Or why else would you ask about the Extreme product?"
Deborah: "No, because your attorney is talking about comparability."
Seymore: "What does that have to do with Extreme?"
Deborah: "If there are comparable films out there..."
Seymore to Luke: "You understand that I didn't say anything... She brought up Extreme Associates."
Roger: "This is Adult Video News. And what they do, is they review these movies. And we have, I told you, witnesses coming. The publisher [Paul Fishbein] and an editor of this magazine to testify that they reviewed this movie and they also gave it an award.
"And this is a fisting movie called 'The Fist, The Whole Fist, And Nothing But The Fist.'"
Deborah: "Who distributes that?"
It comes from Patrick Collins Elegant Angel. It's the only other fisting movie they can present as evidence. If they could find more fisting movies, then it would make it more likely that their fisting movie Tampa Tushy Fest did not violate community standards.
Roger: "Here is an article in last week's Los Angeles Times. Playboy is buying hardcore channels. Evidence of what you can get on an ordinary TV station."
Deborah: "You're not going to get this [fisting] on an ordinary TV station."
Seymore: "You're going to get four fingers, you mean?"
Mr. Butts can't see the difference between inserting four and eight fingers in an orifice and inserting a whole fist.
Roger: "Here is stuff from the internet on female ejaculation."
Seymore: "We'll probably have somebody from Liberated Christians come in and talk about that."
Deborah: "We can look at these later, depending on what the court decides."
We all, defendants, prosecutor, detectives and media, go up the elevator together trading stories. The gorgeous interns have shy smiles. The opposing attorneys act as if they're engaged in an interesting chess match. The detective's give away little in their expressions. The only one not enjoying himself is the defendent Adam Glasser who repeatedly mutters that the case is "bulls---."
During a break in the legal action, Adam tells his attorney that the case is over. A settlement has been reached. In exchange for dropping the charges against him, prosecutor Deborah Sanchez will star in some hefty latina porn videos for him, doing vaginal and anal fisting.
I tell Mr. Butts to not corrupt the two beautiful latina law students. He gives a wicked smile.
Diamond says our new judge, whitehaired Laurie D. Zelon, has no experience with obscenity cases. But with her sharp questions and comments over the rest of the day, you wouldn't know it. The two attorneys go into a private conference with the judge.
Gilmore, Glasser, Takes---a and I trade stories and opinions. Adam's not afraid to go directly after the detectives and the prosecutor.
I spoke briefly with Takes---a in 1996 but I could never get permission from the LAPD's press office to do an interview with him.
Roger Diamond says Deborah, Seymore and company: "What motivated the police to file charges may have been the fisting, but what's admissable [for evidence] is the comparable material if it shows the other activities in the movie [aside from fisting]. Because the jury may see, the fisting is ok. It is between two men and is consenting. But we didn't like the other part. And for something to be found obscene, the whole thing must be found obscene, not just a part. The jury is not given the choice of what part of the movie to focus on because the jury instructions say 'Consider as a whole.'
"I don't think it is fair to require us to put on comparable material limited to a particular scene that might've caused them the problem."
Deborah: "But it is the fisting that you touted..."
Seymore: "Touted by what?"
Deborah: "On your advertisements."
Seymore: "If you look on the box, you will never find the word 'fisting.'"
Deborah: "On your internet advertising."
Seymore: "That's the only place you can find it."
Roger: "If the judge rules that comparables are not allowed at all, then the trial could proceed [today].
"This guy [Steve Takes---a] is apparently their expert witness. And he's not available after Wednesday. So she says to the judge, if we allow this comparable material in [as evidence], I'm going to need a long time to go over it with my witness. Fine, but I have scheduling problems. I have cases backing up. Plus I'm going to be out of the country in Australia for a couple of weeks.
"The judge has no experience in obscenity cases. I told her, when we come back to this in a couple of months, maybe she can educate herself in these issues. They are tricky subtle issues. She has no knowledge of them. She has no background.
"It's an interesting legal issue - does the comparable material [have to be fisting] have to relate exactly to the material that they don't like given the fact that the law and the jury instructions says the jury has to consider the whole thing."
A few years ago, I spoke with Chicago vice squad leader Tom Bohling who said that because the federal Clinton administration had no interest in prosecuting obscenity, local law enforcement has also abandoned the beat. But LA's cops say that they take no direction from the feds. They claim no change in approach since the new Bush administration.
Seymore tells Luke: "Remember when we showed them the box and Deborah asked, 'Are those movies from Extreme Associates?' And I say, 'No, why would you ask if they're Extreme movies?' And you could see her backtrack. She expected a box full of movies from Extreme Associates. Obviously they are keeping track of what is going on, not only on your web site, but on the AVN web site and on the Gene Ross web site as well. Does it look like there's any cooperation going on between us and them?"
Luke: "No."
Seymore: "Those undercover officers. I've seen them before. I recognize them. I remember having conversation, especially with the asian man.
"I just thinking it is interesting that the word 'Extreme' came out of the supervising attorney's mouth before any of mentioned it. I wasn't even going to mention that name. I'm glad you were there."
Luke: "And I had my tape recording running."
Seymore: "It goes to show that they [Los Angeles law enforcement] are a lot more on the ball than people think. So when Rob Black rants about chunks of s--- coming out of people's asses and all that kind of stuff, the people who are reading it are not only fans of the industry but the city attorney, the vice office squad, the obscenity squad, they're all reading it.
"They [law enforcement] bought the movie off the web site. And on the web site, I think it has the word 'fisting' in it. I've done several movies with fisting. The others are Alisha [Klass] doing it to herself. I don't know if they consider that obscene. I don't know where they join the line.
"But touting? It's not on the box. You can't find a picture of that on the box. You can't find a press release that we did that says, 'Hey, this movie has fisting. That's why you need to buy it.' That's the opposite way we did it. We didn't put any kind of reference to fisting on the box because we didn't want people to think that we were trying to sell it for the shock value. It just happened in the movie, not planned, that I decided to leave in because it seemed very erotic to me. And the girls obviously enjoyed themselves."
I remember when Alisha Klass hosted the 1999 AVN Awards in Las Vegas and kept referring to how wonderful it felt to have Chloe's fist up her ass. I sat at the table with Russ Hampshire and I saw how upset she got with Alisha's crude remarks. The next year, Alisha told Russ "to shut up, you old drunk."
Luke: "Russ's mom got up and walked out."
Seymore: "That's so funny how she could draw the line. His mother walks about because a girl is talking about a fist up her ass meanwhile there's a comedian on ten minutes earlier talking about the most outrageously crude things I've ever heard. There are dirtier words than 'f---' and 'fist.'"
I listen in as Seymore and his attorney discuss his defense during the hour lunch break from 12:30-1:30 PM.
Seymore: "Why do we have a rubber fist? It's obviously not something that people hang on their mantles. This is used as a sex toy. Somebody's buying it."
Roger: "Their argument is that obscenity goes to the way that sex is depicted, not the way it is practiced. No matter what goes on in a private bedroom, unless it is depicted..."
Seymore: "We have a video with somebody using a rubber fist."
Roger: "I don't want the judge to limit us in terms of what we can show [for defence]."
Seymore: "We also have an actress who says that she shot this stuff many times for other people. For her, the only way she can really get off for real is fisting."
Luke: "Do other just use it for their European versions?"
Seymore: "Yes."
Roger: "If we had any doubts [as to what caused the obscenity bust], whether it was the anal to oral sex... We now know clearly that they're after the fisting. It's clear what their strategy is going to be. They have two basic witnesses and a movie. To isolate a 25-minute section of a two hour movie and calling it obscene, I think they will be banging their heads against the wall."
Seymore says there's a ten minute difference between the two versions of Tampa Tushy Fest he's distributed. "I don't think the actual fisting, where you have every finger in, lasts more than ten minutes. Everything else is the same."
Ken Wood, former AVN managing editor stops by the court room for giggles. After a couple of months of vacation, he starts law school in September. Freelance writer and former Marketplace reporter Adam Davidson stops by for a few hours. Both are pale smart Jews, verbally agile, with triangular heads.
The cops and latina prosecutorial team are not jewish. The bailiff is asian. The judge seems Jewish. Seymore's attorney Diamond tells the court he can't work over Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year which falls in September in the Western calendar.
We almost have enough Jews for a minyan to daven mincha [afternoon prayers].
Judge Laurie D. Zelon has an amiable manner. I'm intrigued by how well everybody seems to get along. Only Seymore the defendant seems to carry a grudge. For everyone else, it's just a game.
Judge Zelon says from her bench that both parties agree that most of the video in question shows standard hardcore porn but there are particular practices that are not normative.
The judge and Diamond argue over comparability - how close the evidence (mainly hardcore videotapes) must match Tampa Tushy Fest. Does a tape need to show fisting to be valid evidence of community acceptance of fisting in hardcore tapes?
Prosecutor Sanchez says she needs more time to view the tapes the defense wants to submit as evidence. Sanchez describes Tampa Tushy Fest as building to a crescendo of fisting while Diamond downplays the significance of fisting to the movie.
Seymore repeatedly interrupts his attorney with arguments in his behalf. Seymore seems stunned he has to be in court to answer such "bulls--- charges." At times Diamond listens to Seymore's arguments and at times Diamond shushes him.
Sanchez says they did not bust Mr. Butts arbitrarily. They received a complaint about the tape and investigated.
To move the process along, Diamond offers to Sanchez to give up all the movies in the box as evidence and only use one movie - a Wicked tape of the 2000 AVN Awards. But Glasser overrules the offer. He wants to submit numerous movies showing four and eight finger insertion.
Diamond and Glasser tell Sanchez that their including Glasser's 70-year old book-keeper mother in the case is a big mistake. "She's never even seen a [porn] movie," says Glasser.
Outside in the corridor, while we discuss whether fisting is obscene, two hispanic Spanish-speaking mothers tend to their kids. One little girl looks over at the box of pornographic evidence. Seymore points her out and Diamond hurries over to move the box.
Roger: "This is a fascinating chess match."
Seymore: "No it isn't. It's bulls---. What's the difference between four fingers and a thumb? Look." He holds out his hand. "The thumb is smaller.
"You [Luke] have been on sets many times where they've done eight finger insertion."
The judge turned down Frontline's request to videotape these pretrial discussions. The trial is now set for October 15.
Robert H. Rimmer wrote in his 1984 book "The X-Rated Videotape Guide":
"Today, most adult filmmakers do not produce films that transgress a 1980 memorandum from the Los Angeles City Attorney's office. The memorandum pinpointed makers of those films and tapes subject to arrest and prosecution. They included scenes of bestiality and masturbation of animals; so-called snuff films, in which the actress is supposedly murdered in her final orgasm (probably none of these actually exist); and films or tapes showing sex with minors.
"The police may also try to censor films on tape that show urination (golden showers), defecation (Marquis de Sade style), or films showing pain or sadomasochistic abuse. However, as you will discover in the filmography, there are many bondage-and-discipline films available on videotape. A few tapes even offer "fist f---ing," in which an arm, foot or toe is inserted into a vagina; one such sequence appears in the original tapes of Candystripers, which were confiscated in a raid by the Los Angeles Police Department in March 1979. If you buy a videotape of Candystripers today, the scene has been eliminated.
"Areas I have labeled "Deviational Kinky" in the filmography (such as anal sex, double insertions, orgies and various combinations of group sex) are no longer subject to police raids."
Fred writes Luke: "Sir-- Good job today. What you want to do next is to see if you can interview the prosecutor (Ms. Sanchez) and post the interview on her site. Find out how she goes about selecting stuff to prosecute. Who makes the call? Why? Do the prosecutors really believe in prosecuting folks like Mr. Butts? Do they really think that "Tampa Tushy Fest" (or whatever it was called) is a menace to society? Or are they just doing their job? How do they go about preparing their cases? How do they go about deciding what is within the "community standards"? Inquiring minds want to know."
JMT writes: Good job on the Seymore trial coverage, Luke. (My previous exhortation to you to "get off your ass" was not necessarily intended to encompass walking 2 miles to save a few bucks in parking charges, but what the hell, the exercise was probably good for you.) Did you try to draw out the prosecutor/cops at all on why they think it's appropriate to prosecute films for consensual, relatively benign conduct (fisting, toilet stuff) in this day and age?
Seymore's right about the absurdity of worrying about whether or not the thumb is involved; you can go through the Bruce Seven catalog of lezzie vids and find plenty of examples not only of eight fingers, but sixteen fingers (two pairs of hands -- but no thumbs), eight fingers plus various sex toys, etc.
I also wonder whether Seymore's attorney has considered the issue of whether stuff that is freely available to Los Angeles residents (and everybody else in the world with internet access) in Usenet news groups should be presented as evidence of community standards. There are plenty of pictures and video captures being posted on a daily basis that make Seymore's stuff look as vanilla as cable versions of Vivid videos.
For example, Earthlink, one of the biggest ISP's in the country, and located in Pasadena, makes available to its customers the newsgroup "alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fisting," which at any given time features hundreds, if not thousands, of images depicting the practice of fisting.
Finally, how do you, as a taxpayer, feel about the fact that apparently there are law enforcement officials who spend their at-work time reading your site?
Luke says: I fill with pride and joy.
BrandyAlx1: So, I may have Jim Hahn's ear whenever something I say gets posted? If so, I certainly wonder why I was ignored by the many politicians I sent letters to when I was fired by Forest Lawn for having been a porn star. Again it's a case of it's okay to consume, and those who consume it are upstanding citizens, but those who produce it are garbage. Makes me glad I voted for Villaraigosa. I'd do him before I'd do Hahn. ;) As good a reason as any for casting a vote. They are all politicians, so the campaign material is worthless.
BrandyAlx1: Speaking of politics, I wrote to every senator and congressperson in Washington with regard to age discrimination for non-combat, administrative support positions in the Navy, and the ONLY response I got was from Feinstein.
Anti-Jewish Propaganda
Jew Jeff Goodman writes Luke: Reading all the references associating Jews with Pornography on your website makes me think that "those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it".
Every Jew should be familiar with this sort of material below. Most of it sounds exactly the same as what most anti-semites spout now. The German propaganda was clever, very well done, and exceptionally malicious. There were other magazines like Signal and Der Sturmer that were harbingers of today's advanced media techniques.
